The Family Factors, Part 1
Quatre and Trowa had spent the better part of the day talking. Trowa found out about Sei, and Quatre's fears. Trowa in turn had confided that Quatre had been the first person he'd ever even kissed, and as such he had *no* experience at all. They'd shared a few more kisses, Quatre teaching Trowa the basics, but they'd kept them mostly chaste. Around three o'clock, Quatre called Noin to tell her that he'd forgotten his cellphone and that he was likely to be with Trowa for the rest of the day.
It was then that he learned of Heero's desperate need to contact him.
He looked up at Trowa.
"Do you feel up to it?"
Trowa's only response was a nod. With Quatre... he felt up for anything.
Another hour later found them at the Sanq PD... again. And their entrance was blocked... again. This time by a severe looking Chinese man.
"ID, please," he said.
Quatre pulled out his work ID.
"Quatre Winner." he said, holding out his picture ID from the FBI (this usually got him through quicker than the IDs from the Jeffersonian, Smithsonian, or any other places he worked). And it did this time, as well. Well... sort of.
"FBI? Why's the FBI here?" The man's dark eyes narrowed. Quatre extended his ability to feel him. Sensing nothing particularly bad, he admitted the truth- partially, at least.
"I work as a criminal profiler for several government and private agencies, Including the FBI, NYPD, the Jeffersonian Institute... among others. I also freelance when I believe there to be a need for my services. I've been assisting Detectives Yuy and Maxwell on a certain cold case."
"Ah..." was the reply. "And he is..." the man motioned to Trowa.
"An associate of mine," Quatre replied coolly. "Now, we are running behind, unfortunately, so we better be going."
"Not so fast..." The man placed a hand on Quatre's arm.
"Unhand me, officer," Quatre said.
"Else what?" was the reply.
Quatre darted his eyes around, and his empathy landed on a certain blond, pigtailed officer sitting behind a desk, and the ring on this man's finger.
Quatre raised his blue eyes up to meet black. "Else your wife may find out about your affair, officer," he replied smoothly.
Black eyes went wide, the hand dropped off.
"Who... how..."
"Excuse us, officer. We need to get going."
He drug Trowa behind him.
Duo was leaning against the outside of his office door, watching it all.
"What'd you do to get Cap'n Chang all flustered like that?"
"I just mentioned the affair he's having with one of his officers."
"Huh?" Duo's mouth dropped open, landing somewhere in the vicinity of the floor. "What the hell?"
Quatre shrugged. "The woman over behind that desk... with the blond braids?"
"Sally Po. She's pretty new. Been here around a year now."
"Your Captain Chang is having an affair on his wife with that woman. Or at least is high on the way to doing so."
"Huh," Duo said. "I never would have guessed Chang'd have the balls to go for a gal like Sally. Well... at least he's getting some."
"Pardon?"
"Chang's wife is in the process of divorcing him," Heero supplied. "Meilan hates his guts, and it was only on their parents wishes they got married. Their parents are dead... so Meilan's divorcing him. Trying to take a good deal of his money along with it."
"Ah,,," Quatre said. He hated it when he was wrong. "I'll have to apologize to him sometime or other," he murmured.
"Or not," Duo said. "Sally wouldn't be the first person Chang's slept with. And that's including while he was supposedly still 'with' Meilan."
"Can we please get to the matter at hand?" Heero asked. "I'd like to be able to find enough evidence to get us a search warrant... or an arrest warrant. The sooner, the better."
"Of course," Quatre said, blinking out of his daze of gossip. "Trowa... are you ready?"
"No," was the reply. "But I don't think I'll ever be, so let's go ahead."
With Quatre's hand on his shoulder, things went a little more smoothly this time. From what he was able to see, he managed to tell the detectives that Marimaia was living with a transsexual friend of hers, was able to provide the name of that friend, and a relative location of where the apartment was. But that was the only relevant information he could provide.
"More than nothing," Duo said reasonably. "C'mon, Yuy. Let's get to searching. Maybe we can go pay a visit to this friend tomorrow."
"Thank you, Mr. Barton," Heero nodded to Trowa.
"Call me Trowa... and you are welcome. It's..." he paused, "Nice to be able to help."
__________________________________
Once again, Quatre found himself sitting at the bar with Trowa waiting on him. Only this time, he stayed away from the clam chowder. He talked with Trowa animatedly, using his hands and his face, his whole body. Trowa in turn listened. Their hands brushed occasionally, and Trowa smiled whenever it did. Quatre leaned up to whisper something funny into Trowa's ear, his fingers stroking across the skin of Trowa's cheek as he turned his head to whisper.
Unbeknown to them, dark blue eyes were watching their exchanges with curiosity.
The first time she'd glimpsed her brother and the blond actually talking, she'd dismissed it. Maybe Trowa was learning to be a little social. And the first time she'd caught their hands brushing, she'd dismissed it as a trick of light, because Trowa *never* touched anyone. Even she herself hardly ever received a hug or such physical affection. But then, she saw it again. And then, the blond actually leaned up and touched Trowa's face as he whispered something obviously funny into Trowa's ear.
That was it for Catherine. Something was obviously wrong, because what was happening did not match with how she perceived the world. Trowa had been mysteriously 'out' alot lately. And now this blond.
The moment her night-time help arrived, Cathy stormed out.
"Trowa... Back! Now! And bring Blondie with you!"
Trowa looked from Quatre to his sister and back again.
Quatre looked at him curiously, and he shrugged in return.
"Let's go see what she wants," Quatre said.
A few minutes later found Trowa, Quatre and Cathy all standing in the deserted storage room of the bar.
"Explain what the hell is going on," she demanded. "First you're out all the time this past week and never at home. Then you're in there talking and smiling and chatting. And now I see *this*? Trowa, he was touching you! You never touch anyone or let anyone touch you. What's going on?"
Quatre reached out to touch Trowa's arm.
What do we tell her? he asked mentally.
She doesn't know about my power, was Trowa's reply.
That answered alot, for Quatre. It meant that complete truth was ruled out.
"See?" she demanded, pointing to where Quatre's hand was touching Trowa. "That's what I mean!"
Trowa closed his eyes, praying to just melt away. He really didn't know how to deal with this.
Quatre, seeing his friend's expression, extended his empathy so that he could feel Cathy's emotions, and, since he still remained linked to him, Trowa's to an extent as well.
Feeling mostly just sisterly love and concern- and a good dose of human curiosity as well- from the red-head, he smiled.
"Catherine. My name is Quatre. You meet me a few weeks ago, here at this bar."
Her eyes widened in surprise. "You kept asking questions about Trowa!"
He nodded. "I must admit I did. I was curious about your brother." He shifted his touch from Trowa's arm to his hand. The action didn't go unnoticed by the woman. She looked from their intertwined fingers to Trowa's face. Every little nuance in all those smiles and little touches washed over her all at once.
"Trowa?" she asked, her voice small and confused.
He nodded, knowing what she was asking.
"How long have you.... known?" she asked.
"A very, very long time," he replied. Her gaze transfered to Quatre.
"And you?"
Quatre shrugged. "About a few days," he said truthfully.
"A few days?" she exclaimed, then her eyes went dark. "If you're just toying with my brother, boy I will tear you limb from limb."
Quatre just smiled warmly.
"I'm not toying with him, Miss Catherine. I can't say I know exactly what is happening between us, but I do know that it is not a game."
Cathy nodded. "I still want to know more... but I'll accept that for now."
Quatre leaned up and kissed Trowa's cheek. "That's all I ask," he said. Then Trowa turned and Quatre's lips met his.
Cathy rolled her eyes, struck by the thought that for once, her brother was acting normal. She sighed. But it had to be like this?
"Oh, brother!"