Disclaimer: Code Geass – with its characters, settings, and all other borrowed elements here – is the sole property of its creators. Segment titles are titles from various songs, and I don't own those either. For overall warnings and general Author's Notes, see 'chapter' 1!

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(20) "Two Sleepy People"

Suzaku was more than wide awake when he returned to the pianist's bedroom. In his mind, he replayed that phone call over and over again, hearing the careless drawl over the soft static from the other end: that woman's voice, about as low in pitch as Kallen's, but with none of the emotion.

It was impossible to pin character onto a voice with which he'd exchanged precious few words over a telephone line, but he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that this was important somehow.

His thoughts were only derailed when he felt an arm lacing through his, and a very warm body pressed up against his side. "Trouble sleeping?" Lelouch murmured into his shoulder.

"The phone rang," he answered lamely. "At three in the morning."

"Hmmm?" Lelouch shifted and began planting light, lazy kisses on his neck. "It's almost four."

"I know." He would have to be up in two hours, and with the way things were going, it seemed those would have to be two hours lying listlessly in bed. He wondered if he should just get up now. "Sorry if I woke you. Go back to sleep."

"Who was it?"

That was a very good question. Twice the woman had been able to reach him, and he'd been in two very different locations during those times. He could understand someone calling the agency directly, but the bar was another thing altogether.

Was he being watched?

Stupid question, he realized. Bismarck and Kallen had already warned him as much, and it wasn't as if he particularly minded; he'd had worse (much, much worse) after all.

A better question would have been, was he putting Lelouch in danger by coming here so often?

But Suzaku realized that simply asking that of himself carried with it a whole new set of complicated implications, and he didn't really want to dwell on any of those at all. "Wrong number," he finally said, after realizing the silence had stretched on for far too long.

"Just as well," Lelouch hummed thoughtfully. He stretched out, rather like a cat, the blanket slipping from around his thighs. Suzaku tried not to look, he really did. "Wouldn't want them to call again."

Suzaku shifted uneasily on the mattress. "I guess."

"Besides," Lelouch continued, nipping at Suzaku's ear now. He'd thrown his leg carelessly over Suzaku's waist, slowly retracting it to pull him ever closer. "No rational person would be awake at this ungodly hour."

"...We're awake," Suzaku pointed out.

But Lelouch just smiled at that, before capturing his lips in a kiss. And eventually, Suzaku realized there was no victory in that argument.

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(21) 'What a Difference a Day Makes'

By the time Suzaku finally got to the agency, it was almost eight in the morning and the sun still had not come out. Not that summer was finally giving any respite, though - any slightest breeze was oppressively hot, the city hazy and humid. More than once Suzaku tugged on his collar and the knot of his tie. He wished it would rain.

He passed Gino's office on the way to his, thought he saw something in the corner of his eye, and frowned. Stepping back, he knocked sharply on the half-open door.

The mass under the rumpled trenchcoat that had been draped over the desk jerked, and Gino blinked up at him groggily. "Oh. Hi." Another blink. "Morning already?"

"Something like that." Suzaku reached up and clicked off the lights in Gino's office before Bismarck could come in and read them the Riot Act for driving up their electricity costs. "Were you here all night?"

"Most of it." Gino rubbed at his eyes. "I hear you got off scot free. Congratulations?"

"Don't say it like that," Suzaku sighed. The way Gino put it, it was as though he had gotten away with murder.

"Well either way it wasn't your fault. Though, too bad he turned out to be a cop." Gino sat up and yawned, stretching his arms up and over his head. "They couldn't have kept you locked up if they tried. Say, are you coming in or just standing there?"

"I'm thinking about my options," he chuckled. "Have you talked to Anya?"

"Until you waltzed in today, I hadn't seen either of you since yesterday's incident." Gino grinned then. "Ever try driving from Colchester at two in the morning? You can make it in twenty."

Suzaku winced. "They held you for that long?"

"Hmmm? Oh, no!" Gino laughed good-naturedly. "I got maybe six questions, tops. Then again, I wasn't the one holding a gun."

"Right."

"I stayed to help that woman - Cecile? She, ah, wasn't in the best of shape, as you can imagine."

"I can," he said soberly, rubbing the pads of his thumb and forefinger together. This early in the morning and he was already itching for a cigarette.

"Well, I just wanted to be sure she wouldn't do anything stupid... and," Gino added with a meaningful grin, "I found out something that you might find interesting."

Suzaku processed that for a moment. "You interrogated her? While she was in distress?"

"That's an awful word." Gino pouted. "We had a conversation. Anyway, did you know that, the day after that study was officially shelved, Dr. Asplund apparently took out a safety deposit box at a tiny bank across the university?" Gino sifted through the mess of papers and books covering his desk, retrieving an old envelope. He handed it to Suzaku, also beckoning at him to come closer. "Take a seat, would you? This is a genuine consultation, Bismarck won't yell."

Suzaku relented, though he left the door open behind him. "Well..." He took out the contents of the envelope: a letter from the bank, and a very familiar signature at the bottom. From the language of the letter Lloyd had apprently pulled more than enough strings so that the box was given to him on the same day of his request. "Maybe it was a coincidence?" He shrugged. "Maybe he just realized he needed a place to store his valuables, like everyone else, and it happened to be on that day."

"But according to his mother, he already had one." Gino was flipping through the well-worn notebook he always carried with him into interrogations. "Dr. Asplund the elder opened it for his son when he was eighteen, right in their hometown. Supposedly it's been empty since."

"Wait, wait, you spoke to his family?"

Gino simply smiled, but it was nowhere near as cheerful as usual. "No siblings; his parents lived just the next town over, so when they heard the news..." He shrugged. "Well, someone had to."

Suzaku sighed. In all the time he'd reported to the man, Lloyd had never spoken of his family. Then again, Suzaku himself wasn't one to talk. "So what's in the Colchester box?"

"No clue." Gino bent down, rummaged into a leather bag beside his desk, and unceremoniously dumped a medium-sized metal box right on top of the pile of junk. At Suzaku's dumbfounded gape, he let out a short laugh. "All of Lloyd Asplund's tangible assets went straight to his next of kin - he even left a will and all, very thorough like that. I didn't even have to try to convince them to turn this over to us - anything, I guess, to aid the investigation. Help them make sense of it all."

The box was made of some lightweight metal - aluminum, it seemed - and was about twice as long as it was wide. "You think Kewell killed him for this?"

"I don't know. We can speculate all we like, but we can't say anything for sure until we break it open. Hence, all this." Gino swept an arm over the catastrophic mess that was his office desk. "Either none of the standard lock-picking strategies work, or I just fail at translating theory to practice. Place your bets."

Suzaku stared at the box. "Do you want me to fetch you a drill?"

The blond shook his head. "Probably not the best idea. Here, pick it up."

Suzaku looked at him quizzically for a moment, then followed. When he tilted the box from side to side, he heard (and felt) the telltale swish of liquid.

His first thought was, oddly enough, that this was another practical joke, with much ado for another bottle of whiskey. But he caught the look in Gino's eye, and slowly broke into a wry smile. "Acid?"

"I think so. Or a very strong base." Gino leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers together behind his head, making it squeak a little. He was clearly tired, but still wore a smile. "The box is booby-trapped. If we force our way in, whatever else is in there - papers, probably, given the size - could get destroyed."

"And if we're not careful we could end up looking at a very serious workplace accident." Even he had to laugh at the thought of that. "Classic."

Gino nodded. "Whatever's in there, the good doctor clearly wanted to protect it from the wrong people. But neither his parents nor Cecile have any idea what it could be."

"For his eyes only then, maybe?" Suzaku placed the box back onto the nearest pile of papers, turning it until the front faced him. A single round keyhole glinted in the faint light, under 2601 stenciled in black. Hadn't Lloyd said something about a 'key'? "Was there a key on the body?"

The other detective shook his head. He'd gotten up and unrolled his sleeves to the wrists again, and was rifling through a change jar he kept near the window. "It's literally a black box to us."

Suzaku frowned. "What are you doing?"

"Going to get some coffee. I think I need something stronger than what's 'on tap', so to speak."

Suzaku felt a new wave of guilt wash over him. "Look, I'm really sorry - "

"Stop that." Gino threw a nickel at him. The coin hit him square on the forehead before he could react, and the blond laughed as he let loose a string of curses. "I wasn't blaming you. And besides, we don't even know if this is relevant or not. For all we know, it could be something completely unimportant to us in there. Embarrassing poetry. Love notes."

The thought of Lloyd crafting flowery verses by candlelight was taking too much trouble to even come together, that Suzaku dropped it. "So what do we do with it?"

Gino shrugged on his coat. "Keep it here, for now. Until we can figure something else out. I was going to turn it over to the police station, until I find out who the shooter was. Any idea where we can stash it?"

"A few," Suzaku said slowly. He could take it home, but he doubted he could keep it from Kallen for very long before she started asking questions. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but he was quite significantly in her debt now. She'd use that to her advantage.

On the other hand, the booze drawer in his office had enough space in it still. And if he hadn't been fired yet, that was saying something wasn't it?

"All yours, then." Gino handed the box to him cheerfully. "Do you need me to walk you to your office?"

"I think I can manage to find it just fine, thanks." They exited Gino's office then, and the blond was locking the door behind him when Suzaku suddenly had a thought. "You said you left Colchester at two, right? And the drive took you less than half an hour?"

"Yup."

Suzaku hesitated. "...You wouldn't happen to have heard a phone ring, or anything, the whole time you were here?"

Gino frowned, but shook his head. "Were you waiting for a call?"

"No, no." Suzaku averted his eyes quickly. "Just wondering, is all."

They parted ways then, Suzaku struggling to get his door open while gingerly supporting the box in his other arm. He'd considered telling Gino about the strange phone call at the bar, but that would lead to a whole barrage of questions, most of them probably loaded, that he wouldn't quite know how to tackle. He tried to convince himself that worrying about it was pointless, anyway. Even Lelouch hadn't been the least bit concerned.

But then again, that was Lelouch.

(What were the chances Lelouch and the strange mystery caller knew each other?)

Suzaku snorted, finally hearing the satisfying click and pushing the door open. He was getting ahead of himself.

When he saw the large, elaborate flower arrangement sitting prominently in the center of his desk, however, he realized there were so many more questions he should have asked.

"What the..."

He probably should have been more concerned about possible booby-traps or poison, but he had already set down the box and fingered the petals by the time he remembered. Blue hydrangeas - they were arranged in tasteful bunches among other sprigs he couldn't recall the names of. The hydrangeas were of a rich color, very dark, closer to violet...they reminded him of Lelouch's eyes, and he was about to smile when he read the card.

'Mon cher Suzaku', it began.

Shit.

'You'll have to forgive me for being presumptuous. But a matter of much higher priority has arisen, and I am afraid I have to take leave of the country tomorrow night.

I haven't forgotten about our arrangement, though. Far from it. As a show of good faith, I'd like to meet with you tonight. Postpone whatever overtime work you were planning to do for another day. Client's request.'

Well. That certainly took care of his non-existent plans for the night. Suzaku sighed, glancing at the flowers again. Had these been dropped off last night, during the commotion? Or did Kanon or someone else slip in right under Gino's nose earlier that morning?

Either way, that meant it was remarkably easy to just walk into Camelot Investigations, if you just timed it right. Or lied, as Lelouch had done easily. That would be a damaging tell-all story if Kallen ever got her hands on it, he thought.

He was about to chuck the card into the bin when a single line at the bottom of the card, underneath the seal, caught his eye. The strokes were quicker, and the fancy handwriting was not quite as impeccable as the rest of the letter, as though it had been added in afterthought:

'P.S.: La Maison Rouge has a dress code. Wear a suit. You look fetching in white.'

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Author's (end) notes: So hey, I think an apology is in order, because this was embarrassingly late in coming. In fact, the past few months have seen very little coherent writing from me, and what pittances of it that existed were spotty at best (and not posted here in any case). My MSc Thesis would be an easy culprit to blame, though I did finish that in April (yay!) - I defend it for dear life in August (nuhhh). Between then and now though, I've been seriously re-evaluating my life choices, trying to find full-time work, and more than occasionally derping out over Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii. I've dropped deposited some fic bits here and there, but right now I am really trying to make up for lost time.

In the meantime, I hope you guys enjoyed!