Chapter Twenty-Five
Pre-Meeting Jitters

The weekend had gone uneventful for the most part. Trowa had spent Saturday morning moving things around his room so Serena could move her clothes and other personal items in. While she understood why Trowa wanted her to feel more comfortable with their new living arrangements, she felt anything but. It wasn't her first time living with someone but this was different. Everything about them and what they were doing was different. She had never done anything like this before. The relationship, if she could call it that, wasn't forced on her. She had willingly agreed to it. She had even agreed to sharing his room with him.

Which still made her apprehensive, even when Trowa helped bring things from her room into his. While she didn't have much it was the fact that she was putting her clothes into his dresser, hanging a few dresses she had bought in the closet along with a few pairs of shoes. Reality was setting in and that made her feel unsure about everything. Why was she doing this in the first place?

Trowa had smiled at her once they had finished. His eyes shining with contentment even when she had only offered him a small smile in return. She wasn't sure if her uneasiness was due to the fact she wasn't sure where things were going between them or if she was even going to stick around in the end. It didn't help that Monday's meeting was fast approaching and she knew she needed to make a decision on whether or not to inform him about what the meeting was really about.

Then again, maybe it was a little of everything.

Sunday night Serena felt even more restless. Monday's meeting was looming and she had yet to tell Trowa anything. After dinner she had cleaned up the kitchen and then went to busy herself doing laundry. Trowa must have picked up on her uneasiness as he followed her into the bedroom where she was putting their clothes away.

"Care to tell me what's on your mind?" Trowa asked as he crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the door frame to the room. Serena continuing to move between the bed and dresser.

"What do you mean?"

"Something's been bothering you. Yesterday and today you haven't stopped moving around the apartment." Serena stopped next to the bed looking at him. Guilt setting in that she was being reckless with concealing herself.

"Trowa…" She started cautiously, "about tomorrow's meeting…" She trailed off.

"What about it?"

Sighing, Serena gestured to the bed. "You should have a seat." Trowa lifted his brow as he uncrossed his arms. Serena's face was masked as he made his way to the bed. His eyes followed her as she went over to the dresser grabbing his laptop before returning to sit down next to him. Opening the screen, Serena's fingers started moving furiously over the keys.

"You've hacked into my laptop?" Serena nodded her head. Never meeting his eyes.

"I needed to work on something. It needed to be untraceable."

"Serena what do you mean by untraceable?" Serena bit her lip as she turned her head to look at him.

"I told you that I'm not who you think I am."

"What are you trying to say?" Trowa frowned as he watched her face carefully.

"Trowa… I…" Frowning she tried again. "I drew up the blueprints for my Gundam." His eyes went wide as she quickly continued. "Une asked me if I could do it. Along with the blueprints on the Mobile Suits. She's going to be showing them tomorrow at the meeting."

"Serena… I thought there weren't any?" He saw her breath deeply. His heart starting to beat faster.

"I designed my Gundam... J may have built them in the past but I hold the blueprints to all of them. I... I'm also capable of rebuilding them... I..." Serena sighed again. "I recreated Heavyarms."

"You what!?" Trowa said as he sat up straighter. "What do you mean you hold the blueprints?"

"I have them memorized." Shaking her head. "Trowa, I told you I'm not who you think I am."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"This is all new for me. I'm not following orders. I'm free to make my own decisions. Opening up isn't easy for me. That and Une asked me to keep this a secret. She didn't want anyone knowing." Serena turned away, biting her lip. A habit he had learned was a tell tail sign she was feeling either unsure about something or regretful.

"When?" Trowa asked, bring her attention back to him.

"My first night here... when you went to take a shower I called her. She knew that I didn't tell her the whole truth. We agreed to keep it quiet. Until now." She closed her eyes. "Everything will be explained tomorrow." The minutes passed by without a word from Trowa. Slowly she opened her eyes. He was staring right at her.

"You recreated Heavyarms?" Serena nodded her head. His face was masked but his voice held a hint of curiosity.

"I can show you." Serena turned to the laptop. Hitting a few keys she brought up a folder. Opening it she handed the laptop over to him. "This is the design I came up with."

Trowa looked through all the photos along with the notes on the design. Every detail laid out in front of him. Every little change she made even down to the weapons and why they were changed. After a few minutes Trowa turned to look at her. Her eyes down cast.

"Serena." Uncertainly in her eyes as she brought them up to meet his. "This is incredible."

"What?" Serena's eyes grew wide.

"Your understanding of Heavyarms is impressive." Smiling he turned back to the screen. "These adjustments are perfect for the suit itself. Not to mention for myself. If you had been there for when I did the last upgrade I would've let you do everything you have written here."

"You like my design?"

"Yes." Trowa said smiling at her. "Your calculations on the weight distribution is perfect. And this quick release," Trowa pointed to the mounted guns on the screen. "This would allow me to fight hand to hand if the situation ever arose. Everything if well thought out and compliments the suit for how it was originally designed." Trowa continued to smile as he looked over everything. Trying to memorize every detail. After a few minutes Serena's voice brought him back to the present.

"Do you want to see mine?" Trowa turned his head sharply to her. A small smile on her face.

"I'd love to." Trowa handed the laptop back over to her and before he knew she had pulled up another Gundam. Handing it back he looked down at the screen.

"It looks like Zero." He looked on in confusion. Serena laughing lightly next to him.

"Kind of. Heero had a theory and I put that theory to the test. If he had more time I'm sure he would've been able to accomplish the same." She said as she leaned into his shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Trowa looked at her puzzled.

"Click to the next screen." Trowa did as he was told. "See the wings? Heero had adapted them to add more speed and agility to the suit."

"Yes, I remember him doing that."

"I took it a step further. The thrusters are more powerful than they were before. Also you see here." Serena pointed to a section on the screen with some of her notes. "The feather themselves serve more than one purpose. Speed is necessary but also I've enhanced their strength. I can use them to protect myself against missiles better and entering the Earth's atmosphere. But I also added cartridges to them."

"Cartridges?"

"Exploding ones." Serena smiled brightly at him. "I can pretty much bomb anywhere just by flying over."

"So you're like Duo in the never ending quest to blow shit up." Trowa lifted a brow at her.

Serena erupted into laughter. "I've been known to blow up a thing or two." Trowa only shook his head before offering her a smile.

"Clever." He said. "What else can you tell me?" Serena smiled before she dove in.

The two had spent the better part of two hours discussing Serena's design of her own suit along with what she had come up with for everyone else's. Trowa was not only fascinated by her creativity but also her structural mind frame when it came to the Gundam's themselves. Her understanding and view of how a Gundam should perform was one he couldn't questions. Her knowledge had been far greater than his own. She knew something the rest of them didn't. Even her understanding of the ZERO system surpassed his own. She had admitted she had the program installed in hers and had been training with it since day one. But the one thing that hadn't gone unnoticed by him was the pride she had shown for her work and knowledge. It was obvious that she had spent a great of deal learning, whether it was from training or simply for pleasure, she had worked hard to understand the information.

Trowa had moved to lay on one of his arms as Serena closed down the laptop. "I hope you're not mad at me. I didn't go through anything on your hard drive." Serena said.

"I'm not mad." Trowa said.

Serena swung her head around to face him. "You're not?"

"No." Trowa shook his head. "I understand why you did it. I also apprentice you telling me."

"You took it better than I expected." Serena confessed. Trowa laughed as he sat up straight.

"I'm not going to lie I was taken back at first. I wasn't expecting you to tell me you were capable of something like this." Reaching a hand up to her face he rubbed his thumb against her lower lip. "You truly are incredible, Serena."

"That remains to be seen." Serena said.

"I think you are." Leaning down Trowa brushed his lips against her in a gentle kiss. "We should probably go to bed. We do still have to go to the meeting tomorrow."

Serena groaned as she fell backwards onto a pillow. "Don't remind me."

Trowa chuckled as he moved his laptop back to the dresser before making his way back to the bed. "Everything will be fine." He said as he crawled on top of her.

Serena adjusted herself before wrapping her arms around his neck. "We'll find out tomorrow won't we?" The corners of her mouth curling up.

"Is there anything else you'd like to tell me?" A questioning look on his face as he studied her.

"No, other than I can't contain my excitement for tomorrow."

"Excitement can be contagious." Trowa smirked her.

"Oh really now?" Her eyes sparkling up at him as he lowered his head to capture her lips.

Serena had been quiet again all morning. She had barely even looked at him. Even when they showered she had kept to herself. Any time he tried to engage her in anything she'd simply pull away from him. Trowa had thought after the night before everything was fine. Serena had been content with the fact he wasn't upset with her. It wasn't like it was the first time someone had to keep any kind of information from another. It came with the territory of the job. Une had told her to keep everything a secret but it seemed to be still eating at Serena. And if that wasn't it, he was left to wonder what was distracting her so much.

The whole ride over to HQ had been in complete silence. Serena had stared out the window the entire drive never once turning to look at him. When they arrived Trowa turned into the parking garage before pulling into one of the available spaces. Turning off the engine, he glances over to her, she was looking at him for the first time. Her features were soft but her eyes held him captive. They were questioning, watching his every move. Turning his body he foolishly leaned over the armrest. Their lips were mere inches apart when he felt her hand press against his chest.

"Trowa…"

"What?" He asked grasping her hand as she pulled away. "What's wrongs?" Her eyes were on something behind him.

"Sally's watching us…" Trowa pulled away, snapping his head around. Sally was standing not far away from them. Her hands on her hips with a look of "you better tell me what's going on," written across her face.

Sally waited patiently till both had made their way over to her. "Want to tell me what that was all about?" Her brow lifted as she looked at them.

"It was nothing." Trowa said calmly.

"Oh? I'm pretty sure it's nothing when two people kiss." She watched as he frowned slightly. "I know what I saw. Whatever is going on I wouldn't let anyone else find out. Or see."

"There's nothing going on." Serena face had become a stone mask. "Trowa were late. We need to go." She said before turning on her heel. Trowa's frown only deepened at her words. She had betrayed nothing when she spoke, even though she was covering for them the way she had spoken had him wondering if that was how she felt towards him.

Sally placed her hand on his shoulder. "I won't say anything, but maybe this isn't the best idea. It's a big gamble you're taking."

"Too late." Trowa said as he stepped away from her. Sally saw the pained expression on his face as he caught up to Serena who was waiting by the door for him.

"I think Duo may be onto something." Shaking her head. "I just hope Heero doesn't find out about this or all hell will break loose." Sally said to no one particular.

A/N

Happy Friday! Due to some technical difficulties that I will not get into, (cough windows update) I'm a little behind on posting and I had to split this chapter up! Got a little too long and possible a little out of control. (Heero is NOT happy about something! When is he happy? Should probably work on that and make him happier.) But I wanted to get at least one of the two chapters up today! So enjoy! The next chapter "Meeting" will go up this weekend now that I can actually finish editing it on my computer and not on my phone.

I hope you all are doing well and enjoying your almost week or possibly weekend at this point!

-MM