Chapter Thirty-Two
Breaking & Entering

Serena had been making her way through the Preventers HQ. Getting in hadn't been an issue for her. Though Serena knew it wouldn't have been in the first place. The only problem she was facing was the fact she didn't know the layout fully. At least not enough to know where a particular office was. Even though the blueprints for the building weren't public knowledge, Serena had access to them years ago, learning every little detail. She knew what floors housed the offices. Where the conference rooms were, along with the gym and the interrogation rooms. Even with that knowledge, Serena was finding it slightly annoying she hadn't reached her final destination yet. She had already made it through several floors unnoticed for the most part, till someone touched her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

"Hey! Need some help?" Serena groaned inwardly. It wasn't that she didn't mind seeing this particular person, but more like she wanted to stay unnoticed long enough to swap phones with Trowa.

"No," Serena said, trying to move away.

"Hey… wait a minute..." Serena felt her arm being grabbed, and then the hat she was wearing lifted enough to see a set of violet eyes. "Holy shit! Rena!?" Duo hissed, pushing the hat back down. While still holding her arm, Duo started to walk. "What are you doing here!?"

"I need to see Trowa."

"You know you're not supposed to be here. Someone might have a hissy fit if they found out. C'mon, I'll bring you to loverboy. Last I knew he was in his office," Duo winked at Serena from over his shoulder while he continued to pull her along.

"Loverboy?"

"It's just an expression," Duo said as he turned his head back around. Serena rolled her eyes but said nothing as she lowered her head. They were walking past a few people as Duo started to ramble on about something. "See, this place isn't too bad. But it's easy to get lost in if you don't know where you're going!"

Trowa had been sitting at his desk going over a few reports for the last hours when he decided to check his phone. His thoughts had strayed to Serena more than once that morning. Trowa didn't want to be at work. He wanted to stay at home with Serena, in bed with her all day if he could've. Trowa was hoping Serena had sent him a message but as he checked his phone again, for the umpteenth time, he saw that there was only one new message, and it was from Heero. As he tried to unlock his phone, Trowa realized he wasn't able to.

Frowning down at the screen it hit Trowa that he must have grabbed Serena's phone when he rushed out the door that morning. He hadn't even bothered to check to see if it was his. Both of their phones were on the breakfast bar when he left.

As if on cue, Heero barged into his office, looking like he was about to chew Trowa out for something.

"Where's Serena?" Heero asked gruffly as he came to stand in front of Trowa's desk.

"At my apartment where she's supposed to be," Trowa said, meeting Heero's hardened glare.

"Not according to her phone. It says she's here," Heero glared at him.

"I'm well aware of that. I grabbed her phone instead of mine this morning," Trowa said as he held up the phone. Heero opened his mouth when the door to Trowa's office flew open, again.

Both Heero and Trowa turned their attention to the door as Duo yelled down the hallway, at the same time someone was being shoved into the room, followed quickly by Duo. Shutting the door behind him, Duo whirled himself around at the person, ripping the hat off of their head. Long brown hair tumbled down their back.

"You know if you didn't talk so much you wouldn't bring so much attention to yourself," Serena said, placing her hands on her hips. "You could've just told me to head down the hallway and I would've made it here."

"Yeah, and what if one of these clowns saw you? Huh? You know Heero would have a shit fit if he knew you were here," Duo said, copying her stance. "You're lucky I ran into you first. You could've just called."

Trowa saw Serena roll her eyes as turned to the side. Neither of them seemed to notice they weren't alone in the room.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Heero growled, gaining their attention. Trowa stayed quiet as he waited to see if anything would happen. Trowa would be lying if he said he wasn't a little concerned about a possible fight breaking out.

"Oh… shit," Duo said. Serena said nothing as she walked over to where Heero was standing, coming to stop next to him. Pulling out Trowa's phone she handed it to him. Trowa took his phone, handing hers in the process.

"To switch our phones," Serena finally said, turning to face Heero.

"You're not supposed to be here, and how did you even get here? Let alone get in?" Heero questioned her. Serena's lips curled up as she pulled out a set of keys from her pocket, dangling them in front of herself.

"She took my bike," Trowa said. Heero swung his eyes to him. Trowa was impressed. Serena had managed to get into Preventers and she would've made it to his office had Duo not found her. Though Trowa did wonder how Serena managed to get through security. But he didn't want a fight breaking out in his office between Heero and Serena. Trowa only hoped that he could keep the conversation diverted from the topic.

"Damn, you must be special if Trowa's letting you take his bike. He doesn't let anyone ride it. And I mean anyone," Duo whistled from where he was standing off to the side.

"You'd just end up wrecking it, Duo," Trowa said. Standing up, Trowa pulled out the keys for his SUV from his pocket. "Serena, if you want you can take my car back and I'll take my bike."

"No," Serena shook her head. "I'd rather stick with the bike," the corner of her lips turned up slightly as she moved away from his desk. Serena didn't get far though when Heero's hand shot up, grabbing her arm.

The neckline of her jacket tore away from her skin in the process. Trowa's eyes widened for a second before he relaxed his features. Trowa hoped Heero hadn't seen the mark on Serena's neck. Serena jerked her arm away, quickly pulling her hair to cover the right side of her head as she glared at Heero.

"Leave Trowa's bike here. I'll drive you back myself," Heero said, his eyes tightening.

"That's not necessary. I only came here to switch our phones and that's it. You can track the route I took," Serena moved to cross her arms. "I know how much you love to see how many times I've never left the apartment."

Trowa could feel the tension rolling off Heero. Heero's face showed his anger and it was directly at Serena. Trowa was going to intervene when his office door opened, for the third time.

Everyone's eye landed on Wufei as he stepped into the room. Wufei lifted a brow as he took in the sight of everyone. Trowa looked shocked, Heero downright pissed, Duo had a confused look on his face, and Serena just stared blankly at him. Nodding his head, Wufei walked over to Serena.

"Can I borrow you for a few minutes?"

"For what?" Serena lifted a brow at him.

"Need you to take a look at something," Wufei watched as Serena turned to look at Heero before turning back to face him. Giving him a curt nod, Wufei turned on his heel. Sensing Serena falling into step behind him, he walked back out of Trowa's office.

It wasn't long before Wufei heard more footsteps. No doubt the rest of them were following. Wufei had no idea what he had walked into, but he had seen Duo escorting someone to Trowa's office. It didn't take long for him to figure out it was Serena. Why she was there, Wufei didn't care to know, but it did make things a little easier on him having Serena there.

Once they arrived at his office, Wufei had Serena sit down in his chair before he pulled up a new screen on his computer. Wufei glanced up to see Duo, Heero, and Trowa all standing around his desk, staring.

"Does any of this mean anything to you?" Wufei asked as he looked back at Serena. Her fingers immediately flew to the keys as she started typing. Her face hardened as she scanned the lines of data.

"They're coordinates," Serena said flatly. Wufei nodded his head.

"Yes, they are, but do any of them jump out at you?" Wufei asked. Serena paused in her typing to point to a line on the screen.

"This one. It was one of the satellites. Unfortunately, I don't think we'd find anything there," Serena said. It didn't take long for Duo, Heero, and Trowa to gather around the other side of the desk.

"That's off of L3, according to this," Duo said.

"Originally it was, but because it had a power system, there's a possibility that it may have been moved," Serena turned her head to look at Duo. "Chances are it's still there. The last time I was there was right before half of it was blown up."

Wufei was tempted to ask what Serena meant by her statement, but he refrained from doing so.

"What about any of these?" Wufei asked, pulling Serena's attention back to the screen. Her fingers glided over the keys as she highlighted a few more.

"These look familiar… but I can't be sure. Where did you get this?"

"The data that was recovered from our last mission," Wufei tipped his head at Serena. "The one where Barton found you. I decided to take a look myself after you and Heero went through it. Thanks for doing the hard part by the way," Wufei said. Serena frowned at him. "There was another file that you missed. It contained this list. Most are the locations of the Colonies and planets, but there are locations of other places like MO-V."

"As good as this information is, it's not accurate," Serena's frown deepened as she sat back.

"What do you mean?" Duo asked. "We have a list of possible places where these crazy Edwards's guys are."

"J probably wants you guys to think that," Serena shook her head. "Since the old base is on here chances are these coordinates aren't real," Serena pointed to one on the screen. "This one looks right, but if we look it up there's probably nothing there. Sending anyone would just be a waste of time, to be honest."

The room fell silent, as Serena started typing again, highlighting more locations.

"These aren't real, but there is a pattern," Serena said, pointing to one, "see this?" Moving to another she pointed out the same set of numbers. "These are just all random points but they are all centrally located."

"This is why I wanted you to look at them." Wufei nodded his head.

"Why, if you already knew?" Serena shot him a look.

"If I send this to you do you think you can dig deeper? There's a chance we may be able to find a location."

"I don't know all the locations. If I did, I would've said so by now."

"But you have a general idea," Wufei hardened his eyes. "If we have one location, you can find the rest," he said. Serena sat back in the chair, closing her eyes.

"I'll look at them but I don't think it'll help. As I've already said, I don't know all the locations. I can't even tell you where the rest of the Gundam was being built. The first location I showed you was the last one I was at. Then I was moved underground and wasn't privileged to the finer details of things."

"Exactly why was that?" Heero finally spoke for the first time. Serena's lip curled up into a smirk.

"Pissed off the wrong person," Serena said to Heero in Japanese.

Wufei arched his brow but decided against saying anything about the fact that Serena was saying something privately to Heero.

"How?" Heero asked.

"Remember how I told you I self-destructed?" Serena tilted her head at the screen. "I was the reason the base was destroyed. Should've used more explosives though," shrugging her shoulders, "but that's in the past."

"Um, do you guys mind speaking in a language we can all understand?" Duo asked. "If you're sharing some inside joke about me, that's not cool." Serena rolled her eyes while Heero glared at him.

"Wufei, just send everything and I'll see what I can do," Serena said. Wufei nodded his head, leaning over his desk and he hit a few keys.

"If we need to, we can cross-reference any with all currently known locations," Wufei said as he stood. Looking down at her, "all set."

Serena nodded her head as she rose from his chair. Serena opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Une opened Wufei's office door.

"So this is where-" Une's eyes hardened. "Lowell, what are you doing here?"

"I accidentally took her phone this morning," Trowa said. "Serena came to retrieve it."

Wufei glanced at Trowa. Wufei was starting to question Trowa's actions more. Trowa always seemed to be the first one to speak up on Serena's behalf, and once again Trowa had thrown himself into the fire. Wufei knew that Serena wasn't supposed to be there, but he had no plans of ratting her out. After they left, Wufei planned to pretend that he didn't know anything about Serena being there in the first place.

"Serena, you know you're not supposed to be here. Our meeting next week is one thing, but random visits are prohibited."

"I know," Serena said, moving around Wufei's desk. "I was just on my way out."

"Not so fast," Une held up a hand. "Since you're already here, Serena, I would like to go over something with you. Come to my office in about twenty minutes," Une said, turning on her heel. "I suggest the rest of you get back to work. And Yuy," Une threw over her shoulder. "Relena called looking for you. Her meeting is over."

Heero grumbled something under his breath as he walked past Serena, but not before stopping to speak with her. Serena waved a hand at him while she said something back to him. Heero's face deadpanned before he stormed out of the office. A smile formed on Serena's face once Heero was out of sight. Wufei didn't know what was said but it was clear Serena had pushed Heero's buttons in some way.

"You can come back to my office. I'll bring you up to Une's when it's time." Trowa smiled at Serena as he came to stand next to her. Serena nodded her head before she swept past Trowa, back out into the hallway.

Wufei sat down in his chair once the two left his office. He had a suspicion about Trowa and Serena but he wasn't ready to bet any money on it just yet. Wufei ideally wondered if Heero knew something and that was why Heero had said something to Serena before he left. But as quickly as the thought came to Wufei's mind, he brushed it aside. Heero was likely upset about something else that was related to Serena, but not about her and Trowa's closeness.

It likely had to do with the fact Serena was currently at HQ.

"Man, Serena makes things more interesting around here. Don't you agree, Wu?" Duo asked as he placed his hands behind his head.

"Stop calling me that and don't you have work to do, Maxwell?" Wufei glared at him before returning to his work.

"At least she's more fun," Duo stuck out his tongue before he moved to leave.

"I saw that. Why don't you shut my door? Just don't let it hit you in the ass on the way out. I don't need a permanent imprint of it."

Duo scoffed at him. Wufei waited until his door was shut before he let his smile show.

Trowa shut his office door, watching Serena as she walked over to his desk. Her fingers ran over his nameplate before she turned to face him.

"Now what?" Serena asked. Trowa took a few long strides, coming to stand in front of her.

"What do you mean?"

"I still have about fifteen minutes before I need to meet Une." Serena shrugged as she unzipped her jacket. Trowa lifted his hand, cupping her chin before tilting her head to the side.

"Sorry," he murmured. The bruised skin was a dead giveaway to what they had done.

"Why are you sorry?" Serena's eyes tightened. "Trowa, we should talk about this."

"What?"

"You said if we were going to do this, that we were going to do it the right way."

Trowa took a step back from Serena. Her whole demeanor had changed. Serena had gone from being relaxed to almost defensive with the way she was standing and staring at him.

"Yes, and I still believe we should," he said

"Why? We've already slept together. What's the difference?"

"What's the difference?" Trowa was shocked. He didn't want to believe what Serena was implying. "The difference is we're trying to have an actual relationship and not just some hookup." Serena's head tilted slightly as she looked at him. "Serena," Trowa started, running a hand through his hair. "If this isn't something you want, I won't force you into it. It's your decision."

"This isn't my decision, it's yours."

"Huh?"

"I'm not the person you think I am. Being with me will only cause you harm in the end."

"That's bullshit. I know who you are." Trowa tightened his eyes at her.

"I'm only warning you," Serena kept her voice low. "If you want this... just know you'd be risking everything by being with me."

"Why would I be risking everything?" Trowa's voice rose.

"Your job, your life," Serena shook her head. "I'm not worth it," she said quietly.

"What if I want to?" Trowa took a step closer to her. Serena's deep blue eyes flashed at him, almost as a warning. "What if I'm willing to risk everything?"

"I can't control anything that may happen from here on out. Are you willing to put any feelings for me aside to do what's right?"

"What do you mean?" He questioned her. Serena straightened herself to her full height.

"Are you willing to kill me if necessary?" She lifted her chin. "If the answer is yes then-"

"No," Trowa cut her off. Ranking a hand through his hair. Where was this coming from?

"You wouldn't kill me?" Serena's eyes tightened.

"No!" Trowa said harsher this time.

"Then we have our answer. I need to go meet Une, I don't want to be late," Serena said as she moved to walk past him. Reaching out, Trowa grabbed her arm pulling her back to him.

"I already have feelings for you. I've had them since I first met you. Asking me to just brush them aside isn't going to happen. This isn't my decision, it's yours. Think about it. If you choose not to pursue this, I'll understand," Trowa said before releasing her arm.

They stood staring at each other. Trowa kept searching Serena's face for something, anything to tell him what she was thinking. Minutes passed by, then slowly she took in a breath.

A/N

Happy Monday!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Any guesses as to how Serena got into Preventer? It's not like anyone can just enter the building and make their way through it. So there was a little phone mix-up. Heero's not happy, but that's nothing new. Heero has every right to be cautious when it comes to Serena and clearly, he does check up on her. On a random note, if you've been paying attention, Serena seems to know the layout of a lot of different places. Just file that information away. Keep it in the back of your mind.

Quickly, when we're in Wufei's POV, I left in what Serena and Heero are saying to each other. I know I've addressed this before, but I want to again. I left it in because it's not just original to the story, but mainly because you're getting more information that is privy to the story. I know it goes against the rules, but I swear there's importance to that. And, she's telling Heero, and not anyone else. Keep that in mind.

I made a reference to G-Unit and I debated taking out it, but my friend would likely hit me upside the head and stop helping me with editing. Btw, thank you friend for continuing to put up with me. I think it's a nice little nod and I'm kicking myself for not doing more for other series. Maybe I'll sprinkle them in somehow... don't hold me to that.

Trowa and Serena and their never-ending trying to figure out what the hell is going on between them! Woohoo! I know I'm making fun of it, but there is some seriousness to it. Remember the conversation they just had in Trowa's office and what possibly might be Serena's answer in the next chapter. But keep all that information filed away. What I do really like about this relationship from a real-world perspective is there are sometimes doubts and concerns when you enter a new relationship, (mainly you're still learning things about the other person) but there's also the fun and excitement of it. There are a lot of feelings going on and I want to let Trowa and Serena experience that, considering I have Heero and Relena already in a relationship in this story, along with everyone else. But they've all had years to figure this stuff out. Remember Serena knows a lot more about Trowa than he knows about her. And you the readers don't have her full story yet either...

Without giving too much away for Wednesday's upload, what do you think Une wants to speak to Serena about? Does it have anything to do with what she's been doing aside from looking through personnel files? Maybe. Maybe not.

Until Wednesday's chapter, Secret Plans, have a great rest of your Monday!
-MM

P.S. Does anyone love Duo for coming up with a pet name for Trowa? Does Duo know something?