Disclaimer: NO, I don't own them.
Oh yes, before I forget: A lot of thanks go to my beta-reader Killraven, for being so patient with me and this fic, and my friends (aka, Relena-sama, Lady Une, Sally, and Blivy. Iria too. ::smirk::). You know who you are.
Sally groaned irritably and glared at the keypad in front of her. "Three… four… nine… six… damn it!" It had been a few tries now, and the door obstinately refused to open. "Why couldn't they have kept keys… or key-cards…?" Finally the lock clicked cooperatively, allowing her entrance. It was the first time she'd been home since the Mariemaia incident, just under a week's time…making it December 30th, early morning. Damn, New Year's Eve is tomorrow…does the public seriously expect to deal with another major holiday?
Lights were on in the apartment's living room, and Sally shook her head in mock indignation as she walked into it.
"Noin, I could have sworn I've lectured you already on how sleeping two hours a day is-"
She stopped abruptly, surprised, confused, and attempting to discern whether she should draw her gun or not. Noin was asleep on the couch, schematics for something foreign to her spread across the low coffee table. A platinum-blonde stranger was bent over her in the process of covering her with a blanket. He didn't notice Sally in the doorway.
"Who are you?" she demanded sharply, right hand reaching for the pistol she carried. The stranger blinked and turned, not the least bit afraid. That in and of itself was enough to unnerve her. She was a damned Preventer; one of the only government officials allowed to carry lethal weapons, and he was just looking at her as if she didn't belong.
"Zechs Merquise," he said bluntly. "Preventer Wind. I assume you are Sally Po?"
"Preventer Water," Sally confirmed, not even trying to disguise the mild distaste in her glance as her hand dropped. She gestured idly to the sleeping and thankfully oblivious Noin, waiting for an explanation.
"We were working and she fell asleep." The answer was brief and divulged nothing further. Zechs rose, picking up his jacket and putting it on. "Excuse me, I'll be out of your way in a moment." He paused. "Please tell Noin I'll give her the rest of the information later."
"No, no…" Sally grimaced and swallowed her vitriol for her friend's sake. Noin would kill her if she let him leave. "Stay with us, please. There's a guest bedroom - an oversized closet, essentially, but…" She bit her lip, hoping he wouldn't be difficult.
"Very well." Zechs nodded stiffly, silently grateful. "Thank you for your hospitality."
+++
Noin shook Sally's shoulder lightly, trying to get her to wake up. "Sal, wake up. It's ten in the morning; breakfast is almost done. Sally!"
The Preventer in question sleepily opened her eyes. "Leave me alone," she complained, unruly yellow hair spilling over her face.
"Oh, come on." Noin roughly pulled her upright with a smirk. "You fell asleep with your clothes on, no less. Just come out and eat with us when you're ready."
Sally was too tired to note the plural subject.
"Noin, I don't care what you made," Sally announced fifteen minutes later, typing up her damp hair, "I'm not eating the overcooked poison you claim is food."
Noin chuckled, looking up from her laptop. "I know I can't cook; you don't have to remind me. So be happy Zechs is the one making breakfast."
"Um. Right." Sally dimly remembered inviting him to stay with them, and cursed her only semi-functional brain. And I have no one to blame for this but myself…at least Noin's pleased with the outcome.
Said guest was in their kitchen, involved in making eggs benedict*. She arched her eyebrows. The ex-White Fang leader could cook?
"Noin," Zechs called, "You don't appear to have any milk."
"I thought we had an extra gallon," Noin replied in confusion, hands stilling over the keyboard.
"You do…but it's three weeks past the expiration date. And half the English muffins are older than that."
Sally glanced up from the cup of coffee Noin had given her, looking suspiciously into the mug before venturing an explanation for the horrid state of their food. "We don't eat here often."
"I'll go out and get it," Noin offered, closing the laptop and slipping into her jacket.
"Thank you," Zechs said.
"No need." She smiled, paused for a moment. "I'm certain Sally can attest we normally don't eat breakfast at all." The odd expression of gratitude ended, and Sally waited to hear the click from the door lock to reassure her Noin had left.
Sally felt an uncomfortable silence set in with the click. It wasn't that she didn't like the erstwhile Peacecraft - there had to be something that made Noin love him so much - but there was the icy mannerism that set her teeth on edge and didn't let her trust him. Noin was her best friend, and she had seen how fighting against him had torn her apart, had seen how her failure to bring him back had nearly destroyed her. The last thing she wanted was Noin to be hurt.
"You have no idea how happy you've made her," she informed him abruptly, "by coming back."
"I think I may know," Zechs responded quietly, still concentrating on cooking the eggs. "I am…pleased to be with her again, as well."
Who the hell does he think he is? Sally asked herself, frustrated at his wording and the answer itself.
"You certainly don't act it," she retorted slightly, the coffee suddenly turned acrid in her mouth. "You know she loves you. But you don't do anything about it."
"I came back."
"You left." Something twisted in his face, and Sally mentally berated herself for hitting the wrong button. Then she stopped, wasn't sorry she'd said it. The reason it upset him was because it was true. "Did you know, that when she came back from Libra, she was practically in tears?"
"No, I didn't." He cracked an egg against the counter in a barely controlled movement, shifting one pan away from the fire in a hopeless effort to keep from losing control of his emotions. "But I'm sorry she was."
"I'm sure you know it was your fault all of that ended up happening…you couldn't even bring yourself to live for her, because you couldn't deal with one damned truth," Sally snapped, almost not believing the vindication in her voice.
"What truth is that?" His tone was deadly quiet, now refusing to betray any form of emotion.
"That Cinq was dead and you had no one to blame for it."
The silence stretched, stressing nerves almost to the breaking point. Zechs and Sally, who'd only met that morning at odd hours, were staring at each other, one with venom and the other impassively. All for one person they loved dearly as a friend and more.
Zechs turned away, spooning some of the cooked eggs onto the few useable English muffins in the apartment, placing them deftly on a plate - all the while avoiding Sally's eyes. By this point she'd run out of words, wondering if she'd have to face either an angry Zechs or Noin. But she knew should Zechs ever speak to her about what she'd maliciously snapped at him, her name would not arise. She wasn't sure whether that were beneficial or not.
"Zechs, I hope these are okay, I got the milk too…" Noin trailed off, watching their silent actions in an effort to ignore each other, as she walked into the small kitchen, looking at Sally over the open counter looking towards the living room.
"Yes, Noin, they're fine, thank you." Zechs took the bag from her, finishing the plate quickly. Sally remained quiet as Noin helped him set the table and serve the food.
"This is good, Zechs," Noin remarked softly as she ate, trying to get her two companions to utter more than a sentence.
"I'm glad you like it," he replied in kind.
"Don't you think so, Sally?" She tried again, more frustrated and confused with each attempt.
"Hm? Yes, of course." The small table in the kitchen's corner fell silent once more, Sally wondering why Noin was even trying.
She picked up her plate and deposited it in the sink, hopelessly uncomfortable. "Well then," Noin commented helplessly, "I'm going to drop by headquarters. Lady Une may have made us take some time off, but she can't kick me out of my own office." She smiled in what she hoped was adequate levity, attempting to ease the tension in the room.
Sally glanced up at Zechs, wondering if he would tag along with her. "I'll go with you," he offered, almost on cue.
Noin nodded briefly, turning to her. "Sal? Do you want to come?
"No, thank you." Sally forced a smile and shook her head.
"Very well, then," she said doubtfully. As her former partner, Sally had no doubt Noin could see through her transparent formality.
+++
"Here." Noin found the old transmission and pulled it up on the computer screen, pointing it out to Zechs. "I found all the Federation** info on their attempted terraforming of Mars. Damn old databases wouldn't even recognize Lady Une's OZ clearance, when even I should have been able to enter as a lieutenant-colonel."
"Hacking?"
"Most definitely. Either way, they did get a lot done before the project was halted. In the Common Era***, carbon dioxide comprised 95.32 percent of the atmosphere. By 150 A.C., it was down to 32.67 percent. The Federation even bioengineered cold-resistant plants to help the mechano-chemical process…it's been nearly fifty years, but I'm betting those plants mutated to survive, doing most of the work for us."
"I sense a problem." Zechs knew Preventers wouldn't be making such a big deal about the project - which was nowhere near what they had been doing for the past year - if there weren't something that could be, or was, a difficulty for them.
"I was getting to that. The feds and Romefeller feared creating another Earth - and possibly another set of colonies, far from a remote possibility. So when they abandoned the project…"
"They left behind something to make sure others wouldn't continue it for them."
"Correct." Lady Une walked into the office. "Space mines, to be precise - primitive and highly dangerous."
"Lady." Noin nodded. Zechs, standing behind her, did as well.
"I knew one, both, or all of you would eventually disobey me and come work, so I figured I should have something for you to do. Apparently, Po is the more intelligent one." Face not registering the quip, Une handed Noin a disk that she inserted into the computer she was on.
"Are you serious?" Zechs asked, in slight disbelief as he read over Noin's shoulder. "Terraforming doesn't appear to be exactly under Preventers jurisdiction…"
"Loopholes, Preventer Wind," she smirked. "We have no jurisdiction, at least, not a clear one." Lady Une frowned. "As Noin just explained to you, the old Federation and Romefeller feared creating another Earth, and with it, another set of colonies." The implication remained clear - and with it, the reason why Preventers found it of such importance. "That's still very much a possibility now.
"We need Preventers over there for the chance of rebellion, people who can deal with space mines. You two are the most qualified, even more so as you're some of the few with leadership skills."
"You are…certain, Lady Une?" Noin voiced, concern evident. If we went…we'd be gone for a good while, this…this being a lifetime project isn't out of the question.
"Yes, Noin. I'm certain. Unless one or both of you doesn't want to take the position…"
+++
Three days later
Zechs stepped into Sally and Noin's apartment, wondering if she would still be there. Surely enough, she was there, working at her own computer. Neither of those two can go without work for more than a day or two without going insane, can they…?
She acknowledged him with a formal nod. "Wind. Where's Noin?"
"Please, call me Zechs." He quietly noted she was being beyond formal through the use of his codename. "Noin is still at headquarters, working," he informed her, with a slight sigh as he set down his jacket. "I wanted to apologize for inconveniencing you these past few days."
"No." Sally grimaced. "You really haven't, at least, not anything that you didn't make up for with Noin. She's my friend, I just…either way I was a jerk and shouldn't have been arguing with you in the first place."
"Except you were entirely correct and are aware of that as well." She shrugged; deciding honesty was best in this particular situation. The few days she'd had to spend with Zechs told her he wouldn't give up on a subject once he started. For better or worse… "Fairly enough, yes."
"That's what I was apologizing for. What you were correct about."
"Well, it's not me you should be apologizing to," Sally remarked. "But you know who it is. Promise me you won't hurt her?"
"For so long as I can help it," he responded.
"Good." She smirked. "Or else I'll go all the way to Mars to kick your ass."
*Essentially spiced, chopped-up eggs on an English muffin with stuff on top of it - those who eat breakfast at restaurants or have more culinary-inclined relatives should be familiar with it. Personally I hate eggs benedict, but my family loves it when my aunt makes it. ::shrug::
**Translation variant of the Alliance. I just like it better. ^_^
***To be politically correct, we no longer use the anno domino (a.d.) dating system, but rather the C.E. - Common Era. (Separation of church and state. The things you learn in social studies.)