Marimeia's Engagement Marimeia's Engagement
By West Wind
Chapter 5 ~ Suspicions

Author's Note: Thanks to those who gave me suggestions on how to continue. The suggestions helped spur some interesting plot ideas that I hope make the story interesting. I was wanting to make this chapter longer but it is taking me a while to write even when I know where I want to go with it. Hopefully the muse will strike, and I can turn out the next chapter quicker than I did this one.

There is an overlap in time in this chapter and the last. Hope it is not confusing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or its characters. I bet you're surprised.

~~*~~*~~

The more time Lynn was in HQ, the more the sense of wrongness about her bubbled up to the foreground of Heero's mind. His soldier instinct had told him to be wary of her from the start, and he had. Nibbling in the back of his mind was the unconfirmed knowledge that there was something more to her, a threat she posed to Heero and those he cared about. Heero mulled the problem over as he searched for the source of his distrust. It was not the blatant passes she made at him that bothered him. He could handle those easily enough. All he would have to do is report her for harassment. If she continued after that, her job would be at stake. However that would not keep her from taking out retribution outside of work or other means. The thought that she might even hurt his fiancée froze him mid thought. It felt like his stomach was filled with rocks and was slowly sinking with their weight. That was what was nagging at him. She might harm Marimeia.

Even if Lynn was not the enemy, Heero was going to treat her like one since his emotions and instinct were telling him to be wary of her. Those were two things to be heeded and not dismissed lightly. They had served him well in the past, and he opted to heed their warning. The first think you should always do before going into battle is to know as much about your enemy as possible. He had seen her file and had summarized her personality for himself, but he wanted the view from those who had known her longer. So, he called her former supervisor.

"Smith, here," came the voice on the other end of the phone.

"Smith, I am Preventer Yuy from Preventer HQ," stated Heero. "I want to ask you a few questions about Lynn Scott."

"Is she in trouble? Did she do something wrong?" Smith asked.

"No," Heero reassured, "she has done nothing wrong. She has been as good as her record indicates."

"She is a very good operative," Smith said with pride beaming through his voice. "Trained her myself."

"Bingo," thought Heero for this person would know Miss Scott and her motives fairly well.

"I was sorry to see her go, but orders are orders," continued Smith.

Heero only grunted a reply hoping Smith would continue talking about Lynn.

"You said you had questions about her?"

"I was wondering if you ever had any problems with Lynn being manipulative or stirring up trouble among the ranks?" asked Heero.

"No," answered Smith with disbelief threaded through his reply, "Lynn would never stir up trouble or be manipulative unless a mission called for it. She is a bit of a recluse, a loner. That is what made her good for solo missions, even if it makes others uneasy around her. She is practical to a fault, level headed and honest. If asked for an opinion, she would give you the flat out truth," Smith chuckled.

Heero took in the information being relayed to him by Smith and it was not fitting with the Lynn Scott he knew. He thanked the man for his time before hanging up.

Heero flipped through Lynn's record again examining its contents. He started with her physical statistics.

Name: Lynn Scott
Sex: Female
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 137 lbs.
Hair color Brown
Eye color Brown
Vision: 20/20
Other distinguishing characteristics: Right handed, scare on left knee

Heero's attention was drawn back to "Vision: 20/20." Records indicated she had perfect vision, then why did she ware contacts. Heero had seen the tented plastic disks hovering on the surface of her orbs.

The feeling of wrongness continued to grow the more he dug. There were too many things not lining up. There was trouble brewing and he had to stop it before the pot boiled over. He would talk to Lady Une tonight.

~~*~~

Heero was greeted by Lady Une as he entered her home.

"Evening, Heero," she smiled at him.

"Evening," he replied. "May I talk to you for a moment in private?"

Anna notice Heero's down to business tone and knew something was up. Heero's eyes scanned the house in search of his future bride.

"She is out back tending the flowers," she informed, "but come, we can talk in my study."

Anna ushered Heero to her study where he laid out all his facts and speculations about their new agent. Anna's face showed her deep concern as the problem was unfolded before her. As Heero wrapped up, Anna shook her head in frustration.

"How could this happen?"

"We don't know for sure that it has," pointed out Heero. "We have no proof she is not Lynn Scott, only facts that are not fitting together like they should."

"We are going to have to tread lightly with this," cautioned Anna. "We can't accuse agents of being traitors without proof, and we don't want to spook her into bolting or alerting who she works for while we find it. Any suggestions?"

"I have a few ideas, not precisely by the book though."

"I see," Anna replied with a twinkle in her eye. "Heero, I trust you to do what is best in this situation. Report to me with your progress."

Heero gave her a crisp nod of acceptance before he left the study to find Marimeia. Heero stepped out the back door to find his love across the yard with her back to him, pulling weeds, and murmuring to herself. Heero silently moved across the soft green grass to stand behind the very focused Marimeia. He snaked his arms around her waist and kissed her on the back of the neck before pulling her off the ground to a standing position. He felt her jump at his unexpected touch. Marimeia turned, saw it was Heero, and calmed down before letting Heero know the unneeded fright he put her through and he should never do that again. Heero could not help but be amused at her tirade before he silenced her with a kiss. He marveled, as he always did, at how natural it felt to have her in his arms, to be kissing her. Marimeia leaned against him for support which he gladly gave.

When Marimeia looked up at him lovingly and ran her fingers through his contrary bangs, Heero's heart melted and he knew he had to protect her. If anything ever happened to her, he would be crushed. The little read-head girl he had once stopped from taking over the world was now the world to him. He thanked God for the blessing of her love.

"You have a gray hair in your bangs," she announced.

"I know," he replied. "There are a couple others scattered in my hair. Don't look so shocked, it is only natural as one gets close to thirty."

She smiled up at him and let out a stifled giggle. Heero arched an eyebrow in quandary of her amusement.

"I guess it could be worse. You could be loosing hair rather than it turning gray," Marimeia said and started laughing.

Heero stared at her as she seemed to find great amusement in her statement.

"Don't worry. I would still love you even it you were bald," she said as she tapped his nose with her finger before dancing away and into the house.

Heero watched her gracefully move away from him and enter the house before he followed her in. She offered him a glass of lemonade when he entered the kitchen which he accepted. The two sat at the bar quietly sipping their drinks.

"What are we going to do about Lynn?" inquired Marimeia.

"Uh…" he responded.

The question had caught Heero off guard. There was no way she would know what he had only told Lady Une, so he was unsure what she was referring to.

"You have become a challenge to her and she is not going to give up until she wraps her vines around you and takes over."

"Don't worry. It will be taken care off," he reassured her as his briefly outlined plan reminded Heero of its presence..

~~*~~

Heero called Duo into his office. The energetic man cast himself into the chair and stretched out as he always did.

"What's on your mind, Heero?" he asked exuberantly.

"I need you help," Heero stated.

"What kind of help?"

"Help getting rid of a 'weed' as Marimeia puts it."

"Lynn," said Duo in more of a statement than a question. "She is pretty determined. What are you going to do to shake her? You could report her for harassment."

"I believe the problem goes deeper than that," Heero informed his friend.

"What are you saying, Heero?"

"I think our Lynn Scott might be a replacement."

Duo narrowed his eyes at Heero in disbelief while questions dancing on the tip of his tong to get out.

Heero continued, "I need you help to execute my plan,"

"You can count on me," Duo confirmed his help in whatever his friend was planning.

Heero proceeded to inform Duo of his plan and they worked out the few areas Heero had not gotten to yet.

~~*~~

"Heero," called Duo across the room full of cubicles, which was not unusual for Duo.

Most of the cubicles occupants had long ago gotten use to Duo's voice moving across the room. If he was not calling to someone down the hall, he was talking to someone beside him, or himself.

Heero stopped and turned as Duo trotted up to Heero's side. Duo through his arm over his friend's shoulder, and they continued to walk down the hall.

"I just heard of a new place that opened a few weeks ago that had the coolest band. You have to come with me to check it out," Duo told Heero.

"I don't think it is something I would enjoy," Heero responded.

"Come on, it will be fun," Duo said slightly pleading as the two made their way into Heero's office.

The door shut behind them, and Duo continued talking.

"How much more arm twisting am I suppose to do before you accept?"

"Hangout for at least five minutes," said Heero.

"How are the wedding plans coming?" asked Duo.

"We are slowly making progress. We booked the reception hall and church. She picked out her dress last weekend. There is still much to be done."

"It will be here before you know it," teased Duo.

"I think you will really like this band," said Duo as he changed topics. "Well, time to see if our quarry will take the bate."

With that Duo walked out the door and down the hall to his own office to continue his day's activity. A half an hour later Duo decided he needed a drink and made his way to the vending machines in the breakroom to purchase a soda. Duo place the change into the machine, pushed the button and retrieved the can that fell into the slot. He opened the can and took a swig before heading back to his office. Before he got back he was stopped by Lynn.

"I heard you telling Heero about a new place in town. Where is it? It sounds like fun," she asked.

"It is down on Elm and 10th. They are to have this really great local band their tonight and tomorrow," Duo answered.

"I might have to check it our," she said.

~~*~~

TBC … Chapter 6 ~ The Trap