CHAPTER ONE
Duo walked into the small apartment and shut the door softly behind him. He could hear music coming from the bedroom. A clear sign that Caryme was home and practicing. He pushed the bedroom door open silently and watched.
Her body swayed and her hips moved to the beat of the music and she began to weave her spell through her dance. She was no longer on earth, but had risen to the stars as the music took her over. She was the music; the music was her.
Duo continued to watch her move; mesmerized. As many times as he'd seen her dance, he could never get enough. To him, it was amazing the way she could give herself entirely to the music, to the dance.
She'd been at it for a while now, he could tell, a thin sheen of sweat covered her body, her face was flushed, and her reddish auburn hair, pulled back in a tight ponytail to keep out of her face, was damp with sweat. But none of that could change her beauty; her icy blue eyes were closed as she went off to whatever place it was she went when she danced. She was 5'7" and had the perfect 36-24-36 figure. The muscles rippled through her long legs as she continued to dance, oblivious to his presence.
Finally the music stopped and she came back down to earth.
Duo clapped and smirked when she whirled and faced him in surprise.
"You're back." She said, composing herself.
"Yes." He replied simply.
"I take it your," her lips quirked into a smirk, "mission was successful." She said.
He nodded. "Amateurs."
She smiled. "Good."
"Practicing?" He asked innocently.
She sighed. "Yes, the competition is this Saturday."
"Ah."
"Well I'm going to go get a shower. Are you staying here tonight?" She asked.
He nodded.
"Okay." She replied quietly exiting the room.
He sighed and flopped down on her bed. Something was aching, his heart he supposed. These games that they played were bothering him, but he knew the way the game was played, and he knew the rules when he started. Perhaps he just didn't think, it'd last this long, or that it would end up like this.
He shook his head, clearing his thoughts and focused on his breathing before drifting off into the dangerous, dream ridden world off unconsciousness.
Caryme turned off the shower and dried herself off with a towel; she wrapped it lazily around her and walked out into the hallway. The phone rang when she reached her room. She turned it away so Duo wouldn't be seen in the vid-screen and then flicked it on.
Trowa's image flickered to life. He raised an eyebrow at her appearance in only a towel, but otherwise his expression stayed completely blank. "Are you busy tonight?" He asked. That simple question held more meaning than a person listening in would know, of course that was the point. Sometimes a part of her wondered why he even bothered asking anymore.
She smiled sweetly at him and shook her head. "Usual place?" she questioned.
He nodded.
"See ya there then." She replied.
"Bye." With that the vid-screen flickered black again.
She turned to her closet and quickly got dressed in a simple short black skirt, a blood red sleeveless shirt, and black boots completed the outfit. Not too dressy, comfortable, and easy to get out of.
She glanced over at Duo; he looked so cute and innocent in his sleep. She smiled softly and slipped off his shoes, and covered him with a thin blanket. She leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek. He made a soft sound and she shushed him. "I'm going out with Trowa, I'll be back later on tonight." She whispered in his ear, not sure if heard her or not. "Goodnight."
She grabbed a comb and slipped out of the room and silently out of the apartment, locking the door behind her. She walked down the street towards the place she usually met Trowa combing her damp hair. He met her there a few minutes after she got there. They got in his car and he began to drive towards him apartment. "Your place?" She asked with mild surprise.
"Mia isn't home." He responded simply.
She nodded.
They reached his apartment and let them in before he shut and locked the door. The rest of the night was given to passion and ecstasy.
He woke in his bed only to find he was alone. Caryme must have left sometime in the night.
He sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes tiredly, he glanced over at the alarm clock next to the bed. 6:00 in the morning, the alarm should be going off by now.
It did.
"Hn." He slapped it and it shut up, when he brought his hand back it brushed something else on the nightstand.
A picture.
A picture of Mia and himself on their wedding day. Mia looked wonderful, her long blonde hair pulled back in an elegant French twist, her blue eyes full of happiness as she smiled at the camera. He looked calmly at the camera, the tiniest bit of happiness showing in his emerald green eye. So tiny most people would miss it, but it was still there.
He knew it was wrong, what he and Caryme were doing. Mia deserved better than that. But there was something about Caryme that drew him to her, making him keep going back to her. He didn't know what it was, and sometimes frankly he didn't care. She always came when he called, she'd meet him at what had become "the usual place" and he took her somewhere, mostly hotels, they'd get there and have the most wild, passionate, mind blowing sex he's ever experienced. Nobody made him feel the way she did and he didn't think anyone ever could. He always felt empty, like something was missing when he was with Mia, although he'd never show it. Something only Caryme could fill.
It was wrong. He was a married man. He shouldn't be spending his nights with another woman.
Caryme knew and understood. She met him in secret and always left before Mia came around. She never said anything to make Mia, or anyone else the slightest bit suspicious and everyone just thought they were co-workers who didn't know each other very well, but were never unfriendly to each other.
Trowa snorted. Unfriendly; no. Too friendly; perhaps.
Some nights when they knew Mia wouldn't be back for a while, she would stay with him, curl up beside him and fall asleep. When she did that she looked like a beautiful angel. His little angel.
He shook that thought away and got up, took a quick shower, got dressed in his preventer uniform, threw the sheets in the washer and left for work.
"Honey Mia called earlier saying that she was going to send over some papers you need to sign." Catherine called to Quatre from the bathroom.
He pulled on his vest before replying, "Okay, thanks."
Catherine walked out of the bathroom and smiled at him. "You know it's really great that she's taken over half the family business, you've had a lot more time at home."
Quatre turned and smiled at his wife. "Yes it's been great and Mia's glad to do it so I guess it works out for the best."
She nodded. She gave him a quick hug and said, "You better go or you'll be late."
Quatre nodded. "See you later." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and then left the house.
When Quatre reached the preventer office, the first place he went was the break room. There he poured himself a large cup of coffee and added lots of milk and sugar, that way it didn't taste so much like coffee and closer to hot chocolate. Coffee was too bitter for his tastes.
In the corner of the break room sat Duo and Caryme. Caryme was sitting on top of the counter and Duo was on a stool next to her. They were whispering quietly to themselves. Flirting probably. Quatre smiled, personally he couldn't wait until they finally got together, if they ever did, he thought they would make an excellent couple.
He started to walk over to them and they stopped talking, which made him wonder what they were talking about.
"Good morning Quatre." Caryme greeted him with a smile.
"Wassup, Q-man?" Duo greeted with his trademark grin.
"Hey guys. Caryme I've been meaning to ask you, if you'd help me get out from under this load of paperwork I've got to do. You said if it got too bad, you'd help. It got bad."
Caryme smiled sympathetically at him. "Sure I'll help. Do you want me to stay late with you tonight?"
"Sure that'd be great. Thanks."
"No prob."
"Well I better get to work, you two should too if you don't want Une harping at you." Quatre said.
"What else is new? She should at least let me finish my coffee first." Duo said taking another sip of his black coffee, as black as you could get it. Quatre didn't understand how he could drink that stuff.
"Why so you have enough energy to think up an excuse for not working?" Caryme teased.
"At least this stuff wakes me up better than that stuff you drink." He said motioning to the Kiwi-Strawberry Snapple Caryme held in her hand.
"It may not wake me up as well, but at least it tastes good." She countered.
Quatre shook his head with a smile. "I'll see you guys later." With that he left them in the break room arguing over whose drink was better.
After Quatre left Caryme said, "Whatever, my drinks better and that's final."
"Says who?" Duo asked.
"Me."
"Ri-ight, whatever." He took another gulp of his coffee.
Caryme took a small drink of her Snapple before asking in a lower voice, "So are you doing it tonight?"
"Yeah, I think so." He replied.
"Tonight would probably be best." She told him.
"I know." He paused to take another drink and then said, "You came back late last night."
"I told you I was going out with him." She replied.
"I don't remember that."
"You must have already fallen asleep."
"Probably. So where was it this time?"
She took a drink. "His place."
Duo's eyes widened and he choked on his coffee. "His place? Isn't that a bit risky?"
She smiled at him and patted his back lightly. "I'm truly touched by your concern, but may I remind you that you're going over to her place tonight. Isn't that just as risky?"
"Yes, but her husband won't be there, plus in a way I think I want her to find out tonight, after everything of course but still."
"His wife wasn't home last night either." She reminded him.
"True, but do you want her to know?" he asked.
She took another drink. "No, I suppose not."
"Then there you go." He said before he downed the rest of his coffee.
She downed the rest of her Snapple as well and they got up to leave.
"Duo, Lady Une was looking for you earlier she said she needed to talk to you about your workload or something." Wufei said as he entered the break room.
"Uh-oh, I better go before she finds me, catch ya guys later!" And with that Duo ran out of the break room and down the hallway.
Wufei rolled his eyes at Duo's behavior while Caryme just smiled. "Oh Wufei I wanted to congratulate you and Sally on your engagement. When's the wedding?"
"Thank you. We haven't set a specific date yet, but sometime in the spring. Sally's doing most of the planning though, so you may want to talk to her about it."
Caryme smiled. "And you just stand there and agree with whatever color napkins she says and whatever kind of cake she wants and all that."
Wufei nodded. "It's the wisest thing to do when it comes to Sally and her wedding. It's important to her so whatever she wants as long as the price isn't too outrageous is fine."
"Well that's good. I'm happy for you."
"Thank you."
"Well I'd better get to work. See ya later, Wufei." With that she walked out of the break room and disappeared down the hall.
Caryme sighed as she finished the first stack of paperwork Quatre had given her after work had ended for the day and then eyed the second one warily. She'd gotten all her regular work done early and had worked through her lunch to do a stack half the size of the one's that loomed on her desk at that moment. She'd been there a good few hours. Every so often Quatre would stop by and check on her, mainly give her more hot chocolate (they'd found some in the back cabinet) and thank her again for all her help and then go back to his stacks. She could tell his words were true and that he was extremely happy to see those big stacks transferred from his desk to hers. Not that she could blame him it wasn't the most interesting thing to do with your time. The work wasn't necessarily hard; it just took more time than it was worth.
She downed the rest of her now cold, hot chocolate and rubbed her eyes tiredly. Staring at a computer screen for several hours straight just couldn't be a very nice thing to do to your eyes. She put her head in her arms and sighed again.
"Aww, is it just too much for the poor little girl to handle?" a voice from behind her asked in an annoyingly fake sweet tone.
"No more paperwork!" she moaned.
He laughed and patted her head in mock of affection. "Poor little girl."
She raised her head and stuck her tongue out at him.
He just smiled more.
"What are you still doing here Duo?" She asked.
"Une finally caught up with me. Turns out she wanted me to cover some rookies work who is on sick leave for two weeks." He replied.
"And you got it all finished tonight?" she asked incredulously.
"Nah, but I got enough of head start, I won't have to worry about it for a while."
"What happened to the rookie?"
"Une didn't tell me."
"Oh. Well you better get going if you're going to do it tonight." She reminded him.
"Oh, yeah, what time is it."
"About eight by now."
"Alright, well I'll see ya tomorrow."
"You aren't coming over tonight?" she asked.
"No, I talked to my land lady at lunch today and finally convinced her to give me another chance. So I got my apartment back."
"For awhile." She muttered.
"Hey!"
She smiled at him. "You better get going."
He nodded. "Yeah, see ya." With that he disappeared around the corner.
She was still smiling until she looked back at the second stack again. It seemed to loom over her with intimidating triumph. Daring her to try and get it done.
She moaned again and put her head in her hands. It was going to be a very, very, very long night.
She blinked when she answered the door and he was standing in the doorway. It'd been awhile since she'd seen him last. He leaned against the doorframe with an almost feline grace that was effortlessly seductive. The years had definitely been extremely nice to him. He had matured greatly, grown quieter and more reserved, yet still full of life and energy. His formally thin and wiry body had filled out quite nicely, the lithe muscles perfectly defined even in the leather jacket he was wearing. His heart-shaped face had lost some of its cherubic sweetness, and had gained some more mature, masculine beauty. He looked less like a boy, and more like the man he would soon become.
She usually found him to be too loud and crude for her tastes, but there was no denying that he was immensely attractive. He certainly looked very attractive tonight, in a sleek black leather jacket, even darker pants, and a white shirt with the top button open. On anyone else it would have looked common and almost trashy, but on him, it looked surprisingly elegant.
She caught herself staring and quickly asked, "What are you doing here?"
He smiled. "Hello Miss Relena. I came by because Heero called me and asked me to get some preventer information for him." He replied coolly.
She blushed when she realized she was being rude for no reason. "Oh yes, please come in." She stepped aside and let him pass. He glanced around the living room taking in the light candles and the dinner set for two at the large kitchen table. The kitchen, dining room, and living room were quite spacious for an apartment.
"You've gone all out." He observed.
"Yes, it's our—"
"Anniversary, yes I know. I'm sorry Heero couldn't make it tonight, but you know him, he lives his life by his—"
"Missions, yes I know, it's just that they seem to come at the worst times. He even had to leave on our honeymoon, something about an emergency."
He turned to her and closed the distance between them. He was so close, in reach, she could feel his body warmth radiating off of him, she could smell his vanilla scented shampoo and his clean smelling soap. She stared into his bright violet eyes, pools she could drown in. He was close. So close, she could touch him if she just reached out and—no!
"He said that?" there was something in his tone that made her look at him in curiosity. "I'm sorry." He brushed a strand of hair from her face and she looked away. He put a finger under her chin and raised her head up for her eyes to meet his. "Is there something wrong, Miss Relena?"
"It's nothing really, it's just that Heero seems so distant and cold lately. He's always been like that I know, but I thought that perhaps I could change that in some way, get him to open up to me more, but some days he seems to just ignore me completely—" She stopped not wanting to continue about her love-life, or lack of one, with him. She didn't even know why she'd said as much as she had.
"Miss Relena."
"Yes?"
He caressed her cheek and brought his face down closer to her and whispered in her ear. "Heero's an idiot."
He was so close, if she turned her head just so she'd be able to—no! She finally thought about the words he had just said and slapped his arm playfully. "Hey now! That's my husband you're talking about!"
Duo flashed her his trademark grin and bounced into the office down the hall, then back to her with a disk in his hand. "Well he is! Just don't tell him I said that. I've gotten enough death glares to last me a lifetime." He said still smiling.
She smiled back at him and laughed a little. "Would you like to stay for dinner? It's already ready and there's no use in me waiting for someone's who never going to show up."
Duo hesitated.
"Please?"
He smiled. "Sure I'd love to."
Relena Darlin Yuy woke up in her bed alone, yawned, a small amount of sunlight poured through the slits in her blinds; she glanced at her alarm clock. It was early enough she could still get another good hour of sleep. She turned on her side and closed her eyes.
Her eyes suddenly snapped open again when memories from the night before flooded into her mind. Duo had come over to get something for Heero and he stayed for dinner where he seduced her and they—they had sex! Shit! She had slept with her husband's best friend. She had committed a crime and a sin. And she had liked it. No, loved it, she'd begged him to continue, screamed his name when—it was the best sex she'd ever had, far better than anything she and Heero had ever done together. And that just made the guilt far worse. What was she going to do? What would Heero say? What would she tell Heero? Would she tell him about it at all?
She buried her head in her hands, lost, confused, and scared.
She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts she didn't notice the letter sitting on her nightstand.