~*~ Preventer Office Hallway ~*~
~*~ 10:30 AM ~*~


"And this," Relena said, leading Trey into a room full of swords and knives, " is the office of Wufei Chang and Sally Po."

Trey looked around, without seeming to convey any emotion whatsoever. Relena led her to the next room. Papers, pens, toys, all littered the floor.

"This is the office of Duo Maxwell and Hilde Sphbiker," Relena said, a little embarrassed to have to show this office to anyone.

"Hn," Trey finally conveyed an emotion: Disgust.

Relena quickly moved on. The next room was cutely decorated on one side, plain as could be on the other.

"This is my office. I share it with Heero," Relena said as if it were a major accomplishment. Trey didn't seem to care. In fact, she left the office and walked to the adjacent room's closed door.

"Oh," Relena said, surprised at the other girl's actions, "This is my brother's office." Relena tapped on the door hoping not to interrupt any thing Zechs and Noin might be doing.

"What do you want?" Zechs called through the door.

"Zechs! Where are your manners?" Noin could be heard reprimanding him.

"I left my manners in Une's office."

"Well, go back and get them!"

"Later."

"Ah! You are so frustrating! Please come in."

Relena opened the door. Zechs had his feet up on his desk, and Noin was reviewing their mission.

"Um... Brother?" Relena asked, not used to seeing him so laid back at work, "this is Trey McDaley. She's our new Preventer."

"Nice to see you again, Mr. Merquise," Trey said, stepping into the office. Zechs smiled and got up.

"Just call me Zechs, Trey. I already told you before," he said, being unusually close and friendly with the new girl. Noin looked up at her partner, and then over at Trey, then over at Relena, and found that no one was paying any attention to her.

"Okay," Trey said sweetly, "But I'm not used to calling you by either name, Milliardo."

Zechs looked both overjoyed and pained at once. He didn't like to use his true name, and normally corrected people, telling them that his name was Zechs Merquise and nothing else. But this time he let Trey call him as she liked.

"Hello, Miss McDaley, I am Lucretia Noin, I'm Zechs's partner," Noin said. She couldn't take being ignored any longer.

Trey looked just as amused now as she did when she received the tour of Relena's office. Trey just blinked at Noin then looked back at Zechs.

"Meet me for lunch, in an hour, okay?" Trey told him.

"Got it. I'll be there. You have that meeting with Une now, don't you?" Zechs answered, sitting back down.

"Yes," Trey said, leaning down to kiss his cheek and the hair that happened to have fallen in front of it, "Pick me up out side of there." Trey left and Relena began to leave too, but Zechs stopped her.

"Relena, can you spare me a moment of your time?" Zechs asked his younger sister, his manners miraculously finding him again.

"Yes, Zechs? What is it?" Relena answered innocently.

"You know her," Zechs told her.

"Yeah, I just met her, Zechs. Did you leave your brain in Lady Une's office too?" Relena scolded her brother.

"No. You've met her before. You were too young to remember, but when we were children, she, Dorothy Catalonia, Treize Kushrenada, you and I, used to play together. Her father Baron McDaley was an advisor to our father. There's more," Zechs stopped. His voice had never faltered, but now two streams of tears steadily ran down his face.

Relena had never seen her brother cry before, but she had only known him as a brother for about three years. Relena was unsure whether to comfort her brother like the loving family she was raised in, or to completely overlook the fact that he was crying, and not wound his male ego.

Noin saw it too. The famed Lightning Count was shedding many grief stricken tears in front of her very own eyes. This was a rare sight indeed.

He quickly erased the tears and their tracks with one swift caress of his sleeve. He never finished the story about his past.

"Oh, and Relena," Zechs said as Relena was about to leave, "Next time, either separate the lights from darks, or let me do my own wash. I don't want any more my laundry's colors bleeding together. And certainly I don't want anymore pink pairs of pants."