A/N: Here's chapter three… I can't believe I finally uploaded it… it's been such a long time.

To melpomene-san: I kept my promise, well it's late but still…

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Painful Choices

Chapter 3: Onset

Two days later, Wufei was already waiting at the office.

"She's late! What kind of person would be late during a mission?!" Wufei paced around the office, for once, wearing a formal business suit instead of his traditional Chinese attire or his Preventers jacket.

"Don't Worry Wufei," Duo patted him on the back, a teasing smile on his face, "Sally won't walk out of this 'marriage'."

"SHUT UP YOU BRAIDED BAKA!!!"

"Hey! Cool it off," Quatre stopped the two, "the last thing we need right now is the two of you fighting, okay."

"What? I was just trying to comfort our newly wedded pal here," Duo complained.

"Stop it Duo," Hilde chimed in, lightly pulling at her fiancée's braid, "the way I see it, you're only going to make matters worse."

""Now, Wufei," Quatre spoke once more, "I'm sure there's a good reason why Sally can't come on time.

"Yeah, maybe she ran off with another man," Duo muttered, earning a warning look from Quatre and another tug from Hilde.

At that moment, Milliardo came in to ask, "Has anyone seen Lucrezia?"

"No," the answer came from Wufei, "Isn't she supposed to be your wife?" he added sarcastically.

"Uhhh…" Quatre stepped in, "Sorry, it's just that Wufei's upset because Sally hasn't arrived yet."

"I see," Milliardo nodded, "Now I know where my wife is."

He was about to seat himself when the door opened once again. This time, Lucrezia came in.

"My, aren't we having lots of visitors today," Duo commented.

"Where's Sally?" Milliardo was the first one to ask.

"She'll be here in a minute," Noin smiled at all of them, "She just dropped by Une's office."

With that, the group settled down and anxiously waited for Sally to come in. However, when the door opened the next time, it was Lady Une's face that greeted them.

"Hmm…" She took in the growing number of curious people inside the room, seemingly satisfied with her observations, she decided to express them, "Don't we have a lot of people in here?" intoned in a stern voice.

"Don't worry Une," a voice from the door interrupted the impending dispersal of the crowd, "I believe they'd be scooting off in a little while."

Sally entered the room. Silence reigned as various eyes widened and jaws dropped to the floor while Lady Une and Noin were sporting satisfied grins on their faces.

She surveyed everyone's reaction with pleasure, looked at herself, and then in mock indignation, she asked, "Why? What's wrong with me?"

Sally looked… different. She was wearing a sleeveless, fuchsia boatneck blouse, and a matching chiffon skirt that reached her knee. On her hand were a stretch cotton jacket and a suede bag. Her hair was out of their usual twists and instead, fell her shoulders, styled perfectly to show their waviness. To complete the look, she was wearing black, leather slip-ons and her nails were done with colorless polish. All in all, she looked pretty and appealing, and at the same time mature and professional in her attire.

"Duo was the first one to recover from his shock, "Who are you and what did you do to Sally?" he asked in a disbelieving tone.

In contrast to what her fiancée had just said, Hilde squealed as she came forward and held Sally at arm's length and said in a delighted voice, "Sally! You look wonderful!"

Sally gave her an appreciative smile.

"I must agree," Quatre promptly complimented, "You look very pretty."

"Why thank you Quatre"

"Very nice indeed Sally," Zechs commented, "Now wonder my wife was gone for two days. You made lots of wonderful changes."

"Yeah," Sally agreed, "She was busy doing things to me that she should be doing to herself considering you should be the ones playing these roles," she playfully accused.

Several more compliments and thank you's were exchanged until Wufei, who was obviously disconcerted by his partners new look stuttered, "Why are you wearing that onna? We're on a mission and were not going to some party."

"Sally raised an eyebrow at him, "And why are you wearing that," she pointed at Wufei's black business suit, which was clearly of a designer label."

"Because I'm supposed to be a business man."

"A filthy rich business man you mean," she stated coolly, "and with a model for a wife. So don't you think it's just appropriate for me to wear this?"

"A model?!"

"You mean you didn't know? You should have read you're profile."

"I did!"

"Then why are you so surprised?"

"Because," Wufei quickly picked up a folder and shoved it in front of Sally, "It's not there."

Sally scanned the document, gave a knowing look at Wufei, and the two turned to glare at Lady Une, who in turn, have then an uneasy smile, " I suppose my secretary failed to include it there."

Duo chuckled heartily, "I never knew lady Une had a knack for tricks, next thing we know, she would have gotten Quatre and Dorothy together without eyebrow girl skewering our friend. " by the time he finished, four people were already glaring at him, namely Sally, Wufei, Lady Une, Hilde and Quatre, who was displeased by Duo's remark about Dorothy.

"Uh guys," Noin sweatdropped as irritated faces turned to her, "It's almost 9:00. If you don't leave now, you might miss your flight."

"Fine," Wufei grumbled, as he got his luggage, "C'mon onna."

"You know Wufei," Hilde commented, giving a small smile, "I think if you were to play your part, you should call Sally something else besides that."

"Good luck on that,' Duo sniggered.

'Whatever," Wufei snorted a she made his exit while Sally tagged along.

When the hotheaded Chinese reached the lobby of Preventers Headquarters, his mouth curved into a disapproving frown while looking pointedly in front of him,

"Onna, what is this?" he gestured at the black car.

"A limo?"

"I know that, but we don't need it."

"I didn't do anything"

"Then who could have done it?"

"Une."

Wufei clenched his fists and groaned loudly, "That meddling onna is going overboard!"

"C'mon sweetie," Sally spoke offhandedly, "It's just a limo, there's no need to get agitated, besides we should take advantage of the perks that this assignment would bring us."

"I am not ag-" Wufei stopped in midsentence and raised a finger at Sally, "What did you just call me?"

"Sweetie. Why? C'mon Wufei, you don't really think I meant it."

"Of course not. I mean…" his voice trailed off.

"Don't worry, I was just practicing my part. Now go and put your luggage in."

"Where are yours?"

"Already there."

As the couple approached the waiting car, the chauffeur quickly stepped up to open the door in front of them. Sally moved to the far side, leaving some space beside her, but Wufei just stood there and was about to turn around when the chauffeur called at him.

"Won't you go in sir?"

"I still have to get my luggage," he answered and was about to take a step when another man immediately took his luggage to load it into the limo, to Wufei's annoyance. Sally watched, amused by the expressions in the men's faces when Wufei gave them his own version of the death glare. Finally, he got into the car and settled himself on the space Sally allotted for him.

"I thought the driver was going to run off with fear," she smirked at him.

"It is a dishonor to have things done for you when you are fully capable of doing them by yourself," Wufei muttered darkly.

"Hey, loosen up. It's not so bad to indulge yourself once in a while you know."

"Self-indulgence is only for he weak onna," he looked pointedly at her.

Sally glared indignantly, "So now you think I'm weak?"

"I didn't say anything onna…" Wufei bit back a smile. He must admit, having these squabbles with her is perfectly entertaining.

"This is going to be a long ride…" Sally rolled her eyes before facing Wufei to retaliate.

An elegant, black limousine stopped in front of the airport entrance, drawing the attention of several people. When the doors were held open, a striking young man stepped out. A pretty, blonde woman came next and took the am offered by the man. To those watching, the two appeared to be a lovely, happy couple, yet unknown to them, some remarks were already being passed between the two.

"I'm going to get back at you for that," Wufei hissed contemptuously at the woman beside her.

"Aww sweetie…" Sally gave him a big smile, putting up a show, "that's so nice of you…" then in a low voice, "Admit it. You lost that round the moment you said the word weak."

Wufei observed just now his so-called 'wife' had another talent as she spoke to him without the smile on her face.

"How nice, you're adept at ventriloquism. We might just have a use for you someday."

Sally was about to retort but they were already at the desk. They readily gave their passports.

"Mr. and Mrs. Zhang?"

"Yes," Wufei confirmed.

The woman at the desk called on a man and gestured to Wufei and Sally then, with a nod, "Please follow him."

Sally nodded and gave the woman a polite thank you.

They were led by the man to a small plane.

"Private plane?" Sally raised an eyebrow while Wufei didn't say a thing.

They boarded quickly and were met by a bubbly redhead.

"Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Zhang! I'll be the one to assist you throughout your flight!"

"Hn." (guess from whom this came from)

" Sally nudged him, reprimanding his rudeness.

The woman led them cordially to their seat and sat herself across them. Wufei, with his obsessive compulsion to stay out of the range of 'weak onnas' rather posed a question.

"Uh miss…"

"Carter," the woman answered obligingly, "but I'd prefer that you call me Ashley."

"Miss Carter, aren't we taking you time? Surely you have lots of thing to do."

"Oh no sir. It's fine with me. I love socializing with people, besides, it's my job to keep you company."

"Hn," Wufei huffed and looked disconsolately away, but the Ashley took no notice of it. Baka onna, can't even take a hint.

"So where are you headed Mrs. Zhang?" the girl asked with a bright smile on her face.

"Please, call me Tamara, there's no need for formalities, really. And as for your question, well…" Sally trailed off, looking for a probable answer, then, reaching a verdict, he reached for Wufei's arm and continued, "We are going on a second honeymoon due to my better half's insistence, right sweetheart?"

Wufei just raised an eyebrow at her and was about to protest when he met Sally's eyes and saw the hard expression in them. He had no choice but to agree, "yes," just after giving this answer, an idea crossed his mind. He put on his sweetest expression and said, "Yes, my onna and I will be having a second honeymoon."

"Onna?" the girl's eyes widened in question.

"Yes," Wufei seemed to smile at Ashley, ignoring Sally's piqued expression, knowing very well that he had annoyed her by using her most hated expression, "Onna is my endearment for my beloved wife."

He threw a triumphant smirk at Sally then put an arm across her shoulder.

Sally, knowing that she had to play her part, held herself back from smacking Wufei and tried to smile, "Isn't he such a dear?"

"Well if that's the case, I should be leaving you lovebirds here by yourselves so you can start," Ashley gave another one of her brilliant smiles ad walked off.

Halleluiah! Wufei rejoiced silently as he watched the redhead saunter off, then to Sally, "I believe I have won that round," he gave her one of his triumphant smirks.

Sally gritted her teeth, "If you don't mind, I'd like to take a nap."

"But we should get started with the honeymoon onna," Wufei leered at her.

"Shut up!"

A/N: review please. If you like the story then stay tuned, I'm gonna upload ch.4 very soon.