Hi everyone, thanks for waiting patiently and thanks again for your kind
reviews. Anyhow, I finally have some vacation time to update. (YAY!!)
Without further ado, here's chapter 11 and standard disclaimers go as
usual. Hope you all enjoy it. :)
*****
Whipped Cream
Duo looked on in horror as a semi-yellow mass began to take on the shape of the oven. The cake tin that he had placed an hour before was already lost in the sea of bubbling yellow.
"I can see your having some troubles today," Wufei coolly said along with a smirk on his face. "Are you sure that you used the right ingredients? Because it looks like you didn't."
"Are you implying that I sabotaged my own cake?! He's coming to pick this cake up in a matter of TWO days and I haven't even gotten a single layer of it completed yet!! These things take time and I suppose you don't want me to lose anymore of our customers."
"Whatever...I think you should pay close attention to what you're doing." Wufei then left the kitchen and triumph was shown on his face. He pondered to himself for the moment, "This is going to be very interesting indeed. That fool doesn't know what hit him at all."
Back in the kitchen, Duo immediately shut off his oven. Even with the oven off, the yellow mass still kept on growing for another half an hour.
"What did I put in here? Something doesn't add up here." He took a cake knife out and sliced it through the spongy yellow mass. Everything looked normal and after deciding that it was edible, he took a corner off and popped into his mouth. He chewed for a couple of seconds, the vanilla flavor was apparent, and then it came. A bitter taste that he never tasted before sent a shock through his taste buds and in reflex action; he spat the foreign food out of his mouth and immediately ran to the sink for a cold glass of water. After guzzling down a couple of sips, he went back to the yellow cake.
"All right, that's some weird cake. I don't ever recall that this cake had a bitter taste to it at all. I wonder..."
He walked over to the stock room and noticed that hey had boxes of baking powder, but one box stood out from the rest, baking soda.
"Could he have sabotaged my cake in the first place?"
He toyed with the thought for a while and he decided that he was going to play detective for a while. "Detective Maxwell is now on the case," he called out loud. "I don't think Wufei is going to mind since he's so busy managing the front of the bakery right now. Where would he hide the incriminating evidence if he had any? Hm."
He searched through Wufei's workstation table and noticed that it was spotless, not even the flour patterns were there anymore. He even searched through the cabinets that were situated at Wufei's side of the room and it revealed nothing, just alphabetized boxes of ingredients. "This is pointless, I'll never find." Right before him, in one of the hidden nooks and crannies of the kitchen, a smoking gun was finally revealed right before his sight, a plastic bag filled with a white powdery substance. "This is more like it."
*****
Back in the embassy, everything died down for the afternoon, even though Aidan was on pins and needles since Heero was watching him, trying to scare the living daylights out of him from the morning's news.
Relena was quietly working in her office trying to control the media reports that kept coming in from Quatre, who was manning the switchboard of phone calls that kept calling on every hour and on the hour.
"I don't think I can stand another ring from this machine. I'll be hearing ringing in my sleep all night."
A ringing came to his attention.
"Hello, this is the Peacecraft Embassy. How can we be of service today?"
A female voice came on the other end, "I was just inquiry about the news article in today's paper. Was it true that a security guard from Relena's team at the Shinigami's and Chang's Bakery?"
"I'm not at hand to disclose any information to the public. Ms. Peacecraft's orders, ma'am."
"What was he doing then? A source of mine says that he was purchasing a birthday cake for Ms. Peacecraft?"
"Whoever said that.um.is wrong. He was purchasing pastries for a meeting to be held with Ms. Peacecraft and fellow diplomats."
"You sure about that. The same source has found a receipt describing his transaction at the bakery."
"Look lady, I don't know who you should believe. Good day." He hung the phone up abruptly, leaving the woman on the other hand on the line.
Relena stood by the door, looking him questioningly with her blue eyes. "Who was that, Quatre?"
"Just another media reporter trying to get the scoop on Heero's business at the bakery."
"I overheard her say something about a birthday cake for me, is it true?"
"Um.um..you heard wrong. Heero was at the bakery for pastries remember."
"I know that, but are you sure?"
"For the last time, I'm sure."
"All righty then, but I have another question. Are you planning a birthday party for me?"
Quatre's face went to a stark white with sweat beats dotted his forehead. He then mustered his courage in hopes of not letting his plans slip right before him and he said in an affirmative tone, "No. You requested not to have one."
She left the room with a weird feeling.
"Phew, that was too close for comfort. I can't keep lying to her, she's going to find out sooner or later. It just kills me to lie to her every time. I wonder how Heero's dealing with this." He then slumped in his chair, in hopes of catching a few z's and within minutes he was asleep. A ring was then heard. "Not again."
*****
Somewhere across town, a woman slammed a black cordless phone down on her desk with papers littered everywhere. "I just can't stand this anymore. I mean I call and this is what the embassy treats me, I just give up." She threw her hands up in the air in frustration and swiped a pile of papers off her desk. Her long brown hair covering the corners of her face.
"Looks like you didn't get really far into your scoop."
"Oh, it's you. I was just on the embassy line for over half an hour just trying to get my answers to the questions. I even told them about your findings, but they totally denied it. Whoever was managing the phones lines was a jerk."
"Oh well, I guess this is how the game is played. You should have been there when I was wheeling and dealing with the two bakers. They didn't even know I made a small note about a yellow receipt showing the guard's transaction at the bakery. It's true that they're going to get publicity, that's for sure."
She bent down to the pick the papers that she had knocked off just a couple of minutes before, the man bent down and helped her pick them up. The papers dealt with their next article for their newspaper, in which it would blow Relena's secret surprise party out of the water, if they decide to print it out in the next issue, which was due out in a day or so.
"It's getting late, we might as well head out for dinner tonight since we practically have nothing in the refrigerator except leftovers of meatloaf from the previous week." he said.
"I guess you're right." She went over to him and grabbed the coat that he was holding in his hands. She felt a little disappointed about something and the man noticed it to.
The two walked into the night, side by side.
"Do you think we should continue with the article?" asked the woman.
The man pondered on the response for a while as the two continued to stroll down a street. "Like I said before, we should. Who knows, there could be a secret love affair between the guard and Relena."
"You mean like us."
The man took her into his arms and held her close under the night sky. He then took a single red rose from the insides of his coat and handed it to her.
"It's lovely. Thank you."
"I guess it's time to get to the restaurant for our six month anniversary."
"I thought you forgot about it."
"How could I ever forget something important like this?"
"I guess your right." She let out a soft sigh, letting a mist of her breath materializing in the cold air.
The two entered an Italian restaurant with its lights dimly lighted and at each table, candles were glowing in the darken room.
The couple had walked over to a table that was located in the corner of the restaurant. The soft candle glow reflected off the couple's eyes. "This is very romantic, Treize. How on earth did you have time to make the reservations without me knowing about them?"
"I have some sources that pulled a couple of strings." He gave a wink to the manager of that was standing nearby in a tuxedo. Right then, a quartet of violins began to come up to their table and played music.
*****
Back at the Shinigami's and Chang's Bakery, Duo was still curiously examining the white substance, even though he had found it just four hours ago. Within the same time frame, he restarted Relena's birthday cake without Wufei knowing about it, just in case he was the one who sabotaged his cake in the first place. He toyed with the bag in his hands, "It looks like normal backing powder, but I wonder?"
He scrambled around the kitchen for a muffin tin and after gathering all the correct ingredients this time, he decided to test his theory about the mysterious bag. After creating a miniature version of Relena's birthday cake minus the baking powder, he took a small amount of the yellow batter and added the unknown white substance until it was thoroughly mixed. Everything looked normal even the batter was still yellow and thick. He then placed a small ounce of it into one of the wells on the nonstick muffin tin.
He then conducted a second test in which he used some of the original batter and added the same amount of baking powder to the mixture. "Everything is going right so far, so what did I do wrong then? Or did Wufei intervene?" He added the batter to another well on the muffin tin. He then wrapped up his test, by using baking soda in another mixture of the batter and added it into another well on the tin. After making sure that everything was in place, he placed the tin into a preheated oven set at 350 degrees.
As his test was underway, he looked nervously at his watch just to help pass some time. He then heard the door squeaked and saw Wufei walk into the room.
"What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you have left an hour ago?"
"Yeah, but I'm just experimenting a new recipe of mine, that's all."
"All right then, just don't try to burn down the bakery. Make sure you lock up before you head out."
"Yeah.yeah.whatever. I know the routine. Good night."
Wufei already had walked out when Duo called out his "good night," and right then, he looked towards his oven, two of the tins should an overflowing yellow bubbly mass.
"Well, it's the baking soda then. Hmm. that Wufei is going to get an earful from me. Just wait and see, I'm going to get my revenge on him one day."
Unaware to him, someone had sneaked in from the front door of the bakery and had entered the bakery. The intruder held a small metal object in his hands.
*****
The Grandfather clock in the lobby of the embassy now struck eight; most of the staff workers had already left for the night including Quatre, who couldn't stand the switchboard anymore because of the incessant questions coming from the press. But on the second floor, a light was still on.
Inside the small room, Aidan was staring at a computer screen typing in some reports for Relena. He looked around to see if Heero was still around because he knew that Heero wanted to cream him for the morning's fiasco with the picture of his bakery run.
"I better get out of here, when I still got the chance since his shift doesn't end until nine." He then placed a ZIP disk into his computer and made copies of the reports. "Come on, come on." After the green light on his computer went off, he ejected the disk and shut everything down for the night. He peeped out from his office door to see if he could find the stealthy security guard, but he was nowhere to be in sight. "The coast is clear."
He darted through the hallway, making his way to the staff member's copy room, where Relena had a mailbox for late reports. He looked into the room and did a quick scan with his eyes, and after making sure that the room was safe to step into, he turned on the lights, and made his way to the mailbox.
The mailbox was already full with disks and reports from various staff members. He tried squeezing his disk into the slot even though other disks and papers crowded around the entry. "I guess everyone else had the same idea that I had. Procrastinate until the very end." After shoving the disk into the slot, he finally managed to get it in, but then he looked towards his watch, and notice that it was already 8:50. This is not a good sign, I still have to make my way back to the office and.pass his post." He swallowed hard down his throat. "All right, Aidan, you can do it. When you just see him, run like hell." He went over to shut off the white fluorescent lights.
Meanwhile somewhere off in another wing of the embassy, Relena was still working at her desk, signing forms and recording records on her computer. She asked herself a question, "I wonder what they're up to. Quatre has been very quiet lately, and it seems like Heero is involved in all of this. Maybe I'm just out of mind unless it has to deal with my birthday." She placed her head down on her office table in hopes of clearing her mind to concentrate on her reports.
"Everything all right in here?" called a voice from the door.
"Oh.it's you, Heero. I was just trying to finish my reports. Just give me five more minutes." She paused. "Um, Heero. I don't know if I heard this true or not, did you go to the bakery to purchase a birthday cake?"
Heero's eyes widen a little, and he blurted out, "No."
"All right then, I was just wondering."
He looked towards her and saw pain in her eyes, but she didn't let him know about it. "Trowa is already waiting outside to take you home. I'll be staying here to finish some unfinished business."
"I can only guess one person, Aidan."
He nodded in response.
"Well have fun then, but don't rattle him too much because his anxiety level is already too high for him. I'm leaving now, the reports can be finished tomorrow. Good night then."
"Good night." He then left his post and walked with Relena to the limo, where Trowa was sitting in the driver's seat. He watched as the engine started and the limo then drove off into the night. "And now to put the plan into action."
Inside the embassy, Aidan was making his way around in hopes of avoiding Heero. He crept behind corners and looked towards Heero's post. "Where is he? Maybe Relena left earlier and decided to leave. This bites, I could have been home by now, sleeping in my nice unmade bed."
"Looking for me."
"Huh.AHH!!" Aidan began to run down the hallway, as Heero kept taunting him.
"Someone help me!! Mad security guard on the run."
Heero then shouted, "It's no use Adian. No one is around right now except you and me."
"There's gotta be someone around here."
Right then, a slender hand from a room grabbed him. "What's going on? I hear you screaming 24-7."
Aidan was gasping for air, "What did you that for Riley?"
"I'm just trying to save your life."
Aidan continued to gasp for air, "Heero..gasp.he's chasing me right now. He's trying to get his revenge from this morning."
"Oh really." She then raised her voice, "Heero, he's in here."
"No, don't do that." He then placed his right hand over her mouth, silencing her yells for Heero. "I don't want him to find me."
She escaped from his grasp, "And why not? We'll see who win this game." She went over to her desk and pulled out something, a camera was in her hands.
"Why do you have that in your hands?"
"You'll see." A knock was heard on the door. "I'll go check to see who it is. Just wait right here." She looked out the door and Heero was there. She winked in response and headed back into the room, "The coast is clear right now, you better run out, while you still have the chance to escape."
"Thanks Riley."
"My pleasure."
He headed out the door and right then, a barrage of whip cream came from the left side of him. "What!?!" A foaming sound was heard from a metal container as something cold hit his face.
"And how does it feel like to be creamed for once, Aidan?" said Heero in his monotone voice.
A flash of light came from Riley's room. "This should be a great picture."
"Riley, you traitor. You told me that the coast was clear."
"Oops, I guess I must have made a mistake."
"Thanks for your help, Riley."
"What?!? You were in on this the whole time. You're the mole!"
"I was in on the gig from this morning. Heero filled me on your 'situation.' I couldn't refuse the offer at all." She held a smile on her face. "I guess we're even now ever since with the paper clip incident. And now, I could blackmail you, with this picture to the other staff members."
"Don't tell me you have a digital camera in your hands."
"Yep. As a matter of fact, the picture is right now being printed." She held up a glossy sheet of paper showing Aidan drenched with whip cream all over his face and hair. "I think it suits you well. Don't you think?"
"Hah, hah. Laugh all you want."
Heero stood to the corner of the room, taking in the amusement of Aidan's whip cream spraying all to himself.
Aidan looked towards Heero's way and quipped, "I hope you're enjoying this at my own expense."
"I am." He then left the room and headed out for the night.
Riley stood in the room, laughing until her stomach began to hurt. "I can't help but say this one last remark. Would like a cherry with that?"
"Very funny, Riley."
"Here's a towell for you to wipe with." She handed him a small blue facial towel. Aidan took it questioningly and made a thorough inspection. "I didn't sabotage the towel you know. It's safe to use, you know."
"I'm just checking it. I'm not going to trust you with anything anymore."
"You didn't even say thank you."
"Thank you for the towel."
"You're welcome and Aidan, I think you missed a spot on your forehead."
"Where?" He began to frantically wipe himself with the towel as Riley laughed even harder. "You're lying weren't you?"
"Yep. You look cute like that."
Silence then came between the couple for a while as they looked towards each other, wondering about their futures. Aidan then finally mustered up his courage to ask her something that he had been dying to say for the past couple of days, "Riley.is there still a chance for the two of us?"
Again there was silence, as he waited for her response.
*****
Back at the bakery, the intruder crept even closer towards Duo as he was washing his muffin tin at the sink filled with water. He was mumbling to himself about his next plan on Wufei and he noticed that he had dropped one of his measuring cups on the flour. He bent down to pick it up, while the intruder stealthily hid behind his table. After waiting for a couple of minutes, he went right towards Duo. Right then, Duo felt something at his back.
TBC
*****
How was that for chapter 11? Honestly, I need to know, please with sugar on top. (Gives a puppy dog look.) I know I left so many cliffhangers in this one. I think everything is going to come full circle soon, even though in my first chapter I said that this was going to be a short fic. (Sorry about that.) As for chapter lengths, they might begin to vary at times depending on how much free time I have. I just have another month of school left before I'm officially on summer break. If I do update irregularly, just check on my biography page to see a timeline of updates and progress on my other fics. Thanks again, until next time! ^-^
*****
Whipped Cream
Duo looked on in horror as a semi-yellow mass began to take on the shape of the oven. The cake tin that he had placed an hour before was already lost in the sea of bubbling yellow.
"I can see your having some troubles today," Wufei coolly said along with a smirk on his face. "Are you sure that you used the right ingredients? Because it looks like you didn't."
"Are you implying that I sabotaged my own cake?! He's coming to pick this cake up in a matter of TWO days and I haven't even gotten a single layer of it completed yet!! These things take time and I suppose you don't want me to lose anymore of our customers."
"Whatever...I think you should pay close attention to what you're doing." Wufei then left the kitchen and triumph was shown on his face. He pondered to himself for the moment, "This is going to be very interesting indeed. That fool doesn't know what hit him at all."
Back in the kitchen, Duo immediately shut off his oven. Even with the oven off, the yellow mass still kept on growing for another half an hour.
"What did I put in here? Something doesn't add up here." He took a cake knife out and sliced it through the spongy yellow mass. Everything looked normal and after deciding that it was edible, he took a corner off and popped into his mouth. He chewed for a couple of seconds, the vanilla flavor was apparent, and then it came. A bitter taste that he never tasted before sent a shock through his taste buds and in reflex action; he spat the foreign food out of his mouth and immediately ran to the sink for a cold glass of water. After guzzling down a couple of sips, he went back to the yellow cake.
"All right, that's some weird cake. I don't ever recall that this cake had a bitter taste to it at all. I wonder..."
He walked over to the stock room and noticed that hey had boxes of baking powder, but one box stood out from the rest, baking soda.
"Could he have sabotaged my cake in the first place?"
He toyed with the thought for a while and he decided that he was going to play detective for a while. "Detective Maxwell is now on the case," he called out loud. "I don't think Wufei is going to mind since he's so busy managing the front of the bakery right now. Where would he hide the incriminating evidence if he had any? Hm."
He searched through Wufei's workstation table and noticed that it was spotless, not even the flour patterns were there anymore. He even searched through the cabinets that were situated at Wufei's side of the room and it revealed nothing, just alphabetized boxes of ingredients. "This is pointless, I'll never find." Right before him, in one of the hidden nooks and crannies of the kitchen, a smoking gun was finally revealed right before his sight, a plastic bag filled with a white powdery substance. "This is more like it."
*****
Back in the embassy, everything died down for the afternoon, even though Aidan was on pins and needles since Heero was watching him, trying to scare the living daylights out of him from the morning's news.
Relena was quietly working in her office trying to control the media reports that kept coming in from Quatre, who was manning the switchboard of phone calls that kept calling on every hour and on the hour.
"I don't think I can stand another ring from this machine. I'll be hearing ringing in my sleep all night."
A ringing came to his attention.
"Hello, this is the Peacecraft Embassy. How can we be of service today?"
A female voice came on the other end, "I was just inquiry about the news article in today's paper. Was it true that a security guard from Relena's team at the Shinigami's and Chang's Bakery?"
"I'm not at hand to disclose any information to the public. Ms. Peacecraft's orders, ma'am."
"What was he doing then? A source of mine says that he was purchasing a birthday cake for Ms. Peacecraft?"
"Whoever said that.um.is wrong. He was purchasing pastries for a meeting to be held with Ms. Peacecraft and fellow diplomats."
"You sure about that. The same source has found a receipt describing his transaction at the bakery."
"Look lady, I don't know who you should believe. Good day." He hung the phone up abruptly, leaving the woman on the other hand on the line.
Relena stood by the door, looking him questioningly with her blue eyes. "Who was that, Quatre?"
"Just another media reporter trying to get the scoop on Heero's business at the bakery."
"I overheard her say something about a birthday cake for me, is it true?"
"Um.um..you heard wrong. Heero was at the bakery for pastries remember."
"I know that, but are you sure?"
"For the last time, I'm sure."
"All righty then, but I have another question. Are you planning a birthday party for me?"
Quatre's face went to a stark white with sweat beats dotted his forehead. He then mustered his courage in hopes of not letting his plans slip right before him and he said in an affirmative tone, "No. You requested not to have one."
She left the room with a weird feeling.
"Phew, that was too close for comfort. I can't keep lying to her, she's going to find out sooner or later. It just kills me to lie to her every time. I wonder how Heero's dealing with this." He then slumped in his chair, in hopes of catching a few z's and within minutes he was asleep. A ring was then heard. "Not again."
*****
Somewhere across town, a woman slammed a black cordless phone down on her desk with papers littered everywhere. "I just can't stand this anymore. I mean I call and this is what the embassy treats me, I just give up." She threw her hands up in the air in frustration and swiped a pile of papers off her desk. Her long brown hair covering the corners of her face.
"Looks like you didn't get really far into your scoop."
"Oh, it's you. I was just on the embassy line for over half an hour just trying to get my answers to the questions. I even told them about your findings, but they totally denied it. Whoever was managing the phones lines was a jerk."
"Oh well, I guess this is how the game is played. You should have been there when I was wheeling and dealing with the two bakers. They didn't even know I made a small note about a yellow receipt showing the guard's transaction at the bakery. It's true that they're going to get publicity, that's for sure."
She bent down to the pick the papers that she had knocked off just a couple of minutes before, the man bent down and helped her pick them up. The papers dealt with their next article for their newspaper, in which it would blow Relena's secret surprise party out of the water, if they decide to print it out in the next issue, which was due out in a day or so.
"It's getting late, we might as well head out for dinner tonight since we practically have nothing in the refrigerator except leftovers of meatloaf from the previous week." he said.
"I guess you're right." She went over to him and grabbed the coat that he was holding in his hands. She felt a little disappointed about something and the man noticed it to.
The two walked into the night, side by side.
"Do you think we should continue with the article?" asked the woman.
The man pondered on the response for a while as the two continued to stroll down a street. "Like I said before, we should. Who knows, there could be a secret love affair between the guard and Relena."
"You mean like us."
The man took her into his arms and held her close under the night sky. He then took a single red rose from the insides of his coat and handed it to her.
"It's lovely. Thank you."
"I guess it's time to get to the restaurant for our six month anniversary."
"I thought you forgot about it."
"How could I ever forget something important like this?"
"I guess your right." She let out a soft sigh, letting a mist of her breath materializing in the cold air.
The two entered an Italian restaurant with its lights dimly lighted and at each table, candles were glowing in the darken room.
The couple had walked over to a table that was located in the corner of the restaurant. The soft candle glow reflected off the couple's eyes. "This is very romantic, Treize. How on earth did you have time to make the reservations without me knowing about them?"
"I have some sources that pulled a couple of strings." He gave a wink to the manager of that was standing nearby in a tuxedo. Right then, a quartet of violins began to come up to their table and played music.
*****
Back at the Shinigami's and Chang's Bakery, Duo was still curiously examining the white substance, even though he had found it just four hours ago. Within the same time frame, he restarted Relena's birthday cake without Wufei knowing about it, just in case he was the one who sabotaged his cake in the first place. He toyed with the bag in his hands, "It looks like normal backing powder, but I wonder?"
He scrambled around the kitchen for a muffin tin and after gathering all the correct ingredients this time, he decided to test his theory about the mysterious bag. After creating a miniature version of Relena's birthday cake minus the baking powder, he took a small amount of the yellow batter and added the unknown white substance until it was thoroughly mixed. Everything looked normal even the batter was still yellow and thick. He then placed a small ounce of it into one of the wells on the nonstick muffin tin.
He then conducted a second test in which he used some of the original batter and added the same amount of baking powder to the mixture. "Everything is going right so far, so what did I do wrong then? Or did Wufei intervene?" He added the batter to another well on the muffin tin. He then wrapped up his test, by using baking soda in another mixture of the batter and added it into another well on the tin. After making sure that everything was in place, he placed the tin into a preheated oven set at 350 degrees.
As his test was underway, he looked nervously at his watch just to help pass some time. He then heard the door squeaked and saw Wufei walk into the room.
"What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you have left an hour ago?"
"Yeah, but I'm just experimenting a new recipe of mine, that's all."
"All right then, just don't try to burn down the bakery. Make sure you lock up before you head out."
"Yeah.yeah.whatever. I know the routine. Good night."
Wufei already had walked out when Duo called out his "good night," and right then, he looked towards his oven, two of the tins should an overflowing yellow bubbly mass.
"Well, it's the baking soda then. Hmm. that Wufei is going to get an earful from me. Just wait and see, I'm going to get my revenge on him one day."
Unaware to him, someone had sneaked in from the front door of the bakery and had entered the bakery. The intruder held a small metal object in his hands.
*****
The Grandfather clock in the lobby of the embassy now struck eight; most of the staff workers had already left for the night including Quatre, who couldn't stand the switchboard anymore because of the incessant questions coming from the press. But on the second floor, a light was still on.
Inside the small room, Aidan was staring at a computer screen typing in some reports for Relena. He looked around to see if Heero was still around because he knew that Heero wanted to cream him for the morning's fiasco with the picture of his bakery run.
"I better get out of here, when I still got the chance since his shift doesn't end until nine." He then placed a ZIP disk into his computer and made copies of the reports. "Come on, come on." After the green light on his computer went off, he ejected the disk and shut everything down for the night. He peeped out from his office door to see if he could find the stealthy security guard, but he was nowhere to be in sight. "The coast is clear."
He darted through the hallway, making his way to the staff member's copy room, where Relena had a mailbox for late reports. He looked into the room and did a quick scan with his eyes, and after making sure that the room was safe to step into, he turned on the lights, and made his way to the mailbox.
The mailbox was already full with disks and reports from various staff members. He tried squeezing his disk into the slot even though other disks and papers crowded around the entry. "I guess everyone else had the same idea that I had. Procrastinate until the very end." After shoving the disk into the slot, he finally managed to get it in, but then he looked towards his watch, and notice that it was already 8:50. This is not a good sign, I still have to make my way back to the office and.pass his post." He swallowed hard down his throat. "All right, Aidan, you can do it. When you just see him, run like hell." He went over to shut off the white fluorescent lights.
Meanwhile somewhere off in another wing of the embassy, Relena was still working at her desk, signing forms and recording records on her computer. She asked herself a question, "I wonder what they're up to. Quatre has been very quiet lately, and it seems like Heero is involved in all of this. Maybe I'm just out of mind unless it has to deal with my birthday." She placed her head down on her office table in hopes of clearing her mind to concentrate on her reports.
"Everything all right in here?" called a voice from the door.
"Oh.it's you, Heero. I was just trying to finish my reports. Just give me five more minutes." She paused. "Um, Heero. I don't know if I heard this true or not, did you go to the bakery to purchase a birthday cake?"
Heero's eyes widen a little, and he blurted out, "No."
"All right then, I was just wondering."
He looked towards her and saw pain in her eyes, but she didn't let him know about it. "Trowa is already waiting outside to take you home. I'll be staying here to finish some unfinished business."
"I can only guess one person, Aidan."
He nodded in response.
"Well have fun then, but don't rattle him too much because his anxiety level is already too high for him. I'm leaving now, the reports can be finished tomorrow. Good night then."
"Good night." He then left his post and walked with Relena to the limo, where Trowa was sitting in the driver's seat. He watched as the engine started and the limo then drove off into the night. "And now to put the plan into action."
Inside the embassy, Aidan was making his way around in hopes of avoiding Heero. He crept behind corners and looked towards Heero's post. "Where is he? Maybe Relena left earlier and decided to leave. This bites, I could have been home by now, sleeping in my nice unmade bed."
"Looking for me."
"Huh.AHH!!" Aidan began to run down the hallway, as Heero kept taunting him.
"Someone help me!! Mad security guard on the run."
Heero then shouted, "It's no use Adian. No one is around right now except you and me."
"There's gotta be someone around here."
Right then, a slender hand from a room grabbed him. "What's going on? I hear you screaming 24-7."
Aidan was gasping for air, "What did you that for Riley?"
"I'm just trying to save your life."
Aidan continued to gasp for air, "Heero..gasp.he's chasing me right now. He's trying to get his revenge from this morning."
"Oh really." She then raised her voice, "Heero, he's in here."
"No, don't do that." He then placed his right hand over her mouth, silencing her yells for Heero. "I don't want him to find me."
She escaped from his grasp, "And why not? We'll see who win this game." She went over to her desk and pulled out something, a camera was in her hands.
"Why do you have that in your hands?"
"You'll see." A knock was heard on the door. "I'll go check to see who it is. Just wait right here." She looked out the door and Heero was there. She winked in response and headed back into the room, "The coast is clear right now, you better run out, while you still have the chance to escape."
"Thanks Riley."
"My pleasure."
He headed out the door and right then, a barrage of whip cream came from the left side of him. "What!?!" A foaming sound was heard from a metal container as something cold hit his face.
"And how does it feel like to be creamed for once, Aidan?" said Heero in his monotone voice.
A flash of light came from Riley's room. "This should be a great picture."
"Riley, you traitor. You told me that the coast was clear."
"Oops, I guess I must have made a mistake."
"Thanks for your help, Riley."
"What?!? You were in on this the whole time. You're the mole!"
"I was in on the gig from this morning. Heero filled me on your 'situation.' I couldn't refuse the offer at all." She held a smile on her face. "I guess we're even now ever since with the paper clip incident. And now, I could blackmail you, with this picture to the other staff members."
"Don't tell me you have a digital camera in your hands."
"Yep. As a matter of fact, the picture is right now being printed." She held up a glossy sheet of paper showing Aidan drenched with whip cream all over his face and hair. "I think it suits you well. Don't you think?"
"Hah, hah. Laugh all you want."
Heero stood to the corner of the room, taking in the amusement of Aidan's whip cream spraying all to himself.
Aidan looked towards Heero's way and quipped, "I hope you're enjoying this at my own expense."
"I am." He then left the room and headed out for the night.
Riley stood in the room, laughing until her stomach began to hurt. "I can't help but say this one last remark. Would like a cherry with that?"
"Very funny, Riley."
"Here's a towell for you to wipe with." She handed him a small blue facial towel. Aidan took it questioningly and made a thorough inspection. "I didn't sabotage the towel you know. It's safe to use, you know."
"I'm just checking it. I'm not going to trust you with anything anymore."
"You didn't even say thank you."
"Thank you for the towel."
"You're welcome and Aidan, I think you missed a spot on your forehead."
"Where?" He began to frantically wipe himself with the towel as Riley laughed even harder. "You're lying weren't you?"
"Yep. You look cute like that."
Silence then came between the couple for a while as they looked towards each other, wondering about their futures. Aidan then finally mustered up his courage to ask her something that he had been dying to say for the past couple of days, "Riley.is there still a chance for the two of us?"
Again there was silence, as he waited for her response.
*****
Back at the bakery, the intruder crept even closer towards Duo as he was washing his muffin tin at the sink filled with water. He was mumbling to himself about his next plan on Wufei and he noticed that he had dropped one of his measuring cups on the flour. He bent down to pick it up, while the intruder stealthily hid behind his table. After waiting for a couple of minutes, he went right towards Duo. Right then, Duo felt something at his back.
TBC
*****
How was that for chapter 11? Honestly, I need to know, please with sugar on top. (Gives a puppy dog look.) I know I left so many cliffhangers in this one. I think everything is going to come full circle soon, even though in my first chapter I said that this was going to be a short fic. (Sorry about that.) As for chapter lengths, they might begin to vary at times depending on how much free time I have. I just have another month of school left before I'm officially on summer break. If I do update irregularly, just check on my biography page to see a timeline of updates and progress on my other fics. Thanks again, until next time! ^-^