Hi everyone, thanks again for the kind reviews. I'm really glad that
everyone is enjoying this fic and there's a couple of surprises in store in
this chapter. ^^ Disclaimers go as usual. ENJOY!!
*****
Flour Reprisals
Duo stood in silence as he felt the object dig deeper into his back. He immediately dropped the muffin tin into the sink.
A muffled voice said, "I wouldn't move if I were you."
"Well you know what, if you were trying to rob this bakery, there's nothing for you to rob." Right then, he quickly spun around, while the intruder was caught off guard, but managed to keep her balance between the quick exchange. "You picked the wrong person to rob tonight."
"You sure about that? I think I came to the right place. I mean after all, it seems like you always close for the night." At this point, Duo was a little confused by what his assailant was talking about. She then dove right at him, and knocking him towards the ground. By that time, Duo was in a daze with cupcakes dancing around his head. "Remember me now?" A flash of silver was seen in her hands, as he continued to look up at his visitor.
"Huh.I'm." He then felt the back of his head and then realized whom he was talking to. "Hilde!!.You were the one doing this. Why are you holding a metal spatula in your hands?"
"I was just trying to get your attention. Looks like I nearly scared you to death just a couple of minutes ago."
"But.how did you."
"I came through the front door since you didn't lock it yet. I think you were supposed to meet me somewhere today." She started to tap her foot on the floor in slight agitation.
"What do you mean?" He pondered on the thought for a while and then it occurred to him, "I'm so sorry that I forgot our date! I knew I forgot something. I was so caught up in my cake dilemma for Ms. Relena Peacecraft. Honestly."
"Always excuses, excuses. You totally forgot." She began to walk away from him.
He quickly ran towards her and caught her arm, "I'm sorry babe, honestly, I'm very, VERY sorry."
She ignored him for a couple of minutes as Duo was trying to win her heart back along with trying to reschedule their date. He then got down on his knees and begged for forgiveness. "Please..please can you give me a second chance.PLEASE!!"
She looked down on him, "Well.on one condition."
"Name it."
She looked towards the ceiling to avert her sight from Duo, in hopes of making him become more nervous as he waited for her demands. "You'll give me a week's worth of powdered doughnuts and your unconditional love."
He then got up and kissed her. "Let's get out of this dump." With that, he locked up and walked with her towards her apartment. "I think I should make up some lost time."
"I'll see about that."
Duo had a little confused look on his face. He was right about to enter her apartment and before he knew it, he walked right into the door. "What is this for?"
Hilde called from the other side, "I think we should have a little time out."
Duo's heart was crushed, "But, don't you think we should be together tonight?"
"I'll see you tomorrow and besides one little night being apart won't kill you? Will it?"
"I guess not." He walked back to his bachelor pad for the night, feeling heart broken. "That Wufei is really going to get it now for making me miss my date with Hilde." For the night, he devised some type of plan that would involve the usual ingredient, flour.
*****
Another day began again, and Duo was already at the bakery devising his ultimate plan against Wufei for sabotaging his cake. He was at the front counters waiting for potential customers to enter, "Let's see.I can start the usual flour fight and end it with a bang. Hmmm, that could be interesting. But that is so old-school and I even thought about last night."
"And what are you up to Maxwell on this fine morning?"
"Hi Wufei. I was just minding my own business LIKE I'm supposed to."
"Very well then, I can see you didn't burn down the bakery. So how did your new recipe turn out?"
"None of your business. Top secret. I'm taking it with me to the grave." He then left abruptly to get away from his saboteur.
Wufei was left with a giddy feeling, "I wonder if he knows." He shrugged to himself and went on the day as usual.
*****
Laughter abruptly filled the hallways of the embassy as staff members trickled in through the lounge and saw a picture of Aidan with whip cream from the previous night.
The fifteen-year-old boy called out, "Hey Aidan, I think this is a nice profile of you."
"Very funny." He had his arms folded across his chest.
Relena then walked in and noticed the alarming picture on her bulletin board. "Oh dear, I didn't think Heero would go that far." she whispered to herself. "But on the other hand, it should keep Aidan in his place." She chuckled quietly to herself, while Aidan looked towards her. She felt a cold stare like Heero's coming over her shoulder. "Hi Aidan," she said meekly. "Looks like you finally got a taste of your own medicine. Cheer up."
"Cheer up?!? How can I cheer up? Heero and Riley are making a mockery out of me!"
"I didn't know that Riley was in on this. Oh well, as least she finally got you on something."
"Whatever." He then headed out towards the hallway, where Heero was located in. "It's you again."
"Well good morning to you to."
"Same to you. I hope you enjoyed your night's sleep."
He nodded in response and then mysteriously disappeared before Aidan could question him further.
"It figures for him to disappear just in an instant." He was thinking about last night's events with Riley in her office. He was still waiting a response from her. Right then, Quatre walked right up to him.
"I see you have a nice profile of you in the staff's lounge." He looked at Aidan, but he seemed to ignore him. "What's the matter?"
"I'm having relationship problems."
"I see and I think I might know who you're referring to. What did you do to make her mad at you this time?"
"I was just asking her.never mind."
"You asked her."
"All right, I give up, I might as well spill the beans, since I've been racking my brain on this dilemma all night long. I asked her if we still had a chance, but she didn't give me any response."
Quatre gave him an appalled look after his revelation, "I'm not really good with any of these matters, but my best bet is tell her your true feelings." Aidan looked on in despair since he already tried doing that just last night. "I guess that didn't work for you." He then let out a sigh and said, "Just give her time, she'll come around."
"Thanks, Quatre."
With that, Quatre walked away and began his day, not manning the switchboard this time.
*****
Across town, Treize and Lady Une sat in their office planning their next move on their latest hot topic, which was the mysterious birthday cake for Ms. Relena Peacecraft.
"When do you think we should bring the story out?" asked Treize, who was fumbling a pen in his hand.
Lady pondered on the thought and flipped through her mini calendar that was on her desk, "Lets see.Ms. Peacecraft's birthday is coming up.tomorrow. When is the cake supposed to be picked up?"
Treize reached into his own desk and pulled out a yellow piece of legal paper and read the date. Frustration was seen in his eyes, "It's supposed to picked up today."
"I guess we better get a move on it, since our printing presses will be working all day then."
"It sounds fine with me, we'll have the story out on her birthday. This will be a tight deadline then. All right then, have our reporters on the look out if this mystery bodyguard appears at the bakery again. I want this to become headline news for sure."
"I'll have our undercover reporters on the job right now." She began speed dialing the staff on her black phone. Within minutes, vans were deployed from the building to their respective sights, the bakery and the embassy. "Let Operation Sweet Cake begin," replied one of the reporters in the van.
*****
Duo was running against the clock now since Heero was scheduled to pick up the cake later on during the day. He was squeezing his pastry bag that was filled with red icing. "Some design that Mr. Yuy had to pick out, three main roses at the lower top of the cake. I don't think my hand can stand this torture anymore." After completing the first of the roses, his hand looked red because of all the pressure from squeezing his small pastry bag. "Concentrate, Duo, you don't want to screw this cake up, not when its about finished with the decorating."
He squeezed the tube again and red icing was taking in the shape of rose bud, just when Wufei decided to scare him to death. "Hey partner, looks like your finally hard at work." He then patted him on the back with a spatula to get his attention.
The red icing missed its mark on the white surface. "Ahhh!! Look what you made me do. There's one demented rose bud on the cake right now."
Wufei loved torturing Duo at these critical cake-decorating moments, "I'm sorry did I do that.would you like me to go away or should I pester you more?"
"I think you should distance yourself right now because I'm in no mood for jokes right now."
"Touchy.touchy."
"If you're picking a fight right now, now is not the time." Duo looked away from his masterpiece for a second and looked around the room to see where Wufei had run off. "All right, lets get on with this third rose." More of the red icing filtered slowing through the pastry bag until it was empty. "Oh, don't do this to me now. Come on, come on." He tried coaxing his pastry bag into letting out more of the red sugary frosting, but then he lightly banged it on the kitchen counter in hopes of jarring the clog that had formed in the tube. With that, more of red icing trickled out, "Thank you." He wiped his forehead from all of the pressure he was facing and he noticed that someone was coming up to him from behind again. "I wouldn't dare to that if I were you, Chang." He grabbed the pastry bag that was filled with green icing and squirted Wufei in the face. "This is just only the beginning, mark my words."
"Why you." He tried wiping the green off his face, but the icing began to harden slightly.
"I know you sabotaged my cake, but mark my words, there's more to come. Now if you would excuse me, I've got better things to do." Duo continued on with Relena's birthday cake adding the final touches to it minus the calligraphy that he'll have to write on the cake with another pastry bag filled with blue icing. "This is going to take me all afternoon, if I keep up this snail pace in decorating. I might as well stop right here and prepare Hilde's powdered doughnuts." He took his beloved masterpiece and locked it in his refrigerator that was next to Wufei's. At the same time, he took out a padlock from his pocket and locked the refrigerator entirely. "This should keep that rat out of my stuff for a while."
"What are you doing that for?" asked Wufei who still had a slight green tint on his face from the squirting incident.
"I'm just keeping you out of trouble." He pushed Wufei off to the side and as he walked away, "I wouldn't dare touching the refrigerator because if you do, an alarm system will ring."
"You even installed an alarm system on your refrigerator," called out Wufei in shock.
"I'm not leaving anything to chance while you're around. And besides, this will keep you out of trouble for a while. I think you might want to help some of our customers that are waiting patiently for you such as.Sally."
"What? I thought she usually comes here occasionally." Wufei hurried quickly out of the kitchen and into the main part of the bakery, "I don't see her." He then realized that Duo was playing a psychological game on him for part of his plan. He then mumbled to himself, "Arrghh, that Maxwell." A lady then stepped up to the counter for some service and with that, Wufei gave a fake smile. For the next two hours, he was standing at the counter, collecting orders.
*****
In the embassy, Quatre was nervous again because of his plan for Relena's secret surprise party. He peeped into her office and found her, working studiously among a stack of papers that should keep her busy for a while. With that, he walked towards Heero's post, but couldn't find him anywhere. "Where's is he when you need him?" He continued to walk down a hallway that overlooked the courtyard and found him standing near a window. "For a person like you, you're hard to track down, you know that?"
Heero acknowledged Quatre's presence. He continued to look out of the window as his eyesight was focusing on someone taking snapshots of the embassy. "I think we have a reporter lose on the premise."
Quatre looked out the window along with him and saw the reporter. "I don't recall anything about having anyone taking snapshots of the embassy. It looks like he's leaving right now."
"Supposedly."
"Hey, when are you supposed to pick up Relena's birthday cake?"
"Today."
"That's great. Everything will be in place then. You won't mind holding on the cake until tomorrow? I figure if we put in the staff's lounge, the whole plan will be in ruins."
"I'm heading back to my post. The cake is supposed to be picked up sometime around five."
"Thanks, Heero." Quatre continued finalizing the secret surprise party for the rest of the day making sure that the staff members knew what to bring and what to say in case Relena questioned about their suspicious activities.
Outside of the embassy, the renegade reporter positioned himself in one of the bushes by the back driveway, "Cupcake in position," whispered a voice in a walkie-talkie.
"Roger that," replied a member of the news staff that were situated in a van across the street.
A blip was heard on the radio of the van, "Who thought of these names anyway, I feel so stupid."
"Just shut up and get the pictures when the guard comes out. I suppose you recognize him through our first picture on him."
"I know." The radio went silent as everyone waited for the big event to occur.
*****
Back in Treize's and Lady Une's office, all hell broke lose as everyone was preparing for their assignments. Stress levels were on the rise as copy editors were running wildly throughout the office with possible layouts for their morning edition. Interns were following their respective editors around the building with coffee mugs in their hands along with manila folders filled with background information on the bakery.
"I've just received confirmation that cupcake #1 is in position for the first appearance of the security guard," replied Lady Une from her desk.
"Good. Is any of our scouts at the bakery yet?"
"Not just yet."
"Well tell them to get a move on it. We don't want our story to be ruined now." He stormed out of the office and headed straight to the copying room, where a rough copy of the layout for their morning edition was being prepared.
Meanwhile, a white van pulled up to a side street and two reporters quickly emerged from the vehicle. One situated himself in a local café that was located in front the bakery, while another waited by a newsstand. "We're in position now."
"Good. You know what Treize wants and as soon as the security guard leaves the bakery, come back to the office with your pictures."
*****
Duo finished a batch of powdered doughnuts just when Hilde stepped inside with a bag. "Hey babe, I missed you last night." He was standing behind the counter with a pink box in his hands.
"I missed you too." She went up to him and gave him a light kiss on his check. "I see that you kept your end of the bargain up."
"Yep."
"So how is your cake going?"
"Just fine, just fine. At least, Wufei hasn't sabotaged it again, but my hands are all cramped up from squeezing the pastry bags too much. And look, they're even stained in multiple colors." He lifted his right hand, to reveal hues of blending: red, green, and blue.
"Is he still giving you a hard time?"
"This might cheer you up." She held out the bag and gave it to Duo.
He peeped inside and noticed something white about it. "It's a new chef's hat." His eyes were twinkling. "Thanks."
"I told you that I would get you a new hat. So where's Wufei right now?"
"Probably devising a devious plan to get his revenge on me again, but lets just say that after today, I'll even the score."
"What do you mean that you'll even the score?"
"You'll find out if you stay long enough."
"I think that might be my cue to leave right now. I'll see you later, well hopefully." She left with the pink box in her hands and a smile on her face.
"Later." After a few minutes of contemplating to himself, he prepared himself for his plan by gathering his necessary items: flour, pastry bags, and his boom box. He then placed Hilde's new chef's hat on.
*****
The clock had struck four in the afternoon; the chimes were clearly ringing throughout the lobby and the hallways. Heero was now at his post trying to figure a way of escaping from Relena's curious eyesight. He didn't want her to become too suspicious of his actions, since he already knew she began to question the rest of her staff members. He walked into her office, "I'm leaving now."
"It's not even nine yet."
"I know, but I made plans for the night."
"Oh, I see." Relena was saddened by that thought.
"I arranged for Trowa to stay with you for the remainder of my shift, if that's fine with you."
She gave him a fake smile, "It's no problem at all. Good night then."
"Good night."
Heero looked at his watch as he made his way through the maze of hallways as he finally made his way to the back entrance of the embassy. "It's no turning back for me." With that he took his first step out of the door and didn't notice anything peculiar. But he did hear something from the bushes, the sound of a film advancing in a camera.
TBC *****
How was this for chapter 12? So what is Duo's plan with all of the bakery ingredients? Find out in the next chapter, until then ciao!! ^_^
*****
Flour Reprisals
Duo stood in silence as he felt the object dig deeper into his back. He immediately dropped the muffin tin into the sink.
A muffled voice said, "I wouldn't move if I were you."
"Well you know what, if you were trying to rob this bakery, there's nothing for you to rob." Right then, he quickly spun around, while the intruder was caught off guard, but managed to keep her balance between the quick exchange. "You picked the wrong person to rob tonight."
"You sure about that? I think I came to the right place. I mean after all, it seems like you always close for the night." At this point, Duo was a little confused by what his assailant was talking about. She then dove right at him, and knocking him towards the ground. By that time, Duo was in a daze with cupcakes dancing around his head. "Remember me now?" A flash of silver was seen in her hands, as he continued to look up at his visitor.
"Huh.I'm." He then felt the back of his head and then realized whom he was talking to. "Hilde!!.You were the one doing this. Why are you holding a metal spatula in your hands?"
"I was just trying to get your attention. Looks like I nearly scared you to death just a couple of minutes ago."
"But.how did you."
"I came through the front door since you didn't lock it yet. I think you were supposed to meet me somewhere today." She started to tap her foot on the floor in slight agitation.
"What do you mean?" He pondered on the thought for a while and then it occurred to him, "I'm so sorry that I forgot our date! I knew I forgot something. I was so caught up in my cake dilemma for Ms. Relena Peacecraft. Honestly."
"Always excuses, excuses. You totally forgot." She began to walk away from him.
He quickly ran towards her and caught her arm, "I'm sorry babe, honestly, I'm very, VERY sorry."
She ignored him for a couple of minutes as Duo was trying to win her heart back along with trying to reschedule their date. He then got down on his knees and begged for forgiveness. "Please..please can you give me a second chance.PLEASE!!"
She looked down on him, "Well.on one condition."
"Name it."
She looked towards the ceiling to avert her sight from Duo, in hopes of making him become more nervous as he waited for her demands. "You'll give me a week's worth of powdered doughnuts and your unconditional love."
He then got up and kissed her. "Let's get out of this dump." With that, he locked up and walked with her towards her apartment. "I think I should make up some lost time."
"I'll see about that."
Duo had a little confused look on his face. He was right about to enter her apartment and before he knew it, he walked right into the door. "What is this for?"
Hilde called from the other side, "I think we should have a little time out."
Duo's heart was crushed, "But, don't you think we should be together tonight?"
"I'll see you tomorrow and besides one little night being apart won't kill you? Will it?"
"I guess not." He walked back to his bachelor pad for the night, feeling heart broken. "That Wufei is really going to get it now for making me miss my date with Hilde." For the night, he devised some type of plan that would involve the usual ingredient, flour.
*****
Another day began again, and Duo was already at the bakery devising his ultimate plan against Wufei for sabotaging his cake. He was at the front counters waiting for potential customers to enter, "Let's see.I can start the usual flour fight and end it with a bang. Hmmm, that could be interesting. But that is so old-school and I even thought about last night."
"And what are you up to Maxwell on this fine morning?"
"Hi Wufei. I was just minding my own business LIKE I'm supposed to."
"Very well then, I can see you didn't burn down the bakery. So how did your new recipe turn out?"
"None of your business. Top secret. I'm taking it with me to the grave." He then left abruptly to get away from his saboteur.
Wufei was left with a giddy feeling, "I wonder if he knows." He shrugged to himself and went on the day as usual.
*****
Laughter abruptly filled the hallways of the embassy as staff members trickled in through the lounge and saw a picture of Aidan with whip cream from the previous night.
The fifteen-year-old boy called out, "Hey Aidan, I think this is a nice profile of you."
"Very funny." He had his arms folded across his chest.
Relena then walked in and noticed the alarming picture on her bulletin board. "Oh dear, I didn't think Heero would go that far." she whispered to herself. "But on the other hand, it should keep Aidan in his place." She chuckled quietly to herself, while Aidan looked towards her. She felt a cold stare like Heero's coming over her shoulder. "Hi Aidan," she said meekly. "Looks like you finally got a taste of your own medicine. Cheer up."
"Cheer up?!? How can I cheer up? Heero and Riley are making a mockery out of me!"
"I didn't know that Riley was in on this. Oh well, as least she finally got you on something."
"Whatever." He then headed out towards the hallway, where Heero was located in. "It's you again."
"Well good morning to you to."
"Same to you. I hope you enjoyed your night's sleep."
He nodded in response and then mysteriously disappeared before Aidan could question him further.
"It figures for him to disappear just in an instant." He was thinking about last night's events with Riley in her office. He was still waiting a response from her. Right then, Quatre walked right up to him.
"I see you have a nice profile of you in the staff's lounge." He looked at Aidan, but he seemed to ignore him. "What's the matter?"
"I'm having relationship problems."
"I see and I think I might know who you're referring to. What did you do to make her mad at you this time?"
"I was just asking her.never mind."
"You asked her."
"All right, I give up, I might as well spill the beans, since I've been racking my brain on this dilemma all night long. I asked her if we still had a chance, but she didn't give me any response."
Quatre gave him an appalled look after his revelation, "I'm not really good with any of these matters, but my best bet is tell her your true feelings." Aidan looked on in despair since he already tried doing that just last night. "I guess that didn't work for you." He then let out a sigh and said, "Just give her time, she'll come around."
"Thanks, Quatre."
With that, Quatre walked away and began his day, not manning the switchboard this time.
*****
Across town, Treize and Lady Une sat in their office planning their next move on their latest hot topic, which was the mysterious birthday cake for Ms. Relena Peacecraft.
"When do you think we should bring the story out?" asked Treize, who was fumbling a pen in his hand.
Lady pondered on the thought and flipped through her mini calendar that was on her desk, "Lets see.Ms. Peacecraft's birthday is coming up.tomorrow. When is the cake supposed to be picked up?"
Treize reached into his own desk and pulled out a yellow piece of legal paper and read the date. Frustration was seen in his eyes, "It's supposed to picked up today."
"I guess we better get a move on it, since our printing presses will be working all day then."
"It sounds fine with me, we'll have the story out on her birthday. This will be a tight deadline then. All right then, have our reporters on the look out if this mystery bodyguard appears at the bakery again. I want this to become headline news for sure."
"I'll have our undercover reporters on the job right now." She began speed dialing the staff on her black phone. Within minutes, vans were deployed from the building to their respective sights, the bakery and the embassy. "Let Operation Sweet Cake begin," replied one of the reporters in the van.
*****
Duo was running against the clock now since Heero was scheduled to pick up the cake later on during the day. He was squeezing his pastry bag that was filled with red icing. "Some design that Mr. Yuy had to pick out, three main roses at the lower top of the cake. I don't think my hand can stand this torture anymore." After completing the first of the roses, his hand looked red because of all the pressure from squeezing his small pastry bag. "Concentrate, Duo, you don't want to screw this cake up, not when its about finished with the decorating."
He squeezed the tube again and red icing was taking in the shape of rose bud, just when Wufei decided to scare him to death. "Hey partner, looks like your finally hard at work." He then patted him on the back with a spatula to get his attention.
The red icing missed its mark on the white surface. "Ahhh!! Look what you made me do. There's one demented rose bud on the cake right now."
Wufei loved torturing Duo at these critical cake-decorating moments, "I'm sorry did I do that.would you like me to go away or should I pester you more?"
"I think you should distance yourself right now because I'm in no mood for jokes right now."
"Touchy.touchy."
"If you're picking a fight right now, now is not the time." Duo looked away from his masterpiece for a second and looked around the room to see where Wufei had run off. "All right, lets get on with this third rose." More of the red icing filtered slowing through the pastry bag until it was empty. "Oh, don't do this to me now. Come on, come on." He tried coaxing his pastry bag into letting out more of the red sugary frosting, but then he lightly banged it on the kitchen counter in hopes of jarring the clog that had formed in the tube. With that, more of red icing trickled out, "Thank you." He wiped his forehead from all of the pressure he was facing and he noticed that someone was coming up to him from behind again. "I wouldn't dare to that if I were you, Chang." He grabbed the pastry bag that was filled with green icing and squirted Wufei in the face. "This is just only the beginning, mark my words."
"Why you." He tried wiping the green off his face, but the icing began to harden slightly.
"I know you sabotaged my cake, but mark my words, there's more to come. Now if you would excuse me, I've got better things to do." Duo continued on with Relena's birthday cake adding the final touches to it minus the calligraphy that he'll have to write on the cake with another pastry bag filled with blue icing. "This is going to take me all afternoon, if I keep up this snail pace in decorating. I might as well stop right here and prepare Hilde's powdered doughnuts." He took his beloved masterpiece and locked it in his refrigerator that was next to Wufei's. At the same time, he took out a padlock from his pocket and locked the refrigerator entirely. "This should keep that rat out of my stuff for a while."
"What are you doing that for?" asked Wufei who still had a slight green tint on his face from the squirting incident.
"I'm just keeping you out of trouble." He pushed Wufei off to the side and as he walked away, "I wouldn't dare touching the refrigerator because if you do, an alarm system will ring."
"You even installed an alarm system on your refrigerator," called out Wufei in shock.
"I'm not leaving anything to chance while you're around. And besides, this will keep you out of trouble for a while. I think you might want to help some of our customers that are waiting patiently for you such as.Sally."
"What? I thought she usually comes here occasionally." Wufei hurried quickly out of the kitchen and into the main part of the bakery, "I don't see her." He then realized that Duo was playing a psychological game on him for part of his plan. He then mumbled to himself, "Arrghh, that Maxwell." A lady then stepped up to the counter for some service and with that, Wufei gave a fake smile. For the next two hours, he was standing at the counter, collecting orders.
*****
In the embassy, Quatre was nervous again because of his plan for Relena's secret surprise party. He peeped into her office and found her, working studiously among a stack of papers that should keep her busy for a while. With that, he walked towards Heero's post, but couldn't find him anywhere. "Where's is he when you need him?" He continued to walk down a hallway that overlooked the courtyard and found him standing near a window. "For a person like you, you're hard to track down, you know that?"
Heero acknowledged Quatre's presence. He continued to look out of the window as his eyesight was focusing on someone taking snapshots of the embassy. "I think we have a reporter lose on the premise."
Quatre looked out the window along with him and saw the reporter. "I don't recall anything about having anyone taking snapshots of the embassy. It looks like he's leaving right now."
"Supposedly."
"Hey, when are you supposed to pick up Relena's birthday cake?"
"Today."
"That's great. Everything will be in place then. You won't mind holding on the cake until tomorrow? I figure if we put in the staff's lounge, the whole plan will be in ruins."
"I'm heading back to my post. The cake is supposed to be picked up sometime around five."
"Thanks, Heero." Quatre continued finalizing the secret surprise party for the rest of the day making sure that the staff members knew what to bring and what to say in case Relena questioned about their suspicious activities.
Outside of the embassy, the renegade reporter positioned himself in one of the bushes by the back driveway, "Cupcake in position," whispered a voice in a walkie-talkie.
"Roger that," replied a member of the news staff that were situated in a van across the street.
A blip was heard on the radio of the van, "Who thought of these names anyway, I feel so stupid."
"Just shut up and get the pictures when the guard comes out. I suppose you recognize him through our first picture on him."
"I know." The radio went silent as everyone waited for the big event to occur.
*****
Back in Treize's and Lady Une's office, all hell broke lose as everyone was preparing for their assignments. Stress levels were on the rise as copy editors were running wildly throughout the office with possible layouts for their morning edition. Interns were following their respective editors around the building with coffee mugs in their hands along with manila folders filled with background information on the bakery.
"I've just received confirmation that cupcake #1 is in position for the first appearance of the security guard," replied Lady Une from her desk.
"Good. Is any of our scouts at the bakery yet?"
"Not just yet."
"Well tell them to get a move on it. We don't want our story to be ruined now." He stormed out of the office and headed straight to the copying room, where a rough copy of the layout for their morning edition was being prepared.
Meanwhile, a white van pulled up to a side street and two reporters quickly emerged from the vehicle. One situated himself in a local café that was located in front the bakery, while another waited by a newsstand. "We're in position now."
"Good. You know what Treize wants and as soon as the security guard leaves the bakery, come back to the office with your pictures."
*****
Duo finished a batch of powdered doughnuts just when Hilde stepped inside with a bag. "Hey babe, I missed you last night." He was standing behind the counter with a pink box in his hands.
"I missed you too." She went up to him and gave him a light kiss on his check. "I see that you kept your end of the bargain up."
"Yep."
"So how is your cake going?"
"Just fine, just fine. At least, Wufei hasn't sabotaged it again, but my hands are all cramped up from squeezing the pastry bags too much. And look, they're even stained in multiple colors." He lifted his right hand, to reveal hues of blending: red, green, and blue.
"Is he still giving you a hard time?"
"This might cheer you up." She held out the bag and gave it to Duo.
He peeped inside and noticed something white about it. "It's a new chef's hat." His eyes were twinkling. "Thanks."
"I told you that I would get you a new hat. So where's Wufei right now?"
"Probably devising a devious plan to get his revenge on me again, but lets just say that after today, I'll even the score."
"What do you mean that you'll even the score?"
"You'll find out if you stay long enough."
"I think that might be my cue to leave right now. I'll see you later, well hopefully." She left with the pink box in her hands and a smile on her face.
"Later." After a few minutes of contemplating to himself, he prepared himself for his plan by gathering his necessary items: flour, pastry bags, and his boom box. He then placed Hilde's new chef's hat on.
*****
The clock had struck four in the afternoon; the chimes were clearly ringing throughout the lobby and the hallways. Heero was now at his post trying to figure a way of escaping from Relena's curious eyesight. He didn't want her to become too suspicious of his actions, since he already knew she began to question the rest of her staff members. He walked into her office, "I'm leaving now."
"It's not even nine yet."
"I know, but I made plans for the night."
"Oh, I see." Relena was saddened by that thought.
"I arranged for Trowa to stay with you for the remainder of my shift, if that's fine with you."
She gave him a fake smile, "It's no problem at all. Good night then."
"Good night."
Heero looked at his watch as he made his way through the maze of hallways as he finally made his way to the back entrance of the embassy. "It's no turning back for me." With that he took his first step out of the door and didn't notice anything peculiar. But he did hear something from the bushes, the sound of a film advancing in a camera.
TBC *****
How was this for chapter 12? So what is Duo's plan with all of the bakery ingredients? Find out in the next chapter, until then ciao!! ^_^