AN: Well it's here… finally… hehe… yeah yeha I kno I said thanksgiving but… this is close enough..rite? I mean it IS still November at least… hehe ok well.. we finally got some Heero/Relena interaction, but more towards the end. I wasn't going to stop it there but I decided it would be waaayyyy too long if I kept going… so expect 2 more parts and an epilogue… I think… I hope… ok enough rambling from me… go read now.. ^_^
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters…or the songs… or anything at all… please feed the poor college student… w/reviews of course!
So Close... And Yet So FarPart Eight: Red-Handed
Beep-Beep. Beep-Beep. Sally stared at the vi-phone intently, silently willing it to stop ringing. Please don't let it be Une. Please don't let it be Une. She raised a hesitant finger to the 'accept' button.
It was Une….
And she didn't look happy.
"It's seven o'clock," was Une's only greeting as her image popped up on the screen.
"I see." Une didn't look like she was open to any explanations.
"No, I don't think you do, Preventer Po." Sally bit the insides of her cheeks to brace for the incoming blow that usually followed such formal address. "Heero Yuy just tried to download some information off my database. Keyword: tried. Unfortunately the information wasn't there. This is where you come in. When you give me an ETA, I expect you to meet it. You told me this morning, you'd send the report to me by 5 pm. I repeat: It's seven o'clock." Sally took a deep breath and nodded. She realized the gravity of the situation. Every second counted, and this was not an opportune time to delay any exchange of information.
"I'm sorry, Lady Une. It won't happen again. I'm sending the report now."
"Good. Yuy should be coming in soon to obtain the information in person."
"I understand." The screen flickered off and Sally released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. There was a knock at the door. Right on time. "Enter." Heero entered the room with his usual intense matter-of-fact-ness.
"Sally-" he began.
"Already way ahead of you," she interrupted. "Here's the report." She offered him a stack of papers, which he eyed hesitantly.
"Actually, I just needed you to answer one question for me." Sally raised an interested eyebrow. "Senator Tausend was listed as a participant of the conference. Did you get a statement from him?"
"Let me see…"
*************************************
The soft, melodious sound of whistling filled the hallways, as Duo strolled through them casually.
"Duo." Duo whirled around, reflexively crouching into a defensive position.
"Where the hell did you come from?" Then, recovering his usual relaxed posture, 'don't sneak up on me like that, buddy." His 'buddy' glared.
"I don't suppose you've finished your report." Heero said very matter-of-factly.
"You suppose wrong, my friend. The Chang-man is typing it up and entering it into the database as we speak," Duo replied smugly. "But not until after he kicked me out of the room," he grumbled under his breath.
"Duo." He looked up.
"Yeah?"
"Shut up. I need you to answer a question for me."
"He-" Duo started, then thought better of it after noticing the look/glare on Heero's face.
"The mobile suits that you destroyed at the base, did they have any distinct coloring or insignia? Any distinguishing marks?" Duo furrowed his brow as he tried to remember.
"No," he replied, a bit surprised. "Nothing, actually it looked as if they were waiting to be painted. The shell itself was pretty generic too." He looked to Heero, but his friend had vanished. "Wait! Why?"
*******************************************
It was all coming together. All he needed now was hard evidence, and that was just a matter of time. Unfortunately, time is money, and Heero was running late for his job at the nightclub. He hadn't had contact with Relena for the entire day. Not since the 'incident' early this morning. He was letting his emotions compromise his mission, compromise her safety. Heero climbed up the stairs hurriedly. He couldn't fight the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something was not quite right. He could sense it, and his instincts were never wrong. His hand clutched the doorknob with foreboding dread, and he pushed the door open.
"Relena?"
The room was empty.
He scanned the room urgently, calculating all possibilities. Window: closed and locked; Door: intact, no sign of break in; Room: no sign of struggle.
"Heero? Is that you?" A voice broke into his intense concentration.
"Relena," he sighed, unable to hold back his relief. "Where are you?"
"In the bathroom. I was just about to take a shower." Heero jiggled the bathroom doorknob insistently.
"Open the door, Relena." Relena franticly eyed the numerous shopping bags heaped on the tiled floor in front of her.
"No!" she said a bit too forcefully.
"Relena," he warned. Something was wrong.
"Heero, you can't come in. I'm not dressed." He froze. Not dressed. Not 'not properly dressed'. Not dressed. He tried to block the mental image that was forming in his mind.
"Heero?" His eyes widened at the door. Swallowing dryly, he backed away from it. He was late for work.
"I'm going downstairs," he called back to her, controlling his voice. Relena sighed in relief as she heard the door close. She surveyed her purchases thoughtfully, a mischievous smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.
*****************************
While Heero was trying his hardest to keep his mind out of the gutter, Duo was letting his wallow in it.
"So tell me again how Sally ended up giving you a ride to work?" Wufei continued to stare out the window watching the steady beat of streetlights they passed. After Sally had told him she would be working late, he decided to catch a ride with Duo. He'd witnessed Maxwell's driving skills firsthand on the way to the conference, and they were acceptable. At the time he had thought a twenty-minute car ride with Duo would be worth getting home a few hours early. Unfortunately, he had overestimated his own patience. "C'mon, I know there's something going on between you two." Duo pulled his gaze away from the road to give Wufei a quick glance to see a reaction. There was none. He turned back to the road. "Holy shit!" His eyes widened in shock.
"What? What happened?" Wufei finally allowed himself to look at Duo.
"You're wearing the same clothes as yesterday! Jesus H. Christ! You did sleep with her didn't you?"
"Kisama, Maxwell. I thought you saw something on the road or something. Stop acting like an idiot and mind your business!" Wufei raged.
"Now, now Wu. Don't wanna kill the driver, do we? That would be bad."
"I'm not so sure."
"All right, geez! Touchy touchy." He mumbled under his breath.
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"I don't think so." Heero glared at the sixteen-year old juvenile as he tried to flash him a fake ID. Trying to pass for 24, it was almost insulting to Heero's keen observation skills.
"That's enough, Yuy. At the rate you're going, this place will never fill up." The manager clapped a hand on his shoulder. "You can go inside. Mitch'll take it from here." Heero nodded in affirmation and left his post. He scanned the smoke-filled dance floor and noticed the heavyset man from yesterday. The same man who had dragged that under-dressed drunk woman out of the nightclub last night. Heero watched his movements like a hawk. The guy made his way to the bar, obviously targeting a new victim. Heero followed his gaze and noticed the extremely attractive woman sitting there cross-legged.
She was dressed completely in black, accenting her pale skin and complementing her raven black hair. Her back was turned towards him, but he could see the silver bangles on her arms and the black leather knee-high boots the clung seductively to her legs. She didn't seem to belong here. Heero's eyes narrowed. No she didn't belong here at all. She was too tastefully dressed. A spy? Maybe someone had recognized him and followed him here. No, he would have noticed. Unless…Relena. Of course! How could he have been so stupid? Relena had to have gone out to eat. At least across the street. What if somebody had spotted her? This woman could be here to finish the job. Her short hair swooped over her brow and one eye, obscuring her profile. The hairstyle reminded him of Noin, but this woman was slightly curvier. Her style of dress was more like Hilde's, right down to the 'fuck-me' boots, as Duo so affectionately termed the pair she liked to wear.
Heero adjusted his position in order to get a better line of sight. He could make out the tip of her nose and her lips. Her lips. He found himself captivated by them. Glossed in silver, smiling softly to the bartender as he handed her a bowl of cherries. He watched her delicate hand reach for a maraschino cherry, dainty fingertips grasping the stem as she dipped it into her drink. He noticed the martini set on the counter in front of her, and was mesmerized as she swirled it in circular motions with the cherry. He blinked when she stopped suddenly, and lifted the dripping fruit from the glass. She brought the cherry to her lips and extended her pink tongue to grasp the sweet sphere into her mouth. Heero licked his lips as she pulled the stem off and smiled at the bartender again.
He tried to bring his thoughts back into some semblance of rationality. She couldn't be a spy. She wouldn't be sitting so relaxed at the bar. She wouldn't be consuming alcohol. Then again, she wasn't really drinking the alcohol, was she? She seemed to avoid actually bringing the glass to those soft, sweet lips of hers. Heero shook his head impatiently. Sweet? Now how in the world would he know if her lips were sweet? There are ways to find out. He shook his head again and set his mind into soldier mode.
The heavyset man finally made his move on the unsuspecting young woman. She shook her head gently, gesturing to the drink in front of her and turned away from him. He asked her something. She gave him a tight smile, cradled her martini glass between two fingers and swallowed a mouthful of the clear liquid. She turned away again. The man seemed enflamed by her gesture and grabbed her arm. Heero leapt forward. He was not going to let this man take advantage of another woman. What was this sudden chivalry? She could be working for ALOC. He needed her for information, the soldier rationalized. Grabbing the man's collar, he pulled him off the stool. The man was a good head taller than Heero, but he was no match for the Death Glare. His bushy eyebrows furrowed in anger and he opened his scruffy mouth to release a tirade of insults. But before he could utter a syllable, he was thrown to the ground. When he tried to get up again, Heero grabbed him again and threw him out the door. The manager gave him a questioning look.
"He was causing trouble," Heero offered. The bartender gave him a grateful smile, but Heero was looking elsewhere. The girl (for he could see now that she was barely eighteen) was looking at him wide-eyed, an amused grin playing across her lips. Heero suddenly found himself thinking that she looked familiar. As he regarded her thoughtfully, her grin grew into an all-out smile, almost blinding in its brilliance. And then, to his horror, he realized who it was.
"Relena…"
