Wufei and the Shanghai Terror
Chapter 6
Nine Lives
"I still can't believe our house was bugged," said Sally, putting her feet in Wufei's lap as she laid her head against the arm of the sofa.
"The Red Fist operatives were getting pretty desperate to get information about our mission objectives. They had the vidphone's of several Preventor agents tapped, as well as listening devices."
"Gives me the creeps to think they were spying on us like that," said Sally, hugging herself through her fluffy cotton bathrobe.
"It's over," said Wufei quietly. "I'm just relieved you're all right. Didn't I warn you to be careful?"
"You make it sound like I was bored and needed to have people shooting at me again to make my evening complete," pouted Sally. "I assure you, I would have much rather had a quiet evening of friendly banter with Quatre and Trowa than dodging bullets and bleeding."
"I didn't mean to make it sound as though you invited trouble," said Wufei. "I'm still a little jumpy, is all."
"Too jumpy to rub your poor wife's tired and aching feet?" purred Sally. "I knew I'd regret taking that double shift when I got back from L4."
"You need to learn to take it easier on yourself," scolded Wufei. He began to gently rub Sally's feet between his thumbs and forefingers, eliciting a groan of pleasure from her.
"So says Mr. Workaholic," she said between pleasurable sounds.
"Silence or I shall tickle you unmercifully," said Wufei, reaching up and giving Sally a warning tickle on the inside of her knee.
"Ah!" she said, gasping and jerking her leg. "BE still," Wufei growled.
"NO bickering tonight," he said. "Even in fun. I want to relax and enjoy your company."
"Ah, but bickering with you is so much fun," said Sally, rubbing her unoccupied foot against his thigh.
"We should be able to spend one evening without that," said Wufei sternly.
"You make it sound like it's all my fault," said Sally, giving him a frosty glance.
"You're starting!" Wufei warned. "I said no arguing."
"Bossy," said Sally.
"Yes, I am," said Wufei, pressing on a particularly sore spot on her arch and smiling evilly as she gasped.
"You enjoyed that!" she exclaimed accusingly.
"So did you," he said.
"Just rub, slave," she said. "My other foot is getting jealous."
A lithe furry form appeared on the back of the sofa.
"Lu!" said Sally. "How's my baby kitty?" she cooed, holding out her fingers to be sniffed. "What a brave girl you were, all alone with those bad men."
Wufei rolled his eyes, but said nothing as he continued to massage Sally's feet.
Lu jumped into Wufei's lap next to Sally's foot.
He flinched a little, expecting the usual attack.
Lu proceeded to walk up Sally's leg and settle on her stomach, purring loudly.
"Hey, she didn't scratch you," said Sally.
"Imagine that," said Wufei dryly. "Maybe she's bored with hearing me scream in pain."
"No, I think she knows you don't hate her anymore."
"I never did," said Wufei defensively.
"You didn't want to share me with her, admit it," insisted Sally.
"I will not admit to being jealous of a fickle feline," said Wufei.
"Stubborn," said Sally.
"You knew that when you married me," said Wufei.
The doorbell buzzed. Wufei groaned. "What now?"
"Go answer the door," said Sally. "I'll run and change."
She slid the cat off her stomach to the floor, earning an annoyed meow, and headed toward the bedroom.
Wufei went and jerked open the door.
"Surprise, it's us!" said Duo. Hilde was holding onto his arm with a dubious look on her gamine features.
"I told him to call first," she explained.
"Girl has no sense of adventure," said Duo. "Whatcha waitin' for, invite us in, Wu-tang."
Wufei stepped back from the door, saying nothing, as Duo swept into the room dragging Hilde with him.
"Brought ya something," he said, holding out a bottle.
"Champagne?" asked Wufei.
"Yeah, to celebrate Sally getting home in one piece," he explained. "We're gonna drink and run, but I wanted to see for myself that she's all right."
"That's um, very nice of you," said Wufei, eyeing the bottle.
"Where'd you get this," he said, looking at the date on the bottle and raising an eyebrow.
"I stole it from Quat's wine room last time we were there," said Duo, smirking. "He'll never miss it."
"Duo!" said Hilde, looking aghast. "You told me Quatre gave that to you."
"He gave me some crappy stuff so I sneaked down and exchanged it for this," said Duo. "That's what he gets for thinking I don't know anything about wine."
Wufei shook his head. "Well, I'll get some glasses so we can share this ill- gotten booty."
He got glasses from a cabinet in the kitchen and came back. Sally, dressed in red silk lounging clothes that matched his black ones, was sitting on the sofa, talking to Hilde.
"So, that's when the shooting started?" asked Hilde.
"Yes, Trowa and Heero noticed almost at the same instant that our waiter had a Red Fist tattoo on his wrist when he sleeve came up handing us our menus."
Wufei was taking the metal cage off of the Champagne, and slowly pushed up the cork with his thumbs. It came off with a perfect "whoosh", and a ghostly mist of escaped effervescence. He carefully poured the sparkling pale liquid into the glasses.
"To my brave Sally," said Wufei, as they raised their glasses and sipped.
"To Quatre, Trowa and Heero whipping the bad guys," said Duo. The raised their glasses.
"To Lu!" said Sally. Wufei glowered at her.
"She's a heroine!" insisted Sally, thrusting out her lower lip. Hilde giggled.
"Okay, to Lu." Wufei raised his glass reluctantly.
"Niyaaaou!" said the cat, jumping onto the sofa upon hearing her name.
She jumped down and started to wind around Wufei's legs.
He bore it comfortably, not flinching or frowning.
"I see the kitty likes you now," said Duo. "See all you had to do was be nice to her."
"I haven't done anything different," protested Wufei.
"I saw you slip her something off your plate this morning," said Sally. "Give it up, Wufei. Admit it, you like Lu."
Wufei merely drank another sip of Champagne and said nothing.
"Aw, you'll never drag anything out of Wufei," said Duo. "He's a tomb."
"I'll tickle it out of him later," said Sally with a wink.
Wufei spluttered a little on his Champagne.
"Silly woman," he muttered.
"How's Heero?" asked Hilde, not too subtly changing the subject.
"Oh, 23 stitches, an antibiotic, overnight in the hospital and he's fine," said Sally. "He was lucky, we all were." She suddenly looked serious and put down her Champagne glass.
"Oh, I noticed Relena was there to hover over him," said Duo. "Hee-chan looked like he was in a flower shop when he called headquarters. Last time I saw her, she was pouting because he made her give most of them to charity." He snickered.
"Sometimes, I swear you all have targets painted on your backs," said Hilde, shaking her head. She put down her glass next to Sally's.
"Hey, there's worse jobs than being a moving target; I could be cleaning out sewers," joked Duo. Hilde gave him a severe look.
"Sorry," he squeaked, looking at the serious faces around him. He quickly downed the rest of his glass of Champagne, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Well, Hilde my love, we need to make a break for it before Wu-chan here skewers me," said Duo.
"It's getting late," said Hilde. "We just wanted to bring you the Champagne, and see if Sally was all right."
"Thank you," said Wufei, grabbing Duo's upper arm and ushering him none to gently to the door.
"Oh ho, now I get it, we were interrupting a little Wu-Sal one-on-one," said Duo, winking lasciviously.
"I'm driving," said Hilde, plunging her hand his jacket pocket and snagging the car keys.
Wufei gave him an outraged look and pointed towards the door silently.
"See ya at work!" said Duo cheerily, as Hilde grabbed his other arm and pulled him through the door.
"Finally!" said Wufei, shutting the door and double locking it.
He went to the vidphone and disconnected the link.
"I'm going to have one evening alone with my wife with no interruptions if I have to kill someone to get it!" he groused, as Sally stretched out on the sofa again and kicked off her slippers.
"I don't think we'll have to resort to murder," she murmured, as he sat back down on the sofa and pulled her foot back into his lap.
"Now, as they say in old movies, where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?"
"You were pretending to be my slave," purred Sally.
"In your dreams, woman," he said, as he continued to massage her feet.
"Oh yeah," she said. "Want me to tell you all about it?"
"Why not show me instead?" he asked huskily.
"How about both?"
"Hm," was the response to that.
"Ack! Wufei, that tickles!"
"Niyaouuuuuuu!"
"Ai-ya! God-forsaken, hell-spawned, worthless animal!"
Chapter 6
Nine Lives
"I still can't believe our house was bugged," said Sally, putting her feet in Wufei's lap as she laid her head against the arm of the sofa.
"The Red Fist operatives were getting pretty desperate to get information about our mission objectives. They had the vidphone's of several Preventor agents tapped, as well as listening devices."
"Gives me the creeps to think they were spying on us like that," said Sally, hugging herself through her fluffy cotton bathrobe.
"It's over," said Wufei quietly. "I'm just relieved you're all right. Didn't I warn you to be careful?"
"You make it sound like I was bored and needed to have people shooting at me again to make my evening complete," pouted Sally. "I assure you, I would have much rather had a quiet evening of friendly banter with Quatre and Trowa than dodging bullets and bleeding."
"I didn't mean to make it sound as though you invited trouble," said Wufei. "I'm still a little jumpy, is all."
"Too jumpy to rub your poor wife's tired and aching feet?" purred Sally. "I knew I'd regret taking that double shift when I got back from L4."
"You need to learn to take it easier on yourself," scolded Wufei. He began to gently rub Sally's feet between his thumbs and forefingers, eliciting a groan of pleasure from her.
"So says Mr. Workaholic," she said between pleasurable sounds.
"Silence or I shall tickle you unmercifully," said Wufei, reaching up and giving Sally a warning tickle on the inside of her knee.
"Ah!" she said, gasping and jerking her leg. "BE still," Wufei growled.
"NO bickering tonight," he said. "Even in fun. I want to relax and enjoy your company."
"Ah, but bickering with you is so much fun," said Sally, rubbing her unoccupied foot against his thigh.
"We should be able to spend one evening without that," said Wufei sternly.
"You make it sound like it's all my fault," said Sally, giving him a frosty glance.
"You're starting!" Wufei warned. "I said no arguing."
"Bossy," said Sally.
"Yes, I am," said Wufei, pressing on a particularly sore spot on her arch and smiling evilly as she gasped.
"You enjoyed that!" she exclaimed accusingly.
"So did you," he said.
"Just rub, slave," she said. "My other foot is getting jealous."
A lithe furry form appeared on the back of the sofa.
"Lu!" said Sally. "How's my baby kitty?" she cooed, holding out her fingers to be sniffed. "What a brave girl you were, all alone with those bad men."
Wufei rolled his eyes, but said nothing as he continued to massage Sally's feet.
Lu jumped into Wufei's lap next to Sally's foot.
He flinched a little, expecting the usual attack.
Lu proceeded to walk up Sally's leg and settle on her stomach, purring loudly.
"Hey, she didn't scratch you," said Sally.
"Imagine that," said Wufei dryly. "Maybe she's bored with hearing me scream in pain."
"No, I think she knows you don't hate her anymore."
"I never did," said Wufei defensively.
"You didn't want to share me with her, admit it," insisted Sally.
"I will not admit to being jealous of a fickle feline," said Wufei.
"Stubborn," said Sally.
"You knew that when you married me," said Wufei.
The doorbell buzzed. Wufei groaned. "What now?"
"Go answer the door," said Sally. "I'll run and change."
She slid the cat off her stomach to the floor, earning an annoyed meow, and headed toward the bedroom.
Wufei went and jerked open the door.
"Surprise, it's us!" said Duo. Hilde was holding onto his arm with a dubious look on her gamine features.
"I told him to call first," she explained.
"Girl has no sense of adventure," said Duo. "Whatcha waitin' for, invite us in, Wu-tang."
Wufei stepped back from the door, saying nothing, as Duo swept into the room dragging Hilde with him.
"Brought ya something," he said, holding out a bottle.
"Champagne?" asked Wufei.
"Yeah, to celebrate Sally getting home in one piece," he explained. "We're gonna drink and run, but I wanted to see for myself that she's all right."
"That's um, very nice of you," said Wufei, eyeing the bottle.
"Where'd you get this," he said, looking at the date on the bottle and raising an eyebrow.
"I stole it from Quat's wine room last time we were there," said Duo, smirking. "He'll never miss it."
"Duo!" said Hilde, looking aghast. "You told me Quatre gave that to you."
"He gave me some crappy stuff so I sneaked down and exchanged it for this," said Duo. "That's what he gets for thinking I don't know anything about wine."
Wufei shook his head. "Well, I'll get some glasses so we can share this ill- gotten booty."
He got glasses from a cabinet in the kitchen and came back. Sally, dressed in red silk lounging clothes that matched his black ones, was sitting on the sofa, talking to Hilde.
"So, that's when the shooting started?" asked Hilde.
"Yes, Trowa and Heero noticed almost at the same instant that our waiter had a Red Fist tattoo on his wrist when he sleeve came up handing us our menus."
Wufei was taking the metal cage off of the Champagne, and slowly pushed up the cork with his thumbs. It came off with a perfect "whoosh", and a ghostly mist of escaped effervescence. He carefully poured the sparkling pale liquid into the glasses.
"To my brave Sally," said Wufei, as they raised their glasses and sipped.
"To Quatre, Trowa and Heero whipping the bad guys," said Duo. The raised their glasses.
"To Lu!" said Sally. Wufei glowered at her.
"She's a heroine!" insisted Sally, thrusting out her lower lip. Hilde giggled.
"Okay, to Lu." Wufei raised his glass reluctantly.
"Niyaaaou!" said the cat, jumping onto the sofa upon hearing her name.
She jumped down and started to wind around Wufei's legs.
He bore it comfortably, not flinching or frowning.
"I see the kitty likes you now," said Duo. "See all you had to do was be nice to her."
"I haven't done anything different," protested Wufei.
"I saw you slip her something off your plate this morning," said Sally. "Give it up, Wufei. Admit it, you like Lu."
Wufei merely drank another sip of Champagne and said nothing.
"Aw, you'll never drag anything out of Wufei," said Duo. "He's a tomb."
"I'll tickle it out of him later," said Sally with a wink.
Wufei spluttered a little on his Champagne.
"Silly woman," he muttered.
"How's Heero?" asked Hilde, not too subtly changing the subject.
"Oh, 23 stitches, an antibiotic, overnight in the hospital and he's fine," said Sally. "He was lucky, we all were." She suddenly looked serious and put down her Champagne glass.
"Oh, I noticed Relena was there to hover over him," said Duo. "Hee-chan looked like he was in a flower shop when he called headquarters. Last time I saw her, she was pouting because he made her give most of them to charity." He snickered.
"Sometimes, I swear you all have targets painted on your backs," said Hilde, shaking her head. She put down her glass next to Sally's.
"Hey, there's worse jobs than being a moving target; I could be cleaning out sewers," joked Duo. Hilde gave him a severe look.
"Sorry," he squeaked, looking at the serious faces around him. He quickly downed the rest of his glass of Champagne, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Well, Hilde my love, we need to make a break for it before Wu-chan here skewers me," said Duo.
"It's getting late," said Hilde. "We just wanted to bring you the Champagne, and see if Sally was all right."
"Thank you," said Wufei, grabbing Duo's upper arm and ushering him none to gently to the door.
"Oh ho, now I get it, we were interrupting a little Wu-Sal one-on-one," said Duo, winking lasciviously.
"I'm driving," said Hilde, plunging her hand his jacket pocket and snagging the car keys.
Wufei gave him an outraged look and pointed towards the door silently.
"See ya at work!" said Duo cheerily, as Hilde grabbed his other arm and pulled him through the door.
"Finally!" said Wufei, shutting the door and double locking it.
He went to the vidphone and disconnected the link.
"I'm going to have one evening alone with my wife with no interruptions if I have to kill someone to get it!" he groused, as Sally stretched out on the sofa again and kicked off her slippers.
"I don't think we'll have to resort to murder," she murmured, as he sat back down on the sofa and pulled her foot back into his lap.
"Now, as they say in old movies, where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?"
"You were pretending to be my slave," purred Sally.
"In your dreams, woman," he said, as he continued to massage her feet.
"Oh yeah," she said. "Want me to tell you all about it?"
"Why not show me instead?" he asked huskily.
"How about both?"
"Hm," was the response to that.
"Ack! Wufei, that tickles!"
"Niyaouuuuuuu!"
"Ai-ya! God-forsaken, hell-spawned, worthless animal!"