AN: Ack, I know, don't kill me…I have let this fic go way too long without updating.

But I had the worst case of writers block ever!! ::sob:: I mean holy crap for the life of me I could NOT figure out a way to get from Point A to Point B!

But…I sat down tonight and kinda made myself do it…and here it is.

I think this one's my favorite chappie so far. ::grin::

Many, many apologies to everyone who asked for this fic to continue - I hope I'm living up to your expectations!! Let me know anything I can improve on.

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And Adilande - I'm sorry to hear you're feeling sick!! Maybe this will cheer you up just a little bit??

Luvs,

Dragonfire707

Chapter 13

11:16 AM

Brad's house was more of a mansion, and it was one of the finest places Heero had ever stepped inside. Being married to Relena brought along countless opportunities to view the houses of the rich and famous, but never before had he witnessed a place like this. There were ancient paintings on the walls - he spotted three Van Goghs and several Monets - not to mention a beautiful white grand piano, exquisite luxury furnishings and a top-notch, state-of-the-art security system.

Feeling very out-of-place - he had never been comfortable in such opulent surroundings - Heero stepped inside and followed Brad to the dining room.

"I'm sure you must be very hungry, Mr. Yuy," Brad said, taking a seat in a cushioned dining-room chair. "I've already had breakfast, but a quick snack doesn't sound too disagreeable. Are you hungry?"

Heero managed to flash a small smile. "Famished," he replied.

"Good. My chef will already have lunch prepared, so if you'll follow me into the dining room…?"

Following the old man's footsteps, Heero traveled down a corridor bedecked with even more authentic paintings, looking down at his scuffed shoes on the lush carpet and realizing how out-of-place he looked in this king's palace. But then he glanced up at the man moving slowly in front of him, and remembered how Relena had adored Wilshaw like he was family, and he didn't feel nearly as incongruous. It would be okay. They'd eat lunch, maybe talk for a little while, and then he could ask for a ride back to the house and finally get to see Relena and Amy.

The dining room was something out of fairy tales; colossal, with bronze Greek statues standing guard near the door and an immense chandelier, with a million many-faceted crystals, hanging from the vaulted ceiling. There was also the largest Christmas tree Heero had ever seen placed in the corner, festooned with more ornaments than he could count and probably a thousand twinkling silver lights.

Brad led him to the table, which stretched the entire length of the room and was at least twice the width of Heero's own table back home.

How the crap did he come by all this money?…

They sat across from each other, and immediately three servants, dressed in starched white uniforms, walked from a neatly hidden door to the kitchen to take their order. Because most of the items on the menu were in either French or Italian, Heero decided to just pick something and hope it wasn't too exotic. Duo had once tricked him into eating roast squid, an event he was trying to forget.

The dish turned out to be steak in a sauce of some kind, with a interesting array of vegetables on the side. He was too hungry to really care; Heero quickly picked up his fork and dug in.

A few moments into the meal, when the pilot had slowed his momentum a bit, Brad asked, "So, how is your work going, Mr. Yuy?"

Heero paused and glanced up. He wasn't sure what Relena had told Brad about -

"Relena said you were rooting out some criminals on L1," Brad said, almost as if he had read Heero's mind. "Aren't you with the Preventers?"

Heero nodded. Relena trusted this man, so maybe she had told him everything… "Yeah, but I'm off formal duty for a while to do a little recon work."

"The press is saying," Brad said quietly, sprinkling salt on his grilled salmon, "that you're an assassin hired by the government." He looked up, locked gazes with Heero. "I must admit, you certainly have the needed skills."

"No, I'm not an assassin," Heero replied. "Nothing nearly so exciting as that. As a Preventer I mainly serve as Relena's bodyguard, which works considering the living arrangement. But…after Amy was kidnapped, and then found, they decided to station me on L1 to try and figure out who took her."

"I see," Brad mused. There was a pause as both men ate. Heero was facing the massive Christmas tree, and he suddenly had a deep longing to go home. His family had probably set up the tree without him…but he wondered how Relena had gotten the star at the top of the tree, because she was terrified of ladders…

"So, is the work progressing?" Brad inquired, snapping Heero out of his thoughts.

"Well, slowly," he responded. "I…well, I've gathered a lot of information, I just…"

"Don't have the means to utilize it yet?" Brad finished.

Heero looked up in surprise. "Yeah."

The older man chuckled. "Every politician's dilemma. Here, you must try some of this champagne - it is exquisite."

A young servant had come out again, and was offering Heero a champagne glass with a clear liquid inside. Giving a faint smile as thanks, Heero took the drink, but the servant boy merely fixed him with a very serious, very fierce gaze before turning to go inside.

He set the glass down as Brad continued, "Did the police find anything ?"

"All right, I guess," Heero replied as he took another bite. "I sleep well, I have enough money for the basics, food is supplied…the roommates are a little bothersome, but I suppose that can't be helped."

"Where are you staying?"

"An apartment complex," Heero lied easily. Brad accepted the answer, so apparently Relena hadn't told the man everything.

"And is there no one you work with that you enjoy?"

"Well…" Heero mused, "there is one."

"There you go," Brad beamed. "It can't be that bad. Tell me about him."

Heero shrugged a little. "Well…honestly, he reminds me a lot of someone I know down here," he began, and then instantly sobered. At least he did, until I caught him beating the hell out of his wife…

"What's your roommate's name?"

He only paused a fraction a second before responding. "Brian."

"Married?"

Heero held back a grimace. "Yeah."

"Tall or short?"

"Too tall for his own good."

"Annoyingly entertaining?"

"Mostly annoying."

"Is he funny?"

"He thinks he is."

The older man laughed again. "Redheads usually are."

Heero went ramrod straight.

What the hell…

"Sounds like a good guy. I once had a roommate in college…"

Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!

"…not to mention loud, and at first I wanted nothing to do with him, but gradually as time went on…"

You've got to be kidding me…

…I never told him Brian was a redhead.

"…ended up as the best of friends. Still talk to him today, as a matter of fact." Brad finished his story and beamed at Heero. Heero gave a small smile and ducked his head to take a bite in an effort to keep from speaking.

This was unbelievable. There was no way Brad could've known about Brian, no way he could've known about any of it, unless…

Holy crap.

Brad was in on the whole thing - from the wrong side.

And as the older man started rambling on about something else, Heero felt his senses slowly switch to over-alert mode, in-the-presence-of-the-enemy mode. He slowly picked up his fork and appeared like he was eating, while secretly he was quickly glancing around the room, noting all entrances and exits, studying every nook and cranny for hidden cameras, hidden assassins, hidden anything -

I can't believe this…

He glanced up and looked at the man sitting across from him as Brad finished the story. The older man gave him a smile and then said amiably, "I'm glad you enjoyed your lunch, Mr. Yuy. Oh - but you haven't touched the champagne! I really must insist, I just know you'll love it. Relena's sampled a bit, too, she already asked me to bring over a case tomorrow for dinner…"

She doesn't drink…she's pregnant…she doesn't drink, you fool…

Feeling his stomach turn very slowly into lead and his breathing slow, Heero's gaze slid down to the innocent-looking champagne glass sitting harmlessly next to his plate. He glanced up at Brad, saw that the older man was looking at him way too intently, and then offered a small smile. Knowing he didn't have a choice, Heero lifted the glass and raised it to his lips.

There - as he brought the glass closer to his face, he saw it: a very light, very faint dusting of powder on the inside rim. That meant one thing and one thing only: poison.

"You know," Heero said suddenly, lowering the glass. Brad sat back a little, clearly trying to hide the surprise and impatience in his eyes. "I'm not much a champagne person. Usually it just makes me a little nauseous."

Brad raised an eyebrow…

…and Heero saw his right hand drop slowly beneath the table.

"That's surprising," the older man said, mildly enough to win an Academy Award. "I would assume someone as strong as you physically would have an equally strong stomach."

"Strange, isn't it," Heero said, and gave a dry little laugh. Be normal, be normal…

"Yes, very strange," Brad mused.

Heero sensed danger, coming fast. His muscles were tense, his hands ready to move.

"Mr. Yuy, I must admit something that has been bothering me for quite a while."

He didn't have his gun.

Heero felt frantically at his waist, where the pistol had always sat comfortably, but to no avail - the gun was gone. He was unarmed, in a mansion he could very easily get lost in, facing an elderly man who he was sure was going to attempt to kill him in less than two minutes…

"What's that, Brad?" he said, attempting to appear nonchalant.

"I, actually, believe that your work is better spent somewhere else."

"Really?" Heero's eyes were fastened on the man seated across from him. He had no weapon, so all he could do was get ready for anything.

"Yes."

"And where is that?"

The older man said, very calmly, "In hell."

There - he saw it! - the shining silver gleam of a pistol, catching the light of the Christmas tree directly behind Brad's chair. Before the older man could even stand to pull the trigger, Heero was out of his chair and on the table, plates flying, the supposedly "exquisite" champagne loudly crashing and spilling all over the table. It took less than two seconds for Heero to snatch the gun out of Brad's hands, whip it around, and aim it directly in his face.

It happened faster than Brad could even comprehend. As soon as he saw the fury raging in Heero's gaze, the older man's eyes narrowed contemptuously.

"You should've died a long time ago, Heero Yuy."

"Agreed," Heero hissed. "Now tell me - do you work for Roberts?"

"Roberts?" Brad returned laughingly. "You have no idea what's going on up there, do you, Yuy."

"Why don't you tell me, then," Heero snapped, "and maybe I won't kill you."

Wilshaw gave a humorless laugh. "Go ahead, Yuy. Your wife already despises you, this'll just add fuel to the flame."

Heero felt fire rage through his veins. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Brad gave another bark of laughter, and then leaned close to speak, as if explaining to a young child. "Relena hates you. You can't see that? Why don't you think she's avoided speaking to you? Thanks to us, she finally sees you as the monster you are, you bloody, lying, filthy murderer - "

The shot rang out before Heero realized he had pulled the trigger.

The dead man slumped to the left, and the dead weight caused the chair to topple over with a crash. The politician known as Brad Wilshaw, one of the most renowned and beloved leaders on the Earth and Colonies, died with his eyes staring straight up at Heero.

And the Perfect Soldier's hands were shaking so badly he could not hold the gun.

It took a moment for Heero's brain to process something, something very bad that he should've noted right away. When he finally realized what had gone wrong, Heero swore fiercely under his breath and leaped off the table.

The dead politician had landed on something - something small, and black, and discreetly hidden near the base of the Christmas tree:

A camera.

From behind Brad's chair.

Heero swore again, and, without thinking of what he was doing, yanked the camera from its position against the wall.

Immediately, the mansion went pitch black, except for a flashing red light and a high-pitched, extremely loud siren.

Alarms.

And Heero realized his second mistake: he had killed the camera, but its footage was still on tape somewhere.

And the alarms were going off, the guards were no doubt heading straight in this direction, and he had absolutely no time to find the security monitors.

So the Perfect Soldier did something he never thought he'd ever have to do again:

He ran.

13:01 PM

The second time someone knocked on her door that day, Relena was seated in the living room, listening to an old Christmas CD and handing ornaments to Amy to hang on the tree they had bought just the night before. Amy was ecstatic, gleefully grabbing the decorations from her mother and hanging them pretty much all in the same place, but Relena was much more subdued, although she was trying hard not to show it. She had put off decorating the tree for as long as she could, hoping against hope that somehow her husband would show up to help…but he was still very far away. And she was home, going through all the Christmas traditions without feeling much of the spirit of the season at all.

Just as Amy was reaching for her sixteenth ornament, a Popsicle-stick concoction that she had constructed with her aunt Hilde earlier that year and was immensely proud of, there were several knocks on the front door.

"Ahh!" Amy shrieked as she dropped the ornament back into the box. "Carolers!"

Relena smiled as she stood. "It's too early for carolers, honey, we have to wait till nighttime."

Amy raced ahead of her, shouting, "If they're singing 'Jingle Bells,' Mom, can I please get the sleigh bells to play along? Or if they - " she stopped short: she had pulled open the door, and carolers there were not.

"Oh! Hi, Uncle Duo," Amy's voice came floating from the front door as Relena hurried into the entryway. "We were just decorating the tree - "

Relena came around the corner and saw the two men standing on her doorstep. When normally Duo would've been laughing and either tickling her daughter or telling her a joke, the former pilot was ashen-faced and dead serious.

She stopped dead in her tracks and whispered haltingly, "What is it?"

Duo opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Trowa took a step forward and murmured quietly, "Relena, we need you to come with us. Right now."

Amy was staring at Duo, whom she had never seen without a smile on his face before now. It was so abnormal that it frightened her. The four-year-old turned and grabbed Relena's hand, asking in a hushed tone, "Mommy, what's wrong?"

Relena couldn't speak; her throat was tight and all she could do was stare.

Trowa leaned down and said haltingly, "We have to go for a ride, okay, Amy? Go grab a toy, you get to play with Lira and Tess for a little while."

Feeling a bit better, Amy swallowed and went to find a toy to bring.

"Is he…is he…" Relena whispered hoarsely. She couldn't say it. Couldn't think it.

Trowa shook his head slowly. "No, but…"

"But what?"

"Just…come with us, Relena. There's something you need to see."

13:33 PM

"This was taken starting at exactly eleven twenty-one this morning," Wufei's monotone, emotionless voice intoned as he pushed the play button on the remote. He turned to glance at Relena, couldn't meet her gaze, and then instead fiddled with the Preventers badge on his chest - a sure sign he was nervous. "It's fifteen minutes and thirty six seconds long, taken from Camera 024 at the Wilshaw estate."

"Wilshaw?" Relena said, startled. "This has to do with Brad?"

Wufei continued, as if he hadn't heard her, "Visual is intact, but audio was lost due to damage to the recording device."

"There's no sound?" Relena began. "But - "

"Shh," said Trowa, who had just entered. He turned the key in the door, locking them all inside Wufei's office in the Preventers headquarters. They were all facing a video monitor on the wall, a large one blown up to about three times the normal size. Relena was standing near the back wall, and was forcibly trying to keep her hands from shaking. They wouldn't tell her what was going on, but she could tell whatever it was, it was very bad.

"Begin," Wufei said emotionlessly as the video started.

Immediately, Relena recognized the room. "Oh my gosh," she whispered. "That's Brad's dining room - Amy and I ate dinner with him there, just last week, we…" She stopped abruptly. The pilots were still and grim and absolutely unresponsive. Their eyes were focused on the video, though Relena guessed they had all seen it countless times already.

So she watched, with heightening dread, as the door opened and Brad came into the camera view, gesturing with his hands and obviously talking with someone. He took a seat in the chair situated right in front of the camera and a bit to the right, so that the back of his chair was all that was visible.

And then another figure strode into view, and immediately Relena recognized the walk: bold, commanding, confidant - it was Heero.

She gave a startled cry and grabbed Duo's shoulder. "He's here?" she exclaimed. "He's on Earth?"

Duo turned, his expression grave, and said solemnly, "He was."

"Watch, Relena," Quatre said gently.

She turned and looked back at the video screen. Heero had taken the seat directly across from Brad; they had ordered food from a series of servants, and were eating. Relena waited, watching, noting every little detail as the meal progressed. Soon, Brad's hands were moving again, indicating that he was speaking - he was a politician; he used his hands. Heero would respond, and a few times broke into a smile at something the elderly man had said. Relena felt her heart melt; she hadn't seen that smile in weeks…

It went on for a little while more; the servants came out and delivered drinks, the conversation ensued; at times Heero looked a little tired, at other times a little serious, but it was him - it was really him.

Relena didn't understand what was wrong - Heero had come to Earth today, had met Brad for lunch, there was nothing the matter with -

But just then, the figure on the screen that she knew as her husband jumped out of his chair and onto the table, crossing the distance between him and Brad within seconds. For a brief moment, he was hidden behind the shadow of Brad's large chair, but then he pulled back, and Relena saw the image clearly:

He was holding a gun, and aiming it directly at the older man.

She gasped, and the pilots turned to look at her, worried. Her eyes were fastened on the screen, wide and fearful and not comprehending, and they knew that she was as astonished as they were.

As the seconds ticked by, and Relena watched her husband's handsome face turn frightening with a horrible fury, she didn't realize that tears had gathered in her eyes and were trickling very slowly down her cheeks. She raised a hand to her mouth, begging, pleading to God in his heaven that somehow, someway this would turn out all right -

But there was a flash, and she saw Heero jerk back slightly as the pistol discharged, and then Brad Wilshaw's chair fell to the left and he landed on the floor, his body knocking into the camera and shoving it to the side…so that the gunshot wound was in clear view.

Heero had gone out of the camera frame, and all that could be seen was Brad's profile, his eyes wide open as he gazed upwards. Suddenly, two feet came into view, a pair of shoes Relena was very familiar with, and then a strong hand reached forward, covered the camera screen, and pulled -

- and all went black.

"End," whispered Wufei in the dead silence that followed.

Trowa was the first to turn to look at Relena. He caught one glimpse of the colorless face and the gleam of tears before he saw her eyes roll back in her head and her knees buckle. "Catch her!" he yelled, lunging to get to her, keep her from falling -

- but he was too late. Relena fell to the floor, her legs folding under her and her head knocking painfully against the floor, as two tears dropped from her pale cheeks to the tile below.

AN: Review??