"Hey, Christina," Noin said warmly to the woman sitting at the desk, looking as if she were in a hurry to leave. Christina had been Zechs' secretary since he'd joined the Preventers. A bright, frighteningly competent woman in her late twenties, she and Noin had hit it off almost instantly.

Christina's face lit up. "Heya, stranger. Haven't seen you around much lately."

"Things have been a bit busy," Noin admitted a little abashed. "Is Zechs in?"

Christina shifted a couple of folders around her desk. "Actually, he's got someone in there. I was just about to let him know I was heading out for lunch. Lemme just give him a head's up," she hit the button for the intercom. "Agent Wind, I'm about to head out for lunch. And Lucy's here to see you," she informed.

"Thank you for reminding me, Christina. Take your time," he responded, a little distracted.

The secretary sent a smile at her friend. "I'd say that's a 'come on in.'"

"Thanks, Christina," Noin replied, raising her eyebrow at the compact that came out of the other agent's purse. "A date?"

The other woman glared. "Yes, if you must know. Not all of us can catch our prince charmings on our first try," she stuck out her tongue, glanced at her watch then sent an apologetic look at Noin. "And I'm gonna be late. Take care." And she rushed out.

Noin turned her attention to the closed door.

The intercom went silent and Zechs turned his attention fully on the recruit standing before him.

"Zechs, Noin's coming in," Duo warned, aware that his master's attention hadn't been fully on what Christina had said as he'd been scrutinizing Recruit Burgardt's file.

Clear blue eyes blinked at him, and he made a soft sound that replaced the curse he clearly wanted to hiss. Things had been getting consistently tenser at home despite his order to Duo not to fight with Noin, or perhaps because of it. And he was sure Noin wanted to "talk about it." "I'm busy. Tell her to go away, will you?" he more or less ordered.

Duo nodded and slipped out the door.

It had been a long week. A long few weeks, really. Things at work had actually smoothed out extremely well after Duo's confrontation with the Admiral. The only one who would still occasionally shoot ugly looks at Duo or Zechs when he thought they weren't looking was the same recruit who had looked so smug when Admiral Burgardt had paid a visit. Duo didn't care as long as he did what he was told, but it turned out that Recruit Charles Burgardt was the Admiral's nephew. The boy had gotten caught this past weekend driving drunk and with traces of drugs in his system. He should've been kicked out of the unit – hell he should have been thrown in jail, but apparently his Uncle Admiral had pulled some strings to get the brat where he was, and he was pulling strings to keep him there. Duo had been standing in the corner of his office watching the recruit stand proudly in front of Zechs' desk. He had an ego that came only from being raised with everything and being taught to look down his nose at anything "lower" than himself.

Zechs did not want someone who was stupid enough to drive drunk or imbibe illegal substances anywhere near his unit or equipment, so needless to say, he was less than happy when the news had reached him and he hadn't been allowed to kick the boy to the curb.

Truth be told, he'd been rather looking forward to watching Zechs dress the arrogant little brat down, and training was going to get interesting. While they were unable to kick the boy out, they could, and judging by the set in Zechs' shoulders would, encourage him to withdraw of his own will. Or drive him to it. He was looking forward to it.

But for now, he got to deal with Noin.

Duo closed the door behind him just as Noin had been reaching for the knob. He planted himself firmly in front of the door and met her narrow eyed look evenly.

"What are you—"

"Don't," he interrupted sharply, a coldness in his voice she hadn't heard in some time. "Don't start. I'm not going to argue with you because Zechs told me not to, so don't you start one."

She glared at the Desolo, unwilling to be intimidated by his tone. "I came here to see Zechs, not you," she responded, just as coldly, going to move past him.

Duo did not budge, in fact, blocked the door more completely. "You don't," he said flatly.

"Excuse me?" Noin stood at her full height and glared down at the Owned with the same look that had made many an OZ recruit tremble. The former gundam pilot was unaffected.

"You don't see him. And right this second, he doesn't want to see you."

"What do you mean, 'I don't see him'!" she demanded.

"I mean you don't see him. You still see that lonely, desperate, very confused solider. The pacifists' prince with bloody hands, buried in his own guilt. The same man you abandoned the final battle to watch fight Heero, half-insane, to an end that was damned likely to kill them both!" he paused, long enough to let the point set in but not long enough for her to say anything. "You pitied him, and tried to take care of him, heal him. You ignored the fact he was deeply in love with Treize, and pursued him relentlessly, and yes, he encouraged you by going out with you in the first place. And, doubtless, you've helped him a lot, but you still want him to need you to take care of him, to hold him together. He doesn't need it anymore. He started dating you because he felt he was supposed to. I don't doubt he loves you on some level, but I do doubt you're in love with him. You don't see clearly how stabilized, how secure in himself he's become since then. You don't really want to."

The look on Noin's face was hard to describe. It was shocked, angry, but under it was not a little fear and it was gone almost as fast as it had come. Some part of the Owned almost felt sorry for her and wondered if she'd even realized it herself.

The former Lieutenant gathered herself remarkably, chest rising as she took a deep breath. "That is none of your business, which is besides the point because you… are… wrong…" she hissed out, voice choked, angry tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"I'm not wrong. You don't see Zechs. I don't think you even see Milliardo anymore. You only see the image of what he was."

"Let me see him," she demanded, trying to regain control.

His reply was soft but icy, "No. I told you, he doesn't want to see you, now go away."

"Liar!" she yelled, pushing past him with surprising force just as the door opened from the inside and Recruit Burgardt found himself in the middle of quite the scene. Zechs was directly behind the boy. Noin shoved both Duo and the recruit aside and ran to Zechs. The Desolo aimed a glare at Burgardt that sent the kid off in a hurry, then turned his attention back to the not-quite crying Noin and Zechs looking very much at a loss as he tried to comfort her.

"Shh…" he rubbed her arms gently. "Calm down, it's all right… Duo, what the hell did you say to her?" his master growled, though he didn't wait for an answer before turning his attention back to Noin. "Hey, why don't we go get an early lunch?" he offered, grabbing a Kleenex off a shelf and letting his fiancée blow her nose. She couldn't find her voice but nodded and Zechs allowed her a few moments to collect herself, shooting his Desolo a look that clearly said they were going to discuss this later. "Duo, you stay here—"

"But—"

"I need you to review all of the recruits for our team. I'll bring lunch back for you," the blond informed, voice unrelenting as he turned without waiting for a response.

Anger rose in the Desolo's throat as the First bowed deeply and softly replied, "Yes, Master."

If Zechs heard his Owned, he showed no sign of it.

My muse is back. That makes me the extreme of happy. And my beta reader is the best. Hope you enjoyed. Comments encouraged, not required.

On another note, I was going to continue putting this up on Adult Fanfiction . net, but I seem to have lost my account (probably cause I didn't touch it for too long). The story is still there, but I can't alter it. I'll also be posting new chapters on my livejournal, for the interested: www . angelselene . livejournal . com