Trowa's heart was racing.

There was a bomb, all right. It was an ADM, a nuclear land mine; not a W80 warhead, but still deadly. It was an older weapon, a W54, but would still pack a punch. It likely contained a good 10 tons of TNT.

Trowa found the bomb in a classroom in the basement of the church. Aiden hadn't even bothered trying to hide it, but then he probably hadn't anticipated getting caught; an amateur move, if Trowa had ever seen one.

The bomb was being guarded, however, by a man Trowa recognized from Preventer intel, who went by the name Timothy Watson. So "Aiden" and "Tim" had a nice little chat, and Tim confirmed that everything was good to go.

Great.

Trowa left the room and absconded himself in another classroom down the hall, where he finally contacted the Preventers and quickly relayed everything he'd learned so far. Commander Gold commended him, and assured him that backup would be arriving shortly. But Trowa still needed time to disable the bomb, and once he revealed that Relena was at the mercy of the women he'd left her with, Agent Alpha made his presence known.

"You did what?" Heero seethed over the line.

"I didn't have a choice," Trowa started, but Heero interrupted him.

"You always have a choice," Heero growled.

"Agent Alpha, stand down, please," Commander Gold said, her voice thick with irritation. "Agent Gamma is commanding this mission." The line went silent for a beat before Une spoke again. "Agent Gamma, how much time do you need?"

Trowa needed enough time to disable the bomb. But first, he would have to knock out Tim so he could barricade himself in the room. That shouldn't take long at all, but as for the rest… Trowa wouldn't know until he could take a closer look at the weapon.

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "An hour, maybe?"

Heero swore. Une reprimanded him again.

"Agent Beta here. Can I be of any service?" Duo piped up.

Trowa drew in a hesitant breath. Duo was good with bombs...not as good as he was, or even Heero. But if Trowa had to decide between the two of them, he would rather tag team this mission with Duo. Heero was far more likely to become unhinged, simply because Relena was involved.

"Affirmative," Trowa said. "You'll have to come in disguise, though. Pretend to be one of my disciples."

Duo chortled. "Roger that. This is gonna be kinda fun. I mean, who hasn't wanted to join a sex cult, am I right?"

"If either of you touch Relena…" Heero trailed off, letting his threat hang between them. Trowa rolled his eyes even though no one could see him.

"No one can do anything to her, unless I allow it," Trowa said, somewhat haughtily. Heero snarled at that. "Anyway," Trowa added, "I don't get what you're bitching about. I'm not the one who's supposed to rescue her; you are. And you can't do that until we take care of this goddamn bomb."

Heero growled something at him, but the connection crackled. Une's voice came through next.

"That's enough," the commander sighed. "Agent Gamma, be on the lookout for Agent Beta. Over and out."

Trowa signed off as well, then hightailed it back upstairs to find Relena. He had told Duo where to find Tim and the bomb, and would let the other agent take it from there. At the moment, Heero's threatening voice echoed in Trowa's mind. Not that Trowa was about to kowtow to anyone; however, he certainly didn't want anything bad happening to Relena on his watch.

He made it back to the upstairs hallway, where he found Relena being escorted by four women, including Lucy, toward the sanctuary. Like Lucy, the other three women were sporting neon-colored hair and frumpy floral dresses. And now Relena's hair was dyed, too, only hers was a light shade of pink. And she was now barefoot and wearing a simple white shift. Seeing the Foreign Minister like that was startling, to say the least.

Trowa approached the women, and Relena's eyes lit up.

"Hello, Fatherrrrr," she slurred. Trowa arched a brow.

"What happened here?" he asked smoothly.

"We gave her some of the communion wine, to calm her before the ceremony," Lucy said. "Like you told us to."

"Right." Trowa patted Lucy on the shoulder. "Well done, child. And is she ready for the, ah, ritual?"

"Absolutely." Lucy's eyes glimmered. "Oh, she's wonderful, Father. You're going to enjoy her."

Trowa's chest constricted, but he nodded. "I'm sure that I will."

Relena said nothing to this, just smiled dopily up at Trowa. She was acting almost…giddy. It scared him, a little. He prayed that she was faking and wasn't actually inebriated, or that could complicate things. Protecting her during this mission had proven challenging enough, without throwing intoxication into the mix.

A red-haired woman approached, holding out a white robe to Trowa. "Here, Father." She thrust the robe into his hands.

Trowa frowned. "What's this?"

"Why, your robe, to wear in the baptismal, of course." The woman laughed lightly. "You wouldn't want to get your suit all wet, would you?"

"Why, of course not." Trowa chuckled. "I was only kidding."

Lucy said a hand on his arm and smiled seductively. "Would you like help undressing, Father?"

Would he. But now was hardly the time or place. He needed to keep these freaks far away from him and Relena, as much as possible.

"No, that's quite all right, child. But thank you for offering," he said warmly.

Lucy looked disappointed, her lower lip jutting out in a pout. Two of the other women sighed, their shoulders sagging.

"He's saving himself for the ritual," a woman with purple hair said. "We can't blame our Father for that."

"Right," Lucy sighed, straightening her shoulders. "See you in the sanctuary, then."

"Of course, my child. Now go and prepare your hearts for worship."

Trowa waited until the quartet of women disappeared down the other end of the hallway before he gripped Relena's shoulders, and brought his face down to hers.

"Are you all right? What the hell happened to you?"

"I'm fine," Relena sighed.

"So you're not drunk, then." Trowa heaved his own sigh of relief.

"No, just slightly traumatized." Relena's eyes were hooded. Instinctively, Trowa reached up and brushed back a lock of her now-pink hair.

"Did they hurt you?" he murmured.

"Not exactly," Relena grumbled, keeping her eyes downcast.

He frowned and tipped her chin up with his index finger. "Are you sure about that?"

At last she made eye contact with him. Her mouth dropped open, but she didn't say anything.

"Relena…" he prodded her, still holding her in place.

"I'd rather not talk about it right now," she said, her eyes tightening, indicating that the discussion was closed.

"All right." Trowa released her, but remained close. "Whatever it was… I'm sorry that I left you behind. Perhaps I should have kept you with me, after all."

Relena shook her head, her face taking on a vacant expression. "No…we did what we had to do in the moment. It's not like we had much time to plan otherwise." She sighed again, then looked squarely up at Trowa. "So. Did you find it?"

"Yes," he said, and her entire expression shifted, relief washing over her features. She gasped and threw her arms around his neck. Trowa wasn't sure what to do about that, so he just returned her embrace, patting her back awkwardly.

"So we can get out of here, then?" she whispered, squeezing his shoulders. Trowa squeezed her back.

"Not just yet. Reinforcements are on the way. The…bomb still needs to be disabled." He felt Relena sag against him. He gave her another squeeze. "Don't worry. We just need to keep them distracted a little while longer."

"How much longer?"

"An hour, tops."

Relena groaned and pushed back to look at him. "Trowa...you know what this 'ritual' entails. Don't you?"

He grimaced and nodded. He'd gleaned enough from researching Aiden to know what was coming next. But Relena told him anyway.

"So they're going to sing some songs, and then you're supposed to baptize me. And then oil me up and…" She paused, and shuddered. "And have sex with me. In front of everyone."

Trowa shook his head rapidly. "That's not happening. Don't worry about it."

Relena arched a brow. "Then what are we going to do instead? Lock ourselves in a room and whip these sex-crazed maniacs into a frenzy? What if they all have weapons, and they find us? Or worse...what if they detonate the bomb before backup gets here?"

Trowa's head spun along with Relena's rapidfire words. "What...are you suggesting?"

She reached over and gripped his bicep. "Let's just put on a show."

His heart pounded. "You mean fake our way through it?"

Relena huffed. "No, Trowa. We can't fake it. These people have sex all the time; they'll see right through us."

Trowa exhaled through his nostrils. "Relena… I'm not about to fuck you in front of an audience."

She batted her eyes at him. "Why not? I thought you liked me?"

Trowa gaped at her. "Are you saying you want me to?" His heart began to beat faster. Where the hell was this coming from?

Relena let out another huff and crossed her arms over her chest. "Look, Trowa, I'm not saying I'm thrilled about this turn of events, but I just let four women fool around with me in the shower. And I'm the farthest thing from a lesbian."

Trowa's eyes bulged as he let her words sink in. "Relena…"

"If I had my choice, I'd much rather have sex with someone I know– preferably a male someone. So, in my mind, I've already gotten through the worst of this initiation." Her eyes flared. "How much worse could it get?"

Trowa sighed. "Are you forgetting the part where I slit your throat, after I fuck you?" Relena gasped, and he nodded. "Yeah… I'm guessing no one told you about that."

Relena rubbed her neck. "No, they hadn't mentioned it."

Trowa clutched her other hand in his. "I promise, I won't let anything else happen to you."

"You said that earlier," she mumbled. Trowa instantly felt guilt wash over him.

"I know, and I'm sorry. I didn't know the women would accost you, for chrissake." He gripped her hand more tightly. "Please. If there's anything I can do…"

"There is." Relena gazed up at him steadily, a rock of composure. "Have sex with me."

Trowa's heart began to pound again. "But—"

She shook her head. "No buts. Although I know you like them."

He scoffed and turned his head to the side. "You can't be serious."

"I am." She placed both her hands on his shoulders, forcing him to look at her. "You'd better do it before someone else tries to. All right? I'm counting on you, Trowa."

He drew in a shaky breath. "I've never done anything like this."

"Oh, come on; don't tell me you're actually gay, after all this."

Trowa gaped at her. "No. I mean, I've never...done it in front of an audience." Let alone a room full of people. Not just a room, either.

A church.

For fuck's sake.

"Neither have I," Relena said, "but I've already done more today than I ever thought I would." She shook her head rapidly, as if she were trying to shake off her previous encounter. Sure enough, she added, "I would really like to scrub everything that happened earlier from my mind, all right? This is the best way to do that."

Trowa arched a brow. "You're sure about that?"

"Yes." Relena looked imploringly up at him, her blue eyes wide and luminous. "Distract me, please," she murmured. Automatically, Trowa's gaze fell to her lips. She was breathtakingly beautiful; it definitely wasn't the first time he'd noticed, but of course he'd never thought to do anything about it.

Until now.

The way she was looking at him… how could he deny her?

"Trowa, please," she whispered, her eyes filling. "I need you."

He was done for.

Before he could stop himself, he pulled her close to his chest, and slanted his mouth over hers. She tasted like wine, and a sweet taste that had to be entirely her. And as Trowa kissed her, he couldn't help wondering what the rest of her tasted like.

Perhaps he was about to find out.

Relena responded immediately to his kiss, winding her arms around his neck, clutching him tightly. She kissed him wildly, desperately, pulling at the hair gathered at the nape of his neck.

She was intoxicating.

Surprising himself, Trowa took control and pushed Relena up against the wall, thrusting his tongue into her mouth. Her tongue responded instantly, swirling with his. Trowa hoisted her up, and she wrapped her legs around his torso. He pressed himself up against her, and he could feel her body through the thin fabric of her shift. He palmed one of her breasts over the fabric, and felt her nipple hardening against his hand.

It was gratifying to have evidence in hand – quite literally – that she wanted him. Something Trowa had never even registered as possible, knowing who she'd been with in the past...knowing he obviously wasn't over her. But Trowa wasn't going to dwell on Relena's ex and let it ruin his own arousal. Because now, his own need for Relena was obvious. There was no hiding it; pressed up against each other like that, she was sure to feel every inch of his desire for her...

Panting, Relena broke their kiss, but she was still wrapped in Trowa's embrace. "See?" she breathed. "I knew you had it in you." She patted his shoulders. "Now, just do the same thing out there."

Trowa frowned and set her back on her feet. "Why do I suddenly feel like the cabana boy?"

Relena laughed and tugged on his tie. "You kind of are. But at least it's better than being a ritual sacrifice. If anything, I'm the one who drew the short straw here."

Trowa's frown deepened. "It's anything but short. Don't you worry."

Relena grinned up at him. "Ah…so that's why they worship you."

Trowa rolled his eyes. "Come on. Let's go get this over with."

"Get it over with?" Relena gasped. "I don't think so. We have a whole hour to fill. You can last at least that long, can't you?"

"Sure. But under duress?" Trowa loosed a sigh. "I'll do my best not to disappoint you."

But were they actually going through with this?

Relena tugged on his tie again. "Come on, now. Get undressed. Into that robe thingy."

Apparently they were.

A/N: More to come! ;)

- RFP