Author's Note: As a warning, this is my shortest chapter to date in this fic. Hey, we all have our slow days, eh? Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing

Warning: language, shounen ai

Conspiracies, They're Everywhere!

Wufei's fingers flew over the keyboard as he checked out program after program, searching for something, something that he could use. Currently, he had struck a goldmine, finding loads of information on one Solomon Winner.

Hacking through a school district's mainframe was child's play if you knew how to do it right but it wasn't his school's computer system that he had cracked. On his screen was all the data he could have ever wanted on one Solomon Ezekiel Winner from kindergarten to the 11th grade. Twelve years worth of information that the Chinese could undoubtedly use against his foe.

Picking up the phone and dialing a number, he spoke the moment someone picked up.

"Chang here. I've found some interesting dirt that we can use. I'm sending it to you now."

--

Waking up that morning and heading to school was quite uneventful for those of the Winner household.

What was out of the ordinary was when Solo spotted a rust bucket of a car parked across the street from the school and groaned, knowing who exactly was in the car. Looks like it was going to take more than one reunion to get those guys off his back it seemed.

Just exactly how he wanted to start the day off too.

Duo said nothing to the sight, instead opting to pat him consolingly on the shoulder and lead the blond, for once, to the school building. It was going to be a long day, Solo could feel it in his bones.

He didn't know if it was paranoia or not but he could've sworn to himself that he kept catching glances of Dorothy, and sometimes Wufei, just watching him with calculating eyes. At first, he could have dismissed such concerns except for the fact he kept catching them in the act. It was more than enough to send chills up his spine. Not wanting to worry Duo with it, he kept silent and put up his usual nonchalant façade, even as he continued to allow the braided one to lead him to the first class by the hand.

If Duo noticed that he was off or hiding something, he gave no hint that he did.

So there he was, just sitting down in his first class, minding his own business when the first confirmation he got that something was up came in. On any other occasion, he would have ignored Dorothy as she entered the classroom but he swore that he could feel her eyes on him and when he looked up and caught her eye, she winked at him suggestively.

Now what was up with that? Just yesterday, she was broken over what had happened at the Homecoming Dance and now she back to acting like the flirt she had been when he first arrived? Either he was getting paranoid or his suspicions were on to something.

"What's on your mind, Tree Trunk?" Duo inquired, giving the blond a questioning look.

"I'll tell you later," Solo muttered back, keeping Dorothy in his peripheral vision.

"You better," Duo warned lightheartedly, turning to look at the front just as the teacher arrived.

At least in second period Solo could relax a bit since none of their "enemies" were in that class. Plus, with the difficulty of the subject matter, Solo had to keep his mind busy as he took notes, occasionally casting a jealous glare at Duo as the braided one took the opportunity to relax.

That guy just had to have an easy time in this class, didn't he? Sigh, some people have all the luck…

In third period, however, his paranoia skyrocketed mainly due to the fact that both Wufei and Heero were in that class. Wufei was always giving him these contemplating looks while Heero alternated between him and Duo, usually giving the braided one a smug smirk, as if he knew something was up. Duo also noticed these looks and began to wonder if Solo's paranoia wasn't unfounded.

So, by lunch, joined by the remaining couple, Solo admitted to his cousin about his…concerns…

"Are you sure you're not just being overly suspicious?" were the first words out of Quatre's mouth.

Before Solo could reply to that, Duo beat him to the punch. "I think Tree Trunk here might have a good reason to be 'overly suspicious.'"

"And why is that Duo?" asked Trowa.

"When have Chang Wufei, Heero Yuy, and Dorothy Catalonia ever sat down and eaten lunch and tolerate each others' presence before?" Duo pointed out, gesturing to a table on the far side of the cafeteria where said teens were grouped.

"Maybe they're all they have?" Trowa suggested in jest, though his voice didn't reflect the implied humor.

"If only it was that simple," Solo muttered.

"Don't you think you might be borrowing trouble?" Quatre asked, skeptical.

"Hey, I don't borrow trouble," Solo retorted. "People just keep on piling it on me. Mark my words, those creeps are up to something. What that is, I have no clue."

--

"So how long are we going to be waiting out here again?" inquired Sylvia as she slumped unladylike in her seat.

"Until school gets out and Solo doesn't have a choice but to spend some time with us," Mueller declared from his reclaimed driver's seat.

"Then why couldn't we go somewhere else and come back half an hour before the final bell instead of waiting out here all day?" Sylvia asked logically.

"Oh what, you have something better to do?" Mueller shot.

"Yeah, I do. It's called lunch. You know, that time of day when people eat something to tide them over until dinner?"

"I'm hungry!" whined Hilde from the backseat.

"You should have thought of that and eaten a big breakfast earlier," Mueller replied.

"But we did have a big breakfast and now I'm hungry again!" Hilde complained. "I bet those kids in there are getting to eat lunch too!"

"She has a point," Sylvia acknowledge, looking pointedly at Mueller.

"Alex! Back me up!" Mueller commanded.

"Sorry, too hungry," Alex apologized.

"Hey! Whose side are you on anyway?" Mueller shouted.

"The winning side," Alex answered.

"And we're the winning side!" Hilde chirped.

"It looks like you're outnumbered and outvoted," Sylvia stated. "Start the damn car and take us to a Wendy's or a McDonald's. We won't be any good if we're all dead from hunger, you know."

"Are you saying you want me to give up some of my hard-earned cash to one of those corporate tycoons just so you can eat?!" Mueller demanded, glaring at the blonde girl.

"No, I'll pay for lunch; you drive," Sylvia replied dryly. "Besides, that isn't your money, it's mine, you just haven't paid it back to me like you promised."

"You're all in on this, aren't you?" Mueller growled darkly.

"If it means food in my tummy, then yes!" Hilde said.

"I'm surrounded by traitors," Mueller muttered as he started up the car.

--

Things were getting complicated at WEI.

Romafellor's proposal was sending everything into an uproar, from the top of the Board of Executives, to the department heads, even down to the janitors and such. This thing was big, extremely big, and at the center of this storm was Raberba Winner.

Endless meetings, constants phone calls and emails, paperwork coming out the wazoo, there just seemed to be no end to it all. And like his father before him, Raberba was doing as much as he could, knowing that he was going to work himself into his grave at this rate.

So, when he got a social call from one of his elder daughters, he decided to take the call and put a halt to all the work that had been building up on his desk, ordering that he wasn't to be disturbed.

It had been refreshing to talk about nonbusiness-related material. Hearing that he was going to be a grandfather in a few months could do that to a person. Still, it was a shame that Quatre, his only son, had turned out to be a homosexual. Like any ordinary parent, he had been a bit upset at the news but had tried to ignore it as well, hoping that the matter would go away. It didn't, so he tried another parental maneuver, the ol' grandchildren and shame act. However, that seemed to leave a bad taste in his mouth. His children's happiness had always been his top priority, something that hadn't been his own father's. Ultimately, an alliance between Quatre and his sisters, along with the support of his own siblings managed to persuade him to leave it alone.

Still, that matter always popped up once in awhile, always leading him to wonder if it had been something he had done to make Quatre become the person he was today. It was good and well for his own brothers and sisters since they had more than one son, a couple only having a girl or two.

As he hung up, he reclined back into his chair as another relative of his popped of in his mind. He knew a lot about the going-ons under his roof, and he wasn't blind. Solomon had definitely taken an intimate interest with Quatre's friend, Duo, and he knew that by now that his nephew had converted the braided lad. When he thought about it, from what he had heard from Ezekiel, Solomon was attracted to both sexes apparently and Ezekiel hadn't a care about it. Maybe that was due to the fact that he had two older children, a boy and a girl, Solomon being the youngest.

Then again, it would just be his luck that his only son would be attracted to men.

Well, he had wasted enough time doing nothing, time to get back to work.

Now, what was he going to do about that representative that Romafellor wanted to send?