With Even Stronger Reason
~ Chapter Five

Whatever it was that happened between Heero and Mr. Winner resulted in me not getting any more propositions from my current obsession. Whether it was Heero's warning to stay clear of me or a command to cease and desist all actions that involved me, I did not know. All I knew was that I hadn't heard from him in a long enough time that I was becoming a sad excuse of an office companion. In the work department, I was doing better. My concentration was solely focused on work to keep my mind off what I wasn't getting. Document after document was coming out of my office like they did in a factory. I was more efficient than I'd ever been. Socially, I was less than stellar. It was not hard to notice that I'd become lackluster. With Quatre came an overwhelming thrill and that thrill that came with illicit liaisons with him was now gone. I didn't blame Heero for that. He probably had my best interests in mind.

I hadn't seen Quatre since and it was with mild anticipation that I groomed myself this morning knowing that today was an opportunity to see him again. Only his attorney was required at the meeting, but if he had any mercy on my burgeoning needs, he would show himself at least. Dorothy had opted out probably, like me, finding the doldrums of having to deal with the legal side of matters tedious without the thrill of her usual exploits. Her plans, in essence, have been snuffed out by Heero's one action.

Today, I was meeting with the legal representative of a man named Samuel, the third party to the action and the same man who was also party to the relationship between the Winners. After our meeting not too long ago, he had hired his own attorney. If it was a plan to further the bickering between the couple, it was unnecessary but admittedly effective. The case was getting more convoluted by the hour.

I was early to the meeting this morning, having previously offended the great Wufei Chang by showing up late to our last appointment. I would never make the same mistake twice. The familiar activity in the skyscraper top floor office was nothing new. I was let in to the conference room despite having come a good half hour before the agreed upon hour. I was expecting an empty room, a place to calm my nerves before what I knew would be a long, arduous discussion on what each party wanted. What I didn't expect was that the room was already occupied by Samuel's attorney. What I found there shocked me and rendered me immobile for the longest minute.

"Trowa Barton," I was greeted by an attractive face I knew too well. "Who would have thought you'd land Dorothy Catalonia as your first client off of law school?"

I couldn't respond. I knew how weak I was, but I just stood there. Whatever he had to say next, I could not stop.

"Did you miss me?"

I wish I could have punched him or assaulted him to the point of arrest, but since years ago, this man always had an inexplicable hold on me.

"Zechs," I finally said, spitting out the name of the law school professor who had so effectively ruined my chances at attempting a normal relationship with anyone. The one with Quatre Winner? That was not normal to begin with.

"Nice to know you can still call me by that name."

I had not been diligent enough. All I knew was that I was going to be meeting a lawyer from the Kushrenada Law Group. I had no idea I would be facing Millardo Peacecraft, my image of the most manipulative bastard ever. Dorothy couldn't even compare. She did it all in good fun. This guy was something else.

"I'm a bit early. I should really wait outside," I said as an excuse. There was no point in sparing another breath to talk to him. I would be doing a lot of that later.

What followed next were the most excruciating hours of my life. Exaggerating, yes, but it didn't help that Quatre actually showed up to the meeting. He was the only non-attorney in the room. My former fling acknowledged me professionally but made no attempts at doing anything more than that, but I'm sure he noticed that I was out of my element, losing my concentration and not following a line of discussion more than once. Quatre may have been there, gracing me with his lovely face, but I could see none of that. I could only concentrate on not calling Mr. Peacecraft by the name of Zechs Marquise in front of anyone else, but that was certainly proving to be difficult. Even Chang noticed my anxiety, mercifully asking for a ten minute break. In those ten minutes, he had pulled me aside for a proper dialogue.

"We can reschedule," he suggested kindly. "Whatever is bothering you is not helping your client's cause."

That man was always a professional. I wanted to nod in acquiescence, but I could not. I did not want to lose to Zechs even if it was only to save face.

"We should continue," I said, ignoring his merciful stare at my direction. Pity from Chang was the worst kind of compassion.

"But my client," Chang said with exasperation. "…finds it difficult to continue the meeting when one of the opposing counsels is obviously… distressed."

How kind of Quatre to notice my discomfort. He was in the room alone with Zechs while we were out here, I suddenly remembered, and knowing what a big flirt he was and what a danger the other was, I immediately left Chang to himself to discreetly race back to the room. What I saw in there, as I opened the door, was exactly what I expected. Zechs, a flirt himself, was sitting on the table not a foot away from Quatre. I could only thank the heavens that Quatre was much more interested in younger men since he seemed disinterested in whatever Zechs was trying to propose in very subtle terms.

"How was your break, counsel?" Zechs inquired, leaving his previous perch to go back to his seat. "Mr. Winner and I were just discussing how to make all this more agreeable."

Quatre did not react to his statement.

"That's rather rude considering the lack of my and Mr. Chang's presence," I responded with control. There was no use losing my composure and losing my dignity in front of them both.

"Agreed," Chang piped in, coming into the room and once again taking his seat on their side of the table. He whispered something to Quatre who frowned but stayed silent. The last thing I wanted to see was a frown marring that handsome face.

The air was tense, surely tenser than any courtroom I'd been in. My body screamed at me to get out of there. There would be a better time to get a proper viewing of Quatre, specifically when there wasn't a snake in the room with us. How I wished Dorothy had been present. Her playful bantering and perfectly timed connotations usually broke the ice.

"I'm tired," Quatre said suddenly although he looked nowhere near tired. His fresh, always put together look was as flawless as ever. "We should reschedule at a later date."

"The next hearing isn't until three months," Chang added, nodding in agreement before taking off his glasses and folding them. If Chang was done then that meant the meeting was done. More often than not, his mannerisms dictated the flow of the meeting. I could only nod.

"I was hoping we could get something resolved today at least," Zechs said, sounding and looking every bit as disappointed as he probably was. "But it can't be helped."

With no other protests, Chang gathered his paperwork. He left with his client quickly with a nod of goodbye, leaving me with my hurried attempts to stuff my own paperwork into my briefcase. I was a little too slow. Zechs was next to me before I knew it.

"I had a little chat with Chang's client," he said. His breath was too close to my ear. "It's plain to see that he's exactly your type. Does he play with you too?"

I did not respond, finding it excruciatingly hard to put simple pieces of paper into my briefcase. Why was it taking too long? How long did I have to listen to the guy? Why did Quatre abandon me so quickly?

"Still giving me the silent treatment? Or is that an invitation?"

I was so weak, I realized, and very lonely. Zechs could have easily preyed on me the moment he saw me this morning. He was right. I was seconds from falling for his trap. He hadn't changed since the last time I saw him, still the tall, elegant type of man that could easily attract anyone. His good looks lent to his persona, giving him the confidence to approach me in the first place. I had been naïve and he had been predatory. It was as simple as that.

"If you behave, I could make it so much easier for you."

Perspiration quickly formed in my temple. I spent a good amount of time in university playing 'Triton Bloom' to his masked alter ego 'Zechs Marquise'. What had been enjoyable at first became anything but. I tried to leave more than once, but his sway over me drew me back in time and time again. Just when I'd finally broken free, here he was again.

"I forgot something."

The interruption came at the best possible time, turning the physical two foot distance between Zechs and I to a psychological mile. I got back to my senses. This guy almost cost me my degree. What was I doing allowing him to cost me my career?

I looked at the empty conference room table and then at the person with the supposedly forgotten item. He couldn't have possibly forgotten anything. He was with Chang and Chang was all kinds of efficient. He would have noticed if you left an eyelash behind.

"Which is, Mr. Winner?" Zechs said with obvious annoyance. I thought he had been working Quatre during the break, but with the way he was addressing him now, it became apparent that the savvy businessman did not fall for his tricks earlier. Zechs easily lost interest in those not immediately interested in him. I thanked the heavens it turned out that way.

"I forgot my wife's lawyer," Quatre said, coming up to me and yanking me none too gently by the elbow with my bag still open and a paper or two still halfway out my briefcase. "Being as we are still married, what she owns, I still own. Communal property, you know," he explained.

What a scene we probably made as he did not give me time to compose myself and continued pulling me out through the conference room, through the corridors and nearly tossed me into the elevator. There were a good number of people with us during the long ride down, so there was no way we could talk privately. I took this time to arrange my things properly before he decided to yank me aside again. True enough, once the elevator reached the bottom floor, Quatre pulled me out with him into the familiar, nicely decorated first floor lobby. I had made it out of Zech's clutches frazzled but unscathed. Chang was waiting there with a none-too-pleased expression.

"Found what you were looking for?" he addressed his client with no humor.

Quatre did not respond as I made a halting, almost catastrophic stop before Chang. I was inches away from colliding with him no thanks to Quatre's powerful arm. I would have to ask him if he'd been working out and if I could possibly examine the body that hauled me across several floors.

"Mr. Barton," Chang said, adjusting his sleeves before looking at me critically. "Just friendly advice to a fellow professional - do not follow through with a fight you were not prepared to contest."

With that, he turned and headed for the revolving doors with Quatre following obediently behind him. I could only sulk internally, not getting a view of Quatre's rear being blocked by two beefy bodyguards. He didn't say a word to me all day. Whatever Heero said to him in warning was working and it was working a little too well that I could barely ruin myself in the process.

That night, I skipped my apartment and opted instead to spend the night at Heero and Duo's condo. I hadn't told them what happened that day so they were probably wondering why I was reticent more than usual. It was Duo's turn to prepare dinner and I did not fail to notice that he prepared my favorite, an obscure Lithuanian dish of zrazai beef rolls, sampled and enjoyed during my internship at a firm owned by a Lithuanian lawyer. It was finished off with an equally obscure dessert called skruzdėlynas, pastries stacked on top of one another, sprinkled with poppy seeds, honey and nuts. He was an amazingly good cook and had a multitude of recipes in his repertoire. I had always wondered why we ended up eating take-out Chinese food most of the time.

"I had a pretty bad day," I offered without being asked. Preparing my favorite dish was Duo's way of asking the question. As talkative as he was, he was more demonstrative when it came to touchy subjects.

"I know," Heero responded, slicing a piece of meat. "I figured it would be when I noticed the lead attorney for Kushrenada." He chewed on his food without looking at me.

I was going to accuse him of not warning me, but he probably didn't find out until later. I'm sure he would have said something if he knew.

"It's time you faced Millardo Peacecraft and showed him how much better you're faring without him."

Ah, so he did know Zechs would be there after all. I still could not shake the name Zechs Marquise from my mind though it had been nothing more than our 'play' name. It felt ingrained in me and almost a reflex by now.

"I said it was a bad idea," Duo interjected, beginning with dessert by shoving a pastry into his mouth. The poppy seeds littered the side of his lips, making him look like a child. I wondered if his clients ever saw him this way. He looked unprofessional. "I mean, you could have at least warned him. I always say, 'never come unprepared.'"

It became apparent that Duo shared the same opinion as Chang. It was unfortunate Heero did not. He always preferred to do things cold turkey. That resulted in my less than stellar day so far. Seeing Quatre was the only shining light, but not getting to talk to him would remain an unwanted blemish.

"The problem is, I'm not doing any better without him," I said woefully with all my self-loathing oozing out in an unsightly fashion. I looked at the dish in front of me not feeling the urge to eat. "I almost fell for it," I admitted. If he'd brought out that mask he used to wear whenever he took on the persona Zechs Marquise, I would have followed him wherever and did anything he wanted. I'd been trained fairly well to be powerless around him.

"Trowa," Duo said with a start, letting go of his pastry and reaching over across the table to put his sticky, poppy seed-ridden hand on mine. "You've got to learn how to recognize the assholes and avoid them."

I know I've had a foray of bad relationships based on my inability to resist manipulative assholes, as Duo called them, but something told me Quatre was a different kind of jerk altogether. It may have been wishful thinking since we'd yet to share anything more meaningful than a good, hard fuck, but this morning's saving grace was enough to convince me. He got me away from Zech's impending control even if he hadn't known what a great service he was providing. If anything, he was simply costing himself more money and irritation by making Chang wait on him.

"What did you tell Quatre anyway?" I questioned Heero as I sipped on one of Duo's better wines. He uncorked the more expensive bottle for me tonight.

"I told him I knew what kind of person he was."

"Which is?" Duo helpfully questioned. I was sure it was simply out of his curiosity and not a desire to assist me in my queries.

"None of your business," Heero said in typical, rude fashion.

Duo sat back then stuffed his mouth with another pastry.

"How would you possibly know what kind of person he is?" I asked instead. I had no choice but to approach from a different angle. It was obvious that the direct answer was not coming from Heero. Duo had already attempted to ask.

"Our families know each other."

"And you took the side of Catalonia in this?" Duo asked with raucous tone. An exaggerated lifting of his arms followed. "We watched porn of this guy. Don't you find that disturbing?"

Suddenly, I felt protective of my stash of Winner files. Those were all I had left of him; that, and a silk tie he'd forgotten to take back with him after he'd used it to secure my wrists to certain pieces of furniture.

"Catalonia hired us. He didn't and like I said, I know what kind of person he is," Heero said again, which didn't really answer anything. It was completely frustrating to have to put up with his on-the-fly, usually inefficient battle plans, but for some reason, they always turned out splendidly. That was good enough reason to put up with his ambiguity.

"Unbelievable!" Duo voiced what I couldn't. "You've got to stop assigning him these cases. You should have known what Dorothy Catalonia was like. It is murder to the psyche."

"I had no idea Peacecraft would be involved," Heero responded in defense of himself. "But since he is part of it now, there is no choice but to go through with it, maybe pick-up some pointers in the process."

"Pointers like what, pray tell? Learn the art of good cross-examination from Professor Peacecraft just like he did in law school?"

"You know what I mean."

We both knew what Heero meant. He wanted me to stand up to the guy, to break free of the psychological hold he had on me after years of playing his sick game. He wanted me to let go of Triton Bloom, the naïve child who played along with an older man's messed-up sexual exploits. For me, right now, the hold Zechs had on me was all in the head.

"I would have preferred the less severe asshole," Duo said with a cross of his arms. He was not happy with the way Heero handled this. I was glad that, even though Duo did not particularly approve of Quatre, he was on my side.

"Quatre Winner has a protective streak in him," Heero explained, picking a pastry off the table and stuffing it into his mouth. "Couple that with his competitiveness and Chang Wufei and I can assure you we'll be done with the case sooner rather than later and all in our favor, just as planned by Dorothy Catalonia."

"I better be getting proper compensation for this," I said. The least I could get was enough money to pay off my student loans. The most I could ideally receive in compensation was Quatre Winner. I couldn't wait until the moment he became blissfully divorced.