It was a good-sized apartment, with two bedrooms, a master and guest, and one bath to share, a nice living room, a kitchen with a four-seater table to one side a small room where he kept his computer. I nodded approvingly and gave a smile.

"Nice," I said. "Better than my dump."

Wufei said nothing, which meant 'thank you' in Wufei, and went into the master room to put his bags down. He came out a moment later, took my bags and led me to the beautifully simple guest room. The furniture was black, the headboard to the bed a pretty oriental design. There was a cloth poster with some Chinese writing hanging on the wall and a pretty jade incense holder stood on the dresser. Wufei lit a match to the tea-light candle and the liquid heated almost instantly, letting out fragrant plumes of smoke. I took in a deep, satisfied breath and I saw his mouth twitch from the corner of my eye.

"Thanks again," I said.

"If you thank me once more I'll kick you out," he responded, his muscular arms crossed over that fabulous chest.

"Well, th-" I started sarcastically and stopped as he cocked and eyebrow in my direction. "-fine… be that way."

He snuffed and walked out. "Get showered and dressed, we're going soon."

"Where?"

"The right handle is hot, the left cold."

I grabbed my clothes, found a towel waiting for me on the rack, and stepped into the shower.

We walked. The night was brisk like he told me it would be. I burrowed my hands deeper into my coat pockets as we entered the higher-class streets. We walked into an expansive apartment building that housed large, luxurious "apartments" and rode the elevator all the way up to the top floor.

There was only one person we could be visiting and that was Quatre. We dismounted the elevator side by side and Wufei knocked on the only door on the floor.

"That's the pizza guy," we heard Quatre mumble.

After a moment, the door was thrown open and a very surprised Quatre stared at us.

"If we'd known you'd wanted pizza we'd have brought some," Wufei said.

Quatre's face broke into a huge grin and he briefly hugged his friend. I embraced him tightly and kissed his cheek, laughing as he fawned over my being here.

"Wait a minute, I know that voice… Wufei!" Duo exclaimed, emerging in the doorway.

He nearly tackled Wufei and then caught a glimpse of me as I followed them into the penthouse.

"And Sally Po!" he disentangled himself from Wufei and rushed at me with fervor. I hugged him back and he gave me a mid spin and set my feet back on the ground again.

They were all here, Heero and Trowa coming to greet us. It could have been a coincidence, but it wasn't. I knew my partner too well. Wufei always did his research and he knew they'd be over here. How, I don't know, but he knew and he'd settled for nothing less than the perfect homecoming. Heero kissed my cheek, telling me it was nice to see me and Trowa followed suit.

"Sally?" a female voice broke out of the crowd. "It is you!"

"Hilde!"

I hugged the other woman tightly. I'd only ever seen her through the vidcom, but I felt as if I'd known her forever. Strange things happen to those that are friends with the Gundam pilots. She and I chatted happily for a few minutes, then she hugged me again and we laughed, glad to have finally met in person.

"What are you two doing here?' Heero finally asked, the only one with sense enough to ask.

"We're on leave," Wufei stated.

"Vacation," I corrected and he shot me a look.

"How long are you staying?" Quatre asked, leading us to a wonderfully comfortable couch.

"Three months," Wufei responded.

"Sally too?"

"Me too," I answered with a grin. "As if Wufei doesn't see enough of me, I'm staying with him."

"Great!" Hilde said. "It'll be good to have another woman around."

"Amen," I concurred, taking a beer from her and clicking it with her own.

"Hey," Duo said offended.

"For once I agree with Maxwell," Wufei said, giving me a look.

I just smiled as Hilde retorted, "There are certainly girly things that you need to speak to about with another girl."

Duo opened his mouth to say something, thought the better of it and shut it again with a glower.

The pizza arrived ten minutes later and we all pounced. They had rented a movie, which we never got to seeing. There was a lot of catching up to do. I told stories, Wufei told stories, Hilde, Heero, Trowa, and Quatre told stories, Duo told exaggerated rants that we all laughed at.

Before Wufei and I left, Duo made us promise to stop by the yard tomorrow. We did and he left us in peace. We walked back to the apartment, crossing several motionless streets in silence. Just as we were about to cross another, Wufei grabbed my arm and tugged to the side just before I stepped into a puddle I hadn't noticed. His hand dropped, my arm crying out for the lost heat, and kept walk, seemingly focused on his path.

Sweet. That was the word that came to mind when I thought of Wufei. Sweet with out being sickening. He watched out for me. Always. No matter whether we were on duty or not, or if it was his responsibility or not. He did it because he wanted to. He never did anything if he didn't want to.

At the same time, I realized that Wufei was never going to make a move. The closest he would ever get was what he'd done so far; invite me to stay with him these three months. I liked Wufei. I was head over heels for him. Why bother denying it? It was true.

I had seen how he treated me and how he treated most other women… most other people. Now, whether it was because I was his partner or his friend or because he was interested in me, I don't know. But there was only one way to find out.

I had never been shy and reserved. People call me determined. I guess it's true, I wouldn't know. All I did know is that when I wanted something, I went for it. What use was it to sit and pout?

I waited patiently with my hands in my jacket pocket as he turned the key in the lock and stepped into his apartment. He stomped the slush off his boots. I stood where I was behind him by the door. He turned to put the keys on the efficient little key rack by my head. It was exactly what I had been waiting for.

One hand shot out of my pocket and connected with the back of his neck, pulling him closer and my mouth met with his roughly. There was no sweet, lingering, surprising little virgin kiss. I opened my mouth and he opened his and our tongues met for a brief moment before retracting. Our lips clung for a long, long moment.

The keys dropped onto the floor and his arm wound around my waist and pulled my body as close to his as the thick coat would allow. His lips parted again and this time our tongues clashed and moved together in an enthralling rhythm.

His body pulled away for a moment, though his lips never did, and he wretched the coat off my body before pulling me back, no thick barrier between us this time. I could feel him just a little below my hip and I smiled. He did like me then, just as much as I liked him. If he didn't, he'd have pushed me away the instant our lips touched.

I pushed a little and he began moving backwards slowly, his mouth still working in time with mine. His shoulder hit a corner and he grunted into my mouth. I laughed, kissed him again and he smiled, taking up where we had left off. My hands searched and found the bottom of his shirt and he lifted his arms when I pulled up on it. We separated just enough for it to come up over his head and land in a pile in a corner of the living room. I looked over the sculpted chest, the tightened abs, the carved arms and smiled up at him. He lifted an eyebrow.

"Wow," I breathed and he smiled and bent to kiss me again swiftly before pulling me with him and pulling my shirt loose.

Skin on skin contact. I shivered, our stomachs touching as he held me to him. The door to his bedroom was open and we stopped moving just before the back of his knees came into contact with the bedside.

Then we broke and I stepped back away from him. He looked me over, licked his lips once, and watched, waiting.

I undid the button and fly on my pants and let them fall around my ankles before kicking them away. I stood then, in bra and panties letting him look me over and smiling. When his gaze finally slid back up to my face, I cocked an eyebrow, waiting my turn and he gave a small grin as he unbuckled his belt and then unsnapped his pants and tossed them away.

It was my turn to look and I took my time in it. His legs were as finely crafted as the rest of him. He wore simple blue boxers that did him justice. A smile kissed my lips as I paused on the boxers and then met his gaze once more. He reached out and took hold of my waist, pulled me in slowly, gently and kissed me again.

This time the kiss worked its way up. It began painfully slow, our tongues meeting for a fleeting second, then pulling back, then meeting again, gradually quicker and quicker until our breathing got heavy and he ravaged me and I let him.

He twisted deftly and pushed my onto my back on the bed, my breath expelling from my lungs, surprised. I reached up to draw him in as he fell over me, one strong arm supporting his body and the other hand stroking my cheek. He shifted his grip and clutched the back of my neck. He moved with me as I scuttled up to the top of the bed, pillows enveloping my head.

I could feel him more fully now, especially when I reached down and slid teasing fingers over him. He took in a sharp breath and then kissed me hard, pulling me up into him and I tightened my grip so that he gave a muffled moan into my mouth. I arched my back, pushing myself closer to him as one strong hand gripped my breast. When I did so he slid his hand off my breast and with one quick, fluid movement, unlatched my bra with one hand and slipped it off quickly.

This time his hand connected with skin and his mouth left mine to trace a fiery track down my neck, onto my collarbone and then onto my bare chest. I gave a small cry and I felt his smile against my skin.

But he wasn't done with his slow torture. He continued kissing and nipping, tasting and licking, teasing and biting down my stomach, onto my bellybutton, my hipbone…

I squirmed anxiously beneath him, my fingers in his hair, as he twisted two fingers in my underwear and twitched them off. I cried out, but he didn't stop. Good thing. I didn't want him to.

I finally pulled him back up towards me and I covered his mouth with my own. The final article of clothing that had kept us separate was discarded as his boxers went flying after my panties and my bra.

There was never a word spoken, never a hesitation. Neither of us broke apart to ask if we were sure, if we wanted this and the repercussions of it. We did, we knew each other well enough to know for sure.

I moaned deeply when he finally entered me. And he sighed, his head sagging onto my shoulder. We built a rhythm that was timed perfectly, not too fast, not too slow. My nails scraped into his back, broken cries slipping from my lips. He smiled and continued on for what felt like forever. I should have known. He was a Gundam pilot. If they had nothing else, they had control.

He gave and gave, more and more, and I felt like I was going to be ripped in half, until I said in a breathless, pleasure filled whimper, "Now…"

I felt him release, easing his own wonderful torture. I gave one last, lingering cry and he exhaled deeply and then after, we paused for a moment, frozen, letting that wonderful feeling settle into our bones, we sagged as one into his incredibly soft pillows.

He was breathing deeply, I could feel his humid breath on my shoulder. After a few more moments, he shifted off and out of me. I missed him already. He leaned over and it was then that we shared that sweet, lingering, surprising little not-so-virgin kiss. He lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling and I looked over at him.

"Where did that come from?" he asked, still a little breathless. I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off with a shake of his head and he looked at me. "I don't care, you're mine now."

I smiled at him, broke out into a laugh, and rolled on top of him, kissing him deeply again.