Hello everyone, here we go again!
Thank you again to all of you who have offered your support. I apologize for the delay in releasing this chapter.
For fair warning: This is a mature story, set in and Alternate Universe, which will make reference to sex, hold strong language and talk about some serious topics, such as trans-gendered people, homosexuals, sex reassignment surgery, murder and many other things. If any of this isn't your cup of tea, or you are not open-minded enough to handle it, then please, do not waste your time or mine. Thank you and please enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or its charries.
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Chapter Four
Duo liked to think that if he walked out of his office with Heero by his side, said hello to someone they didn't know, and then said person walked into the office, they would still know without a doubt whose desk was whose. One desk, to the right when entering, was pristine and organized, the five law books on top in chronological order and nothing else but a computer and a single photograph to clutter up the desk. The other, on the left, was not messy, but one could easily describe it as 'organized chaos'. This desk had no photographs, but it did have multiple knick-knacks, including many little grim reapers and shinigami, as well as all of his paperwork and his favorite pen, shaped like Voldemort's wand. To kick it all off, he had a record player attached to the corner of his desk, set up currently to play some Bad Company as Duo, sitting in said desk, crooned along with "Running With The Pack". Heero really got pissed off when Duo sang like that.
Thinking about his mysterious partner, Duo stopped his dying-cat impression and gazed absentmindedly at the other man's desk. Heero really had been acting weird earlier, avoiding questions that he would have normally answered with monosyllabic ease. Something was going on, and Duo had been too quick to accept it, trying to avoid unpleasant thoughts. He realized now that he should have tried to push, subtly, of course, so that he at least knew if his partner was about to do something reckless, like offering up his life to the family of a victim he couldn't save. Heero had done things much more stupid than that in the past, so what's to say he hadn't gone and put himself in danger now? Shit, now he was worried about that stupid "perfect detective", what a load of crock.
When the phone rang, he was quick to jump on it for that very reason.
"Duo? I need you to come to the hospital." The violet eyed detective froze for a moment as he considered the words come from his partner over the phone. His mind was going a mile a moment. If Heero was on the phone, he couldn't well be in the hospital, could he? But if not him then who?
"Heero, what's going on?" He asked, hearing the hesitation in his partner's voice. Heero never hesitated. This had to be bad. "Is it Trowa? Or Quatre?" They were all he had, this little group of friends, his family after all that had died and left him alone..
"No," The relief was instant, but Duo's heart continued to race, "Just get down here and I'll explain everything."
"Y-you got it, Buddy." He hung up and barely remembered to grab his coat, the pocket of which held his badge, before heading out the door.
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Heero was well aware of how delicate this situation was. Neither the man rushing to the hospital, nor the man laying sedated in the hospital bed were ready to meet again, and certainly not under these conditions, but he didn't have a lot of choice at this point. Wufei was the next victim. Would have been, if Heero hadn't shown up when he had. They had been very lucky, actually, that the place wasn't as crowded as the bars and clubs Pontius Pilate usually hit, where he could have easily led Wufei or someone like him out of the place and taken them to wherever he decided to kill them this time. The drug in Wufei's system was the same that the autopsies of the others had yeilded and with his connection to the late Doctor Sally Poe, Heero could say with absolute certainty that Wufei was still in danger. The very fact that their killer had tried to take him in a place where his face might be remembered was a sign that Pontius Pilate was becoming riskier and was choosing specific targets rather than the unrelated victims of the past. Heero wasn't going to take any risks with Wufei's life, and he doubted very much that tonight would be considered anything more than an unfortunate delay.
But now he had suspects, and perhaps that would make all the difference. In the bar had been a man and his girlfriend, Trant Clark and Luna Armonia, a small group of suspicious looking punks, the leader of whom was named Broden, Zechs Merquise, the owner... And of course Howard. Howard, who had supposedly been quiet drunk, but seemed sober enough when Heero had arrived. Howard, who had been trying to help Wufei up and out of the bar. Howard, who was not only one of Duo's few trusted friends, but who was now their primary suspect.
Heero looked forward to telling Duo that only slightly more than telling him about his ex-girlfriend... Existing as he did now.
"Heero, what's going on?" When had the braid adorned detective gotten there? How could Heero have become so careless, when Wufei needed him most? The thoughts were troubling and without a suitable answer. Duo seemed to misunderstand his troubled silence, "Shit, Man, don't do this to me, just tell me who's hurt."
"Meiran," Heero said without thinking, then shook his head, "No, not Meiran. Wufei. Her name is Wufei Chang now."
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Duo didn't know how to react to that. His mind didn't seem to be processing what Heero was saying. Meiran. His Meiran, here and hurt? No, not his. Not Meiran. The... Person behind that door used to be his Meiran, but not any longer and it would save his a world of heartache to remember that. Not wanting to deal with all of these... feelings, Duo decided to take his thinking in another direction. "What happened?"
Heero was silent for a moment, those cold blue eyes sizing Duo up, making him wonder if his partner thought he couldn't handle it. Maybe he couldn't, it was hard to say. Finally, Heero spoke, "Wufei was a target."
It was so simple, hearing it like that, but it meant so much more. Meiran had nearly been killed. Maybe she was dying right behind that door. Duo felt his throat and mouth go dry, "H-how...?" He couldn't finish.
"He was drugged at a bar. I'd asked him to meet me, because he was one of Sally Poe's patients," Heero explained, eyes still watching for Duo to fall apart. He'd do his best not to cause his partner that sort of trouble.
"Is she..?"
"He should be waking up at any time. He's not hurt, just a bump on the head."
"He.." That was too weird to think about. Duo closed his eyes and took a deep break to collect himself. "Okay.. Let's go in."
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Wufei woke up to violet eyes. It was like being taken back in time, waking up in bed beside his lover of five years, to that loving smile and those twinkling eyes, or better, waking up to closed eyes and a bit of hardness pressed against his body... Wufei tried to clear his head by shaking it, knowing his mind was getting away from him, but the mere attempt of such a movement made everything spin violently and had to swallow back bile. What in his room could he be mistaking for Duo's eyes? When had he gotten home? What had happened last night?
"You should lie still, you probably have a concussion." Heero. Heero was here? Concussion? Wufei turned his head slowly, taking in the white walls of what was clearly a hospital room and let his eyes settle on his best friend. "Status?"
"No fucking clue," Wufei answered through gritted teeth. He felt like he had a hangover from hell and no memory of how he got it. "What happened?"
"You don't remember?"
'Come on, Yuy, obviously not,' Wufei thought and it must have been clear on his face because Heero's cheeks colored just the slightest bit.
"Pontius Pilate drugged you." Wufei turned at the sound of that voice, his dark eyes widening a fraction that he couldn't control. It hadn't been in his mind, Duo was here, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, his lips pressed into a thin line that looked extremely out of place on that usually cheerful face. Wufei felt guilty, as if it were his fault that Duo wore that expression. Perhaps it was, but he wasn't about to apologize. If only his ex-lover could understand the pain he has lived with as Meiran...
"Oh," Wufei said intelligently, before the reality of what Duo had just said seeped in, past the shock of seeing the man he'd loved and settled into his gut with a queasy feeling. "Oh my God..." His whole body began to shake, despite himself, remembering the nightmares he had had about that very thing happening, how close he had surely brushed with a painful, honorless death. A hand squeezed his shoulder comfortingly and despite the tirade of feelings assaulting him and the nausea building inside, he wanted to believe the hand belonged to Duo and not Heero.
'How sick, Chang Wufei, that you think about having him again at a time like this,' Wufei thought, disgusted by himself.
"You're not in danger now, Wufei. We'll keep you safe," Heero said, his voice strangely soft. He must have noticed how green Wufei's face was becoming, because he had a bucket there just in time. Wufei felt weak and more like a fool than he had in a very long while. A tender hand running through his hair, which was unbound, he noticed at last, was both surprising and comforting, as was the voice that accompanied it.
"It's alright, it's just the concussion, okay? No shame in that." Duo's voice was softer than before, more kind, like he remembered it. It was like being taken back three years, to the last time Wufei had managed to catch the flu and duo had taken three days off of work to stay home and take care of him. It was a painfully sweet memory, but the hand in his hair didn't stop until Wufei had finished emptying his gut, and the tenderness didn't leave Duo's face until they made eye contact and the man remembered, his eyes shifting to coldness again in a split second, that Wufei was no longer a woman, and certainly not the woman he had loved.
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It was so easy to slip right back into those feelings. If he didn't look down at her chest or directly at her face, this... person still looked a lot like his Meiran. Her reactions were close enough tp Meiran's and it was difficult not to comfort her. Duo had to force his eyes away. His gaze met Heero's and his partner was sizing him up again. Did he find him lacking? Was this considered weakness in the eyes of Heero Yuy?
"I thought I would go and talk to your boss, Wufei. I doubt you'll be able to go back for a while. Not until we have this man on trial," Heero said, eyes lingering on Duo's for a moment before turning to Mei- Wufei. Chang. Just Chang.
"That's not possible," Wufei said, "I need to be working. I.. I have a debt to pay off still."
A debt? Meiran was never in debt, always keeping things anally organized, never spending money she didn't have... Heero was already answering, making Duo have to pay attention again.
"We'll work out some sort of compensation. It's not worth your life, Wufei," He said, using quadruple the amount of words Duo normally found him to average monthly, "For all he knows, you remember everything and leaving you alive is too dangerous. We would rather have you as our star witness than in a pine box."
Mei- Chang was nodding numbly. If it had been some random bloke off the street, Duo would have felt for the guy, but as it was...
"I'll call soon. Detective Maxwell will be your guard. We're not taking any chances." This surprised both of them and Duo looked at his partner for a good minute, Heero's eyes staring straight back. This was a test, it seemed, to see if Duo could handle working on this case even with Meiran in the picture. Duo finally gave a small nod and the Japanese-born detective left the hospital room.
The silence was stifling.
"If you have questions..." Chang said softly, meeting Duo's eyes- Or at least he would have, if Duo hadn't childishly looked away- "Then I will answer them. Anything you want to know."
Did he have questions? Damn right he had questions.
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Treize Khushrenada knew that Detective Heero Yuy would be coming by long before the man entered his establishment. In fact, Treize prided himself on knowing a great deal of things about a great deal of people. In fact, before loving to Chicago, the San Francisco police had called upon him for his knowledge on a great many occasions, especially because he was only very rarely wrong. He had known, for instance, that Heero Yuy was a cop from before the first time the man had eaten in his restaurant, four months ago, with his friends Duo Maxwell, Quatre Raberba Winner and Trowa Barton, and that Duo Maxwell was the ex-boyfriend of his ex-female employee, Wufei Chang.
Wufei's gender-reassignment was a surprise to find out, however. The young Chinese man was so decidedly.. Male, that it had taken Treize a few weeks and a photograph in a bar to figure things out. Of course little Wufei had no idea that Treize knew, and that suited the older man just fine. He was a fun little thing to play with, but Treize had also known from early on that as intriguing as Mr. Chang was, he was not the one that Treize was looking for.
This young detective, on the other hand, with his cold blue glare and uncontrollable brown mop, had quite a bit of potential.
"What do you mean you 'know'?" he bit out, clearly irritated and suspicious already. In retrospect, perhaps Treize should not have welcomed him by name...
"It is easy to learn a great many things when Zechs Merquise is your lover," Treize answered with a smile.
"Hn.. Then you understand that everything we speak of now is confidential."
"Of course, Detective. I would hate to be arrested for obstruction of justice. If you're as good as they say, then I'm sure you could find enough evidence for courts to put me away for a long time." His smile never faltered.
"Wufei Chang is being placed into protective custody."
"And where might he be, if I need to reach him?" He asked, just to watch the younger man scowl.
"I cannot tell you where he will be, only that he will not be here until further notice." Ahh, efficient.
"Very well, Detective Yuy. Please do your best to catch whomever may be endangering my employee and return him to my bed, I mean me, as soon as possible." That got a lovely reaction, just a tiny bit of a flush in the mans cheeks, though probably mostly due to anger, if one took the clenched teeth into account.
"Hn."
"And Detective?" He moved in and managed to just barely brush his lips against Heero's before the other man had him slammed back into a wall, holding him away by his neck at arms length. Treize didn't flinch only because of the sheer triumph that washed through him. "Do not be afraid to stop by. Any time."
Those cobalt eyes were searching for something in his face, some trigger, but Treize just continued to smile. Without another word, Heero Yuy had released him and left the office. Taking a moment to savor the oh-so-slight tingle of his lips, and his neck, different, and yet the same, from the same man, Treize sat back for a moment in his desk chair before fishing his cellphone from it's place in the desk.
"Zechs? I do believe I have found our third."