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Note: Many thanks to KS for editing, and to all the wonderful people who have left reviews.

Chapter 80/94 - On the Outside, Looking In:

He'd known Wufei was safe. They'd had a couple of long conversations and a flurry of texts before the shuttle from L4 landed. He'd known Wufei hadn't been harmed in any way whatsoever.

It meant nothing until the shuttle doors groaned open and he saw his love standing at the bottom of the steps with Trowa Barton beside him, and a knot of Preventer agents around them. Then he was racing down to him, and Wufei – his Wufei who was far too reserved to initiate unseemly public displays – was hurtling into his arms, and Zechs was holding him as if he could shield them both from the rest of the world.

'I was so scared,' Wufei finally said, very low, as if confessing to a secret, shameless thing.

'Only scared? I was fucking petrified. God, I am never letting you out of my sight again for the rest of our lives.'

Wufei made a little noise deep in his throat that sounded oddly like agreement.

'Never,' Zechs repeated emphatically, looking at him closely. Under the harsh strip lighting of the hangar, Wufei looked terrible; tired and troubled and strained. 'You haven't been at Preventers all this time, have you?' His mouth tightened, the sudden surge of relief replaced by molten anger. 'How dare they treat you like that? You're a citizen of Sanque, and about to marry into the royal family, and I am going to create an unholy diplomatic incident over this.'

'Mil, love, don't.' Wufei managed a small laugh, laying one hand on Zechs' sleeve. 'You don't have to go all over-protective. I'm perfectly fine. I was only questioned for a couple of hours after we landed, and they treated me with kid gloves, I promise.'

Zechs nodded grimly. 'Good. Now, where's Duo? I thought he'd be here to meet us. Or does Yuy have him locked up somewhere with a battalion of Preventer guards outside?'

Wufei laughed properly at that. 'Well, not quite, although I don't think he's ever going to allow Duo o go anywhere without an armed escort for the rest of his life. He's back at Preventers; Noin wanted to talk to him.'

'I see. Well, it's high time Preventers started to sort their own damn mess out. You and Duo have done more than enough. I'm going to take the pair of you straight to the embassy and we are taking the first flight back home.'

'We can't, Mil,' Wufei breathed, a wistful, hopeless thread in his voice. 'We're far too involved. Duo and I are anyway. But of course, you can go wherever you like.'

Zechs sighed. 'I'm going to pretend you never said that, my love. I married you; that makes me involved. Now, how is Duo?'

'Being Duo. You know.'

'I can imagine,' Zechs murmured into the top of that soft, dark hair. Wufei would tell him eventually, and Zechs wouldn't press him before then. Zechs steered them both carefully into a corner of the hangar, glaring at anyone who had the temerity to so much as glance in their direction.

'Is he really all right?'

'I think so. Heero's been looking after him.'

'Ah. Well then.' Zechs kissed him again, properly this time, vaguely aware of people swirling past them. His sister, and Dorothy and the children were being shepherded out of the shuttle; Trowa seemed to have taken charge.

'What happens now? I imagine that sweeping you off to the honeymoon suite in Florence's finest hotel for an hour or two is not an option.

That won him a soft, secret smile, glimmering out of night-dark eyes. 'I would like that very much, Milliardo Karl Hector. I wish we could. But I've arranged a full medical for you before we do anything else.'

'I don't need a check up, 'Fei. I'm perfectly fine.'

Wufei's eyes flashed. 'You are not! You almost died four days ago! I was there, Zechs; I was there and I watched you bleeding and you shouldn't have been on that shuttle in the first place and you are going to see a doctor before you do anything else and you are going to do exactly what he says.'

'All right, my darling,' Zechs agreed softly, pulling him closer. 'Whatever you say.'

'Well, good,' Wufei set his jaw. 'We're married now. You have to do as you're told.

There was a uniformed Preventer waiting for them beside a car, and a second vehicle as escort. The hospital was a blur of tests and machines and softly-spoken men and women in white coats, and Wufei demanding to know exactly what every piece of information written on his clipboard meant. Four hours later, they were back in the car, heading for Preventers to see Duo.

Wufei wasn't overly happy; but the doctors had collectively shaken their heads and declared it was a miracle that he'd had no ill effects whatsoever from the shuttle flight, and issued him with a bag of medication and instructions to rest.

Duo was waiting for them outside the building, wearing a too-large Preventers polo shirt with the logo torn off the sleeve. He looked like he needed a good night's sleep, and a few solid meals, which wasn't really anything out of the ordinary.

He wasn't much of a one for public displays either, but he still flung himself on Zechs as soon as he got out of the car, heedless of Wufei's protests about still-healing injuries. Zechs returned the hug with equal fervour; Yuy would just have to cope with any refuelled rumours about the three of them being together.

Since Duo showed no signs of letting go, Zechs gave Wufei a glance that was only very slightly apologetic, and then bent his head to give Duo a firm kiss on the lips.

'Uh, Zechsy, Heero..'

'Isn't here,' Zechs said smoothly and kissed him a second time. Rather more thoroughly than he'd originally intended, but he'd always liked Duo, and this was probably the last chance he'd ever get. 'There. I'm glad you're safe. And while we're on the subject of who's allowed to kiss whom, you may tell your boyfriend to keep his tongue away from my husband in future.'

'Husband?' Duo took a step back, staring at both of them. ''Fei, is there a little something you neglected to tell me?'

'Oh!' Wufei, charmingly, blushed. 'I forgot. Before we left L4, Mil and I, well, we said the vows. Just to each other.'

'Congratulations!' Duo hauled him into what looked like a bone-crushing hug. 'But the actual ceremony is still on, right? Because I have to give Wufei away and 'Lena wants to be the bridesmaid.'

'Of course it's still on,' Zechs said. 'Now, what exactly is happening at the moment?'

Duo shrugged, casting a quick glance at Wufei, before turning back to Zechs. 'God knows. No one's been telling us anything, except what's on the news. I guess you know all about that?'

Zechs nodded. They'd spent most of the shuttle flight glued to the latest satellite transmissions. Mass demonstrations on Earth and the other colonies in favour of colonial independence, and counter-demonstrations in favour of maintaining the status quo. There had, inevitably, been clashes. Curfews had been called in the worst places, with a strong police and military presence on the streets.

'And I talked to Noin a couple of times,' he added, and this time caught Wufei's gaze flicker towards Duo before he spoke.

'What did she tell you?'

'Nothing more than you already had.'

'Right.' Wufei relaxed, very slightly, and managed a smile.

'Well, that's pretty much it, as far as I know,' Duo informed him. 'Heero's been closeted with in some meeting for the last few hours, and I was getting the third degree from some analyst guys, so I don't really know what's going on.' He yawned suddenly. 'Not sure what else I could tell anyone, actually. I've been in meetings pretty much since we landed. Getting grilled by Preventer agents and profilers and God knows what.'

'Well, there will be no more of that,' Zechs said grimly. 'I'm here now.'

Duo laughed. 'Yeah, we noticed. Come on. Heero said he'd be finished around now; we can go wait for him in his office. Maybe you can get someone to tell us what's happening.'

Heero himself turned up a few moments later, taking the seat beside Duo and giving him a warm look. Duo's answering smile was slightly strained. Interesting. Of course, it possibly had something to do with Heero having his own office at Preventers HQ, and an officer's uniform.

'What now?' Duo demanded. 'Is anyone actually ready to tell us anything?'

'Duo,' Wufei said it softly, a warning. Oh, there was very definitely something going on.

'Yeah, sorry.' Duo reached out and touched Heero's shoulder. 'I'm just tired.'

'I know. I'm sorry about all this. For now, I need as much information on Quatre's involvement in all of this as possible.'

'No fucking way!' Duo snapped. 'We've talked about this, Heero. I've told you 'til I'm blue in the bloody face. I've told pretty much everyone in this damn building. He's not involved.'

'Duo.' Heero said it wearily, as if this was a repeat of earlier arguments. 'There's no question but that he's involved. I'm sorry, but he is. I've seen the TV broadcasts.'

'No.' Duo shook his head firmly. 'If he was involved, if he had any part in this, we wouldn't be here now. He wouldn't have let any of us go, 'specially not Zechs and 'Lena; they're too valuable as hostages. Barton may have pressured him to make a TV appearance, but that would be it.'

Heero rubbed a hand through that ludicrously messy hair. 'It doesn't make sense.'

'You know Quat. If he wanted to get colonial independence, he wouldn't do it like this. He'd, I don't know, have some cool plan that didn't involve killing people. He is not behind this, and he's been trying to warn us for ages that there's something going on, but we never copped on.'

'Go on.' Heero sat abruptly. 'You know him better than I do. What do you think is going on?'

'Right.' Duo took a deep breath, darting a look across the table at Wufei. 'Look, while you were off doing your top secret Preventer meeting shit, Fei and Tro and I sat down and tried to put stuff together, to work it all out. About a year and a half ago, Quat somehow got involved with this group on L4. It was ostensibly a sort of dining club for top executives, but they were secretly aiming at getting some measure of autonomy for the colonies. As far as we know, they never really did anything; just had gourmet dinners and bitched about the ESUN.'

'How exactly do you know any of this?'

'I've seen his laptop,' Duo explained. 'He kept journals and I've been reading them. Plus Trowa knew some of it.'

'Where is he?' Heero asked suddenly. 'He's supposed to be here.'

'Oh, yeah.' Duo looked around, apparently just noticing that Trowa hadn't joined them. 'I think Lu wanted to talk to him about something. She said it wouldn't take long. Anyway, back to Quat. Tro knew he was in this club; Quat didn't really bother hiding it and Tro thought it was a harmless enough way for him to blow off a bit of steam now and then. He said he tailed him a few times to meetings to check it was safe. '

Heero looked sour at that for some reason. 'I don't understand why Quatre wanted to get involved in something like that.'

Duo shrugged. 'It was a bit of excitement, I think, and he was bored having to be the perfect Quatre Winner all the time. The other guys were all wealthy businessmen, mostly older, and I think he was probably flattered at the start to be asked to join. And he'd love all that cloak-and-dagger stuff. It was like this secret society. They had passwords and a secret handshake and shit like that.'

He took a long gulp from his water glass. 'Anyway. It was just a pretty harmless thing for about six months, and then it started to change about a year ago. We think Dekim Barton got involved at that point. Not sure if he'd been in the background all along, and suddenly started to take more of an active part, or if he just found out the group existed, and decided they could be useful to him. Whatever happened, Quatre began to act weird about then. He pretty much stopped contacting 'Fei and me, and things started to go wrong with him and Tro. I don't know, exactly. I think, we think, that he somehow found out what was going on. What Barton intended.'

'And it didn't occur to him to tell anyone?' Heero asked sceptically.

'Tell who, exactly? Barton didn't exactly wake up one morning and decide to take over the universe. He's been planning this for years; he had to be. God knows who's implicated. I don't think Quat knew who to trust. Plus, well, he's Quatre Winner. I think he had a plan to stop this, somehow, and I think the plan went seriously wrong somewhere.'

'Duo, you do realise that all of this is total conjecture,' Zechs interrupted.

'Actually, it's not,' Wufei told him. 'We know a lot of it. We know someone abducted Quatre. They must have had a reason; perhaps they found out he was planning to tell someone what he'd found out. We know he tried very hard to escape and was injured in the process. I've seen his medical tests from the clinic on L4. He had unbelievable amounts of drugs in his system. Apparently, the doctors were amazed that he was even remotely functional.'

'Hello, Gundam Pilot.' Duo grinned suddenly, and Zechs shivered. It still scared him, how casually the scientists had treated those five young boys. 'Anyway, whatever he found out, he didn't want the rest of us getting involved, so he tried to get us out of his life. Tried damn hard, actually.'

Heero started to say something, then paused to answer his phone. 'What? No. No, I most certainly did not authorise anything of the sort. When exactly? I'll find out. No, it wasn't me.' He flipped the phone closed. 'Duo, where is Trowa?'

Zechs would have missed it if he hadn't happened to be looking directly at Duo. A fleeting look sent in Wufei's direction, and a fractional nod of Wufei's head in answer.

Ah. Life, then, was about to get even more complicated.

'I imagine you've probably worked it out at this point.' Duo's tone was defiance mingled with a lot of things Zechs couldn't begin to guess. Regret, certainly.

'I imagine I do. I imagine it may possibly have something to do with the Preventers' newest shuttle mysteriously taking off ten minutes ago. I assume you helped him,' Heero stated flatly.

'Yeah. You know, you really might want to think about changing your passwords some time. Or not leaving me alone in your office with your laptop.'

'I see.' Heero's mouth was a thin line, rapier sharp. 'Ignoring the fact that I trusted you, I suppose you do realise that you've almost certainly sent him to his death. The airspace around L4 is currently a no-fly zone. If the Preventers don't get him, the L4 forces will.'

'No way. He's better than that. I seriously doubt the ESUN will open fire on him. Not after spending most of last year's budget on that shuttle. And there's no way Barton has the technology to bring him down. Plus it was his choice.' He jerked his chair around, scraping the legs viciously on the floor and glared at Heero. 'I didn't just hack into those launch codes, Heero. I read your emails. I read the latest one. I know what's being fucking planned for L4. No way was I going to let Quatre get caught up in that.'

'He's already caught up in it,' Heero yelled back. 'He has been from the start.'

This was going to get very ugly, very fast.

Zechs stood up, pulling Wufei after him. 'We're leaving. They can sort themselves out and I want some time with you.'

In the corridor, Zechs pushed open the first door they saw to reveal a large office and a young woman tapping at a computer.

'Sir, you can't come in here. It…'

'Out,' Zechs ordered, using Treize's best parade-ground voice. 'Now.'

She took one look at him and ran.

'Oh dear.' Wufei started to laugh, and then stopped as Heero shouted something. Rather impressive, actually as all Preventers buildings were sound-proofed.

'Do you think we should go back?'

'Most certainly not. Haven't I taught you anything, love? If Heero has any sense at all, he'll find out a way to calm Duo down, and I doubt he's the sort to appreciate an audience.'

'I'm sorry I didn't tell you what was going on.'

Zechs shrugged. 'You didn't really have a chance, did you? Besides, I guessed some of it. It wasn't all that difficult. Perhaps you could tell me exactly what is being planned for L4?'

'Yes.' He still hesitated for a second before going on. 'You heard Heero say he was in a meeting with Noin. It was classified, so the three of us – Trowa and Duo and I – waited in Heero's office. He'd left his laptop on the desk and Duo wanted to let Hilde and Howard know that he was all right, and well, you know Duo.' He smiled, very faintly. 'We were all terribly frustrated at not knowing what was going on. No one would tell us anything, so Duo thought he'd open Heero's messages, just to see if we could find out anything.'

'And he did?' Zechs guessed.

'He did,' Wufei confirmed. 'They've – Preventers, I mean – apparently known about Barton for a while now. There's some sort of special task force. Heero's involved. I don't really know all the details. Anyway, they've been anticipating something for months now. Not this precise eventuality but some sort of terrorist attack.'

Zechs' mouth was suddenly dry. 'Then there are presumably contingency plans in place?' He hated this. He hated Wufei using this clinical language, sounding like he was addressing a squadron of junior officers.

This wasn't what their lives were like any more. Wufei had his library and his studies and his barricades of books. Zechs had his painting and what Wufei affectionately called his 'play dates' with Duo; dirt-bike racing and shooting and expensive sports cars. They didn't live in this world any more, either of them.

'In situations like this, the recommended procedure is to take out the leader of the rebellion,' Wufei said tightly. 'Along with his chief supporters, and any military power he is known to possess. Civilian casualties are deemed acceptable, if it will prevent a larger loss of life. They're going to fire on L4. It's what Barton wants; then he'll have an excuse to retaliate against Earth. It's what that man Irving told Duo and me; he wants a reason to destroy this entire planet.'

Oh, God. He folded Wufei in his arms, and Wufei let him. Chief Supporters. One of them would be Quatre. Of course Trowa had gone to find him.

'I'm surprised neither of you went with him, actually.'

Wufei looked slightly self-conscious. 'We didn't think we could. We thought we'd be able to cover for Tro, just long enough for him to get away, but Heero's been sticking to Duo like a leech, and I knew you'd be the same.'

'The very same,' Zechs agreed firmly. 'I meant what I said, you know. About never letting you out of my sight again.'

'Oh, please don't.' Wufei gasped it on a shallow, shuddering breath and sagged against him.

Duo, next door, yelled something about 'fucking protocols' followed by a string of highly slanderous comments about Une.

'God. I hope Quatre's worth all of this.'

Wufei looked up at him miserably. 'Duo thinks he is, yes. And Trowa,' he said, and then winced as something large and heavy hit the wall on the other side. 'I don't know. Maybe he does have a plan.'

'I am NOT in love with Quatre fucking Winner!' Duo shouted from next door and followed it up with a comment about people in fucking glass houses.

'Do I even want to know?' Zechs wondered, stroking his lover's hair. There wasn't much furniture in the room, but the swivel chair looked sturdy enough and he lowered himself into it, pulling Wufei on to his lap.

'Oh, probably not. Like you said, they can sort it out themselves. I don't understand so much of it, though. Barton must have had some kind of hold over Quatre, to make him do those things. Duo and Trowa and I had a couple of hours this afternoon to figure that much out. We just couldn't work out why Barton wanted him involved in the first place.'

'Isn't it obvious?' Zechs was surprised he hadn't thought of it. 'He's the perfect figurehead.'

Wufei just looked blank.

Unbelievable.

Zechs took a deep breath. 'It's why Treize was so taken with him.' Well, one reason. Treize had always had a fondness for blue-eyed blonds.

'Quatre Raberba Winner,' he elaborated. 'The only son of a famous pacifist family, who took up arms to protect his colony and his family. He's the perfect person to unite the colonies. He always has been. It's why he was chosen as a pilot in the first place.'

'No,' Wufei said quickly. 'That's not how it was at all. He met H and the Maguanacs by accident the very first time.'

'No, dear love. It was very deliberate. I imagine Barton chose him from the moment of his birth. He fitted the pilot profile exactly; the son of his colony's leading family.' He took a deep breath. In all the years they'd been together, they'd never spoken about this; they'd resolutely never mentioned any of it.

'His mother should never have died. Treize had the medical reports; she was a healthy young woman with the finest attending physicians in the universe. Something went very wrong. It had to, for Barton's scheme to work. He needed Quatre to grow up in a certain environment, from the beginning. A young boy with a happy home life and a loving mother may not have wished to run away.'

'Oh, Gods,' Wufei whispered. 'Quatre always blamed himself. He tried to commit suicide a few months after the war, when he found out she'd died giving birth to him.'

He curled up in Zechs' arms for a minute, silently and Zechs just held him, waiting for the inevitable, for him to work out the rest of it.

It came far too quickly. Wufei pushed him away and stood, taking a few steps back.

'What did you mean, pilot profile? How do you know any of this?'

'Treize, of course. He had a superb intelligence system. He always liked to know everything. You know what the original Operation Meteor entailed; what Dekim Barton's planning to do now. It would have caused untold natural disasters, and decimated the population. The Gundams were supposed to show up in the aftermath; it was anticipated that there would be very little resistance, under the circumstances. Any remaining military forces would be disorientated by the catastrophes. The Gundams were meant to be symbols of help from the colonies; there would be aid to follow; medical help, whatever was needed. Barton expected whatever remnants of government were still in existence to grasp the offer of help and accept any conditions. The Gundams could deal with any pockets of resistance, and ultimately provide leadership, under Barton's guidance, naturally.'

'Oh.' Wufei closed his eyes briefly, taking it all in. The little furrow between his brows was more marked than it had been just days before. 'I never knew any of that. Oh, gods! If Barton did that to Quatre, did he…was he somehow involved in what happened to L5? Was it about me? To make me..…want to fight?'

'No.' It was the truth but he would probably have said it anyway. Wufei didn't need to carry that sort of guilt. 'That was nothing to do with him, or you. The pilots were all carefully chosen; there was a very exact profile.'

'Not me,' Wufei whispered. 'Meiran. Quatre.'

'Barton's own son, Trowa,' Zechs added. 'All the pilots were supposed to be from high-profile, highly respected, colonial families. As far as I know, there were a couple of girls and a boy selected from L2, the children of leading citizens of the colony, but they were killed in training. Deathscythe had design flaws that hadn't been fully corrected. Duo was only ever supposed to be a test pilot until the system was perfected.'

'Heero?'

'I don't know. I don't think anyone ever did.'

'Treize knew all about Operation Meteor? Both of you did?' Wufei shook his head disbelievingly. 'He just let it happen?'

'Why not? The Gundams were coming to Earth to attack an enemy of his. He knew – we knew – it wasn't going to happen the way Dekim Barton wanted. It wasn't just coincidence, you know, how I first met Heero. We knew his co-ordinates. I was supposed to capture the Gundam, and the pilot. Well, you know how that turned out. Ideally, he wanted all of you. Quatre in particular.'

'Yes, of course,' Wufei said softly. 'Quatre always was the strategist.'

'That, yes. And the empathy. And his ….personal attractions.'

Wufei said, 'oh', very thoughtfully and then said it again, and then wrapped his arms around Zechs, holding tight.

'Those things you said about Quatre, the only son of a famous pacifist family, you could have been describing yourself.'

'Hardly. I was too stubborn, too bitter. Far too obsessed with revenge. Never really good enough. Treize wanted the perfect protégé and I just didn't measure up.'

'I'd never realised before,' Wufei said quietly, 'why you didn't like him.'

Of course, Zechs and Quatre had met. There had been a couple of ceremonies and functions during which Zechs had studiously ignored him. Treize's golden boy; the teenage war hero who was busily revitalising his colony and his father's company, while Zechs slunk around the fringes of society, among people who probably thought he deserved execution.

Then he'd met Wufei, and slowly been drawn into the circle of his friends. Duo, after a somewhat shaky start when he'd threatened manifold tortures if Wufei wasn't treated like a prince, if not a deity, had become a friend. Trowa never said a great deal about anything, but was friendly enough.

Zechs and Quatre had been exquisitely, warily polite, the few times they'd met, and neither Wufei nor Duo had ever commented on it. Not in Zechs' presence, at any rate.

Zechs shrugged. 'It's rather hard to like someone if you've spent a significant part of your life listening to how staggeringly perfect he is.' Long evenings with Treize rhapsodizing about Quatre Winner's virtues, which inevitably ended with speculations on Quatre's prowess in bed. 'Treize was obsessed with him.'

'Hmm. He was an awful idiot, really, wasn't he?' Wufei mused.

Zechs was still choking on the laugh trying to escape from his throat at that description when Wufei reached up and kissed him, adoringly, on each corner of his mouth.

'Quatre isn't perfect.' Wufei looked almost amused at the idea, and then blushed a charming wild-rose colour. 'Far from it. You, though. You are. I think so anyway. For me.'

He'd carried the ache inside for so long he was rarely conscious of it any more. He'd never been good enough for Treize, for anything. He'd disappointed everyone who'd ever expected anything of him. And then, suddenly, it wasn't there anymore, and he still had Wufei pressed against him, and that lush mouth lingering on his.

'Thank you. I think you may be slightly biased though.'

'I think there's a clause in the marriage vows that says I have to be, actually.'

'I love you.'

'I think that's a clause as well. Oh, dear.' Another crash from next door.

'We really need to find somewhere better to have our little romantic moments,' Zechs decided. 'And possibly work on our timing. This is really isn't the time or the place, is it?'

'No.' Wufei pulled away, straightening clothes that had somehow become undone in the last couple of minutes and giving a particularly vicious tug to his hair. He was still slightly flushed though, lips swollen from Zech's mouth on his. 'We can't let it happen, Mil. What they have planned for L4. Too many people would die.'

Romantic interlude definitely over then, Zechs concluded. Oh, well. It really wasn't the time or the place, as he'd said. 'You said the Commander already has orders in place for a situation like this.'

'Une isn't here.' Wufei looked up at him. 'I think Noin would listen to you. Even if she won't, you're you. People do what you tell them.'

'No.' The refusal was instinctive, immediate. He knew about command, yes, because Treize had taught him. Whenever he tried to take charge, terrible things happened. It wasn't going to happen again. 'No.'

For two years after the war, after almost dying in the wreckage of Libra, there'd been prison and – in the beginning, at least - an ever-present threat of execution for his war crimes, and most of the time he'd wanted it. Then there had been those lost years wandering around the more remote of Sanque's royal residences, watched by a warily careful staff, until his sister had decided it was time for him to join the real world.

And he'd met two former Gundam pilots at a state banquet and his life had changed.

'I can't. You know that. You know why.'

'Mil.' Wufei, very gently took his hand, kissing the palm and then lacing their fingers together. He could feel the black jade of Wufei's ring against his skin. They'd have to get wedding rings. 'I think, perhaps, we could do it together.'