Chapter 2
Really, Heero should have expected who their first client would end up being. She still can't help but glare at the screen showing her the cool and confident face of Dorothy Catalonia. Why Relena can't ever seem to say no to the other woman is beyond Heero.
Well, to be fair, Dorothy's never tried to hurt Relena. She perhaps wasn't the safest companion for Relena during the war, but Heero has no room to talk there. Mostly, Heero feels indifferent about Dorothy. She still doesn't like the idea of the other woman being their client, though. Obviously, Dorothy's hiring them mostly for her own amusement.
"This will be delightful, working with you both!" Dorothy's smile says that she's honestly pleased by their offer. Relena's offer.
Relena smiles back. "Thank you for giving us this chance, Dorothy." There's a reason why Relena is an excellent politician. Heero never could have said that with a straight face, even if she'd wanted to. Though it might have been worth it just to surprise Dorothy.
Dorothy waves a hand in front of her face dismissively. "Oh please, it's you two who are doing me the favor." Which is nothing but the truth. "I want this dealt with as quickly and quietly as possible, and I know that the two of you will succeed at this task perfectly."
Why is Heero not surprised that this has become a test of their skills? Oh, she has no doubt that Dorothy really does need a security upgrade for her firm, and that there's probably at least one or two people working for her that are also trying to sell information to rival companies for some extra money, but Dorothy could hire any number of private detectives to flush them out. Or just do it herself. She's certainly competent enough.
Instead, Dorothy's asking Relena and Heero to look into the business for her. Heero sighs internally. "We'll have the results back to you next week," she says, instead of responding to Dorothy's mild provocation, knowing that ignoring it will annoy Dorothy more than anything Heero could say.
The look Dorothy sends back at Heero is very amused and even a little fond, surprisingly. "I know you will, Heero. Relena, we're still meeting up for lunch on Tuesday?"
Relena nods. "Of course. I'll see you then."
One positive thing that Heero can say about Dorothy nowadays is that at least the other woman doesn't chatter needlessly when there's business to focus on. Of course, she does have a marketing firm to run. Or several businesses. Heero's not sure exactly how many businesses Dorothy owns, and as much as she thinks it might be interesting to run some checks into the woman and see what she finds, ultimately, Heero doesn't want to pry into Dorothy's life like that. Heero doesn't always get along with Dorothy, but she does reluctantly respect her.
When Dorothy signs off, Relena sits back with a sigh. She looks pleased, like everything's starting to fall into place. Heero supposes that's true enough. "This is just the start we need, Heero."
"Is it?" she asks, though she knows that Relena's right. Dorothy is not only someone who knows their strengths and understands that they can accomplish their job with no oversight from her. She also has enough wealth and influence of her own that giving her approval of Relena and Heero's new business will mean more clients for them.
"Heero," Relena chides, but not seriously. She knows that Heero and Dorothy rub each other the wrong way. Relena then straightens back up in her chair. "So, how do you want to start this?"
Heero thinks about it for a moment, then shrugs. "We need to narrow down our parameters beyond looking into every single employee. I could dig into all of their backgrounds, but we wouldn't find out who's causing Dorothy's problems before next week."
Relena blinks, then smiles. "I think I could narrow down those 'parameters'. How about I visit Dorothy at work before my lunch with her?"
Heero likes the sound of that. No one will suspect that Relena's there for anything other than a friendly visit. "Sounds like a plan."
They don't have offices yet. There's really no need. Instead, Heero's set up all her equipment in a room on the ground floor of Relena's home. There's plenty of open space here, and she can establish a secure surveillance room. Not to mention Heero can technically keep being a part of Relena's security team if she's already going to be spending so much time here. Not that Heero's moving in or anything. She's just been sleeping over the last few days in order to get all of her equipment up and running, waiting for specific parts to be shipped before installing everything exactly how she wants it.
The room she's taken over is the one they're in right now. It has an area filled with couches and chairs, which Heero's using, but there's also a large desk and several smaller chairs in front of the windows. Relena's already commandeered that space. It works out well for the both of them, even though Relena could have used another room entirely.
Heero's almost positive that the main reason why Relena's chosen to remain in this room is for regular access to someone she can talk with. Neither of them are actually used to seeing so few people every day just yet. Relena, Heero knows, is used to press conferences, meetings, and people demanding her attention constantly. Heero's used to the controlled chaos of Preventers, going out on missions and interacting with different teams. With both of them quitting their jobs, their social calendars have cleared up significantly and suddenly.
While Heero doesn't mind the change of pace as long as she has something to occupy her mind with, Relena's already showing signs of being uncomfortable with so little human interaction. She's been arranging outings with Heero, lunches with other friends, even vid calls to those she can't see in person right now. Some of them are business meetings, whether the other person realizes that or not, but most of them are Relena trying desperately to fill up her now less than busy days.
Maybe going on a vacation first would have been a good idea for Relena, rather than Heero. Not that Heero had actually gone anywhere. She'd been thinking about it idly, but when Relena came to Heero with her proposal for them to go into business together, Heero decided to focus her time and energy into that instead. Relena, though, should have gone somewhere else and relaxed for a bit, gotten used to the solitude, before throwing herself headfirst into her new business venture.
Too late now, Heero thinks ruefully. She and Relena have just been hired, and that means they are officially starting up this business. Now, all they have to worry about is succeeding.
That's the one thing neither of them needs any help with, luckily.