Author's Note: Just a bit of quick housekeeping. Darkfire00, did you say hi to Revy679 yet? Don't be a stranger. Hehe, I love the idea that you guys read each other's reviews!

Reorganization

Mae Hong Son, Thailand

Several hours later, in the quiet hours of the night, when the girlfriends and bodyguards have all largely drank themselves into a stupor or snuck off somewhere discreet, the principle guests of the Merchant's party emerged from his dining room. They were all exhausted by that point. But despite the vicious back and forth between the various parties, they had all come out of that meeting largely satisfied with the progress they had made.

The Merchant stepped outside into the cool midnight air and stretched his arms and cracked his knuckles. At his age, he could feel death approach just by sitting in one place for too long. But then, cracking his knuckles too, felt like he was taking one more definite step towards the inevitable. He tried not to led it bother him though. He had neither the desire nor the fortitude to change. If that which he did perhaps would bring death sooner rather than later. But really, how long can one hold off the reaper? He pulled out a cigar from his jacket's breast pocket and took out a simple metal lighter and lit it up.

He stared at the full moon as blew puffs of smoke towards it. He heard the approach of footsteps. It was Wolfgang.

"Satisfied?" The Merchant asked as he took another few puffs.

Nothing on Wolfgang's face suggested that he was satisfied. He wore a permanent scowl that in his earlier life made him feared. Now he was nothing but a former OZ officer with an undistinguished record turned corporate executive, somehow his scowl seemed to suit him. Instead of inspiring fear, people only saw bitterness, and that bitterness only inspired pity.

"I spent years trying to corral these savages," Wolfgang said referring to the half dozen warlords that the Merchant had invited to this meeting. He took a sip of his gin. "I don't know how you did it."

"It's not so hard if you how to deal with them," the Merchant said.

"They are irrational animals," Wolfgang replied.

"Even animals have their motivations," the Merchant said as he took another puff of his cigar. "Plus, they have money. And with Toro gone, we need money."

Wolfgang let out a deep sigh and took another sip of his drink. "Speaking of…"

The Merchant couldn't help but smile a little. He knew exactly what was coming. The scowl on Wolfgang's face intensified, but not into anger but discomfort. The problem with OZ, the Merchant had always thought, was that they thought too highly of themselves. They thought themselves gentlemen-soldiers rather than the simple thugs they truly were. The Merchant enjoyed watching Wolfgang work through his cognitive dissonance.

"He needs to be taken care of…" Wolfgang steeled himself and finally said.

The Merchant said nothing and let the words sink in. They were ambiguous, too ambiguous. He wanted Wolfgang to make himself more clear. For him to understand truly what he was asking and for him to understand what time of man he was for asking it.

"Of course Stacy won't be happy," Wolfgang said as he took another sip of his gin. "She doesn't think I know about them. But if course I do."

"I didn't," the Merchant said, raising his eyebrow in genuine surprise. But it didn't seem impossible. Stacy was married but that never seemed to stop any of them.

"I never understood what she saw in him," Wolfgang said. "But he needs to go."

"We've already quarantined all of his operations," the Merchant said.

"That's not the point," Wolfgang said. "It's about maintaining discipline."

The Merchant was amused by the former soldier's delusions. But he supposed that he was being quite delusional himself in his current occupation. By all means, he was a success. He had survived the war, evaded the authorities and gotten rich of the backs of zealots and tyrants. A reasonable man would've quit while he was ahead. But in the end, he supposed that he just wasn't that reasonable.

"Fine, I'll get one of my men to do it."

Brussels, Belgium

Their black Rolls-Royce, the one that they had borrowed from the late king's collection and had been using for the past couple of weeks to get around their little part of the world, pulled up to a large four-storey townhouse sandwiched between two others whose first floors were occupied by a high-end jeweler and a cafe. They were in the trendy shopping district of the city and still had no idea why Dorothy had summoned them to that location. They circled around the block one more time and found a parking spot. They got out of the car. Heero went to pay for parking as Relena crossed the street and stood in front of the nondescript townhouse and looked at it curiously. Like the ones beside it on either side and all along the length of the street, the design of the house invoked an older time. Something of the city's gentilic past came through in this architecture. In contrast, her townhouse in Vustgaarde was rather modern.

Heero finally came across the street and joined in staring at the curiosity.

"Why do you think she brought us here?" Heero asked.

"I have no idea," Relena said with a hint of impatience in her voice.

He took her hand in his, which relaxed her. They entered the house together. Inside, they found a large foyer, an empty hall that led deeper into the house, and a large staircase that led up to the second floor. They looked at each other, still unsure of what was going on. If it weren't for Heero, she might've actually been nervous in that moment, entering into such an unknown situation. But he was there, and his hand gave her courage. They chose to make their way down the hall rather than take the stairs.

The found a room just past the stairs and opened the door. What they saw mortified Relena. It was Dorothy, Augusta, Cindy, and much to her surprise, Une, in hologram form, standing there, waiting for them. Evidently, this moment had been carefully planned and all parties present wore an expression of careful neutrality.

Relena steeled herself for a fight. Heero on the other hand felt more sanguine about their little ambush. Whereas Relena felt (over) protective of Heero's ego and feelings in public or semi-public settings (much as he felt the same about her physical well being) Heero felt no such anxiety about Relena. She could handle herself when it came to her staff and peers. That much he had gathered from the half year of being her bodyguard.

"Good, you're here," Dorothy said pleasantly. "Took you guys long enough. Please, take a seat."

Relena was caught a little off guard by Dorothy's friendly demeanour. Certainly, she didn't expect Dorothy to be the biggest opponent of her relationship with Heero but she was expecting a little tisk tisk at the very least for being so open about it.

"How that we are all here, let's begin," Dorothy said as she pulled out a small remote from her pocket.

She tapped on the remote once and the lights in the room dimmed. She tapped on it again, and a holographic projector from the ceiling lit up and a giant 3D model of Relena in her signature pink pantsuit appeared. Relena's face turned white at the sight of her giant holographic self.

"This is the Vice-Foreign Minister of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation," Dorothy said as gazed upon the hologram. "The last surviving member of the Royal House of Peacecraft, the adoptive daughter of the illustrious House of Darlian, formerly known as the Queen of the World during her brief tenure as the Earth Sphere Unified Nation's chief representative. She is also a university student, enrolled at Vustgaarde University, a public figure renowned for her style and her beauty."

Relena rolled her eyes at the list of honors that Dorothy was so enthusiastically, almost mockingly, as was her way, rattling off.

"How could suggest a person exist?" Dorothy asked as she turned to face her audience. "How can all of that reside in one person?"

Une seemed visibly unimpressed. Cindy just sat there in awe. Augusta silently shook her head. Heero wore his usual neutral expression. And of course Relena seemed rather impatient with the whole ordeal. No one said a word.

"The answer, my dear friends, is that she can't," Dorothy answered smugly. "No one person can do all of that on their own. She would require a team. A well organized, disciplined team. Today, we are here to reorganize and restructure Relena's team."

Relena quickly glanced around the room. Immediately, she could tell that Augusta, Cindy, and Une had already been informed of this plan by Dorothy and were all in agreement. Suddenly, Relena felt angry. Even if all of this was mostly harmless and she might've even been enthusiastic about the idea under different circumstances, she still felt indignant that she had not been informed of these plans until now. Heero's expression was inscrutable like always. What little she could read off of his face was of silent consent. He was a creature of planning, order, and organization afterall.

"Ummm excuse me," Relena finally decided to cut in, raising her hand only to withdraw it awkwardly realizing that she wasn't in class. "What exactly is wrong with my current… team?"

"Nothing," Dorothy answered. "Notice I haven't replaced anyone. Everyone here, you already know and approve of. Even the boyfriend."

Relena's furrowed her brow.

"But it's a new year and it's time to get organized," Dorothy continued. "It's time to redefine jurisdictions and clear up responsibilities. Do you have objections to that?"

Relena paused for a moment and counted from ten in her head. The implication of all of this was that she wasn't organized enough or that she wasn't in control of her life which bothered her to no end.

"Go on," Relena finally said.

Dorothy smiled deviously as she walked around the hologram. "As we have already established, our dear Relena is quite a remarkable woman. In fact, one could say she's more than one woman. And for our purposes, we will define her as four different women. First, the diplomat. Vice-Foreign Minister of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation, the senior most official at the Department of International Affairs, after Egert Brandt. Her job is nothing less but to hold together the peace established after the long and destructive wars of the recent past. I will personally be the head of this aspect of Relena."

Once again, Relena rolled her eyes and let out a heavy sigh indicating her impatience. In fact, she had no objection to her first suggestion. It wasn't even much of a reorganization or a redefinition of her role. She had hired Dorothy for that exact purpose. It was just that she could sense, by Dorothy's characteristic tone and attitude, that more was coming.

"Next, we have Relena, the royal, and Relena the aristocrat," Dorothy continued.

"There's a difference?" Relena interjected.

"Of course there's a difference, you know there's a difference, stop trying to look cool in front of your street rat of a boyfriend," Dorothy shot back impatiently.

"Hey!" Relena said sharply.

Her rebuke was just about to fly out of her mouth when she felt his hand grip hers. She turned to look at him. His eyes said, it's okay.

"Anyway," Dorothy said as she tapped once again on her remote.

This time, the 3D rendering of Relena turned into a frame portrait with a line downward towards the word Diplomacy, with a smaller portrait of Dorothy underneath. With another tap, a second line extended from the portrait of Relena towards the left and down towards the word, Society, after which a portrait of Augusta appeared.

"Augusta will be in charge of this aspect of your life," Dorothy said. "All parties, charities, and public appearances will be managed by her."

"And what happens when I have to make a public appearance as a diplomat?" Relena asked.

"We can and have worked together," Dorothy said as her voice slowly grew her in pitch. "Don't you worry, we'll play nice. Isn't that right, Augusta?"

"Absolutely," Augusta answered.

"In addition to any public engagements, she will also be managing all of your social media outlets. No more amateur selfies, Relena. Anything and everything that gets posted from now on will be photographed by a professional," Dorothy said.

Relena once again looked around the room suspiciously. Nothing Dorothy had suggested seemed at a unreasonable, Relena was just supremely uncomfortable being told what her role was and what she ought to do. She had always had help, but they always facilitated and acted upon her orders. This was different. She was being managed now.

"Moving on," Dorothy continued. "As per your wishes, you can keep Cindy as your personal gopher."

"That is not what I said! And you know it," Relena cut in viciously.

"Alright, alright," Dorothy said in a placating voice as she turned to face Cindy. "My words, not hers."

Cindy meekly accepted the implied apology.

Now a third line appeared on the hologram next to Relena's portrait and descended downward towards the right. Underneath the words Personal appeared along with a portrait of Cindy.

"She's going to be helping you manage and schedule or day to day," Dorothy said. "She'll be coordinating with Augusta and me, and we'll do our best to avoid your classes. Other than that, she will help you with your everyday needs, running errands, making calls, stuff she's already doing."

"Are you okay with this?" Relena turned to Cindy and asked.

"Of course," Cindy answered happily.

"It's going to be fine Relena," Dorothy said, trying to sound reassuring. "We're just professionalizing the Relena Peacecraft brand."

Ughh. Relena hated being referred to as a brand. She knew what it meant and she understood that being a public figure automatically made her a brand whether she wanted it or not. But to hear Dorothy said it out loud made it all sound that much more vulgar.

"Last but not least," Dorothy said. "Relena is a very visible figure and the nature of her work brings with it a certain amount of danger. To meet the challenges of her personal security, Une and I have come to an agreement that I think will satisfy all parties involved."

Dorothy looked over at Heero. He stared back.

"You are being promoted," Dorothy said. "You are no long Relena's bodyguard in Vustgaarde. You are now her official Head of Security."

Relena twitched and squeezed his hand. She looked at him. Despite his unchanged facial expression, she could immediately tell that he was happy about the development. Naturally, she was too. She had been worrying about being away from him because of her upcoming trip to outer space. Now she could take him with her.

"Congratulations, babe."

The lunch crowd at Divinia was larger than usual. Duo and Hope had to wait twenty minutes before they were seated. Thankfully, when they finally were seated, it was beside the window facing our towards the street rather than in the middle of restaurant where their elbows would no doubt be fighting for space.

The restaurant was a step above Duo's usual fare but was what Hope was used to. She suggested it and Duo had no good objections to it (just silly ones that he kept to himself). The number of Preventers insignias and uniforms that populated the restaurant did make him feel more at ease. Even if he didn't know any of them personally, his own uniform made him feel that at least he could blend in.

The waiter eventually came around after a few minutes to take their order. Duo ordered a panini while Hope ordered the seafood linguine. Neither of them ordered a drink, they just stuck to water, despite the fact that Duo was accustomed to having a beer with every meal.

"Fancy spot," Duo commented as he looked around.

"Not really," Hope said. "But I figured I'd show you what you're missing out on."

"Hey, I'm not so uncultured," Duo protested, half-joking half-serious.

"Oh no, that's not what I meant," Hope explained. "I just noticed that you eat like shit. And you're always complaining about aches and pains. I figured those two might be related."

"I did go through a war you know," Duo said.

"I'm aware," Hope said in a measured tone. "It's no excuse not to take care of yourself though."

Duo winced. She saw right through him. He wasn't the most fastidious of drunks but he did try to at least keep his bad habits away from her. He had put great effort into seeming not like a complete piece of shit in front of her. But obviously, she was more perceptive than he anticipated. Or worse still, he overestimated his ability to keep his vices hidden.

Their food arrived just a few moments later. They were both glad of it. Duo, so that they could abandon the subject of his drinking and Hope because she was famished after her long and brutal meeting with her superior, and her superior's superior.

"So, how's the investigation?" Duo asked as he took a small bite out of his panini.

"Good," Hope said in a high pitched voice as she played with her food. She knew immediately that she had not sounded convincing. "Do you know Nolan Sederis?"

"Not personally," Duo answered. "But I've seen him around. Big guy, one of those high speed operator types that we used to make shit their pants with our Gundams."

"Charming," Hope said as she raised her eyebrows. He couldn't tell if she was amused or just feigning interest. "He's the head of the Global Clandestine Services Division."

"The spy department within the spy department," Duo commented. "You guys really like your departments."

"I just had a long meeting with him and Director Une," Hope said as she took a bite of her food.

"I'm sure that went well," Duo said as he took another bite.

"You have no idea," Hope said holding back a laugh. "It's like trying to keep things civil between divorced parents."

"Speaking of family…" Duo said tentatively.

"Yes?" Hope said, mirroring his tentative tone. She looked up at him, leaving her hair partially occluding her line of sight.

"Any news from your brother?" Duo asked.

Hope took a deep breath and put down her utensils. Duo immediately sat straight, put down his panini, and wiped his hands with his napkin.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"No, it's okay," Hope said as she held back the tremble in her voice. "In fact, thank you for asking."

She took a sip of her water, slowed her breathing and recaptured her composure.

"I'm sorry," Hope said as her voice softened. "It's just… no one in my family ever mentions him anymore."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Duo said softly.

"It's fine," Hope said as her voice steadied. "Hey, at least I know he's still alive."

After they concluded the general staff meeting at what was apparently the new offices for Dorothy's operation on Relena's behalf, Relena followed Dorothy upstairs while Heero stayed downstairs to have a private conversation with Une. Relena almost burst out laughing when they entered the room on the second floor with the large windows facing the street below. Apparently this was to be Dorothy's office. It was unmistakable. There was an inordinate amount of gold accents from the doorknob, to her desk lamp, to her pens. Even her laptop was gold-plated.

Dorothy moved to her desk and sat down in a rather oversized chair on the far side of her oversized desk. Relena took the visitors seat, crossed her legs, folded her hands into her lap, and waited for Dorothy. For a moment the two women merely stared at each other.

"So…" Dorothy finally began. "What do you think?"

Relena didn't answer for a moment. "Is this within budget?"

Dorothy was genuinely surprised at the question. It was rather unlike Relena to worry about the finances. It wasn't that Relena lacked financial sense, in fact she was always looking for ways to make her projects more cost-effective but she had never rejected a project because it may be too expensive. Perhaps, the majority of the operating budget for Dorothy's work as her Chief of Staff came out of Relena's personal wealth rather than the government's coffers. But then again, the girl was richer than God.

Dorothy surmised that Relena was just giving her a hard time and that she did appreciate.

"It's a little over," Dorothy admitted. "But it'll be worth it. Wait til I show you your office on the top floor."

"Dorothy, I already have an office," Relena said in a matronly voice.

"Ahh yes, at the Foreign Ministry," Dorothy said in her usual way. "It's nice. Very formal. Very government. It's a shame we can't all work out of there."

"You guys are always welcome to use my office," Relena said.

"Yeah? Maxine too? What about Laurie? It's going to get quite crowded," Dorothy said. "And that's not even counting the new hires."

"New hires?" Relena asked.

"Yes, I'm going to need my own assistant, Augusta is going to need some help as well," Dorothy said.

"This all seems quite extravagant," Relena commented blithely.

"Miss Relena," Dorothy said. Oh, she's busting out to Miss Relena, must be important. "You are quite possibly the most well-known person in the world yet you insist on pretending as if you were any other private citizen of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. That is not your position in life and I highly suggest you disabuse yourself of that notion. You are more than yourself. It is time to start acting like it."

"So what? Should I start wearing my tiara again?" Relena asked sarcastically.

"No, but you could stop resisting my efforts in this matter," Dorothy answered firmly. "You can be Relena, the girl on your own time, with Heero if you prefer. But in all other times, when you are out in public or acting as an agent of the world government, you have a role to play."

Relena stared at Dorothy for a moment. She knew that this would happen with her sooner or later. On one hand, Relena appreciated the candor. On the other, she knew that power was intoxicating to Dorothy and getting one whiff of it, she tends to go into a drunken rampage. But since she hadn't done anything explicitly objectionable as of yet, Relena relented.

"Fine," Relena said with a big sigh. "What's next on the docket?"

"Your trip to G-178 in two weeks," Dorothy answered.

"This is about the debt restructuring?" Relena asked.

"Yes,ever since the Unified Nation wa created and the colonies absorbed into it, there has been a long standing issue about the outstanding debts of these former sovereign entities," Dorothy stated.

"Yes, I remember," Relena said with a heavy voice. "This stuff is not my strong suit."

"Well, why would it be?" Dorothy said with a hint of a smirk as she took a pen and began to hot down some notes. "You're a spoiled rich girl from the heart of Earth's aristocracy. You never had to worry about money in your life."

"Hello pot, I'm kettle," Relena fired back immediately.

"I'm not saying I'm any better," Dorothy admitted, still trying to maintain a straight face.

"At least I did the homework the last time around," Relena grumbled.

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Dorothy said. "If you don't mind me saying, you've been a little distracted lately, it's good to get back in the saddle, so to speak."

"Ugh, there's always so much technical jargon at these things," Relena whined. "Why can't Egert take this one?"

"He's busy with the fallout of the Lucio stuff. Do you want to trade?" Dorothy asked.

"Fine," Relena pouted. "But what about the Finance Ministry?"

"Oh, they're going to be there too," Dorothy said. "In fact, they are taking the lead on this one. They just need a neutral arbitrator for this. That's you."

"Well that's good to know at least," Relena breathed a sigh of relief. "Josephat is a good man and easy to work with."

"Oh wait, forgot to mention," Dorothy said as she finally put down her pen and looked up. "Mr. Maina is not going."

"Who is?" Relena asked.

"His second," Dorothy answered. "Ainsley Mortimer."

"What?!" Her words seethed with a sudden disgust.

Dorothy tried to suppress a smile. Again, she looked down at her notebook. She played with her pen, although couldn't think of anything to write down.

"So the stories are true…" Dorothy tried her best to say tactfully.

"That was a long time ago," Relena said eloquently, trying to regain as much dignity as she could in that moment.

A loud knocking on her door woke Kerestina up abruptly. Her head was throbbing from over drinking the night before and this was the last thing she needed. The sun had barely risen, her eyes could barely open. She could slit the person's throat that would come to her room and insist himself upon her at such an early hour but of course she knew who it was. Only he would be so rude.

She dragged herself out of bed, taking her duvet with her, unable or unwilling to get dressed for the sake of that asshole. She opened the door.

"Jesus Christ, Vincent," Kerestina growled as she ran her fingers through her messy hair. "Do you know what time it is?"

"Time to get to work," Vincent said looking down at her with a certain amount of disdain, through the thin little crack of the door.

She was about to tell him to fuck off but decided against it. It was too early to pick a fight with him. And if they were going to work together, they at least needed way to be civil towards each other.

"Alright," she said instead. "Just give me a few minutes to get dressed."

His eyes widened and there appeared a sudden and silent rage within them. Confused, she looked back to see what he was staring at. She had almost forgotten, the night prior was mostly a blur. But there he was, the big burly bodyguard of one of the warlords was still there and, face down in her bed.

He looked down at her and not that he needed anymore confirmation, he deduced that she was probably naked underneath the duvet.

"What." It wasn't so much a question as a defensive posture.

Vincent didn't answer. He knew well enough where that was going. She found him in a hotel room full of hookers, completely fucked up on alcohol and whatever his drug of choice that night was. He expected better of her. Perhaps that was unfair.

"Nothing," he said instead. "Meet in the screening room in 15 minutes."

She took her time. In fact, she could've been ready in far less than 15 minutes but he was rude and she decided that she needed to show that she wasn't afraid of him. He may have been a feared mercenary during the war and might have shot down dozens upon dozens of mobile suits, not to mention burned down scores of villages and partaken in a massacre or two. But she didn't want him to get it in his head that she would just let him just order her around, whatever the old man said the chain of command was.

Half an hour later, she finally emerged from her room and made her way to the screening room. She walked into the dark space, where everyone was already, dressed only in a pair of black panties, and the oversized t-shirt, and her hair tied up in a messy bun. She could see that Vincent was visibly annoyed with her. She merely flashed him back a vapid smile and sat down in one of the seats.

Vincent held his tongue and turned his attention to the matter at hand. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and tapped it a few times causing the screen behind him to light up. A portrait of a man appeared behind him.

"Does anyone recognize this man?" Vincent asked in a commanding voice.

There was a few moments of silence before Hamid spoke up.

"Yeah, he's that guy that got arrested a couple of months ago. It was all over the news," Hamid said.

"Yes, his name is Toro Campana," Vincent said. "He is currently being held in custody by the World Government. While the Merchant has done a great deal to cut off Toro's contributions to the wider work of this organization, it remains an undeniable fact that this man still has some vital information about our operation. Information that cannot get out. This is our first assignment."

A silence descended upon the room.

"You want us to kill him," Kerestina said.

"That's what the old man said. Any takers?" Vincent asked.

Again the room fell silent.

"Do your own dirty work, Vincent," Kerestina said viciously.

"I'll do it."

For a moment, they had almost forgotten that he was there. He was quiet and had been ever since he was put on the team. To Vincent, he was just another former OZ softie, gentlemen soldiers, with perhaps a modicum a talent in a mobile suit but a undoubtedly virgin when it came to the gruesome business of killing a man up close. To Kerestina, he was just another handsome face. In that moment, Tristan had managed to surprise them both.

Une showed Heero to his new office. Although, in effect she gave him directions to where it was and she merely just reappeared there. There weren't any holographic emitters in the hallways as of yet. The townhouse that Dorothy had rented was still very much a work in progress. His office however, was not. It had already been fully furnished with a simple but fairly large black desk and matching chair, a black leather sofa and a glass coffee table. The hardfloor for was polished to a mirror sheen and the walls had been painted a neutral blueish-grey. It was surprisingly to Heero's taste. All except for the painting of the Wing Zero on the wall behind his desk. It a smaller print of the one that was in the Presidential Palace. Heero took it down immediately.

"I'd say that's probably a good idea, but somehow I feel like the people in this office will find out eventually anyway," Une commented as she paced around the room.

"I've kept it to myself this long," Heero said as he turned the painting around and gently leaned it against a wall.

"Well, you're a Preventer now," Une said. "Worse comes to worst, you'll have the company's general counsel on your side. Although, I'd imagine Relena would hire you a whole battalion of lawyers."

"I'm hoping it doesn't come to that," Heero said.

"Right, down to business," Une said as she turned to face Heero. "You're going to be taking over sole responsibility for Relena's protection starting immediately."

"What happened to Michael?" Heero asked.

"He's moved on, as people do," Une said. "And frankly, it's ridiculous that she has two different security teams anyway. It's a waste of company resources."

It bothered Heero a little to hear Une say that. But he held his tongue, he knew what she meant and in the end, he agreed. It was odd for him to be stalking around Vustgaarde pretending to be nothing more than a classmate while she had a separate security detail when she was on official state business. And his cover was blown now anyway, so he might as well just do the job out in the open.

"That's fine with me," Heero said.

"First order of business," Une said as he pointed to the navy blue folders that sat on his desk. "Assemble your team."

Heero looked over at Une with an expression of confusion.

"I know you're with her… a lot of the time," Une said trying her best to sound tactful. "But you're not always there, and you can't be always there. You'll need back up, and you'll need someone to coordinate with the other security teams and protection officers."

Heero made his way over to his new desk and flipped open a couple of the folders. There were portraits of non-description young men and women. He skimmed over their credentials quickly former Alliance this, former OZ that.

"Look, it's all you're gonna get these days," Une said sensing Heero's hesitation. "And they're not all bad. You like Sally."

"Can I have Sally?" Heero asked.

"In your dreams," Une said flippantly. "She's mine. I'm keeping her."

"Alright, fine," Heero said with a quick exhale. "I'll take a look through these, pick the ones I like."

"And you might want to start wearing your Preventers jacket from now on," Une said.

This time, Heero let out a deeper sigh. "Fine."

"And one more thing," Une said.

"What?"

"I need you to be my point of contact for an asset I have doing some work for me in L3," Une answered.

"Is it Trowa?" Heero asked.

Une furrowed her brow and looked at Heero incredulously. "How did you know?"

"You'd use the L3 station chief otherwise and who else knows those colonies better than Trowa," Heero answered as he sat down in his chair, picked up one of the folders and began flipping through them. "The real question is, why aren't you using your station chief?"

"Oh, don't act like you don't know already," Une said as she sat on his desk. "If you can deduce that Trowa's my asset, you can deduce why I can't trust the L3 station chief."

"Okay, fine," Heero said. "But why do you need me to be the point of contact? Why can't you do it yourself."

"Because I have the Security and Intelligence Committee breathing down my neck now. Do you know Nolan Sederis? Global Clandestine Service chief?" Une asked.

"Not personally, but I've seen him around," Heero said.

"Yeah, well I got saddled with him on the Lucio investigation," Une said.

"You don't trust him?" Heero asked.

"I'm not sure who I can trust," Une said as she let out a deep sigh. "You wouldn't believe the meeting I had with him this morning."

"So I'm guessing our weekly security briefings will be less about Relena's security status and more about Trowa's findings," Heero said.

"This is a real job," Une said pointedly. "It just comes with another job."

"A job I can't tell Relen about presumably," Heero said.

"Sorry," Une said with the slightest hint of genuine sympathy in her voice.

"It's fine," Heero said. "To be honest, I thought I would be getting punished after the whole Lucio debacle, not a promotion."

"Heero…" Une's voice grew deeper suddenly. "This is the punishment. You babysit the princess and you write the reports. No more field work for you."

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Both Heero and Une turned to see who it was. It was Relena. Heero immediately sat up as Une dismounted his desk. Une looked back at Heero and gave him a mischievous look, one that he had never seen before.

"I'll let you to get acquainted with your new office," Une said as she disappeared.

A similarly devious smile appeared on Relena's face as she made her way across the room. He turned slightly on his chair to face away from the desk, sensing that she was probably wanted a seat in his lap. He was not wrong.

"Look at you," Relena said as she mounted him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Being all fancy and official in your new office."

Heero's lips curled slightly as his attention drifted between her luscious pink lips to her perfectly slender neck down to the soft contours of her breasts that peaked out from her unbuttoned blouse that she was sure weren't unbuttoned during the meeting earlier.

"I doubt I'll use it much," Heero said distractly.

Relena placed her hand on his cheek and directed his gaze up towards hers. "Oh I don't know about that. I'm sure we can find many ways to use it."