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"That Which Mends"Written By: SkyLark Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, or its characters. I just love playing with them. Pairings: 2x1x2, past 2xOC, 5xOC, 3x4 Warnings: Angst, Violence, Sap, Lemons/Limes, AU Archives: http://www.gundam-wing-diaries.150m.com/gw/SkyLark/gwSkyLark.htm
and http://www.mizunoamy.bravepages.com/skylark/skylarkfics.html Summary: Heero is a straight A student studying Psychology and finds his world turned upside down when he attends a Frat party.
"That Which Mends" [When I'm gone -Lyrics to 'Cups (When I'm Gone)' performed by Anna Kendrick] Chapter 31
Another dead end.
Sighing, Heero closed a particularly thick file of background information on another of Howard's clients. For the near hour that going through page after page of intensive research, those efforts came up with nothing to link that particular suspect to the Preventer's case. However, there was a growing pile of reports on Wufei's desk for those discards that would need to be further researched by local police... or if need be, the other federal bureaus for the more serious offenders.
They were being deemed the 'Sloppy Seconds' by the agents since they had their first shot at them, only to pass them off to another agent of officer to deal with what was left.
Prussian eyes roaming over his friends, Yuy could see
how the long days and nights of the same focused attention to each
file only to have to toss their potential lead aside was beginning
to take its toll on everyone. Altogether, the 'judges and jury' were made up of three men and two women- all of whom served in some division of the government's security bureaus. Every one of them beyond their mid-forties and dressed in professional suits, they were an intimidating lot...
...or at least, they should have been intimidating to
one as young as Barton who served far beneath them. Oh, Agent Night thought to himself, they were going to try the flattering approach in attempt to get him to let his guard down.
Keeping his awareness of the situation to himself, he put on a smile and responded, "Thank you, sir. But the mission was only successful because of everyone involved. My teammates deserve credit for their parts as well and none of us enlisted for accolades. We were just doing the right thing for those girls."
Clearing his throat, the grey-haired man straightened himself and replied, "Yes, of course." As he and his colleagues reached for their pens and thick notebooks, he got to the heart of the matter. "Now, what can you tell us about the standoff on the shipping dock that ended in Agent Talon's death?"
Shoulders shrugging, Trowa answered, "Well, just as you had suggested earlier, I was under the influence and not exactly able to think too clearly." Biting his lip at the dark memories that he did have from that evening, he shuddered. The Directors noticed and sat up at attention.
Closing his emerald eyes, the tall Preventer waved his right hand in vague gestures as he shared, "I only get images from that night that come in and out of focus with some moments clear as day and others hazy. I vividly remember the cold, the dark and the rain. I remember Agent Wolf and Agent Fire with their guns raised at the bastard that was holding a knife to my throat along with part of the verbal exchange between all of us."
He frowned, "Not all of the details are there, but I remember hearing the exchange of shouts and gunfire from several yards away. The blade on me began to cut in and Fire made a clean shot through my assailant's head to save my life; at the same time it seemed like bullets were flying from everywhere."
Lowering his hand back onto his lap, Barton opened his eyes once more and murmured, "Then my mind goes to her helping me to my feet and tying off the cut in my throat... just before she darted away to push Wolf out the way from the line of sight of a gunman he didn't see only to collapse when she took the shot instead."
Night paused to gather his emotions over the difficult
images flashing before him. Then, finding his voice again, he all
but whispered, "That's where the cloudiness for me kicks in again.
There was more yelling and rounds firing off, louder and louder but
I couldn't see very clearly to know what kind of danger I might have
been in." In her corner, Lady Une bit her lip and fought to stop
the sting threatening to fill her eyes. She would be listening to
the recants of that terrible situation four more times after this.
And each account was going to tear her apart, but there was no way
around this since she had volunteered to be a soothing presence for
her team amidst the stressful questioning they would all have to endure
this day.
Catching her tongue between her teeth, Middie beamed
with pride behind them. "Point noted," the redheaded woman
immediately at the head's right spoke up when the old man remained
in stunned silence.
Duo finished his wide yawn as he sealed up his private room and slapped his roommate's back, asking, "Ready to hit the road, 'Ro?"
Nodding, Yuy covered his mouth and sighed wearily, "Ready."
Together, they headed for the elevator and turned off the floor lights along the way. Closing his violet eyes when the lift's doors closed, Maxwell fell back against the wall behind him and groaned, "I hate leaving loose ends behind. But I don't think I could look through another file tonight."
"Same here," Heero murmured, his head hanging heavily and his eyes not really taking in the floor beneath him. "I can't tell if I'm more tired or hungry at the moment."
Just the mention of hunger caused Duo's stomach to growl loudly, causing both of them to laugh. "Well, I guess you know my feelings on that," the braided agent snickered with a sheepish grin as he cracked an eye open to peer at the student. "Would you be against us stopping for a quick bite before we head back to my place?" His first real smile in hours reaching his lips, Yuy answered, "No. I don't mind."
That decided, they walked out into the dimly lit lobby and discussed their options of places to eat that late in the evening.
* * * *
Less than a half-hour later, the unlikely friends and former lovers were sharing a booth at an all-night burger shack. And the moment he sat down at his side of the table, the smell of his greasy food instantly reminded Heero of just how hungry he actually was.
"You continue to be a bad influence on me," the intern chuckled as he set his straw into his cup of soda.
His mouth full from the first bite of his double-stacked hamburger, Duo half-chewed-half-mumbled, "Howf do?"
Shaking his head in amusement, the scholar took up but single layered burger as he said, "Because I would never opt for fast food this late at night... or really any other time for that matter." That didn't exactly stop him from enjoying his first couple bites that he devoured.
The braided agent washed down his food with a couple of gulps from his soda and grinned, "Yea, same here. It may come as a surprise to you, but I don't go for fast food very often. Buuut every now and then, it's good to make the heart arteries work a little harder. It really makes a person feel alive." Yuy snickered along with him.
Like so many other times, that comfortable silence between them returned as they filled their stomachs and absorbed their company. Then, when they were more than half-way through their dinners, Maxwell went out on a limb to comment softly, "I'm actually gonna miss having you around when this week is over."
Taken off guard by that, Heero blinked in surprise and smirked, "Even though I've been hampering your night life?"
And that sentiment struck Yuy hard, knowing how difficult of an admission that had been on the perpetual loner.
It also gave a little more insight into his one transgression's background that had shaped him. The scholar realized that it was a very personal detail that he was entrusted with... not to mention how it must have shaken Duo's resolve to his life of solitude.
What was more, the intern honestly felt... good that anyone thought well enough of him that they would miss him.
Especially when that person was someone he was coming around to realizing he might have feelings for. What those feelings for Maxwell actually were, Heero still had no way of knowing for sure. But they were there and he couldn't deny that any longer.
"I'm going to miss being around you more often, too," he resigned himself to confessing softly as he dropped his gaze nervously and toyed around with his leftover fries.
His braided head snapping up and violet eyes enlarged, Scythe smiled sadly. "Well, at least I know where to find you and vice versa," he said for his own benefit and his counterpart's. Yuy snickered and nodded, but kept his eyes cast a bit downward.
Chewing on the inside of his cheek, the alluring agent fought with every shred of what it was that made him who he was and finally decreed, "Besides, there's always your summer break and if you're going to have to keep up pretending you're one of us..."
Nearly swaying with how quickly he shot his head up to meet the eyes watching him, the scholar closed his gapped jaw to snort, "You're kidding? You're really offering for me to spend just shy of four whole months with you?" Groaning as his inner demon cursed him for breaking from the comfort of being on his own, Duo replied, "Yea, yea. Just don't make a big deal of it. I just happen to know from this week that we'd be able to manage being under the same roof that long. Plus, you're going to be interning with us and it wouldn't be right for you to have to get your own place for that long just to keep up the act of your being signed on as a Preventer."
Heero was more than onto the inner struggle that his former transgression must have been going though. To help Maxwell into the idea all the more, he insisted, "But for that long of a stay, I pay room and board as well as splitting the chores evenly. Otherwise, I won't accept."
It was as though the tension in Scythe's body melted away at. Grinning slyly, he gave a firm nod and decreed, "Done."
Their hands met in the middle for a quick, firm handshake to seal the deal and the friends smiled as they finished the remainder of their late dinner... each feeling a great deal better than they had when they first sat down for their meal.
* * * *
With only the lamp atop the nightstand at his half of the master bedroom to light the space, Quatre settled himself down in his queen-sized bed while Trowa finished closing up the rest of their home for the night. Right about the time the public correspondent was about to doze off, his fiancé entered the room carrying a familiar book and a pen. Snickering, Barton asked, "Think you can stay up a few minutes so we can take care of some business?"
Pushing himself up, Winner got his second wind as he blinked widely and smiled from ear-to-ear. "Really? You want to set a date now?" he questioned while the tall agent got under the covers on his half of their bed and opened the black cover of his appointment calendar.
Amusement twinkling in his own eyes, Trowa paged through the calendar pages as he smirked, "If we don't show up to work tomorrow with a wedding date, I think Anna will break out her arsenal." Pulling his lover close, he pressed and held a kiss to his temple. "Besides, you can't tell me you're not excited about making this official," he added.
The reality of how much was actually going to have to be thought out for the planning process set in for Night and he decided aloud, "Let's start with the when tonight and we'll work out the rest of it from there. If we're considering a season, I've always liked spring."
"Same here," Quatre smiled. "So, next spring it is, then. That would give us about a year to sort everything out."
Nodding, Barton turned the pages of his planner over to the following year. "Alright," he said, "What month then? We'll have to keep in mind any upcoming events for our families. I have a couple of cousins graduating next May, so we might want to be considerate and not overload too much traveling on either end."
Landing on the so-chosen month, the undercover agent announced, "Now for the really detailed, scientific part of narrowing down the day."
Thumping the tip of his pointer finger atop the column of Saturdays, Trowa ran it up and down with his eyes closed as the blonde beside him laughed. Coming to a random stop, he cracked his visible eye open for a peek on where he landed. Eyebrows raising, he held his book closer to his lover while keeping his finger over the date in question.
"Looks like we have a wedding date," Quatre beamed.
Unable to contain his own wide grin, Barton took up his pen and wrote on the memo lines for the day 'Getting Hitched' as he declared, "So it is written, so it shall be done."
For a long pause, the couple lay there, staring at the note and allowing the overwhelming realization of what it meant to set in. "This is... pretty awesome," the blonde heard himself whisper. His soul mate hummed an affirmative with a firm nod.
The book and pen were stowed away and with a sound kiss and the flick of the lamp switch later, the engaged agents became a tangle of limbs to greet the oblivion of sleep together.
* * * *
Sighing deeply in fatigued relief, Treize all but collapsed in his chair of the redline jet making the last flight out for the evening. He had been worried that he'd missed his chance to surprise his wife with an earlier arrival home than expected, but he made it just in time.
Undoing his red tie, he closed his eyes and reclined back in the cozy chair to wait for takeoff. Already looking forward to seeing his wife's face when he climbed into their bed to join her for the rest of the evening, the politician put the stresses of work and his mounting responsibilities behind him.
Outside, only a few feet away, a figure in a dark hood walked out of the main hanger that sheltered the private planes for the airline's more elite travelers to and from Washington. A wide duffle bag hooked under their arm, they slipped out into the night undetected.
* * * *
Back in northern Wisconsin, Wufei and Anna both needed another form of stress release by taking their frustrations out in their own firing range that was mixed in with the weapons expert's 'war room' of what was to soon be their home. With protective glasses and earmuffs on and guns raised, the agents fired one round after another at the targets set up in their lanes.
Loud pops filled the room as holes were ripped into the dark silhouettes on the thick paper marks that the couple fired away at. Then, at the end of their rounds, the Preventers lowered their weapons and shed their gear as the redhead vibrated while she cheered excitedly, "God, there's just something about unloading a pistol that makes me feel so... alive!"
Closing his right eye and taking aim at his Swiss-cheesed target, Chang began to pull back on the trigger when the silhouette changed before him into Meiran. Her hands raised and a horrified look on her face, she shook her head in a silent plea for her life as Duo's voice yelled, "Hold your fire!"
His eyes growing wide with a gasp, the team leader all but threw his weapon and frantically pulled his gear off to squeeze his eyes closed as he doubled over and covered his ears with his hands.
"Wufei?!" Downs cried as she rushed to his side at the same time he dropped to the floor. Pulling him close against her side, the redhead rocked him gently as she whispered, "Shh. It's alright. You're home. I'm here. Everything's okay."
As upsetting as it was to see her partner in such a state, she had expected it. His earlier meeting with Heero surely opened a door that Wufei had fought to keep closed. And there were sure to be more moments like this until he got everything off his chest that was still weighing on him.
Gently kissing the top of his head that was dampening with sweat, Anna continued to rock her distraught boyfriend. Speaking softly, she urged, "You're okay... everything's okay. I'm not going anywhere..." * * * *
[Flashback]
She had no idea how long she had been waiting in her holding room to see the board of Directors or what order she and her teammates would be called in.
Not that any of that mattered, of course. The Preventers were a united front that had made the pact to see that Wufei was reinstated and that his name was cleared.
However, she would have been lying if she said she wasn't nervous when there was a light knock on the door just before it cracked open to a head of grey hair. "Agent Fire," the Moderator addressed when their eyes met. "We're ready to see you now." Nodding firmly, Anna swallowed hard and climbed to her feet. The braces on her legs clicking with every step she took, she followed the Director out to the board room.
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