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"Witness Protection"Written By: Snowdragonct Disclaimer: Don't own any part of Gundam Wing
or the characters, more's the pity. This is for fun...no profit involved. Rating: R Warnings: Warnings: AU , yaoi, swearing (lots),
some OOC (probably), violence, drugs, sex, a naughty Duo (i.e. he
has a potty mouth and is a bit, er, slutty)…if you are wedded
to the “pure, chaste” version of Duo, he might be a bit
dark and crude for your taste…ditto for the other characters
in here…hey, Quat’s a lawyer…how much lower could he
get? Pairings: 1X2 eventually, 3X4 also eventually, (past 2X3, 6X2) A/N: I’ll apologize in advance that Zechs is, well, deceased right from the start. I like him a lot, and there’ll be mention of him…but mostly in the form of discussing/investigating his murder. Sorry. Summary: When Zechs Merquise is found murdered,
detectives Heero Yuy and Wufei Chang are tasked with the unenviable
chore of keeping the only witness to the crime alive long enough to
testify against the leader of the Oz syndicate, Treize Khushrenada. A/N: I’m going to say this at the beginning of the next few chapters, and then not repeat it again, okay? Just for the record, I DON’T do death fics. Please keep that in mind.
"Witness Protection" Chapter Forty Five: Distractions I breathed a sigh of relief as I pulled back into the garage and turned off the car, gathering up my little bag of supplies and the newspaper before heading inside. I found Duo and Catherine in a deep discussion of the relative merits of oregano versus thyme in whatever recipe they were concocting, while Wufei sat impartially by, sipping a cup of tea. “—it’ll overpower the chicken!” Duo was saying vehemently. “But that’s how Trowa always made it.” “Trowa was trying to copy my cooking—but he never really caught on to which herbs complement which meats—.” Duo broke off and turned to flash a quick smile of greeting my way, his glance falling to the bag in my hand and the rolled-up paper under my arm. “So you went on a fact-finding mission, eh?” I nodded, tossing the bag onto the counter. “I brought you cigarettes, too.” “Score!” he cheered happily, pulling the carton out of the bag. Then he glanced over his shoulder at me. “Thought you didn’t like my smoking.” “I don’t—but considering our situation, this isn’t the best time for you to quit.” He grinned knowingly. “Yeah, it’s a bitch giving ‘em up. Don’t think I haven’t tried a time or two.” “Well right now, you don’t need any extra stress,” I assured him. Wufei gestured to the seat across from him. “Pull up a chair,” he invited. I gave a quick nod. “In a sec. Um—Catherine? Do you have any maps of this area?” She handed over the ladle to Duo, who assumed command of the stove and the simmering pot. “I’m sure we do,” she said with a thoughtful frown. “I think they’re in the hall closet, where the flashlights and stuff are.” I followed her to the aforementioned closet, and she rummaged in it for a moment before producing a fistful of folded maps. “Here you go.” As I headed back to the kitchen, she plunked along beside me. “What do you need them for?” “I want to see if there are foot paths around here leading through the state park I saw signs for.” I spread the first map out on the table, and Chang sat up curiously. “Don’t tell me we’re taking off on foot again,” he muttered, having apparently overheard my statement. “Not unless we have to,” I shrugged. “But I want to know all the escape routes.” Duo turned from the stove, and my attention was momentarily diverted at the sight of him with a face flushed from hovering over the steaming pot. Wisps of hair curled about his face, and there was a faint sheen of moisture on his upper lip. He looked more delicious than whatever he was cooking. “We gotta start running again?” he asked a bit wearily. “Not yet,” I assured him, trying for a calming tone. “But with the added publicity of your name being leaked, as well as the timetable for the trial, we can expect to have to move pretty soon.” He sighed, nodding. “Figured as much,” he muttered. “Fuckin’ reporters.” I went back to studying the map, and found it only had major roads and thoroughfares. So I opened another, laying it over the first and looking for a closer view of our surroundings. While I was busy with that, I noticed Catherine pulling up a chair beside Wufei and unfolding the paper I’d brought home. They began reading in silence, while Duo returned to his cooking and I kept poring over maps. The fourth map had the information I was seeking; it showed miles and miles of dirt roads and hiking trails throughout the thousand or so acres of state land just to the south of our position. “Bingo.” “Found what you were looking for?” Wufei inquired, looking up from a close up picture of Duo and Zechs at one of the last appearances they’d made in public before the murder. “Yes. If necessary, we could leave here on foot and make our way twenty miles south to the nearest town without ever having to cross a paved highway.” “Fuck,” Duo muttered unhappily. “I s’pose there’s bears, too.” “Moose,” Catherine said casually. “But only in the spring when they come to the salt flats looking to replenish their reserves after the winter depletes them.” “Thanks for the natural history lesson,” came Duo’s sour response. “But don’t expect me to be thrilled over the lack of bears.” He rolled his eyes, and then headed for the oven to check on whatever was giving off a warm, heavenly scent. “Moose are more aggressive than bears,” I mentioned absently, as I traced a fingernail over the most direct route to another village. “Well, mostly in the fall when the mating season comes around,” Wufei added. “Or when they’ve got calves.” “Would you people shut the fuck up about animals that want to eat me?” Duo demanded. There was a moment of silence as I smirked down at the map, and caught a glimpse of my two cohorts doing the same. “Moose aren’t carnivorous,” Catherine piped up quietly, a hint of defiance in her voice. Duo turned around and put his hands on his hips. “What the fuck is ‘carnivorous’?” “Meat-eaters,” Wufei told him helpfully. “Like bears.” “Actually,” Catherine cut in. “Bears are omnivores. They eat whatever they stumble across—and a great deal of fruits, insects and nuts and things.” “Jesus fucking Christ!” Duo snapped, glaring at all three of us. “Are you trying to scare me? Because it’s not working. I’m not going to worry about dodging some monster bull moose when there are hit men after me!” “Good,” I said with an approving tone. “Because the hit men are a lot more likely to find us than a moose is.” “Thanks for nothing, Yuy,” Duo growled irritably. “I’m going out on the porch to have a cigarette. And then maybe I’ll have another shot of that whiskey—to settle my nerves.” “It was scotch!” Catherine called after his retreating back. He flipped her the finger over his shoulder and stalked out onto the porch, while the three of us chuckled helplessly. “We really shouldn’t bait him,” Wufei managed between snickers. “He truly does have enough on his mind without us trying to make him imagine dangers that aren’t there.” “Oh, but he’s so easy,” Catherine said unrepentantly. “Honestly. When it comes to animals, he’s such a babe in the woods.” “Literally,” I noted, recalling Duo’s fascination when we’d first had to hike for our lives. Granted, his delight at smelling pine trees had been tempered by how shaken he’d been by our first close call. But he really was an innocent when it came to nature and animals. Catherine chose to misunderstand my comment, and gave me a devilish grin. “He’s a babe, all right,” she teased. “Those big indigo eyes, and pouty lips—. It’s a shame he’s gay.” “No, it’s not—,” Wufei and I began in unison. We exchanged sheepish grins, and I folded up the map, having seen all I needed to. “I’ll go settle him down,” I offered. “You do that,” Wufei smirked. “Just don’t take too long,” Catherine threw after me. “We don’t want supper to burn.” Great—a pair of jokers. I found Duo pacing restlessly on the porch, smoking his cigarette with single-minded intensity. “Hey, love, we were just kidding,” I soothed, walking up behind him as he paused at the end of the railing. “Not that there aren’t any moose—but the likelihood of seeing one is very small.” He turned around, giving me a troubled look. “I know,” he sighed, blowing out a puff of smoke. “It’s just—I’m still kinda tense about that newscast, y’know. Guess I’m not up to handling a lot of teasing right now.” I nodded in understanding. “We’ll back off. Promise. I think we were hoping it’d relax you; not the opposite.” “Nothing could relax me right now,” he said frankly, taking a long drag on the cigarette and then tossing it to the floor and grinding it under the toe of his boot. “Even that.” “There’s still the scotch,” I suggested with a faint smile, trying to put a spark of humor into those troubled eyes. He looked back with a wan grin. “Prob’ly wouldn’t work either,” he grumbled. Then his eyes drifted down my shoulders and lazily made their way south. Oh. Although I knew where his mind was going, I decided to play along, as he edged a bit closer. “What’s left?” He grinned evilly. “Sex.” I raised an eyebrow, trying to look impassive, though I doubt he was fooled. He shrugged innocently. “Always worked before.” I closed the distance between us, slipping my arms around his waist and pulling him up against me. I didn’t go right for the kiss—but instead rubbed my cheek against his, nuzzling his hair and nipping at an ear. “Well then,” I purred in the sexiest tone I could muster with his lean body melting against mine. “Why mess with success?” I felt a warm chuckle erupt in his chest, and he threw his arms around my neck, capturing my lips in a heated kiss. It only took a moment for the rest of me to feel pretty heated, too, and I drew back to catch my breath. “God you are so good to me,” he whispered almost reverently. “I will be after supper,” I promised, turning back towards the kitchen with an arm keeping him pinned to my side. “But right now I promised Chang and Bloom I wouldn’t let it burn.” His hand dropped to my ass, kneading suggestively as we reached the door. “Oh, it’s burnin’ all right.” We made our way back into the kitchen to knowing smirks, and glances thrown over the edge of the paper Wufei and Catherine were still reading. But Duo ignored their sly looks and went to stir the simmering pot. “Time to set the table,” he announced, eyeing the bubbling liquid critically. “This is almost done, and I’ll be pulling the rolls out of the oven any second.” Within minutes we were sitting down to a meal of some sort of chicken and tomato stew over linguine, with a side dish of steamed vegetables and home made biscuits. Once again Duo had proven his skills in the kitchen were beyond compare. Christ, was there anything that man couldn’t do? He could run like a cross-country athlete, dance with the grace of a ballerina, cook a gourmet meal with leftovers from the pantry, cuss like a sailor, and then make love like he’d invented the act. He was—amazing. And he was all mine. “What’s that sappy smile for?” Wufei asked, catching me staring dreamily off into space with a forkful of pasta halfway to my mouth. “It’s for me,” Duo piped up happily, and I looked over to see he’d been watching me—and apparently reading my mind again. I just grinned a bit sheepishly, feeling a blush heat my face. “So what if it is?” I said a bit defensively. “I’m entitled.” “Yeah, you are,” Duo agreed, winking and resuming eating his meal. We finished up in relative silence, and very deliberately skipped the evening news, having seen quite enough of the media hype on the noon broadcast. Instead, all four of us played a game of gin rummy to kill a couple of hours, and then Wufei took the first watch, while I escorted our witness to his room. Okay. To our room. Yeah, there wasn’t much point in trying to hide the fact that we were spending the nights together. Wufei wasn’t stupid—and frankly, even if Duo hadn’t been my lover, I’d have wanted to be in the same room for safety’s sake. After our flight from the first safe house, and the nightmares Duo had in the second, it just didn’t make sense not to be close enough to protect him from either threat. And of course, it was no chore at all, though I did have to keep that promise I’d made to him earlier.
Despite the emotional strain of knowing Duo had been “outed” to the media, we picked up our normal routine the next morning as if nothing had changed. While Catherine and Duo made the breakfast, Chang and I went over the previous night’s security logs. Nothing unusual had occurred, and so we enjoyed a reasonably relaxed meal, before Wufei and Catherine headed off to bed, leaving Duo and me to clean up the dishes. “I thought the cook wasn’t supposed to have to wash dishes,” Duo muttered, filling the sink with sudsy water while I scraped the plates into the trash. “You can sit and watch me do them,” I offered, glancing significantly at his bandaged and stockinged foot. He just rolled his eyes and nudged his shoulder into mine in a chiding gesture. “Not a cripple, Yuy. And from the way you guys were talking last night, I may need to be on my feet a lot in the near future.” “Which is perhaps why you should rest it now, while you can,” I pointed out. “Feels fine,” he assured me, barely limping as he went to get a clean dishrag. “Cathy did a bang-up job fixin’ it.” “Yes, she did—and I’ll be eternally grateful to her for that.” He smirked at me. “Sap.” “Not at all—I just like your feet intact—like the rest of you.” “Not to worry,” he assured me. “Chang said something about taking a trip to the local health food store for some of those herbs he made that last foot soak out of.” A sly gleam entered his eyes. “I think he just wants to show off his medical knowledge for Cathy.” “Well it is something they have in common,” I noted, watching the way Duo rested his injured foot behind him as he stood at the sink. He might say it felt fine, but he was obviously still favoring it. For that reason, when the dishes were done, I made him get comfortable on the couch, his foot elevated, while I settled in to do my computer work. I found him curled up with his sketch pad an hour later, when I was headed out to do a perimeter check. “Stay inside, and don’t answer the door without waking Chang first,” I cautioned, checking my gun and tucking it back into the holster. He looked up from his drawing, eyebrows drawing together in a frown. “I know the drill, Yuy.” “It bears repeating—especially now.” I paused to give him a long, worried look. “Things are moving faster—with the trial date being accelerated. We need to expect the worst, if Khushrenada’s people get desperate.” He grimaced a little at that, and I leaned over him to place a reassuring kiss on his lips. “Don’t worry about it. That’s my job, and Chang’s. Just—be smart—and do as we say, and we’ll get you through this, love.” He rolled his eyes. “You’re starting to sound like you did at the start of this trip—except for that little slip of the tongue at the end there.” “It wasn’t a slip,” I teased, brushing my lips across him again. “But if it’s tongue you’re looking for—.” The next kiss lasted considerably longer than the first had, and involved tongue, teeth and lips—in equal measure. He was panting when I pulled away, and it took every ounce of willpower I possessed to give the kind of casual wink he usually did, and then turn and head out to make my rounds. Once outside of the cottage, breathing the cool sea air, I quickly pulled myself together and got my mind back on the job at hand. I walked along the cliffs, scanning as far as I could see in all directions for any potential threats, and at the same time looking for the property boundaries, which according to the maps directly abutted state land and the hiking trails I hoped we wouldn’t have to use. Sure enough, I was able to find signs posted for the state park, and even some weathered markers for a blue trail and a yellow trail. I made a mental note to compare them on the map and see if they had the same color designations. By the time I got back to the house, I was hungry enough to be thinking about lunch; not to mention another helping of Duo. He’d apparently anticipated that I might have worked up an appetite, and was in the kitchen as I slipped quietly in the back door. “Making lunch already?” I asked hopefully, setting aside my binoculars and the windbreaker I’d taken off halfway through my lengthy hike. “You were gone long enough,” he pointed out. “I figured you might be hungry by now.” “Starving.” He gave me a come-hither look over his shoulder. “For food, or—something else?” “Both?” I suggested. “Food now—something else later?” “Later,” he sighed. “Yeah, I suppose it can wait.” “It has to,” I said with equal regret. “Chang and Catherine should be up and about by the time we finish lunch, and I want to take Chang with me to look over the trail heads.” “Ah. The ones we’ll probably end up running for our lives on?” he guessed, handing me a plate with a sandwich on it, and picking up one for himself, heading over to the table. “I hope not.” He plunked himself down in a chair and picked up his sandwich. “I was watching the news before you got back.” “Anything new?” “Yeah—more stuff about Zechs an’ me.” “You need to try to let that roll off your back,” I advised. “They’ll say anything to sensationalize the story.” He nodded, frowning slightly. “Did they say anything about the case against Kushrenada?” “A little. They talked about forensic evidence—had some big-shot expert babbling about hair samples and DNA and footprints and shit like that.” “Nothing specific, I hope.” “Naw—just bullshit about what sort of evidence might be presented if they’ve got it.” He gave me a worried look. “They have got some—right?” “I certainly hope so.” “Not reassuring, Yuy.” “You want me to lie to you?” He shook his head, giving a wry smile. “No. It’d go against your nature anyway, wouldn’t it? You’re not one to sugar coat things or pull punches, are ya?” “No, I’m not.” His smile widened a little, relaxing into something more genuine. “I like that about you.” I almost told him that I liked everything about him. But that wouldn’t have been completely true. I sure as hell didn’t like some of the old habits he’d had, or the company he’d kept. But I could probably say in all honesty that right at the moment, there wasn’t anything left about him that I didn’t like. I was so caught up in my musings that I didn’t notice him get up to take his empty plate to the sink—until he returned and was leaning over me, an arm across the back of my chair. “This is the part where you’re supposed to tell me what you like about me,” he chided. I gave him a sidelong glance and a teasing smirk. “Still trying to think of something.” He pushed back, glaring in mock-fury. “You little shit!” I stood up and caught his hands as he would have moved away. “I like the fire in your eyes when I piss you off,” I said with a grin. “You would.” “And I like the way we make up,” I added, pulling him in for a kiss. He sighed and relented, though upon reflection I decided next time we had tuna for lunch, maybe I’d skip the kissing until later. “Ugh—tuna breath,” he muttered, echoing my sentiments. “I’m gonna go brush my teeth!” I laughed as he hobbled off to do just that, and set about cleaning up the lunch dishes so he didn’t have to. Chang walked in as I was finishing, casting a look over his shoulder. “What was Maxwell muttering about ‘killer tuna’ back there in the hallway?” “Want a sandwich?” I offered, holding up the bowl of tuna salad. “Not if it’s going to kill me.” “It won’t. Not as long as you brush your teeth before kissing Catherine.” I realized I’d overstepped his notions of decency when he stiffened, his face going dark. “Yuy—.” “Sorry,” I said quickly. “Just a figure of speech. I didn’t mean to imply anything was going on with you two. Anything like that anyway.” He seemed to relax fractionally. “Not everyone leaps into the physical aspects of a relationship so quickly, Yuy.” I hadn’t really thought Duo and I did things quickly, though by Chang’s standards it might seem that way. I resisted the impulse to tell my partner he didn’t know what he was missing. God—I was even starting to think like Duo! “About that sandwich—?” “Oh, yes.” I quickly threw together a couple more sandwiches, anticipating that Catherine would be along soon, which she was. While she and Chang ate sandwiches, and Duo did—whatever it was he was doing—I snuck out to the living room to try to catch tidbits of news in between the soap operas on television. I didn’t want to watch with Duo at my side, since I knew the thought of being the subject of national news made him very edgy. Hell, it made me edgy. How many people who’d seen us along the way would remember his face now that it was plastered all over the television? And which of them would be only too happy to collect a fat reward from Khushrenada for revealing what they knew? I decided we’d start keeping backpacks filled with food and weapons lined up in the front hallway, much like we had at the lake house. I didn’t think it would unduly alarm Duo, since he already knew that our stay by the ocean was winding to a close. But by the same token, I decided to ask Catherine again to find ways to distract him and give him a break from the obsessive worrying I’d be doing. Neither she nor Duo needed to know the level of paranoia Chang and I would be carrying over the next few days—until we got word that the trial was beginning. “Yuy?” I looked up to see my partner leaning in the doorway, watching the television over my shoulder. “Finished lunch already?” “Yes, and Maxwell said you wanted to show me the trails you’d located on the map.” “Ready to go?” He gave a quick nod, glancing over his shoulder. “I think they’re already planning supper—some new concoction Maxwell wants to try.” “You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I replied with a grin. “It is,” he smirked back. “A man could get fat with those two cooking for him.” “I’m willing to take my chances.”
I led the way out of the house, and back along the cliffs towards the state land I’d explored earlier in the day, filling Chang in on the news I’d been able to catch. “You realize,” he cut in, ever the voice of reason, “it’s going to boil down to his word against Khushrenada’s.” I frowned, not liking that thought. “According to the press, there’s actually quite a bit of forensic evidence to back up Duo’s account of the murder,” I pointed out stubbornly. Wufei shrugged noncommittally, playing Devil’s advocate as usual. “The press is notoriously unreliable, Yuy. Captain Po never did tell us if they’d managed to match the shoe print in Merquise’s blood on the Persian rug with footwear belonging to Khushrenada.” “Yes, but Winner sort of did,” I reminded him. “Back at the lake house. He said the print was from a very exclusive, custom-made shoe—.” “—which they did not find.” “But still…if Khushrenada owned a pair, that’s got to be pretty conclusive.” I wanted to believe there was a preponderance of evidence that would back my lover’s statement. I didn’t want to think of Duo having to try to sway an entire jury with just his testimony. “It’s circumstantial,” Wufei corrected me. “And yes, they can convict him on circumstantial evidence—but they need a hell of a lot of it.” “Or an eye witness…and we’ve got that.” He shook his head, looking troubled. “Still—I’d like to think there’s more to the case than a shoeprint and Maxwell’s testimony.” “There’s Trant,” I reminded him, stopping in my tracks and raising my binoculars, focusing on a small boat floating some distance off shore. “The Feds have him,” came my partner’s sour reply. “But if it comes right down to it, I’ll bet they’d let him corroborate Duo’s testimony.” “Assuming he’s still alive.” “Chang, you’re a fucking pessimist.” “So were you—until recently.” He squinted in the direction I was facing. “Something interesting about that fishing boat?” “You mean aside from the fact that there are no markings on it?” “Maybe they’re on the other side.” “And maybe there aren’t any.” I scowled, scanning the deck of the small craft, and finally zooming in on a couple of men who appeared to be coiling up lines and stowing away some gear. “But the people on board seem to be doing what fishermen should do,” I conceded. I heard a small sigh of relief, and realized he’d been as tense as I was. “I may not be a pessimist,” I pointed out. “But I’m sure as hell paranoid.” “Under the circumstances, that’s a good thing to be.” We resumed our walk, still scanning our surroundings for any sign of intruders. But sometimes a fishing boat is just a fishing boat. That seemed to be the case, as we saw nothing else suspicious while we toured the perimeter and checked out the trails. My surveillance devices, few as they were, seemed to be functioning perfectly, assuring that we’d have ample warning if there was a breech of security. I felt reasonably sure we’d done all we could to prepare ourselves, as we headed back to the farmhouse in companionable silence. My hand was on the doorknob, when a voice from behind nearly made us both jump out of our skins, spinning with guns in hand. “Hey guys—whoa! Little trigger-happy there?” Duo asked, raising his hands in an appeasing gesture. “What are you doing out here?” I snapped in frustration, holstering my gun with a slightly unsteady hand. “Cathy sent me to the barn to get her throwing knives. She’s gonna sharpen ‘em up and give me a lesson tomorrow.” “So you snuck up behind us?” Wufei asked a bit breathlessly. I was relieved he seemed as shaken as I’d been. Duo eyed him appraisingly. “I didn’t sneak. Hell, I fuckin’ jogged to catch up when I saw you walking up the steps.” “That’s a good way to get yourself shot,” snapped Chang, scowling. Duo’s eyes narrowed, and he went from joking to serious in a heartbeat. “You two are on a hair-trigger. What did you see out there?” “Nothing,” I said quickly. “Everything’s clear.” He cocked his head, a skeptical light in his eyes. “There was a fishing boat,” I blurted, realizing there was no use trying to keep him oblivious to any impending threat. “It got us worried for a moment. That’s it.” “Wouldn’t be the first time they came at us in boats,” he commented, walking up beside me, his limp barely noticeable since he’d put boots on. “It was just a fishing boat,” Wufei assured him, opening the door. “We watched long enough to be sure that’s all they were doing.” Duo nodded, preceding us through the door. “’S okay, Chang. With you two on the job, it could be an entire fleet; they’d never get past.” He glanced over his shoulder with a teasing grin as we followed him. Catherine was waiting in the living room, her whetstone out and a tray set up for sharpening her knives. “Find them okay?” she asked Duo. He plunked a rolled-up hunk of canvas on the coffee table. “No problem.” The auburn-haired girl smiled past him at Wufei and me. Okay…at Wufei. I just happened to be right behind him. “Back already?” she asked. “We didn’t start supper yet or anything.” “It’s early,” I told her. “There’s plenty of time later.” Wufei stole the spot beside her on the couch, his attention riveted on the piece of cloth she unrolled to reveal the gleaming blades within. Each was tucked into a slender “pocket” in the canvas, which protected the blades as well as the person handling the bundle. “Hm—high grade steel,” my partner noted, reaching to run a finger over one knife hilt. “Help yourself,” Catherine offered, tugging one out and expertly beginning to run it over the whetstone to sharpen the edge. Duo was leaning on the back of the couch, and gave a slight shake of his head. “You two enjoy bonding over your knives,” he suggested teasingly. “Yuy and I will be in the kitchen—heating something up.” I caught the hint of suggestion in his tone, and bit
back a smirk, but couldn’t help adding my own comment. “We
might even make dinner, too.”
tbc... |
