Zechs read over the report one last time, wearily searching for anything that might give Lady Une the idea that they had used less than normal investigative techniques to solve the six-month-old murder. Absently picking up the cup of long cold coffee, he glanced away from the screen for a moment to choke down a mouthful of it. At least Dorothy had brewed the last pot, so it wasn't the foul sludge that those poor souls on night shift were getting out of the vending machine in the cafeteria.
Emptying the cup, he set it aside and reached out to send the report to Lady Une. Ah... shit. It was already 7 a.m. No wonder he was tired. Closing down his computer, he stretched out cramped muscles and leaned back in his chair.
He couldn't help the satisfied smile as his eyes moved over the odd office. The former lounge had been transformed into a most unorthodox office space. They had opted not to strip the Preventers' short supply of desks, and had simply moved the oval conference table into the outer room, along with the eight chairs. A row of file cabinets filled most of the narrow back wall of the office, with the small fridge, coffee maker and microwave nearly hidden in the corner. They had left one of the couches along the outer wall, under the single window to the outside world. The couch left the space cramped, but Duo had a tendency to sprawl out during their frequent brainstorming sessions. Not to mention that he found less unnerving when Solo and Treize at least pretend to be sitting on the furniture and not perched in thin air.
The conference table held their computers, spaced randomly around the surface, though Dorothy's preferred place at the foot of the table held both her desktop and the small laptop that Epyon traveled in. At the moment, judging by the idly flickering screensaver, Epyon was currently occupying the larger computer. The rest of the conference table was littered with neat and not so neat piles of files, scribbled notes, maps, coffee cups, legal pads and pens.
Shaking his head a little at the sight of the controlled chaos that was their workspace, he stood up and moved wearily towards what he hoped was several hours of uninterrupted sleep. Not that he was holding much hope out for that. He frowned a little. They'd been operating as a unit for a month, but he was beginning to suspect that Une was taking a really perverse sort of glee in dropping every single case she could on them. Sanck was the home of Pacifism and Peace. So why the hell were there so many freaking murderers?
Stepping into the much more dimly lit room where his partners were sleeping, he carefully picked his way around the edge of another couch, Duo's boots, and a pile of uniform jackets. Not to mention that at least four of those cases would have been suicide missions for any other team, with the possible exceptions of the other four ex-Gundam Pilots. If they hadn't had three very serious advantages on their side that Une didn't even know about... they might not have been able to pull them off either. Make that four advantages, he added silently, counting both Solo and Treize. Five if you count Sister Helen showing up again on the Brewster case.
They had moved two of the couches into the living area, using them to frame the king-size air mattress currently occupying most of the floor space. Three small trunks holding what few personal items and spare clothing they had moved from his apartment filled the narrow back wall.
But it was the sight of his partners, curled together in the center of the mattress that made him stop and smile in contentment. Dorothy was stretched out along Duo's back, one arm around his waist, the other hand clutching his braid... only inches from where his own hand was wrapped possessively around it. Dorothy cracked one eye at Zechs as he added his own shoes and jacket to the communal pile, then crawled carefully onto the mattress with them.
"You're just now coming to bed?" She muttered sleepily.
"Sent the Andrews report to Une. That's one more case off the stack."
"Thank God..." She sighed, then closed her eyes again. "No nightmares tonight... think he's too exhausted."
"I think we all are." Zechs muttered as he stretched out beside Duo and closed his eyes. "If I had had any idea we'd end up this swamped..."
"We'd still be here." Dorothy grumbled. "Go to sleep Zechs."
"I know...." There was more he wanted to say, but it was quickly lost to exhaustion.
Trowa frowned down at the laptop in front of him; not even bothering to glance up when Heero entered the room. He moved the mouse over and deliberately clicked on the 'receive mail' icon. However, the only mail was a quick note from Quatre saying that he and Chang were on their way back to Earth for the Peace Summit, then they would be on L3 for a week and did they want to get together for lunch before they headed back to Earth? Automatically replying, he sighed and glanced up at his partner. Heero was watching him curiously.
"What?" He asked defensively.
"Is... is something wrong?" Heero asked carefully. "You've been moping around that laptop for weeks. I thought that was my job."
"Yeah, well...." Trowa shrugged, not even able to manage more than a faint smile at the attempted joke. He had no idea how to explain to Heero, that he felt like something was slipping out of his reach, and he didn't even know what it was.
Heero's face fell a little. "Something is wrong."
"No... I... don't know," Trowa shrugged. "Quatre and Chang want to have lunch sometime next week. Then they are going back to Earth." Left unspoken was his wish that they were the ones returning to Earth.
"It will be good to see the others again. It's been a while since we were all together," Heero sighed.
"Yeah," Trowa frowned a little, realizing then what part of his bad mood was. But we won't be all together, will we? Duo won't be there. It occurred to him, not for the first time since they'd started this mission, that he hadn't had a chance to do more than email a quick goodbye to Duo before they had left for L3; and that he'd barely seen his best friend in the three months before that.
All he could do was hope Duo was doing okay, but he couldn't stop completely block the feeling that something was wrong. The last email from Duo had come several weeks earlier, saying nothing more than that some weird stuff had happened but not to worry. Worry about what?
It was, unfortunately, not the first time he'd wondered that; but Duo hadn't answered his query for more details. Though he wished he'd known before now that the other guys weren't on Earth either.
"Tro...?"
"I'm okay." He glanced back at his lover and this time managed a smile. "Just homesick..."
Sudden guilt flashed across Heero's face, startling Trowa. But before he could question it, the expression had faded back into the other man's standard blank mask. "We probably won't have to stay here for too much longer, now that the rioting seems to have stopped."
"Good." Trowa shrugged. "I like Earth. I miss the sunsets." And he missed his best friend being there to watch them with him. I know we both agreed to put the friendship on hold until Heero and I were a little more comfortable in this relationship...but enough is enough. I never agreed to give up Duo's friendship completely, and sooner or later, Heero's going to have to deal with that.
It was several hours later before the sound of laughter woke him, and Zechs finally opened his eyes again. When he did, he realized he was staring directly into a dark blue pair at an incredibly close range. He blinked, realizing blearily that he was lying on his back and Duo was draped half across his chest. The younger man was tense in his arms, looking more than a little flushed even in the dim light.
"Um... hi," Zechs managed, still not sure quite why Duo was staring at him so oddly; but hoping it wasn't because of his body's unwelcome but not unexpected response to having a warm body pressed closely to his.
"Hi..." Duo muttered, and then squirmed a little uncomfortably. "Um... can I get up now?"
"Huh...?" Zechs blinked, and then as consciousness finally returned completely, blushed. "Shit... sorry." He managed to loosen the deathgrip he had on the younger man, who promptly rolled off of him and then jerked to a halt as they both discovered Duo's braid still coiled around his hand. "Oops."
Duo just sighed, pulling the blanket around him and burrowing back into the pillows. Zechs blinked at him, then sat up and looked suspiciously around the room. As he'd realized a moment before, the laughter was coming from Treize. The ghost was curled up on one of the couches, and looked to be on the verge of tears from amusement.
'I'm glad you find this so damn funny....' Zechs glared at his best friend in annoyance.
'Oh, don't worry. I am,' Treize grinned. 'Just give it up, admit you like him, and kiss him already.'
'Because I like having all my body parts attached, thanks.' Zechs spared a quick glance at the lump of blankets next to him. Somehow he rather doubted that Duo had gone back to sleep. 'He doesn't appear really receptive to the idea of being kissed, somehow. And hell, I don't even know if he goes for guys or girls. He's flirted with a lot of women, including Dorothy, but I've never seen him pursue anyone seriously.'
'Only one way to find out...' Treize pointed out.
'No, actually there are several ways to find out, and probably all of them would involve bodily injury to me.'
'So kiss Dorothy, then.' Treize smirked. 'Surely that would be infinitely safer. And I know you've been watching her as well.'
'What, do you have access to great mind altering substances in the afterlife or something?' Zechs stared at his friend. 'Duo would probably just remove a few body parts with his bare hands. Dorothy would do the same only slower, with more enjoyment, and using a dull rusty implement of the spoon variety.' Shaking his head ruefully, Zechs threw one last look at Duo before slipping silently off the bed and pulling on his jacket and shoes.
Duo lay still, listening to the sounds of Zechs moving around the room; then the door closed and there was only silence. Dammit... He squeezed his eyes closed against the increasingly familiar feelings of despair and frustration. Did he have to be so damn... good looking? Not that waking up in Dorothy's arms was any less frustrating right now. I cannot have fallen for them, not now. I cannot fall in love. It's not an option.
He had the dismal feeling that his body and heart were not listening to him, no matter how many times he insisted that he was not attracted to them. But he couldn't forget the way Zechs' body had felt against him when he woke, before his brain woke up enough to remember that that was dangerous ground; or the way Dorothy's body had felt pressed against his back when he'd woken up in the middle of the night.
They were alone for a long time, they're just reacting to having someone to hold on to at night, he rationalized carefully. Just like he slept better when there was someone else to curl up with; like at the orphanage, or with the gang under the old warehouse. It was just comfort. Nothing more.
He wasn't sure why that thought only increased his depression. Besides, Zechs is still in love with Treize. Just cause his lover is a little... hard to touch... um... God. Why am I even thinking about this? Kicking off the blanket, he crawled to the edge of the air mattress and gathered up his clothes quickly. I'm not attracted to either of them. I'm not.