The summit itself turned out to be almost anticlimactic. Though Lowell had to admit to himself, that between guarding the Senator and running interference between his partner and every other living being at the conference, he hadn't had time to get bored. It was nearly midnight now, and they had finally gotten the Senator settled for the night. Glancing at his partner as she turned to head for her room, he noticed the exhausted slump to her shoulders.
"Are you alright?"
She glanced back; looking almost surprised by the question. "I'm fine." The tone of her voice was wary, and after the reception she'd gotten from not only their charges, but also the other Preventers, he could understand why.
"You look..." He broke off, not wanting to insult her by accident. Oddly enough, his respect for her professionalism in the face of such hostility had only increased.
"Like shit?" She finished for him, smiling bitterly.
"I... wasn't going to phrase it quite that way, but yes." He shrugged. "I never had a chance to eat, what with those idiots protesting the whaling trade crashing the ball tonight. It's not like there are any whales left to save..." She almost managed a smile at that. "I was wondering if you wanted to get something to eat?"
"Are you sure you want to be seen associating with me?" She asked grimly. "It's not a surefire way to win friends in the Preventers."
"I didn't join Preventers to win friends. I have those. I joined to help keep the peace."
"You do that very well, by the way." She sighed. "Maybe you should have gone into Diplomacy rather than Security."
"Lord... then I'd have to deal with Diplomats all day. I've already done that once, and it wasn't the great career choice I had imagined."
"Well...no. I suppose it wasn't at that." She eyed him for a long moment. "Just dinner?"
"Of course," He smiled. "I've seen your partners in action. I have no intention of getting on their bad side."
"And you think asking me to dinner would do that?" She looked at him curiously.
"I think asking for more than dinner would do that." He shrugged. "Are you hungry? I saw a diner around the corner that was open twenty-four hours."
"I think... I would like that." She frowned then. "Though... I should warn you that I'm not always the best company."
"I think Ahmed's phrase for it was 'she's as friendly as a rabid weasel in razor wire.'"
She looked oddly pleased by the insult. "Really? Which one is Ahmed again? I need to thank him for the compliment."
"I'm not telling... simply because we've gone this long without a bloodbath and I'd like to keep it that way." He fell into step with her as they headed for the elevators. "Though I am dying to hear just why none of them like you. I've found you perfectly pleasant."
"You thought I was a bitch, the first time you met me."
"The first three times I met you," He corrected with a grin. Neither noticed the door to the Senator's room close softly behind them.
Relena Peacecraft was nervous. If asked, she would have denied it, but it was apparent in her white-knuckled grip on her briefcase.
"Is everything alright?" Dorothy asked grimly, looking around warily. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong." Relena forced herself to relax slightly, as Lowell gave the all clear and they headed for the plane.
"You've never been able to lie to me, Relena," Dorothy sighed. "Something's wrong. If I'm going to do my job and keep you safe...."
"I've never been able to lie to you." Relena laughed almost bitterly. "But you've never had any problem lying to me, have you?"
"What?" Dorothy stopped, looking almost as shocked as if Relena had slapped her. "What are you...?"
"It's always been about doing your job, hasn't it?" Relena forced herself to calm down as they entered the plane, not wanting to look as upset as she felt before her aides.
"Relena..." Dorothy looked bewildered. Relena felt a brief moment of triumph that she'd managed to breach the other woman's shields when two days of cold hostility on the part of the rest of the Preventers hadn't. Almost as quickly as she'd felt it though, she shoved the emotion away. It had been a year. It was time to let the past go.
"Dorothy..." Relena took a deep breath, as Lowell closed the door behind them. "I... think perhaps it's time we talked."
"There's nothing to talk about." The taller blond looked unsettled, and for the first time Relena really looked at her. Dorothy Catalonia had always had an air of control, and elegance about her. But now it was like looking through a cracked mirror. Relena could see lines of pain and hurt, just beneath the surface.
"I think there is," Relena sighed. "Please?"
"Fine." Dorothy stalked up the aisle to the seat near the rear, where she'd been sitting before. Relena glanced back at Lowell, who just shrugged and headed for one of the rear-facing seats near the cockpit. Gathering up what remained of her dignity, Relena followed Dorothy to the back of the plane and took her seat next to the other woman. She could feel the weight of the stares her aides were giving her, but ignored them for the moment. "So talk."
"When you... when you first came to Sanck. It wasn't because you believed in Pacifism, was it?"
Dorothy looked startled, as if that had been the last question she'd expected from the former princess.
"No," She finally admitted softly. "I was sent there, to become your friend."
"I... thought as much." Relena sighed. "I finally figured that much out..."
"Relena...."
"Were you sent to watch me for Romefeller? I know... I know that you were raised by your grandfather."
"No." Dorothy said quietly, and turned to look out the window. "Not entirely. They endorsed the plan... but it wasn't their plan. And I wasn't watching over you for them."
"Then why? Who sent you?"
"I was sent to keep you safe... to protect you from Romefeller and Oz... for as long as I could. Does it matter who sent me?"
"Yes," Relena sighed. "All this time... I've been so angry that... you lied to me. And betrayed me...."
"I never wanted to lie to you, Relena," Dorothy whispered, but refused to look around. "I'm sorry that you felt that way."
"Who?"
"Treize Khushrenada." Dorothy said the name softly.
"But why... would he want you to protect me from Oz? Or from Romefeller?"
"Because... you were the sister of his dearest friend," Dorothy finally answered. "And they were afraid that you would be a target, just as King Peacecraft was... and as your stepfather was."
"And you knew then... you knew all along that Milliardo was my brother. And never said a word."
"At the time... I had no idea why. Or that Zechs Merquise and Milliardo Peacecraft were the same person." Dorothy glanced at her. "I swear to you that I didn't lie to you about that. Not at first."
"Then... why did you agree to come?"
"Because... as a child, Treize had been my idol. He was only a distant cousin, on my father's side... but he was as close to a brother as I ever knew. And then I was sent to live with my Grandparents. It... was... my mother had been a disappointment three times over to my grandfather, first by being his only child... and female. And then by bearing only a daughter herself. He... finally accepted that if he were going to have a child follow in his footsteps, it would have to be me. Treize... found a way to get me away from that... by sending me to you. I didn't care why."
Relena forced down tears at the pain in the other woman's voice. "And later, when you knew?"
"You believed so strongly in peace... how could I tell you?" Dorothy shrugged. "I never meant to betray your friendship though. What did I do that was so bad to destroy that?"
"You took my brother from me," Relena sighed. "I know... I realize now that that was not your intention... or your fault. But that... is how I felt. I finally learn that my brother lived... and he planned to destroy the world out of some madness I still don't understand. And my closest friend... leaves me to go to be at his side."
"Relena..."
"No... I need to say this... because a year is long enough for us to be angry with each other. How can I claim to promote peace, if I can't even bring peace into my own family?" Relena took a deep breath. "It was worse... when I went to Libra... to reason with him. You sided with him. And he listened to you."
"Relena...."
"I was jealous." Relena ignored the soft word from the other woman. "I was jealous, and a spoiled brat... and I'm sorry."
"I- I'm sorry too." Dorothy finally looked up at her, and Relena could see that the mask the other woman wore had cracked deeply. "You know, don't you? That he's my partner again?"
"I... yes. Lady Une told me." Relena looked down at her hands. "I heard rumors, as well. That you were more than... more than partners. Is that true?"
"We're close friends." Dorothy sighed. "He- and Duo- have given me back my life. And I owe them a debt for that that is beyond friendship. But I really don't think I'm his... type."
"Last night... I heard you and... I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but Lowell, said he wouldn't ask for more than dinner, because he didn't want to anger your partners. So... I was afraid... that perhaps you were my sister in truth now... and neither of you would tell me because I'd been behaving so badly."
"I... don't know what I am to Zechs, other than a partner and a close friend." Dorothy shook her head slowly. "What the three of us share... is not something I can explain. Perhaps you should ask Zechs."
"Zechs. Then Milliardo is truly gone."
"I... yes. I believe so. But he's still your brother, and he still cares deeply about your safety."
"I may have severed that bond beyond repair as well." Relena sighed. "I seem to have done that with a number of close relationships lately."
"As long as you're both alive... it's never too late to fix them." Dorothy winced at something. "We've...found that out the hard way. You shouldn't have to learn that lesson too."
"Maybe." Relena unfastened her seatbelt. "Anyway... I saw the way others treat you now, and I know that part of that is a reflection of the way I've been behaving. So, again... I just want to say how very sorry I am."
"Apology accepted." Dorothy managed a faint smile. "Though you aren't responsible for the way Winner and Chang... or Winner's goons, feel about me. I managed to incur that hatred all on my own."
"Well... that's a weight off my conscience." Both women managed smiles at each other for the first time in a year. With a last deep breath, Relena left to return to her seat, leaving Dorothy to sit staring blindly out the window.
Quatre glanced worriedly at Trowa, feeling the depression flowing off the older teen in a black wave. From the uncertain looks Heero was throwing his lover, it probably was not just his imagination either.
"Trowa?" He ventured carefully, as they were ushered into a restaurant in one of the few parts of L3 untouched by rioting. "Is everything ok?"
His only answer was a shrug as Trowa buried himself in his menu.
"How was the Peace Summit?" Heero asked, trying to fill the awkward silence.
"Hell." Wufei sighed. "I think the pressure has finally gotten to Lady Une."
"Oh?"
"She had the apparently brilliant idea to put Dorothy Catalonia in charge of Relena's security team."
Trowa had apparently still been following the conversation, for he winced at that news.
"What happened to Donatello?" Heero blinked. He had personally recommended the man as his replacement when they left for L3.
"Emergency Appendectomy, according to Catalonia's partner. They both got called in the day before to take over."
"Catalonia agreed to having a partner? I thought she only worked alone?"
"So did we. Apparently Lady Une regained that much sense, in sending someone else along to act as a go between. I got the impression that he's new to Preventers, and that this was their first assignment as partners," Wufei sighed.
"Ah. Poor guy. Bet he doesn't last long then." Heero shook his head.
"And then a bunch of animal rights protesters crashed the Summit ball, wanting to save the whales," Quatre added wryly.
"What whales?"
"That's what everyone else wanted to know." Wufei grinned. "But it did break the tension a little."
The waitress came by at that moment to take their orders. After everyone had ordered and their drinks had arrived, the talk turned to the riots.
"How is the investigation going?" Wufei ask quietly.
"Slowly." Heero answered, looking troubled. "It's odd. We've had reports of entire neighborhoods on L3-x18999 that have been abandoned. According to the reports, the people were arrested by Preventers, yet we don't have nearly that many people in holding to account for the ones taken. And we didn't just take entire neighborhoods into custody."
"That is odd," Quatre frowned. "They have to be somewhere."
"We're still pulling bodies out of the areas hit the hardest," Trowa shrugged. "But I doubt we'll find enough dead to account for all the missing. It's as if they vanished into thin air."
"Any idea what caused the riots?" Quatre asked.
"The life support started malfunctioning a week or so before. The temperature controls were damaged by an internal short-circuit, and the colony started to get much hotter than usual- which caused tempers to get shorter. There were rushes on stores to buy refrigeration units and air conditioners... and when the supply ran out... it got ugly quickly."
Quatre and Wufei looked at each other soberly. "That's odd. That's what started to happen on one of the L4 satellite colonies, except the temperature was dropping. But we managed to get a team of engineers into the main control room and repair the damaged system before it got too far and the people started to suffer.
"I wonder if anyone has thought to check the temperature controls of the other colonies? All of them except the new one, L6, were manufactured about the same time," Trowa mused thoughtfully. "Perhaps it's a part with a design flaw that is just now giving out."
"I'll check with Une, see if anyone has reported similar problems on any of the L1 or L2 clusters."
"I've heard that L2's temperature controls haven't worked properly for years." Quatre sighed. "Duo always used to complain about the cold on V08744, but I think he mentioned that things weren't much better on any of the other colonies in the cluster either. Besides which, those colonies have been so damaged by rioting and the war... I'm not sure anyone could get to the main control rooms anymore."
"And how would anyone know if a new set of riots started there?" Wufei shrugged.
"Speaking of Duo... how's he doing?" Trowa managed to sound casual, but Quatre could hear the odd undertone of worry. Why would he be worried about Duo?
"Same as usual," Wufei rolled his eyes.
"Though we haven't actually been on Earth in the last month or so either, except for the conference, and he wasn't there. But I'm sure he's fine." Quatre shrugged. "You know Duo."
"Yeah." Trowa didn't sound convinced, but let the subject drop again.