Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Duo's Dilemma ❯ Chapter 3

Disclaimers - It's not mine. It never was. The only people I own are Bella and her family, and any other character that has come out of my twisted imagination. :)

A/N - I'm really sorry for taking so long to update. My summer classes just ended, and I've been cramming for a Chemistry final, so I've had absolutely NO time for my fics. But now that they're over, I'll try and get a few more chapters out before my classes start on the 23rd of this month.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. Your advice and criticisms are appreciated.

Later,

A.A

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Duo's Dilemma

Chapter 3

The first few days with the Covington family kept the Preventors on their toes. Although the Peace Summit meetings did not officially begin until Monday, there was a steady stream of dignitaries and other important visitors in and out of the large plantation home wanting to speak with Relena, Senator Covington, Marguerite, or all three. Heero had posted Wufei and Duo at different points of the grounds with orders to report in every hour, while he stayed within arms' reach of the Vice Foreign Minister.

The evening before the beginning of the meetings, Duo was scouting around back of the property when movement in one of the many greenhouses dotting the property caught his attention. The young ex-pilot knew that the last visitor of the day had already left, and wondered who would be messing around in the little hothouses. He quickly walked over and peered in, finding Rita Covington pruning back an ivy vine that had seemingly decided to take over the small, glass building.

"Mrs. Covington?" Duo asked, grinning as the woman jumped in surprise, turning around to give him a half smile. Rita Covington was a woman with good taste in everything, as could be seen in her appearance and surroundings. She was in her late forties, with coal black hair that was just starting to go grey. A plump little woman with a friendly smile for everyone, she had just the right mixture of humor and sarcasm to keep even Duo second guessing her at times. "Everything alright back here?"

"Fine, dear." the woman said, pulling off her gloves and dusting her hands. "Just pruning some of my plants and gathering some flowers for dinner."

"Got a lot of them, don't you?" Duo asked as he walked up beside her and looked down at the table in front of him. There were pots and pots of colorful flowers and vines all over the table "Lots of different kinds." The aging woman smiled and pulled a pot of lilies towards her, clipping the stalks and carefully laying them to the side.

"It keeps me busy in the off-season." she chuckled.

"I can't get anything to grow." Duo admitted, scratching his head. "Seems like I have a knack for fixing, building, or killing stuff, though."

"Belladonna is the same way." she said. "Even Marguerite can sometimes get plants to grow, but not Belladonna. These are Bella's favorites, you know. She loves lilies, so anytime she's here for dinner, I cut some to make an arrangement for the dinner table."

"Really? That's awful nice of you." Duo said, feigning interest. "Well, if you're in here, then who's cooking dinner?" He had smelled the alluring scent of fried chicken from the house earlier, and figured the Covington matriarch was fixing dinner. "I'm hungry."

"Bella's cooking for everyone tonight." she remarked. "She got here an hour or so ago and evicted her father and Relena from the kitchen, telling them that if they wanted to eat dinner tonight, they had to get out and let her work without the constant chatter of political gossip swimming in the air around her head." Duo grinned, picturing the feisty C.E.O. ordering her dad and the Vice Foreign Minister out of the room.

Surprisingly, ever since they had arrived in the States, considering it had only been a couple of days, Duo had developed an instant rapport with the oldest of Covington's daughters. She was always coming and going from the plantation, running errands for her father or step-mother, or just checking up on everyone.

She had even managed to gain Heero's grudging respect somehow. Duo hadn't managed to figure out how, but he was curious. And Wufei's perchance to argue with a woman was grounded by Bella since Sally was not on hand. In fact, the Chinese man and American woman had been in the middle of a heated debate on ancient Eastern peace philosophies the night before that no one dared to get between. It had gotten to the point where Wufei was on the verge of losing his temper, while Bella looked like she was about to throw something at the arrogant Preventor.

They had eventually separated when Wufei got so annoyed that he went out for patrols. And Relena had told him that Bella laughed for nearly half an hour afterwards, for being able to ruffle the young man's cool demeanor. Now, Wufei would address Bella as 'that crazy American woman' and Bella called him a 'stick in the mud China-man'. Now, when the two encountered each other, insults flew and one usually left the room mad. But, neither party took any offense to the insults. They got too much fun out of it. Wufei got a woman to argue with, and Bella had found someone who would argue with her much better than Marguerite ever would.

"Bella's got a house on the other side of town, right?" Duo asked, changing the subject. Heero had wanted him to inquire about a few things, and Duo figured Mrs. Covington would indulge the information he wanted to know. Rita Covington nodded and laid another pure white flower beside the others, put the clippers down, and gathered them up to leave the hothouse, motioning Duo to precede her. "Then why's she always around here?"

"Well, with the Peace Summit meetings these next few weeks, Bella's arranged for her vacation time to coincide so she could come here and keep things underfoot while Kenneth, Marguerite and I are busy." she said.

"Considerate of her." he said, holding the door open as they walked out.

"She helps when she can." Rita said. "And it is really appreciated, I can assure you of that. In fact, she's speaking at the conferences on Tuesday...or Wednesday. I'm not sure which."

"I didn't know that." Duo said, matching the shorter woman's strides as they crossed the yard.

"Oh, I'm surprised Marguerite hasn't told you." she said amiably as they came closer to the house. "Seems like my daughter doesn't mind talking to you. But I'm afraid Preventor Yuy and Preventor Chang are not as...friendly. They seem quite unapproachable. Not that I'm demeaning them or anything. They're doing a wonderful job, but they are not very sociable, are they?" Duo tried to stifle a grin at the woman's assessment of his partners, and Marguerite's reluctance to try and engage them in conversation.

The younger woman had made it a point to attach herself to his side anytime he was around, and it irked him more than a little. But Heero and Wufei had made it clear that she was a bother to them, so she stayed away from the other two men. Fortunately, it seemed as though Bella had taken not of her sister's preference for Duo's company and always managed to get him out of her line of sight, for which he was grateful, by engaging her in an argument of some caliber, and allowing him to slip away as the not-so-subtle insults flew between the half siblings.

"Smells like dinner's ready." Duo commented as he opened the door to the kitchen and allowed the woman to go through.

"Bella?!" Rita called loudly, pulling a vase out of a nearby cabinet and filling it with water to arrange the lilies in.

"Coming, Rita!" came Bella's voice from the door of the pantry. "Just a second!" A few moments later, the young woman walked out, a large mixing bowl in her hands. "Did you need something?"

"How much longer 'til dinner, hon?" the older woman asked, placing the vase on the dining room table. "Mr. Maxwell's stomach is quite vocal without food to keep it pacified." Bella grinned at the braided Preventor and threw a dish towel at him.

"Wipe the table off and you can help me bring the food into the dining room." she said, nodding towards the spacious dining room.

"Gotcha." Duo said, turning to the adjacent room, all to happy to comply with her wishes, as long as he got something to eat.

"I'll go get Kenneth and Relena." Mrs. Covington said. "Were is Marguerite?"

"She said something about trying to find Mr. Maxwell." Bella shrugged, turning away from her step mother so the older woman couldn't see the evil grin on her face. "I told her I thought he took one of the horses and rode out to scout the property lines."

"Bella...." Rita said, placing her hands on her hips, and setting a stern frown on her face. "You didn't...." She had a feeling Bella had deliberately sent Marguerite out on a wild goose chase for Duo, knowing that the man was no where near the property lines.

"Hey, I heard Preventor Yuy tell Maxwell to scout the end of the property today. Taking a horse would make the most sense." Rita shook her head and left the kitchen to go gather up her family and visitors. The day those two girls got along, she'd retire from politics!

-----Half an hour later....------

"You out did yourself, baby girl." Kenneth Covington said as they began the meal. Bella blushed at the unexpected praise from her father and brought the last of the serving dishes to the table. At the moment, the oak table could not hold another plate, dish, or platter.

"Yeah, Belladonna." Marguerite sneered angrily. "You trying to impress our guests or something?" She had just gotten back from her chase to the property lines, and there was still sticks and leaves in her hair. She had brought a rotten attitude back with her as well, unfortunately.

"I'm impressed." Duo muttered, spooning a heap of potatoes onto his plate, totally oblivious to the tension rising between the two women. Bella sat down beside her step-mother, shaking her head in amusement. Heero just shook his head, watching as Duo sated his over active appetite. Wufei was currently outside, watching for anything unusual. The stoic pilot knew Bella would leave enough food out for him to eat after Duo took over the night watch.

"My hardest critic is happy." she said with a flourish. "Now I can die a satisfied woman." There were a number of snickers heard, and Bella served herself from the dishes. "So, are you guys ready for the Summit meetings tomorrow?"

"I'll be glad to get them over with." her father answered. "There's too many tough issues to deal with. And I'm afraid there is going to be trouble with some of the older Senators."

"Enough of that could be avoided, if they would just look at reason." Marguerite said sweetly. "Some of those proposals need to be amended anyways, especially the ones about the space port taxes. Don't you think so, Relena?"

"I personally don't think they need to change all that much." Relena said thoughtfully. "Everything is fine now. Why change it?"

"But don't you think an increase in the taxes would help the colonies' economy even more?" Marguerite pressed.

"There's no need for the increase." Bella said firmly. Margureite cut her eyes to her older sister and glared, but Bella ignored it. "Most of the colony economics have stabilized in the past few years. And the ones who are still struggling a bit are getting financial backing from some of the Earth-based companies who are willing to take a chance investment."

"But..."

"Let's wait until tomorrow," Mrs. Covington said finally, waving her hands in the direction of her daughter and step-daughter. "to talk about these issues. You can argue them to death tomorrow at the meetings. I don't want an all out fight to start at the dinner table."

"Sounds good to me." Bella said, eyeing her sister and sipping her drink. "I'm not that much on politics anyways." Marguerite just shot her sister a nasty glance and turned back to her meal, not wanting to back down from the impending argument, but being forced to do so by her own mother.

--------------After dinner------------

Dinner had passed rather quickly after that, and it was no time before the mess was cleaned up and most of the household was piled up in the living room, catching the evening news and weather. Heero and Duo had dispersed, and Bella had headed for the stables after bringing Wufei a large plate of food.

Heero walked around the back of the stables, doing a routine nighttime check before handing the security over to Duo for the evening. Unsurprisingly, he heard Bella's aggravated voice coming from the stables.

"....crazy woman doesn't know what she's talking about!" Bella's angry voice drifted out of the door. Heero walked over and peered in, seeing the woman rushing down a large brown and white painted horse. "If she'd pay more attention to things that don't immediately concern her padding her already bulging pockets, she'd see how problems can be avoided! Marguerite's asking for trouble."

"Seems to be a popular word around here." Heero commented stoically, crossing his arms across his chest and leaning against the corral wall. Bella turned and incline her head to him. "Trouble."

"Evening, Preventor Yuy." Bella said, nodding to him, then turning back to grooming the horse. "Didn't hear you back there. Everything alright?"

"I've got some questions for you." he asked pointedly, getting straight to the point. Belladonna did not seem like the type of woman to beat around the bush on a subject, so he headed straight in.

"Well, if you've got the right questions, I might have the right answers for you." she said. "What can I do for you?"

"You said earlier that your sister was asking for trouble, pushing certain issues about the colonies. Why is that?" he asked.

"I'll be honest with you Mr. Yuy." Bella said. "Marguerite doesn't care what she has to do, who she has to hurt, and what she has to destroy to get her way. She's never been in space before, and doesn't realize exactly how fragile things are up there. Relena told me you were from the L1 colony cluster." Heero nodded and Bella continued on. "So, you know how things are up there. One wrong move, and a small problem can escalate into something more." She sighed and put the brush down on a small shelf on the wall and pulled enough hay out to feed her horse. "I don't want her to push issues that could damage the good that people like my dad and Relena had worked to establish."

"Part of your company is transport of materials mined from natural resource satellites and asteroids ." Heero said. "If the proposals your sister is pushing is passed, then it would only help you in the long run."

"You are right about that, I'll concede." she said with a sigh. "It would help my profit margin greatly. But it would hurt my employees in the long run as well. I don't....I won't risk my employees' positions for a few more thousand dollars in profit. It's not worth it."

"That doesn't sound like a good philosophy to have if you want to get ahead of your competitors." he said, watching as she bowed up in anger and indignation. "Especially coming from a C.E.O. like you who has a reputation for being a ruthless cutthroat."

"Well, believe it or not," she said, cutting her eyes at him in anger. "THIS cut throat C.E.O. cares about her employees and their families. My company is secure and stable for the first time in a long while, and I'd like to keep it that way! You don't bite the had that feeds you, Mr. Yuy. And my employees keep my company running. They're loyal to me, so I make sure they're taken care of as much as I possibly can."

"I see." Heero said solemnly.

"I'm glad." she answered. "Anything else I can help you with?"

"Yes." he said. "There's more to these Peace Summit meetings than you're telling me, isn't there?"

"How astute of you." she said with a smile. "Nothing is ever the way it seems around here. Just remember that and you'll be okay."

"And Relena?"

"She's safe." Bella said easily. "The results of the meetings will affect this city and it's officials much more than anywhere else. Relena's going back overseas the day after they end, so she won't have to worry about anything. Not that it would be any difference. You've been protecting her since you two first met at St. Gabriel's. Why would you stop now?"

"Hn."

"Still as vocal as ever, I see." she chuckled. "Well, at least that's better than the death glare that I got the first time I met you." She laughed and Heero just raised his eyebrows in question. "Well, I'm finished here. Goodnight, Mr. Yuy. Will Maxwell be on patrol again tonight?"

"Yeah."

"I better leave some food out then. That man's appetite is worse than an alligator's." She finished picking up her equipment and nodded to Heero on the way out of the stables. Heero just watched her leave, wondering if her answering his questions, had actually created more problems than he wanted to know about.

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A/N - Hey. Hope you liked the chapter. I know it's a little sketchy, but I needed to have it that way for certain reasons which will soon come to light.

Remember to review. I want to know what you guys think.

Later,

A.A.