Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Duo's Dilemma ❯ Chapter 20

Disclaimer - It’s not mine. Never was. Only one I own is Belladonna.

A/N - I hope you guys have enjoyed this little ditty. It’s been a kick writing it. So, without further ado, I give you the final chapter:

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Duo’s Dilemma

Chapter 20

Fortune Cookie Fortunes

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“Finally, something to eat.” Heero commented, getting up to open the office door and let a smirking Belladonna and a grinning Relena into the office. He completely ignored Duo sitting on the floor gaping like a fish out of water. ‘Yeah, this was worth it.’ he though evilly.

“Hello, Preventor Yuy.” Bella said amicably, nodding. “I believe this bag is yours and Relena’s. Extra rice, just how you like it, or so I‘ve been told.”

“We even brought drinks.” Relena said, setting down the drinks she had gotten out of the vending machines in the hallway. “Hope you guys are hungry.” Belladonna calmly sat the bags down on his desk, pulling out half a dozen cartons of the fast food.

“You gonna stay down there looking confused, or you gonna get up here and have lunch with us, Preventor Maxwell?” she asked, smiling down at the dumbfounded look on her lover’s face.

“What….”

“Quit blabbering and get up already.” Heero said, taking a carton of fried rice Relena was offering. “The food’s getting cold.”

Duo shook off his temporary shock and stood up, reaching around to grab his rolling chair that was not in the same place it had been when he fell out of it.

“What are you doing here, Bella?” he asked.

“I can’t stop by to say hello and bring you lunch?” she asked, faking a hurt expression. “Next time I won’t bother.”

“No, that’s not what I meant.” Duo said. “What are you doing here? Now?”

“A little bird told me a month ago that Preventors needed some financial backing for a few of their upcoming projects.” she said. “I had some business to attend to here, and figured I’d stop by and have a talk with Colonel Une about any assistance I could offer.”

“Business?” Duo asked. “What kinda business?” Bella smiled and tossed a newspaper his way. Duo caught it and looked at the headlines.

‘Saucier Corporation Opens New HQ in Downtown Brussels.’

“You’re joking?” he asked, looking up at her where she had perched herself on his desk, legs crossed and twisting some noodles around a pair of chopsticks.

“Not at all.” she smirked. “Keep reading.”

‘Saucier Corp., a large company that up until this point has specialized in deep space mining and exploration, will be opening a new headquarters in the central business district of downtown Brussels. Belladonna Saucier, founder and head C.E.O. of the company, will be personally overseeing the foundation work within the office space. When asked what brought her company to Europe, Ms. Saucier simply replied that she had a ‘vested interest in the area, and was looking forward to the expansion of her company to the surrounding city.’’

Duo put the paper down, not even bothering to finish the rest of the article. How in the hell had he missed this? Why hadn’t she told him she was coming here? And better yet, how the flying hell had he not noticed that the new building for her company was going up right across the damned street from Preventor Headquarters?!

“Is this some kind of joke?” Duo asked, watching Bella’s calm face.

“Not a joke at all.” Relena said, smiling. “Belladonna is now a silent partner is the projects Preventors will be beginning in a few short weeks in outer space. You really should read the paper more often, and I mean something besides the comics”

“Looks like that transfer they didn’t give you was a good thing.” Bella said, handing him a cold drink. Duo drank half of the can in one gulp and regarded her with an air of suspicion. She seemed too happy about this, utterly too pleased with herself for this just to be just a coincidence in timing.

“Wait a minute…” he said, finally clicking all the pieces into place. “You…you told Une to revoke the transfer! And you, Heero, you knew about this, didn’t you?!”

“Maybe.” Heero answered, his poker face in place, despite Relena’s broad grin behind him.

“Guilty as charged.” Bella said with a grin. “It was supposed to be a surprise. You’re not mad are you?”

“Hell no!” Duo said, grinning and enveloping her in a hug, almost crushing the carton of noodles between the two of them.

“We’re just gonna leave you two alone.” Relena said, winking at Duo and forcibly pulling Heero out of the office, but not before he grabbed their shared bag of take out. “I’m sure you’ve got lots to talk about. Come on, Heero.”

“Hn.” the Preventor said, following the Vice-Foreign Minister out of the small office.

“So, you’re really not mad at me?” she asked plaintively.

“Of course not.” Duo grinned, dropping a quick kiss onto her forehead. “I just wish you’d have told me sooner. It would have saved me a lot of trouble in getting things packed up.”

“Well, it wouldn’t have been much of a surprise if I’d told you.” she said. “Besides, you needed something to cheer you up after what Une put you through earlier. Sorry about that, by the way.”

“It’s okay. But I just want her to know she’s not getting the rest of these forms until tomorrow.” he said, kicking at one of the stray sheets of paper on the ground.

“I think she’ll let you slide.” Bella said.

“So, you got a place to stay while you’re here?” Duo asked.

“Yeah, my dad’s summer right outside of town. It’s a half hour drive there and back everyday, but it’s okay. Traffic’s not nearly as bad here as it was back home.”

“How long you gonna be here?”

“As long as it takes. I left Daniel and Corey in charge of things in the States so I could focus on getting this place up and running.” she explained.

“So how long?”

“I don’t know. A couple months. Maybe a couple years.” she shrugged.

“Depends on how long your ‘vested interest’ remains?” Duo asked.

“Something like that.” she said. “I know you’re a peeved at me for interfering with your transfer. But I really didn’t see a point in you being sent to the States while I took the job here.”

“Smart lady.” he said, holding her closely. It felt good to have her back near him. He’d missed her greatly during the time they had spent apart. Having her so near him again was like getting a breath of fresh air.

Duo could honestly say he was head over heels in love with her.

Bella laid her head on his shoulder, her arms wrapped loosely around his waist, and his around hers. She had missed him since he’d been forced to come back to Europe for his job. Just being around him gave her a sense of peace, a sense of belonging to someone who truly cared about her.

She couldn’t explain how she felt, because she’d never experienced it before…even when she had been with Joseph. Joseph had given her a sense of stability, a sense that he cared about her. Duo done the same, only her feelings ran so much deeper for him. She’d worried incessantly over him when he’d left. Whether he’d gotten enough to eat, whether he’d gotten enough rest. An unknown side of nurturing had come forth with Duo, something that had never really shown its head with Joseph, and only really come out with the children at the orphanage.

And she wanted more than anything to see him happy, which was one reason in her movement to make her company an international focus. She had her ties to New Orleans, but it wasn’t really where her heart was. Should the truth be told, her home was really on the L2 colony cluster, where she had spent so much time as a child, as was Duo’s childhood.

It was eye opening to say the least, to want to be around him so much that it hurt. She didn’t know what to do, so she just went with what she felt was right. It was all she could really do.

She was jerked out of her reverie when she felt Duo’s hands land on her butt, squeezing hard enough to get a jump out of her. She reached back and slapped his hand away, giving him a mock frown.

“Not now, Casanova. You’re still on the clock.” Bella said, grinning wolfishly at him. “And I’ve got work to do myself.”

“Spoil sport.”

“Slacker.” she teased, ruffling his hair affectionately. “Hey, did you open your fortune cookie?”

“Nah. I don’t believe in those things.”

“Me neither, but they are fun to read.”

“I guess.”

“Here, open yours.” she said, handing him a small fortune cookie wrapped in plastic. He watched as she opened her own, reading over the little slip of paper, a grin on her face. He looked down at his own, frowning. He never did understand those things, and never really saw any point in reading them.

‘If heaven made you, earth can find some use for you, no matter how mundane it may be.’

‘Why does that sound like Wufei?’ he thought. ‘But hey, whatever works for ya.’

“What’s your say?” he asked, peering over Belladonna’s shoulder. “I hope yours makes more sense than mine.”

‘You can't expect both ends of a sugar cane are as sweet.’

“Well, that makes a little more sense.” Duo said, scanning over the words again. “Mine sounds like Wufei. Besides, that just goes to prove what I knew all along about you.”

“What?” she asked, confused by his logic.

“You’re not as nice and sweet and innocent as you’d like everyone to think.” Duo snickered, watching as the color ran high in her cheeks.

“I never said I was.” she countered, picking up his fortune. “That does kinda sound like that anal retentive China-man, though. Where is he anyway? I was hoping I’d get to piss him off a little while I was here.”

“He’s with Sally in the office they share.” Duo said. If she wanted to see Wufei, he’d take her, just not right then. His plans centered on getting the hell out of headquarters right then.

Besides, he knocked off at five anyway. And it was already almost one o’clock. Une wouldn’t know the difference as long as Princess kept Heero busy for a few hours. Besides, she could threaten him with a year’s work of desk duty and he really couldn’t give a flip right then.

“No joke though, how long are you going to be here.”

“Long enough to get my claws far enough into what I want, so it won’t get away.” she said, hugging him.

“And do you always get what you want, madam C.E.O.?”

“Always.” she smiled, tugging playfully on his braid. “Puts you in quite a dilemma, doesn’t it Mr. Maxwell. Quite a dilemma indeed. Think you can handle me working right across the street from you?”

“Well, my lunch breaks will certainly be a bit more interesting now.” he smirked, causing Bella to blush.

“Duo Maxwell! You’re impossible!”

“Sure am.” he grinned. “But you love me anyways” Bella just smiled and pulled him in for a kiss that left them both breathless.

“Yeah, I guess I love you, huh?” she said.

“Of course you do. Now let’s get out of here before Une comes hunting me down for those papers.” he said, grabbing his jacket and the bag of food. “I can think of a million different places I’d rather be right now that stuffed up in this office with such a beautiful lady as yourself.” He stopped short on that, then grinned over at Belladonna, who was shaking her head. That skirt she had on was awful short….. “On second thought…”

“Don’t even think about it, mister.” she said, pushing him towards the door. “We are not doing that on top of your desk.”

“But….” Duo protested.

“What if Heero were to walk in here?”

“I’d tell him to go to Relena’s office cause this one‘s in use?” Duo asked innocently. Bella just smiled and pushed him out of the office, listening to his whining the whole way to the elevator.

Yes, she was in love, and she knew it. She had no idea what the future would hold for her, but she did know that she wanted Duo by her side for as long as he was willing to stay there. There was still a large amount of hurt in her heart from her sister’s betrayal, and the murder of her father and stepmother, but she knew she could overcome it in time. And she knew Duo would make it as easy for her as he could. She just needed to borrow his strength for a while until she could get her own back.

Belladonna needed him, and that didn’t scare her as much as she had originally thought it would.

She leaned her head on his shoulder as the elevator slowly made it’s way to the first floor.

“You know what, Bella?” he asked.

“What?”

“You’re one dilemma I won’t mind being in.” he said cheekily. Bella smiled at his attempted humor and began dragging him down the road towards a park area she had seen on her way down. After all, it was a beautiful day and she was with the man she loved. To her, there was no better place to possibly be right now than right where she was at.

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A/N - Okay, finally, it’s done. I hope you all enjoyed the story. It was a blast writing it. I was thinking about doing a third story in this little arc, this time concerning our favorite acrobat Trowa Barton. What do you think? Anyone want to see what kind of trouble I can get him into?

Anyway, please leave your thoughts on the story, as I’d love to hear them. And I would really appreciate it if you pointed out what you liked the best about the story and what you felt I could improved on, should you leave a review.

Until next time,

A.A.

3/19/06