Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Executive Orders ❯ Tempest ( Chapter 5 )

Please don't be too angry with our wayward lovebirds after this. They're only human (kinda...), and I promise everything will turn out all right in the end.

Chapter Summary: In which there are multiple confrontations and Relena unwittingly and unwillingly acquires a roommate.

Fondest birthday wishes to Raine Yuy, beck, and kmf
I love you ladies!

Executive Orders
~An Out of Control Sequel~

by
Smarty Cat
smartycat9383@yahoo.com

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Part 5 -- Tempest
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He felt . . . torn.

Indecision was a rather novel experience for Heero Yuy, and he found he did not like it. He leaned against the sink in the private bathroom attached to his office and stared at his reflection in the mirror as steam from the running shower began to wind about the room. He did not look any different except for a slight, nearly unnoticeable swelling of his lips. But, then again, he reflected, that was only because he was still fully clothed. The Preventer uniform hid the bites and nail marks scattered down his chest and stomach.

And therein lay his dilemma. Relena had used him for instant gratification and pleasure, though she had admittedly given them back to him in return. He felt dirty, dirty beyond the stickiness of chocolate and saliva smeared on his torso, dirty beyond sweat and the lingering smell of sex, used and discarded by everyone in his life. Relena was no different. And that made his chest ache in a strange and uncomfortable way. He wanted to pretend that nothing had happened, but at the same time he wanted to imprint the memory of her, her touch, her scent, her voice, onto his body, never to be forgotten. A little slice of heaven, a slice of simultaneous hell.

Heero closed his eyes and reached for the shower knob. The water petered out, dripping slowly from the tap and then stopping completely. The memory could remain for a little while longer. After all memories always fade.

***

"So, what have you been doing today?" Sally inquired pleasantly, poking her head around Wufei's door.

He started, almost guiltily she noted with inquisitive amusement, and quickly brought his feet down from his desktop, hastily chucking a small disk behind him.

"Don't you ever knock?" he demanded peevishly, his cheeks darkening with something Sally was certain was not anger.

"Where would the fun be in that?" she laughed, tossing him a paper bag. "I wouldn't have any chance at all to catch you in an embarrassing moment. But you still haven't answered my original question . . . even after I was nice enough to bring you food. So," she drawled, sitting in the chair Relena had cleared of books and crossing her long legs slowly, "what have you been up to today, hmmm?"

A strangled look crossed his features at her particular choice of words and body movements, and he willed the capillaries in his face not to expand. He would not blush, damn it!

"Nothing."

Sally scoffed, leaning forward and perfectly framing her breasts with her arms. "I hardly believe that. You've always done something."

"Fine then. If it will shut you up I let my best pair of handcuffs get broken and initiated the downfall of mankind as we know it."

"Is that all? You've had quite an uneventful morning."

"Think you can top it, woman?"

She smiled sweetly, albeit toothily, at him. "I do so love it when you call me that. It brings out all my hidden Neanderthal longings. I miss my club and the cave . . . the wheel, fire . . . And, Wufei, I do believe your forehead's gotten bigger."

He glared at her as he bit into his veggie burger.

"Would you like to know about my morning?"

He snorted and waved her away over his mouthful. Sally, of course, ignored him, abandoning her chair to hop up on his desk slightly to one side of him. After a few moments of scrounging through her pockets she pulled out a neatly folded square of paper and thrust it in his face. Wufei shot her an annoyed look as he snatched the paper from her hand, but the grave expression on her face silenced his customary snappy comeback.

"Damage control is a bitch, Wufei. Especially when you're really too late to do anything about it."

He somehow managed to hide the cold surge of alarm he felt as he read the words on the paper. It was far, far too soon. There was absolutely no way the tabloids could have possibly gotten wind of it yet.

"Une wants to see you later today too. I think you're getting a new assignment, Mr. Chang."

"Just what I've always wanted," he muttered, leaving his half-eaten burger on the desk and snatching a sword from its casement on the wall. He pulled it out of its sheath, tossing that carelessly onto the seat of his desk chair before stalking to the door.

"Where are you going with that?"

He raised the blade so that light danced across its cutting edge in a blinding shimmer.

"Mole hunting."

***

Benjamin Johnson whistled idly at his desk. Relena had left for her private meeting with the Parisian ambassador several minutes ago, and he had nothing to do. He was bored. His usual form of entertainment had been rendered off limits by a shockingly frightening pacifist. His ego hurt just to think of it. Other parts of his body also ached with the remembrance of the peculiar form of punishment she had imposed on him.

Relena could be quite alarming when she wanted to be. And her apparent lack of . . . delicate female sensibilities was completely unexpected. Ben could think of no other woman in his acquaintance who would have responded to seeing their double perform sex acts on television quite like Relena had. And she had remained unmoved!

"Either the woman's composure is incredible or she's a complete cold fish," he muttered, carefully balancing a pencil on his upper lip.

But her mood had improved when she'd stopped by to meet the ambassador. She had been civil, even friendly to her poor beleaguered personal assistant . . . although she had seemed rather subdued. However, anything was better than the icy scorn and disapproval she had been radiating.

Ben felt that things were almost back to where they should be and was both relieved and comforted . . . but that didn't change the fact that he was bored. His longing gaze slid to the drawer housing his plainly packaged "collection."

"Just one more won't hurt. No one will ever know."

His eager fingers curled around the drawer handle . . .

His pulse hammered with expectation . . .

The door flew open with a sharp bang . . .

Ben froze in place, absolutely petrified as his eyes raked over the armed Chinese man who had just kicked in the door.

"Can . . . can I h-h-help you? The Vice Foreign Minister . . . isn't . . . isn't in ri-right now!" he stammered, voice cracking.

Wufei's angry glare intensified as he strode forward. "You would use Relena as a shield to protect your own worthless life? I should cut your throat right now."

"Wufei, blood on the carpet is a no-no," Sally chided from her position in the doorway. "And I don't think Relena would particularly like it if you killed him."

"Relena is not thinking clearly right now."

"Really?" Her eyebrows rose. "Things just keep getting more and more interesting."

"Yes." Wufei turned his full attention back to the bespectacled blond cowering before him. "Now, worm, tell me if any of this is familiar to you."

Ben hastily read the paper shoved in his face and shook his head rapidly.

"Are you sure?"

"Not really!" he yelped as the sword shifted closer to his jugular. "I mean there was a card but she threw it away! And I don't have any interest in something like that!"

"So, you didn't spread this misinformation?"

"No! Why would I? Who'd believe it anyway?!"

"Who indeed," Wufei muttered, pulling the sword away and turning to Sally.

"Think we have a trash rat?" she inquired, straightening. "That's going to be harder to trace."

Wufei smiled savagely. "Tell Une I'll meet with her first thing tomorrow morning. Perhaps nothing will come of this."

"And perhaps I'll give birth to a Gundam," she called over her shoulder. "Remember--no killing!"

Wufei watched her leave before hauling Ben up by his collar. "I'm watching you, worm. Be very careful what you do."

Ben collapsed back in his seat when the Chinese man finally left with his sword swung over his shoulder. He clutched his throat with trembling hands and tried to gulp in enough air, but for some reason it was very difficult. His heart gave a frightened leap when Sally's golden head reappeared in his doorway.

"It's really nothing personal. I hope you have a clean set of clothes here though. You might want to go wash up." She smiled at him kindly and left.

Ben stared down at the stain across his trousers numbly. "I'm really starting to dislike women."

***

"Three days, she mused aloud. "Or more accurately, seventy-four hours, twenty-eight minutes, and thirty-two seconds."

It had been three days since she had been with Heero, and she could not stand it. She wanted to jump him, rip all the clothes from his marvelous body, and make wild hot primitive love all through the day and long into the night. How had she ever made it three years without his touch?

It was torturous, it was inhuman, it was infuriating.

And Heero was avoiding her like she carried the bubonic plague.

She could not possibly mistake his actions for anything else. Ignoring her calls, keeping his office door locked at all times, and turning away every time he saw her were the unmistakable signs of a standoffish man. Relena wanted to hurt him.

Not that she could completely and totally blame him. They'd always had a habit of leaving one another feeling unsettled after their various confrontations. Sex had only compounded the problem. And as much as Relena hated to admit it, Wufei had been right. Her job performance was slipping, and she was easily distracted. Nothing at all helped, and Heero appeared to share her problem.

"Why is it that we can't just obsess over one another in the same room?" she rhetorically asked the air of her office.

"Because you're both too proud," it responded promptly.

Relena whirled as the clear, dryly mocking voice echoed in her ear and tilted backwards in her chair. Wufei had slipped unnoticed into her private sanctuary and was dubiously peering around the large box in his arms at the room's contents. Finally settling on the center of her desk as the best option, he dropped the thing with a resounding crash and whipped out a tape measure.

"What are you doing here?" Relena asked irritably as he calmly raised and lowered her arms, measuring her torso with all the clinical efficiency of a tailor.

He pulled back with a grunt, scrutinized her critically, and mumbled "It'll do" before digging around in the box.

"What will do? Wufei, what will do? Why are you here?"

No answer seemed forthcoming, and Relena stamped her foot in a fit of childish rage. The Chinese man glanced at her behavior archly, a disapproving frown pulling at the corners of his mouth.

"I'm moving in. New security measures."

"What?!"

"New security measures," he repeated brusquely. "I just fitted you for a bulletproof vest."

"I don't need one!"

"No," he agreed readily. "You need a chastity belt far more than you need a bulletproof vest."

"What. Did. You. Say?" Relena snarled between clenched teeth.

"You heard me, Darlian. People have been talking. There are some not so nice rumors floating around, and I don't think you'd appreciate it if people started acting on those rumors."

"What kind of rumors?"

"The unflattering kind. That you enjoy men a bit more than the average woman. That you're an easy lay."

"What?! But Heero would never . . ." She sank slowly onto her couch, clutching her head.

"Yuy wouldn't," Wufei agreed. "But there's lots of others that would and that will. Someone found an escort service business card with your name on it and leaked to the press. We're in the process of determining who that person was."

"That . . . explains a lot actually."

"Really?" Wufei questioned politely from his position on the wall as he programmed new codes into her security camera. "You should talk to Heero."

"I should? I mean of course I should, I've been trying to, but why do I need to speak with him regarding this matter?"

"I am not a fool." Wufei's eyes narrowed. "Yuy, however, is an insecure idiot."

Relena's eyes widened with horrified comprehension. "He doesn't actually believe those rumors does he?"

"I really couldn't say."

"Of course you can say!" She worried at her lower lip fretfully. "Would he be in his office now?"

"He doesn't ever leave."

"Right!" She jerked open the door and strode past a still petrified Ben.

Stealth and subtlety were lost as Relena stalked through the hallways, people scattering in her wake and following her retreating form with nervous gazes. The normally mild-mannered Vice-Foreign Minister was known to have a formidable temper and from all appearances that temper had decided to take some exercise.

***

Heero was only mildly surprised when his office door flew open, rebounding off the wall and leaving a circle of scraped paint behind. The blonde woman emitting nearly palpable waves of anger was perfectly expected and did not warrant even the raising of eyebrows. He found the sharp crack of her hand across his face shocking, however.

He gingerly touched the swelling skin over his cheek and stared at her disbelievingly. "Why . . . ?"

"How could you believe them?" Her voice echoed shrill and tearful in the confines of his office, and Relena visibly wilted. "Why would you believe them? Why would you care?"

"Why wouldn't I care?" Heero countered.

She raised her head slowly, glaring at him with hard blue eyes. "Let's try this again. You've been avoiding me. Why?"

"You're a distraction."

Her lips twisted in a bitter smile. "A distraction? Is that it? Is that all I am?"

"Should you be something more?" he questioned coolly.

"Yes, I should think so. How about a good lay, Heero? But, wait, I guess that's the same thing to you."

"You've seemed to have made it a habit to assault me. Should I think highly of you?" Heero did not think he could have hurt her more if he had struck her, but he ignored the hurt and anger in her eyes. "I'm not your sex toy, Relena. Go find someone else to satisfy your needs."

Her hand snapped at his face again, but he caught it easily.

"You bastard--"

"Surely there's someone in your list of 'companions' who'd be willing to take my place."

Relena's eyes narrowed. "What exactly are you implying?"

"I wasn't your first; I won't be your last. You have lots of 'boyfriends.' You don't need me. Go see someone else."

"Wasn't my first?" she echoed, staring at him strangely and ripping her hand out of his grasp. Her face hardened. "Define virginity for me then, Heero. First penetration, first orgasm, what? And does masturbation count? And even if it does or doesn't what then? Penetration specifically by a male? So female homosexuals would fit into this little scheme where?"

He glared at her furiously but looked distinctly uncomfortable as he muttered in response. "On Libra . . . there wasn't a . . . barrier."

A muscle near Relena's jaw spasmed. "A hymen. All this is because the first time we were together I didn't have a hymen?! Why the hell should it matter?!" She stared at him, her eyes dazed and glassy before they sharpened into crystal blue shards. "If you think that's so important then you're not worth my time," she said flatly, turning on her heel and marching out the door.

***

Wufei felt only mild annoyance when the office door slammed open and a sobbing blonde hurtled into his lap. He had left the door unlocked despite his better judgment specifically for her after all. Even if it was technically her office. That did not prevent the distaste he felt as her tears soaked his pants, however.

"Would you mind getting off of me?"

"But he--"

"I know. I saw. Now could you move?"

She hiccupped and turned blazing blue eyes up at him. "Voyeuristic asshole!"

"A voyeuristic asshole who's just doing his job. You started this, Darlian. How do you intend to end it?"

Relena slumped on the floor at his feet, halfheartedly shoving and toppling a stack of his recently relocated books. "I don't know. He's being so idiotic! And narrow-minded and chauvinistic! I expected better from him. I . . . I think I almost hate him right now."

"Indeed," he muttered, absently stroking her hair. "What are your intentions toward Yuy?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to do honorably by him?"

She blinked up at him incredulously. "Why, yes, Mr. Chang, I've come to ask for permission to court your subordinate!"

"It's a little too late for that," he mumbled, meeting her sarcasm equally.

Relena ignored his remark and chuckled weakly. "I would have thought such a huge reversal of traditional gender roles would make your head explode."

He eyed her, a faint smile twitching at his lips. "We have a great deal to learn about one another then. I expect you to make an honest man out of Yuy. Even if it kills him."

She leaned her head against his knee and slanted an inscrutable gaze up at him. "And what about us? This new arrangement . . ."

"Twenty-four seven surveillance." He grimaced. "It just might kill us too."