Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Song of the Phoenix ❯ 'L' Is For the Way You Look At Me ( Chapter 11 )

A/N: Okies, here it is! Long overdue, please forgive me! I'm not going to bore you with lengthy author's notes, so on with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I haven't owned GW these past 10 chapters, do you really think I own it now? (Here's a hint: NO!)

'L' Is For the Way You Look At Me

"It was the perfect crime, wasn't it?" the murderer said, a proud, slightly maniacal glint to his eyes. He sat, handcuffed, in a stiff-backed chair. Across from him stood two interrogators, both gazing at him in distaste. A lawyer sat beside him, desperately trying to tell him to keep his mouth shut. The lawyer was being ignored though, and Lester went on ranting-half to himself-on his superb ability at criminal offences.

'Why does he want me to stop?' Lester thought to himself, gray eyes sliding over to the pair of investigators. The woman looked away while the man glared sternly. 'What's the point of committing a beautiful crime and not having anyone know about it? A crime such as mine is like…like art. Does one hide a beautiful painting?'

"If it was the perfect crime, then you wouldn't be sitting on your butt in interrogation, now would you?" the man, Wufei, asked sardonically. Lester shook his head, tsking almost disapprovingly, like a teacher to an ignorant student.

"My attitude as of last night has changed," he said sagely, closing his eyes and nodding his head. "Now, I want everyone to know of my masterpiece!" His eyes flashed open, roaming over to the woman, Sally. He smirked when he saw the thin scratch along her neck. She drew her hand up, covering it almost defensively. His smirk widened into a toothy grin.

"Are you saying that you're willing to tell us everything?" Wufei questioned, folding his arms over his chest and shooting a glance at his partner. She smiled back wearily.

Lester held open his hands in front of him, as if a sign of offering. He replied, "Gladly." His lawyer gave up even trying to subdue him, muttering something about not being paid enough to work for such imbeciles.

"I knew I could get away with it," he admitted without modesty, tilting his head back, giving him an arrogant appearance. "I knew that Trowa Bloom worked at the same garage Jason did. It was just my luck that I came to find out a new management job had opened up, and both were due for a promotion. I could kill Jason and, with a reliable alibi (and the help of useless security cameras) I could get away Scot-free, and Trowa would be the immediate suspect." Sally's stomach churned nauseously. But her curiosity soon got the better of her.

"How were you able to return to the apartment complex after having left later that afternoon?" she queried. Lester nodded, loose sandy hair bouncing slightly.

"Ah yes, one of my better ideas," he said with faux diffidence. "Before I left that day I went out to the fire escape. I opened the door, placing a small wooden block in the lock, so when it shut it couldn't be automatically locked. I knew that the cameras didn't go that far back; they stopped at the corridors towards the separate apartments. I also was able to get into the security room in order to disable the cameras."

"And then you left the scene the way you had come. You went down and hid the tapes in some garbage cans, and then you climbed the fire escape up to the roof where you watched the police gather," Wufei put in, watching a look of regret pass over the murderer's face.

"Yes," Lester agreed. "And it was such a shame. I almost succeeded in killing you with that recliner. And I had the chance to cut your little partner to ribbons. Too bad I didn't just kill her." Sally scowled, but couldn't resist wrapping her arms around her torso defensively.

Wufei slammed his hands onto the table sharply, causing Lester to start in surprise. "It would be in your favour to try and not write your name on my shit list, you understand?" the Chinese man hissed angrily, his intense onyx eyes boring into the man before him, who had the audacity to just smile in response. Sally placed a calming hand on his shoulder, pulling him away from the table and towards her.

"Duo and Heero can take over now," she whispered, watching as he stepped in front of her and out the door. She sighed, quickly following him so as not to be left alone in the room with Lester and his hopeless lawyer. Once outside in the hall, Wufei slammed his hand into the wall in anger, while Sally just watched him silently as he vented his frustration and anger.

"That guy really burns me up!" he said heatedly, slamming both fists in the wall before turning towards his partner. He reached up his hand slowly, gently running a finger along the scratch mark on her neck. Despite his tenderness, she winced. But whether from pain or memory was uncertain.

Shaking his head, he pulled away. "He almost killed you." Sally pushed aside her own fear and memories.

"But he didn't!" she declared fervently, watching as Wufei turned his back on her. "And do you know why?" Silence was her response, and she placed her hands on his shoulders, leaning over to whisper in his ear. "Because you saved me…"

The young man spun around suddenly, wrapping his arms tightly around his partner and joining their lips harshly and passionately.

Her only response was to clutch onto him just as desperately.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Noin leaned back in her chair, swiveling around in circles. Her head was leaning back against the chair's backrest, and she was watching the ceiling spin around and around and around…

The soft sound of someone clearing their throat stopped her rotations abruptly. She glanced up, a modest blush over her cheeks spread at being caught playing round in her office chair. Zechs was the source of the noise; he stood just inside her office doorway. They hadn't talked much since their…incident a couple of days ago. And Noin both wanted and dreaded the day when they would talk about what happened. She hated being split on such matters.

Her flaxen-haired partner fully entered her office, shutting the door lightly behind him. Her eyes followed his tall form as he walked over to a chair across from her desk. Noin didn't miss the way his eyes darted over to her frequently, and he appeared almost…hurt? Wary? Of her? Noin shook her head. That wasn't likely. And yet…

"Good morning," the raven-haired Italian greeted softly, breaking the eerie silence. The man across from her nodded in return, before revealing the meaning for his visit.

"Did you hear about what happened last night?" he queried, watching as Noin's dark eyebrows drew together. Her expression betrayed her confusion.

"What do you mean?" she asked, motioning for him to be more specific.

He folded his arms over his chest. "I mean what happened to Sally and Wufei." At her continuing confusion, he went on. "They found the murderer. It happened late last night, and we didn't receive a call because Duo and Heero were called to the scene. I was only just told of it this morning."

Noin leaned forward, interested. "Who was it? And how did they find out?"

Zechs said, "Well it turns out that other woman that was murdered, Vivian Johnson, was related to our murderer, Lester Johnson."

Noin gasped. "From Winner Apartments?" Zechs nodded.

"The very same," he told her. "But the thing of it is, this lunatic somehow finds out that Sally's onto him, and follows her to the police station." Noin's hand flew to her mouth to stifle a sharp gasp.

"My God, is she all right?" she questioned, moving to stand up, intent on checking on her friend.

Zechs motioned her to sit down. "I saw her this morning, interrogating Johnson with Wufei. She's fine." Noin gave a sigh of relief, her shoulder muscles visibly relaxing. The two sat in a companionable silence, and being in his presence brought back so many memories. Noin wrapped her arms around her upper torso, remembering the time when he'd kissed her. Had she been the one overreacting? Did Zechs think that she didn't…want him? Noin dropped her gaze to the top of her desk.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, though the man across from her still caught the softly spoken words. "I overreacted, and I-" A finger to her lips stopped her speech unexpectedly. Somehow Zechs had managed to move from his place across from her to beside her in a matter of seconds. He was kneeling beside her, a finger resting against her lips. When she stopped talking he stood up and pulled away.

"It's okay, Lucrezia," he said in understanding. "I don't deserve a second chance, and I never did." He turned to open her office door…she was ready to watch him leave…but…she just…

She just couldn't let it end like this…

"Wait, Zechs!" she called, hopping out of her chair and grabbing onto his arm before he could leave. He turned to her, his face registering mild shock.

She tried to continue. "I don't…I mean, I…" it was hard, trying to say something when she didn't even know what she wanted to say. She gave up trying, content with looking at him helplessly. He tried to pull away.

"Lucrezia, you don't have to try, for my sake. We both know that the past still haunts you." He paused. "And rightly so. I-" Reaching up, Lucrezia wrapped her arm around his head, pulling him down in order to kiss him firmly.

And that stopped his speech quite abruptly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Quatre sat at the front desk in the lobby of his apartment complex. His head was resting wearily in his hands, and there were bags under his large, aquamarine eyes. This murder case was really taking a lot out of him, and he just needed a break. He was glad that Trowa was being released, but another of his residents, Lester, was being charged with the murder. He just wanted it all to stop…

He heard the sound of the front door being open, and he looked up to see a woman walking in, head held high. She had long, platinum blonde hair that flowed to her knees. She would have been quite pretty if her ice blue eyes hadn't been boring into Quatre predatorily.

"Mr. Winner, I presume?" she didn't even wait for an answer before plowing right along. "My name is Dorothy Catalonia, and I work for OZ news. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions regarding the murder that occurred here…" Quatre groaned.

'I thought they were keeping this quiet,' he thought with exasperation. Out loud, he questioned, "Is this really necessary, Miss Dorothy?" She looked quite surprised at his reluctance, and seemed to take upon herself to enlighten him.

"Well of course it is!" she exclaimed. "A story such as this deserves to be told! A murder mystery wrought with suspense, thrills, and sabotage!" She began to glow with a kind of fiery radiance. "These are the kinds of stories that are glorious!"

Quatre looked at her with a kind of pity, which angered the young woman. He shook his head.

"These stories should not be flowered up like a fiction novel," he explained. "They should be kept bare, in order to convey the sorrow and wrongness of such crimes." Dorothy looked at him strangely. This man just did not get it!

"Stories like this are like novels," she ventured. "Only stories like this are better because they really happened!"

"No," Quatre said firmly, watching as Dorothy looked quite miffed over his ideas. "You have no right to…commercialize someone's misery all over the nation, making it out to be some kind of sick…fictional scam." The young reporter looked put out…as if she was being told something she never even considered before.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" she said evasively, trying to regain the control she once had. With a huff of indignation, she turned and literally stormed out of the apartment complex. Quatre sighed, resting his head in his hands once more.

A/N: I introduced Dorothy to placate a few people. *grin* I thought I'd try to write a parallel between her thinking war was glorious, and her thinking untruthful journalism was glorious. Ah well, I tried. Hehe, what's with all the kissing, huh? Did ya like the chapter title? Finally, I included Zechs and Noin in this chapter. Everyone was probably sick of reading about Sally and Wufei over and over again. ^_^ Even though I never tired of writing them. Next chapter I'll try and focus more on the other pairings I promised. *massages temples* this could be harder than I originally planned…

Anyway, please, please review!

Luvvies, KaT