[FIC] That Which Mends 32/?

[skylark92]

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gundam Wing, or its characters. I just love playing with them.
That Which Mends
Part 33
Pairings: 2x1x2, past 2xOC, 5xOC, 3x4
Warnings for Overall Series: Angst, Violence, Sap, Lemons/Limes
New AU
BY: SkyLark
Betaed by ShenLong Deb *hugs*
Archives: http://www.gundam-wing-diaries.150m.com/gw/SkyLark/gwSkyLark.htm and http://www.mizunoamy.bravepages.com/skylark/skylarkfics.html

[Listen up, there's not a moment to spare
It's quite a drop from the top, so how you feeling down there?
It's a sold, cruel, harsh reality
Got stuck here with your enemies
-Lyrics to 'Enemies' performed by Shinedown]

[Flashback]

"I want to commend you on your work, not only on your last mission, but on all of the cases you have been on since enlisting with the Preventers," the Moderator smiled kindly as he folded his hands atop his the top blank page of his notepad. "Lady Une had insisted on our taking you in and you've more than exceeded every expectation we set upon you. And it is a great relief to all of us that you have been recovering from the injury that you selflessly took while protecting Agent Wolf."

'Oh, the flattery tactic,' Anna thought to herself, sitting across from the grey-haired man with his colleagues flanking either side of him.

She was well prepared for every attempt they would make to make her slip and lower her guard. But not about to let them in, she grinned and bowed her head with a quiet, "Thank you, sir. I was just doing the right thing in all of those situations, so no praise needed."

Getting right to business, the Directors all reached for their pens and pads as their conductor opened, "Very well, Agent Fire. Since you were not alert at the time of Agent Talon's shooting, we are more interested in hearing from you what measures were taken in getting your team ready to retrieve the prisoners of interest and Agent Night."

Downs sat back in her tall-backed chair and shrugged, "We took up seven days and seven nights surveying the dock to know the in-and-outs of where the girls were being stored along with the schedule of the changing of guards in every nook and cranny." A couple of eyebrows were raised in question of the details.

The weapons expert took a deep breath and elaborated, "Aerial footage and snapshots were taken from helicopters that went undetected. Bugs were placed so that we could listen in on the conversations so we had an idea who was who and where they tended to be at any given time. We staked out the streets surrounding the area to have an idea for when there would be the least amount of civilian passers-by that might get caught up in trouble when we struck."

"And Agent Wolf supervised all of this?" the youngest member of the board, a man in his early forties with hair that was still mostly brown with blue eyes, inquired from the far left end of his half of the table.

Without hesitating, Anna corrected, "Agent Wolf was involved in every aspect of it, not just supervising. He left no stone unturned and lost sleep over the hours he put in studying and leaning everything there was to learn about how the organizers operated so that there wouldn't be any surprises when we moved in."

Peering up from the notes she was writing, the blonde director at the moderator's left frowned, "But you were taken by surprise when a handful of guards came upon your team and opened the gunfire exchange."

The redhead bit her tongue hard at that bitter point, her hands balling into fists in her lap beneath the table.

She drew a deep breath to keep the bite out of her voice as she replied, "Yes. And to this day, that still bothers me because I have no idea why the hell those lookouts deviated from their pattern. The three men that set off the alarms had been off duty and should have stayed off duty for the rest of the night, leaving us the gap we needed to get their captives in and out without too much of a challenge. Instead, they rushed in while we were fully engaged in the recovery."

Head tilting, the moderator opened his hands in vague gestures while he suggested, "Perhaps if Agent Wolf had extended the time taken to observe the threats, that change in protocol would have been caught to adjust your strategy and we wouldn't be here today. Obviously he had missed something."

"Those guards deviated from their plan," Downs insisted, only barely keeping the growl from her tone. "I don't know how or why that happened, but no amount of observation would have made us ready for something like that. Agent Wolf took every exhausting measure leading up to the recovery that there was to take. He did everything right. If you're looking for somebody to blame for what happened to Meiran, you should start with the sons of bitches who were in charge of that sex ring that we brought down."

Off in the far corner, Lady Une kept her poise but her nerves were on edge for the weapons expert.

Agent Fire was one of the more passionate members of her team and had a short fuse when it came to defending the other agents, but especially Wufei. So far, no lines had been crossed, but the Commander could see that her officer was struggling to restrain herself and keep her personal investment from the professional.

Clearing her throat to bide more time so she could mentally regroup, Anna declared, "Agent Wolf was the one who knew Agent Night would be in immediate danger no matter when we struck and because of that, he saw that we were able to get close to him fast. If it hadn't been for Chang, Barton would be dead. You know that much to be true as well, since you had other experts look at the case who came to the same conclusion."

A few of the directors sat back, in subtle clue ins that she had caught them there. It was a small victory on her part, but she wouldn't allow her smile to reach her lips.

The black supervisor at the moderator's right removed his vibrating cell phone from his pocket and read over the message across his screen with his fellow directors looking on.

Blinking widely, he shot his head up, informing, "My apologies, but I was waiting for this follow up to a rumor that I had caught wind of." Centering on the agent on the other side of the table, he pressed, "Agent Fire, is it true that you and Agent Wolf are involved as more than teammates?"

Stunned by the out-of-the-blue question, Anna and Lady Une's eyes grew along with their audience as all attention fell onto the redhead.

Their minds ran over the 'who's' and 'why's' revolving around how that little tidbit reached the board. None of the Preventers would have disclosed that... but there were any number of agents in the other divisions that would have loved to have leaked that to them and throw the organization into a tailspin if they lost their team leader.

But they had a pretty good idea who was responsible for the convenient timing of the information that was passed along.

Try as she might to get herself out of the trap that had been set for her, Downs knew that she had no choice but to step on the trigger to take the fall. "Yes," she admitted quietly before the stunned silence lingered too long. Regaining her composure, she was swift to defend, "But it's not against any rules for co-agents to date or even marry."

"No, it is not," the grey-haired man in the center of the board nodded firmly. "It does, however, show that you have a conflict of interest and therefore we have no choice but to discount your testimony on account that you would be biased to stand up for the agent in question."

At the same time he announced as such, the moderator and his colleagues removed the pages of their notes from her meeting and ripped them up, physically showing that the arguments she had made in Chang's defense meant nothing.

Each rip and shred of those papers cut Anna deeply, but she was not about to give them a reaction... no matter how much it killed her to know her hands were tied and her efforts to protect her boyfriend were worthless.

Lady Une trembled with her pent up rage, unsure as to whether or not she wanted to storm down to Merquise's office or hug Anna right then since she was aware of how much pain the weapons expert was holding back. Again, there was a sting of tears in her brown eyes over how strong Downs was being in the face of the terrible situation.

"Thank you for your time, Agent Fire," the head director said sincerely. "That will be all."

Bowing her head of red curls, Anna closed her eyes and didn't trust her voice to speak up. As she pushed her chair back, the three men of the board began to rise in a rush to try and assist her when she stopped them with a curt, "I don't need help. I can see myself out." Her leg braces clicking as she righted herself, she turned and on her heels for the door.

Once she was out in the hallway, closing the door behind herself, then the tears came to her blue eyes. Stilling a gasp, she threw a hand over her mouth and her shoulders shook with a sob.

Watching her from the bench he had taken up further down the corridor, Trowa stood up with a deep, worried frown on his face. "Anna?" he breathed as he hurried to her side. Resting a hand on the small of her back, he ushered her back to the benches where he had been sitting in to guarantee no other ears would hear them.

Hands resting on the trembling young woman's shoulders, Night urged softly, "What's wrong, Boo?"

Anna sniffled and shook her head as she wiped at her eyes, muttering, "That son of a bitch Merquise and his gang told the board about my dating Wufei. I can't prove they're the ones who said anything, but I know they did." Meeting the emerald eyes on her, she whimpered, "They tossed out my whole testimony."

Barton's wide eyes narrowed into a fierce glare. "Bastards," he hissed under his breath. "It's just the kind of stunt they'd pull just to get at you."

"I wanted to help Wufei and I was making some damned good points when we got interrupted," Fire all but whispered. But her sadness melted into bubbling rage. Daggers shooting from her blue eyes and her entire body shaking with her anger, she snapped, "I'm going down to have a word with those pricks-"

Fast to cut her short, Night insisted sharply, "Don't." Pulling her into a tight hug, he murmured by her ear, "Don't you give them the satisfaction. They'll know they got one on you and that's what they want. You're better than them. Even though they can't use your argument, the directors still heard the start of what you had to say. You did what you could."

Swallowing roughly, Anna gave into the last of her frustration and clung onto her former lover as she cried into his shoulder.

The harsh realization that there might not be anything she or the rest of the team could do to preserve Chang's place with the Preventers had finally taken hold. And still, all that they could do was sit back for the verdict that was now out of their hands... with one less testimony in Wufei's defense.

A few feet away, the door to the stairwell a few feet away was open at a hair-width crack that closed. On the other side, Zechs' lips curled in a venomous smile and he quickly descended the steps for his floor, content that his message had reached the board in time.

[End Flashback]

* * * *

Merquise growled at his reflection in the mirror of his bathroom. More to the point, he was still stewing over the fading, multi-colored hues of his normally pale blonde hair.

No amount of washing was helping remove the traces of pigment that would likely linger into the next weekend. Which meant he would have to continue wearing his FBI cap with his loose ends of his ponytail tucked under the back of his shirt.

It was humiliating to think that for years, he had failed in getting one up on his younger rivals. There was simply no need for another security bureau, but because Middie Une wanted a division of her own and she had a husband serving on the Senate, the Preventers were established.

Every attempt Zechs and his team had made to undermine those brats had either failed or, as of recently, literally blown up in their faces. Not even the shots they had taken to see Wufei removed from the picture had worked to their favor.

And it was more than a little irritating now.

Now that those snot-nosed shits were handling what could be one of the most important cases in decades, the urgency to expose them for the hacks that they were was that much greater. They might have won the last round, but the war was far from over.

Smirking to himself, Merquise solidified his resolve to making those kiddies the punch line for a change. But for now, he'd take it on the chin... and reached for his baseball cap.

* * * *

Wufei rubbed his closed eyes with the back of a hand as he pushed himself to sit in his bed. Noting the empty place beside him where his lover should have been lying before he fell asleep, a worried frown marred his face.

Memories of his incident at their shooting range came rushing back and his stomach churned. Anna would never be one to complain over having to look after him in times of distress or relapses that he simply couldn't cope with... but it wasn't fair to her all the same. Not when he might be able to do something about it.

The scent of chai-tea reached Wolf's nose and he turned his head in time to watch Downs entering the bedroom with a warm grin and a steaming mug in each hand. "Good morning," she greeted brightly in that way that always disarmed any negative thought from her partner's mind.

"Good morning," Chang returned, a loving grin lightning his face. Running a hand through his loose hair so it fell behind his ears, he accepted his red cup with a sincere, "Thank you. I need some liquid ambition to get going this morning."

Fire giggled, "I figured you might. We've been pushing ourselves pretty hard this week and I know how times like this take their toll on you since you invest so much on solving these cases." Folding her legs beneath her, she sat facing the other agent and gently tapped their mugs together. "To getting the answers we're looking for soon," she toasted.

Lifting his cup, Wufei smirked, "To getting answers." He left it open to what 'answers' those might be to include everything... answers to the case and answers to how he could possibly move on at last. Not only for his sake, but for Anna's.

"We don't have many more files to go through. Hopefully we'll find Klein's shooter is in that last stack or it's back to the drawing board for us," he stated taking a sip from his tea.

The redhead nodded and responded, "Even if that's the case, we've had less to go on than what Howard was able to provide us with this early in our mission."

Leaning forward to rest their foreheads together, she reassured, "And we wouldn't have had his trust if you hadn't struck the deal with him that you did. I know Lady Une had her concerns, but your offer of immunity is bringing a lot of bad people to jail. The board of directors couldn't possibly have a problem with that."

A small smile reaching his onyx eyes, Chang mused, "I forget sometimes how well you know me and what's on my mind."

Shoulders sagging, he let out a puff of air. "This is our first big mission since... you know. As much attention as the case is drawing, I'm really starting to feel like the directors are breathing down my neck, waiting for me to slip. Then again, if we close this investigation, this could very well clear my name with the directors and keep them off of my back for good."

Anna replied, "So, we solve this case like all of the others we've had. Simple as that." Leaning back, she smirked, "That's why you have me- to remind you that there's only so much we have control over, and that's doing exactly what we've been doing, under your direction. You don't give yourself enough credit for how damn good you are. I'll just keep reminding you of that so you cut yourself some slack."

Stricken by that, Wufei paused for a moment before he took her mug to set both cups down on his nightstand. Once tea was secured and away, he pounced on his lover with a scorching kiss as they locked onto one another and fell into the haphazard covers.

"We'll pick up something to eat on the way to work," the team leader announced breathlessly to his redheaded partner beneath him when their lips broke apart. He made short work of removing his gray T-shirt and smiled wickedly, "Right now, I have something else in mind besides breakfast."

Mirroring his grin, Fire purred, "Oh, I like the sound of that."

Their mouths meeting for another sultry kiss, there were no more words between them until they were both satisfied and ready to greet the rest of the world.

* * * *

Middie woke that same morning feeling more refreshed than she had in some time. A surprising thing, considering all of the things that were on her mind as of late. Her eyes blinking open, the muted sunlight in her room brought on a small grin...

...and that was when she realized that there was an arm draped around her waist.

Gasping sharply, the Commander shot upright and was about to strike at whoever was next to her only to find her laughing husband. "Treize?!" she cried in a mix of surprise and anger for the start he gave her. "What the hell!" she yelled as she roughly pushed his shoulder to roll him back off of her.

"Morning," the Senator smiled warmly up at his wife once he caught his breath. Gently rubbing her back, he told her, "I'm sorry to have startled you, but you were sleeping so soundly I couldn't wake you even if I wanted to when I crawled into bed at two o'clock this morning."

Her initial frustration quickly passing, Une calmed her breathing and sighed deeply. "I must have been more tired than I thought," she murmured. With only the relief of having her soul mate home remaining, she beamed and descended upon him for a fierce kiss that was gladly reciprocated.

When they finally separated for air, Khushrenada snickered, "Now there's the welcome back I was hoping for."

Checking the clock on her nightstand, Middie grinned, "We have enough time to get dressed and grab a bite before I have to report into work." Biting her lip, she peered back at the politician and said, "I have some big news we need to discuss over breakfast."

Intrigued, Treize blinked at her in curiosity.

* * * *

In a state of disarray and confusion for the second time in a row, Duo half sleep-walked towards the kitchen. "You got me with the alarm clock again, you smug bastard. I take back my offer about having you stay this summer and every nice thing I said about you last night," he grumbled to the young scholar who had his back to him.

Snickering, Heero turned to face his roommate and held a hand out to the plate of food he was setting out for him. Violet eyes growing at the sight of their breakfast, the braided agent smiled, "Scratch all that. We're good again." He picked up the pace of his sock-footed steps and sat himself at his chair to begin devouring his meal.

The intern shook his head in amusement as sat across from his one transgression as he asked, "You're still on for lunch with Anna today?"

Unable to speak with the mouthful he was chewing, Maxwell nodded with a hummed affirmative. "Good," Yuy grinned. Reaching for his mug of coffee, he suggested, "Be sure you make it clear to her that you'll never put her in the middle of you and Wufei again and mean it."

Forcing down a loud swallow, the Preventer frowned, "Not that I don't appreciate your helping me out with Annie, but why do you care?"

Chewing on his first big bite from his food, Heero pondered over that for a moment. With a gulp to clear his mouth, he shrugged, "I know how important you are to each other. At first, I had... misconceptions as to what extent your feelings for each other went, but I appreciate that you just don't come across friends who share as much as you both do." He hesitated for a breath before throwing in, "And I can tell you really need someone like Anna in your life, since you never had someone understand you prior to meeting her."

A quiet fell between them as Duo processed that. Clearing his throat as he bit his lip, he gave the counselor a shallow nod.

Pleased that his friend was even that forthcoming, Yuy gave him an encouraging smile. "I just wouldn't want there be anything that might get in the way of that for you," he informed.

Taking a deep breath, Night's head nodded with more fervor as he said softly, "Thanks." As he began to stab his fork back into the next helping of pancakes, he froze and snapped his head up to blink widely. "Wait a minute. Misconceptions? You thought me and Annie were serious?"

Nearly choking on his mid-swig of coffee, Heero sputtered, "W-well, I pick up early on that you two must have been intimate." Mentally kicking himself for revealing more than he had meant when the whole topic came up, he quickly declared, "Not that it was any of my business, but I couldn't help breaking down how deep that intimacy went."

An eyebrow raising, the Preventer folded his arms across his chest and jabbed, "Did it make you jealous? Because all of that analyzing sure seems like something a jealous person would do-"

"I wasn't jealous," the scholar instinctually snapped, glaring at his counterpart. Wincing at the tone he had used, he ducked his head with an apologetic expression... and wished that the floor would swallow him whole since he could hear what a bad lie that was.

Caught off guard by that, Duo's violet eyes grew as he muttered, "Huh..." Not sure how to follow up on that, he studied his plate and pushed the couple of morsels remaining with his fork. "Sorry," he murmured sincerely, "I didn't mean to touch a nerve there. Hell, I didn't even think that there was a nerve to hit at all and was just making a joke..."

Only all the more embarrassed by the corner he had painted himself into, Heero shook his head vehemently as he replied, "It's okay. I'm sorry for snapping like that. Could we please just... forget about it and move on?"

Nodding, Maxwell reassured, "Done."

Another silence fell while they finished their breakfast. Only this one was not the usual comfortable kind that they were used to. A very personal revelation had been made that affected them both. And neither one was sure how to proceed now that it was out.

Noticing the closed, spiral notebook beside Yuy's place setting, the Preventer latched onto having something else to talk about and asked, "Are those your notes from the files you've been looking through this week?"

Finally breathing in relief now that there was a new topic of discussion, the intern eyed the red cover of his book as he shared, "Yea. They didn't exactly get me anywhere with the suspects that I had to work with, but I held onto what I've had in case anything else might come up to make a connection."

Quickly sucking his thumb clean, Maxwell reached out for the notepad and requested, "Mind if I have a look?"

Shrugging, Heero handed over the book as he explained, "It might look a little confusing just reading through. They're just initial findings to some of the psyches of the people that I was studying from their known personalities to the crimes that they had been charged with. From that I had to go on, I was building-"

"A profile on who we're looking for," the braided young man finished for him, paging through the neatly jotted words on papers he was scanning over. "You're using the process of elimination from the suspects we're tossing aside to fill in the missing gaps of what we need to keep an eye out for."

His jaw falling slack in surprise, the counselor all but whispered, "Exactly. How did you...?"

Glancing up at him, Duo smirked, "I'm not just a pretty face, you know."

Yuy snickered at that as his friend went back to scanning over the memos. Tapping on the papers, the officer informed, "Meiran used this tactic before. I picked up a few tricks from her. Locked away in my office's desk, I have a book that I've been filling up with observations like this since we started going through the files."

With a sly grin on his face, Scythe met the gaze on him and asked, "Mind if we compare notes?"

That same, mischievous smile curled Wing's lips.

* * * *

"Welcome aboard, Marshall Noventa and General Septum," the bubbly steward smiled to the honored guests of the private jet that was preparing for takeoff from Washington Airport as the first flight out that morning.

Politely bowing their heads, the representatives of the world's pacifist ring continued on with their conversation as they headed to their seats. "It's a shame Treize couldn't stick around long enough to be on this flight with us," the dark-haired, younger politician commented. Lowering himself down into his chair and hooking the seatbelt around his waist, he chuckled, "But then again, he is still in his prime and had the company of a lovely wife to hurry back to."

Beyond the windows, the airport runway came into view as the plane rolled out of the secured hanger. Over the horizon, the sun hung in full view as the brightened heavens bore only the occasional white, puffy cloud to an otherwise perfect view for as far as one could see.

The white-haired Marshall perched himself in the open seat across the aisle from him as he nodded, "That is true, old friend. The next time we can all spare the time, we'll have to make it a point in all of us getting together with our wives for dinner."

Overhead, the voice of the flight attendant finished welcoming the handful of passengers on their journey to Minneapolis. Minutes later, the sleek jet reached its runway and surged ahead to lift into the skies...

...unbeknownst to anyone at the time how very different life as the rest of the world knew it was about to become.

TBC

Author's Note" waves white flag* I put all blame for the scares I gave you fateful readers who had believed Treize was doomed on my muses. They were the mean ones who put me up to it. *runs off*