I do not own Gundam Wing.  This fan fiction has no commercial value and I am not making any kind of profit or income off of this.

Chapter 11

Heero entered the mansion later that night. He had spent the last three hours suffering through pointless paperwork that Wufei had insisted the Colonel wanted on a Saturday. Why those requisition forms couldn’t have waited until Monday morning, he didn’t know, but he was starting to get the suspicion that Lady Une didn’t have anything to do with the assignment – especially when he couldn’t reach her by phone or wrist-com from his office. He had finally decided the whole thing was a hoax when he was able to reach her from his secretary’s desk, and confirm that she wouldn’t be able to place the orders until Monday, anyway. He growled with irritation, paperwork could drain the life out of him faster than piloting a mobile suit. Wufei had a lot of explaining to do, but right now Heero was too tired to do anything except go find Relena.

He was intercepted from his target by one of the last people he wanted to see right now – Duo Maxwell. Whereas his thoughts of being in Relena’s company, seeing that tender smile on her lips and listening to her soft melodic chatter, brought about a feeling of peace, the pleasant reverie came crashing down in an instant when Duo’s loud voice echoed through the hallway, quickly followed by the irritating sound of noisy footsteps. But Duo’s face looked grim and serious despite the obnoxious air of his greeting. A feeling of dread washed over Heero.

“What’s wrong, Duo? Where is she?”

Duo shook his head. “It’s not so good, pal.”

“Is she hurt? Why aren’t you with her?” Heero’s face was taut with worry.

“She’s not hurt. I’m not with her because they lost me. It’s not what you think, buddy – you just have competition,” Duo said trying to keep a straight face, and the humor out of his eyes.

“Competition?” Heero echoed numbly. “What do you mean?”

Duo held up the digital camera in his hands. “At least I was able to get a few pictures. That way we know what we’re up against.”

They clicked through the photographs on Heero’s laptop downstairs. So far, no reaction had been seen on the face of the stoic former Zero pilot, but Duo had yet to show his trump card.

“Is that all?” Heero asked flatly. He didn’t like the pictures of her and Trevor together – walking along the beach, seemingly in deep conversation – but so far he had seen nothing to get too worried over. The holding hands thing was annoying but only slightly so. He looked up from the viewscreen to his friend.

“Well, there’s one more picture, but I don’t know if you want to see it. I mean, it could be nothing…”

“What, more holding hands?” Heero asked with a smirk.

“Um, actually no. But I’m sure it doesn’t mean anything, Heero – she loves you. This guy, I mean, he’s a nice guy and all, and sure he told Hilde he thinks she’s ‘the one’, but….”

“The one? What does that mean?”

“You know – the one. The one person you want to spend the rest of your life with.”

“He said that about Relena?” Heero asked, a small frown taking shape on his face. Then he thought better of it, “That doesn’t mean she feels the same way. As you said before women don’t marry someone just because the guy asks them to, right?”

Duo smiled nervously. “Right. You’re absolutely right. So, see, there’s no need for you to see anymore ‘cuz you know how Relena feels about you and that’s all that matters.”

“What’s the picture of, Duo? I want to see it anyway.” Heero demanded, a slight nauseas feeling permeating his stomach.

Duo smiled inwardly. “Well, I guess, but you and I both know it means nothing…Nothing to get upset over, right?”

Heero glared at him and held out his hand for the other memory strip to the camera. After he inserted it into the slot on the laptop, he cued up the list of photos on his laptop. He clicked on the first one. Another shot of them holding hands – this time, Trevor kissed her hand. The next one was of him touching her cheek. Finally, he came to Duo’s trump card – the two of them kissing. At first, Heero wasn’t sure that was what was going on, because Relena’s back was to the camera. But as he clicked to the next photo, the camera was at a slightly different angle, and he could see the two pairs of lips meeting in a more than friendly kiss.

* * * * * *

Trevor’s face appeared onscreen – the flesh around his right eye appearing a little swollen. Hilde gasped as she took in his wry smile. “Trevor, what happened?”

“You forgot to warn me that she has a vicious left hook!”

“I’ve never known her to hit anyone before – what did you do?”

“I kissed her – so that Duo could get a picture of it. She wasn’t pleased, to say the least. I spent the rest of the time apologizing, but she made me take her home immediately. I hope it was worth it, I don’t know that after our operation ‘To catch a soldier’ she’ll even speak to me again.”

Hilde laughed. “Oh, Trevor – this was only mission one of operation ‘To catch a soldier’. You obviously have no clue how stubborn this man can be. I’m waiting to hear from Duo; Heero should be back by now – and viewing the photographs.”

“I wish I could see the look on his face,” Trevor laughed. “He deserves it after the soup incident and the disappearing patient I was called in for.”

“Actually, Trevor, it’s probably best if you avoid him like the plague. Heero…well, we don’t know how he’s going to react, but staying away from him might not be such a bad idea. Like Duo, he can be lethal if necessary,” Hilde said, suddenly serious.

“Geez, Hilde what did you get me into?” His brown eyes suddenly dulled with worry as he ran a nervous hand through his chestnut hair.

“Oh, relax Trevor. We’ll keep an eye on him. And I’ll let you know what I find out. Good job! Oh, and sorry about the eye – you might want to put some ice on that,” she said, cheerful once again.

Trevor threw her a look that plainly spoke his lack of amusement.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot. You’re the doctor. I’ll let you go! Bye!” Hilde called out and disconnected. “I wonder how the boys are doing….”

* * * * * *

The laptop was clicked shut, and Heero had his gun out in an instant. He checked the clip on his 9mm pistol and then stomped towards the front door. Duo was on him in a flash.

“Where are you going?” He shouted, rushing over to place himself in harm’s way – in front of the door.

“To kill him.”

“What? You can’t kill him, Heero!”

“I can and I will. Step out of my way, Maxwell,” Heero warned, not wanting to hurt his friend, but willing to if the mission called for it.

“You can’t kill him, Heero – you have to beat him.”

Heero stopped and glared at him. “I’ll beat him first, then kill him.”

“No, not beat him like hurting him, beat him at the competition – to get Relena.”

“This is hard enough without having an enemy, Duo.”

“Yes, but only because you’re making it harder than it has to be. I have an idea.”

Heero frowned. “I like mine better.”

“But Heero, if you kill him, you’ll have broken your promise to Relena. And it won’t stop there. You’ll have to kill every man that shows an interest in her – and that does nothing for advancing your cause. You need to obliterate the thought of any other man in her mind – not obliterate the whole male species. ”

Heero sighed and looked at the gun in his hand. He didn’t know why that urge to destroy had suddenly seized control of his thoughts and actions. He hadn’t felt that way since he found out that Dekim and Mariemaia had kidnapped the Vice Foreign Minister – that boiling rage that clouded over his more rational thoughts. He looked at Duo with bewilderment.

“It’s called jealousy, my friend. And it proves two things,” Duo said with just a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. “One, that you are in fact, human. And two, you care for her more than you let on.”

Heero put his gun away, lost in thought. He had always known he was human, despite his friend’s frequent complaints that he wasn’t, or couldn’t possibly be. But what did this mean - caring more for her than he let on? Jealousy….yes, somehow that seemed to fit the irrational reaction in his mind. Care for her? Well, he had admitted that already, but now there was some question as to how deep these feelings that threatened to control him ran. The thought was unsettling, but could not be dwelled on at the moment. There would be time after the mission – and if it turned out that he did love this woman he aimed at having as his wife, well he guessed there were worse fates in life. He looked up at the grinning face of his friend. “All right, I’ll probably regret this, but tell me your plan.”

“Oh, you’ll definitely regret this, buddy,” Duo thought mischievously. He slung an arm over Heero’s shoulder and opened the door. “We’re going to teach you about a little concept that women seem to, for some unknown reason, love. You’re going to have to learn about romance.”

************************************************************************

AN: Sorry this has taken so long…I’ve been job hunting like a maniac. This is week 8 of unemployment….but there are jobs on the horizon!!!! Also, check out the new and improved – well sort of – Blissful Ignorance! You can now find us at http://www.blissfulignorance.com. If you’ve never been there before, it’s a site dedicated solely to HxR. We’re still under construction since Tripod so viciously deleted our accounts, but we still have a lot of fics. So – come by, and see us, and keep coming back as we add new stuff! J