Shameless

by the Black Rose

Chapter 2 – When it comes to loving you

            Heero stormed into the Colonel's office. He didn't let the Head of the Preventer Organization get up from her desk or have a single second to counter his attack.  He caught her in the middle of a conference call on her videocomm, yanked the power cord, and slammed the magazine down in front of her face.

            "Your people aren't doing their job."

            Une stared up at him.  "You just hung up on Senator Neuvième of the Inter-Colony Defense Council.  I could have you court marshaled for that."

            "Your people.  Aren't doing.  Their job."

            The head of the Preventer organization stood up from her chair and shot him a scathing look.  "My people always do their job." She leaned over her desk and spoke in a low, menacing tone. "One hundred percent, Commander.  If you have a problem—"

            Heero tore open the magazine to page fifty-three and held it out to the Colonel.  She glanced at it, and then back at her subordinate.

            "She didn't clear that with our staff." She rose to her full height and crossed her arms. "It was done on her own personal time. What are we supposed to do, Commander, babysit her?"

            "If that's what it takes."

            Une sat back down in her chair. "You're unreasonable.  The Vice Foreign Minister is a grown woman.  Our responsibility is to protect her from bodily harm.  Not police her personal life in order to prevent any possible mistakes."

            Heero leaned down over her desk. "The Preventer charter states its responsibility is to ensure the public safety and protect. On more than one occasion, you have extended that to investigate fraud and libel."

            "This, Commander, is a picture." She pointed at the shameful, degrading thing.  "It is not fraud, and it is not defamation of character."

            He narrowed his eyes. "The photographers credentials don't check."

            "I am aware of that.  Her publicist, Mr. Parker, has been contacted and is coming in this afternoon for a conference."

            "Not good enough."  Heero stood up and crossed his arms.  He continued to scowl down at his superior.

            "I don't have the authority to go arrest a man who could be a perfectly law-abiding citizen for a couple of photographs merely on your whim, Commander." She turned her attention to shuffling some papers.  "You're overstepping your bounds.  I will handle this."

            He wrenched the pages out of her hands.  "I want to return to special detail."

            "You took yourself off."

            "I want back on."

            She glared at him for a moment, then reached over to reclaim the stack of papers from his hands.  He gave them up without a fight.  "Granted."

That was all he needed to hear.  He turned away and started towards the door.

"And Yuy, off the record." Her voice called him to a halt.

            He glanced back at her over his left shoulder. "Yeah."

            "Fix it."

            Heero bowed his head.  "There's nothing I can do."

            *                      *                      *                      *                      *

            Relena brushed her hair out now that it was pleasantly released from the French twist it had been in all day.  She sighed.  The damned magazine spread was already making headlines.  Granted, part of her skirt was missing, and she hadn't known she was showing cleavage at the time, but why was it such a big deal that she looked….

            "Trashy." Relena slumped over her hands.  She was practically a pinup girl waiting to happen. Or, as her brother had so kindly put it, she looked: "Loose."

            But it's what--

            Relena flicked on the television to drown out the voice of logic before it could surface. The obnoxious jingle of the Celebrity News International show blared from the set.  "Oh, wonderful." She shook her head and tossed the remote onto her vanity table.  It was sheer, morbid, curiosity that kept her from changing the channel.

            "Hot off the magazine presses tonight is a story about the world's favorite prim, pink, princess finally shedding that virginal image and showing some skin in the long anticipated edition of the Fifty Sexiest Stars.  CNI went behind the scenes of Celebrity Star Magazine to find out just what the former queen is really made of."

            Relena groaned and turned away.  She didn't want to actually see the piece of gossip the show passed off as a form of pseudo-journalism. 

            "From fifteen to one of the fifty sexiest stars, Relena Darlian, the former Queen of the World has held the public's interest in everything from her policy on foreign affairs to the color of her panties."

            Relena gasped. "WHAT?"

            She spun around just as an image of her – the one from the recent magazine –froze on screen.  The camera closed in on the picture; she smiled innocently up from the glossy page, her pose anything but naïve.

"But just how much 'public interest' does the royal twenty-year old woman inspire? And do the sexy snapshots leave this politician overexposed?"

The stills changed to the live feed of a reporter on a city street, at night, just outside a teeming local bar. He held the mic for some attractive, twenty-something guy.

            "What do you think of the article?"

            The interviewee grinned.  "I like it."

            "Yeah?" The reporter pulled the microphone back to his face. "What do you like about it?"

            The young man held the magazine up towards the camera.  "She's, y'know, always in those business suits. BORING. But it was SO OBVIOUS she was hiding a hot bod - somewhere."

            The feed cut to another 'on-the-street' interview.  Two guys - one blond, one dark-haired - at a party smirked at the reporter. 

"Oh yeah, she's hot," the blond one said.

            "We always wondered what she wore under that queen dress," the dark-haired one added.

            "Dude, I bet it was garters and a thong."

            "Nah, I bet she wore nothing at all."

            Relena flicked the switch on the remote and sat down on the bed in the dark.  Her face burned. 

It's humiliating… I've worked so hard. I had to overcome the fact that I was at first a child, then a woman, in a man's world, but now…

            Her hands twisted the comforter in her lap.  She bowed her head and closed her eyes.

At least they see me as a woman.

            *                      *                      *                      *                      *

            The halls of Preventer Headquarters echoed with only the faint scrape of Heero's shoes.  Most of the staff workers had already gone home; the only other sounds to be heard were the dim buzzing noises of computers and appliances.  He pushed open the door to Duo's office and glanced at his watch.  Maxwell was late. 

The disgruntled Preventer shut the door and stomped over to the desk.  He sat in the chair, and looked at his watch again.  Heero rested his hands on the top of the desk and closed his eyes.  No, he couldn't take a nap.  He needed to be alert for when Maxwell came back.  He glanced around; there were no reading materials, the computer was locked – he could hack into it, but there was really no point.  Finally, Heero opened the drawer, picked up the remote, and flipped on the television.  He sunk back into his seat and stared in the general vicinity of the screen.  Just until that braided idiot…

            "We always wondered what she wore under that queen dress," a young-sounding male's voice blared from the speakers. Heero's eyes focused on the monitor.

A white, male in his early twenties, wearing spiked up blond hair and a smile that said he thought he was 'God's gift' to something, chuckled into the mic.  "Dude, I bet it was garters and a thong."

            "Nah, I bet she wore nothing at all."

Heero shot up in his seat and glared as her face came on screen.  "Relena…"

"From prim princess to sexy starlet, the queen of the world is finally growing up.  When we come back.  Celebrating forty years of the magical fingers of pianist and pop icon Billy Joel.  Can you answer this trivia question?"

SNAP!  Something sharp pierced the skin of his palm. 

"Which Billy Joel song topped the charts two years after its original release, sung by another male vocalist?"

"Now I'm not a man who's ever been insecure about the world that we're livin in.

I don't break easy, I have my pride

But if you need to be satisfied…"

"The answer, when we come back, after this commercial break."

Heero glanced down at the remains of the remote control in his hand.  A trickle of blood escaped and mingled with the twisted mess of plastic. "Dammit."  He pressed the 'Off' button, but nothing happened.  He tossed it to the floor and brought the uninjured hand up to his face.  Someone was going to pay for this.

"You see in all my life I've never found

What I couldn't resist,

What I couldn't turn down,

I could walk away from anyone I ever knew

But I can't walk away from you…"

"If you guessed the 1989 hit 'Shameless', you'd be correct."

"I'm shameless,

When it comes to lovin you.

I'd do anything you want me to.

I'd do anything at all…"

"Released on the album Storm Front which soared straight to the top of the charts with the hit single We didn't start the Fire, two years later, country music legend Garth Brooks made the lesser known song famous."

"I never let anything have this much control over me.

I worked too hard to call my life my own.

But I made myself a world and it worked so perfectly.

But it's your world now, I can't refuse.

I've never had so much to lose.

I'm SHAMELESS!"

"And that's the end of our trivia section. Up next, a look at the life and lyrics of pop-icon and pianist Billy Joel."

"I'm SHAMELESS!

I don't have the power now.

I don't want it anyhow,

So, I gotta let it go….

I'm SHAMELESS!

Shameless as a man can be.

You can make a total fool of me,

I just wanted you to know…"

"Sounds like you, buddy." Duo stood in the center of the room, arms crossed, and a closed-mouth smile on his lips. 

"You're late."

"Well, good to see you, too." The long-haired man made no move to hand over the requisite, delayed, information.

Heero narrowed his eyes at the lone obstacle separating him from tearing that photographer limb from limb: Duo Maxwell.

The announcer's voice cut through the silence. "Billy Wayne Joel was born—"

Maxwell reached up and hit the button to power off the television.  He glanced over at the remnants of the TV clicker on the floor. "Do I even want to know what happened to my remote control?"

Heero cleared his throat. "Substandard manufacturing."

"Yes, well, I'll tell Sony they need to start pressure testing their remotes to withstand being pile-drived against granite at 140 miles per hour."

The former Zero pilot crossed his arms and glared.  "I snapped it in half with my bare hands.  Your neck could be next."

Duo visibly paled.  Heero couldn't help but smirk.

"Jeffrey Cole."

The braid-wearing Preventer tapped a finger to his chin. "Is it considered aiding and abetting to point a known killer in the direction of the man threatening the image of the girl said killer is in love with?"

"Would you prefer to help get me back in practice?"

"How many times have you threatened to kill me in this conversation already?"

"Two.  I can make it three. Jeffrey Cole."

"I think that was three.  Here." Duo tossed Heero a disk.  The Preventer caught it and nodded in his friend's direction.

"What's on it?" He stuffed the square, plastic, and out-dated thing into his jacket pocket.

Duo flopped down in one of the 'guest chairs' in his office.  "I got the bookkeeper to do a little investigative work.  We tracked the check she cut for the soon to be ex-Mr. Cole to the bank where he cashed it." The Preventer clasped his hands behind his neck and continued to recite his informal report.  "He, big surprise, had no account, so they got a thumb print for the file.  The bank sent along a scan of the print, the signature on the check, a still from their security camera clearly showing his face, AND, this is the part where you're going to be really impressed." Maxwell sat up from his relaxed pose and grinned.

Heero crossed his arms and glared.

Duo's shoulders slumped. "You're just not human, you know, that?  It's not normal, this not being human.  You really should go see a doctor for that.  Maybe there's a topical cream or--"

"Maxwell."

"Why do I bother?" The long-haired Preventer ran a hand through his bangs and stared up at the ceiling.  Heero recognized that as his friend's 'why me?' look.  Yes, the American idiot was so put upon by the proclaimed inhumane one.  Whatever.

"There's another pic.  One of Jeff and your friend Mr. Key, getting in to a car in the parking lot of the bank.  We did a little photo enhancement, and got the license plate number.  It doesn't belong to Key."

Heero would have smiled if it wasn't against his nature.  "That's what I needed."  He moved quickly towards the door.

"Why thank you, Duo, you're amazing." His friend's voice sneered behind him.  "Good work, pal.  I really owe you one.  I'm so glad I can always count on you…"

Heero turned in the doorway to level a glare at his friend.  He grabbed the doorknob and pulled the panel shut behind him with a bang.

It opened a second later.  Heero was halfway down the hall. 

"A simple thank you wouldn't kill you, you know!  I worked my ass off for that information!"

Heero kept walking.

"Argggggh! I give up! You just are NOT HUMAN!  And someday, you're going to look around you, and there's not going to be anyone there.  You'll be alone with no friends, and definitely no girlfriend because Relena will find someone else and forget all about the cold sonofabitch who can't own up to his feelings for her.  And I won't blame her one bit!"

Heero's heart felt like it just stopped right at that moment.  His feet stuck to the floor.  "I won't, either."

"See! That's exactly what I mean. Right there.  You're supposed to fight for her. What's wrong with you?"

The former Zero pilot pivoted slowly back towards the office and met Duo's gaze.  His friend was shaking one fist in the air; his other hand gripped the knob on the door with white knuckles.

"You said it before." Heero turned around but paused before walking away.  "Thank you."

He strode quickly down the hallway, but didn't make it out of the building before Duo's voice reached him from a distance away.

"What do you mean I said it before? What does that mean?" There was a brief pause as if he actually expected Heero to turn around and answer.

"And..and you're welcome, you big idiot!  Sheesh, I never thought I'd see the day…"

And finally, a very faint: "I need a drink."

The former Zero pilot threw open the exit door, one hand still clutching the disk in his pocket.  Heero snarled. 

Jeffrey Cole.  Your ass is mine.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

AN: Stay tuned for Chapter 3 in the next edition.  But for now, a little preview:

            "Why isn't Heero on the duty roster for the trip to New York?" Relena asked the female Head of the Preventer Organization. "I thought he was back on rotation."

            "He traded weeks." Une's voice held the crisp tone of a commander, but her eyes avoided Relena's gaze.  "He said he couldn't be away right now.  Some sort of personal business."