There's No Such Word as Won't (Chapter 2)

[Rose of Betrayal]

Disclaimers: Geez, do I have to? I swear that I do not own Gundam Wing. So there! Are you happy now?
Current mood: Kind of grumpy, oh, and thanks for the happy garlic to ward off the vampire, though I couldn't really shove it in his face, since I didn't want to ruin his good looks. Oh, well. I can't seem to ever be depressed these days because this week is going great! Oh, and I'm also kinda annoyed since another idea for a fic keeps on bouncing around my head. HELP! IT ALSO HAS CLIFFHANGERS!
Warnings: The tension mounts...and drops abruptly as I cliffhanger-ize the story! *evil grin* This is a warning I give to all of you!
Miscellany notes: I am thankful to all of you. I luv reviews! Only having currently joining the 'writing fanfics' category, you ought to know you might be in for some bad moments because I'm only a beginner. And, yeah, I kinda got the bet idea from Kristen Elizabeth, but I had ideas of my own! Also, I'm not a good lemon writer even though I'm addicted to the stuff. Whew, long intro!

There's No Such Word as Won't
Chapter 2

First stop, Milliardo Peacecraft's office. Duo whistled as he walked down the hall, his footsteps echoing loudly. He had hung around for a few minutes to talk to the elderly brother of Relena Peacecraft, not bothering to concentrate properly on his work and eventually getting his head blown off by Wufei. But he didn't mind. After all, a bet was a bet, and being an excellent gambler, Duo knew he shouldn't get pissed. Which he almost never was, anyway.

"OK." He stopped in front of Zechs', as Milliardo liked to be called at the office, door and took a deep breath. As happy as he could be today about the excellent gambling money, he was nervous about talking to Zechs. After all, Zechs was such an uptight and overprotective piece of sponge and here he was, trying to talk to him about Relena's love life, i.e. his little sister's.

He knew he was not guaranteed for a good sight if he even breathed the words 'Heero Yuy'. He reviewed his lines, trying to calm himself down. He would talk the brains out of this pilot no matter what to make him agree to this. He was the first obstacle on this path. On my path to richness, he thought gleefully.

Then he pushed open the door.

*

"Stupid peace ideas," Relena mumbled, throwing aside a couple of papers. She couldn't concentrate. After all, Heero was like her muse, wasn't he?

There was that name again, she sighed. She threw another couple of papers at the wall and glared at it relentlessly as it fluttered to the floor and lay there like a dry rag. Gods, what the heck was she doing, moping over the Perfect Soldier when she had already given him up for good?

'Almost given him up for good,' her mind corrected her automatically.

Frustrated, she glanced at the bear Heero had given her for her birthday and, in a fit of anger, strode over to the bed and threw it across the room. "I don't ever want to see you again!" she stormed. She went over where it lay forlornly in the corner and kicked it for good measure. "I offered you everything, everything that I had...and you just rejected it!" she shouted with a few expletives.

"Relena?" A voice at the door made her stop abruptly. She whirled around to come face to face with Hilde, looking shocked, her mouth dropping with a thud to the floor as Relena burst into angry tears.

"There, there," Hilde said comfortingly, making her way towards Relena, wading through the scattered papers on the floor. She patted the girl on the back and sat her down on the bed. "Is there something wrong?"

Relena swallowed her frustration and looked at the ceiling. Hilde flopped on the bed beside her and stared at her friend. "Have you gone berserk and start to talk to inanimate objects now?" she said gently.

The honey-blond haired girl gave a hollow laugh. "Nothing. It's just that Heero..."

She stopped. Hilde gave her a sympathetic smile. "I don't know, Relena. Heero has feelings for you. He's just afraid to show it." She folded her arms over her chest and admitted, "Actually, it was the same with Duo. I don't know, he just can't say the three words to anyone, even me. He says he remembers that the last time he could think of ever saying I love you was when he was five years old and said that to one of the nuns in his orphanage home."

"Comes from being a Gundam pilot," Relena replied, her eyes tired as they looked straight ahead, avoiding Hilde's. "They all see pain, feel pain, and nothing but pain. And they become stoic, unfeeling, and suicidal. I guess they threw everything away when they actually agreed to become pilots."

"Actually, Duo told me that he had a feeling that he would be saving other people from fighting if he was the one who did the fighting for them," Hilde said.

"He told you that?" Relena asked.

"Sure."

"Heero never tells me anything," she said bitterly. "All he does is stand by and watch over me."

"Can't you...get together with him?" Hilde asked awkwardly.

Again Relena laughed without humor. "No, Hilde. I can't come together with a guy who is practically an empty shell, doesn't love me, and is pathetically overprotective like my brother."

"But does he protect you from other guys?" Hilde grinned.

"Um..." Relena stopped. Heero didn't protect her from other guys like he was a boyfriend or anything. Actually, the only thing that he did do was protect her from assassination attempts, brain-washed old representatives of the world, harrassments, and practically anything dangerous to her health.

"Doesn't that mean he doesn't want to be together with me when he's making no effort to ward off the men?" she frowned.

"Of course not," Hilde exclaimed. "It means that he is overprotective in the sense that he is protecting you from danger, not men. Like your brother, for instance. He doesn't want you with a guy. Heero doesn't want you with danger. Heero wants you with happiness."

"The only way he can do that is to say the magic words," Relena grumbled.

"I'll help him, don't worry," Hilde muttered, and a grin spread over her face as Relena turned away to pick up the scattered papers. She had joined the game.

*

Duo stood awkwardly at the door as Zechs looked up from paperwork and said, "Yes, Maxwell? Why are you still here? Office hours are done already. You may go home."

"I'm not going home, yet, Zechs," Duo said, shutting the door with a gentle kick. He leaned over the desk, placing his palms on the smooth texture. He came eye to eye with the mildly-suprised and also mildly-pissed former Epyon pilot. "And this isn't about office hours."

"Is it about my sister?" Zechs said at once, sitting straight up from his position and glaring at Duo. "Are you having an affair with her?"

"WHAT?" Duo exclaimed, a fit of laughter bubbling up inside him. "No, I am not! And this is not about me! This is about her!"

"What then?" Zechs asked, frustrated.

"I MEAN YOU ARE BEING STUPID BY OVERPROTECTING HER!!!" Duo bellowed in his face, losing his senses, concentration, and temper. But, oh, he did not forget his lines. Not for a second.

Zechs' face turned a brilliant shade of scarlet, and he yelled right back. "MAXWELL!!! HOW DARE YOU CRITICIZE ME ABOUT MY SISTER!!! THAT IS NOT TRUE!"

"Ahem." Wufei stood by the door, looking faintly amused as Duo and Zechs backed away from each other, Duo angrily running his hand through his brown bangs, and Zechs a livid purple color. Wufei held a stack of papers which he flumped down onto Zechs desk and faced the two of them. "So, what is going on here?" he said, apparently enjoying the scene.

"This," Zechs growled, "bastard here, comes barging into my office, demanding that I release the hold on my sister, which I do not have a hold on, anyway!"

"What?" Duo yelled. "Who checks out the men she goes out with before letting her go with them? Who makes sure he bugs her office everyday? Who listens in to her phone calls? WHO THE HELL HEARD ABOUT HILDE AND RELENA DISCUSSING UNDERWEAR ON THE PHONE???"

"Well, apparently you did," Wufei said, leaning against the desk in a pose that made Duo's angry face swell. "Who else?"

"FINE, WHATEVER!" Zechs roared. "FINE, ALREADY! BUT I WILL BE KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON YOU, MAXWELL, AND MY SISTER!" He turned back to the window and said, in a much quieter voice, "You are both dismissed."

Outside, Wufei smirked as Duo passed him by the door on the way out. But he stopped smirking immediately as he noticed the incredibly, much larger smirk Duo had on his face. "What are you so happy about, Maxwell?" Wufei demanded. "You are losing the bet! He just said he would keep a close eye on you, that onna..."

"Ah, but he forgot Heero, did he?" Duo sang, and he bounced past a now equally angry Wufei, now looking as livid as Zechs had been a few minutes ago. "Ain't I a good actor?"

"No," Wufei growled as he watched Duo skip merrily toward the door, pull it open, and slam it shut, laughing. He leaned against the wall, watching the door. Then a plan formed in his mind. Duo Maxwell was right on the edge of success... Pity Wufei was going to push him off the edge into losing. Oh, no, he definitely was not going to fail.

*

Trowa sighed and leaned back on the couch, silently contemplating what he could do to delay Duo just a little bit. Of course, the idiot had already made headway, he was sure of that. Hm. He glanced around the room, thinking, calculating.

What could he do?

His eyes lit on the videophone. Hm. What did Duo have to lose?

His best friend, he answered himself. Heero, Relena, best friends that he will never have again. Hilde, the person he loves most in the whole world. Us, the Gundam pilots. His group.

If Relena... He reached for the videophone and dialed Relena' number. Her face popped up on the screen after a few dial tones, and she looked frazzled and tired. Her dusty blue eyes peered out at him from under honey bangs. "Oh, it's you, Trowa," she said, sounding dispirited. "Yes, what is it?"

He raised his visible eyebrow. "Relena. We have to talk."

"Is this about Heero?" she asked tiredly.

"No. It's about Duo."

"What about him?"

"It seems he has a problem."

"What problem?" She sounded alarmed.

"It's the problem that one best friend won't go for the other."

"Hn," Relena grunted. "Tell him it's going to stay that way. There's no way I'm going to match up with him anymore."

"Actually, he's determined. I'm just giving a warning that he might try to mess up your brain. Don't let him."
'At least, not after one month,' Trowa silently added. As much as he wanted to win this bet, he wanted Heero and Relena together all the same.

"Thanks for the tip, Trowa. Anything else?"

"Oh, yes, and Duo says to Hilde that he might be busy to do anything."
'Like sex,' he thought silently. 'Because he's too busy pairing up the two of you, he doesn't have time for Hilde. Tell it to Hilde, Relena. He's too busy.'

"I will inform Hilde," Relena sighed. The dark circles under her eyes deepened. "Good-bye Trowa, and thanks for everything." Then she noticed the slight way he turned his face away from her. "You're smirking!" she accused him. Suspicion rang clear and true in her eyes.

Trowa half-turned toward her. "Who, me?"

"Right," she muttered. "The Silencer never smirks, laughs, or smiles, in fact, he actually never talks. Bye."

"Bye." As soon as the screen went blank....Trowa smirked.

*

Hilde stood waiting for Duo at the entrance to their apartment and greeted him with a quick kiss on the cheek. "Hey, Duo," she murmured. "Relena told me you were busy."

"Yeah, I have been kind of busy." He grinned at her and stooped down to kiss her full on the lips. "I've been trying to..."

"Relena also said you were kind of busy to do anything." She cut him off. She looked amused as she broke away. "Seems you're too busy to spend the night with me, huh?"

"What?" A confused expression sprang up on his face. What the hell... Did she find out he was trying to play cupid with Heero and Relena? "Look, Hilde, I'm not doing anything."

"We can't have sex," she said simply. "Not now. Your work must be overloading on you." She turned away. "You have to work. I'm not going to pressure you." Then she disappeared through the doorway.

Duo swept away the expression on his face, and it remained carefully blank. But it was nothing like the feelings that raged inside him. He was confused. HOW? WHY? WHO? Why did she break it so abruptly? Why was their encounter so short? He had a feeling she was keeping something from him, and she knew, somehow, that he was doing something. This cupid-playing will have to wait for later, he decided as he flumped his bag onto the floor. First, it was time to get Hilde back. Then it would be payback time.

*

Wufei looked up as Sally Po entered the room, and he studied her profile. Sky-blue eyes, braids, and enticing red lips... Where the hell did that come from? he wondered, pushing the thought back into the corner of his mind. She slapped down a couple of folders on his desk and said cheerfully, "Here you are. The report, papers, folders, etcetera."

Wufei looked them over silently and looked up at her. "Would you do me a favor, Sally?"

"A favor?" she looked startled. Then her expression turned amused and teasing. "Why would the great Wufei Chang need an onna's help?"

He swallowed his pride. It was worth it. "I need help because Duo is currently trying to get Heero and Relena together," he told her.

"Oh?" She leaned toward him, pushing herself onto his desk. He swallowed - hard. This was not going to be easy for two reasons: One, she was distracting. Two, she was about the toughest woman to convince of anything...especially him. "And I thought they were pretty much together, anyway," Sally remarked. "And why would you want to stop him?"

"Because Relena might get hurt!"

She blinked at his sudden exclamation. "You mean..." She blinked again. "You mean Relena doesn't want to be with Heero? But that's impossible!"

"Yes, it is," Wufei said, admiring the way he had navigated her. But now, it was time for her decision. "So, do you want to help Relena or not?"

Sally looked alarmed. "In the sense I help Relena see that she and Heero are...you know...or in the sense that I help her ward off Duo with my gun or what is it exactly you want me to do?" Then she began to laugh. Wufei found this very...distracting. He found himself staring at her as she grinned at him. "You're showing concern for a woman?" she snickered.

This time, it was his turn to blink. "Of course not!" he shouted. That was when he made his big mistake.

For Sally straightened her uniform and sat up in an instant. Her voice turned cool. "Oh? I knew Chang Wufei will never care for a woman. So, what is the deal between you and Duo?" She leaned forward again.

He gulped. Could she read minds or what? "Nothing," he said nonchalantly. Too nonchalantly. Wufei Chang was never nonchalant. And Sally knew it.

She leaned forward even more, her grin widening. She knew she had him cornered as he let out a silent whimper and started to wheel his chair back. She caught it. It didn't budge. For a woman, she sure was as strong as the devil. "Tell me," she said invitingly.

"No."

"Oh, yes, you will, Chang." She eyed him, eyed his Adam's apple bob up and down as he gulped. She was fully aware that their proximity was making him - sweat. And she was enjoying every second of it. He mentally smacked himself on the forehead. When this was all over, he would curse her into nonexistence. For now, he couldn't do anything. He needed her help, as much as he hated to admit it. But he was not going to tell her anything. She would pulverize him into a bloody pulp. Ouch.

"No!" he squeaked. He cleared his throat, glancing at the nearest escape: the door. Sally's blue eyes widened in mock suprise as she spun off his desk and onto another desk chair, making it wheel back and career into the door, blocking any escape. Instead, he swiveled away from it and lunged for the door. Before he even reached it...

Click.

The unmistakable sound of a cocked gun echoed in the room. He froze, halfway toward the window, and slowly turned around. Sally, her grin evil, and her eyebrows knitted in a way that made him shiver, both with fear and attraction (he mentally slapped himself again), was pointing a gun. He cursed inwardly. She had her hands in a gun...not him. He was on the wrong side of a gun. Not her. Uh-oh.

"So tell me." She placed her chin in her hands, staring up at him, never letting loose of the gun for a minute, or let him out of her sight. "What about Heero and Relena?"

Reluctantly, he sat down. This was trouble. But it might be worth it. Sighing, he began to tell his story: with Sally captured in full rapture.

--------------------------

Even though I am not a good lemon writer - in fact, I haven't written any at all - I will try my best...or my worst! Thank you! *bows* Oh, and since weekends here start at Thursdays and then Fridays, I will be sure to make more progress!
-DJ

<img src="http://images.quizilla.com/R/Ruri-chan/ ... _Ahope.JPG" border="0" alt="You represent... hope."><br>You represent... hope.

[Kari]

*scrolls down for more* What??? No more!!
*sniff* You stopped!?

[Wingnut]

Sally sure has her ways of getting what she wants from WuFei dosen't she?
The simple fact is that Duo is vastly out numbered in this scheme. In the end I see Relena and Heero getting together (after some weird misunderstanding and then discovering out the bet) and one in some very deep dodo Duo Maxwell.

[Morrighan]

Oh dear... This is going to get complicated, isn't it??

Can't wait to see more!!