Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Edulcoration of Duo Maxwell ❯ Cancer ( Chapter 28 )

The Edulcoration of Duo Maxwell - 28/?

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Warnings: AU, yaoi, coarse language, violence, angst, citrusy situations, suggestive dialog, significant (read that as major, MAJOR) deviation from Pretty Woman script as I see fit. Gratuitous insertion of red herrings throughout.

Spoilers: None for GW, quite a bit for Pretty Woman.

Disclaimer: I don't really need to be Captain Obvious here, do I? No ownership, no money being made, yadda yadda. Written for fun, not profit.

Archived at:

http://www.gundam-wing-diaries.150m.com/gw/Mookie/gwmookie.htm

an d

www.mediaminer.org (under pen name MookieNH)

Edulcorate (verb) - To free from harshness (as of attitude); to soften

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Chapter 28 - Cancer

Treize Khushrenada stood by the window looking out at the city of Los Angeles from the high rise building he was in.

Duke Dermail was close to having epileptic fits, he noted with a trace of amusement. He'd been rather unhappy to discover that the legal services of Zodiac had already been employed by one Milliardo Peacecraft.

Treize had told his old friend that he couldn't mix business with friendship, but he'd allowed himself to rationalize that it was acceptable in this case, as he was merely providing his company's services in a support function and not as a business partner.

He did want Milliardo to have the best legal advice he could, after all. He'd been almost disappointed to discover the plans his friend had for proceeding forward with a merger between Peacecraft and Romefeller, but it was not his place to tell him how to run his company, no matter how much he'd been tempted.

It was up to Milliardo to discover things the hard way. Anything he could say would be colored with his own past experiences, and he hated to admit it, but he'd rather hoped to see Peacecraft left with no other option than the one the blond businessman had bitched about the other morning.

Pride did go before a fall, he thought almost sadly.

He stood there, with his hands behind his back. The fingers of his left hand encircled his right wrist and he indulged himself in a bit of nostalgia.

It was only a fringe benefit that it served to show Dermail his back, as if he couldn't be bothered with the man.

~~~~~

Wufei's look of pure hatred had managed to soften into one of mottled rage instead by the time the intercom on Duo's phone beeped.

Duo knew that if he didn't answer it, no one would, but he couldn't imagine that it would matter one way or another at this point.

He pressed the speakerphone button. "Yes?"

"Duo?" Janet's voice asked tentatively. "Is Wufei still there?"

"Yes," Wufei answered. He didn't want to talk to Janet. He really liked the girl, but nothing she could say would make things better. All he wanted to do was go home to Meiran.

And he couldn't even do that, not without talking to her about a few things first, or she'd never understand why he was so upset.

"You'd mentioned that any information pertaining to Milliardo Peacecraft's movements would be helpful, remember?" Janet asked.

Wufei nodded, and Duo conveyed that message to her. "Yes, he does."

She was silent a moment, long enough for Duo to start wondering why she had bothered to call if she weren't going to say anything.

"ANY movements, right?"

"Yes," Duo said. If he hadn't already started to appreciate the girl's intelligence, he'd have been banging his head on the desk at her reluctance to impart whatever she thought might be important.

"I was talking to my mom at lunchtime," she said. "And she was eating in one of the dining rooms at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. You know, the one near the Chinese Theater?"

"Go on," Duo prompted. Wufei was staring out the window, his posture tense.

"Well, it seems as though there was a minor altercation..."

"Involving Milliardo Peacecraft?" Duo jumped on the implication.

"Yes. Well, at least, I assume that's who she was talking about. You don't see many men with waist length platinum blond hair walking around, even in Hollywood."

Duo wanted to laugh, considering that's exactly what Heero had been sporting the night they'd met, but he was willing to bet it was indeed Peacecraft at that hotel.

"What happened?"

"My mom said that there was a young couple sitting at a table along the wall. She thought they were having a romantic lunch when the blond man, I'm assuming Mr. Peacecraft, practically stormed in and confronted them both. She thought the two men were going to come to blows for a moment, but then someone walked by her table and blocked her view of what was going on. Next thing she knew, Mr. Peacecraft and the girl were leaving, and the other man was just sitting there. She said he stayed there a while, doing nothing, then he tossed some money on the table and left."

"A young man," Duo mused. He'd only been thinking out loud, but Janet took his comment as a question for more information.

"Have I mentioned that my mom is a bit of a clothes horse? She went on about the Gucci suit that the blond man wore, the casual elegance of the girl's Donna Karan skirt and blouse, and then she described what the mysterious young man was wearing."

Duo didn't much care if they'd all been there wearing nothing more than burlap sacks until she laughed slightly and uttered her next words.

"I thought it was a bizarre coincidence that she described a shirt remarkably like the one you wore yesterday. I remember it only because you almost always wear a tie, but yesterday you didn't. Apparently someone out there has the same taste as you do."

Duo froze. He knew the shirt she was referring to, even though he'd barely been aware of what he'd worn the morning before, in his haste to escape the temptation that was Heero.

"Did she mention what the girl and the young man looked like?" he asked, afraid of the answer, but needing to know all the same.

"The girl had long hair almost like the blond man's, only darker, like a light brown. The young man, to quote my mother, looked like he'd just rolled out of bed, but in a good way." She laughed nervously. "My mom is a bit of an admirer of men," she added, sounding a bit uncomfortable and apologetic. Most likely she was regretting mentioning it at all.

Duo felt as if he'd been cold cocked just before an icy rage started to build up inside him.

"Thank you for the information, Janet," he said, disconnecting the call as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

Wufei turned to say something, but the look on Duo's face prevented him from doing something so stupid.

~~~~~

It was ten minutes before two o'clock when a cell phone rang in Romefeller's executive conference room.

Treize did not move from the window as he answered it.

"Khushrenada."

He listened for several moments before saying, "I will let them know."

Duke Dermail did not care for the pleased little smile that was on Treize's face as he turned from the window.

"I regret to inform you that this meeting will need to be rescheduled."

"WHAT?" Dermail was apoplectic. "This is an outrage!"

"My client is exercising his right to explore other available options prior to making a binding commitment to Romefeller," Treize said apologetically. "We will be in touch to reschedule should the circumstances be in your favor."

With that, he strode out. His attorneys shook hands with Romefeller's lawyers, and they followed suit shortly afterwards.

Dermail wanted to strangle someone. First Treize took control of Zodiac when he wasn't looking. Then he'd finally managed to get somewhere with Wizard Industries, but Maxwell and Chang had summarily fleeced him of that one as well. He was tired of coming up the loser in his quest to build an empire he could be proud of.

He whirled on his granddaughter, who looked not one bit surprised at the outcome.

"Dorothy," he said tightly. "What did you say to Miss Peacecraft yesterday?"

His granddaughter looked only slightly chagrined. Amusement and even a hint of admiration laced her words.

"I told the sparrow where to find the scissors," she said enigmatically. "To cut the string." She picked up a lock of long blonde hair. "Poor birds. They don't usually find them in time," she added.

She looked up and saw the wide-eyed look she was being given. She got up and walked over to him. She placed one hand on his shoulder.

"I am sorry, Grandfather," she said quietly. "But the victory isn't very rewarding unless the game is played first."

He had always admired the chit, but sometimes he thought he'd made a mistake in grooming her for this business at such a young age.

He hated having to start over.

He put an arm around her and gave her a half-hearted squeeze, then stepped back.

"Ever go for a second round in this game of yours?" he asked.

Her eyes lit up as she smiled.

~~~~~

Wufei was unsure as to what to make of Janet's latest bit of info, and Duo's dark mood made him forego asking him for his opinion.

He finally decided perhaps the two of them needed some space and he headed for his office, leaving Duo to brood, because he was sure that's what he was doing, in silence.

Duo didn't notice his departure. He hadn't noticed much of anything since Janet's latest news flash.

Hearsay or not, he had no doubt that it was true, and he wasn't stupid. He knew very well the identity of the couple that Milliardo had interrupted. He had felt it in his gut as soon as Janet had mentioned that the presence of a young man and woman at the restaurant where her mother had dined. He felt betrayed in a way that Hilde's long-distance break up couldn't begin to touch.

He sat and continued staring at his computer screen, letting the rage inside fester.

His face didn't change in the slightest as it grew into something ugly.

~~~~~

Heero let himself into the suite and glanced at the clock. He'd done what he could. He didn't know if it had been a waste of time, but at least he could honestly say he'd tried.

He didn't like the Tinkerbell comment, though. Cocaine was a stimulant, and the inclusion of that particular drug suggested the use of speedballs to him. Made worse was that cocaine was a Schedule II drug, which meant it did have recognized medical benefits.

Had it been one of the red herrings Dorothy wanted to throw in Relena's face, or was there more to this than met the eye?

He sincerely hoped Peacecraft listened to his sister, no matter what the man thought of him personally.

He didn't want to give any more thought to Peacecraft's vague hints and blatant resentment. He glanced at the clock again.

Duo had said not to wait up. Unless his employer changed his mind, he should have plenty of time to get in a decent workout at the hotel gym and still be showered before Duo got back.

He rummaged through the dresser drawers looking for the bike shorts he'd borrowed the other day and found another tank top as well. Duo had remembered to add socks to Heero's wardrobe, so once he was dressed, he pulled them on and dug into the closet for Duo's athletic shoes.

He didn't care if the elevator operator got an eyeful dressed as he was. The man could go hang.

He was looking forward to a rather intense workout. He had a feeling he was going to need it.

He didn't know how prophetic those words were going to be.

tbc