Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ 3 Ties That Bind ❯ Eight ( Chapter 8 )

I laughed at Jun in complete disbelief as I studied his eyes. “You’re not serious, are you?”

He frowned at me.

“You honestly think I’m still the fucking lunatic?” I demanded. “Hate to break it to you, but wonderland crashed and burned about seven years ago with a loud bang…and did you forget that I was taking food to Chang?”

Jun’s eyes narrowed.

“I worked my way into your guard and talked you into letting me stay at your place to take him food, and you’re asking me to go…do a job for you? Was it the years of prison or the months of alcohol that got you down?”

“Fuck you,” he snapped, shoving away from the table.

“You forget, Jun,” I noted, studying him seriously. “The vorpal blade went snicker-snack and the jabberwocky lost its head. Turns out it wasn’t a dream, it was a bad trip, and unless you want his majesty to take up that vorpal blade again, I suggest you cherish your apartment, because until you’re off probation, you can’t leave Sanq or get any random funds. Get your own job, huh? And don’t ask me to kill for you anymore.”

“Maxwell,” he said, meeting my eyes pointedly. “You hate him as much as I.”

…that had to be the stupidest thing I’d ever heard.

He really wanted me to kill my own brother-in-law and thought I hated the father of my niece?

“Leave this fool’s errand in the rabbit hole and come back to the real world,” I suggested in his ear as I started away.

He caught my wrist before I could, narrowing his eyes at me. “You took food to Chang?”

“I also watched you sprinkle kaseen on food you swore to him was untainted,” I agreed darkly. “You’re worse than a fool, Martin. Didn’t prison remind you that you don’t always get your way? If you only realized how convoluted this job is you’d laugh yourself to tears.”

He thought a long moment, meeting my eyes. “Did you tell him?”

“I didn’t have to,” I retorted, yanking from his grasp. “Not only that, but Maxwell was up to see him that same day they took you down.”

Jun’s eyes widened as he turned to look at me.

“Oh, look at that,” I mimicked a stunned tone half-assed. “Oh, it must be End Game’s building,” I made a sharp gesture as if motioning someone by me without looking away from his eyes.

Jun jumped to his feet with his cheeks flushed, jumping at me.

“I drugged you, you know,” I whispered in his ear. “I mixed you a nice drink with a nice sedative that put you out.”

The frustration at this showed in his eyes as he shoved at me like there was nothing else he knew he could do.

“I ruined Maxwell’s life once,” I hissed, being sure we were eye to eye. “I took his love from him once, and that’s a sin amongst thieves. Maybe you didn’t realize it, but he was chasing me around the world for two years…only to spare my life when I had nowhere to go and nothing left to offer against him. You meet my eyes and ask me to kill him, but forget to notice that he has a family.”

“He threatened my life,” Jun hissed back, no longer shoving at me. “The day I got out he told me he’d kill me.”

“He told me he’d kill me, too,” I noted, thinking back to the man’s face when we’d meet in a packed place and how he’d sweet-talk me with death threats.

He settled back, blinking.

“Leave Maxwell alone,” I hissed at him, noting one of Quatre’s spies not far away. I assumed it was Quatre’s, anyway. “Let him live his life and keep under his radar, live out your probation and get on with your life. You don’t want to fuck with the Cheshire Cat, Jun. There’s only one way out of the tulgey wood, and we’re all mad here.”

Jun shifted back where he stood, staring at me with a look of…loss…in his eyes. More like he was lost than anything else.

“Stay out of my life,” I whispered at him. “You bring pox in your wake.”

I left him standing there without further hesitation and stormed into the cool night air.

I’d been his friend once. We’d laughed and joked over the tale of Alice in Wonderland and compared our world to that on long nights when we weren’t quite drunk. His passing obsessions hadn’t bothered either of us until Duo had really started pissing him off, and then it all had crashed around us.

Once, Heero and I’d shared Deniel. Once, we’d been the ones to call if you wanted someone rubbed-out, gotten rid of…pushing up daisies. Once, I’d had wealth beyond my wildest dreams as I danced through syndicates with nearly unlimited power…but then I’d killed Kayla and the dance became a sprint of terror. I’d killed that little auburn haired girl and everything had exploded into chaos…starting with Gray Day itself. Duo’d killed all but the woman of their council and that didn’t automatically mean she’d be the next in charge.

Not that I’d been there. I’d been running to Selena and then on, praying the Cheshire Cat wouldn’t appear above me with that eerie grin…

He had, too. The asshole’d been on a tree branch and as I’d gotten closer to it one night going through a park, he’d shifted just enough forward that I could see about half of him…and that was an image of nightmares. It was that touch of that grin and the vague tilt of his eyes with that knife in his hand…before a small group of joggers had appeared on the path and berated me for going out on my own, how the park was dangerous and I shouldn’t have even thought about going it alone, and that if I could try to pick up my pace, they’d continue their jog with me in their area.

…They hadn’t had to wait for me.

I ran a hand down my face, then started toward my car.

I hadn’t completely given up the assassin’s gig. I’d gotten a call saying I should meet a client at the bar, and had waited there until Jun had shown up calling me Ace.

I decided to head back to the castle. The city was nice enough, but not worth the hassle having one of Quatre’s guy’s tailing me would create.

Actually, I wasn’t sure if I was being followed or if Jun was.

It didn’t matter. I really just needed to get away from Jun Martin.

- -

I raised my eyes to Keith’s as he moved into my office with an almost wary look on his face.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded of him in disbelief.

“I saw…” he stopped talking as he noticed Ryu looking at him with interest.

I snapped my fingers and pointed at the door, which caused the boy to stare at me in disbelief before gathering his things up and storming from the room without so much as a yes-sir behind him.

I looked back to my brother-in-law.

“Jun tried to hire me to kill you,” he hissed, moving to bend over the desk so we’d be eye to eye. “He didn’t realize I was helping Wufei when I was staying with him.”

I raised an eyebrow at that.

“He’s…I dunno, Duo, he really hates you.”

“A lot of people hate me,” I noted, tilting my head at the man.

He frowned at me, evidently hurt by this.

“Listen, Keith,” I muttered, setting my pen down to meet his eyes, “your sister is nine months pregnant, and if you know me at all then you’ll realize that I’m in a very very bad mood right now.”

“So was the spy on me or on Jun?” he asked levelly.

“I’m not the internal affairs guy, brother. I do grounds security, and I’m making a note that I need to be called next time you come onto the grounds because there’s this urge I have to pull out my firearm every time I see you.”

He shifted back, looking away from me as he started shaking his head.

“Go talk to Quatre,” I suggested, sighing. “He won’t lie to you…and honestly, I don’t see a reason to spy on you.”

He opened his mouth, then thought about it and stopped. “When does Ash get home from school?”

“She gets off at three. Nira’s up in the apartment right now, but Q will be in his office.”

The man turned and started for the door.

“Hey, Ace?”

He turned to give me a very level look.

“Sorry for snapping at you, I’ve had a tense month or two.”

That got a nod and the respectful sort of bow of the head people gave when they really respected me.

“If you’re staying around, Lex’s birthday is Saturday, and Ash’s is in two weeks.”

He nodded again as he thought about that, then turned and disappeared into the hall.

Ryu moved to the door, looking at me a moment before looking away.

“Come in,” I suggested. “It was a private conversation and he’s obviously gone now.”

He moved into the room and closed the door with a sigh, sitting back on the chair and looking to me.

“Look at it this way. You’re here for a week and a half, then you get to move into the regular military.”

“Is that supposed to be a relief to me, or to you?”

I raised my eyebrows at him.

He rolled his eyes and resituated his papers out around him the way he’d had them before.

“If you think my problem is that you were trying to touch my cock, you’re very wrong,” I noted pointedly.

He focused on me in disbelief.

“I just get real antsy when my wife is unavailable, and you strike a nerve. Your attitude is cute and all, but I could get it out of any one of the soldiers down in the barracks.”

The hardness in his eyes turned to pain.

I shook my head, biting off the rest of the tear-you-down condescension and focusing back on the paper I’d been typing up. “Just for your information, those two years I wasn’t available were because I was running around the world and screwing anyone who caught my attention for more than five minutes.”

That made his eyes widen very slightly.

“So spare me your teenage angst,” I noted, meeting his eyes again. “Do your job, and if you want to play, don’t beat around the bush, because my wife knows I ain’t no saint, and she’d probably be grateful I found something to do.”

That got another widening of the eyes before he looked away.

I rolled my eyes, and really focused on my report.

- -

A brief moment of anger burst through my stomach as I focused on Keith with narrowed eyes.

He shut the door behind himself, studying me seriously.

“Hope the sign-posts didn’t mislead you,” I noted, focusing back on my computer screen. “Mad Hatter’s tea part is down the next hall.”

“Me or Jun?” he retorted, moving to stand across from me.

I met his eyes.

“Me, or Jun,” he repeated in a would-be-calm voice. “Are you having me followed?”

“You’re not interesting enough to waste man-power on,” I retorted. “Jun’s been trying to get Duo killed or out of office for months now. I have to admit that I was wondering what you’d say to him.”

“He’s my twin sister’s husband,” he snapped at me angrily.

“I didn’t say I thought you’d accept the job,” I retorted. “I said I wanted to know what you’d say—why you’d turn him down.”

He settled some.

“If you don’t mind, I have things to do.”

“Down the next hall, you say?” he demanded, turning back to the door. “I’ll be sure to fetch you the pepper.”

“Hahaha,” I retorted as he left the room as quickly as he’d entered it.

That had been somewhat interesting, at least it was different from the normal hum-drum of a spy’s life…

Okay, that was amusing.

I shook my head and went back to typing as my line started beeping. I hit the button without looking up.

“Yo,” Reiko muttered. “Poe only sent one paladin back.”

I turned to focus on him, then recalled our conversation when I’d told him to send the three men and raised an eyebrow.

“You want me to chase her down?”

“No, I told her to ask them what they wanted to do.”

“Isn’t that wasting man hours?”

“International cases get paid by international means.”

“Fine, you can be the boss.”

“And you can be the bitch,” I retorted, meeting his eyes again.

He flashed me an evil grin, and hung up.

I rolled my eyes and disconnected my line as well.

Some days…

- -

“Heyo, babeh,” I muttered to Keith as he moved tiredly into my bedroom. “Why are you here?”

“Why does everyone ask me that?” he retorted, kicking his shoes off and moving to crawl onto the bed with me. He situated himself by my head and then ran a hand over my belly. “You’ll call him babeh, won’t you?”

I grinned at him, moving the hair from his eyes as he sighed.

“Jun was trying to get me to…”

“Quatre told us,” I reassured him, moving slightly away from him to lay normally on my part of the bed. “He came knocking on the door at some god awful time last night and told Duo about it when Duo answered.”

“So he knew?” my brother frowned slightly. “I thought he was playing a bit nonchalant.”

“Actually, he doesn’t care,” I reassured him with a grin, then frowned. “He’s not happy.”

“He’s pissy when he needs laid,” Keith retorted. “Get him to screw that little boy in his office.”

I snorted at that, smacking him.

“Sorry, I went in there to tell him what Jun was doing and he was being an ass to me…he did the closest thing to being friendly that he could before I walked out. You okay? You two all right?”

“He’s fine with me,” I smiled. “He keeps telling me he’s not getting me pregnant again, but I don’t believe him.”

Keith grinned at that.

I rolled my eyes slightly. “I’m not worried about our relationship…but he’s not telling us something.”

“Like what? Get Quatre to figure it out.”

“It’s not that kind of something,” I mused, thinking about it. “He stopped doing that shit back in July. He’s…not happy or something.”

“Considering that he spent most of his life actively doing shit, like saving the world, I don’t imagine sitting around here playing muscle-man suits him.”

“Maybe,” I conceded. “Why are you back here, anyway?”

“I wanted to see my sister,” he noted with his lie-grin.

“Oh really?” I asked dryly. “You know you’re so full of shit I can see it in your eyes, don’t you?”

“Of course, they’re a reflection of yours.”

I giggled, smacking him.

“Mm,” he rolled over to face the bathroom, “what’s with that kid, anyway?”

“I dunno, I think he came-on to Duo or something. He told me he was bi…that kind of thing annoys the shit out of my dear darling knight and he wouldn’t want to repeat it to me.”

“Getting hit on, or having to refuse?”

I kicked him.

He laughed, turning his head to meet my eyes a moment. “He looked murderous when Duo pointed at the door and snapped his fingers.”

I choked on that.

“He got his shit and stormed out and had this cute little petulant look on his face when I left.”

“Cute?” I asked wryly. “Keith, you’ve never been one to look at boys.”

“Especially boys that might not be legal,” he agreed with a smirk. “It was cute like Lex and Lea. That same kind of ‘daddy snapped at me’ look.”

I snorted.

“Quatre told me the tea party was down the hall, but I couldn’t find it.”

“Huh?”

He snorted. “Jun always made Alice in Wonderland references when we were friends…it’s kinda how Duo became the cat. I was feeling clever last night and noted that the vorpal blade went snicker-snack, but Jun didn’t appreciate the humor.”

I laughed a bit.

“I added in about fifteen references for good measure and took off on him…remind me to buy a thing of pepper for Quatre.”

“Do I want to know?” I asked curiously, studying him.

He shrugged. “Probably not…doesn’t matter anyway. He’d know about it before I did it.”

“No, he only plays that game with Duo, and that’s with his trained monkeys that’ll do his bidding without needing paid.”

“What?”

“Duo likes to connive, and Quatre’s work is conniving. Quatre tries to figure out what Duo’s special gift for him is before he gets it and Duo tries not to let him know it. I live with a bunch of boys, babeh. Have you grown up yet?”

“Of course I have!” he sniggered. “Until I stop pretending.”

I laughed at that, kicking lightly at him again.

“I wanna sleep, Nira,” he whined at me. “Stop kicking me.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered, curling slightly toward him without touching him.

We were twins, even if no one else remembered that. I hoped I could sleep through the look on my husband’s face when he saw us, but I wasn’t kicking my brother out of my bed when the only reason was my husband knew how to whine like a pro.

Shit, considering Duo being who he was, he probably was the pro, and all the other complainers looked up to him for leadership.