++
He watched her hours later as she prepared for bed, his heart going out to his beautiful wife, her pain becoming his.
"Can your heart take telling her the rest of the story?"
"If I had to of blasted through the entire story tonight, then no.
But with a break, I believe it can. Either way, it will have to. She deserves
to know the truth."
"She's eight years old!"
"Yes, she is, and at her age I was expected to fend for myself!"
"Yes, but don't you want your… our daughter to lead a normal life?"
"If it had been possible yes, but there are too many ghosts in both
of our pasts for her to do that. The war stained everyone, and it will continue
to stain innocents for years to come."
He watched her as she maneuvered herself into bed, her growing belly hardly hindering her grace.
++
"Mommy?"
"Yes sweetheart?"
"Will you continue to tell me stories once the baby is born?"
"Of course! Though they might be interrupted from time to time, and
your baby brother or sister might join us. Is that ok?"
"As long as it's not all the time," the little girl sniffed, burying her face in her mother's side.
"It won't be."
"Good."
"So with that settled, do you want me to continue the story?"
"Yes please!"
She chuckled at her daughter's enthusiasm. "So where was I again? Had she left yet?"
"Yes, she'd just been grabbed by someone," the little girl urged, and
her sparkling emerald eyes caused her mother to pause for a moment before
she shook her head and smiled.
"So, so immersed in the habit of her routine was she that she failed
to notice that man waiting for her until he clamped a hand over her mouth…"
"Don't scream. I'm a friend. I swear." A man murmured
into her ear and she gulped, a hand moving towards the gun she kept in her
purse. "Please, don't do that. I don't want to hurt you. But we need to
talk," he whispered urgently, the sincerity in his voice stilled her movements
and she nodded.
"I won't scream," she tried to mumble around his hand, eventually settling for nodding her head in response.
"I'm going to remove my hand now, don't scream. Please."
The please pulled at her heart, and her mind began to recognize the muffled voice.
"Quatre," she asked softly as his hand finally removed itself from her mouth.
"Yes. Please Midii, we need to talk." He urged, his eyes pleading with her.
"But Quatre, I have a meeting to go to. Couldn't you have just called
me at home?" She asked, edging away from him and towards the elevator.
"It's important. I swear. Please." The tone of his voice as he pleaded
with her turned her resolve and she found herself nodding in acquiescence.
"We can talk as Rashid drives you to Preventer Headquarters. I wouldn't
be bothering you like this if it wasn't of the utmost importance." Her murmured.
And she finally realized that they had been talking in whispers since he
had first grabbed her, and her inner spy began to suspect what her heart
had been refusing to believe since the moment in the mad scientists lair
when Trowa pulled her into his arms.
"It's about Trowa, isn't it?" she asked softly, as she allowed Quatre
to lead here to the back elevator. Following him meekly as her heart began
to fervently protest the conversation that was about to take place.
"Yes. It is."
++
"I doubt you would truly appreciate how different the man you married
is from the Trowa I knew during the war and the years following it but, he's
changed, drastically." Quatre finally said after they were ensconced in the
safety of his car. The scent of leather filling the air around them.
"I do. The Trowa from back then would never have forgiven me, nor
so readily taken me into his arms, or his heart, or even his bed. To him
I was a dangerous animal that you could never turn your back on. He didn't
trust that I was now his ally." She murmured, head cast down.
"Then why did you marry him?" Quatre asked, somewhat surprised at her candor, and the depth of her insight.
"Because I've been in love with him since I was ten years old. I've
been in love with an ideal for so long that it became an infatuation. When
Lady Une told me I was to be partnered with Trowa Barton, I was ecstatic.
I recognized him as my Nanashi from the vids covering the war effort. Pathetic
I know, but when you've been alone for so long, with out anyone to love,
nor to love you in return, you change," she finished, tears beginning to
glitter in her eyes.
"So then you know what I'm going to say?" Quatre asked softly, and she nodded.
"The man I married isn't Trowa Barton, which makes sense. See when
that cute mad scientist held me captive, there was a barrage of noise, as
if someone was attempting a rescue, but then Trowa didn't arrive for days
afterwards. He might have been taken captive by that crazy scientist…"
Her voice dropped as she voiced her theory. The theory which had rattled
around in her head when her heart lost it's fragile hold over her mind, and
the instincts which had kept her alive throughout the war took hold.
"Quatre can we continue this conversation later, I really need to speak
with Lady Une now," Midii asked as the car pulled up to Preventer HQ. She
smiled with jaded eyes as he nodded his acceptance, thrusting a cell phone
at her in the same instant.
"Easier to contact each other," he responded at her questioning glance. "I'll call you later."
"Yes."
++
He grinned maniacally as access granted flashed across the screen.
Chuckling as her breezed through the lower levels of the Preventer's database,
each file opening at the stroke of a key, no further prompting needed.
Access codes. Weapon's cache locations. Mobile Suit plans. It was
all hidden in the database, just a few more minutes and he'd have them.
He jumped as the phone rang, and with a deft movement of his hand he
turned off the monitor as he answered the phone. The well-worn expression
of absolute happiness slipping onto his features.
"Barton-Une residence?" he answered. Eyes widening in surprise as he took in the face of his caller.
"You know you're not meant to call me here, the call's can be traced." He accused.
"Your wife is in the top echelons of Preventer! She's on par with Lady Une! They wouldn't dare monitor her home phone."
"Yes they would. Because she has such a high rank in Preventer. It's
just the way it works, Charles. Really for a mad scientist slash evil genius
you really don't have a clue at times," Trowa snorted. "I'll call you at
the usual time, whatever you have to say can wait till then." With a shake
of his head he closed the connection, fingers now working madly to delete
any record of the call.
A groan escaping his lips as he lost his place in Preventer database.
"Mommy?"
"Yes dear heart?"
"Nothing…"
"Sweetie?"
"No, it was nothing, please, continue," the little girl asked, desperate
to hear more, but beginning to feel the first stirrings of fear. With a
furtive glance she eyed the closet door, images of a mad scientist crawling
through her shoes, waiting for the moment to pounce flitting through her
mind.
"If you're sure."
"Yes, yes, I am. But maybe tomorrow night? It's rather late at the moment."
"Yes, you're right. Tomorrow night then, we'll continue this story. And hopefully finish it."
"Night Mommy," the little girl called out as her mother stopped in
the doorway, hand poised over the light switch. "Could you leave the door
open a little?"
"Of course. Night sweetie, sweet dreams."
++
-to be continued and hopefully finished in part 3
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