Heero had just put the last of his toiletries into a plastic bag when a short ruffle on the door to his room made him look up. Duo Maxwell was standing against the doorpost, casually, his braid dangling behind him.
"Ouch," he said when he saw Heero's face. Earlier that morning, Heero had caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror - fortunately a glimpse only, because what he saw of the huge black and blue bruises on his face was enough to scare himself. He looked like he had walked into three doors at the same time at light speed. "I hope you don't have a courtroom date anytime soon, because they will mistake you for the perpetrator instead of the lawyer."
"I'll have to ask Harriet," Heero answered.
"Harriet?"
"My secretary. I'm sure she has rescheduled every meeting, but that means I have to work double as hard as to catch up."
"Your secretary sounds harsh."
"She's strict, but fair." Heero had to grin.
"Did the doctor say anything?"
"Nothing much. I have to take it easy. And in case of sudden headaches, blurred vision or fainting, I'm to report back ASAP."
"True that. The coward punched you right in the face. He could've broken your nose or your eye socket, or clobbered you straight into a brain injury."
"My, aren't you the positive one."
"Want some breakfast?" Duo asked. "My treat."
Heero had had breakfast already, but the hospital food had little taste to it. "Yes, breakfast would be nice."
"All right, let's go." Duo waited until Heero had packed all his belongings and left the hospital room with him.
The restaurant of Duo's choice wasn't as classy or exclusive as the ones Heero went to with Relena. It didn't really matter - he was hungry - and the portion sizes were large enough to satisfy his and Duo's appetite. Heero heard Duo's order for hash browns, pancakes, scrambled eggs and a few muffins, along with a jug of milk and one of orange juice, and decided to go along and order more than just a slice of toast with one egg, sunny side up.
Duo looked tired, his vibrant violet eyes a little dull. Heero had to remind himself that the early morning was the end of Duo's workday, instead of the beginning.
"This must be pretty weird for you," Heero said.
"Nah, it's not that bad." Duo made a dismissive gesture. "I always take a good, large breakfast before I go to bed. I have to replenish my energy, you know."
They waited until the waitress had brought and put every plate on the table, then Duo grabbed his napkin and eating utensils and all but beamed at Heero.
"It's time to dig in," Heero was quicker to say. Duo's grin turned wider.
"Don't mind if I do!"
Heero was surprised to see how fast he cleaned his plate, following Duo's pace, and to top breakfast off, they both ordered a large coffee with warm apple pie and whipped cream. He had to watch his calorie intake.
"That's the life!" Duo said as soon as the coffee and apple pie arrived.
"Rough night?"
"More like a frustrating night." Duo took the sugar and cream on the table to create his unique blend of coffee. Heero didn't bother to count the scoops of sugar and instead inhaled the delicious smell of warm apple pie, rich with cinnamon. He took a bite as Duo finished 'seasoning' his coffee.
"What happened?"
"We spend the entire night looking for it," Duo said, and Heero didn't need to ask what he meant by 'it'. "It shouldn't be this difficult. Wherever we looked, we couldn't find it. Things have… changed, and I don't like it. I don't like it at all. I think there's a boss behind this all and a pretty powerful one to boot."
Heero didn't like it either. "Is there something we can do?"
"Wufei is going to consult Master Long again," Duo said.
"Who is this Master Long?"
"He's like the Methuselah of spirit hunting and exorcism," Duo explained. "His vast knowledge and expertise is simply unheard of. We consult him because of all his experience and advice. There's just no ghost, entity or presence that he hasn't heard of. His library is legendary. Unfortunately, the man is old, and he hasn't written all of his knowledge down. So we have to be quick with our questions and sift through the answers he gives. He's starting to get… well, a little off."
"Alzheimer's?" Heero asked.
Duo nodded. "When the first signs started showing, we thought that a demon was leeching off of him, but this is something that happens to old people, a normal thing to happen." He almost laughed. "To think that there are still 'normal things'…"
"You see a lot of otherworldly phenomena," Heero said. "No wonder you're a little skeptic."
"It's such a waste." Duo sighed. "The man knows so much, yet we can't get the right answer out of him. Still, he's a treasure trove of knowledge, even if he's not always in his right mind. Compared to him, I'm just a toddler."
"Who's taking care of him?"
"Relatives of Wufei," Duo answered. "His community is very tight. Everyone takes care of one another, and Master Long is nothing short but a god to them. He's been taken care of very well."
"All right." Heero was busy with the last bite of his apple pie. "What's next?"
"I have a library of my own," Duo said. "I need to do some research myself. Usually we need to be fast, but in this case, I think we have to be extremely careful and prepare well ahead of time instead of jumping in head first."
"I rather have you be careful as well," Heero said. Duo's smile could've rivaled a Christmas tree.
"That's kind of you," Duo said. "But let's talk about you," he turned the topic around. "You were attacked in your own apartment. I should've called ahead of course, but I figured I might as well stop by. I thought you wouldn't be in bed at that time."
"And how come you would know something like that?" Heero asked. Duo grinned.
"Well, you're a hardworking lawyer. I expected you to be still up and looking over your files or preparing a case you're working on. I didn't think you'd be hanging out at a bar with all of your friends."
Heero wanted to protest, but he had to admit that Duo was right. He didn't have much of a social life.
"There's nothing wrong with working hard," he grumbled.
"I'm not disagreeing with you." Duo had finished all of his food and coffee and looked like a cat that just had eaten the fattest canary. "It was a good thing that I came by because I found you on the floor, unconscious, with blood all over your face. I called the ambulance and the first number on your cell." He looked a little embarrassed. "I hope I did the right thing. I'm sure your family and friends would like to know if you ended up in the hospital."
"You did the right thing," Heero nodded. "Relena is a good friend, and I'm glad you called her first."
He figured that Duo was curious as to why he didn't mention any parents, but Heero didn't want to talk about it. "I haven't thanked you for your effort yet," he continued. "Without you, I'd still be lying on the floor."
"Whoever surprised you, he's an asshole," Duo said, "punching you directly in the face like that. You didn't even have a chance to defend yourself!"
Heero brought up his hand to touch his cheek and jaw; the bruises were still very sensitive. The waitress had avoided to look at him. Perhaps Harriet should postpone any court room meeting for another month or so.
"That reminds me, Relena told me that my apartment had been torn apart."
"Pretty much. I'm sorry," Duo said. "Everything's been cut up. I hope you have a good insurance."
"I should check it out," he said. "And report it to the police."
"All right, but be warned: it's a huge mess." Duo stretched and hid a yawn behind his hand. "I'm off to my own bed, if Shini hasn't ruined it for me."
"You allow that creature to sleep in your bed?"
"Oh no, but once I'm away from home, he does whatever he wants to do, the sneaky bastard."
Despite both Relena and Duo warning him about the state of his apartment, it was still a shock to Heero when he opened the provisionally repaired door. Every piece of furniture was turned upside down, torn apart and cut up. Heero walked through the mess, carefully avoiding glass and splinters. He was glad his library of expensive law books was at his office, but he got upset at seeing his collection of rare Japanese book editions completely torn apart. What would anyone think to find in a book? Even his kitchen was a mess, and he decided not to enter as the floor was covered with shards of glass and porcelain. It was going to take a professional cleaning company to take care of this, he had no energy to do this all by himself. Heero went to his bedroom and let out an annoyed grunt when he saw that his mattress had been cut up, along with his bed linen, torn like sheets of paper. For a minute, he was completely overwhelmed; what was he supposed to do now? His smart phone rang and he took it out of his pocket to answer it.
"I heard that you left the hospital," Relena's familiar voice, "and I think it's better if you come to stay with us for a few days, Heero. Your apartment isn't the right place to be right now."
He wanted to decline at first, but one look at his torn bed told him that he didn't even had a place to sleep anymore. Besides, when he didn't answer quickly enough to Relena's liking, she told him to be ready when she got there, because she was already on her way.
"What is this world coming to," Relena exclaimed dramatically as she drove through the streets of New Port City. She had a personal chauffeur, Pargan, but she didn't like to call upon her staff all the time. "Attacking one in one's home, destroying other people's property…"
"Well, if it didn't happen, we'd be out of work," Heero answered dryly. Relena shook her head, not laughing at the small joke.
"It always hurts the most when it happens to people close to you," she said. "When people are… just people, files, case numbers, I can deal with it just fine. But to see it happen so close…"
"I'm okay, Relena," he assured her. "It happened. It happened, and that's it."
"You have to buy new furniture," she said, her tone lightly again. "And new kitchen utensils and new bed sheets. And don't think of going back to work so soon."
"But..!"
"I'll have Harriet bring you your files so you can read up on them, but no work at the office for you. You're simply not up to work right now."
"I'll be the judge…"
"No, you won't." Relena's tone of voice didn't leave much room for protest. "I had Anna prepare the guest room, and you're going to take it easy for the next couple of days. You need some time to recover; you've been working too hard anyway." When he didn't respond, she continued: "You can invite that handsome Mister Maxwell over anytime."
He almost choked and tried to hide it by coughing. "Say what?"
"You heard me. He's a good-looking, kind person. He was worried about you and didn't leave until he was sure you were taken to the hospital. You really have to tell me more about him, Heero."
"Which reminds me," he said quickly, "he's tied to the Winner case. Confidentiality and all that…" She threw him a glare. "Talking about Winner..?"
"Trowa Barton called to your office and spoke to Harriet," Relena said. "Not an hour later, Quatre Winner himself called, all worried about you. He said he would send you an e-mail."
"My laptop… I left it at the office. It's the only thing that escaped destruction, I guess."
"I'll get it for you," Relena promised. "But for now, you're going to bed."
Heero had never been in this wing of the Peacecraft mansion before. He was impressed by Relena's and Mark's good, distinctive taste, without resorting to tacky or overwhelmingly decadent furniture, like the Khushrenada villa had.
The guestroom had an adjacent bathroom, and Heero allowed himself the luxury of a bubble bath instead of a quick shower. He couldn't resist taking a look at himself in the mirror; the bruises had colored into a distinctive purple. It made him angry. He would love to give his attacker some punches of his own..!
Heero lowered himself into the water and his stiff muscles relaxed. Inhaling the calming scent of lavender, he closed his eyes, and his thoughts drifted off. He had to let it go. Despite not having a headache, he had difficulties processing information right now, as if his brain was quickly overflowing.
Relena was right: no matter how much he denied it, he had to take it easy. It just didn't sit well with him to 'take it easy'. He was raised to work hard, never complain, and never give up. This was a temporary setback, and he had to give in to the fact that one didn't immediately go on happily after receiving such hard blows to the face. He couldn't change what had happened, and he had better focus on other, more mundane things - like calling his insurance company. He had to file a police report, and there was an apartment to clean.
Heero snorted. The culprit had even sliced his mattress to bits. What had he tried to accomplish? Another thought struck him out of nowhere. His apartment building had a doorman. Heero didn't know him personally, but he knew the elderly man took his work seriously. He was supposed to announce any visitor, even a delivery man.
Heero frowned. Another thing to investigate. He tried to relax again, but his thoughts kept turning around in circles. If he continued like this, a headache would definitely come up. He'd been soaking in the water long enough now, and the king-size bed in the guestroom certainly looked inviting.
His thoughts wandered off to Duo. The American was just as hard to understand as the ghosts and spirits he worked with. Duo was handsome yes, and he had a good, kind heart and could be serious when he needed to be. Heero pondered. If there was going to be a relationship, Duo's work was going to be a roadblock. What kind of life were they going to lead if one worked days and one worked nights - and endangered his life dealing with dark entities and creatures? He had to smirk. Here he was, soaking in a hot bath, thinking about a relationship that didn't even exist yet. He better got himself into his bed; that was much safer ground.
Relena had held true to her word and brought Heero his laptop. It was waiting for him on the Louis XV desk as he emerged from the bathroom. He turned it on and while it was booting, he changed into a comfy pair of sweat pants and a shirt. Heero checked his mail and cringed at all the inquiries waiting for him. He could see a mountain of work rising up in front of him, and he hoped that Zechs Merquise, Relena's stepbrother and also a partner at the office, could handle his caseload along with his own.
Heero was planning to return to the office as soon as possible anyway. He didn't like to not be in control, and even though he trusted Zechs, he rather dealt with his cases in his own way.
Heero clicked on Quatre Winner's e-mail and read a general 'get well soon' message along with a lunch invitation for when he was feeling better. He answered most of the e-mails, send some instructions to Harriet, and browsed the Internet for new furniture. Feeling a little dissatisfied and grumpy, he decided to go to bed early. His head felt heavy.
He didn't know what awoke him. Heero opened his eyes, searching through the dark room. He shifted and carefully sat upright in the bed. Something… was off. A quick glance to his left told him it was 4 in the morning. Everybody should be asleep.
It felt like a different kind of silence. He wanted to laugh out loud. How many kinds of silence could there be?
Heero threw the blankets off of him and got out of bed. He put on his bathrobe and left the bedroom, ending up in the large, dark hallway. The only light was moonlight, shining through the large windows in the west wing; there was no one to see. For a moment, he thought he had been hallucinating, but then curiously he heard the sound of male voice, low, mumbling, talking quickly. He tried to locate the voice, going down the hallway like a thief in the night. It led him to a door to another guestroom, he assumed.
He was so close now that he could make out the words: "Not now, he might be able to hear us." Curiously, Heero leaned into the door. "Yes, yes, I'll make sure of it, don't worry."
It was impossible to identify the voice. It was a one-way conversation, perhaps on the phone. Who could be on the phone at this time of hour? Someone from the housekeeping staff? Mark, Relena's husband? Heero discarded the thought immediately. Leaning even closer, pressing his ear to the door, he tried to hear more.
"I know," the same mumbling, and then a few repetitive "yes", until everything went silent again. The faint glow from under the door suddenly disappeared, as if a light had been switched off. Heero held his breath, expecting the speaker to come out of the room, but nothing happened. After fifteen minutes of waiting, he returned to his own room, chilled to the bone, and filled with questions.
"How are you feeling?" Relena buttered her toast and helped herself to some jam.
"I slept like a baby." A small lie, but Heero didn't see the necessity to tell Relena about his… late night activity. He looked at the breakfast table for another slice of toast. It was set for two; Mark had a business brunch this morning, so he wouldn't join them. "I feel rested today."
"Good. However, I heard from a little birdie that you've been sending e-mails. Remember what I told you about taking it easy? Don't make me take your laptop away," she lectured him, albeit with a smile on her face. "If you really want to do something, I can bring you some of your files to read up on. Anything in particular?"
"I'm sure Harriet will know what to send me," Heero said. He trusted her judgment about what was important or not.
"All right, I'll check up on her to see if she has something for you." Relena sipped her tea. "I hope I'll be in time for dinner; Mark's supposed to be home tonight."
"How's his campaign going?"
Relena sipped her tea again and heaved a sigh. "Technically, it's going really well."
"And personally?"
"I'm not sure, Heero," she answered. "It takes so much to run for mayor, that I… fear the day he actually gets elected. I hardly see him, he doesn't have time for anything personal, only meetings, meetings, meetings and more meetings with business associates, campaign leaders… He was home so late yesterday that he could get to bed for only an hour, then he had to get up again."
"Was he home around four?" Heero didn't know Mark well enough to recognize his voice on the spot.
"I think so." Relena put her cup on its saucer and took a bite from her toast. "I woke up when he got into bed, and I asked him how his meeting was. He was so tired that he could barely answer."
"I see. Well, I never ambitioned a career in politics," Heero said.
"Mark is a good candidate. I know he'll make an excellent mayor. But his personal life… our personal life... is just gone. I don't want to become an extension of my husband."
"That will never happen." Heero shook his head. "You're too independent, Relena."
"I love to sit here and hear you compliment me all day," she said dryly, "but I have to run to be in time at the office. I'll see you later today, Heero."
As soon as Relena had left, Heero finished his breakfast and went back to the west wing of the mansion. He halted at the door where he had heard the mumbling noises and checked if there was no one in the hallway. He turned the handle and the door went open smoothly. Heero peeked inside and was disappointed to discover it was indeed another guest room.
He wandered into it, noticing the similarities between the furniture of his room and this one. There was no sign of anyone having spent time here, not in a while. The bed was neatly made, the wardrobe was empty, and the bathroom was clean, without any signs of use. Heero scratched the back of his head. He was sure he had heard the mumbling noises right here. He had no choice but to leave; it would be silly if one of the housekeeping staff caught him in the wrong bedroom.
Heero returned to the office the next day. He wanted to get back to work, feeling useless around the mansion, almost like a burden. Duo hadn't called him, so Heero left another voicemail to ask about an update.
Harriet pursed her lips at seeing Heero return so soon to the office, but she was wise enough not to comment. She avoided looking straight at his face, the bruises obviously visible, and brought him the files and records he asked for.
"You really received a good clobbering," Zechs said as he entered Heero's office. Relena's stepbrother was an attractive man whose charm in the courtroom often helped him to a victory - not that he needed his looks, he was a good lawyer.
"It was quite unpleasant, yes," Heero admitted. Zechs wanted to know if he filed a report with the police already and Heero told him about the paperwork.
"Do you have any idea who might be behind this?" As much as the man had charm, subtlety wasn't his best character trait. Heero shook his head.
"No, I don't know. Apparently, it was important enough to immediately punch my lights out."
"You'd almost think it was something personal." Zechs shook his head, mimicking Heero, sending long platinum blond strands flying. "How's the Ghostbusters case doing?"
"Fine," Heero said curtly. "It's going to have my full attention again from now on."
"Excellent. Winner was very concerned; his associate called the office daily to ask about your well-being."
"Barton?"
"Yeah, Trowa Barton. Nice guy, I guess. He was seriously concerned."
"I have a lunch invitation from Winner…"
"You do? Man, if you can get a position in Winner's personal team, you've got it made!"
"I don't want to leave this office," Heero answered stiffly. Zechs showed a devilish grin.
"That's mighty noble of you but unnecessary," he said. "Do you really think Relena believes you're going to be here forever? We're a nice law firm and all that, but if you get the chance to move ahead and grow, you should take it!"
"You talk like Winner already made me an offer!"
"Well, if he does, my advice is to take it."
"Thank you, Zechs," Heero said, slightly annoyed.
"I'll send you the bill later," Zechs quipped as he left the office, greeting Harriet as he passed her.
"Are you feeling all right? Shouldn't you go home and rest?"
"I can handle eight hours of work, Harriet."
"Eight," she repeated, and Heero knew he'd been caught. He usually worked ten to eleven hours a day. "So you're still not completely recovered. I thought as much. Oh, and did you hear about poor Mister Khushrenada?"
"Your favorite actor?" Heero cringed at playing dumb. Harriet nodded.
"Yes, the poor soul! He worked so hard that he exhausted himself, and now he's relaxing at a spa in Switzerland," Harriet said. Heero grimaced. Khushrenada's PR machine worked perfectly. "He even had to cancel his upcoming role in my favorite soap!"
Heero realized that it meant that Duo and Wufei still hadn't found Khushrenada's soul or the soul reaper. He was about to call Duo himself, when Harriet announced him over the phone. Heero grabbed the receiver from the cradle.
"Yes?"
"It's me," Duo said superfluously, his voice sounding upbeat. "I'm sorry, but I don't have any news for you at the moment. How are you doing, and why are you at your office?"
"Come on, it's not like I broke my nose or something," Heero said.
"I should've known you had to be tied down on your bed to get some rest. Quite an interesting image, though," Duo said. "But hey, you fit the stereotype of lawyer nicely, handsome looks and all. You got news?"
"No, nothing," Heero said without a second thought, until it registered that Duo had called him 'handsome'. He almost started to stutter. "I do have a lunch invitation from Quatre Winner."
"That's something," Duo said. "Mind if I join you?"
"I'm not sure if the invitation includes you," Heero said.
"I don't think he'll mind much," Duo answered. "I worked with him before, you know. Cleaning up the mess in his properties and stuff."
"And he wouldn't mind much why?"
"Because people like me," Duo deadpanned. "Just set a date for the lunch, Heero, and we can catch up while pigging out on delicious pretentious food."
Chapter 4 | Chapter 6 |