Beautiful Stranger



Part 2 


To know you, is to love you
You're everywhere I go
And everybody knows...


***************************

Saturday Morning



Zechs awoke to the sound of thunder.

How very appropriate, he thought. At least Relena's lecture on virtue will have 
a soundtrack this morning.

He rubbed his eyes and looked around the room. The morning light was gray 
and the lightning outside flashed on the heavy brocade drapes like special 
effects in a bad horror film. He turned his head on the pillow and 
felt a first pang of sadness.

/Duo should be here. God knows after that scene with Relena and Heero 
last night I don't blame him for wanting to keep his distance. But 
damn I want him! Mmmmm...making love to him right now would be paradise..
.wonder where he got so good...who taught him.../

The Lightning Count smiled to himself.

Whoever it was, I'mwilling to bet it wasn't Heero...

**********

Relena Peacecraft looked at her newly acquired fiancé across the tasteful 
centerpiece on the breakfast table. Heero always looked out of place in 
the palace. Even when he didn't have that adorable scowl on his face, he 
never seemed to fit in with the heavily gilded, baroque-furnished rooms 
and the abundance of decorative elements that the rulers of Sank had 
always reveled in. This morning, though, with the chandeliers hardly 
holding off the intense gray of the coming storm, Heero looked thoroughly 
at home. He was concentrating on his plate, eating in a slow, methodical 
fashion, the dull morning light gilding the edge of his face and giving 
him the air of a nobleman in profound meditation. Despite the horrors 
of the night before, despite her feelings of fury at Zechs, her 
realization of her own part in the fiasco, and her utter disgust for Duo 
Maxwell, a thin ray of hope appeared when she saw Heero this way.

/He's starting to relax here. He's becoming part of my world, part of 
me. Everything I wanted is here. That horrible sight in the garden...
it means nothing, really. I think Heero was as sickened by what they 
were doing as I was. That should put the nail in the coffin of any 
feelings he had for that little street rat. That must be it - why he's 
more at home today. He must realize how much better off he is with me. 
Of course...that's it./

Her contemplation of the man she loved was interrupted when the 
gentleman himself stood up abruptly, tossing his napkin on his plate.

"I'll be gone most of the morning," he said, curtly. "I'm going to 
look for Duo."

Relena was left holding her teacup, a thoroughly puzzled expression 
on her face.

**********

Breakfast had been completely tasteless, but Heero had been so 
focused on planning what to do next that he hadn't noticed at all. 
This mode of operating was so familiar; a soldier ate because his 
body needed food. A soldier slept because fatigue could be fatal. 
A soldier killed because he had an enemy and the enemy had to be 
destroyed. It had been some time since he had had an enemy. But 
the enemy had arrived, completely unexpectedly, in the form of a 
tall and elegant young man with ice blue eyes and long, platinum 
blond hair.

His old sparring partner, Zechs Merquise.

The attack had happened so quickly and had been so all-encompassing 
that he had been momentarily routed, stunned into impotence by the 
sheer intensity of the enemy's fire. But Heero Yuy, the Terrific 
Soldier, would not be surprised again.

His first duty was to find Duo. He had no intention of trying to 
win the other boy back. He had made a promise to Relena, a promise 
he had meant with all his heart, a promise that had to be fulfilled. 
But Duo had been used by the enemy and Heero felt it necessary to 
find the boy who had been his first and only best friend and to 
hear from him that he had really wanted Zechs. If he hadn't the 
next move was lear - engage the enemy and fight to win at all 
costs.

/But what if he *did* want Zechs? What if he still wants him? 
What's the battle plan then? Does this mission have an objective?/

He had stood, then, throwing his napkin down on an empty plate 
and informing Relena of where he would be, so that if she needed 
him, she would know where to look. This kind of thinking was 
gradually becoming automatic with him. Another two weeks and 
he wouldn't even have to think about it. Relena would be very 
pleased.

As he stepped out the kitchen door and onto the path towards the 
Hidden Garden, he recalled the private conversation he'd had 
with the old family retainer, Georges. He had approached the 
white-haired man as he came into the dining room to supervise 
the laying of the table before breakfast.

/"Georges, has Mr. Maxwell come down yet?"

/"No sir, Mr. Heero," the man had replied. "I don't think, 
that is, ah, his room..."

/"Did he sleep in his room last night?" Heero demanded.

"/Well, it would seem unlikely, sir. The maid turned down 
his sheets last night, but they were still the way she left 
them when she went in this morning."

/"And the Duke, " Heero spoke more slowly. "What about the 
Duke?"

/"His Grace has not yet come down, but I know he is in his 
suite."/

It took every ounce of self-control he had to not run up the 
stairs and pound on Zechs' door, demanding 
to see Duo.

/Talk about pathetic; that would be it. I can see Zechs laughing 
at me now. The way he looked last night...

He rounded the corner of the tall dense hedge that protected 
the garden from view of passersby. He was certain Duo would 
be there. He knew the violet-eyed boy well enough to know 
that he would find his way back to the spot where they had 
last looked at each other, Heero glaring, Duo...what had that 
look been? Anger? Fear? Guilt?

Betrayal... whispered a voice inside him.

Betrayal.

The shadowy garden held an air of menace this morning - and 
Duo was nowhere to be seen.

**********

 

The small communication unit sat on the table, brought into the 
dining room by Sylvie, Relena's personal secretary. At the moment, 
however, no mail was being read because the owner of the unit 
was occupied with staring in disgust at the tall, blond man 
helping himself to croissants and coffee. Relena was trying 
without success to come up with an opening line that summed up 
her complete revulsion at what Zechs had been doing in the garden 
last night. In the end, she reverted to the obvious.

"You were with that boy last night, Zechs."

"What? Oh, you mean Duo? Yes, I was. I assumed you had noticed 
that when you and your fiancé...joined us...so unexpectedly."

"What do you have to say for yourselves, then?," Relena demanded. 
"What possible excuse could you have for being in that situation? 
I want to hear it, Zechs. How can you possibly defend yourselves?"

Zechs turned from the sideboard and and sat at the table across 
from his sister. His eyes were calm, his expression one of 
complete self-assurance. A smile played around the edges of his 
lips as he looked at Relena for the first time that morning.

"Well, I can't speak for Duo, but I have no intention of "defending" 
myself, especially to you, Relena. What I choose to do on my own 
grounds and who I choose to do it with is really none of your 
concern."

"What?? None of my business? Neither of you were dressed! And you 
were...you were...," Relena broke off, her face reddening. Really, 
there just weren't polite words for this kind of thing...

"We were making love. You can use that phrase, Relena, I think it's 
acceptable," Zechs offered drily, spreading raspberry jam onto his 
croissant.

Relena made a small expression of distaste and stared at her older 
brother, leaning across the table in an attempt to catch his eye.

"And with him. It was horrendous enough that you were with a man 
but with that disgusting little pervert - oh, Zechs how could you?"

The Duke of Sank carefully laid down his knife, leaned his arms 
against the table, put his hands together, and sent ice blue 
daggers at the girl pestering him.

"He has a name, Relena. It's Duo. Use it. And whether you regret 
it now or not, you invited him here. You are his hostess and as 
far as I'm concerned you'd better damn well treat him like a guest, 
is that clear?"

She tried hard to stare him down then, but a strange dynamic 
seemed to rear it's head from a long-dead past and the younger 
sister was speechless in the face of a stern older brother. 
Furious, she turned her attention to the comm unit, opening 
the first of several personal messages.

Her face promptly turned white.

"Ze-Zechs...," she managed to stammer. "Zechs..."

The blond-haired man was occupied with his own messages and 
didn't look up.

"No more, Relena, I mean it," he murmured, sipping his coffee.

"Someone wants to kill me, Zechs," Relena breathed.

Zechs raised a platinum eyebrow, still not taking his eyes from 
his own comm unit.

"You mean, someone besides Heero?"

**********

Heero was thoroughly puzzled. He couldn't bring himself to 
sit on the stone table at the garden's center, so he was on 
the ground, his knees pulled up to his chin, staring at nothing 
in particular. How could Duo not be here? He had been so sure, 
and he, of all people, knew Duo the best, knew why he did 
what he did. Why wasn't he here? It didn't make sense.

He was deep in thought when one of Relena's bodyguards 
called from outside the hedge.

"Mr. Yuy? Are you in there, sir? It's about the Princess, 
Mr. Yuy. Are you there s-"

Heero was on his feet and out of the garden in before the
 man could finish his sentence.

"What is it? Is Relena alright? Where is she?" His questions 
came out rapid fire as he headed for the palace, the bodyguard 
running to keep up.

"She's in the drawing room, sir. She received a mail message 
this morning, we're trying to trace the sender, so far no 
luck. It didn't come through any of the commonly used channels 
or through her personal link."

"Tell me what it SAID." Heero stopped for a moment and glared 
at the obviously incompetent man behind him.

The guard tried hard to catch his breath and panted, "It said 
she would die this weekend."

Heero cursed under his breath and they turned towards the 
palace again.

"Who's with her now? Has the perimeter of the palace grounds
been secured? Have you checked the palace itself - done any 
kind of sweep for explosives?"

The man struggled to remember each question in turn.

"There are two armed guards with her now, and a large group 
of men are out securing gates and checking for any potential 
entry points at the edges of the grounds. Most of the rooms 
of the palace have been checked - everything's negative so 
far. Two men have just gone out to the garage to check the 
cars. Oh, and the Dukewas with her when she got the message -
 he's organizing the security efforts."

As much as Heero wanted to put the thought of Zechs far behind 
him, at least he could grudgingly admit that Relena's defense 
was in the most capable of hands. When they reached the palace 
he turned away from the hall leading to the drawing room and 
began to head up the staircase to his own room.

"Mr. Yuy! Please, you must see the Princess!"

"I need to check the message path on my computer - the ones 
you use aren't even close to good enough. Tell her to..."

He stopped, mid-sentence.

/Things are different now. I promised her. She wants me...
needs me. I have to go to her, that's the first priority. 
Doing what she needs me to do./

"Of course," Heero said, slowly turning around. "Of course 
I'll come and see her."

**********

Saturday Mid-afternoon

The inside of the building was dim, made even murkier by the 
gray storm clouds building outside. The thunder that had teased 
them all morning was getting serious now, as were the lightning 
strikes. The only thing that hadn't happened yet was the rain 
that might have cooled the sticky heat that seemed to cover 
everything.

The tall, long-haired man made his way carefully through the 
large garage, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the gloom. His 
well-trained ears were following the faint sound of metal 
against metal, and even now, when it was clear that his desperate 
guess had been right, he had a hard time believing he'd actually 
succeeded before Heero.

He reached the last, large work bay, at first seeing nothing.

"It's Zechs," he called. "May I talk with you?"

Silence at first, then Duo appeared from behind a large tool chest. 
Zechs had to smile. The boy looking at him was a wary angel, his 
large eyes luminous in the dim light, his braid gleaming dully in 
the light from the window behind him. In his oil-stained hands was 
an intake valve from one of the ancient cars on the estate.

/An angel with a grease spot on his cheek - I hope he lets me clean 
it off./

"How did you know I was here?", Duo asked, his voice low but calm.

"I didn't know," replied Zechs, "I made an educated guess."

A puzzled frown came over the adorable face.

"I don't understand."

"Well, I just thought about how I was feeling after that scene my 
sister and Heero made last night. The only thing I wanted to do today 
was be back in the cockpit of a plane, and this whole thing happened at 
*my* home, where I supposedly feel comfortable. I thought you might 
feel even stronger about finding someplace familiar, some place where 
you could be yourself. Then I remembered your reputation as an ace 
mechanic and, well, here I am." Zechs paused for a moment and then 
added, "Well... after I checked the banks of the trout stream, the 
kitchen, and the video room."

In spite of himself, Duo's lips twitched in a smile.

"Well, hey, I would have gone to those places next, maybe not in 
that particular order." He looked up at Zechs through long lashes. 
The two of them stared at each other, each finding it less 
embarrassing and more comfortable than he had thought it would be.

"Zechs," Duo began.

"Before you say anything, I want to apologize," Zechs interrupted. 
"I shouldn't have done what I did last night. It was ungentlemanly 
and I'm not usually that way. I am very sorry for any grief my 
actions may have brought on you. Can you forgive me?"

Duo thought for a moment, then turned to look out the window. 
Zechs couldn't help but run his eyes over the slender figure, 
dressed now in denim and a chambray shirt, the shining mass of 
hair back in it's neat braid.

/Duo...I need you...want to touch you...how do you feel about 
me?/

"Oi! Don't worry about it! It was nothing really." Duo turned 
to face the tall blond again.

"I mean, don't get me wrong, man - it was great. But, I wanted 
it too, ya know? Don't have to pity me. Hell, I asked for it..."

"I have no pity for you, Duo," Zechs answered. "I assumed you 
wanted to do what you did at the time; I would never force anyone. 
But what about now, Duo? What happens now?"

Duo sat back down and resumed working on the valve in his hands.

"Nothing has to happen, Zechs. It's not like I need you to make 
an honest man of me, is it?" Duo slid a sideways look at Zechs, 
the grin on his face unconvincing. He rummaged in the large toolbox 
and came out with a wrench. Dropping the valve into a small vise on 
the floor, he tightened the arms and began prying a rusted bolt 
loose.

The Duke of Sank pulled up a mechanic's stool and sat directly 
across from him, the space between them no more than three feet.
 The ice blue eyes caught blue-violet ones and wouldn't let go.

"Do you feel anything for me, Duo? Do you want me? Does taking 
this further hold any interest for you? ...Tell me Duo...don't 
lie to me."

Duo wanted to look away. Wanted it badly. But those eyes were 
so compelling. That handsome face so close...He was overcome 
then with the memory of his hands tangled in Zechs' hair, the 
sweet words spoken to him in deep, sultry tones, the passion 
and the gentleness. He was feeling seriously confused for the 
hundredth time that morning and the closeness of the other man's 
body wasn't helping one bit.

"I can't do this...", his voice was hoarse, wavering. "What 
about Heero? I...I can't do this to Heero..."

"Damn Heero!," Zechs said suddenly, his voice low but passionate. 
"Duo he's made his choice; it may be time for you to make yours."

Duo said nothing, just stared into Zechs' eyes, his expression 
unreadable.

"I suppose I have my answer," Zechs said, bitterly. He rose and 
headed back the way he had come, leaving the braided boy alone 
in the gloom of the garage.

/What do I do?? How do I know what the right decision is?? I 
can't hurt Heero like this... Heero...you bastard. I'm so tired 
of thinking about how you feel, when it's clear you never think 
about me. Wondering what will make you angry, what will keep the 
peace. Why am I always the one to worry? Why don't you ever 
worry about me and whether or not I love you?

/Why weren't you the one who figured out where I'd be and took 
the trouble to come find me?

To love you
Is to be part of you -
I've paid for you with tears,
And swallowed all my pride...

He looked at the place where Zechs had been not three minutes 
ago. In a burst of anger, Duo threw the valve to the garage floor, 
kicked the stool out from under him and ran after the true heir to 
the Kingdom of Sank. He caught up with him at the greenhouse just 
as the sky opened and more water than the boy from arid L2 colony 
had ever seen began falling to earth.

Zechs pulled him inside the shelter of the glass building, dense 
with lush, green plants, heady with the scent of plumeria and white 
ginger. They stood for a moment, each trying to catch his breath. 
Before Zechs knew what was happening, Duo had closed the distance 
between them. He reached up and wound his fingers in Zechs' hair, 
tugging the taller man's head down before crushing his lips in a 
fierce kiss. Zechs let out a low, involuntary growl and wrapped his 
arms around Duo, returning the kiss with a ferocity that surprised 
both of them.

They broke off and stood, breath intermingling, searching each other's 
eyes, small hungry noises coming from both of them.

/What the hell is this?, Duo wondered. What's this guy doing to me? 
All I want to do is find somewhere to lay down so we can...ah, God.
..God...Zechs.../

Suddenly he was on the floor, lying on a pile of rough cotton planting 
sacks, Zechs' mouth on his, strong hands pushing at his clothing, the 
sound of his own voice, in whimpers and growls, mixing with those of his 
long-haired partner.

And now he realized that he wasn't drunk, wasn't buffered at all from 
the very vivid reality confronting him, and it was Zechs he wanted, 
Zechs, not Heero. He felt a stab of excitement at the thought. Of 
wanting something so bad, and getting it. Right then, just the way he 
wanted it, as much as he wanted. When had it ever been this way? In 
all his short life denial and want had never been so far away and the 
feeling was intoxicating.

Zechs had paused, his lips nearly touching Duo's, his strong legs 
gently but firmly pushing Duo's legs apart, his eyes focused so 
completely on Duo's face that it made the American boy's head spin.

/No one's ever acted like this, like I was the one thing in the 
universe they had to have and it didn't matter who knew. Dear 
God, he's beautiful...so beautiful...so dangerous.../

Da-da-da-dum da-dum da-dum da da da-da dum
Beautiful stranger
Da-da-da-dum da-dum da-dum da da da-da dum
Beautiful stranger...

Inside the greenhouse, the noise only got louder.

Outside, all that could be heard was the thunder, and the rain.

to Part 3

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