Part One

It had been almost four years since my chance meeting with Hilde on the Libra. Since then I had not seen her. My own schedule and her near obsession with her business was to blame. When she stepped onto the tarmac, however, I recognized her immediately. How many other women are built like a pixie, but move like a wolf? The German was still almost a full head shorter than everyone else, delicate and ethereal. Most people believed that she was just the sweet-faced girl she looked like, but she moved with too much purpose and pride for me to dismiss her so easily. Besides, during the war I had learned that a sweet face often masked steel determination and conviction.

She came straight for me and the people just flowed out of the way as if they sensed the force of her will compelling them out of her path. With Heero people would jump and scurry out of the way, staring with fear. Duo would just move through the gaps in the crowd, but Hilde moved like Wufei, she just walked with her purpose in mind like everyone else just wasn't there, and the herd moved instinctively. It was an impressive sight when you knew what to look for.

"Relena," She glanced around, puzzled. "You came to pick me up?"

I heard the silent question and the soldier's disapproval. It seemed that, like Heero, Hilde believed that I should not be allowed out on my own.

"Normally one says thank you." I commented smoothly. Hilde had the grace to blush.

Hilde graced me with an impish smile that did not reach her shrouded eyes. "I'm just surprised that they let you out of your gilded cage. I'm not knocking the lift; it beats the hell out of walking."

"Forgive me for the shrewish comments. It's been a long day and I've been having arguments with my new Chief of Security about these exact same issues."

"Ouch." Hilde muttered ruefully. I gave her a small smile of agreement before picking up one of her bags. I scowled at her when she tried to stop me.

"Relena," She protested weakly, "You don't need to do that. I've got it."

"I may not have been a soldier, Ms. Schbeiker, but I can most certainly carry a light bag. Besides it's considered polite." My tone was a little colder than usual, a little sharper.

"And you are nothing if not polite."

I smiled in a feeling very close to relief. I missed Dorothy and her snide little barbs. Ever since she got married to Quatre and was swept away to the colonies I had no one to fight with, no one to treat me like a person, not just a personification of some ideal. Would it be so evil of me to say that some small selfish part of my soul had rejoiced to hear that she had gotten a divorce and was back? I must be evil in my heart to be joyful at the news when I know it must have hurt them both so much. It was the same small part that prodded Wufei into having screaming matches with me just because I knew he would do it. At least -he- would talk to me like I was real. At least -he- would argue with me, respect me. And I was happy-joyful even-to know that Hilde would be the same. I treasured the people who fought with me; they were so rare.

I pulled the baseball cap down lower over my eyes and set off through the crowd. Hilde easily kept pace despite her obvious exhaustion. I wonder how much of that was emotional? The circumstance she had left under could hardly be called comfortable. And I felt sorry for it. I felt responsible.

Hilde stumbled a little when I stopped at the car. I caught her with one arm and opened the trunk with the other. I had become ambidextrous over the years. It must be all the juggling I have to do.

"Thanks"

"Since you came all this way at my behest, I should be thanking you. I am very grateful that you have decided to come here."

"Wait a while before you say that."

I shot Hilde a sharp look. It didn't seem like the German girl to disparage herself that way. She held herself with too much self-respect for that to be normal. I closed the trunk and caught her arms so she was forced to look at me.

"Don't let them steal your self-confidence. You can't run from them, but you also can't let this moment of pain steal your life away. You can't let it steal your faith." I knew what I was talking about here. I had spent the past two years taking back my life all because of one moment of weakness and self-doubt. Anger flashed through Hilde's vivid eyes and I was relieved to see it. I was worried that she might have been too hurt to feel. I let Hilde shove me away with more heat than force.

"Who the fuck are you to lecture me? Especially about running away? What the hell do you know?" Tears and fury lit up her eyes with genuine emotions. Those eyes had been frightening hollow in an expression of emptiness that I had seen one too many times in the mirror.

"I know you have to take a step back to see what you really want. I know that you have to move forward to get what you want." I said perfectly calm. The nice thing about being a politician is that after a few years nothing really perturbs you.

"Are you telling me all this is just for the best?" She was snarling, growling low in her throat. It sounded odd coming from that pretty face.

"It doesn't have to be the worst." I opened the car door for her and the walked around to my side. She stared at me for a while before dropping into the seat. I slid into the car and sighed. "I'm sorry. I crossed a line."

Hilde shook her head. "I can't live in self-denial, and I can't live in self-pity either. Besides, I'm the one that should be apologizing, biting your head off when you're just trying to help."

I glanced over at her; a fine blush was covering her high cheekbones. "We'd better find something other than 'I'm sorry' to say to each other."

"I can see how that can make working together difficult." She commented wryly. Exhaustion was starting to slip into her voice like a heavy cloud on the horizon.

I snorted, inelegant and unlady-like. It was a habit I was learning from Wufei. "It'll make living together worse."

"Excuse me?" The sheer amount of shock made Hilde's voice squeak. I couldn't help but laugh. I tried to keep it quiet but she looked so stunned that I ended up putting my head to the steering wheel while I chuckled. Hilde whapped me lightly across the back in frustration. I looked up at her and composed myself with a sigh of outgoing breath.

"Well, do you have anywhere else to stay? I can't have you staying in a hotel; you'd be too close to the delegates and ministers from the colonies, and things could get.complicated." I didn't say that Wufei had also extended an offer for her to stay with him. For reasons I didn't wish to analyze I did not care for that idea.

Hilde sat in silence as I mentally swore at the outrageous lines to get out of the landing port. The next chance I get I'm going to overhaul the Earth landing ports. These old military complexes are just not made for heavy commercial use. Hilde was watching me as I started to plan; I could feel her assessing me. It was extremely disconcerting.

"Why do I have the feeling that I'm jumping into a political firefight?" Hilde asked, half-rueful, but mostly serious.

I snuck another look at her. Hilde was resting her head against the glass of the window with her eyes closed. I winced a little; the shadows under her eyes were almost as deep a blue as the highlights in her vibrant hair.

"Because you are." I learned a long time ago that the soldiers preferred that you gave them the uncomplicated truth without the pretty words to frame it. It annoyed them when the words got in the way.

Hilde muttered something to the darkness outside the window in a low rolling language that I deduced was some dialect of German. "Just great, great."

"It's mostly my fight, and Wufei's," I included Wufei as an afterthought. I did that more often now, included him in my political struggles. Somewhere along the line he just started getting himself involved no matter what I did to try to stop him. Now I had started taking his support as a given. I sort of expected him to be there as my soundboard. I scowled at the steering wheel. When had I allowed myself to involve the Gundam pilots in these types of petty struggles?

"Whatever the car did, I'm sure it's sorry now." Hilde joked quietly. I smiled briefly at her. Her serious tone made me sigh when she spoke again. "But I am part of it, your political fire-fight that is."

She made it a statement, not a question. It was like she was mentally shouldering part of the responsibility. I frowned. The soldiers had done their part, they shouldn't be asked to fight any more, on any form of a battlefield. "Not really, at least I'm hoping not to involve you."

Hilde gave a small, sleepy snort of disbelief, and I privately agreed with her. I was currently fighting very hard on a number of fronts to get SI the funding, jurisdiction, and the support it needed. Many politicians did not want to fund the department because they believed that the Preventers should handle anything that required a gun. They didn't understand that the Preventers were simply not equipped or trained to do anything close to the type of intensive and individual detective work that I wanted the Special Investigations Department to handle. The Preventors were designed for anti-terrorist and military prevention work than this type of specialized police work. What was particularly infuriating was the fact that the Preventors themselves did not understand why they could not be trusted with the duties that I wanted SI to do. I was tired of being guilt tripped by Lady Une, yelled at by Sally, and quietly questioned by Noin. And then there was the issue of jurisdiction, which the colonies were especially sensitive about. Not that I really blamed them. For the first time in their history they had true autonomy, and were nervous about anything that looked like a threat to that self-rule. Hilde arched an eyebrow lazily and just looked at me before closing her eyes again. She seemed to know the thoughts that were running around in my head. Hilde had an amazing ability to read people. Of course, she had probably done some research on her fledging department on the shuttle, so she probably had some idea of the fight that was going on. Gundam pilots could be so stubborn when it came to danger and other people.

"I'll give you a brief when we get to my apartment."

Hilde gave me a quick grin at the use of the military term and I grinned back. We grinned like a pair fools at each other before dissolving into a fit of the giggles. Sleep deprivation gets to the best of us.

"Apartment? I thought you lived in that big fucking mansion. Whoops, excuse the language." Hilde's exhaustion was starting to catch up to her, slurring her words a little. She didn't bother to open her eyes.

"Castle. Not any longer. I bought a condo. I wanted out the castle since the space could be more efficiently used." It was too quiet to live in the castle alone. All the ghosts came out to whisper in my ears when I was alone. And I am always alone. I was alone on my pedestal, but I was learning how to rappel. Hilde was watching me with assessing eyes. I was learning that very little got past her.

"Your security?" The all-important question to everyone I knew except Dorothy and Wufei. For some reason both believed that if I was with one of them then I was safe, besides they had more pressing issues to nag me over than the locks on my gilded cage.

"They keep their distance more these days. I just don't want to see them." I tried to keep my voice pleasant but the fury was in it. I could hear the thrum of it under my breath.

Hilde shot me a look under her lashes, a long considering gaze. I was used to it. The look was unnervingly similar to Heero's stoic assessments whenever I startled him. I pulled into the garage under my condo complex. I was bringing home another wounded soldier, but this time I would make things right. I would make it right.

Part Two

Hilde spent the elevator ride up the innumerable floors to my apartment half asleep, her head resting against the glass, her breath leaving little mist marks. I worried about her as she rested there. She seemed like she was at the edge of an emotion chasm and didn't even seem aware of it. I sighed and continued to stare determinedly out the glass.

"Your knuckles have gone white, you know." I hadn't realized she was watching me.

"I dislike small places." Which was an understatement but I prefer to keep my weakness to myself whenever possible.

Hilde murmured something that got lost in her sleep-fogged voice. I ended up hauling both her and her two bags out the elevator and down the hall to my door. Dorothy opened up the door after I kicked at it repeatedly. She was in cut-off shorts and a t-shirt, looking far too comfortable for my taste. She quirked one funky eyebrow at me, and eyed Hilde who was half asleep in my arms.

"New roommate?" She purred with the subtle undertones of innuendo playing in her voice. I wondered if she was even aware of it. Probably.

"Don't start." I blew one strand of uncooperative hair out of my eyes and glared at her. She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the doorframe. "Help me, dammit."

Dorothy shook her head in wry amusement, sending her hair flowing around her like a waterfall. She hefted Hilde in a surprisingly graceful movement and looked down at her sleeping face. "This is going to be my boss?"

I grunted what could be construed as an affirmative as I pushed, kicked, and dragged Hilde's two bags through the doorway. She had made carrying the two look so easy it was unbelievable. I kicked the door shut behind me and breathed a sigh of relief when I finally got the bags into the closet.

Hilde was awake and looking between Dorothy and I with the question clearly stamped on her face.

"No." We said in unison. Hilde's eyebrow went up.

Dorothy leaned against the bar the kitchen that was all the separated it from the entertaining area. Her amusement curled through her voice, "Even though I do occasionally prefer the company of women to men, I prefer women with more …ah… strength of character than Relena-sama."

"Kiss off, Catalonia," I snapped at her. It was incredibly refreshing to have her around. I loved it. "We're just friends." I explained to Hilde as she eyed us incredulously. "I try not to bring homicidal psychopaths into my bed."

"And that's why you spent how many years trying to seduce Yuy? Because he was just so normal?" She purred to me. At one time I would have ripped her eyes out for that catty little comment, and it did still hurt, but now I just laughed at it. Sometimes she saw things far more clearly than I.

I put one finger in my mouth and then drew a line in the air with it like I was making a tally on a score sheet. "Point for Catalonia. But don't push it, I still don't want to talk about it."

Dorothy shrugged and nodded. One of the few things that she never understood about me was my love for Heero. And I did love him, too much maybe, but I could never be with him, or him with me, because we never really saw each other beyond our idealizations of each other. I wanted, needed, a prince to rescue me from my fear and he needed an angel to redeem him. It took us both a long time to realize that we couldn't use each other to run away from the pain.

"Is he that easy for you to get over, to toss aside?" Hilde's question was more like a hissing accusation. I could hear the anger in her voice and the protectiveness. I smiled to myself, happy for him. In her I knew he would find someone who would love him for just him.

"No." I just looked at her as she stared at me. A thousand questions rushed through her cornflower blue eyes before that bone aching sadness settled into them.

"I'm sorry. What is it about them, these gundam pilots, that manage to fuck up a woman's life so badly?" She scrubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. Dorothy looked at the two of us and just shook her head in wry amusement.

"You let them. I never did understand why Relena-sama took to that raging sociopath. And you, Hilde, you seem like such a sensible person. Why let them upset your balance so much?" Dorothy shrugged one shoulder. "They're only men."

I thought about making a pithy comment about her and Quatre, but swallowed it. That subject was still too close to the surface to touch. She still left the room every time he was mentioned or came on the vid. Dorothy never cried, but she still hurt, and I was too much of a wimp to push her into talking about it.

Hilde muttered something in German before answering. "It's the only man part that's screwing me over. I can handle the pilot part, it's the rest that's fucking my shit up." She shot me a guilt look. "Sorry about the language."

"I thought we had agreed to find something more to say to each other than I'm sorry, Hilde." I eyed the coffee sitting in the pot before deciding against it. It was probably cold. But I needed to stay up and finish the last of that damned trade treaty between L4 and the Martian colony.

"Don't worry about it. She likes it when you swear around her, shows that you're willing to treat her like a human being and not a paper doll. Tell you another little secret, she likes it even more when you swear at her." Dorothy smiled at Hilde's peel of laughter and then looked at me. "The coffee is warm. I just made it, and you only have two more paragraphs left on that treaty. I'll proof it for you."

I wondered if it would undermine everything I had just been telling Hilde if I jumped the bar and kissed Dorothy. And people wonder why I'm so fond of her. "Thank you."

"Just keeping my hand in. I don't want to go back to doing that full time, thanks much. I think I'd rather exchange nasty comments with Hilde. She seems better at it than you." Dorothy gave me a long considering look from under her lashes. "Besides, I hear that you and Wufei have been having rather… stimulating… fights."

I was going to kill her. Pacifism be damned. I was up and over the bar before Hilde had the chance to give a sleep squeak. Dorothy laughed and shot around the corner and down the hallway towards her room before I had time to land. I swore for a little bit before taking it philosophically and going back to the coffee.

"Well, living here is going to be exciting isn't it?" Hilde commented from the floor. Her eyes were a little too round. I think Dorothy and I had been upsetting some of the preconceptions she had about us. I've been doing that more often lately, destroying people's preconceptions about me, that is. I kinda like it.

"It's the sleep deprivation talking in all three of us. Dorothy just got in three days ago. Right after divorcing Quatre. She's not talking about it, but I think it's getting to her." I helped Hilde up and steadied her when she swayed.

"So we're three women currently pissed off with men." Hilde eyed the coffee with a speculative gleam in her eye. I poured her a cup.

"Just you and Dorothy. I'm handling myself just fine."

"Are you?" Hilde gave me another of those long assessing looks. "No one gets over Heero Yuy that quick. And from what Dorothy just said I'd say there's something going on between you and Chang. So you're having issues with two gundam pilots. That's enough to seriously mess with any woman."

My cheeks went pink. Damn Dorothy, she just had to see innuendo everywhere and of course it was in her perverse nature to share. "There is nothing inappropriate between me and Mr.Chang."

"Uh-huh." Hilde was definitely amused. "We've got a jilt, a divorcee, and one in denial."

I snorted at her; Wufei was having the most disturbing affects on me. "If you are quite finished, I'll see you to your room." I gave her a softer look as she blinked sleep-blurred eyes at me. "You need to sleep before you can say anything sensible anyway."

Part Three

I was up and in the office before six o'clock, like usual. Anytime I came into the office later than six things went very, very wrong. I wasn't the only one awake and working already. Wufei came into my office with a stack of files and a scowl on his face, just the thing that I want to see at the break of day.

"That bad already?" I teased him gently. He snorted at me and dropped a load of files onto my desk before settling himself elegantly into one of the chairs that sat across from my desk. I flipped through the tan files and frowned. They were all on the delegates that were coming to review our joint funding request. I hate having to deal with politicians and money; they got decidedly unpleasant. For some reason they thought that simply because I was part of some project it wouldn't need anything practical, like, oh say, people, time, equipment, or money. I started doing multiplication tables in my head to keep calm as I read one of the files on a delegate from L4. She was going to be difficult.

"You're doing it again, woman." Wufei sounded amused rather than annoyed.

"Doing what?" I blinked up at him. Somehow I found it possible to tear my eyes away from the utterly fascinating details of the L4 delegate's fiscal theory to look at that aristocratic face.

"Saying multiplication tables under your breath." Now he was definitely amused.

I blushed a little. I was glad that he couldn't see what went through my head as I said these multiplication tables to keep my calm. Little chibis multiplied as I went through the charts. Generally I chibi-fied whatever person I was thinking about the most. Once I had over a thousand little chibi-Heero's in my head. I had even chibi-fied Duke Dermail because I was so nervous over speaking before the Romerfeller cooperation. Lately little chibi-Wufei's had been multiplying themselves in my head. I'm not sure how I felt about that.

"Sorry. I'll try not to do that." I went back to studying the files with renewed vigor, using the files to shield me.

"Not many people other than another gundam pilot would notice it. You are very quiet." I wondered if Heero had heard me doing multiplication tables to stay calm. Probably, it just wasn't like him to mention it. Wufei seemed to like to say things that would unsettle me. The man is perverse like that.

"I have to be. I can show no signs that I am not always serene, calm, and in control. People panic if I do." I continued to go over the files, making notes occasionally. Wufei said nothing, but I could almost feel him thinking. It was unnerving, how much these gundam pilots thought about what I said. As if ever word of mine might break them into a million shining pieces. Perhaps that's just my over grown sense of importance talking.

"You let them use you like a crutch." There was an accusation in his voice, but I wasn't sure who it was directed at, me or everyone else. I assumed me.

"I do my job, Wufei." I raised my eyes to glare at him and he arched one eyebrow in reply. "And I do not need you to tell me how I should go about doing it. Thank you."

He was going to reply when the quiet, almost dignified beep, of an incoming call cut us both off from our little glaring match. I sighed. It wasn't even seven in the morning and already the calls were coming. I closed my eyes and composed myself to take the call. Nothing could have prepared me for the sight on the vid screen.

Duo. And he was a complete and utter mess.

His eyes had bruises from lack of sleep so deep that it looked like someone had punched him. His hair was partially dragged back from his sweet, heart-shaped face in a messy braid. His collar was open, his sleeves pushed up and his knuckles were white as he clenched his hands together.

"Oh, Duo." I reached out to touch the screen as if I would touch him. So much pain, and all I wanted to do was take it away, sooth it away.

"One question, babe, where is Hilde?" His voice was raw with a need that I had only heard once. When we had talked about Heero. That was a conversation I never want to relive.

"Hilde? She's staying at my apartment for the time being. Ah... I can give you the phone number... but," I was stumbling over myself. Wufei turned the screen to face him and frowned at Duo.

"Maxwell, what are you doing?" His voice held the tone of voice that I had only heard my old battle-axe of a sixth grade teacher get.

"Wufei. I just want to talk to Hilde." Duo's voice held a note of desperation.

"Do not interfere with my Chief of Special Investigations, Maxwell." I blinked at Wufei's tone. Uh-oh, this conversation was about to turn nasty.

"Chief of what?! What the hell! Look, Chang, what the hell have you gotten my Hilde into?" I listened to Duo's voice take a sudden protective turn and arched an eyebrow. That was interesting. Hilde had made it sound like her leaving was a mutual decision. Maybe, it wasn't. Hm.

"According to her file, she was the best candidate for this position. Not only is she accustomed to handling criminal cases, she has the familial history of it." Really? I hadn't been aware that Hilde had other law enforcement agents in her family. I was going to have to ask her about that. I listened to the two men as they exchanged increasingly heated words about Hilde and the job she had decided to take. When Wufei stood up to yell at the screen I calmly reached out and turned it back to me. Only to watch Duo get jerked off the screen by his braid. Then Heero appeared on the screen. My heart stopped for a moment.

"Heero." I looked at him and saw him. I no longer saw my knight in shining armor; I saw a man, tired and pained. I was worried about how pale he looked and the pain in his eyes, but the need that I used to feel… It just wasn't there. I had let go of that irrational need for him. I could see him, not my idealizations.

"Relena." We stared at each for a long time. The emotions, or lack of the old ones and a surge of new ones, took some time to work through. We had been so used to seeing each other through the lens of our need that we never really saw each other at all before. I shook myself out of it and smiled at him.

"Hilde is staying at my apartment. I don't know what happened, but I know she's hurting, and angry. Very angry." I watched as guilt, consternation, and something deeper went through those blue eyes. Oh, Heero, you and Duo have messed up big with her, and you both regret it. At least that's something. "You've brought out the German in her and I don't know why."

"We were stupid." I smiled out right at that. Heero was always amazingly blunt.

"You're male, so that's to be expected." The jab was aimed more for Wufei than Heero. Wufei snorted and scowled. I gave him my best angelic smile. Heero looked mildly confused about the exchange. "I'm not going to ask you what happened. If Hilde wants to tell me she will. BUT," I held up a finger. "If you want to make things right, you come down here and do it face to face."

Duo appeared on the screen again. "Lena…"

I smiled and knew all the quiet frustration, affection, and amusement was showing in my expression. I never could keep my face from showing everything I was thinking. "Duo, for such a chatterbox, why couldn't you tell her you loved her? Heero, I expect this from," The Wing pilot glared at me, and I winked at him, which made him frown in confusion. "But you, Duo?"

He looked startled. "How the hell did you--? Did Hilde?"

"No," I watched the emotions war through his eyes. I sighed. I wanted to yell at him for being such a flaming idiot. Him and Heero, but doing over the vid phone was nowhere near as effective as doing it in person. "But I could tell. She doesn't have much faith in herself right now. You hurt her, Duo. And you had better fix it."

"I will, Lena." The sincerity in his voice, in his face, gave me hope.

Heero covered Duo's hand with his, "We both will."

I gave them my best I'm-pleased-you-decided-to-see-it-my-way smile. Heero gave me a suspicious look and Duo blinked. "Good, I'll arrange for you to be here, say, next week?"

They were both stuttering when I hung up on them. I was humming to myself in pleasure. Not only did I prove to myself that I was truly able to see Heero as himself, and was finally able to help him, I had also found a way to help Hilde. I was definitely pleased with myself.

"Woman."

I gave Wufei my best I'm-just-a-harmless-blond look. He wasn't buying it. Darn.

"What are you doing?"

I sighed and gestured for him to sit. Staring up at him was making my neck hurt. "I'm doing what has been the right of all women since the beginning of time. I'm match making. Or in this case, fixing a match already made. They just don't know it yet."

He narrowed his black eyes and an emotion I didn't quite understand shone in them. "I thought you had gotten over Heero."

I blinked at that. "I have. What are you talking about?"

"Then what are you doing with Hilde and Duo?" I wasn't sure I liked the tone of his voice. But I didn't really know how to identify it. Jealousy? Suspicion? What was that?

I held up a finger. "Doing with Hilde and Duo AND Heero." I smiled up at him. "I'm going for a ménage a tois." I steepled my fingers and pressed them against my lips. "They belong together, Wufei, even if they don't realize it yet."

"And you are going to show them." He dropped into the chair across from me. He seemed much more relaxed now.

"I think the boys know they need her, love her. But Hilde, for reasons I don't know, left before they could figure it out. I think if we put them together in the same area for a long enough period of time, they'll figure it out on their own." I smiled down at the files. I hadn't realized it, but I really liked this match making stuff. I had had a lot of fun with Lady Une when we managed to get both Noin and my brother together. It helped when the people involved were people you loved. That thought made me giddy with realization. I did love the boys. And Hilde, well, I was definitely starting to. It was a warm, affectionate love, nice and comfortable and friendly.

"Woman, you are being devious." Wufei, if he weren't so damned serious, would have been grinning, but he did smirk.

"I know. You want in on it?" He blinked at me. "Come on, it'll be fun, watching Duo and Heero grovel."

"If it insures that my Chief of Special Investigations will be that much more efficient at her duties, then I will assist you."

"You just want to see Duo beg."

"That is an added benefit of this plan."

I grinned, he smirked, and we got back to the business of hustling the delegates for money.

Part Four

I was singing to myself when I walked through the apartment door. The day had gone far better than I had expected. I had gotten home early; it was only five in the afternoon. Normally I was stuck in that office until close to nine. The delegates from L4 and L3 had been delayed for various reasons. I shouldn't have been so happy over their misfortune, but their trouble gave Wufei and I another day to strategize. Sometimes politics is just like war. You marshal your defenses, prepare your troops, and attack the enemy's flanks. Only everything was done with words. More frustrating, and some days, ultimately more satisfying when you win.
Dorothy blinked at me from her spot on the couch; Hilde was half buried under a pile of paperwork. There were little piles of neatly typed documents and file folders everywhere. It looked like a snowstorm of paper had hit my living room. I stared at the mess and kicked off my shoes. One of these days I am going to track down the man—and it must have been a man—who invented high heels and hurt him. Pacifism be damned.

"My word, what a mess. I thought the age of electronics would have gotten rid of all this." Hilde muttered something in reply from under her pile of papers, it sounded unpleasant. I negotiated my way around the papers stacked in neat little rows to claim a spot on the couch next to Dorothy. The vid. was on one of the news stations, and I sort of paid attention as I watched Hilde shuffle and sort through the seemingly endless piles. "What is all of this?"

Dorothy tapped her pen against one of the file folders she had in her lap. "Information on just about everything: potential agents, laws here and on the colonies, cases being handled, different customs, the different special taskforces."

"The amount of information is rather, ah" I looked around my now devastated apartment, "is impressive."

"Half of my old crew from the salvage yard will be here tomorrow." Hilde commented from her spot on the ground. She shuffled through one stack of papers, scowled, and switched to another. "Getting some tech stuff up will help run the data faster. A lot of the laws haven't been finalized; we're going to run into a nightmare of jurisdictional issues."

"It'll be at least 6 to 9 months before SI is going to even be close to operational." Dorothy commented. She handed me a file to look over. "We're going to need main offices on all four of the major space colonies, Mars, and at least five here on Earth. I'm not sure how many people that's going to be, but it'll be a lot. The case load looks to be pretty diverse as well."

"We'll be covering everything from serial murder to organized crime." Hilde tapped a file. "A lot of organized crime from the looks of it. And they are not going to like our creation at all."

Dorothy sighed. "They aren't going to be the only ones that won't like our creation. The Preventors are going to have a fit, and the local enforcement will feeling like we are invading their territory. It's going to be a political firefight for sure." Dorothy looked up at me and smiled slyly, confident and anticipatory. "It's going to be fun."

I listened as the two of them traded back and forth on giving me the information that they had collected. So much data in only a day, they were truly impressive. The pair of them worked well together without even a thought. I had expected that SI would not be fully functional for a least a year, tops, because all the reasons they had just given me. I already knew most of the data that they had told me; I had done the research when Wufei and I decided that SI needed to be created. But it was good, informative, to hear someone else review it. I inhaled and both of them turned to look at me. "I was not expecting SI to be operational for at least a year."

Hilde started to protest and I held up a hand. "It took the new government two years before we were even close to operating efficiently. I expected the time frame. I expect the political firefight; I'll deal with that." I smiled to myself. I was rather looking forward to the little political war that Wufei and I were about to start. "And I don't yet have the data on the jurisdictional and legal issues. I think that is going to be one of those things that we're going to have to deal with as we go along."

"We?" Dorothy's voice held a sly innuendo in her question. It was so typical of her.

"Of course. The two departments that SI will report to will be the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Relations." I blinked when Hilde shook her head.

"It would be more sensible if we were only accountable to the Parliament of Nations directly rather than the departments of the Earth government, otherwise we look like an outside force invading the colonies' rights." Hilde stated from her position on the floor. She folded her hands in her lap and watched me for affirmation. Her argument made sense, but I still did not want to give up SI. I pressed two fingers to my temple and sighed.

"She's right, you know." Dorothy commented quietly. Understanding was in her summer blue eyes. "I know how hard it is for you to give control of one of your projects, but SI is in good hands." She took my hands in hers. "That's why you called us, isn't it?"

"It is." I sighed. It was a sigh of resignation and relief.

"Hey, hey." Hilde reached up and laid her hands over Dorothy's. "We're not going to cut you out. We need you to make this work; we're a team: you, me, Cat…" I watched the blonde wrinkle her nose at the nickname, and chuckled, "and Wufei."

I smiled at them as they watched me with such earnest expressions. Dorothy's face was unguarded for once, and she looked at me with trust and faith. Faith in me, faith in what we were trying to do. Hilde knelt at the end of the couch and I saw the fierce determination, conviction, and trust. It was frightening the amount of trust they placed in my hands. Sometimes I thought there was no way I could live up to that faith, and other days I believed that there was no way I could fail when people like them had such trust in me, in what I saw. It was scary, like jumping out of the plane and praying the parachute was going to open. "You humble me."

Dorothy smirked. "Well, it's a hard job but someone has to do it."

She shrieked and giggled when I lunged for her, tickling her ribs and making her bat at my hands uselessly. Hilde sat laughing at the pair of us, until we both turned and glared at her. Then she sort of squeaked and did an undignified scramble backwards. I was about to pounce when the whining scream of the explosion ripped my attention away from her panicked, laughing face.

All three of us turned to the vid screen and watched with mute horror as the House of Parliament was blown into little pieces of jagged marble. Wufei, God help me, all those people and all I could think about was Wufei. I know the three of us were staring at the vid screen in shock, just staring. But for that instant there was nothing but my terror and me. Until the announcer came on and started to talk, then I was up over the couch and halfway to the elevator. Frantic, panicked and in my head I kept hearing his voice saying he was just going to keep working. I had left him, left him there. Oh God.

I pounded on the elevator doors when they didn't open fast enough. Too panicked to cry, I screamed instead, a short ragged sound. "Open, damn you!"

Hilde just materialized by my side when the door opened; she had the keys and a frighteningly blank look on her face. Dorothy wordlessly held out my shoes when she slid into the elevator. I didn't think as we raced for the car. Didn't think when Hilde dropped into the driver's seat and drove like a woman possessed. Because we were, possessed with that blind terror. At least I was, all those people and all I could think was Wufei. I had left him, oh God.
I was out the door before the car stopped, running up the ruined steps, ducking under the arms thrown out to stop me. The west wing had been hit. The Department of Justice was located in the west wing. Wufei, oh God.

The waves of heat stopped me like an invisible wall. I dropped to my knees and screamed. A wordless shriek of fear and rage. Whoever had done this going to pay. I didn't care. I just wanted to reach out and hurt someone as much as I hurt. I didn't think. I screamed, as people moved around me like a tide that I could sense but not see.

"Woman, calm yourself. WOMAN! RELENA!" A sharp stinging slap made me focus on Wufei's face. He was blacked, blood smeared across his left cheek, annoyed, and arrogantly alive. "What do you think you're doing?!"

I stared at him mutely as he held me by the arms. I wanted to kiss him for being alive, and kick him for terrifying me like that. I touched the side of his face just to make sure. He tilted his head for just a moment, brushing his lips across my palm. I drew a shuddering breath and dropped my hand. I'm not sure if it was the relief that made me weak at the knees or something else.

"Well, my Lord Chang, are you going to stand there like a thrice cursed, mute idiot or are you going to kiss the girl?" Dorothy stalked towards us. Soot marred her gleaming hair, and there was blood on her hands, but she was still smiling that sly smile that suggested activities that you can't mention in mixed company. "She came all this way out of fear for you."

Wufei gave me a quick curious glance before turning to sneer at Dorothy. "Wench, I did not expect you to rouse yourself for my sake."

"Not hardly." Dorothy crossed her arms over her chest. "Hilde and I came to check out the scene; it's hardly a coincidence that only ­your- offices get blown half way to hell before the Parliament of Nations can meet to discuss the logistics of the SI department. Someone wants this issue dropped." She looked at the still smoldering remains of the west wing entrance hall. "Permanently."

Hilde was in deep conversation with a fireman and one of the local police officers. She turned her head towards us for half a second before returning her attention to their hushed and hurried conversation. I knew in that one quick glance she had gotten all the information that she needed. She knew I was calm, Wufei was alive and relatively undamaged, and that Dorothy was handling the situation. I let Dorothy lead me away, and watched as she badgered Wufei into allowing the EMT's to treat his injuries.

Hilde came over after a little while, her eyes dark and serious. Her face was still impassive, shuttered and cold, but her eyes were flaming. The wolf snarled in those blue eyes, and I wondered what had brought about that rage. Hilde stopped in front of Wufei and gave him a quick once over before turning to growl at the EMTs. "Hurry the fuck up and treat the others. It hardly takes three of you to take care of one man."

The EMTs scattered under her hot gaze, and then she turned back to Wufei. "Deliberate, bomb with a timer meant to catch the two of you on your way out. They couldn't get past security so they placed it at the exit. Both the police and the fire department have decided to work with SI on this one." She flashed Dorothy a lightening fast grin. "Got some interested in transferring into SI as well."

"We need a clearer mission statement before we can do that." Both of them turned to glare at Wufei and I. Wufei merely arched an aristocratic eyebrow while I squirmed under their combined gaze. Dorothy shook her out her flowing mane of hair and hissed at the soot tangled in her tresses.

"If we are quite through, can we all go home? I see very little that I, at least, can do here." But the expression on her face as she watched the EMT's rush people into the ambulances was one of pain and helplessness. If there is one emotion that Dorothy cannot stand, cannot handle, it was helplessness. "Besides, we need to talk to Mr. Chang about what he saw."

"Go ahead. I'm going to talk to the police for a while longer. And your security." Hilde inclined her head towards me. "It's odd that they would pick the entryway."

I merely nodded. I was out of my field of experience on this one. I waged wars of words, not with weapons. It hurt to know that people may have been hurt, killed, all because someone disagreed with my political agenda. It seemed weak, cowardly to strike out so haphazardly. Wufei stood and then swayed momentarily. When I reached out to steady him, he scowled.

"He's still a bit shocky, miss." An EMT came hurrying over, completely ignoring Hilde's glare. He gave Wufei a quick check and then chirped to me. "Keep him off his feet. He was thrown a good ways, got a nasty concussion, some bruises and lacerations. Lucky for him no broken bones."

I politely thanked the man and got him out the line of fire before Hilde could growl at him. Wufei was giving the man an equally nasty glare. I held up my hands as if to ward off a blow when he turned that glare on me. "Hilde's suggestion has merit. We can talk this over at my apartment. You need to be watched anyway."

Wufei frowned at me, and would have protested but Hilde caught his arm. "Someone's gunning for you and for her. Keep an eye on her, ‘kay? I'm going to go ream your security team. Damned imbeciles."

Dorothy chuckled. "Remember that we need their help. Don't antagonize them too much. And yes, I'll keep an eye on the Ministers."

"Considering that's my job, I'd like to object." A rolling masculine voice cut in and both Wufei and Hilde turned with identical scowls on their faces. I turned to face my new chief of security. Jonathan, a former OZ officer devoted to Lady Une, and because she was devoted to me, he was devoted to me. I watched Hilde's face melt into the laughing lines of recognition. I frowned in displeasure when she launched herself into his arms.

"Jon! Shit, it's been a long time." He laughed and picked her up. He pulled back and ran a hand through his sandy blond hair. Deep brown eyes stayed bright, interested. I didn't like it. Hilde turned back to us with a light in her eyes that I hadn't seen before. "This is Jonathan, but then you know that. We were in basic together." Something dark and disturbed rippled through Hilde's cornflower eyes. "Before I got transferred."

"You are close?" My voice was clipped, quiet, and painfully controlled. Hilde shot me a questioning glance, as did Dorothy. Wufei laid a restraining hand on my arm. I glanced up at him and sighed. "I suppose, then, you'll work well together. I'll talk to you in the morning, Jonathan."

I gave Hilde a long, long, look and she got a clear picture of my intense disapproval. She stood staring after us as it started to rain.

Part Five

"A little premature, don't you think?" Dorothy comment as she applied a light layer of aloe to Wufei's arms. He didn't hiss or jerk, but merely watched as she moved with gracefully efficient moves. "Glaring at Hilde like that?

I scowled at my coffee. "Maybe."

"Woman, simply because Hilde recognizes someone and is pleased does not mean she is forgetting Duo and Heero." Wufei flexed his arm experimentally and frowned at the stiffness in his normally fluid movements. He turned to look at me with mild onyx eyes. "Your desire to help them does you credit, but have more patience."

Dorothy leaned back against the counter as she watched us. What she saw I didn't want to know. Sometimes her perception scares me; most of the time I find ways to use it. She toyed with one long strand of her hair and then made a disgusted face when her fingers found a clump of soot and sticker things. "One of these days I'm just going to cut it all off. I swear I will. Gyah. I'm going to take a shower."

I laughed and made a little shooing motion with my hand. Dorothy gave me a little salute and a wink as soon as she got behind Wufei. I frowned at her as she turned the corner laughing. Wufei's expression suggested that we were both touched in the head and all I could do was a lift a shoulder in defense. I folded my hands in my lap and took a calming breath in through my nose and out through my mouth.

Wufei watched me with an expression of amusement mixed with something else. I could never quite figure out that something else. It was mildly frustrating. "You want to talk about the bombing now."

"We should probably wait for Hilde and Dorothy, but," I made a frustrated gesture with one hand. "Maybe having a list of possible suspects would help?" I frowned at myself. "I can't help but feel like I'm just reading one of those silly murder-mystery books I used to read. It doesn't feel real."

Wufei sighed and shifted his weight, his discomfort finally showing. "It's shock, that's all. No one has tried for your life in over three years and this sudden attack seems unprovoked." He shot me a sly look. "And what do you mean ‘used to read', woman? You still read those fluffy things."

"They are not ‘fluffy'. Just… escapist, that's all." I diplomatically ignored his snort. "The attack wasn't all that sudden, really. Think about it. If those delegates had been here they could have been hurt, killed. Maybe we are wrong in assuming that we were the targets; maybe someone had larger goals in mind than me. I don't do much anymore."

Wufei very gently brushed a stray strand of hair out of my eyes. "Without you so many of us would be lost."

My heart hammered in my chest, and—typical me—I couldn't get the question that was spinning in my head like a whirling dervish. We stared at each other for a while after he dropped his hand and watched me with inscrutable eyes. I know that each one of my emotions were clear on my face. Not for the last time I wished I had better control over my expressions. I looked down at my hands, which were currently trying to wring the life out of each other. One would think that a politician would have better control over her feelings, but no.

"God DAMNIT!!" Hilde slammed the door to emphasize her extreme displeasure. I jumped and Wufei looked slightly… peeved. I watched as the petite woman stalked into the kitchen while swearing—I'm guessing it was swearing—in low rolling German. I was a little relieved to see her and a lot disappointed. One of these days Wufei and I are going to have to talk; eventually my awkwardness around him was going to start interfering with our jobs.

Hilde stopped in mid-curse and blinked at Wufei and I, as a fine blush stealthily crept across my cheeks. I was furious at myself for acting no better than a bubble headed schoolgirl. Wufei merely turned to face the irate, bedraggled German and neatly blocked me from her line of view. He does that with too aggressive reporters as well. What distresses me is that I let him.

"Report." All hint of the tenderness his voice held a moment ago was gone. I looked at my hands for a moment. Perhaps I read too much into things.

Hilde gave him a snappy little mock salute before leaning against the counter, sagging really. The neon of the oven clock said 10:30pm, nearly six hours since the explosion and she had been at the scene the all that time. It was obvious that she was exhausted and holding herself by willpower alone.

I made coffee to give myself something to do while they discussed the specifics of the bombing. I closed my eyes and tried to tell myself that the injury and death toll that Hilde rattled off weren't my fault. I didn't believe myself. I never do. I handed her the first cup to give her something to use to hide the shaking of her hands. She gave me a small appreciative smile.

"We'll find whoever did this." Hilde looked straight at me. "They'll answer for it."

I ached hearing her shoulder the responsibility that shouldn't be hers, but at the same time I was grateful. I knew she would stand for those senselessly killed. She would care, and she'd make it right. I knew she'd protect her people, and in that fierceness I saw what Duo and Heero loved so much. I covered her free hand with mine.

"I know."

"Relena suggested that perhaps the delegates were targets of the bombing, not her or me." Wufei commented and merely raised an eyebrow over the coffee he poured himself.

"Well…" I pushed my hair out of my eyes. "I just thought it might be a possibility since the initial discussions about SI's funding and jurisdiction were scheduled to begin today."

Hilde was grinning. "Guess some good came from all that mystery novel reading you do."

I scowled at her. "How do you know about my collection?"

"Cat told me about it." Now she was being downright cheeky, and, dammit, Dorothy was going to have to die.

Wufei was sputtering so I thumped him soundly on the back. Some coffee must have gone down the wrong way. "Cat..?" He choked weakly, "CAT?"

Hilde just shrugged and I shook my head in the classic ‘Don't Ask Me' gesture.

"You have a point though, Rel." Hilde's voice was cool and professional, like a switch had been thrown. "It makes sense to at least check them out. Any potential connections need to be looked at this stage. It would be stupid to assume that you and Wufei were the only targets. Neither one of you have been any more visible than the average politician lately."
I caught Wufei's small wince at the word politician and smiled slightly. Even after three years being called a politician unnerved him.

"We'll need to see if any of the delegates have been targets before, I'll need jurisdiction at access all relevant documents and records." Hilde scowled. "Shit, why couldn't the bastards pull this little stunt two years from now? This is exactly the reason that SI needs to be up and running as soon as possible."
Wufei and I exchanged glances and were on exactly the same train of thought in that one look. Hilde had a point, a very politically useful point. One I intended to use for all it was worth. I smiled.
"Rel, it scares me when you smile like that." Hilde said as she shot me a wary look.

"She unnerves most people with that look," Wufei commented dryly, "because it's the real Relena peeking through that veneer of civility."

I stuck my tongue out at me and he gave me a condescending look that said he'd love to respond in kind but he was being mature. Bah. I hardly ever get to be immature so I am when ever I think I can get away with it.

Hilde was watching us with an expression unnervingly similar to Dorothy's. I keep wondering what people see that we don't. Politics was making me insecure and self-conscious.

I watched as Wufei made a mildly disgusted expression over the state of his one immaculate traditional clothes. They were now ripped, charred, and bloodstained. I sighed. He was leaving little black smudges all over everything and I really didn't want to have to do housework.

"I'll go see if any of my brother's things will fit you. We can talk about all of this tomorrow. It's late and despite the coffee soon none of us are going to be up for more detective work."
Hilde's face was that perfect blank that I had seen on so many police officers and soldiers. "It's not your job anyway, Relena."

I gave her a long steady look. "Perhaps not, but it's still my fault."

I walked away from that pregnant silence to sift through my brother's clothes. I knelt in front of the dresser he used during his far too infrequent visits and wished for him. One small childish part of me wanted to believe that if he was here he could make it all okay again. I never had siblings before and then, all of a sudden, he was the only family I had. It was strange and uncomfortable learning to live with him as my brother—learning to live with a brother—but once I had I missed him while he was away.

I frowned at the jumble of t-shirts shoved into the dresser drawers. My brother was still taller than Wufei, but not by much. They were almost the same size through the shoulders, but Wufei would definitely need a belt. I found the smallest pair of jeans—he'd have to roll the bottoms up—and a faded t-shirt with a caricature of T.S. Eliot. I smiled at the exaggerated eyebrows. Wufei would like it.

There was a weary type of tension sitting in the air when I walked in with my arms laddened with borrowed clothes. Hilde's eyes were downcast but her jaw was set in determined, obstinate, lines. Wufei just looked tired and more than a little frustrated as he watched her guarded face. I could guess what the topic was. I wanted to ask him who was being premature now. Hilde was watching me with a wolf's neutrality. If I attacked she'd respond in kind. If I left it alone, so would she. Now was not a good time to push at her.

I was used to unspoken tension in all its varied forms but the sorrow that rode on the air hurt like a slap. I smiled softly at both of them and forced myself to step between them. Wufei gave me a faint smile in return I think he understands how much it costs me every time is step into the line of fire when all I want to do is hide. I held out the clothes to him like a peace offering.

He traced the ridiculous eyebrows and when he looked back to me those black eyes were full of humor. "I'll change and come back."

I shook my head. "Go to bed. We'll need to be up early to do media damage control anyway."

Wufei gave me a look that told me he was seriously thinking about arguing with me even though my tone held the note of command. I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest and he sighed. Score one for the blonde.

"I'll stay in your brother's room, then?"

"It's the only one free."

He flicked his eyes over Hilde's still glowering expression. "Hm."

Hilde sighed when he left and raked a hand through her shoulder length hair. She rolled her shoulders as if to ease a tension riding there. Then she leaned across the counter and a slow smile of feminine knowing crept across her face. "So?"

"So? So what?" I tried to look nonchalant as I poured myself a cup of cooling coffee.

Hilde gave me a look. "How does Wufei know so much about your home, hm?"

"He helped me move in." Actually, he had suggested I move. The silence of the castle was starting to swallow parts of me that I hadn't know existed.

"Mm-hm." Hilde had that expression that said she saw more than I thought I was giving away.

"Wufei also helped me pick out some furniture." We had had some heated arguments about that, once I had finally gotten myself out of the shock of the idea that I was actually leaving the castle.

"That explains the décor." I think she was making fun of me but I wasn't sure.

"He also taught me how to cook." I had been utterly helpless. He had watched me give the cookbook Sally had given me, the vegetables from Une's garden, and Noin's pans a completely blank look. Then I'd turned around and looked at him in panic. He'd called me twelve kinds of idiot and taught me how to be at least proficient in the kitchen. Well, at least I don't burn the water.

Hilde broke out laughing and I frowned at her, flustered. I hadn't meant to say quite so much and didn't know how to take it back. I folded my hands in front of me and took a deep breath.

"Uh-oh, you just retreated." Hilde caught my hands in hers as I started to pull back. "Don't retreat into your shell and pretend you aren't feeling anything because you are. Don't retreat, not with this. He's loved you—or would love you if you would let him—for a very long time, I think. But the two of you keep hiding behind your walls." Hilde rubbed small circles across the backs of my hands to make me relax. "Listen to your emotions for once. Trust them, and stop hiding from them. It'll rip you apart if you don't."

I looked into those sincere eyes and asked a question I knew would hurt, but it had to be asked. "Will you? Listen to your own feelings?" Hilde started to pull away but I caught her wrists. "It's good advice, Hilde, listen to it yourself. Don't forget them, not when they both love you."

I let Hilde pull back and grind the palm of her hand between her breasts. She stared past me out the window where the city lights sparkled like scattered gems. "Easier said than done, Rel." She looked at me, and the look in them stung like an open hand slap. "But love doesn't conquer all, at least not for me."

I let her go when she abruptly excused herself. I watched the city pulse below my window, and rested my head against the cool glass. Why did things always have to be so complicated?

Part Six

Reliability, I told myself, began with responsibility, and both were firmly rooted in discipline. Discipline was not lunging across the table and strangling the L4 delegate irritating the hell out of me. I settled for drumming my fingers on the table, a simple gesture I knew would be read as a quiet insult. It was meant to be one. The woman shot me a murderous glare that I returned with a gently condescending smile. She finished her diatribe against the Earth Sphere United Nations and our power grubbing schemes. Wufei was nearly foaming at the mouth by the time she was finished.

"As Mrs. Albright noted, SI will be responsible for all crimes that cross jurisdictional lines. However, the SI will be directly answerable to the ESUN Parliament, not to Earth or a single colony, therefore SI cannot be considered a transgression against colonial autonomy since it will be controlled by the Parliament of Nations." I smiled sweetly at the L4 delegate. "And since SI will be directly accountable to the ESUN it is merely logical that all the colonies and Earth fund the Special Investigations division."

The L2 delegate gave me a hidden smile as he stood up. I remembered why I liked Alexander so much when he rolled his eyes in Albright's direction before speaking. "Minister Darlain's explanation makes perfect sense. The only real question is how the funding shall be arranged, and how much jurisdiction should be given to the SI."

Albright shot out of her seat like someone had lit a fire under her. "The jurisdiction given should be absolutely minimal. SI should be forced to work with the police forces on the different colonies."

"Oh, that's a fine and silly idea, Madeilina." I covered my mouth to keep from laughing out loud as Jamison Noventa, Sylvia's older cousin and the L3 delegate, joined in the debate. "Of course the Special Investigations Bureau, or is it Division—a hell, who cares?—will have to work with the local police departments. As Relena already said, each major colony will have a home office with field offices underneath them in the smaller colonies. Hell, the agents will be home grown."

The corners of my lips were twitching as I tried to remain serious. "Mr. Noventa is correct; the long range recruitment goal is to have agents from each of the colonies. Ultimately the department will send agents where they need them—given qualifications, of course—but it would be best if agents from a colony stayed at that colony."

Albright looked slightly mollified. "I suppose funding will be part of taxation."

Wufei rolled his eyes in irritation and I could almost read his thoughts: ‘stupid woman.' I tried not to laugh. That would be terribly rude. He glowered at me as he stood, incredibly irritated that I had dragged him to this meeting and forced him to deal with stupid people. Poor Wufei, he has quite learned that politics was all about manipulating stupid people.

"Of course it will be part of the new tax plan, which will be proportional, the smaller colonies need not be concerned." Wufei leveled an annoyed look at the woman.

It irritated me no end that Albright immediately accepted Wufei's word when she'd fight me every step of the way because he was one of the gundam pilots. Never mind the colonies had sold them up a river during the war. I schooled my features into a blank look and tried not to think of it for the rest of the meeting.

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