Author: Calic0cat
see chap. 1 for warnings, notes, disclaimer

Fragments + Chapter 2

I could *not* fucking *believe* this. I had never in my entire life had a mission go so damn bad so damn fast. One minute Heero and I were mere days - maybe even only hours - away from finding the evidence we needed to prove that the resort hotel was merely a cover for a weapons manufacturing plant and the next I was throwing construction materials and scaffolding off of my partner's pale, still body and trying to figure out whether it was just bad luck or something more ominous that caused the damn thing to collapse right when we were walking by. 'Retrograde amnesia. Of all the stupid fucking things to go wrong... After all the times he's hit his head before why the hell did he pick this time to end up with *amnesia* for god's sake?!'

Now my partner thought we were really married and was clinging to me in a way that would have had me over the moon with delight if he was in his right mind. But we weren't and he wasn't and I was going to have to walk one hell of a narrow line for the next few days. Heero's confused, frightened face reminded me all too clearly of Trowa's when I found him at the circus that time after he'd lost *his* memory. Vulnerable and so damn easily hurt...

Seeing Heero like that was doing some seriously nasty messing with my mind. I had thought that I'd killed those wishes for something other than a damn good working relationship a long time ago. Turned out they were just biding their time, waiting to catch me with my guard down. Seeing Heero like this, with *his* guard down, with all those damn emotional shields from his training gone without a trace, was tearing *my* defences down faster than I could shore them back up again.

It would be bad enough dealing with him in this vulnerable state if he at least knew what the hell was going on. But he didn't and I couldn't fill him in. Not only was I none too sure that he could handle the whole truth right now but that "accident" had my street sense screaming "trap" for all it was worth. I didn't dare take the chance that we weren't being monitored and try telling him who we really were and what we were doing here. Heero himself would be the first one to agree.

The Preventers had been watching this old resource satellite for quite some time now and they were pretty damn sure it was home to a large weapons manufacturing plant. Not mobile suits, just weapons - but heavy ones and a lot of them. The resort hotel that had been - and was still being - built was just a cover for all the deliveries and the heavy resource usage.

But pretty damn sure wasn't good enough. We needed concrete evidence before we could justify a raid on it. And thus Max and Odin Wells were sent off on their honeymoon at the resort.

It had been a damn awkward mission from the start. Holding hands and calling each other koi and love and darling and sweetheart and a dozen other pet names. Me playing the slightly ditsy, loud, brash American and Heero starring as the quiet, introspective, long-suffering Japanese unfortunate enough to have married me; me keeping people distracted and him surreptitiously taking photos and planting bugs.

Me enjoying all the contact that Heero was allowing me to get away with in the name of the mission and wishing that it wasn't all just pretend.

But it was and the problem had just gotten a hell of a lot worse. Heero believed we were really married and was looking to me for comfort and reassurance. Which I'd be more than happy to give him - except that I had to remember that sooner or later *he* would remember and things would go back to the way they were. Assuming that I hadn't let myself get too far out of line and wrecked our working relationship that is.

Then there was the mission itself which was now thoroughly screwed. And I couldn't even call for backup; not when I strongly suspected that if we hadn't actually been made, we were at least under observation. Now that I had a partner needing protection instead of providing backup, I was going to have to be damn careful if I wanted to get us both out of this alive. Especially if I intended to finish the mission too.

I looked down at where Heero was curled trustingly against me and stifled a sigh. I'd hoped that those few vague references I'd worked into my conversation with him would be enough to trigger some memories but evidently not. I didn't dare to try anything more obvious. Even if I swept the room for bugs *again*, there were plenty of ways to eavesdrop without leaving visible evidence. And if there was anything there, I couldn't do anything about it without tipping off whoever was monitoring us that I was onto them anyhow. So there wasn't a hell of a lot of use wasting time searching for bugs. Oh, I'd check when I got a chance but it was safer to just assume that nothing that was said or done in the entire place was ever completely a secret.

'This mission is *so* screwed...'

If Heero was going to cling this closely to me, I really didn't know how the hell I was going to finish the mission. We'd had everything all set for me to do a little "nighttime" reconnaissance tonight but I didn't think I could leave Heero alone for that long; the concussion alone made that a bad idea even without the amnesia to complicate matters. Plus I really would prefer to know I had backup available if I needed it before I started getting too adventurous. We'd had an agent - a pretty good one - who had infiltrated the workforce here go missing a month or so ago; never did find a trace of him and frankly I didn't think we ever would. Trash incinerators burned damn hot and the hotel had one hell of a big one.

'We're supposed to check in with more info in two days. If we miss that check-in, Wufei and Sally will come in after us. I think the best bet is to just sit tight, keep playing the part, and skip the check-in. Let the mission ride till they show up and I've got some backup again. Who knows, maybe Heero will get his memory back before then and we'll be able to wrap this up ourselves after all.'

And if he didn't - well, I'd at least have a few days of "let's pretend" to remember. I just had to keep reminding myself that it *was* just pretending and make sure I didn't take advantage of the situation. No matter how tempting it might be.

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