Trowa being melodramatic (no kidding). Heero feeling guilty, Quatre plotting. Just an average day in the life of your Five Favorite G-Boys ;)

by: Shoori

I Know Who I Want... + Part 15

"Well that was about as fun as an OZ interrogation," Duo groans, slumping bonelessly against the soft material of the sofa.

"I'm sorry," Quatre murmurs unhappily. "I know that was... difficult... "

Duo snorts. "There's the understatement of the century, blondie," he tells Quatre acerbically.

I lean back in my chair, deciding to let the minor insult to my lover pass. It's been a trying day for all of us.

I glance around the room, noting how differently we are arranged from the last time we met here, just two days ago. Then, we were arranged in little conversational groups, leaning against each other, talking, laughing. Now I'm in the same chair I was in then, and so is Heero, but we seem farther away from the others than we were then. Duo is sprawled in one corner of the sofa, Quatre sits stiffly on the other side.

And Trowa...

One thing about Trowa. He puts on that blank facade in order to mask his emotions, but if you spend enough time around him you discover that he displays a wealth of non-verbal clues that give hints to his true state of mind.

That blank expression is a clue in and of itself - if he hides beneath that mask, it signals that he is unhappy about something. Ditto with his voice - if it's bland and unassuming, he's trying to hide something. Likewise that rather ridiculous overhang of hair - the more of his face is covered, the more upset he is.

Also, when he's particularly unhappy, he removes himself from whatever group he's with at the time. If he can't physically leave altogether, he positions himself in such a way as to make it blaringly obvious that he doesn't want to be part of whatever's going on. Right now he's done that, in typical Trowa Barton fashion. We're all sitting on the furniture grouped so that those sitting in it will be facing each other. Trowa is leaning against the wall to the side of the furniture grouping, arms loosely crossed over his chest, head bent at such an angle that his fall of hair covers most of his face.

If he were one of those old-fashioned prints, he'd have a caption like "The Reluctant Party-Goer" or "Hovering on the Fringes."

"Well," Quatre says after a moment. "At least the strategy for the Preventers is settled. Now we just have to decide how to deal with Rele-,"

"God, Quatre," Duo groans loudly, rubbing his fingers over his temples. "Can't we talk about this later?"

I feel a sneaking sympathy for Maxwell. My head is pounding as well. After we got the initial histrionics out of the way, it was decided that Heero will not return to his position at the Preventers just yet, though he will notify Une that he is interested in resuming his work. Dufasion will also whisper that information in a few ‘trustworthy' ears, and so the rumor will take hold without Heero having to make any official announcements. Meanwhile, Quatre and I will begin hinting to others on the Council that Heero, Duo and Trowa are all in support of Dufasion's plan for the future of the Preventers.

It seems so little to have taken so long to decide. A lot of time was spent supplying Dufasion with background information, though, and an inordinate amount of time was wasted trying to keep from upsetting or offending anyone. That attempt doesn't seem to have worked very well.

The first hearing in the divorce proceedings is scheduled for Monday. It's good to be the Queen, I suppose - usually it would take weeks or months for such a case to come up on the court schedule, but everything seems to be moving along nicely. A lot of what will happen with the five of us and the Preventers will depend strongly on the outcome of that case.

"I know you're all tired," Quatre tells Duo softly. "I am too," he admits. He sighs. "But... we need to make a plan, so that we can begin... "

"So let's plan," Heero says harshly. It's the most he's contributed in a while. After the meeting, most of which was carried by Quatre, Duo and Dufasion, we adjourned for a hasty, rather tense lunch. Dufasion excused himself immediately after. I think that Quatre is rather upset by how things went - he likes Dufasion, and was obviously hoping that his first meeting with the rest of our friends would go more smoothly than it did.

I don't know what he expected, though. Dufasion was right when he said that he had to ask Duo, Heero and Trowa the questions that he asked them. But they were questions guaranteed to put the others on the defensive, which just isn't the way to build mutual trust and camaraderie at an initial meeting, not that any of us - except maybe Duo and Quatre - are the types to buddy up to new acquaintances regardless.

They will come to like - or at least respect - Dufasion in time. At the moment, though, they can hardly help but see him as a sign of worse to come. His questions piercingly brought home to us all the questions and publicity we will be forced to endure in the near future.

"Well, the first hearing is Monday," Quatre reminds us all unnecessarily. "Are we all going to go?"

"Yes," Duo answers immediately, and I nod sharply in agreement.

"That's not necessary," Heero begins.

"Actually, I think it's a good idea," Quatre tells him. "It's best if we make a united show from the start."

Heero leans more heavily against the cushions, scowling. He obviously doesn't want us. I can hardly blame him - were the situation reversed, I would not want anyone I know nearby either.

"Now, the judge will decide at the hearing whether or not the case needs to proceed to a trial, and if so when that trial will be, or if he can settle it there."

"Who exactly is going to be on trial?" Duo demands.

Quatre sighs. "Relena has made the allegations, so Heero is on trial," he admits. "Now... "

"What a bunch of bullshit!" Duo explodes angrily. "It's just crap, Quatre. It's a waste of time, and... "

"I know," Quatre interrupts, far more sharply than is his wont. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, calming his temper. I look at him, slightly surprised - Quatre rarely allows his temper to get the better of him even to the extent where he exhibits it in public.

I glance over at Trowa, but he doesn't react. He hasn't moved since the conversation began. He looks like some odd sort of outgrowth to the wall. A bizarrely placed modern sculpture of some type.

"I know it's bullshit, Duo," Quatre finally manages, calmly enough. "But there it is. Now, as I was saying, it will probably move to a trail." He pauses for a moment, collecting his thoughts. "Divorce law is tricky. It has changed a lot over the years, and varies a lot from country to country. It will be run loosely like a criminal trial - lawyers, judge, though here in Sanc there's no jury. But the penalties are mainly financial. Since there are no children, and Relena is certainly financially secure enough without him, the worst that Heero could be made to do is surrender up to 65% of his assets, which, at the moment, are negligible anyway."

"So there isn't really much that can be done to him?" Duo frowns.

"Not really," Quatre tells him. "The end result - as both parties are favorable to it - will certainly be the divorce. The only question is who will end up with what."

"So if Heero didn't ask for anything, and agreed to everything she said, it would just be over?" Duo demands.

Heero shifts sharply in his seat, but doesn't say anything. His face hardens. He'd be more than willing to give up any material thing that Relena asked for, but agreeing to those spurious charges is another matter.

"Not that you could agree to it," Duo confirms hastily, looking at Heero. "They're lies. I'm just trying to figure out these stupid laws."

Heero nods once, but his expression relaxes.

"It probably would," Quatre hedges. "But that doesn't generally happen. And if he did agree to her charges," he points out, "there would be no chance of any of you having any influence in the Preventers debate."

"So, if she knows she can't get anything, why the hell is she doing this?" Duo demands.

Quatre hesitates, obviously searching for a diplomatic way to phrase what we all know anyway.

"To make trouble."

We all jump, and turn our faces to the source of the remark. Trowa still leans against the wall, his arms still folded, but he's lifted his head enough that his hair has fallen back to reveal one impassive green eye.

"So that she can drag her lies into the public forum. So that people can ask us intrusive, embarrassing questions. So that we have to answer those questions in front of the world. So that... "

"Trowa... " Quatre falters. He stops, staring helplessly at the calm figure across the room. It doesn't seem Quatre has anything to say. He was probably gripped by the same impulse I felt, to just stop that calm litany of bald fact, coldly outlining the turmoil that is to come.

"It's true," Trowa says calmly. "Have you really thought about what this could come to?"

"What do you mean?" Quatre asks carefully.

"It's just like this last war," he continues enigmatically.

"How do you mean?" Duo demands. He's sat up and twisted around so that he could look at Trowa.

"We don't usually fight from this sort of disadvantage. We're used to being outnumbered. But our enemy usually doesn't know us. We're the anomaly, the unknown factor." Trowa calmly looks around at us. "OZ didn't even know who the Hell we were. In the Eve Wars, that faction had or thought they had half of us on their side."

I can't help but wince at this reminder of my disloyalty.

"In the last war, the situation was reversed," he reminds us. "We didn't know who the enemy was or where they came from. If we hadn't intercepted that broadcast, we'd have just been sitting there, waiting for an attack from a force we knew nothing about."

That last war almost claimed two of us. He doesn't say it, but the knowledge is there between us all.

"What are you saying, Trowa?" I demand. I have to stop myself at the last minute from referring to him by his surname, a habit of longstanding picked up from the school I attended in my youth.

"It's somewhat different," he concedes. "We know who she is and what she's going to do. Mostly," he says, a hint of wryness seeping through his steady tone. "But she knows us too."

"Meaning?" I demand.

"She knows our weaknesses - very well," he says calmly. "She knows all of us well enough to know exactly where and how to attack to achieve the most damage."

We're silent for a moment, each of us thinking about the things Relena does in fact know about us.

[cont]