The Final Murder: Part 19

The air was cool and crisp as we drove to my house. It was early morning (about five was my guess), and the stars and sand shined brightly, as if welcoming me home. I rolled down my window and stuck my hand out, enjoying the feel of the rushing breeze blowing between my fingers. It felt good to be back.

After the shock of Wufei's revelation wore off, I had no problem sleeping for the rest of the flight. What strength I had recovered during my ten hour nap, and two hour passed-out period, was depleted with the news that the biggest threat to my livelihood, had teamed up with the biggest threat to my life. Everything about Hrncir's disappearance suddenly made sense, but at the same time, it brought a million questions to the table. What did Krahe gain from partnering with Hrncir, and vice versa? There was no way Hrncir could not know that Krahe was not of this world. Why would the ghost take such a risk with Hrncir? How was he moving Hrncir around?

Heero didn't handle the news as well as I did. He accidently woke me up when he ripped one of the bolted-down chairs from the floor. Yep, he was slightly peeved.

"Roll up the window," Wufei complained, interrupting my thoughts. "It's freezing."

"Deal with it," I said, sticking my face out of the window...and jerking back just before my head was rolled up. "Wufei!" I snapped, and I watched as he made a show of removing his hand from the buttons on the door handle, to the steering wheel. He was looking entirely too smug for my liking. Irritated, I tried to roll the window back down. It didn't budge. Glaring at Wufei, I realized that he locked me out of the controls. Grrr! I knew I should've insisted on driving!

I turned to glare at Heero, who was in the backseat, snickering. "You found that funny?"

"Yes."

I glared harder. "Oh really?"

He smiled and nodded. "Really."

"Calm down Quatre," Wufei said, glee still in his voice. "It's too early to be pissy. Besides, it wouldn't have hurt you. I close Duo's head in the window all the time." Try as I might, I couldn't stop the smile that split my face. The mental image nearly threw me into hysterics.

Wufei smirked at me, then sobered as his eyes went back on the road. "Quatre, Une and I have worked some...arrangements out for us, and I need to tell you and Odin what they are."

I frowned. "Wufei, I don't like the sound of this already."

He shrugged. "There's been much that I've said that you didn't like the sound of. This will not be the end of you. I hope." He took a deep breath and let it out. "From now until Hrncir and Krahe are taken care of, you, Trowa, Kitty, Duo and Odin will be under constant watch. Don't start Quatre!" he snapped when I opened my mouth. "The shit is about to hit the fan, and we are not prepared! I don't know if Hrncir accidently missed when he was shooting at you, or if he intentionally missed. With that crazy ghost at his side, it could be either one." He paused. "You're about to be shoved into the spotlight because of the bombing, but knowing reporters, the charity is going to be brought up too. So you and Duo need to get your shit together on that, because," he glanced at Heero through the rearview mirror, "we still don't know where the money is. And we need to get our stories straight on Zuern and Hrncir. It won't be long before the whole solar system knows that the son of a bitch tried to shoot you out of the sky."

"How will they know?" Heero asked.

"The pictures I showed you were taken from a security camera," he said, not answering the question directly. "Although the Preventers have confiscated the tape, I have no doubt that the media will get their hands on a copy anyway. It won't look good that an employee of WEI, who worked under Quatre's right hand man, was trying to blow up his boss's boss." He sighed loudly. "Goodness gracious Cat. You are as gifted as Duo for getting into shit."

"Thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment."

"Sure it was."

"Who is supposed to be our security?" Heero asked, getting us back on track. "Preventer agents?"

"No. I've taken the liberty of contacting the Maguanacs. I figured everyone would approve."

Heero and I turned to each other, and nodded. Preventer agents were good, but I've trusted my life to Rashid too many times to count. That man didn't know how to let me down. "Thank you Wufei. That's perfect."

"I just hope it's enough," Heero murmured.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Wufei asked.

"Because of Krahe," Heero said, looking me in the eye. "The Maguanacs are excellent. But when Krahe is ready to make his move, I doubt they'll be able to stop him."

"Why not?!" Wufei's voice rose in agitation. "We stopped him!"

"Did we, Wufei?" Heero asked in a patronizing tone, his eyes flickering in a meaningful way. I didn't understand the message in his eyes, but Wufei apparently did. A shameful look passed over his face, but it was gone as quickly as it came. It wasn't quick enough for me to miss, however.

I let Heero's rhetorical question bounce around in my head. He asked the question to Wufei, but truthfully, it applied to all of us. "No," I said at last. "We didn't."

None of us spoke after that, each of us lost in our own thoughts and memories. So I thought back to when Heero, Trowa, Wufei and Zechs went back to Earth to destroy the portals. Even though I always felt that Krahe would return, I never thought that their mission was unsuccessful. Heero and I knew in our hearts that this wasn't over, but it wasn't something we talked about. And as the years passed, we sort of...forgot about it.

The others never talked about it either. It almost became a taboo topic. But I remembered once, a few weeks after our honeymoon, I had asked Trowa what happened on that mission. He asked me to never ask him about it again. I didn't.

I think it's about time I did.

***

I didn't realize I fell back asleep until Wufei opened his car door. Startled, I jerked upright and glanced around, trying to get my bearings. Unfortunately, my brain wasn't computing what I was seeing into meaningful information. "Huh?"

"We're parked in your driveway, Quatre," Heero said with amusement. "Wufei is getting your stuff out of the trunk."

"Oh." I glanced around again, and sure enough, I recognized the cactus I planted, along with the other odds-and-ends that made up my home. Duh. You'd think I would know what my house looked like!

"And I placed the key and the ring in your duffel. You'll find them in a zip-lock bag."

This time I was really confused. "Huh?"

"Today would be nice, Winner!" Wufei called out impatiently, as he carried my things to the front door. Still trying to wake up, I stumbled out of the car and followed Wufei cautiously, as if he was leading me into danger rather than my home.

When I caught up to him, he had just opened the front door. He entered, and I followed, looking around as if I had never seen this place before. Everything was how I remembered from my last night here. Kitty's toys, no matter how much I ranted and raved, remained scattered across the living room. A pile of Trowa's newspapers were under the coffee table, and a basket of folded clothes were in the corner. The air smelled comfortably of pizza.

Wufei dropped my things on the couch, and quickly went upstairs. I plopped down in an armchair, and wrapped my mind around the fact that I was finally home. I let my head back, closed my eyes, and enjoyed the silence. I let every worry I had drain out of my ears, and let every frustrating thought fade away. When I was done doing that, I opened my eyes and let them bring alive the memories that happened years before. I relived the moment when Kitty, only a year old, fell face-first into his birthday cake; I chuckled when I remembered how he would streak after his bath, running through the house, wearing his diaper as a helmet; I smiled when just weeks earlier, as I did his laundry, I discovered that those were beetles, not marbles, that were in his pockets.

"I thought Trowa would never stop laughing," I said to myself as I let that memory expand. I shrieked like a banshee, and Trowa, once he realized why, nearly laughed himself into a coma.

Then my memories focused on Trowa, and I remembered the time when we accidently made home-made mace from hot sauce and beer. I smiled when I thought about how dirty we got when we tried to clean the air-conditioning ducts, and I groaned when I thought about how much love we used to make all over the house.

I wanted those days back.

I was jolted out of my reveries by the quiet but quick steps of Wufei, as he descended the stairs. He glanced briefly at me before he turned away from the living room, into the kitchen. I rolled my eyes at his back. "Wufei, please. I doubt there are ninjas, or anything else for that matter, hiding in my kitchen." As expected, I was ignored. I rolled my eyes again, and then smiled to myself. Wufei's concern was sweet. So I didn't interrupt him as he made sure the kitchen was secured. Once he was satisfied, he came back to the living room. I opened my mouth to say goodbye, but a yawn came out instead.

He frowned. "Maybe you should stay with me until Trowa gets back."

I was shaking my head before he even finished his sentence. "No thank you, Wufei. You've done entirely too much as it is."

He was shaking his head before I even finished my sentence. "You need to rest some more, and I'm not comfortable with you here, alone, asleep."

I shook my head again. "I'll lock up extra tight."

He shook his head again. "I'd feel better if you weren't alone."

I was still shaking my head. "Do you really want me near you when Trowa comes home?"

Wufei was still shaking his head. "No, not really."

We continued to shake our heads for another moment, just to be silly. That was us, the Bobblehead Brothers.

"Well, I need to get Odin home, and then get home myself. Hopefully, I can remember where I live." He smirked at me, just to show he was kidding.

"I hope so. I didn't recognize my own house until Odin pointed it out to me."

Wufei laughed. Too bad he thought I was joking.

"Call me if you need anything," he said, as he placed his hand on my shoulder. He gave me a warm squeeze. "If you can't reach me at home, you can reach me on the cell."

"You bet," I told him, squeezing the hand on my shoulder.

With a respectful nod, he turned and vanished out of my sight, through the door. I followed him by sound as he walked down the sand-covered driveway. I heard the door open and close, then the car back out and drive away. When I couldn't hear the sound of the engine anymore, I kicked off my shoes and curled up in the armchair. Snatching the afghan from the back of the armchair, I wrapped myself up and fell asleep immediately.

***

When I woke, it was late in the afternoon. The sun was streaming in orange through my curtains, and there was traffic in the far, far distance. My body was stiff from being in the same position for too long, and when I smelled something coming from the kitchen, my stomach rumbled angrily. Hm. Smelled like Chinese. Yummy. So I stood, and stretched to get the kinks out, and the circulation going. When I was able to feel my legs, I stumbled my way into the kitchen, and found a large box on my table. There was a note attached. It was from Sally.

'You and Trowa are too skinny,' the note said. I opened the box, and smiled. Sally had made us a home-cooked meal. It had everything; eggrolls, rice, beef, lemon chicken, even sushi! And all of it smelled heavenly.

Not bothering to waste time with useless things, like utensils, I ripped the tinfoil apart and ate, standing up, with my bare hands. When I was on the verge of vomiting, (and there was still another ten thousand servings left), I wrapped everything back up. I opened the frig door to–yikes! Our refrigerator was completely empty! Holy smokes! If I didn't want mustard, moldy bread and water for dinner, I would've been out of luck! Allah bless Sally a thousand times!

Once I got over how close I came to a crisis, and put everything away in the kitchen, I trudged upstairs to the shower. I stripped off my soiled clothes and tossed them in the trash. They weren't worth the effort to sew. When I got the temperature juuuust right, I stepped in, closed the glass door, and stood under the spray.

At first, I did nothing but stand there and let the water hit me in the face. I probably stayed like that for, oh, about a year. After that, I cleaned myself up, taking extra care not to aggravate sore spots and bruised places. Then I stayed underneath the spray again, reveling how the warmth was easing the soreness from my body.

I was scared half to death when the shower door suddenly opened. I jumped, slipping slightly, but Trowa grabbed me and steadied me without any effort. He then came in, closed the door, and moved into the spray of water without saying a word to me.

Ohhhhhh kay. I was a politician, a CEO and a tactician, yet I couldn't find anything to say to my husband. So I stood there, stupidly, as he washed his hair and face, his neck and chest, his stomach and...oh my. I gulped as I watched his muscles bunch and flex with his movements. The water and soap sliding down his skin accentuated his muscles even more. I was having a hard time thinking, and that may have been because all of my blood was leaving my brain.

Trowa, on the other hand, seemed completely oblivious to my presence. He might as well have been bathing with a rubber duck.

It didn't take long before I realized that he was just about done. My husband didn't take long showers like I did. He was always in, bam, and out. He also may have something planned. I wouldn't be surprised if he gave himself a mission, like all of us did from time to time. So whatever I needed to say, I needed to say it now.

Taking a deep breath, I blurted out the first thing that sprang to mind. "Trowa, I'm an asshole."

Suddenly, Trowa was on me. But he was on me in a good way. I was caught completely off guard when he kissed me. All I could do was wave my hands helplessly in the air as Trowa held me, and did his best to suck all of the air out of my body. Then a thought, that sounded suspiciously like Duo, said 'hold him stupid!' and I brought my arms around him, sealing us together.

He was not in the mood for pleasantries. Every time I opened my mouth to say something, he covered it with his own. Goodness, it wasn't like I was going to talk politics or something! And he wasn't being gentle either. A few times I could feel my injured muscles protesting, but then it would be smoothed over by a kiss or a bite.

Trowa started sucking and chewing on my ear, and that sensation, combined with his hot breath, sent my libido skyrocketing. I started to become agitated when my fingers slipped down his back, but I forgot my agitation when his mouth lowered to my neck. He sucked hard, and I jumped slightly. That was going to be a major hickey, I could tell. Then that thought was obliterated when he latched on to a nipple and bit it just the way I liked it.

Sometime later he dropped to his knees, but he wasn't going to do ‘that.' I could tell he wasn't in the mood for it, and frankly, neither was I. But Trowa had a thing for stomachs, and he enjoyed rubbing the side of his face against mine. I covered his face as best as I could as he kneeled there, running his slick face against my soapy skin. As he did that, I did what I enjoyed, and that was running my fingers through his hair. I liked playing with his hair when it was wet. I watched as the strands stuck to my fingers, and marveled at how it seemed to change color when in the light.

Things seemed to be slowing down a bit, and I was happy about that. Whatever fueled his rough treatment was dying off, but thankfully it left the passion behind. So when Trowa stood up again, we started over; the kisses were gentle and sweet, speaking of love and being missed. The caresses were eager but teasing, and the lust between us kept us warm from the now-cold shower.

"Not here," I said after a long while. We were standing there, just holding each other. "The bed."

"Yes," he said, speaking for the first time all afternoon.

Walking hand-in-hand to the bedroom, we stretched out on the bed. I grabbed my towel from the floor, and as sensuously as possible, dried Trowa off. This was fun for me since I had him bend and stretch in ways that only he could do, and I got to give little pecks and bites here and there. When he was dry (more from moving around than from me), I used some baby oil to moisturize his skin.

When it was my turn to be babied, I soaked it up. I (unfortunately) didn't need to be dried off, but I did need the baby oil. So I stretched out on the bed, and nearly purred as Trowa massaged me from head to toe. I could tell he was using this time to inspect and memorize every injury inflicted on me. He especially took extra time on my neck, from when I was being strangled by one of the homeless men, and my knee, where the bullet grazed it. After the massage, he kissed every single scrap, cut and bruise that I acquired on my mission. This part of the foreplay was fun, but it took a while. (I had more injuries than I thought!)

The next part was just as much fun. I simply laid on my stomach, as Trowa slowly and patiently stretched me. I loved every second of it. During that time, we didn't say a word. This feeling of tranquility had settled over us, making words unnecessary and unwanted. There wasn't any music or any other noise to provide background noise. However, we were comfortable with the silence.

Finally, I was ready, and Trowa entered me slowly and with ease. Without hesitation he started moving, and I moved with him. Our tempo was slower than usual, but we were determined to make it last all night. But Trowa was too good for his own good. Everything started out as planned, but then he or I would pick up the pace, wanting to reach that goal. He grunts and curses would turn me on, and my clawing at the bed always made him hot. He and I came four times before we decided we were through. By this time it was almost midnight. Good enough.

As usual, I rolled into his arms and rested my head on his chest. We held each other in silence as we waited to fall asleep. Time passed, but we remained awake. I couldn't help but take this as a sign to talk. "Trowa, I'm sorry."

"I know," he said hoarsely. "Let's just forget about it, okay? Put it behind you and never think of it again."

We were quiet for a while longer. Once again I broke it. "We need to talk."

"Not now," he told me, planting a kiss on my head. "We'll have a lot to talk about in the next day or two with Wufei, and it will not be pleasant. Let us have this while we can."

"Okay," I whispered.

And that was what we did. Trowa and I stayed up all night, just holding each other in an attempt to keep the bad things away a little longer.

(tbc)