Eternal Flame

Disclaimer: I don\'t own the G Boys, I just borrow them from time to time and return them a whole lot happier ne? :) I do however own Shane, Paul, Colin, Mickey, Benny, Toby, Fayah and any other unfamiliar characters that crop up. I also own the plot if you can call it that.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Sap, angst, OC, Lemon, Lime, abuse, violence, language.

Pairings: 1x2x1, 3x4x3, 5xS, OC x OC and maybe some more... check each part to be sure ;)

Archive: http://gundam-wing-diaries.150m.com
http://sweetlysour.net
http://www.adult-fanfiction.org
http://www.theforsakenwk.com/

Status: Work in progress.

Beta: DBZVelena, Ryouga and Yami_Tai... *huggles*

Author: ShenLong

Authors notes: *sigh* Well here I am again caving into pressure. I know it has taken a while to get to this and for that I apologize but I could not come up with a plot I deemed worthy enough.... until now. This is yet another sequel... this time to United Hearts. I did promise I would write the wedding for you all and I intend to do that. For those that haven\'t read United or Lost Souls I recommend that you do, otherwise this sequel will not make much sense. All of your favorite characters are back and up to as much mischief as possible.
This is set fourteen months after the end of United and all the children are older now. The Gundam Pilots are all 20yrs, Shane and Fayah are 16, Paul is 15, Colin is 14, Mickey is 12, Benny is 10 1/2 and not forgetting that little rascal Toby who is 10.
Thank you to all those who supported me through the writing of United, I hope you enjoy this just as much.


\"Eternal Flame\"

Started April 2003 ShenLong.


Chapter 19

Heero listened to Duo\'s words, the frown on his face deepening. Une watched silently from the other side of the desk. She was slightly startled when Heero\'s voice suddenly barked out, the tone an unusual one for him. \"Don\'t you dare do anything, sitht, ht, I\'ll be right there.\"

Heero cut the call, reattached the \'phone to his belt and turned to Une. \"I think we may have a connection. Duo has some information but I need to go through it with him before we can say for sure.\"

Une nodded.

\"I have my pager and cell \'phone if you need to contact me.\" Heero stood. \"I\'ll be in touch as soon as I have the information but it looks like Duo may have found enough to justify the Preventer agency becoming involved.\"

Une also stood and followed the agent to the door. \"I trust you to keep me informed, Heero. I expect to hear from you shortly then. Meanwhile I\'ll see what I can do in regards to getting the agency to investigate these theories of yours. If you can provide me with solid evidence that there is something going down, then all the better. Try not to take too long over it will you?\"

Heero nodded. \"As soon as I have anything, anything at all, I will contact you.\"

\"Good. Please, give Leith my best wishes for a speedy recovery.\"

\"I will.\" With a curt nod of his head, Heero left the office and hurried to the elevator. He needed to get home to Duo and sort through what his partner had turned up.

~ * ~

\"And Paul is with Leith at the hospital now, \" Trowa finished reciting all that he knew of Leith\'s accident.

Wufei and Sally sat in silence for a moment, each digesting the information. \"Why the hell didn\'t you call us when it happened? Wufei growled.

\"Because you would have cut your honeymoon short and come home when there was no need. There wasn\'t anything you could have done.\"

Wufei continued to scowl, knowing that Trowa was probably right. In any case they were back now. \"When did you say it happened?\"

\"Monday night. We allowed Paul to have the last couple of day\'s off school to sit with Leith at the hospital.\"

\"You\'re sure that Paul isn\'t hurt?\" Sally asked.

Quatre answered in his quiet tone. \"No, Paul is fine. Somehow Leith\'s computer exploded but Paul wasn\'t there. Heero is having discussions with Une about it all now, there is a lot more going on and both Heero and Duo think there could be a link.\"

Wufei narrowed his eyes. \"What else has been happening then if you think it warrants the Preventer involvement?\"

Trowa stood. \"I sugges get get you two back to your apartment so you can unpack. Your car was taken back there the day after the reception so you have transport to get to either the hospital or HQ. Both Quatre and I are willing to run either of you anywhere else if you wish. We can give you the rest of the information during the drive back.\"

\"That\'s a good idea Trowa, thank you.\" Sally stood up and made to move, Wufei followed her lead, Quatre took the baggage trolley and wheeled it behind them.

Reaching the car Quatre and Trowa swiftly dealt with the luggage and minutes later they were driving down the freeway in the direction of the Chang residence, Trowa\'s voice keeping a steady low tone as he brought both Sally and Wufei up to speed with Leith\'s missing father, Shand\'s mysterious death, the disappearance of the micro chips and Howard\'s salvage problems as well.

\"When does Howard leave?\" Wufei asked as Trowa finished his recital of gloom.

\"Tonight,\" Quatre responded. \"His ship dock expires at 19:30 hours. I believe Heero, Duo and the rest of the group are going to bid him farewell. We would go ourselves but we have a prior engagement to attend and I\'raidraid I can\'t get out of it.\" Quatre gave them a rueful smile.

Still as busy as ever I see Quatre,\" Sally teased the small blonde.

\"Unfortunately there isn\'t much hope of a break for me anytime soon, with this new contract coming up for L5, I\'m afraid there is just too much to be sorted out.\"

\"I\'ve made him promise to take a break after the final contracts have been negotiated and signed and the work is underway,\" Trowa said as he indicated and turned into the parking lot of Wufei and Sally\'s apartment block. He maneuvered the car into a visitor’s space and cut the engine. \"We\'ll give you a hand to carry the luggage up.\"

\"Thanks.\" Sally stepped out of the car and turned to face Wufei. \"I\'ll go on up and unlock the apartment while you give the boys a hand, I want to call the hospital and get a status report on Leith.\"

Wufei nodded, his mind was busy processing all the information it had been subjected to. He absently took one of the suitcases and headed for the main doors to the apartment block, Trowa and Quatre right behind him.

Sally entered the apartment and noted the musty smell that came with being closed up for nearly a week. Quickly she opened a couple of windows to let in the fresh and and dumped her bag on the kitchen table. With an amused smile she glanced around. All evidence of their mad panic to get ready for the wedding last Saturday had completely vanished, Noin and Relena had said they would come back the day after the reception and clean up. They had remained true to their word and the apartment was spotless.

Moving back into the lounge area Sally went to the vid \'phone and sat down. She went to punch in the numbers and then realized she hadn\'t asked which hospital Leith was in. Jus shs she was about to stand and go to find out so the three men entered the apartment and dropped the suitcases by the couch. \"Which hospital did you say Leith was taken to, Trowa?\"

\"Mercy General, he\'s in room 304, third floor.\"

\"Any idea who his doctor is?\" Sally asked absently as she flipped through the \'phone book to locate the hospital\'s number.

\"I think it\'s a Doctor Stokes Heero said. As for the surgeon, I can\'t remember but I\'m sure the hospital will be able to tell you.\"

\"Thanks.\" Sally found the number and pushed the buttons, moments later the \'phone connected.

\"Mercy General Hospital.\"

\"Good afternoon, this is a Doctor Sally Chang-Po here, could you please put me through to the nurses station on floor three?\"

\"Certainly Doctor, please hold.\"

The sound of tacky music came down the line as Sally was transferred to the nurses station. \"Third floor, Nurse Camberwell speaking.\"

\"Good afternoon, this is Doctor Sally Chang-Po speaking, I believe you have a patient in room 304, a Leith Martins?\"

\"Yes Doctor, we do.\"

\"Good. Could you tell me who his treating physician is? and if I can speak with him.\"

\"I\'m afraid Doctor Stokes isn\'t on shift at the moment. He is due on the floor at seven tonight.\"

\"Fine. I\'ll be in to see him then. Could you please let him know I wish to speak with him in regards to this patient?\"

\"Yes, Doctor.\"

\"Thank you.\"

\"You\'re welcome, Doctor.\"

Sally disconnected the call and turned to face the three men in the room. \"I\'m going to the hospital.\"

\"I will accompany you and check on Leith and Paul\'s status before going on to Preventer HQ to find out just what the hell is going on,\" Wufei said in his quiet tone.

\"Then if you don\'t need us any more, Trowa and I will be going.\" Quatre smiled at the pair of newlyweds.

Sally stood and enveloped first Quatre and then Trowa in a hug. \"Thank you, both of you, not only for picking us up from the airport but for all you have done for Paul while we were absent and this... this unfortunate accident....\" Sally\'s voice stilled, unable to continue for the moment.

\"You\'re welcome, Sally.\" Quatre gave her a soft look. \"I just wish we could have done more.\"

Wufei stepped forth and shook both men\'s hands. \"You have both already done more than enough. We are both extremely grateful to you.\"

Trowa gave a small smile but it was enough to let Wufei know that the gesture and words were accepted. \"Good luck. We really need to be going.\"

Trowa and Quatre exited the apartment,; Wufei closed the door behind them and turned back to face his wife. \"I\'m going to shower and change, then I will take you to the hospital.\"

Sally nodded. \"I\'ll start to unpack some of the luggage while you do that, then I\'ll take my shower.\"

Wufei wrapped his arms around his wife and drew her close. His hand stroked through her soft golden hair as his lips brushed against her ear. \"We will find out what actually happened and what is going on. If it turns out that it wasn\'t an accident as Heero and Duo suspect then I vow to get to the bottom of it all and find out who did this.\"

Sally smiled at her stoic, determined husband. \"It\'s not fair. Leith seems to be a really sweet kid and he and Paul get on so well together.\"

As if reading her thoughts Wufei murmured his agreement. \"Neither one of them should be going through anything like this.\"

Sally held on to her husband for a few moments longer and then reluctantly pulled away. \"You go take that shower and I\'ll start putting things away.

~ * ~

Heero parked the car and headed inside the house, immediately calling for Duo as he shut the front door.

\"In the lounge, Heero.\"

Heero quickly made his way into the lounge room to see his partner and lover hunched over the laptop, striding over to the couch his brow furrowed. \"What did you find?\"

\"Here, take a look.\" Duo shifted slightly so Heero could sit next to him. He pointed to the screen. \"This is Leith\'s e-mail account, looks normal, all the usual mail listed as one would expect. Now... look here.\" Duo toggled the mouse and clicked a few times. \"I hacked inta the server program and came in through a back door, look at this.\"

Heero\'s face went pale. \"Fuck!\"

\"Yeah, yer can say that again buddy. Wherever this mail came from they didn\'t want anyone ta know. It\'s a pretty complex program and musta taken a while ta set up and implement. But I\'m guessing that whoever did it, isn\'t yer normal run of the mill computer nerd, this is far too complex fer even a pretty upmarket user.\"

Heero studied the lines of code. \"Lucky that Leith uses a free e-mail service, from what I can tell this code should have wiped itself.\"

Duo nodded.

\"Can you copy it to disc, Duo? I\'d like to take it into HQ and run it through the system there.\"

\"Already done, Hee-chan.\" Duo waved a disc under Heero\'s nose, Heero responded by placing a kiss to Duo\'s nose.

\"Have I told you lately how much I love you?\"

Duo snorted. \"Yer don\'t hafta lover of mine, yer lets me know with all the little things yer does.\" Duo reached forwards and stole a kiss of his own. \"Let\'s get going then and run this through the Preventer system and see what we can find.\"

\"Hai.\" They grabbed their coats, Duo shut down the laptop while Heero started the car. Soon they were heading back to Preventer HQ.

~ * ~

Sally arrived at the Mercy General Hospital, Wufei right beside her. They made their way to the third floor and stopped at the nurses station on their way to Leith\'s room.

\"I\'m Dr. Sally Chang-Po, I rang earlier in regards to the patient, Leith Martins. The nurse said his treating physician, a Dr. Stokes, would be in around 7pm?\" Sally showed the nurse her Preventer ID.

The nurse glanced at the ID and then checked the roster. \"That is correct Doctor, I see there has been a note made for Dr. Stoto sto speak with you as soon as he comes on duty.\"

\"Thanks. I\'m going to visit the patient now and will remain there until Dr. Stokes comes on shift, could you please let him know I\'m here when he arrives?\"

\"Certainly, Doctor.\"

Sally left the nurses station and with Wufei in tow, they headed down the hallway to room 304. The door stood slightly ajar and so with a brief knock, they entered. Wufei\'s eyes narrowed as he saw the damaged body on the bed. / What the hell had happened? /

\"Sally! Wufei!\" Paul leapt up from his position at Leith\'s bedside and raced to his foster parents, grabbing first Sally and then Wufei in a hug. \"How was yer honeymoon? How long yer been back? Has yer spoken wiv Heero or Duo yet?\"

Sally smiled. \"Slow down a little, Paul.\"

Paul hung his head sheepishly. \"Sorry.\"

\"That\'s okay. We got back a couple of hours ago, Trowa and Quatre picked us up from the airport and gave us the run down on what has been happening,\" Sally responded before turning to the patient in the bed.

Wufei stepped forward. \"We haven\'t spoken with Yuy or Maxwell yet but I understand that there has been quite a bit happening since we departed.\"

\"I think that\'s an understatement Wufei,\" Paul replied. \"I dunno the half of it but from what I know it\'s all pretty deep.\"

Wufei squeezed Paul\'s shoulder in a rare gesture of affection. \"I believe you have been well behaved and very supportive under the circumstances.\"

Paul looked up into his guardian\'s onyx eyes and read the pride there. His chest swelled a little. \"Well, I did promise ta be on my best behavior and with Leith being hurt an all I guess... well, he needed me.\" Paul felt his cheeks flush.

\"You did the honorable thing, Paul. I\'m proud of you.\"

Paul nearly choked, Sally turned her blue gray eyes around in disbelief.

\"What?\" Wufei said as he noted his wife\'s look.

\"I don\'t believe I just heard what I did. In fact I think I had better get my hearing checked. Did the almighty Wufei Chang just say he was proud of someone?\" Sally teased.

Wufei did his best to glare at his wife. \"There isn\'t anything wrong with giving praise where praise is due,\" he huffed.

\"Note this day down in your diary Paul, the great Mr. Chang actually admitted he was proud of someone.\" Sally gave the teen a conniving wink. Paul could only snicker.

\"What is the boy\'s status?\" Wufei growled, changing the topic.

\"Don\'t you think you should say hello first?\" Sally asked.

Wufei ignored his wife and moved closer to the hospital bed where he could make eye contact with Leith. \"My apologies. I am sorry to hear about your accident, I trust the doctors are looking after you properly and that it won’t be too long before you are out of here and back home.\"

\"Shit Wufei, what ever happened to a simple \'How are you feeling?\' greeting?\" Sally said, as she rolled her eyes. \"I think all that sun has fried your brain.\"

Paul had moved back to the bedside and was doing his best to hold his laughter. He was pleased to see a smile on Leith\'s battered face as well.

\"I\'m doing okay as far as I can tell. Thank you for asking Mr. Chang.\" Leith shifted his head slightly so he could see his visitors a little clearer.

Sally finished her perusal of the chart and slid it back into the small holder at the end of the bed before moving up and placing a hand on Leith\'s head, running it softly over the singed hair. \"From the look of your chart you\'re doing very well, Leith. I hope to speak with your doctor when he comes on shift and get all the details. I can see from the notes and your state that you have several burns and cuts and that your arm is broken.\"

Leith looked at the woman. \"That\'s pretty much the bottom line, although...\" Leith dropped his eyes as he felt the tears prickle.

\"What, Leith? What is it?\" Sally said, concerned.

\"I..… I can\'t feel my legs. The doc said it could be only temporary and they have done some more tests but no one seems to want to tell me anything much, at least not in any language I can understand.\"

Sally frowned. \"I\'ll talk with your doctor when he gets here and find out all I can, then I will try to explain everything to you clearly and so you can understand fully.\"

\"Would you?\" Leith\'s eyes looked hopeful.

\"Yes, I promise I will. Now, what\'s this I hear about your father having gone missing?\"

Wufei took that moment to excuse himself, leaving Sally to find out what was happening in Leith\'s world. He knew she would tell him all about it later, for now he needed to get to the Preventer HQ and track down Yuy and Maxwell to find out just what exactly was going on.

~ * ~

Quatre drove the car in silence, Trowa sitting beside him staring out the window. They were on their way to Police Headquarters and a meeting with Sergeant Collins.

\"Worried?\"

Quatre turned his gaze briefly from the road to look at his partner. \"No, not worried. More like confused.\"

\"I know what you mean,\" Trowa replied.

\"I hope that we can be of assistance to the police in this matter, I\'d like to know exactly what happened to Shand.\"

\"It is a bit of a mystery,\" Trowa conceded, but I guess we will just have to wait and see what the police know.\"

\"You\'re right as usual.\" Quatre gave a tight smile and continued to drive in silence.

A young constable came to the desk as Trowa and Quatre approached. \"Can I help you, gentlemen?\"

\"I\'m Quatre Winner and this is my partner Trowa Barton, Sergeant Collins asked us to drop by and assist in an investigation.\"

The constable checked in the book and then smiled at the two men. \"I\'ll just fetch the Sergeant for you.\"

Quatre amused himself by looking around the area, Trowa wandered over to the bulletin board to peruse the many pieces of paper pinned to its surface.

\"Ahhh, Mr. Winner, Mr. Barton, so good of you to make the time to come down here.\" Sergeant Collins appeared behind the desk.

\"We are more than happy too assist you in any way we can Sergeant,\" Quatre replied, his winning smile firmly in place.

\"If you gentlemen would be so kind as to follow me, I have the Detectives waiting in the interview room.\" The Sergeant flipped up the end of the counter and unlatched the small half door indicating for the two men to come through, closing it once they were on the other side. He led them along a hallway with doors leading off intermittently before stopping half way down and opening one of the doors. He ushered his guests inside.

Trowa instinctively looked around, noting the exits and anything distinguishing about the room. / Some soldier instincts never lefu. /u. / He mused. The room was an off white in color, a large table took precedence with half a dozen chairs around it. There were no windows, just the door that had entered through. Two men wearing rumpled suits were waiting for them.

\"Mr. Barton, Mr. Winner, this is Detective Nicholls and Detective Masaki, they are currently investigating the death of your former employee, Shand.\"

The taller of the two Detectives stepped forward to shake Quatre and Trowa\'s hands. \"I\'m Nicholls, pleased to meet you.\"

\"Good to meet you too, Detective Nicholls.\" Trowa returned the handshake. The grasp was firm, Trowa noted. The man looked to be in his mid fifties, his dark hair tinged with gray around his temples with a smattering of it invading the rest of his hair. He was a well built man, carrying a little middle aged spread but his eyes were clear and sharp. His counterpart though was almost the opposite. A small man, thin but wiry with bleached blonde hair and an earring that glittered when the light caught it. His eyes sparkled but Trowa could detect a wiseness beneath them and his posture suggested he wasn\'t a man to be trifled with. \"How can we assist you in your investigation?\"

\"Please, take a seat. Can I offer you any refreshment; tea or coffee perhaps?\" Detective Nicholls asked as he motioned towards the chairs.

\"A coffee would be nice,\" Quatre responded, \"I\'m not into tea much anymore.\"

The Detective smiled. \"Certainly, how would you like it?\"

\"We both take it white with one sugar thanks,\" Trowa replied for them both.

\"Sergeant Collins, would you be so kind?\"

The Sergeant nodded and exited the room, the Detectives sat down opposite Quatre and Trowa and Masaki lifted a folder from his briefcase to the table. Setting it down he began to leaf through the photos and notes inside until he located the page he was looking. Cl. Clearing his throat he began. \"As you knoere ere are suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of your employee.\"

Quatre nodded.

\"I believe he was also responsible for some property of WEI going missing?\"

Trowa\'s eyes flashed. \"That has yet to be confirmed.\"

\"Let me rephrase that. He was the one working with some property of WEI that has disappeared.\"

\"Yes.\"

\"Do you know of any of his associates at all?\"

\"No. What he did after houas has his own business, I\'m not in the habit of keeping tabs on my employees private lives,\" Quatre responded.

\"No, of course not, Mr. Winner. I wasn\'t implying that you were.\" Masaki gave a small grunt and then resumed. \"What was he like as an employee? Did he socialize much with the other employees? Did he have any particularly close friends in the work place?\"

Trowa took up the reply. \"He was a relatively quiet person, he didn\'t socialize a lot with the other people in his department. He came in, did his work and then went home. Occasionally he would go for drinks with some of the others in the labs but not very often and he would only stay for one or two drinks before leaving. All of the staff that have been interviewed so far in relation to this incident, have all said the same thing, he was reserved and pretty much kept himself to himself. He\'d only been reprimanded once by his superior and it wasn\'t over a major issue.\" Trowa paused to see if any of this was sinking in. It was.

The sound of a pager going off interrupted the interview, at the same time Collins returned with the coffee. Nicholls looked at his pager and frowned. \"Would you excuse me for a moment please?\"

\"Of course Detective,\" Quatre smiled.

Nicholls exited the small room and went to his office, he checked the pager again and punched in the number to the vid \'phone. He waited for the call to connect, wondering what the Preventer organization wanted from him. The call connected and a lady\'s face appeared on the screen.

\"Preventer Headquarters, Richelle speaking, how may I direct your inquiry?\"

\"This is Detective Nicholls here, I received a page asking me to contact a...\" Nicholls looked at the pager again. \"An Agent Une?\"

\"Ahhh..… Detective, I\'ll put you through to her secretary. One moment please.\" The vid screen went blank for a few seconds before focusing again, this time another woman\'s face greeted him.

\"Agent Une\'s office.\"

\"Detective Nicholls here, Agent Une paged me and asked me to call.\"

\"Yes Detective, I\'ll put you straight through, she is expecting your call.\"

Nicholls waited patiently once again as he was transferred. The screen cleared and he found himself facing a delicate woman\'s face but he could see a clear determination in the eyes and set of the chin. He\'d heard of Lady Une but this was the first time he\'d seen the woman and iokedoked like all the things he\'d heard about her were true. \"Your page said to call you,\" he said, curiosity piqued as to what it was she wanted.

\"Thank you for responding so quickly, Detective. I\'ll cut right to the point. I believe you are investigating the death of a person by the name of Shand?\"

\"That is correct but I don\'t see what...\"

\"Detective, if you will let me finish.\"

\"Apologies, my Lady.\"

\"None required, Detective. There has been a case brought to the attention of the Preventer Organization and we have reason to believe that this death could be related in some way. I understand that you have a Mr. Winner and Mr. Barton there at the moment assisting you with your inquiries?\"

\"That is correct.\"

\"As of now this investigation is being taken over by Preventer. Both Mr. Winner and Mr. Barton are part time employees of the Preventer Network, so I would appreciate it, if you could give them all the details on the case that you have so far as well as the file relating to the investigation.\"

Nicholls\' brow furrowed. \"Just what is going on?\"

Une sighed. \"I cannot divulge that information. Please do as I have requested, the paperwork authorizing the transfer of documentation and all relevant information on the case has been forwarded to your superiors. I\'m sure you will find it all in order.\"

It was Nicholls\' turn to sigh. He ran a hand through his graying hair. \"As you wish. I will hand over everything immediately.\"

\"Thank you, Detective. I will notify Mr. Winner and Mr. Barton in just a moment so they will be aware of what is happening.\"

Nicholls shook his head.

\"Oh, Detective?\"

He looked back to the vid \'phone. \"Yes?\"

\"Thank you to both yourself and your department for all your work in the investigation so far.\"

Nicholls wasn\'t sure whether to laugh or be insulted. Shoulders slumping slightly, he answered, \"No problem, I hope you managed to crack the case. Please let me know the outcome.\"

\"I will, Detective. Thank you again.\" Une disconnected the feed and the screen went blank.

Nicholls collected his scattered thoughts and headed back to the interview room.

~ oOo ~

tbc........