…Shadow slides across the mouth of the alley as the light dies….

Dorothy started awake, aware that she was resting with her head on her desk only when she looked up to see the computer cursor blinking at her.

What the hell…?

Shadow slides… a second shadow… no light now…

God… not you again… Leave me alone…

Clock stopping, no time… endgame.

If you’re gonna freaking talk to me and drive me insane, at least stop using the damned riddles…and talk to me, don’t show me pictures that don’t make sense. She shoved long blond hair out of her eyes and glanced at the clock. Shit… 7 p.m. What the hell does it want?

Scattershot images of Lady Une, in her Oz uniform… Duo as a prisoner… awaiting execution… Lady Une in a Preventers uniform… Duo lying still in the remains of a ruined church…

“Duo’s in danger?” She asked, frowning slightly. “Or Une?” Ok, I have now passed the point of slightly nuts and gone straight to full blown insanity. That or Lassie in the modern day is a dead computer system on crack.

Duo, sitting across from her desk, apologizing for making her laugh…

“I’m getting the drift here, could you be a little more specific?”

“Um… excuse me?” A voice said hesitantly from the doorway, and Dorothy jumped guiltily. “Who were you talking to?”

Thinking fast, she scowled at the rookie. “A source on a surveillance mic. What do you need? There’s a situation starting here….”

“I…er… the Records clerk said you had checked out the McGrower files….”

“Here.” She stood up, dumping the files in his arms on her way out of the office. “And bring them back when you’re done….”

It took only a few moments to reach Maxwell’s office on the floor below hers. Somehow she wasn’t surprised that he wasn’t there. Zechs glanced up at her curiously as she stuck her head in.

“Have you seen Maxwell?”

“I think he just got back from the field,” Zechs shrugged. “Une cornered him though….”

“Shit…” Dorothy frowned. OK, so it’s not physical danger…. So what is wrong? Or are you still showing me scenes of the future?

“Why were you looking for Duo?” Zechs asked softly.

“I… I’m not sure. Just… had a feeling something was wrong.”

“Hmm,” He frowned at her thoughtfully.

“I’m sure it was nothing,” She sighed, and turned to leave.

“Of course.” To her surprise, he was right behind her as she started down the hall towards Une’s office. “But perhaps we should make sure?”

* * *

Duo sat miserably in the hard chair across from Lady Une, trying not to flinch as she glared at him. Dammit…

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” She growled. He thought it might almost have been preferable if she had yelled at him instead. “Or worse, get whoever is unlucky enough to be assigned as your partner killed?”

“No…”

“Then what the hell was going on out there today?”

“I don’t know,” he glared back, taking refuge in being angry as well.

“Maxwell.” Lady Une frowned, her eyes hard and cold. “You have a worse reputation for suicide missions right now than Yuy does. No one wants to be partnered with you more than once. I have complaints that you are reckless, that you aren’t sleeping, that you may or may not be hallucinating in the field. One of your ex-partners actually thought you might be a drug addict. Now, your last partner is in the hospital with a bullet in his shoulder, and you can’t even tell me for sure what happened out there to cause the firefight. Why is that?”

He looked away.

“I think it’s because you weren’t where you were supposed to be,” she growled. “So where were you?”

“I heard something suspicious in the warehouse. I told him I was going to check it out and to wait for me. Obviously he didn’t wait, he pulled a badge, and the scum on the street got a little nervous. And they call me reckless? Maybe I don’t want to be partnered with any of them either.” Duo closed his eyes. God, maybe I’m not cut out for this job either.

“Well, that shouldn’t be a problem anymore. I have run out of people to try and partner you with. And until you start sleeping nights instead of wandering around here like a ghost, you aren’t going back out in the field either.”

“You’re… firing me?” He stared at her, feeling more lost than he’d ever believed possible. Way to go Maxwell, screw this up too… isn’t there any thing you can do right?

“No. I am far too shorthanded to afford to lose an agent voluntarily.” Her expression softened slightly. “But you’re suspended from field duty until you convince Sally you can go back into the field without getting yourself or anyone else killed.”

“So what am I supposed to do?” Duo blinked. “Sit at my desk and play solitaire?”

“I had better not find you doing that.” She growled back. “No… mission planning, surveillance, I don’t care. Hell, you can start going through the unsolved cases that have been shelved in the back record room gathering dust. Just not field work.”

“Fine.” He stood up angrily. “Are we done then?”

“Maxwell… get some sleep,” She sighed. “You are killing yourself, whether you believe it to be true or not. I can’t afford to lose anyone… especially not an ex-gundam pilot. Take a few days off, get your head together, and we’ll see about putting you back in the field. That’s the best I can do. Or you can hand me your badge and leave.”

“I’m not suicidal…” He glared back over his shoulder as he stormed out of the office, letting the door slam behind him.

“Of course you aren’t,” Zechs observed calmly. “Yelling at the head of Preventers in her own office and then storming out is a perfectly rational course of action, right Dorothy?”

“Oh yes,” Dorothy agreed, grinning a little.

Duo yelped, spinning around to find the two leaning against the wall on either side of Lady Une’s door.

“Shit!” He blinked at them in shock, trying to restart his heart again. “Damn, don’t do that….” Twin innocent looks met his halfhearted glare. “Oh God, they’ve joined forces against me too….”

“We’re not against you,” Zechs observed quietly, trying to ignore the sudden wistful thought that joining forces might not be that bad a thing.

“Are you alright?” Dorothy asked, sounding a little more serious. “We couldn’t hear details, just the tone of her voice. She didn’t sound happy.”

“She took me out of the field….” Duo said dejectedly, feeling the anger that had been supporting him melt away. “Said I’m a danger and… no one wants to work with me anymore.”

Zechs and Dorothy both winced, realizing as their eyes met over his bowed head just how much they really had in common.

“Then I suppose it’s a good thing you hang out with us, right?” Dorothy said quietly. “No one wants to work with us either.”

“Yeah…” Duo sighed, and started walking slowly back towards his office. Somehow it didn’t really surprise him when both of them fell into step behind him. They trailed him back to the office that he and Zechs shared. “So what were you guys doing there, anyway?”

“Waiting for you,” Zechs said with a shrug, sinking gracefully into his chair and then realizing that they were going to be one chair short. Dorothy hovered uncertainly in the doorway.

“Well… I guess I should…be getting back to my office…” She muttered uncomfortably.

“Please stay…” Zechs glanced at Duo who was sitting slumped in his own chair, mangling the end of his braid in his fingers. The younger man still looked incredibly depressed. “Actually, on second thought, let’s none of us stay.”

“Huh?” Duo looked up, bewildered. “I… I really don’t want to go home tonight, Zechs. I was just going to crash here again….”

“I said nothing about going home, Duo.” Zechs smiled faintly. “I was thinking that actually leaving the office for one night would not be the end of the world for any of us. It’s not like anyone will miss us.”

“So…?”

“How about dinner? Something that does not come out of the vending machine or the cafeteria here.”

Dorothy blinked, looking rather stunned. “You… are actually inviting me to go with you guys?”

“Yes,” Zechs sighed. “I think all three of us have spent too long being alone. Why shouldn’t the three of us have dinner together?”

“Um… that sounds good to me?” Duo looked hopefully at her. “Come one Doro… or I’ll start chunking really big rocks next time.”

“Why not…?” She actually smiled, looking oddly pleased. “But I’m expecting you to help me make sure he has something besides donuts and coffee,” she mock-glared at Zechs.

“I think that can be arranged.”

“God, now they really are ganging up on me.”

“Get used to it Maxwell….”

As they filed out of the office and closed the door, Zechs saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. Glancing back, he saw Treize standing in the hallway behind them, smiling faintly. For the first time, Treize looked as he remembered him, without the disfiguring burns. Zechs smiled back at the ghost as he followed his companions down the hall. Maybe this will work out for the best afterall…