Part Five

Warnings: Lemon Fresh scene

Disclaimer: The Gundam Wing characters do not belong to me,
I am only borrowing them for a short while and promise
to return them in one piece.

"Nicola..." Sally let out a heavy sigh, the dust motes flurrying on the wind of her breath. "I knew it..."

Darkness shrouded the other woman. All Sally could see was the vague outline of Nicola's form in the dim light
of the old dorm. But what light there was glinted on the barrel of a gun that was pointed directly at Sally.

"I would have been surprised if the _great_ Sally Po hadn't figured it out, after all the clues I've been
dropping you." Nicola's voice rang out, falsely bright and very brittle. "Come on in Sally, we have so much
to reminicise about!" Her tone hardened. "But come in slowly and don't even think about trying to take me."

Sally moved cautiously inside, obeying Nicola's instructions. For now she would believe her old classmates boast that she
was still as good as the old days.

"I have to admit," she said as she walked in with her hands in the air. "That while I may have deduced that you were
the one responsible for the... er... gifts, I still haven't figured out _why_ you would want to do this."

"Really?" Nicola sounded pleased. "Sit down in the chair, Sally." She ordered the blond woman.

Sally sat down and looked in Nicola's direction, narrowing her eyes, trying to see the woman in the shadows. "Well,
I did think of one reason," she admitted calmly. "But it isn't very logical and I can't flatter myself that you
were..."

"Jealous?" Nicola finished Sally's sentence. "Oh Sally... always _so_ modest."

Sally's eyes widened. "Then I'm right?" she asked in disbelief. "But to go to such lengths just because you're
jealous is utterly ridiculous!"

"Does everything have to be logical with you, Sal?" Nicola spat out. She moved out of the shadows and stood before
Sally. Some shards of dying sunlight, reaching through the boarded up windows, illuminated her face. Sally couldn't
hold back the gasp of shock that escaped from her lips.

Nicola had been the most beautiful girl in Sally's year. With her satiny brown hair, large blue eyes and perfect
figure Nicola had always looked like a model from a magazine cover. Now the contrast was almost painful to behold. The
blue eyes were skunken and shadowed, the brown hair sparse and ill-kept and Nicola's body was wasted to near nothingness.
An ugly smile stretched across her thin lips. "I'd apologise for my disgusting appearence," she said. "But I don't really
think you care."

"You're dying." Sally said bluntly.

Nicola glared at her. "You always have to be so blunt, don't you? Can't you sugar-coat anything?" She asked bitterly.
"Oh yes... I'm dying, painfully and slowly dying if you must know. But I'd rather you didn't say it out loud."

Sally's eyes narrowed. "When my former classmate leads me on a merry chase, for no good reason, and then
sticks a gun in my face, my diplomatic skills tend to take a nose dive!" she snapped.

Nicola's eyes flashed and she stiffened. "I could just decide blow your head off right, you know!" she snarled.
"Watch what you say!"

"If you wanted to just kill me, then you wouldn't have staged such a performance," Sally pointed out,
seemingly unfazed. She looked more closely at Nicola's skeletal face and sighed slightly. "You know... you could
have come to me," she said softly. "I would've helped you."

"Yes... I'm sure you would have." Nicola said tightly. "But I didn't want _your_ help, Sally!" Her mouth
twisted and she looked almost savage with rage. "Do you have any idea how long I have hated you?" She
asked.

"Since... I got involved with Treize?" Sally hazarded. "I'm guessing that this is the main reason for these
dramatics."

"Right... and wrong," Nicola said in a tone of satisfaction. "Treize is definitely a good proportion of the reason for
this..." She leaned forward a little. "No, Sally... I hated you within a few days of meeting you."

Sally stared at her incredulously. "But... we were classmates, _roommates_!" She shook her head. "If this is true, then
you acting the part of my 'friend' remarkably well!" "I know!" gloated Nicola. "Maybe I should have been an
actress."

"For B movies," Sally quipped.

Nicola shrieked in anger and struck out, Sally moved to overpower her, but was halted by the lightening-fast
application of a gun muzzle to her throat.

"I told you I was still fast." Nicola hissed. "Don't screw around anymore!" She pressed the gun to Sally's
throat. "I may have invested alot of time to get you here, but part of me is thinking that killing you
now would make me very happy."

"Why?" Sally asked, looking intently into Nicola's eyes. "Why do you hate me?"

Nicola pushed her back down into the chair with her free hand "My family background may not have been good enough to get me directly into the Specials, and my father may have been disgraced so that he could not enter Romfeller. But I had the
background and the breeding! I was supposed to be the most brilliant cadet in this Academy, to achieve the highest marks
and to catch the eyes of the Specials so that they would beg me to join them! And most importantly... I was expected to
ally myself with one of the more prominent soldiers." She drew in a deep breath and regarded Sally with hate-filled eyes. "But
then, some little nobody... from rural China... saunters into the Academy and steals my rightful place!"

"Oh for... How can you say that _I_ am the one responsible for all your woes?" Sally shook her head in disgust. "Nicola,
I saw your test scores... apart from your small arms skills, you know that you didn't have the ability to make the highest
grade in the Academy. You were an average student... seventy percent grades most of the time. And to top it all off, you didn't
even study!"

Nicola pursed her lips. "Okay... maybe you're right." She admitted. "Maybe I wouldn't have made the top grade, But..."
her eyes narrowed to slits. "I still should have been the one to catch Treize Khushrenada's eye that night!"

Sally rolled her eyes. "Nicola, you were the one who made me go to that ball. You might recall that I didn't _want_
to go," she shrugged. "In that light, you have no one to blame but yourself."

"I made you go, because I wanted to laugh at you," Nicola hissed. "Sally Po, the tall tomboy in pretty dress! I
knew you would look completely out-of-place and you did," She frowned. "But then you met him and..." she wrinkled her
nose. "I guess he must have liked weird women... considering what I heard about Lady Une."

Sally's hands balled into fists. "I can happily sit here and let you try to insult me," she said. "But I'm not about to
allow you to insult a woman who is my friend and whom I admire."

"Like you have a choice?" Nicola smirked and hefted the gun significantly. "But I don't really have anything against Une,
so I'll stop. Happy?"

"Thrilled." Sally said flatly.

Nicola glared at her again. "I could never understand it," she said. "What he really saw in you. I was much better
suited for his world. And yet you seemed to have no idea of what an opportunity you had, I thought after that night you
had it made."

Sally's frowned. "_That_ night?" she asked. "What night?"

"The night after you found out about your results!" Nicola yelled in fury and exasperation. "Don't tell me that you
can't remember!"

"Oh," Sally murmured. "That night, yes... I remember," she smiled slightly. "How could I really forget?"

***
AC191

Sally opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling, listening to the rain pounding down outside. For a moment she was
confused, then she remembered how she had come out of the morning's exam and collapsed on her bed, fully clothed and
exhausted. Rolling onto her side, Sally looked at the clock and saw that it was six o'clock. With a startled gasp she sat
upright.

"I slept that long? The exam results will be posted now!" She pulled on her shoes, glancing at her roommates bed.
"Why didn't Nicola wake me? She knows how badly I want to know the results..."

She found the other girl standing in front of the screen in the mess hall, staring up at the results. Nicola's expression
was one of incredulous surprise, her eyes wide and her mouth open. Sally approached, feeling a little nervous. Nicola
turned at the sound of Sally's footsteps and she blinked.

"You... you..." was all she could say and Sally looked at the screen, her heart pounding. Was Nicola's shock because Sally
had failed dreadfully, or...? Sally's eyes raked over the board, searching for her number, starting at the bottom and
moving to the top.

"You passed." Nicola said flatly just as Sally saw her number.

Sally swallowed, her throat was suddenly so dry. "So I see..." she whispered. "Oh God... _Ninety-two percent_! In the top
five!" She grinned at Nicola, barely registering that the other girl's face was slightly twisted with emotion.

"Not one hundred though." Nicola said roughly and Sally laughed.

"It doesn't matter, it's still enough and much better than I expected." Sally felt giddy, like a child with a new toy.
"It still means that I can choose where I want to go!"

Nicola gave herself a little shake and smiled brightly at Sally. "Well, do you want to go out and celebrate?" she asked.

Sally opened her mouth to say yes and then remembered the promise she had made. "Later Nicola, later. Right now, there's
someone I have to tell." She dashed away, running towards the exit, waving back at the other girl. "I'll be back soon!"

"Sally! It's raining!" Nicola called. "Aren't you..."

Sally heard nothing more as she ran out into the pouring rain. It hardly mattered that she was getting wet, she could barely
feel it anyway. Relief surged through her, mingling with the giddy happiness. *I don't think I realised how worried I was
about this,* she thought as she ran. *But now it's done... it's over and I can finally start doing what I really want
to do. And that means I finally have to tell him about my decision*

She didn't really know how she got to Treize's apartment, but the next thing Sally knew she was in the foyer, waiting
impatiently for the elevator. After what seemed like an age, it arrived and the doors swished open. A tall young man with
long platinum blond hair and wearing large avaitor-style sunglasses stepped out, nearly running into Sally.

"Excuse me," he said with a slight bow and she smiled.

"It's okay, it was my fault," she said, brushing past him to occupy the elevator he had just left. A part of her excited
mind noted that he was wearing a high-ranking Specials uniform and she also wondered why he was wearing sunglasses
when it was such a dull day. However she banished these thoughts as she exited the elevator and rapped on Treize's
door.

"Zechs? Is there a... Sally?" Treize stared at her in surprise when he opened the door. Almost immediately his surprise
changed into a pleased expression. "Come in Sally, I'm glad to see you. I was beginning to get concerned that I haven't
heard from you."

"I fell asleep after the exam," Sally said stepping into his apartment. "But I just found out the results..." she whirled
to face him, droplets of water scattering around her. "I passed, Treize! I got ninety-two percent!"

"I never had any doubt that you would do well," He said. A slight frown creased his forehead. "And while I'm extremely
pleased that you came to see me... was it necessary to run out of the door without even grabbing an umbrella? You're
soaked Sally."

Sally looked down at herself and laughed a little ruefully. "Oh... you're right." She said. "Oh well, it's only water,
it won't... aaaachoo!" She sneezed suddenly. "Ugh... maybe this wasn't a bright idea."

There was a soft laugh from Treize and a towel was dropped on her head. "I'm very happy now," he said, pushing the
towel back from her face and looking into her eyes while he rubbed her wet hair with the towel. "Sally Po was so
determined to see me that she did something completely spontaneous."

Knots started to form in Sally's stomach as she look into his eyes. "I'm spontanous sometimes," she protested. "And
I did promise to tell you the result."

"Hmmm..." Treize continued to dry her hair, bending closer so his face was only a few inches away from hers. "But you
could have just called... instead you came to see me face to face. That definitely means that you have feelings for
me... and that pleases me no end."

"If you're going to be smug," Sally said, trying to ignore the fact that her heart was once again pounding, but for
an entirely different reason. "Then I'm going to leave."

"I don't think you're going to leave..." Treize murmured and dropped the towel to use one hand to cup her chin while
the other pulled her body forward, closing the gap between them as he kissed her.

This one felt different from his previous kisses, this was a hot, melting kiss which set Sally's blood on fire. A small,
still rational part of her mind tried to convince her to end it, to pull away and remain aloof, to remember what she had
decided. But Sally shoved that little voice ruthlessly aside and kissed back, raising her arms to wrap them around Treize's
neck, pressing her body to his, letting her hormones overtake her reason.

Treize made a pleased sound in the back of his throat and trailed his fingers down her neck, lightly tracing around
her pulse as he stroked the line of her collarbone that was exposed by the open neck of her shirt. His mouth soon
followed, tongue licking the rain from her skin, making Sally shiver and gasp. Her fingers curled, clutching at the fabric
of his shirt. Never had she felt sensations like this and it almost frightened her that she was losing control so quickly.

Treize kissed her lips again, another burning kiss coupled with his hand sliding down to cup one breast, his touch burning
through the wet cloth. Sally let out a little moan and she pushed herself against his hand. His lips moved from hers to
trail kisses along her cheek and nibbled at her sensitive earlobe. "Sally?" He breathed softly into her ear.

"Un?" Sally twisted her head so she could look into his eyes.

"I really think we should remove your wet clothes."

For a brief moment Sally hesitated. If she was going to stop where this encounter was going, now was the time to do it. But
she was well aware that she didn't _want_ to stop, that she had wanted this for a long time now. A slow, lazy smile crept across her lips, now was the time for her to assert herself, to make sure that she still retained some measure of control.

"I think you're right," she murmured, enjoying the slight flash of surprise in his eyes. "But your clothes are a bit damp now
too... "

Treize stepped back, drawing her hands to his mouth and laying kisses on her palms, all the while keeping eye contact. "Are
you sure, Sally?" he asked and she understood the meaning behind his question.

"Yes," was her firm answer, and to back it up she plucked one hand from his grasp and began to undo the buttons of
her wet shirt.

He let her proceed for a while, then moved forward, deftly capturing her mouth as his fingers replaced hers. His hands
brushing so gently over her smooth skin, making her pulse jump. Expertly he teased her senses, stripping her of
clothing and moving her back towards the bedroom so smoothly that Sally was almost completely unaware of her surroundings
until she was lying naked on the silk sheets.

Treize crouched over her, somehow he had also managed to lose his clothing in the process and she was foggily aware that she
had something to do with it. She ran her hands down his firm chest, feeling the definition of his muscles, her eyes a little
wide, a little afraid, but wanting to see more. Treize smiled and opened his mouth, but she pressed her fingers to his lips, shaking her head. She didn't want to him to say anything, not yet, not now. She only wanted to feel.

Treize kissed her fingertips gently and then pulled her against him, nibbling the line of her throat and jaw, his other hand moving down the line of her torso, stroking, kneading her flesh before slipping between her thighs. Sally gasped at the contact and dug her fingers into his shoulders, letting out low moans as he made a through assault with his talented hands. "I'm going to die..."
she groaned and Treize chuckled against her neck.

"Not yet, sweet Sally, not yet..." He kissed her mouth, teasing her further and she arched her back, pressing against him and feeling his need for her.

He continued to seduce her senses with his hands and mouth, bringing her to her peak and then, in one smooth
movement, he filled her. It hurt at first, it hurt terribly making Sally's eyes fill with tears and her body stiffen. However, the sensation was fleeting as Treize skillfully chased away the pain, allowing Sally to ride on an intense wave of pleasure that felt like it would shatter her.

"I _am_ going to die."

***

tbc