Ummmmmm...yes, I wrote this.� No, I don't know what I was on either, so I guess you can't have any.� *gomen!*� It's not really romance...just some random Wufei/Sally fun without being totally stupid or yaoi.

Disclaimers:� Don't, never, can't own.� A bunch of happy rich people have that privilege.� And I wish I was making money of this.� I really, really do.

Warnings:� Um...possible sap?� Naughty words...?� Never been beta'd, but as always, I do run it thru the spele-chekur.� ^_~� Oh, I've never written a quasi-serious GW ficcie before...

Notes:� Takes place after Endless Waltz.�

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After Hours

By Mars

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"...rivalry adds so much to the charms of one's conquests."

����������������������� ����������������������� ����������� ����������� --Louisa May Alcott

Slurrrrrrrrppppppppppppppppp...

Wufei glared at the little cursor cheerfully blinking at him over the rim of his teacup and scowled.� Five hours of precious, precious work...lost in the vastness of cyberspace.� Five hours of staring at the stark white screen, inputting numbers, letters, symbols...all to have it go to waste when the power flickered out.�

He naturally had been so intent on getting the stupid report ~done~ he had forgotten to save his work.� And now, all he had to show for it was one blinking cursor in the upper left hand corner.

Injustice.

Wufei took another hearty slurp of his stone-cold tea before he calmly set the cup down on the floor and away from the computer.� He stood up and stretched, being sure to massage out the kinks out of his system from sitting in the same position for so long.� With the same eerie calm he had used in setting down the teacup, he walked over to his office window and unbolted it.� The frigid night air blasted in, instantly numbing any bare flesh it came in contact with.� Wufei paid it no mind.� He strolled over to the outlet, unplugged the computer, hefted the ugly beige machine into his arms, and tossed it out of his second-story window.� He smiled faintly as he heard the satisfactory CRASH as the computer shattered against the cold pavement of the sidewalk.

Justice was served.

"You ~do~ realize that was official Preventers property, don't you?"

Wufei looked over to his door to see Sally Po leaning against the doorjamb, an eyebrow arched in amusement.

Another sluuuurrrpppp of tea was her only answer.

She sighed, "Wufei...what are we going to do with you?"

"'We', onna?"

"Yes, 'we'," she snapped as she walked across Wufei's private office to shut the window.� "And would it hurt you to call me 'Sally' every now and then?"

"Yes."

"How about 'Po'?"

"Even worse."

There were times Sally wondered why she had invited Wufei to join the Preventers.� Times when he was so irritatingly ~Wufei~...arrogant, snot-nosed, or just being cranky because of some sort of injustice...this was definitely one of those times.

Not that she could blame him for being cranky.� She had also just finished up a report about their latest misadventure...except she had the foresight to save her work.

Sally eyed the plastic cup with the large, yellow smiley-face on the side of it, "Isn't that the tea I brought you this morning?"

"Perhaps."

"And you're still drinking it?!"

Wufei didn't answer.� He didn't even slurp the tea.� He merely sat his happy cup on his recently vacated desk and crossed his arms, giving her a look.� Sally knew that look.� The I'm-busy-baka-onna-what-the-hell-do-you-want look that he pulled off so well.� She sighed again, "I ~was~ going to ask if you were done with your report and maybe if you wanted to grab something to eat.� By my calculations, that nifty little bakery with those really yummy jelly donuts opens in," she glanced down at her watch, "half and hour."

"It takes half an hour to drive three blocks?"� How had he asked a question if his mouth hadn't moved?

"No!" Sally exclaimed, feeling suddenly sheepish.� "I thought we could walk down there!"

"Onna...it's the middle of December, twenty-five degrees and snowing," Wufei said, "I am not going through a frozen-over hell for a jelly donut.� Besides the office opens in two hours."

Sally felt her eye begin to twitch.� Why had she thought this would be a good idea?� She knew Wufei.� She knew his moods and his mood swings better than anyone else.� Why in the name of all things gundanium had she thought he would agree to this?� "You know what, Chang?" she practically spat out.

"What?" he asked dully.

"I like daises."

That had been worth it.� The look on Wufei's face was priceless!� Complete Heero-Yuy-wanna-be to completely dumbfounded.� "Nani??"

"I like daises," she repeated a bit more cheerfully as she sat herself down in his desk chair.� Hmmm.� His chair was more padded then hers.� "They're so pretty.� When they bloom, they just scream 'Spring is here!'� I look forward to their blooming every year, you know.� They always perk me up."

Wufei blinked.� And blinked again.� Blinked three times for good measure.� Then he shook his head leaned against his empty desk.� "I shall never understand you, onna..."

"Sally!" she practically screamed at him.� "For the love of those jelly donuts, just call me Sally!� Just once!!"

Wufei went back to giving her his infamous Wufei-Chang-Look-of-Exasperation.

Sally stood up in exasperation and threw her arms into the air.� "Okay!� I give up!" she proclaimed and headed for the door, punctuating her words with well-placed stomps, "You are *stomp!* less human then Heero! *stomp! stomp!*� At least *stomp!* he takes me up *stomp!* on offers for *stomp!* donuts! *stomp!* Hell, even Trowa is more talkative than you are! *stomp!stomp!stomp!!*� I'm just going to leave and let you mope *stomp!* in your overstuffed chair, by yourself! *stomp! stomp!* I'm going to get some sleep on the company couch and turn in ~my~ report and live *stomp!* happily ever *stomp!* after!! *STOMP!*� Good night!!"

Unfortunately, just as she was about to cap the whole thing off with a dramatic door-slam, she heard a quiet, "Yuy takes you out for donuts?"

This time it was Sally's turn to blink.� "Eh?"

Wufei gracefully slid off the desk and reached for the simple leather coat that had been hanging over his chair.� "Yuy takes you out for donuts?" he repeated.

"On the rare occasion," she admitted.� "Of course, he never eats a donut.� He seems to be a bran-muffin fan."

If Sally didn't know better, she'd swear that she saw a ~smile~ tugging at the corners of Wufei's mouth, "Sa--onna, what is the point in going on a donut run if you have no one to share the joy of donuts with?"

Sally suppressed the urge to gape.� Either time had stopped and Wufei had been abducted by aliens and replaced with a replica or Wufei was schizophrenic.� Or maybe both.� And did he just almost say her ~actual~ name?

"Yuy isn't even good company," Wufei continued, shrugging into his jacket.� "Never says a word except for 'hn', and of course, even that's somewhat rare," Wufei looked at his office wall clock and cocked his head to the side. �"The bakery opens in ten minutes.� Quit gawking and get your coat, baka."

"Are...are you dri...driving, or am...I?" Sally managed to get out.

Wufei looked at her as though she had sprouted wings or something.� "I thought you wanted to walk."

That cinched it.� Something was very wrong here.� Wufei was acting completely different from the version she had seen just a moment ago.� Maybe he was a spy?� A spy sent from a few remaining OZ fanatics to try to get in and derail the Preventers?� She had to do something!� She couldn't go someplace with him until she knew the absolute truth...

But, oh, the prospect of a warm, freshly baked donut with apple-cinnamon goo inside...

And Wufei in a leather jacket wasn't exactly an eyesore either.

But her prime motivation was the donut.� At least, that's what Sally told herself.

"I didn't bring a coat with me to work this morning," she admitted sheepishly.

This time, it was Wufei who sighed.�

"It was fifty-two degrees!� I didn't know I was going to be here until six in the morning!" she defended herself.

Wufei slipped out of his jacket, and Sally felt all hopes of her donut (and seeing more of Wufei in that jacket, possibly with snowflakes in his hair...), plunge.

Might as well go prep the work couch for a whole hour of sleep, she decided.

Sally gasped as she felt something heavy and warm drape over her shoulders.� Something heavy, warm, and ~leather.~� She turned startled eyes to Wufei, who had somehow crept up behind her...and thought she was going to pass out.� He ~was~ definitely smiling now.� A sweet, sincere smile.

She decided to keep her eyes open for several horseman with "Apocalypse Now!" banners while on their walk.

"Ready?" he asked her.

Sally only nodded as she slipped her arms into the jacket sleeves.� Hmm.� Soft.� Fuzzy.� Warm.� She'd just have to get one of these...or maybe just steal it like she planned to do with his chair.� "Won't you be cold?" she asked.

"Only weaklings get cold!" he snorted.

She chuckled.� "Of course.� My mistake."

Wufei nodded his agreement, and gently shoved her out his door, while being sure to switch off his office lights.� They walked passed darkened offices and empty cubicles, occasionally bumping into an ill-placed trash bucket before reaching the elevator.

And then they waited...and waited...and waited...

Sally and Wufei exchanged glances as they listened to the elevator's gears grind and crunch together as they struggled to pull up the empty car.

"Stairs," they said in unison and headed for the fire escape.

"Wufei, wait."

Wufei stopped, puzzlement on evident on his features.� "Nani?"

With a sly grin, Sally reached up and pulled out the elastic band that kept Wufei's hair in its painful-looking ponytail.� Free at last, his ebony strands fell into his face, a slight crimp where the elastic had been.

"There!" she pronounced, throwing the hair tie over her shoulder.� "That should cure those headaches your always whining about."

Instead of the brutal tongue-lashing she had been expecting, Wufei instead gingerly reached up to touch his hair, his eyes wide.� "Arigatou..." he whispered, and proceeded into the stairwell.

What the hell, Sally decided and followed him.

~*~*~*~*~

She had overslept.� Somehow, on the bumpy, sagging, ugly employee couch, she had overslept.� And of course, her report had been late, because no one had bothered to come and wake her up, or at the very least, check on her.� And then she was reprimanded by Lady Une for having a late report, and then reprimanded again because somehow, Wufei, in half an hour, had written a superior report to hers ~and~ turned it in on time.�

Oh well.� That sweet, sweet, warm, apple-cinnamon goo-filled, topped with white icing and glazed donut had been worth it.

Hopefully, Lady Une wouldn't realize that Sally had used the Preventers charge card to pay for the donuts because she had also left her wallet in her coat.

Sally massaged the back of her neck as she returned to her desk.� Ah, well.� Another day, another report, and more cranky Wufei.� He hadn't even mentioned the donut excursion or talked to her since their return.� The fiend.

Of course, she had been down and out on that damn couch about five minutes after they returned.

Sally yawned and plunked down in her understuffed desk chair.� She reached over to turn on her computer, but her fingers only met air.

Her computer wasn't there.

Instead, there was a note, in ~very~ familiar handwriting, in its place along with...a daisy??� Now where had he gotten a daisy in two hours during the dead of winter?

Sally picked up the note and quickly skimmed over it, her eyebrow raising with each passing word:

"Onna,

Thank you for the generous gift of your computer.� Much faster and more powerful than mine had ever been.� I would also like some more tea, preferably in a ~different~ mug this time, before you start your work routine...or whatever you can start without your computer.

Next time, we'll visit the coffee shop after the bakery.� Coffee's on me.

W."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Whelpers, that's it.� *blink, blink*

Oh, yeah, I forgot this at the top:

Much thanks goes out to all the kind people who leave me reviews!� (even though they're mostly Sailormoon fans...hey, I'm expanding!)� You guys rock!� Miko Motivation!!�

Well, let's see, this fic had only been brewing in my head since about August...but now that marching season is over, I have ~time~ to actually write down my ideas!� We may see more of me!� *sees panicked masses, running away and screaming*� Nani?