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rsadelleTitle: Teamwork
Author: Ruth Sadelle Alderson
Fandom: From Eroica With Love
Rating: FRT for subtext and adult themes.
Disclaimer: They all belong to someone who's not me.
Summary: Dorian helps Klaus solve a problem.
Warning: Although it's all left up to your imagination, what's done to G is not very nice.
Author's Note: This was inspired by the scene in Ladonna King's "Three Grades Thicker" in which G hides from the Chief by ducking behind Klaus. Thanks to Nette for helping me think of a title.
"G, take these to the Chief," Klaus snapped. He frowned when G paled. "Go!"
Z slid neatly between Klaus and G. "I'll take them, sir. G is writing a report, and I've just finished mine."
Klaus eyed him warily, but handed over the stack of files. "That ought to keep him busy for a while," he said smugly.
"Yes, Major," Z replied. He took the stack and headed for the Chief's office
Klaus watched him go, then turned a speculative eye on G. He looked different. In place of one of his usual get-ups, he was wearing an ill-fitting, conservative, dark blue suit. Klaus frowned at him for a long moment, trying to puzzle it out. "Get back to work!" he shouted when he noticed that the Alphabets had stilled and were watching him. "Idiots," he muttered. He went back to his office and lit a cigarette, dropping the match into the overflowing ashtray on the file cabinet. He settled back into his chair and started working through the next batch of paperwork. The sooner he could get through it, the sooner he could get replacements for R through U, and the sooner he could get his Alphabets' numbers back up, the sooner he could go on a new mission. "Z!" he barked when he saw Z walk past his office door.
"Yes, Major?"
"Come in here. Shut the door." Klaus waited for Z to do as he was told, then stared at him for a long moment. "What is wrong with G?" he finally asked.
"I'm sorry, sir, I can't answer that."
Klaus glared at him. "I am your superior. You will answer me."
"I am sorry, sir," Z repeated, sounding genuinely apologetic, "but I gave my word."
Klaus continued to glare, but Z was unmoved. "Fine," he snapped. "Get back to work."
"Yes, sir."
Z had only been working for a short time when a commotion at the main door of the Alphabets' workroom caught his attention.
"Well, hello, Mr. A." Dorian's voice floated across the room. "Bonham tells me you're well."
"Yes, Lord Gloria." A couldn't quite hide his nervousness.
"Now, A," Dorian laughed. "Calm down. I'm not here to cause trouble."
"Of course not," A said as if he didn't believe a word of it.
"Really, I'm not. I only came for a visit to see how you're all doing. G!" Dorian turned his attention away from A. "I very nearly didn't recognize you in that suit."
"Hello, my lord." G allowed himself to be hugged. "How are you?"
"I'm quite all right, my dear, although it's been far too long since I've seen you." Dorian beamed at G. "How have you been?" Dorian didn't miss the slight stiffening of G's back.
"Fine, my lord." G smiled faintly. "I hope you're not here to terrorize the Major."
Dorian waved his hand airily. "Of course not. You know I love him far too much to ever terrorize him."
"Lord Gloria, I heard you were down here." The Chief came toward him with one hand out. "It's so good to see you," he continued, taking Dorian's hand and shaking it warmly.
G ducked behind Dorian. Dorian smiled brilliantly at the Chief and put an arm around his shoulders. "I don't suppose you'd have a cup of tea lying about? I really could use something fortifying before I go visit my darling Major."
"Certainly, certainly. Come to my office, and I'd be happy to provide you with some tea."
Dorian glanced over his shoulder and winked at Z and G as the Chief led him to his office. Z's smile was conspiratorial, while G's was grateful.
Dorian came back down the hall alone some time later, and knocked on Klaus' door.
"What?"
Dorian went in, closing the door behind him, and flopped into the chair facing Klaus' desk. "Hello, darling, how are you?"
Klaus glared at him. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I just came to visit." Dorian took a pen and a piece of paper from Klaus' desk and wrote as he spoke. "It's been entirely too long since we last saw each other. Oh, before I forget, James wants me to ask if perhaps there's anything you might want to hire us to do." He handed the note to Klaus. 'Is your office bugged or is it safe to talk?'
"Don't be stupid," Klaus growled as he wrote. "Of course we don't have a job for you. If I had my way, you'd be as far away from me and from my missions as possible." He handed the note back to Dorian. 'Unless the Alphabets are listening outside the door, it's safe.'
Dorian dropped his smile and his effervescent tone. He slumped in the chair and put his hands over his face. "Have you noticed that all is not well with your Alphabets?"
Klaus lit a cigarette, dropping the match into the overflowing ashtray on the corner of his desk. "Yes." He glared at Dorian. "I would not be a good commander if I did not." He smoked furiously for a long minute. "Something is wrong with G, and Z is protecting him. It is affecting their work."
"I think I know what's wrong."
"What?"
Dorian scrubbed his hands over his face, then dropped them into his lap and met Klaus' eyes. "The Chief has been at least sexually harassing him, if not outright abusing him."
Klaus nearly dropped his cigarette in shock. "What? How do you know that?"
Dorian looked over Klaus' shoulder at the map on the wall. "He's changed. He used to be so happy, and today he could barely smile at me. He's changed his whole look, and he was always so pretty in dresses." Dorian couldn't keep the wistful tone out of his voice. "He's terrified of the Chief. He hid behind me when the Chief came down here. I had to go up and drink the Chief's idea of tea to distract him." Dorian glanced away. "And A hinted about it to Bonham."
Klaus slammed his fist down on the table. "Fuck."
"What are we going to do?" Dorian asked grimly.
Klaus looked at him. "*We* are not going to do anything. You are going to go home, and I am going to take care of this."
Dorian's mouth set in a tight, stubborn line. "I will do no such thing."
Klaus glared at him. "He is my subordinate. I will take care of this."
"A man like that is sure to have some evidence of his," Dorian chose his words carefully, "conquests. I could get that evidence."
Klaus was silent.
Dorian continued to hold his eyes. "I could do it without your help, but it'll be easier with it. It's sure to be in his office."
Klaus shook his head. "You can't break into NATO."
"Of course I can. I will. Of course, if you let me into the building, I wouldn't technically be breaking in."
Klaus stared down, unseeing, at the surface of his desk for a long moment. "Fine. Tonight. Be ready."
"Of course." Dorian pulled his usual persona back on. "I'll be waiting at home for you, darling." He pulled himself up out of the chair and blew a kiss at Klaus as he sauntered out the door.
Klaus watched the door close. Then Dorian's word sank in. He yanked the door open and yelled, "Stay out of my house!" at Dorian's retreating back. Dorian's laughter floated back to him.
***
Klaus fired shot after shot into the target, stopping only to reload or switch guns. God damn the Chief for doing this. God damn G for not trusting him. And God damn Eroica for walking in and figuring everything out and taking it upon himself to fix it. Klaus checked his watch. That damned thief ought to be done soon. He snapped a new cartridge into his gun and fired off every shot right into the bull's eye. He set it down when his cell phone rang. "Eberbach."
"I'm done. See you at home."
The phone clicked off before he could respond. He dropped it back into his pocket and holstered his gun. He left the others sitting on the shelf, trusting that whoever worked in NATO's firing range would take care of them, and strode out of the building.
Dorian was, predictably, already in his apartment when he got there, sitting in the same chair he'd been in when Klaus had first gotten home from work. Klaus' favorite chair, to be specific.
"Did you get it?"
Dorian smiled at him. "Of course, darling. I'm a world-class thief." He sobered and poured the contents of a briefcase onto Klaus' table. Negatives, pictures and videotapes slid across the wood.
Klaus sifted through it, his face set in a hard mask. He gathered the pictures into a stack and pushed them into an envelope. He gathered up the rest of it and dumped the whole lot of it into the fireplace. He grabbed one of his ever-present matches and lit the mass of film. Dorian came to stand next to him while they watched it burn. Klaus stirred the ashes to make sure there were no salvageable bits left.
"That's done," Klaus said finally. He looked up at Dorian. "Your part in this is done. You can go home or wherever it is that you're staying."
Dorian sat down in Klaus' chair again. "I was hoping I could stay here tonight."
"Don't be an idiot," Klaus snapped.
"I'd like to see this through." Dorian told him seriously.
Klaus rubbed his eyes. He was too tired to argue. "Fine. But," he fixed Dorian with a fierce glare, "you will sleep in the guest room and stay out of my room."
"Of course, my dear Major."
***
When the Chief wandered into his office at 9:15, he hung up his coat, then turned around to find Klaus standing in front of his desk. He nearly jumped. "Major!" He sat down behind his desk. "I didn't expect to see you this early."
Klaus silently tipped the pictures out of the envelope and set them down in front of the Chief.
The Chief turned red, then purple, then white. "Where did you get these?"
"That's not important," Klaus answered in his coldest voice.
The Chief looked down at the pictures. "What are you going to do with them?"
"Nothing. You are going to retire. Today."
"Today? I can't retire today," the Chief spluttered.
"You can and you will. If you don't--" Klaus tapped the pictures menacingly.
The Chief slumped in defeat.
Klaus gathered up the pictures, put them back into the envelope and stalked out of the room. He went back to his office and smoked, halfheartedly working on paperwork and making a crucial phone call, until he got the official notice. Then he yanked open his office door and yelled for G.
When G was standing in front of his desk, Klaus gestured to the mostly-unused chair. "Sit down, G."
G sat warily.
"The Chief has retired. Effective immediately."
G was suddenly glad he was sitting. He was sure that if he'd been standing, his knees would have buckled.
"You will see a NATO psychologist twice a week. Your first appointment is at fifteen hundred hours today." Klaus handed G an appointment card. "The video tapes and negatives have been burned. The photographs will go into a safe for future insurance against the Chief." Klaus looked down at his desk and toyed with an unlit cigarette for a moment before he put it in his mouth and lit it, dropping the match into the overflowing ashtray in the center of his desk. "I am sorry," he said awkwardly, "that I could not aid you before this."
G could only sit and stare at Klaus in amazement.
"Go back to work," Klaus dismissed him gruffly. He watched G slip out the door, clutching the appointment card, and finished his cigarette. He went out to the Alphabets' workroom. "Quiet," he roared. The room immediately fell silent. "The Chief has retired." He let it sink in for a moment, watching A and Z exchange looks. "We do not know who his replacement will be, but remember that your loyalty is to NATO. Get back to work." He went back into his office, slamming the door behind him.
***
Klaus was unsurprised to find Dorian still in his apartment, more or less as he'd left him, when he got home. Instead of coffee, however, Dorian was sipping Klaus' good Scotch.
"All taken care of?"
Klaus nodded sharply. "Yes. The Chief has retired." He tossed the envelope of pictures to Dorian. "Take care of those."
The tension seemed to flow out of Dorian, although he didn't move. "Good." He held up the envelope. "They'll be safe with me."
Klaus nodded. "I know."
"How is G?"
"He had his first appointment with the psychologist today. The psychologist has suggested that I put him on restricted duty."
"That bastard," Dorian swore.
Klaus rescued the glass from Dorian's clenched fingers and went to the window. He stared out over the city and absently sipped the Scotch. "Yes. He will not bother anyone again."
"We make a good team," Dorian said softly from behind him.
"Idiot," Klaus muttered, but his lips curved into a slight smile.
--END--
Author: Ruth Sadelle Alderson
Fandom: From Eroica With Love
Rating: FRT for subtext and adult themes.
Disclaimer: They all belong to someone who's not me.
Summary: Dorian helps Klaus solve a problem.
Warning: Although it's all left up to your imagination, what's done to G is not very nice.
Author's Note: This was inspired by the scene in Ladonna King's "Three Grades Thicker" in which G hides from the Chief by ducking behind Klaus. Thanks to Nette for helping me think of a title.
"G, take these to the Chief," Klaus snapped. He frowned when G paled. "Go!"
Z slid neatly between Klaus and G. "I'll take them, sir. G is writing a report, and I've just finished mine."
Klaus eyed him warily, but handed over the stack of files. "That ought to keep him busy for a while," he said smugly.
"Yes, Major," Z replied. He took the stack and headed for the Chief's office
Klaus watched him go, then turned a speculative eye on G. He looked different. In place of one of his usual get-ups, he was wearing an ill-fitting, conservative, dark blue suit. Klaus frowned at him for a long moment, trying to puzzle it out. "Get back to work!" he shouted when he noticed that the Alphabets had stilled and were watching him. "Idiots," he muttered. He went back to his office and lit a cigarette, dropping the match into the overflowing ashtray on the file cabinet. He settled back into his chair and started working through the next batch of paperwork. The sooner he could get through it, the sooner he could get replacements for R through U, and the sooner he could get his Alphabets' numbers back up, the sooner he could go on a new mission. "Z!" he barked when he saw Z walk past his office door.
"Yes, Major?"
"Come in here. Shut the door." Klaus waited for Z to do as he was told, then stared at him for a long moment. "What is wrong with G?" he finally asked.
"I'm sorry, sir, I can't answer that."
Klaus glared at him. "I am your superior. You will answer me."
"I am sorry, sir," Z repeated, sounding genuinely apologetic, "but I gave my word."
Klaus continued to glare, but Z was unmoved. "Fine," he snapped. "Get back to work."
"Yes, sir."
Z had only been working for a short time when a commotion at the main door of the Alphabets' workroom caught his attention.
"Well, hello, Mr. A." Dorian's voice floated across the room. "Bonham tells me you're well."
"Yes, Lord Gloria." A couldn't quite hide his nervousness.
"Now, A," Dorian laughed. "Calm down. I'm not here to cause trouble."
"Of course not," A said as if he didn't believe a word of it.
"Really, I'm not. I only came for a visit to see how you're all doing. G!" Dorian turned his attention away from A. "I very nearly didn't recognize you in that suit."
"Hello, my lord." G allowed himself to be hugged. "How are you?"
"I'm quite all right, my dear, although it's been far too long since I've seen you." Dorian beamed at G. "How have you been?" Dorian didn't miss the slight stiffening of G's back.
"Fine, my lord." G smiled faintly. "I hope you're not here to terrorize the Major."
Dorian waved his hand airily. "Of course not. You know I love him far too much to ever terrorize him."
"Lord Gloria, I heard you were down here." The Chief came toward him with one hand out. "It's so good to see you," he continued, taking Dorian's hand and shaking it warmly.
G ducked behind Dorian. Dorian smiled brilliantly at the Chief and put an arm around his shoulders. "I don't suppose you'd have a cup of tea lying about? I really could use something fortifying before I go visit my darling Major."
"Certainly, certainly. Come to my office, and I'd be happy to provide you with some tea."
Dorian glanced over his shoulder and winked at Z and G as the Chief led him to his office. Z's smile was conspiratorial, while G's was grateful.
Dorian came back down the hall alone some time later, and knocked on Klaus' door.
"What?"
Dorian went in, closing the door behind him, and flopped into the chair facing Klaus' desk. "Hello, darling, how are you?"
Klaus glared at him. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I just came to visit." Dorian took a pen and a piece of paper from Klaus' desk and wrote as he spoke. "It's been entirely too long since we last saw each other. Oh, before I forget, James wants me to ask if perhaps there's anything you might want to hire us to do." He handed the note to Klaus. 'Is your office bugged or is it safe to talk?'
"Don't be stupid," Klaus growled as he wrote. "Of course we don't have a job for you. If I had my way, you'd be as far away from me and from my missions as possible." He handed the note back to Dorian. 'Unless the Alphabets are listening outside the door, it's safe.'
Dorian dropped his smile and his effervescent tone. He slumped in the chair and put his hands over his face. "Have you noticed that all is not well with your Alphabets?"
Klaus lit a cigarette, dropping the match into the overflowing ashtray on the corner of his desk. "Yes." He glared at Dorian. "I would not be a good commander if I did not." He smoked furiously for a long minute. "Something is wrong with G, and Z is protecting him. It is affecting their work."
"I think I know what's wrong."
"What?"
Dorian scrubbed his hands over his face, then dropped them into his lap and met Klaus' eyes. "The Chief has been at least sexually harassing him, if not outright abusing him."
Klaus nearly dropped his cigarette in shock. "What? How do you know that?"
Dorian looked over Klaus' shoulder at the map on the wall. "He's changed. He used to be so happy, and today he could barely smile at me. He's changed his whole look, and he was always so pretty in dresses." Dorian couldn't keep the wistful tone out of his voice. "He's terrified of the Chief. He hid behind me when the Chief came down here. I had to go up and drink the Chief's idea of tea to distract him." Dorian glanced away. "And A hinted about it to Bonham."
Klaus slammed his fist down on the table. "Fuck."
"What are we going to do?" Dorian asked grimly.
Klaus looked at him. "*We* are not going to do anything. You are going to go home, and I am going to take care of this."
Dorian's mouth set in a tight, stubborn line. "I will do no such thing."
Klaus glared at him. "He is my subordinate. I will take care of this."
"A man like that is sure to have some evidence of his," Dorian chose his words carefully, "conquests. I could get that evidence."
Klaus was silent.
Dorian continued to hold his eyes. "I could do it without your help, but it'll be easier with it. It's sure to be in his office."
Klaus shook his head. "You can't break into NATO."
"Of course I can. I will. Of course, if you let me into the building, I wouldn't technically be breaking in."
Klaus stared down, unseeing, at the surface of his desk for a long moment. "Fine. Tonight. Be ready."
"Of course." Dorian pulled his usual persona back on. "I'll be waiting at home for you, darling." He pulled himself up out of the chair and blew a kiss at Klaus as he sauntered out the door.
Klaus watched the door close. Then Dorian's word sank in. He yanked the door open and yelled, "Stay out of my house!" at Dorian's retreating back. Dorian's laughter floated back to him.
***
Klaus fired shot after shot into the target, stopping only to reload or switch guns. God damn the Chief for doing this. God damn G for not trusting him. And God damn Eroica for walking in and figuring everything out and taking it upon himself to fix it. Klaus checked his watch. That damned thief ought to be done soon. He snapped a new cartridge into his gun and fired off every shot right into the bull's eye. He set it down when his cell phone rang. "Eberbach."
"I'm done. See you at home."
The phone clicked off before he could respond. He dropped it back into his pocket and holstered his gun. He left the others sitting on the shelf, trusting that whoever worked in NATO's firing range would take care of them, and strode out of the building.
Dorian was, predictably, already in his apartment when he got there, sitting in the same chair he'd been in when Klaus had first gotten home from work. Klaus' favorite chair, to be specific.
"Did you get it?"
Dorian smiled at him. "Of course, darling. I'm a world-class thief." He sobered and poured the contents of a briefcase onto Klaus' table. Negatives, pictures and videotapes slid across the wood.
Klaus sifted through it, his face set in a hard mask. He gathered the pictures into a stack and pushed them into an envelope. He gathered up the rest of it and dumped the whole lot of it into the fireplace. He grabbed one of his ever-present matches and lit the mass of film. Dorian came to stand next to him while they watched it burn. Klaus stirred the ashes to make sure there were no salvageable bits left.
"That's done," Klaus said finally. He looked up at Dorian. "Your part in this is done. You can go home or wherever it is that you're staying."
Dorian sat down in Klaus' chair again. "I was hoping I could stay here tonight."
"Don't be an idiot," Klaus snapped.
"I'd like to see this through." Dorian told him seriously.
Klaus rubbed his eyes. He was too tired to argue. "Fine. But," he fixed Dorian with a fierce glare, "you will sleep in the guest room and stay out of my room."
"Of course, my dear Major."
***
When the Chief wandered into his office at 9:15, he hung up his coat, then turned around to find Klaus standing in front of his desk. He nearly jumped. "Major!" He sat down behind his desk. "I didn't expect to see you this early."
Klaus silently tipped the pictures out of the envelope and set them down in front of the Chief.
The Chief turned red, then purple, then white. "Where did you get these?"
"That's not important," Klaus answered in his coldest voice.
The Chief looked down at the pictures. "What are you going to do with them?"
"Nothing. You are going to retire. Today."
"Today? I can't retire today," the Chief spluttered.
"You can and you will. If you don't--" Klaus tapped the pictures menacingly.
The Chief slumped in defeat.
Klaus gathered up the pictures, put them back into the envelope and stalked out of the room. He went back to his office and smoked, halfheartedly working on paperwork and making a crucial phone call, until he got the official notice. Then he yanked open his office door and yelled for G.
When G was standing in front of his desk, Klaus gestured to the mostly-unused chair. "Sit down, G."
G sat warily.
"The Chief has retired. Effective immediately."
G was suddenly glad he was sitting. He was sure that if he'd been standing, his knees would have buckled.
"You will see a NATO psychologist twice a week. Your first appointment is at fifteen hundred hours today." Klaus handed G an appointment card. "The video tapes and negatives have been burned. The photographs will go into a safe for future insurance against the Chief." Klaus looked down at his desk and toyed with an unlit cigarette for a moment before he put it in his mouth and lit it, dropping the match into the overflowing ashtray in the center of his desk. "I am sorry," he said awkwardly, "that I could not aid you before this."
G could only sit and stare at Klaus in amazement.
"Go back to work," Klaus dismissed him gruffly. He watched G slip out the door, clutching the appointment card, and finished his cigarette. He went out to the Alphabets' workroom. "Quiet," he roared. The room immediately fell silent. "The Chief has retired." He let it sink in for a moment, watching A and Z exchange looks. "We do not know who his replacement will be, but remember that your loyalty is to NATO. Get back to work." He went back into his office, slamming the door behind him.
***
Klaus was unsurprised to find Dorian still in his apartment, more or less as he'd left him, when he got home. Instead of coffee, however, Dorian was sipping Klaus' good Scotch.
"All taken care of?"
Klaus nodded sharply. "Yes. The Chief has retired." He tossed the envelope of pictures to Dorian. "Take care of those."
The tension seemed to flow out of Dorian, although he didn't move. "Good." He held up the envelope. "They'll be safe with me."
Klaus nodded. "I know."
"How is G?"
"He had his first appointment with the psychologist today. The psychologist has suggested that I put him on restricted duty."
"That bastard," Dorian swore.
Klaus rescued the glass from Dorian's clenched fingers and went to the window. He stared out over the city and absently sipped the Scotch. "Yes. He will not bother anyone again."
"We make a good team," Dorian said softly from behind him.
"Idiot," Klaus muttered, but his lips curved into a slight smile.
--END--