Author's Note: I really don't know everything that's going to happen in this story…I have one line planned out, and I have to form a fic for this one line, so we'll see how it goes…

Disclaimer: I own not my very beloved Gundam Wing. If I did…heh…I love Zechs and Noin as a couple, no doubt, but if Gundam was mine, he'd be mine, too….*much evil laughter* *coughcough* Ahem. Anywhos, the gist is I don't own GW, so don't sue me, I can't even afford my seventeen dollar book The Writing on the Wall. Oi, I don't know how I'm going to be able to go see The Two Towers six times with this minimal amount of money…

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Can Love Conquer All?

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Chapter One: Out

Lucrezia Noin looked up from her desk in Preventer Headquarters to see the love of her life, Zechs Merquise, staring at her from his desk. They had each originally had their own office, but as Anne employed more people, there had been a shortage of offices, and Zechs and Noin had volunteered to squeeze into one tiny place, even despite his knack for impeccable neatness and her knack for a mess strewn all the way across the room.

Holding her pen in her right hand, Noin lifted her left hand from its resting place atop her daily planner to tuck her raven-blue hair behind one ear. Blinking her violet eyes once, she returned Zechs' stare, but with one eyebrow quirked. She was just as happy to have a reason to pause in her boring paper work, especially when it meant staring into his beautiful ice blue eyes, at his gorgeous face and gorgeous fall of long, platinum blonde hair. Noin could keep herself occupied for hours just simply staring into his beautiful eyes, but right now she didn't have hours—at least, not hours in which to do that. She had hours in which to finish a stack of paperwork that could rival the Eiffel Tower itself.

"Something wrong, honey?" Noin asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

A small smile played at his lips. "I don't deserve you."

Noin grinned. He'd given her that line more often that he'd said "I love you", and she had finally come up with a decent response. "You're right, you don't."

Zechs blinked his blue eyes in surprise. "I'm right?" Noin's grin grew wider; she'd finally been able to stump him!

"Yeah, you're right, you don't deserve me. Which brings me to a point I've been pondering on for quite some time. Since you obviously don't deserve me, which one of the Gundam boys should I pick up? Quatre's quite available, at least until he gets down off his high horse and realizes he's head over heels for Trowa's sister, Catherine."

Zechs stared at her in a most satisfying way, his eyes still wide and growing wider, and his mouth slowly falling open. Noin's grin turned to one of triumph, until it grew so wide that a bubble of laughter escaped her lips. Clutching her stomach with her arms (she still had the pen in hand), Noin laughed until she cried. If there was ever a time she wished she had a camera, it was now. To capture Zechs' face—Noin only laughed harder, until one couldn't tell if she was still laughing or completely crying, if not out and out sobbing.

By the time Noin recovered enough to look at Zechs again, he had the most beautiful scowl plastered on his face, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, and right eyebrow twitching. Noin collapsed into laughter yet again, and it must have been a good ten minutes since she first started laughing before she could say anything.

"I'm sorry," she panted, trying to catch her breath from so much laughing. Her cheeks felt tight from too much smiling, but she couldn't force herself to drop the grin. "It's just that you say it so often, I really had to get back at you some how. You do deserve me, Zechs."

His scowl didn't alter an inch, giving her just a slight pause. Was he really mad at her? "I'd say now that you don't deserve me," he grumped, obviously not very pleased with what she'd done.

"Oh you," she said snappishly with a friendly tone, throwing her pen with all her might at his face. To her dismay he caught the pen and tossed it back at her—just barely missing her ear. Eyes wide, Noin gave Zechs a Look. "Hey, I know you're mad, but killing me isn't an option here." In response Zechs stuck his tongue out at her before he bent his head back over his own Eiffel Tower stack of paper. Noin harrumphed. Fine, if he wanted to be that way, two could play this game.

Reaching to the top of her file cabinet, she flipped her radio on and quickly tuned it in to the local pop station. If there was one thing Zechs hated, there were a million, but pop music hit the top ten. Snapping his head up, Zechs gave her a look that would have frozen her solid had she been anybody else. Noin just simply gave him a wide grin and set about her own paperwork, humming along with the music. Usually she didn't delve into this kind of thing, but there was the exception to every rule.

***

"What's wrong with you, Merquise?" Heero asked in his emotionless voice as he ran into Zechs in the men's room later that same day.

Giving the boy a scowl, Zechs snapped in reply, "Nothing, Yuy. Now get out of my way." Zechs was irritated beyond irritation with Noin. After pulling her little "You're right" trick, he'd spent four and a half hours listening to that garbage floating out from her portable radio. Lucky for her she hadn't left the room in all that time, or else she wouldn't have had a radio to return to. Songs like "It's Gonna Be Me" and "With Arms Wide Open" and "Sacrifice" and "Don't Let Me Get Me" were now plaguing his mind. He wished he could send his brain through a blender right about now.

Splashing his face repeatedly with cold water, Zechs realized that Heero was still in the restroom, and that he had been joined by Duo. Muttering an oath, Zechs grabbed a paper towel and dried his face before he turned around to face the two of them. "What do you want?"

Duo grinned his ever-famous mischievous grin. "We heard that you made Lucrezia cry, Zechs. Is there any truth to that?"

Zechs gave them the blankest look he'd ever given anybody. "Just where did you hear that hair-brained rumour?" Zechs demanded.

Duo gave a shrug. "Oh, gee, I don't know, something to do with the fact that the walls here are pretty thin and next door to you a fellow Preventer heard her sobbing her heart out." Zechs' mind reeled frantically. Had his beloved Lu been crying since he left? Impossible, he'd only been gone for five minutes, just enough time to relieve himself and escape that horrendous music. So what sobbing had they heard? Almost as if a light bulb had turned on above his head, he remembered that she had been nearly sobbing—just not with sadness.

With a roll of his eyes, Zechs gave the two former Gundam pilots a good glare. "I wouldn't believe everything you hear," he snapped. "If you want the truth, Maxwell, go home and ask Hilde. I'm sure by now Noin has told all the girls, and they'll be more than willing to give you the full report if you but ask them. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a mound of paper work to finish for you boys since all you can manage to handle is a gun, and sometimes we even wonder about that." Still scowling, Zechs shoved his way between the two boys and down the hall to grab a drink of water before he had to return to his stifling office and the teenybopper music.

As if fate had him marked for the day, as he rounded the corner he ran smack dab into Lady Une, who was holding a stack of papers taller than the one he had left unfinished on his desk. The papers went flying, and the two of them collapsed to the floor. Muttering another choice oath or three, Zechs set about gathering up the papers. "Sorry, Anne, my fault," he apologized.

"I won't argue with you there," Lady Une said with a smile as she helped him gather up the scattered papers. "Something on your mind, Zechs? You look distracted."

As he continued scooping up papers, he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. Had Noin told Lady Une yet? He didn't doubt it. She would have wasted no time in announcing it to the world as soon as he left the room. Was that a hint of mirth in Lady Une's eye? Curse it all, did she know? "I'm fine," he finally answered. Lady Une rolled her eyes and grinned. Blood and bloody flaming ashes, the woman did know!

"You know, Zechs, she didn't really mean it," Lady Une said with a grin. "But you did deserve it, what with how often you go on about how you don't deserve her."

Zechs blinked. "How do you know how often I mention that?" he demanded.

Lady Une gave a small shrug, that annoying grin still in place on her face. "Women talk." Barely restraining himself from uttering another oath, Zechs seriously considered dropping all the papers he had picked up and walking off to leave Lady Une to deal with the mess of her own. He sighed heavily; his manly code of conduct wouldn't allow him to do such a thing.

Working in silence for the next few minutes, he and Lady Une finally gathered up all the papers. Right as he was about to hand them all back to her, she handed him her stack and said, "I was just bringing these to your office for Noin to work on."

"Noin? Anne, she already had a pile at least this high to work on. You aren't seriously thinking about giving her more, are you?"

Lady Une made a grimace. "Believe me when I say I know, Zechs, but the paper work has got to get done and I only have so many Preventers here right now working on it. I'm sorry I have to do this to her, but I don't exactly have a choice." Nodding in grim acceptance, Zechs carried the stack of papers back to his office. As he opened the door, he made a decision, one he hoped Noin wouldn't find out about.

****

Noin glanced up from her desk as Zechs entered the room again. He had a second huge stack of paperwork that he sat down on his desk. Noin's mouth fell open in out and out astonishment. What was Lady Une thinking, giving him all that work to do? What amazed her even more was that Zechs was willing to take the work. If he intended to finish it all today, he'd be at the office until late in the evening. Looking at him, Noin almost regretted being mean to him. Almost.

Without saying anything to him, she reached over to the radio sitting on top of her file cabinet and switched it off. It was the least she could do for him without out and out apologizing, which was something she didn't plan on doing until he was ready to apologize to her. Zechs looked up from his desk and gave her a grateful look, bringing a smile to her face. At least he wasn't mad at her anymore, which meant she could safely leave the room and not have to worry about something missing or broken when she returned. Heaving a sigh of relief, she set her pen down and all but ran out of the room, heading towards the ladies room. She had had to pee for three hours now, but had held it in, fearing what would become of her room should she leave it unprotected in Zechs' angry state.

Feeling relieved, Noin left the bathroom after washing her hands and headed back to her office, only to run into Duo Maxwell in the hallway. "Hey Duo."

"Hey Lu!" he cried out in greeting. Taking in his grinning face and boyish looks, Noin found it hard to believe that the eighteen-year-old former Gundam pilot was married to Hilde Schbeiker as of two months ago. He still looked and acted like he was a kid of ten at times. "I heard you were sobbing earlier today."

Noin gave him a queer look. "I was?"

Duo nodded. "Yup, that's what the Preventer in the office next to yours said. Claimed you kept it on for ten minutes or so. So what's the real deal?"

Realization dawned in her head, and Noin grinned at him. "Ask Hilde, I already told her."

Duo gave a scowl (a paltry thing compared to Zechs and Heero). "That's what Zechs said when I asked him. I swear, you two are in a conspiracy or something. Or maybe it's you women. Anywhos, just wanted to let you know that Hilde's pregnant."

Noin's eyes widened in surprise. "She is?"

Duo's grin grew wider, if that was possible. "Yup! Hard to believe, isn't it. I never thought I was going to be a husband, let alone a father, and by the time I'm nineteen I'm going to be both." Noin shared in Duo's joy for a few more minutes before she ran to the bathroom, nearly exploding.

Noin headed back to her office. With a sigh she collapsed back into her desk chair, but instead of picking her pen back up and continuing on with work she stared off into space. Duo and Hilde were four years her juniour, yet they were already married and expecting a baby. She figured she was lucky just to have gotten Zechs to say "I love you", but she wanted more out of him. She was twenty-two, had loved the man since she was sixteen, been his friend since she was thirteen, and wanted to marry him since she was nineteen. She'd thought that going with him to do the Mars Terraformation Project last year would have loosened up his tongue and made him finally propose to her (after he confessed his love), but instead all she'd gotten was a man desperate to go back and finish up with the Preventers so he could go back to politics. Like the ever faithful hound dog that she was, she'd followed him back to the colonies before she would follow him again back to Earth, despite her dream and desire to be on Mars overlooking the Terraformation Project. Pans, what she wouldn't give to be back there…but as long as there was the possibility that Zechs would marry her, she couldn't just give up on him, no matter how stubborn the man was.

Noin let out a heavy sigh that caught Zechs' attention. "Are you going to get back to work or not?" he asked, more than a slight touch of bite in his remark. Okay, so maybe he was still mad at her. Well, she wasn't ready to be the one to give yet.

"I don't see why you should care," she snapped back. "Or are you just jealous that I've got less work to do than you?"

That one hurt him, she could tell. With a deadly fire in his eyes that she'd never before seen directed at her, he retorted, "Well that's the way it's supposed to be, isn't it? The man does all the work while the woman sits around primping herself for nothing."

Maybe it was his tone of voice. Or maybe it was the fact that she'd been in a bad mood since her little comment earlier. Or perhaps it was because the Maxwells were going to be having a baby while she was still twiddling her thumbs for the man she loved. Or maybe it was because her period had started the day before. Well, whatever it was, something inside of her snapped, and Noin threw her pen at the wall beside Zechs' head. "I have had enough out of you," she snapped, venom laced with every word she said. "I'm sick and tired of waiting. I've been waiting most of my life, but you can't see that, can you! Well you know what, this is it! There's a line, and it's been crossed." Grabbing up all her personal items in the room and throwing them into her bag, Noin whirled one last time to face him. "I've had it, and I'm gone. I quit. I'm going to Lady Une right now and I'm resigning. I'm going back home, to Mars, to work on something I want to for once. Maybe I'll send you a postcard if I choose to remember that you're alive. Goodbye, Zechs Merquise." Twirling on her heel, Noin stepped out of his job, out of his office, out of his life.

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A/N: I told y'all I didn't know where it was going, and look where it ended up. Oi, this doesn't look good, does it? This was originally supposed to be a light and fluffy fic, only one chapter, but not anymore! So, what do you think? The more reviews I get the sooner I'll remember to post the next chapter!