Author's note: I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters. This is AU.
Four Weddings That Noin Planned and One That She Didn't
1 – Off the Cuff
The first wedding that Noin threw together was a rather hasty affair. Of course, that was in part due to who was involved with it. Hilde and Duo wanted to be married without much fuss and as soon as possible. Of course, for Duo that meant basically eloping while Hilde actually wanted more of a wedding. And as it turned out between their thriving salvage business and Duo's other part time job, Hilde wasn't getting any wedding planning done. So she'd appealed to the only relative that she still talked to. Then again, Noin was actually her fourth cousin at least twice removed, but Hilde claimed it was the principal of the matter.
Somehow instead of helping Hilde plan her wedding though, Noin ended up planning it herself. On the up side though, two months after Hilde had begged Noin for help, she got married in a simple ceremony surrounded by friends. The ceremony had been held in the private room of one of Hilde and Duo's favorite restaurants. A justice of the peace had officiated the ceremony, and Relena and Heero had respectively been the maid of honor and best man. The ceremony itself had been short followed by dinner for the group of about twenty people.
Hilde had been absolutely delighted with the whole thing. The young bride had looked beautiful in her sleek modern dress, and the whole affair had been casual enough to suit the couple but still gave Hilde the romantic feel she had wanted. Noin had been pretty pleased with herself. She watched with a smile when Relena caught the bouquet of iris, leaning into Zechs and feeling generally satisfied. Both Hilde and Duo seemed happy, and she didn't have to worry about any of this anymore.
2 – A Royal Occasion
Noin had not intended to become Relena's wedding planner. In fact, she hadn't really thought that she would be that involved with Relena's wedding at all. Yes, she was Relena's brother's best friend and close with the bride herself, but she didn't really consider herself family. Relena had other ideas. Of course, the young politician's wedding was going to be quite the event. There was really no way she could have a small, quiet wedding, and Relena had decided that if she couldn't have that, she was going to have the fairytale wedding of her dreams.
Relena had in fact hired a wedding planner. Unfortunately, barely two months into the planning, two things were discovered. First, Relena and her wedding planner definitely had artistic differences and the woman was actively sabotaging Relena's plans. Two, the wedding planner was also selling information and photos to the tabloids. So she was promptly fired, and Relena was left trying to figure out what to do next. She didn't trust hiring some one else, and she was currently too busy to do it on her own.
So she had turned to Noin for help. Noin had just put on administrative leave while she recovered from an injury in the field. She was still involved with training the new recruits, but she was basically only working half time. Relena had asked for help, and Noin had said yes. She really hadn't known what she was in for. Hilde's wedding had been simple to arrange. Relena had five hundred guests, major security considerations, and major media outlets involved with hers.
To be honest, it was a bit of a nightmare. Noin could see why Relena had wanted to hire help with her wedding. And while Noin might be associated with the only remaining members of one of the most prominent political families of the era, she was not used to being in the spotlight. Nor was she really used to dealing with the political elite on a regulate basis. Well, there was Zechs and Relena, but they were practically family.
Still, organization and logistics were one of Noin's strong suits, and she waded in to the task with determination. And it did help that Zechs was more than willing to provide sympathy and caffeine whenever she needed it. Within a month she had gotten arrangements caught up with where they were supposed to be. Another month saw everything running smoothly, and the wedding was set to be the event of the year.
Relena Peacecraft married her long time bodyguard, Heero Yuy, in a lavish ceremony followed by a reception that was considered to be one of the biggest social events of the year. The young woman was described as the epitome of a fairytale princess, and everyone talked about how lovely the wedding was. No one paid that much attention to the maid of honor. The most attention she got was her dance with the bride's brother. Noin was content with that. And she was more than happy to let Lady Une be the one to catch the bouquet; she'd had enough of weddings for awhile.
3 – Simple Elegance
Six months later, Lady Une shyly asked Noin for help with planning her wedding. While the older woman might be a very capable and formidable administrator, she was also an orphan and had very little idea about what went into a major family event like this. Furthermore, her fiancé, Treize Kushranada came from a large old money family who didn't quite approve of Lady. They also had artistic differences when it came to the wedding. Treize's family wanted something on par with Relena's wedding; Lady just wanted a fairly small, elegant wedding.
Between the two of them, Noin and Lady managed to make plans that would make the bride and groom happy. Thankfully, Treize was backing his fiancée on the wedding plans, and he was the one wrangling his family. That left Noin and Lady to deal with most of the details. Of course, neither of the women had planned on an unexpected political crisis. Treize and Une had spent the last two months leading up to their wedding dealing with that, leaving Noin in charge of the wedding itself.
But in the end, Lady and Treize were married on a spring day in the middle of a rose garden. Both seemed rather oblivious to everything around them, but Noin figured that was pretty normal for a bride and groom. She would call the wedding a success. It was what Lady had wanted, and her new in-laws had not made a scene. Noin had toed off her heels in favor of walking around barefoot on the grass during the reception while Zechs teased her about running around barefoot while in an ankle length gown. The two of them had commandeered on of the wicker benches set up around the dance floor. Noin's feet rest in his lap as they watched the other couples dance.
"So, are you going to quit the Preventers and start a wedding planning?"
Noin laughed. "Not on your life. I'm not planning on making a habit of this. There have been extenuating circumstances these few times. I won't be planning any other weddings any time soon."
4 – Traditions Old and New
She had to eat those words a month later. Her friend Sally Po would be marrying her partner Wufei Chang. And after an all out screaming match that had lasted for nearly four hours, they had decided it would be best if they gave someone else the guidelines they wanted followed and let them plan the wedding. That way there wouldn't be any fatalities involved. Since of all their friends and colleagues Noin had the most experience with weddings, she was asked to plan it.
What possessed her to say yes, Noin still didn't know. Especially since the couple had decided that they wanted a blend of traditional and modern Chinese traditions to be included. Of course, that did mean that Noin spent quite a few evenings enjoying Chinese take-out with Zechs while doing research. The pair of them tried out just about every take-out place within delivery range of their apartment. In some ways, it was a very interesting project.
And thankfully, Wufei and Sally were pleased with the results. Noin didn't want to think about the chaos that could have been caused if they weren't. Still, she was getting rather twitchy anytime people brought up the subject of weddings. She'd planned four weddings within the past year and a half. None of them her own, and to be honest, Noin was rather sick of weddings. She could definitely use a break from them.
Catching Zechs staring at her, Noin reached out and caught his hand in her own. "What are you thinking about?"
He laughed and pulled her into his arms. "Just wondering if we should skip the whole wedding ordeal ourselves and run off?"
She blinked up at him. "Was that a proposal?"
Zechs kissed her. "Not exactly. More of a heads up. When I propose, you'll know."
1 – Behind Her Back
Zechs had been right about one thing. She had known when he actually proposed to her. It had been quite lovely actually. The pair of them had gone out to observe a meteor shower one evening as planned, and over a midnight picnic and a thermos of hot chocolate, they had ended up engaged. Of course, that did pose one problem. Eventually, there would be a wedding. And Noin did not really feel like planning one right now. So far, both she and Zechs had been ignoring the issue.
That couldn't last though, and they both knew it. Noin was rather dreading the wedding planning. It wouldn't be especially hard. They both knew what they wanted: a simple, small wedding. Zechs could be every bit as much a society figure as his sister if that was what he wanted. It wasn't which was why he had never gone back to using his birth name permanently. In all honesty, it would be simple enough to arrange the wedding once they actually got down to doing it.
However, that didn't mean she did not dread the thought of planning the wedding. Besides, she and Zechs had plenty of things to occupy them at the moment. In some ways, the marriage itself was only a formalization of the way things already were between them. They already lived together and were partners in most ways. So the wedding went on the back burner, and Noin tried not to think about it.
She didn't expect to return home from running errands one afternoon to find a fancy dress laid out on their bed. Stepping forward, she frowned at it. She didn't remember the white chiffon dress being in her closet at all. It was beautiful though and oddly familiar. Behind her, Zechs cleared his throat. Noin turned to find him leaning against the doorjamb, looking mysterious.
"We're going out. You might want to take a shower before you change?"
Noin arched an eyebrow at him. "You saying that I stink, Marquise?"
He leaned in and kissed her nose. "I know better than that. We've got reservations at two."
"What are you up to?"
He kissed her properly. "That would be telling."
Half an hour later freshly showered and dressed up, the pair left the loft they called home. Noin fiddled with her necklace as Zechs drove them to their destination. Grand romantic gestures were not exactly common from Zechs, but when he decided to pull one off, the results tended to be rather spectacular. She was a bit puzzled though when he pulled up in front of the court house.
"Zechs?"
"How do you feel about getting married this afternoon?"
She blinked at him.
"It's all planned, and everyone can be here in five minutes if you want to do this."
It took a moment for what he was saying to really sink in, but then she started to grin. She could have her wedding without having to plan it. And that was why the dress looked familiar, it had been one she'd seen when dress shopping with Relena.
"I'd like that very much."
Fifteen minutes later they were up in front of a justice of the peace. The ceremony was simple and to the point. Though Noin really had to admit she wasn't aware of much besides Zechs' hand in her own and his eyes meeting hers. The rings on their fingers were a new addition, but somehow they felt like they belonged there.
"…I pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss."
Noin was more than happy to follow that instruction.
