Disiclaimer: I worship Sotsu. I am poor.
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Sighing, Relena put down her
paper from off her lap onto her coffee table.
It had been nearly a year since the Marimeia incident and things had settled
into a peaceful, if not sometimes monotonous routine. Wufei and Sally were
still in violent denial of even a friendship, but the last time she had seen
them, she picked up on Wufei's protective side.
It had been a party, a Thanksgiving one, and he hadn't let her dance with
anyone but him. He had reasoned it by saying something like, "I don't want
anyone stepping on my partner's toes or tripping her and having her break
something."
Relena smiled at the thought,
leaning back in her couch her thoughts drifted to Hilde and Duo. Those two
must've been the most mischievous pair she'd ever encountered. At that same
party they had spiked the punch, much to Relena's dismay, with brandy. Of
course this helped loosen everyone up a little and provided a lot of humor at
Duo's drunken expense. She stifled a laugh, Hilde and Duo had been joking
around and giggling the whole night. It was obvious they were playfully
affectionate, but noone really mentioned it. They were still living together,
and there were some rumors sleeping together as well.
As for Trowa and Quetra,
Quetra had bought Trowa's circus and travelled with it frequently, handling the
buisness end. They never spoke much, especially Trowa, which is expected, about
their own romance. But to Relena, and most, it was very clear. Apparently it
had been made somewhat official, as both of them wore a modest ring. They had
attended the party as well, Trowa was silently at Quetra's side all night as
Quetra happily chattered with the other guests.
Noin and Zeches had long since
been married, a full six months give or take a couple weeks. The ceremony had
been on Earth but they had quickly returned to Mars to continue the teraforming
project. Noin was around 3 months pregnant and Zeches tried, unsucessfully for
the most part, to do everything for Noin. It was comical to see him rushing
around looking constantly paniced at the thought anything could harm Noin or
his baby, but mostly it was just sweet. It also meant that Relena wasn't in the
limelight of his protection and could grow up a little on her own, which she
secretly relished.
Relena's eyes absent-mindedly looked to Heero's picture. He was standing in his preventer uniform in front of the HQ. She slumped forward putting her elbow on her knee and resting her cheek on her fist.
Letting out a small, half
content sigh she stood up. She was in a medium sized hotel suite, it was day 4
of her talks here, tomorrow she'd be leaving back to earth.
Today however, since the meeting had ended yesterday, was her day off. Walking
out onto the balcony of the building she looked over the gray jagged
skyscrapers of L2.
Stretching a bit before walking back in her thoughts continued, focusing on
Heero.
He hadn't come to the Thanksgiving party, that was something she totally
expected however, and not in the slightest dissappointing, well, maybe
slightly.
Her bodyguards close by she
walked down the to the elevator of the hotel, then the lobby, then her car. Only
one got into the car with her, so she'd have room for anything she bought or
any friends that decided to tag along. She drove around the town most of the
day, the bodyguard didn't say a word, and for that matter didn't show his face
once. She shrugged at that, he wasn't great company but at least he was doing
his job.
Everyone had been dropping
subtle hints that Relena should forget Heero, get married and settle down. She
rolled her eyes at that, the eye of her mind producing an image of her rocking
6 baby cradles, doing laundry, and changing diapers -- it was a tad farfetched
for her.
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Duo and Hilde sat on their
couch, watching some humorous T.V. show, Duo kept imitating the punchlines and
Hilde laughed twice as loud at his renditions.
She snuggled up next to him as they were settling down and looked up at him
with concern.
Duo sighed, "Alright, what work is there still left?"
Hilde smirked, "I think it's time we stepped in and had a small hand
in-"
Duo put his finger on Hilde's mouth, "I have just the thing. But you'll
have to act with me. We have to attack from both sides, those two are stubborn
as hell and niether will admit it first unless they really have to."
Hilde nodded sadly, "Reluctant lovers, eh? Doesn't that sound a bit
cliche?"
Duo smirked, "Hey, if it works for them, that's fine and good, but I think
we could help push them a little. The problem is they're both patient."
Hilde rolled her eyes, "Oh patience, what a terrible sin."
Duo shrugged, "In love, it sometimes is babe, let's get to work."
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Relena walked briskly down the
halls of the space port, trailing her hand lightly on the railing to her right.
She looked out the clear, glass walls of the tunnel to the ship. Her bodyguard
wasn't having much trouble keeping up with her, he had matched her pace without
even jogging. She was almost impressed by that, most bodyguards had to put up
with her exasperating recalcitrance, but he absorbed it as if it were nothing
at all.
She shook her head and just
before stepping in the ship took one last fleeting glance down at L2. She let
out a heavy sigh and bowed her head to fit through the ship's door. Sitting
between the window and her bodyguard she put her elbow on the armrest and
watched the stars float by slowly.
The trip was dull, long, and
uneventful. Eventually she got back to Earth, and after a breif press
conference drove back to her Sanc kingdom mansion. Awaiting her with open arms
were the infamous Duo and Hilde, who both seemed to have a tacit joke between
them that they were constantly nudging and winking to eachother about.
Relena sat down on her small
white wicker chair expecting some frivilous gossip or the description of the
next date they were setting her up with. Hilde and Duo both put on somber face
and looked at Relena with total seriousness. This caught Relena a bit off-guard
and she looked at them attentively, a bit of concern playing with her features.
Hilde took Relena's hands, a
gesture of condolence before the fact. This made Relena even more nervous. Had
something happened? Was Heero hurt or lost? She chastised her self inwardly for
jumping to conclusions.
"Relena, Heero is getting married next month."
Relena felt her body go numb, her mouth hung open in silent exclaimation. Even
the bodyguard in the corner of the room perked up at this news. Duo looked over
to the bodyguard and poked Hilde while Relena began to rattle off nearly
incoherent reasons that Heero couldn't marry. Hilde looked over to the
bodyguard and stood up quickly. Relena looked up at her with a question in her
eyes.
Hilde stuttered, "Uh, well, let's go out and try and forget about it for
awhile... Just you and me, ok?"
Hilde nudged Duo with her foot and made a nod towards Heero's direction. Duo
nodded and supported Hilde, "Yeah, you two go out and have a girl's night
out on the town!" He gave a huge grin. "I'll stick around here,
ok?" The bodyguard started to walk forward but Duo put his hand on Heero's
shoulder. "Hilde, you can take care of Relena without a bodyguard,
right?"
Hilde nodded and took Relena's hand with enthusiasm, "Let's go!"
Relena nodded, wiping her tears, moving forward slowly.
As soon as they were out the door Duo looked over at Heero. "Bodyguard
eh?"
"It's a living." Heero replied with about as much emotion as a
cucumber.
"And a way to inconspicuously protect Relena." Duo retorted.
Heero shrugged and picked up his coat. "Hilde isn't strong enough to
protect Relena, I'm gonna go make sure everything is alright." Heero
walked up to Duo and gave him a hard left in the gut. Duo bent over and fell to
the ground. "That's for telling Relena that bullshit."
Duo gave a thumbs up. "Welcome."
Heero followed Relena and
Hilde the whole night. But Relena neither cracked more then a polite smile nor
a small giggle the whole time. Hilde had spoken wise words of comfort, but
nothing could cure Relena's silent unhappiness. Well, maybe not nothing.
When Relena and Hilde returned home Duo and Hilde reported on their progress.
Relena decided to go for a walk, alone. She walked to the beach where she and
Heero had met. It made her smile, a gentle, sad kind of smile. A smile reserved
for just such an occasion of heartbreak. Heero wasn't far behind her, however.
Relena turned around quickly, seeing the lean, familiar form. She turned away,
figuring it was her imagination simply distorting some poor stranger's image.
"Relena." She turned around slower this time, as if she expected to
see a ghost.
"Heero?" She said slowly, "Is it true?"
"Yeah-"
Relena sighed and just as she was about to turn away Heero took her shoulder in
his grip.
"You didn't let me finish. It's only partially true, since I haven't
actually asked her yet."
"Give her my congradulations when you do, she deserves them."
The edge of Heero's mouth twitched into a smirk. "Before or after I
propose?"
Relena was getting annoyed, "After of course."
"Alright then. Relena, will you marry me? By the way, congrats from
yourself."