Wufei wasn't looking at Relena's ass. The jeans she'd slipped into had designs on the back pockets, and he was trying to figure out the Celtic knotwork. Besides, they were pretty.

His gaze moved up, over the curve of her back as she knelt on her hands and knees to paint one corner, as the other three had strictly forbidden her to do much heavy work. She'd submitted with a well-practice eye-roll, which left the curve of her neck open to Wufei's viewing. He tilted his head as he finished his perusal, then turned back to the counter where he'd been tasked with cutting up celery for a snack and came face-to-face with a slightly pointed, furry cream-and-gray head sticking out of the open cupboard.

Wufei yelled in surprise and jumped back, and the animal squealed and then chittered angrily at him before leaping out of the cupboard and scrambling across the room. It hit Relena just as she'd completed her hasty turn at the sound of Wufei's shout and started chittering at her, and she cradled the creature gently, crooning to it as she stroked and fondled the silky pelt.

"Nimitz! Oh, you poor thing! Did he scare you?"

"Did I scare it?!" Wufei gasped, holding one hand to his chest. "What in Buddha's name is that thing?!"

She glared at him and huffed, rubbing her cheek against it's long, sinuous body. "His name in Nimitz," she said a bit coldly, "and he is a ferret."

Wufei glared back out of reflex, then closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. He held it a moment, then slowly let it out and smoothed his expression as he opened his eyes again.

"All right," he said calmly. "All right. He startled me. I apologize for over-reacting."

It wasn't as stiff as Relena had thought it would be. She nuzzled Nimitz some more as he decided that now was the time to play dead and flopped over in her hands, then smiled all of a sudden and stood up.

"Okay. You're forgiven. I'm sorry I snapped at you." She walked up to Wufei and held Nimitz up a bit shyly. "Friends?"

Wufei looked down at the 'dead' ferret, which was starting to snore, and couldn't resist the urge to smile. "Friends," he confirmed, and reached up to gently scratch the critter's ears. "Nimitz, eh? He's got the right colouring, too."

Relena blushed and shrugged, beaming down at the ferret. "I admit, I used my position, money, and popularity shamelessly to hassle some poor breeder into breeding him just for me." She giggled.

Wufei raised an eyebrow, amused despite his best efforts. "He's a splendid specimen, I'm sure."

Her gaze flicked up to his face and then down again, cheeks heating once more. "He's my baby," she said simply. "Now, how about that celery and peanut butter?"

Wufei rolled his eyes and turned back to the kitchen. "I'm almost done."

He saw Relena sling Nimitz over her shoulder and follow him. "I'll help. They'll be grouching at me to take a break soon, anyway."

"Why is that?"

He knew the instant it left his mouth that it was the wrong question. Relena went very still for a moment, her slender shoulders tensing, and Nimitz raised his head as he felt his mistress' discomfort.

"My apologies; knowing all three of them, it was a stupid question." Relena looked at him sharply with guarded eyes and Wufei gave her a hesitant grin. "After all, if they're intent on painting your whole house --- excuse me, apartment --- with or without your permission, it's fairly obvious they have something to prove by it." A flash of a smile crossed her lips at the poke at her apartment, and Wufei shrugged. "I, however, have absolutely nothing to prove and thus am quite content to cut celery." She was starting to smile, and he tried one more time. "Besides, they're such babies at work, they must need to baby you as much as possible to make up for it, if that's even possible."

Relena broke into a real grin and laughed just a bit, and Wufei relaxed. He didn't know how or why, but he'd hit a sore spot and resolved to watch his tongue much better from now on.

"Now, about a memory palace," he offered, lilting his voice to make it a suggestion, and had the satisfaction of seeing all of Relena's tension melt away as her eyes lit up.

***

Duo, Trowa and Heero relaxed as Wufei and Relena disappeared into the kitchen, the ferret changing hands, absorbed in the conversation about memory palaces.

Duo blew out his breath noisily. "That could have been bad."

"He handled it well," Trowa pointed out.

Duo shrugged and glanced at Heero with a raised eyebrow.

Heero returned the shrug. "He'll do fine. She's wearing tighter pants."

This made the other two grin. "She doesn't realize she does that, does she?" Duo asked. It was rhetorical, but Heero and Trowa both shook their heads. "Oh, well. Back to work."