AN: Unbelievable!! My last chapter a crap load of people put this story on their favorites list, but only one review?? (by my favorite and most faithful reviewer of course) Come on people, where is the love????

Hououza: As always thanks for the review! I have no idea how Dorothy convinced him to do it. But really, do we want to know? Don't worry about Millardo he'll come through, always does (if you don't count the giant laser pointed at the earth…)

Chapter Ten: Cups of Coffee

It wasn't even dawn yet and she'd been awake for hours. Staring at the wall like it was something interesting. She'd tried not to let her mind wander to the man next door, it wasn't a plan that was working no matter how much effort she put into it. Just a few minutes earlier she had her a few muffled voices and a very loud slam, who in their right mind would disturb a former assassin in the midst of his slumber?

Only Duo, she laughed inwardly.

Giving up she decided to go down stairs and make herself a pot of coffee. They'd missed her presence at dinner so she supposed it wouldn't hurt to leave her warm bed early. Still she wondered what anyone on vacation would be doing awake at this hour, as far as she knew she was the only one having men problems, so to speak.

Thankfully the light was on in the kitchen, when she entered she was greeted by Heero's back, cup of coffee already in his hand.

"What are you doing up so early?" She asked quietly, hoping she wasn't disturbing him.

Their last conversation had left her wanting and confused. It seemed like there was so much more he'd wanted to say. She immediately pushed that line of thinking from her mind; it would do no good to get her hopes up.

"Duo decided to pay me a visit" he said with little humor.

She smiled as he poured her a cup "so I was right, I thought it was Duo."

He returned her smile with a smirk "he certainly is a brave one, I'll give him that."

She took a sip of the hot coffee not quite sure where to go from there. There where still so many questions…

He broke the silence "I'm sorry about the last few weeks."

She sighed inwardly. Sorry must be the newest addition to his vocabulary he seemed to be saying it a lot "you said that last night."

He nodded "but I need to understand, it's not how I meant it to be."

"How you meant what to be exactly?" Now she was confused.

He made eye contact with her briefly before staring back down into his coffee cup "us" he said so quite she almost couldn't hear.

Not that she had never wanted there to be but, "I wasn't aware there was and us, Heero."

He gave her a week smile, the first one she'd ever seen grace his handsome face and he was at a loss for words.

Taking pity on him she felt the need to lighten the mood "Heero have you been my boyfriend this entire time and I just didn't know it?"

He let out a light chuckle, a first "have you heard the newest story in the tabloids?"

She shook her head, what could it possibly be now?

"Apparently" humor sparkled in his eyes "I'm having an affair with the guy who delivered your packages."

Hey eyes went wide "No."

He went to the counter to pour himself another cup and spoke again "that's not it. It seems your suffering from clinical depression because of it."

She laughed "yes I am utterly heartbroken."

He moved to sit back down and the humor left his face "It seems like for awhile anyway, they won't be bothering you."

She nodded in agreement confused as to why he seemed mildly upset "It will clear up, with you leaving again."

His face went emotionless. She wasn't sure what to say, it seemed she'd hit a nerve. Did what she say the night before bother him that much?

"I'm sorry… about what I said last night" her apology was genuine even though the situation continued to confuse her.

He made a sudden move to grab her hand. In the sheer shock of it she jumped at the touch and her coffee spilled onto the floor.

"Oh no…" she groaned. Not only was she embarrassed, what in the world could he be thinking?

"It's alright stay put, I'll get it" he said coolly.

"No-"

"I'll get it" his tone was non argumentative. He knelt down before her and started to clean up the mess.

He was so close, his breath smelled like coffee and he smelt faintly of soap. Maybe because it was him, but it was simply intoxicating. She noticed he had a faint scar on the left side of his face, and another one on his shoulder. How many more did he have?

"Relena…" he said pulling her from her daze. The towel and the pieces of glass had been pushed aside

She couldn't remember the last time they'd been this close. Ah yes, Libra, "thank you."

He seemed to be on the same wave link "remember when we were on Libra, and I asked you to believe in me?"

"Yes…" she answered barely above a whisper.

"I really wanted to kiss you but-"

She laughed nervously cutting him off "those damn helmets."

He nodded but his gaze didn't waver "I thought it would be the only chance I would ever get…."

Her breath caught as he tenderly traced the line of her jaw with the tips of his fingers and gently brought her face down to meet his, she closed her eyes…..

"NOOOOOOOO"

A yell could be heard from a few feet away and when she opened her eyes Duo Maxwell was lying on top of Heero making an attempt to subdue his fighting any very angry friend.

"Don't do it man, don't do it!" Said Duo panicked "you'll ruin everything."

"Maxwell" Heero growled "get off of me."

"What's going on?" She had been this close, this close! What were they trying to do? Sabotage everything?

"I plead the fifth" he squealed.

Heero overthrew Duo and brought him to his feet by the collar of his shirt "explain" he demanded.

Duo waved his hands in surrender "can we talk about this in private…." His eyes kept darting to Relena in an attempt to convey the need for secrecy.

Heero turned to her and gave her an apologetic expression.

"Who needs enemies when I have friends like these…" she mumbled into the silence of the kitchen.

~*~

"I thought you were going to propose…" Duo said as his body slid down the wall, for the third time.

"I told you earlier, it's none of you business" Heero said, ready to pounce again.

Once again Duo had been spying. In his defense he'd only witnessed the scene for a few brief seconds before his mouth betrayed him. All he knew was Heero was down on one knee….

Relena was a smart girl. He didn't want to see his friend crash and burn. But now, his head hurt and he wished he could take those damning words back.

"Listen..." he began "I don't' know what going on in that psychotic-suicidal-self destructive-obsessive compulsive-"

"Get to the point" Heero said loosing his patience.

"I just don't want to see her turn you down…" he tried to say with as much care toward his friend as he could, considering the circumstances an all.

Heero seemed to take that in consideration for a moment before he spoke "stay out of our business."

Duo nodded, not wanting to be slammed into the wall again.

~*~

"The injustice…" Wufei grumbled pressing the pillow even harder onto his head "she snores like a cow with a cat stuck in its throat…."

Angrily he pulled the covers back and stood to stare at his true love "if I didn't love you so much I would slice you in half you insufferable woman."

She rolled over onto the middle of the bed and started to snore even louder.

"Well played woman, well played" he growled.

He shut the door softly behind himself, not that it mattered.

Hilde was just exiting her room as he started walking down the hallway "wait up" she called out.

He turned to her "why are you up so early?" He didn't care; he wasn't sure why he was asking.

She brought her hand to her mouth to let a tired yawn before answering "Duo wasn't in bed so I thought he might be around here causing trouble" she knew her husband to well.

"You're smarter than you look" he said dryly

She'd spent enough time in Wufei's company to go ahead and take it as a compliment "well aren't we all sunshine and daisies in the morning."

He ignored her as they mad their way down the flight of stairs and headed for the kitchen, ignoring the yelps coming from Heero's room.

Relena sat alone flipping through infomercials in the kitchen with the most unpleasant scowl on her normal graceful features. Wufei ignored it and poured himself a cup of coffee.

"What could have possibly gone wrong this early in the morning?" Hilde made a bad attempt at teasing.

Relena defiantly wasn't in the mood to be cheered up. "Why don't you go ask your boyfriend?"

Wufei threw Hilde and amused smirk "right as always."

"What did he do now?" Hilde asked waiting for the worst.

"I think…" Relena began "I think Heero was about to kiss me…."

Wufei decided to find yesterday's news paper that was still lying on the counter more interesting than the private conversation the two women were having "Yuy finally got the nerve" he mumbled quietly.

Hilde smile reached her eyes "are you serious?"

Relena's grave expression didn't go unnoticed "then Duo pounced on him screaming for him not to do it…"

Wufei eyes lit up as they met contact with Hilde's "so that was what we heard" his expression amused "serves him right."

Hilde rolled her eyes then gave Relena a sympathetic look "I'm going to talk to Duo, apparently he was mistaken."

Wufei nodded in agreement "seems that way."

Relena eyed her two friends suspiciously "what do you mean he was, mistaken?"

Well what was she supposed to say now, oh yeah duo thought Heero was about to ask you to marry him?

"Well…" she laughed nervously "…you know he probably thought Heero was making good on his threat to kill you, or something."

"How, with his poisoned lips-" Wufei scoffed, not amused at the pathetic attempt at a cover up "we've all known Maxwell has had a crush on Yuy for years."

Finally a smile cracked on Relena's lips "I always thought….."

"Hey..." Hilde cut her off "not cool Wufei, not cool."

"Got any coffee left?" asked duo as he walk into the kitchen rubbing the back of his head, with a slight limp.

Wufei nodded and grabbed and extra glass from the cabinet while Relena and Hilde shot Duo hateful glares.

"I was just telling Relena" Hilde said staring her boyfriend down, daring him to contradict her "that you intruded because you were playing some sort of sick joke."

He seemed to take the hint and gave Relena an apologetic smile "yeah you know- I think the weirdest things are funny early in the morning."

She knew they were hiding something, Duo wasn't a good liar and Hilde was worse. But for Wufei to stoop so low, she thought he was above that.

"Everyone should be up soon I suppose" she said more or less to change the subject.

"Well not Quatre…" Duo laughed.

"Is he sick?" asked Hilde with genuine concern for her fragile blond friend.

Duo over exaggerated his normally cheesy grin while he poured himself a cup of coffee. He made a show of sitting down before he spoke "would you like to know what Quatre and Dorothy are into these days…."

Wufei face was contorted with disgust "enough" he slammed his cup down and made a bee line for the door.

Relena and Hilde eyed him warily, did they really want to know?

"Well Noin and I were in his office earlier….."