Author's note: I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters. Both Zechs and Noin are nineteen years old. This is set during Episode 4. Some of these chapters have been posted before as part of This Kiss.
Going Home
Zechs Marquise knew that all of the people on this transport would be rather surprised to find out that he was looking forward to arriving at Lake Victoria. Of course, most of them didn't credit him with having much in the way of emotions. In truth, it wasn't really the place that he was looking forward to seeing. It was Noin. They hadn't seen one another since their vacation over a year ago now. Well, one year and twenty-two days. Trust Noin to keep track of exactly how many days it had been. She had always done that, even when they were little. Zechs accepted it as one of her endearing quirks.
He had missed her more than he could really express. Then again, he had never been very good at expressing his feelings. But Noin was all the home he had anymore, and he was glad to be going home. It would be nice to have a chance to just be himself, even if only for a few minutes. With Noin he didn't have to be on guard all the time. And he did miss working with her. While some of his subordinates were very good at what they did, Zechs didn't share the same sense of partnership with them that he did with Noin. But then his relationship with Noin was unique in a lot of ways.
No one else he knew would flirt with him and tease in public like she did. The fact that he didn't seem to respond much to her comments didn't deter her either. She never got flustered for the most part with him either like so many officers did. Well, there were a few occasions, but those really had nothing to do with work. Then again, their personal life together had gotten both of them flustered more than once. And balancing an extremely discreet personal life with a professional life was something of a challenge. To tell the truth, they had mostly done it by not having a personal life most of the time.
And even if all he really got was a few minutes alone with Noin, it would be worth it. As much as he hated to need or depend on anything, Zechs knew that Noin was a touchstone for him. In so many ways, she was all he really had. No mattered what else happened, he at least had her. And that was enough for him.