Author's note: I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters. This is for the 30 Kisses challenge using list eta. This is AU. Theme 15: All the Aces.

Suddenly I See

Britain still felt like a strange and foreign country. Zechs had been here nearly six months now, but he still felt out of place. But he had to adjust. There was no going back now. His homeland, the Sanc Kingdom, had been a tiny democracy and not that important, but it had fallen to the Nazis five months ago. There would be no going back until this war ended, if then.

Truthfully, Zechs wasn't sure he ever wanted to go back. He had managed to smuggle himself and his little sister, Relena, out of the country, but his parents had remained behind. They had been executed shortly after the invasion. While Sanc was a democracy, his family was the last of the traditional royal line. He and his sister had been welcomed here in Britain, and both had quickly found employment. Zechs in the Royal Air Force, and Relena with the VAD. She was currently working at a hospital in Scotland, a fairly safe posting.

He sighed. Woolgathering would not prepare him for his next mission. The squadron was heading out this evening, and he needed his head in the game. The Germans wouldn't ease up just because he was feeling nostalgic. Zechs headed for the hanger, intending to mentally run through the night's mission. He had almost made it across the airfield when a dark blur crashed into him.

"I'm so sorry, sir." A soft alto voice stammered. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

It was a MTC girl, probably the commander's new driver. With soft raven hair cropped short and large violet eyes, she didn't look much like most of the British girls who worked at and around the airfield. She straightened uniform unconsciously.

"It's all right," he assured her. "Where were you headed?"

"The commander's office. I supposed to report for duty in twenty minutes."

"In that case, you're heading the wrong way." He smiled. "It's that building over by the radio towers."

"Thank you so much, Captain." She glanced at his uniform before holding out a hand. "I'm Noin."

He didn't see her again until he visited the local pub three days later. Noin was tucked in a corner by the bar with a number of the other pilots. She didn't look especially happy, but no one seemed to be harassing her. Given that he ignored them. Of all the aces, he was the least sociable of the crop. It wasn't until his name came up that he paid attention to what they were telling her.

"That's Captain Marquise, but you don't want to hang around him, sweetheart. He's not really one of us. He's from some foreign country that's allied with the Nazis."

He'd heard it before. Zechs ignored it for the most part. But Noin clearly wasn't going to.

"You don't have to be born here to want to protect England. And you don't have to be British to stand against the Nazis either." She set her drink down on the bar and walked away, leaving a number of stunned pilots.

Zechs found her later that evening along side the road back to the airfield. She was perched on a hillside, looking up at the sky.

"You know it really isn't safe to be out here on your own."

She smiled at him and rose to her feet. "I can take care of myself, but you're welcome to walk me back to the airfield if it makes you feel better."

"It would."

They walked in silence for most of the way. It was Noin who finally spoke.

"My father is German, and my mother is Italian. I was born in Livorno, but we lived in Sanc until I was nine. Father's family was leaving Munich for England, and he wanted to join them. I've been living in Britain ever since." Her smile was barely visible in the moonlight. "So I know that you may be Captain Zechs Marquise of the RAF, but you are also his Royal Highness Milliardo Peacecraft of the Sanc Kingdom."

He stopped in his tracks.

Noin just smiled at him. "We were in the same class in primary school for two years."

He remembered her now. She had been the only one of the girls who had chosen fencing over the ballet class. Her hair had been longer then.

"I heard about the King and Queen's death on the BBC. I though you and your sister had been executed as well. I'm glad I was wrong."

They had reached her quarters. Noin leaned in and kissed his cheek. "If you ever need anything, including a shoulder or an ear, they're yours. Good night, your Highness."

She slipped inside, and Zechs watched her go, feeling amazed. That was one amazing young woman. He headed off to bed with a smile.

As the months went by, Noin became an indispensable member of the unit. The young woman was remarkably talented. She acted as scribe for any squadron meetings, a back up mechanic, and an ear and a shoulder for whomever needed it. And somehow during that time, Noin became attributed to him. He wasn't sure who started it, but within six months of her arrival, half the squadron was referring to her as 'Marquise's driver' despite the fact that she was attached to their commander, not him. It was his company she was most often found in, and he was the one she that she trusted with her secrets.

And it wasn't a surprise to anyone at the airfield when on May ninth, nineteen forty-five, one day after V-E Day, Captain Marquise proposed. In fact, it won several of the airmen quite a bit of money. Zechs couldn't have cared less. He had lost almost everything in this war: his parents, his homeland, his identity. But it had also brought Noin back to him. And she was enough for him to believe in a future. For both of them.