Author's note: I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters. I also do not own the songs All You Wanted or It's All Coming Back To Me. Please don't sue me; I'm just a student writing for fun.
The Heart Remembers
"Zechs, we have to get out of here; it's going to blow in two minutes," Noin said into her radio.
"Roger that. I'll see you outside."
Noin sighed; he was on the other side of the building from her and closer to an exit. She hadn't told Zechs that she might not make it to an exit in time. He didn't need to be worrying about her right now.
She checked her watch. Damn, she was almost out of time, and she was still two minutes away from an exit. There, a room with a window, maybe she could jump out.
The explosion rocked the building. Noin was sent flying through the window shards of glass cutting into her. The ground rushed up to meet her; Noin's world went black.
***
She woke in an unfamiliar place with a headache. When she tried to sit up, she felt very stiff and sore. A woman entered the room.
"Oh good, you're awake."
"Where am I? Who am I?"
"You're at Mercy Hospital. You don't remember your name?"
"No."
"Can you remember anything at all about your past?"
"Not really, just a few feeling, nothing concrete."
"Well, we'll see what we can do to identify you."
The nurse gave her some medicine, and soon the woman fell back into sleep.
She awoke again several hours later. She pressed the call button hoping the nurse had found something.
The nurse entered with a smile.
"Hello Lacey."
"Lacey?"
"Yes, that's your name, Lacey Capri. We've found your colleagues; they'll be here to pick you up tomorrow."
"I don't remember them; I don't remember anyone."
"That's alright. Your amnesia was explained to them. Besides, with time your memories should return."
The nurse left. The woman was puzzled. Her name was Lacey Capri. But that just didn't feel right. Maybe things would be clearer in the morning.
The next morning after a rather bland breakfast, Lacey's visitors arrived. Two women somewhere around her age, and a man who was five to ten years older.
"Lacey! We've been worried about you," the first woman said. She was about 5'2" and looked almost elfin. Long curly pale gold hair tumbled artistically down her back. Pale green gold eyes were wary and calculating.
Lacey opened her mouth, but the second woman spoke up before she could speak.
"I know you don't remember us, but I'm Renee Krennick, and this is Rita James and Steven Marx."
Renee was quite a bit taller than Rita. Her strawberry blond hair was swept up in a business like bun with bangs that framed sea grey eyes.
The man, Steven, was taller than both the women. Her had shoulder length brown hair that was beginning to be threaded with silver. Eyes like stone watched Lacey.
She didn't want to trust them. That was the first thought in Lacey's head. It just didn't feel right. Then she pushed that thought to the back of her head. These were her friends; just because she didn't remember them wasn't a reason not to trust them.
Renee had brought clothes for her, so Steven was shooed out of the room while Lacey changed. They then went and finished the release process. Steven drove them to the apartment Lacey was told the three women shared.
Lacey took her pain killers once she'd settled in. She floated into oblivion. The next morning she looked into a mirror for the first time since she awoke at the hospital.
A band-aid covered a scratch on her cheek, but other than that her face was unblemished. Dark violet eyes were framed by copper hair. Her hand went to her hair. It wasn't all real! Her real hair was actually quite short, but extensions made it reach her waist.
It was like looking at a stranger. She didn't recognize her own face. The eyes seemed familiar, but that was it. Who was she?
She dressed and went to the kitchen. It was so odd. Nothing was where she felt it should be. Fifteen minutes later Lacey had toast and a cup of coffee. She would have preferred tea, but there was none. Which was odd if this was her home. While she knew she liked coffee, she also knew she normally drank tea because it didn't make her so jumpy.
"Oh, you're awake Lacey."
Renee entered the room.
"When do I have to go back to work?"
"Oh, not for a week or two. You're on sick leave."
Rita joined them, "Yeah, don't worry about it, kay?"
Lacey smiled at the two of them. It was good to have friends. A little corner of her mind was still telling her that something was wrong here, but she ignored it.
"You might want to use your spare time to reacquaint yourself with the colony," Renee added.
The woman spent the next few days getting used to her home and the colony again. She found it odd that no one ever stopped her on the street and said hello. Maybe she didn't have a lot of friends.
As time passed, Lacey found herself more comfortable with her surroundings and friends. But she still couldn't get rid of the feeling that something wasn't right; she could never put her finger on what it was exactly though.
The worst part was not being able to remember her past. It felt like a huge piece of her was missing. Lacey couldn't figure out who she was without knowing who she had been.
She wanted to get back to work; she just had too much time to think. Not that she knew what exactly it was that she did, but it would keep her mind occupied.
Renee and Rita chose her outfit for her first day, well night actually, back on the job. It wasn't something she would have chosen for herself, but she voiced no complaint. The black micromini skirt with a blue halter top left Lacey feeling rather exposed. A gold belt was slung round her hips that matched the rather garish necklace and earring she wore. The woman had objected when they tried to do her make up. She only wore a touch of lip gloss, and that was to please her friends. Lacey preferred not to wear make up except for special occasions and even then not much.
They dropped er off in front of a hotel.
"But what am I supposed to do?" she called.
"Your body will remember."
Lacey went inside and was given a key and directed to room 69. There was no one there. She sat down on the bed. After a half hour, she was ready to leave. The door opened.
***
Zechs Marquise slowly walked back to his hotel. The arrangements for his apartment were made. This was his first Preventer's mission since Noin's death. He opened the door to his room. There was a young woman sitting on his bed. She looked up.
"Oh," she said.
"What are you doing here?" he asked; she was dressed as a cheap tart.
"I don't..." she seemed to realize something. "Ho god. How could they? My body will remember."
She turned to him, "Look, I know what you were expecting, but I'm..."
"I wasn't expecting anyone." He sat down in a chair across from her, "Would you care to explain?"
The girl, woman really, was blushing bright red.
"They set me up. I'm not, I mean..."
"Who set you up?"
"My so called friends."
"What's your name?"
"They told me it was Lacey Capri, but I'm not sure anymore. I hate that name." At his questioning look she said, "I have amnesia."
Suddenly she began to pour out her story. He listened beginning to like her. She reminded him of Noin. He missed her so much.
"I think I might be able to help you," he said.
Her violet eyes look at him full of desperate hope. Zechs had seen that exact look in Noin's eyes once. That decided him; he would help this girl.
"I work for the Preventers. We could do a search there to look for you, but it might take awhile."
"But I have no way to pay you or anything."
"Well, I could use some help with all this paperwork I've got," that was true; his assignment consisted of sorting through mounds of colony records. Lady Une hoped that he could identify old members of Oz, White Fang, and the Barton Foundation that might cause trouble.
"Deal."
"I'm Zechs Marquise by the way. We can't keep calling you you, and since you don't like the name Lacey, we should find you a new one."
She smiled, "That sounds good."
He considered her a moment. The only name that came to mind that seemed to suit her was Noin. He debated with himself for a moment then said, "How about Noin?"
"Noin. I like that." She sighed, "I don't want to go back, but I don't really have a choice since I've got no place else to go."
"We can figure something out."
"So what exactly are we going to be doing?"
They talked for several hours. Noin had the same ability to inspire trust as her namesake. She finally left after they agreed to meet at a café down the block from the hotel in the morning. Zechs fell asleep to be haunted by a violet eyed, raven haired girl in his dreams.
***
Noin waited until she was sure that everyone was asleep before returning to the apartment. Silently she packed clothes and some toiletries in a duffle bag. She'd be damned if she would stay here. She'd figure something out.
Zechs was very nice, and something prompted her to trust him. There was something about him that attracted her. His eyes seemed so familiar for some reason.
After sharing breakfast, the two of them headed to Zech's apartment where they'd be doing most of the work. It was furnished and quite spacious. Zechs hadn't brought a lot with him, so it didn't take him long to put away his things.
While they waited for the records to be delivered, the two of them decided to go grocery shopping.
"So what are your plans?" Zechs asked her.
"Once we find out who I am, I'm going to try and contact my friends and family. Until then I'm just going to avoid Rite and Renee."
"There is the possibility we won't be able to find out who you are," he said softly.
"I know. If that happens, I'll just try to build a new life for myself."
"Where are you going to live? You said earlier that you wouldn't be staying at Rita and Renee's apartment."
"I don't know I was going to see if I could stay at the YWCA until I find a place."
"Well, I do have an extra bedroom in my apartment. I mean, if you wanted to stay there."
"Thanks. I probably will take you up on that."
At least a dozen cases of records were waiting for them when they returned. They put away the groceries then set to the task of organizing a system to sort through the records. It was Noin who finally worked out a process that ended in four categories: unknown, not a threat, annoying, and evil. Zechs was hoping the annoying and evil stacks would stay small.
Once they had the system, Zechs took one look at the waiting piles of records and said, "Let's wait to tomorrow to start."
Noin laughed, "Fine then, let's make dinner."
Soon they had spaghetti and garlic bread cooking. Zechs made a salad while Noin set the table. They'd bought a bottle of red wine to go with dinner.
Zechs found that Noin had a quick wit and one of those personalities that just drew you to a person. He hoped they could find her family.
It was slow going through the paperwork. Frustrated, Zechs watched Noin struggle with her long copper hair. A heat wave had been caused by a malfunction in the colony's weather controls, and both he and Noin were miserable.
"I give up," he heard her say. "Zechs?"
"Hm?"
"Would you cut my hair? Well actually the extensions; my hair's really not that long."
"Sure."
Ten minutes later, he stepped back to admire his handiwork and blinked. It hadn't been intentional, but her haircut had turned out to be almost identical to the original Noin's.
"Well?"
He handed her a mirror. She tilted her head to the side and ran a hand through her hair.
"Much better," she proclaimed.
They had yet to find out who she really was. The Preventers' computer was running a search, but so far all the matches it found weren't Noin.
Zechs had mixed feelings about finding out her real identity. He liked her and enjoyed her company. But she was too similar to the real Noin, and he was afraid he would fall in love with her.
***
Noin walked down the street carrying a bag containing several pints of Ben and Jerry's.
"Is there any news?" she called shutting the door behind her.
"No, not yet. I'm sorry Noin."
"It's okay."
She put away the ice cream after fixing herself and Zechs a bowl. She handed him his bowl and got back to work.
"Zechs, come take a look at this," she called five minutes later. "I know something is wrong with these files, but I can't put my finger on what."
Zechs felt a chill go down his spine as he looked at the two files. He knew what was wrong, Alex and Mueller were supposed to be dead. They were two of Noin's students that he'd killed at the beginning of the war.
"We can put these in the evil pile," he told her.
"You realize if we keep this pace up, we'll be done going through these records in a month."
He had realized that, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. When this mission was over, he would return to Preventer Headquarters one Earth and leave her. He didn't really want to leave her. That scared him; he didn't know if it was because she was so like the real Noin or if he liked her for her.
"Okay, enough is enough," Noin said suddenly a week and a half later. "I don't know about you, but I am sick of reading files. We spent the last three days doing nothing but reading files. We need to get out of here."
She dragged him out of the apartment. They spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out and enjoying themselves. It was dark when they laughingly headed back to the apartment.
Noin was too busy laughing to notice where she was going. That was why she crashed into someone.
"I'm sorry," she said as Zechs pulled her to her feet. "I wasn't..."
She stopped when she saw who it was. It was one of the men from the records that had bothered her. He was looking at her rather strangely, and she had an odd feeling of deja vu.
"Do I know you?" he asked.
"I don't think so," she replied.
Zechs seemed very uncomfortable, and Noin was beginning to be unnerved by this guy herself.
"Are you sure? You look just like my flight instructor except for your hair; it's the wrong color."
He moved closer to her, and she shrunk away slightly. She felt Zechs slide a protective arm around her shoulders.
"I'm sorry, but we have to be going," he said hurrying them away before the guy could answer.
"I don't know why, but that guy gave me the creeps," she said when they reached the apartment.
"I wouldn't worry about it. Most people who meet him feel that way."
Zechs watched her go off to bed then sat down at the vidphone. After a moment, Sally Po's face appeared.
"Lady Une's quite pleased with the progress you and your assistant have made. Who is this assistant anyway. You've been rather mysterious about him."
"Her."
Sally raised an eyebrow, "Her then."
Zechs sighed; he didn't know how she and the others would take this.
"She's an amnesia victim I met. We're running a search to find her real identity, but we haven't found any matches yet."
"Zechs, what's her name? It's a little rude to keep calling her her and she."
"Noin."
"Her name is Noin?"
This didn't look like a good time to tell Sally he had given her that name. His friend looked a little outraged and annoyed.
"You know if you're going to replace the original, you should at least have the decency to replace her with someone else. How do you think the rest of us will feel about this? Not all of us are over Noin's death you know."
"Sally, I'm not replacing Noin, and I'm not over her death myself..."
"Sure, that's what you say."
She hung up on him.
Zechs shook his head and sighed. He hadn't thought she would take the news that badly. Maybe it would have been different if Sally had actually met the woman. He'd deal with her when he returned.
***
Zechs stared moodily out the window. It was pouring rain out. He and Noin hand less than a week's worth of work left. Then he would leave. They still hadn't found her real identity.
The door opened, and Noin dashed in dripping all over the floor.
"It's awful out there."
He got up and brought her a towel.
"Thanks," she said dropping the shopping bag on the floor.
He watched fascinated as several red-gold droplets trickled down the back of her neck.
"Noin."
"What?" she removed the whit towel form her hair. It was stained with a copper color where it had touch her hair.
"My god," she whispered. "That's why we couldn't find any matches. My hair was dyed."
They looked at each other for a moment then Noin said, "I'm taking a shower."
An hour later, he heard Noin call, "I think I've gotten all the dye out of my hair."
She emerged a from the bathroom a few minutes later, and it was like getting punched in the gut. She was identical to Noin in every way.
"Zechs? You look like you just saw a ghost."
"It's nothing."
She raised an eyebrow but let the matter drop. Sleep did not come easy that night. Zechs lay awake his mind working furiously.
It all made sense now. They had never found Noin's body because she hadn't died in the explosion. A blow to her head had given her amnesia. He wished he knew how those so called friends of hers had been able to change her appearance without Noin noticing. And why had the hospital let them take her?
He had to get her to remember before he left. He had done some research on amnesia, and all the books had said you just couldn't tell someone about their past; they had to remember on their own.
***
Zechs had been acting strange lately. Noin thought about asking him what was wrong but decided not to. They had just finished wading through all the records yesterday. Noin wasn't sure what was next for them, or rather what was next for her. She knew that Zechs would have to return to Preventer Headquarters on Earth.
He was probably making arrangements to leave today. Zechs was out running errands and had told her he'd be back around five. Noin had also managed to learn that today was his birthday and was in the middle of baking a cake.
They still had not been able to find her real identity, and Noin was beginning to think that they never would. She sighed; it didn't really matter. She was considering asking Zechs if she could go to Earth with him and join the Preventers. She didn't have anything better to do.
"That's not the real reason, and you know it," she told herself. "You want to go with him because you're falling in love with him."
She sighed again and turned on the radio that sat on a ledge above the kitchen sink. A song was just ending; it sounded so familiar.
Please can you tell me
So I can finally see
Where you go when you're gone
There was something about that song. Noin tried to hold on to the feeling, but it faded with the music. The timer for the cake went off, and Noin quickly removed it from the oven. Just as she was setting it out to cool, a new song began to play.
There were nights when the wind was so cold
That my body froze in bed if I listened to it
Right out side my window
It was night in a ravine. She was freezing and in pain. She couldn't have been older than fifteen. She lay cradled against someone's chest, and there was a blanket wrapped around her.
She blinked as the details of that memory rushed back to her. But she had no time to complete them as another memory hit.
There were days when the sun was cruel
That all the tears turned to dust
And I just knew my eyes were drying up forever
It was hot. Too hot. Noin sat under a tree reading a novel. Someone was sprawled next to her taking a nap. It felt like the calm before a thunderstorm. Lighting flashed, thunder crashed, rain began to pour, and the two of them dashed for the safety of the school.
I finished crying in the instant that you left
And I can't remember where or when or how
And I banished every memory you and I have ever made
Memories assailed her. Her childhood, her foster family, their massacre, returning to her birth family, learning to pick locks and lift wallets on the street, being sent to military boarding school. She leaded against the counter; it was like a dam bursting.
But when you touch me this
And you hold be like that
I just have to admit that it's all coming back to me
When I touch you like this
And I hold you like that
It's so hard to believe but it's all coming back to me
She remembered school life, meeting Zechs for the first time, making friends with Mac and Harm. The nightmares that wouldn't let her sleep, going to the roof to meet Zechs, her telling him her secrets, learning his.
There were moments of gold
And there were flashes of light
There were things I'd never do again
But then they'd always seemed right
There were nights of endless pleasure
It was more than any laws allow
The school play, she and Zechs had lead roles. Their survival training trip where she'd been injured, and Zechs had stayed with her all night until the rescue team had arrived. Moving to Lake Victoria that summer. Visiting the graves of his parents and her foster family.
If I kiss you like this
And if you whisper like that
It was lost long ago but it's all coming back to me
If you want me like this
And if you need me like that
It was dead long ago but it's all coming back to me
It's so hard to resist and it's all coming back to me
I can barely recall but it's all coming back to me now
It's all coming back
The three years they spent at Lake Victoria. Dealing with harassment from the older students. Realizing she was in love with Zechs. Becoming the second highest scoring student in the history of the school.
There were those empty threats and hollow lies
And whenever you tried to hurt me
I just hurt you even worse and so much deeper
The years leading up to the war. Maintaining their friendship despite being separated. That disastrous mission. Waking up form the coma to find Zechs beside her. Their perfect day together. Becoming an instructor at Lake Victoria.
There were hours that just went on for days
When alone at last we'd count up all the chances
Lost to us forever
The war. Seeing Zechs again after one year ans twenty two days. The attack on Lake Victoria. Freeing the Sanc Kingdom. Rescuing Relena. Bringing Heero and Trowa to Antarctica. The second rise and fall of the Sanc Kingdom. Returning to outer space. Fighting White Fang. Facing Zechs in Epyon. The last battle. Watching Libra explode.
But you were history with the slamming of the door
And I made myself so strong again somehow
And I never wasted any of my time on you since then
The year without Zechs. Joining the Preventers. Her first few missions with them. Relena's kidnaping. The start of the Marimeia incident.
But if I touch you like this
And if you kiss me like that
It was so long ago but it's all coming back to me
If you touch me like this
And I kiss you like that
It was gone with the wind but it's all coming back to me
It's all coming back
It's all coming back to me now
The battle against the Serpent troops. The arrival of the Gundams. The shuttle ride to Mars. Helping set up the terraforming project on Mars.
There were moments of gold
And there were flashes of light
There were things I'd never do again
But then they'd always seemed right
There were nights of endless pleasure
It was more than any laws allow
Christmas at Relena's. Relena's wedding. Returning to Earth for good. Buying an apartment with Zechs. Training Preventer interns. Duo's pranks. Wufei and Sally's fights.
When you touch me like this
And when you hold me like that
It was gone with the wind but it's all coming back to me
When you see me like this
And when I see you like that
Then we see what we want to see
All coming back to me
The flesh and the fantasies
All coming back to me
I can barely recall but it's all coming back to me
Their last mission. The bomb. Being thrown out the window. She remembered everything. Noin stood in shock from remembering her entire life.
If you forgive me all this
If I forgive you all that
We forgive and forget and it's all coming back to me
When you see me like this
And when I see you like that
Then we see what we want to see
All coming back to me
The flesh and the fantasies
All coming back to me
I can barely recall but it's all coming back to me
The song ended. Noin stood there. She wanted to dance, jump for joy, sing at the top of her lungs. She remembered.
***
"Noin?" Zechs had just walked in the door. He didn't know how to break this to her. In two days he would leave. As much as he wanted to take her with him, without her memories he couldn't.
There was no response. He finally found her in the kitchen with her back toward him.
"Noin?"
She whirled around to look at him eyes sparkling. There was something different about her. This was not the Noin he had gotten used to.
"Zechs."
She walked over to him and kissed him soundly on the mouth.
"Aishiteru Milliardo."
He hadn't told her about his dual identity. Understanding dawned.
"You.."
"Remember?" she cut him off. "I remember Zechs. That night we spent in the ravine, all the pranks we pulled at school dances, catching the bouquet at Relena's wedding, I remember it all."
He picked her up and spun her around the room. She just laughed.
"If memory serves," she said once she put her down, "today's your birthday."
Noin took the cake out of the cupboard where she had hidden it.
"Oh Noin," he was at a loss for words.
She grinned at him. He couldn't believe that this was happening. His arms slid around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder.
"So when are we leaving for Earth?"
"In two days. Do you want to surprise everyone at the office when we get back?"
"Sounds like fun," she replied then lifted her head to kiss him again. "Why don't we celebrate your birthday and me remembering, and you can fill me in on everything I missed."
"Sounds like a plan to me."
Two days later, the two of them stood in the apartment for the last time.
"I'm gonna miss this place," Noin said, "but it will be good to go home."
It didn't take very long for them to reach Earth. Noin opened the door to their apartment and looked around. She was surprised that nothing had changed in the time she had been gone. She dumped her bag in the living room. Collapsing into an arm chair, she asked, "When are you supposed to be back at work?"
"Tomorrow morning. How do you want to work this?"
"Hm. You go to work and tell everyone you've got a lunch date. If you can manage to get them all together by one, it should work."
"Great."
The next morning, Zechs kissed a sleeping Noin on the cheek and left for work. Noin awoke an our or two later. She showered then set to work finding an outfit to wear. It was nice to have a wide selection of clothes to choose from again.
She finally decided on white capri pants and a royal blue tank top. Rummaging around in her jewelry box, Noin found a pair of sapphire earrings and the silver locket that Zechs had given her. The woman found a wide brimmed straw hat to wear; she might need to cover her face. A pair of well worn leather sandals completed the outfit. On her way out the door, she grabbed a white sweater.
Preventer Headquarters hadn't changed much while she was gone. There was a new receptionist at the front desk. After telling him she had a lunch date with Preventer Wind, Noin was given a guest pass. On her way to Zechs' office, an explosion rocked building.
She found Zechs' body under some rubble; the bomb must have been in his office. It looked like he had just been leaving the office when the bomb went off. Once she made sure he was breathing and had a heartbeat, Noin began to move the rubble off him. Soon Sally and a team of medics arrive.
"Is he going..."
"Not right now miss," Sally cut her off without even glancing at Noin.
Noin ended up helping with the clean up for the next few hours. She overheard Quatre tell Trowa that the g wing team was meeting in one of the conference rooms. When she found it, Sally was informing everyone of Zechs' conditions.
"We've got him stabilized, but he's fallen into a coma; the other doctors are doubtful that he'll pull through."
"What do you think Sally?" Lady Une asked.
"I'd say fifty-fifty. If Noin were here, I'd have no doubt he'd pull through."
"Excuse me," Noin said, "but..."
"Listen," Sally broke in, "I don't know who you are, and I don't care. But I..."
"Damn it Sally, look at me!"
That got everyone's attention. Noin had lost the hat sometime in the clean up work. Everyone stared in disbelief at her face.
"Noin?"
"But you're dead!"
"Where have you been?"
"What the hell is going on?"
Noin held up a hand for silence, "I'll give the short version and then could I see Zechs?"
"Of course Noin," Lady Une said.
"Okay, what happened was I had amnesia. Someone, we don't know who though Zechs and I have a few ideas, dyed my hair and added extensions. I cut my hair pretty soon after meeting Zechs. Last week, the dye came out; Zechs was pretty sure who I was then, but he couldn't say anything because of the amnesia. About two days ago, I remembered."
"Why didn't you contact us?" Quatre asked.
"We were going to surprise you today."
Sally wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "We're glad to have you back Noin; come on, I'll drive you to the hospital."
***
Noin knelt by Zechs' bedside. There was a chair in the room, but it was a hard plastic thing, and she was more comfortable on the floor. Her hand held one of his.
At some point, she must have fallen asleep. She woke later as sunlight spilled across the bed.
"Who are you?" a contemptuous voice said.
Noin turned without relinquishing her grip on Zechs' hand. A woman stood in the doorway. She was quite beautiful with long, curly auburn hair that fell to her waist. Eyes of a blue-gray color watched Noin coldly.
"I could ask you the same thing."
"Autumn Novela; Preventer Autumn."
"Ah," was Noin's only response. She turned back to Zechs.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Noin; Preventer Fire."
"She's dead. You can't be her. And what are you doing with my boyfriend?"
Noin raised an eyebrow, "I am Noin. And I find it hard to believe that he's your boyfriend when Zechs is living with me."
"Why you little..." Autumn launched into a string of expletives. While this wouldn't normally bother Noin, she was currently worried and rather vulnerable. Tears sprung to her eyes as she turned away from Autumn. Her hand received a gentle squeeze.
Startled, she looked up at Zechs' face. One sky blue eye flicked open and winked at her.
"Autumn," Zechs' calm, cold voice cut her off, "I don't believe you've met my partner and love of my life."
He smiled at Noin his eyes dancing with mirth. She grinned back and squeezed his hand.
"And I am not now nor have I ever been your boyfriend."
Autumn's jaw was now about level with the floor. Zechs sat up slightly in bed.
"And you're a fool if you thought he was available. He's never been interested in any woman besides Noin."
Autumn turned around to look at the speaker who stood outside the door with three other people. The speaker was a slim woman with short chestnut hair and warm brown eyes. A tall man with light brown hair and blue eyes twinkling with mischief had an arm around the speaker's shoulders. On his other side was another man fairly serious looking with dark brown hair, but his eyes were full of good humor. At his side was a redheaded woman with piercing blue eyes.
"Mac and Harm..." Noin started.
"And Mulder and Scully," Zechs finished.
At the same time they said, "What are you doing here?"
Scully, the redhead, laughed, "Your sister's been rather busy Zechs. I think she's called very single one of your school friends in the last twenty four hours."
"Then, what, three other people aren't here?"
The six of them laughed while Autumn looked on in confusion.
"We weren't very sociable, were we?" Mac, who had been the first speaker, said.
"Hey, we didn't need to be popular; we had friends," the first man, Harm, replied.
"But what are you..."
"Excuse me, but who the hell are these people," Autumn interrupted.
"Mac, Harm, Mulder, and Scully; they're friends of mine and Zechs from when we were in school," Noin answered. "You might want to leave now; once the six of us start down memory lane, we become incomprehensible to everyone else."
Noin offered Autumn her sweetest smile. Autumn turned on her heel in a huff and stalked off. The others laughed.
"So why were you four in the area anyway?" Noin asked.
"Well, Harm and I just finished wrapping up a case here," Mac told her.
They turned expectantly to Mulder and Scully. Scully blushed slightly, "We're eloping."
"Congratulations," Zechs said.
Harm look appraisingly at Zechs and Noin, "You realize that just leaves you two to get married."
Zechs grinned, and Noin squirmed. Then Zechs looked thoughtful, "Noin, do you know what happened to the coat I was wearing?"
"A bomb explodes in your office, and you're worried about a coat?"
He looked at her. She sighed and said, "I think what's left of it is in the closet."
Mulder was closest to the closet and got the coat. He tossed it to Zechs who caught it and rummaged through the pockets. He produced a small grey ring box.
Zechs opened it to reveal a silver claddagh ring whose heart was a sapphire. He took Noin's hand in his and asked, "Noin, will you marry me?"
Her smile was brilliant, "Yes Zechs, I'd love to."
Zechs slid the ring on to her finger, and they kissed. Right then, a doctor walked in.
"Mr. Marquise, you're awake," he stammered.
Noin disengaged herself from Zechs, "Yes, he is. Now, we were busy."
"I'm sorry ma'am, but we have to run some tests since Mr. Marquise has been in a coma, and besides visiting hours are over."
Noin looked annoyed but then smiled and said, "All right, I'll go, but I'll be back as soon as possible tomorrow."
She kissed Zechs' cheek. Scully put an arm around Noin's shoulder, "Come on, we'll take you out for a celebratory dinner."
Zechs smiled, "Just don't get amnesia while you're gone."
"If you stay away from explosions." She laughed, "Bye love."
He blew her a kiss. Noin smiled; she may have forgotten before but her heart had remembered and brought her back to where she belonged, with Zechs.
Owari (the end)