Author's Note: …Er, are Lady Une and Midii Une related at all? I have no idea. If they aren't, well, then, whoops…and if they are, excellent (but what relationship exactly?), but in any case, for the sake of this fic they're cousins. I don't know anything about the Mars Terraformation Project either, but since I'm using it, I'm making up whatever I want to. Thanks a million to all of you who reviewed last chapter! I love you all forever! Especially if you read this one and then review…hint hint! Thanks especially to Jen, Becca and AE.
Disclaimer: I've seen The Two Towers thrice, and twice of those times I had someone else paying cuz I'm majorly low on cash, so there's no need to sue me for there isn't anything to profit from. You'd be in debt, what with the huge lawyer bill…oh yeah, I don't own Gundam Wing…as if any of us do…
^*^*^*^*
Can Love Conquer All?
^*^*^*^*
Chapter Two: Jobs
Lady Une stared in disbelief at the letter sitting on her desk. Of all days she had to go home early! Maybe if she had been here yesterday afternoon when Noin stopped by she could have talked her friend out of foolishly leaving. Sighing heavily into her hands, Lady Une calmed herself before she could get angry with Lucrezia Noin for up and leaving. She had already tried to call Noin's apartment, but it was too late; the woman had already hopped on a shuttle and headed for Mars.
At least she now understood Zechs monotone way of talking to her this morning, and his downcast eyes and closed up face. Zechs and Noin must have had a fight, for that was the only reason Lady Une could come up with for Noin to take off. It must have been some fight, though; Noin had stuck with the man through Lake Victoria Academy, through promotion and separation, through his disappearance for a year, and even through the few moments in which he'd threatened to kill her. Lady Une wished with all her heart that she could talk to her friend and help sort things out, but it wasn't possible until Noin landed on Mars, and might not be possible even then. She'd have a time finding Noin, especially since the woman was very skilled in remaining hidden when she chose to be.
Lady Une looked up when a knock sounded at her door. A striking young woman walked in, her medium length platinum blonde hair framing her beautiful face very nicely. Twenty-year-old Midii Une Barton, Trowa Barton's wife, looked at Lady Une expectantly, waiting for permission to speak. Lady Une gave her young cousin a weary smile. She had forgotten her meeting with Midii this morning, and was quite frankly in no mood to discuss a job with Midii.
Midii seemed to sense Lady Une's mood. "What's on your mind, Anne? Is there anything I can do to help?" Midii asked in her clear voice. Lady Une still found it hard to believe that Midii was two months pregnant. She doubted it would ever really click in her head until it started to show.
Giving herself a mental shake, Lady Une replied, "Lucrezia Noin up and left for Mars last night. She left me a brief note explaining, and giving me her resignation."
"So she's gone back to the Mars Terraformation Project," Midii said softly. "Trowa and I always knew she would one day. It's more than quite obvious that she was here because of Zechs Merquise. Does this mean that he finally proposed to her, then?"
Lady Une shook her head ruefully. "I fear they must have had a fight, from her quick exit and Zechs' forlorn face."
Midii blinked. "I just saw Zechs. He didn't look forlorn to me at all."
Folding the note carefully and tucking it away in one of many files, Lady Une replied, "You just don't know Zechs as well as I do. Even I hardly know him when compared to Noin…Where I can read many of his open looks, Lucrezia can read a book in the simple glazing over of his eyes. She's been around him since we were twelve, and his friend since we were thirteen."
"I'm sorry you lost such a good Preventer," Midii said.
"I'm sorry I lost her too, but even more I'm sorry that my friend left." Midii agreed with a silent nod. Lady Une rubbed her temples with her index and middle fingers. Life just kept getting more and more complicated for her. At least you taught me how to deal with complications, Mr. Treize, she thought, dwelling for a few moments on her love. If only you were here, you'd know exactly what to do. But since you are not here, I shall just simply have to do my best with all that you taught me. Steeling herself for the interview to proceed, Lady Une made a mental note to talk to Zechs and find out exactly what had happened between him and Noin. She needed her worker back, but more than that, she needed her friend happily by her side.
****
"Noin did what?!" Sally Po squawked, dropping her coffee cup still full of coffee onto the floor. She was too surprised to even notice that she'd spilt the hot liquid all down her shirt, on her shoes, and on the floor. Sally was in the lounge of Preventer Headquarters, getting her morning coffee, along with all five former Gundam Pilots, Zechs Merquise, Dorothy Catalonia and Lady Une.
"How pathetic," Wufei sneered. "It's just like a woman to run off when things get tough. It's a sign of weakness."
"Wufei Chang, for once in your life would you just shut up!" Quatre snapped, surprising everybody. "Our friend up and left us, and all you can do and preach about weakness! Hold your tongue for once and wait until you can go shout at the toilet, the only thing in the world willing to listen to you!" Knocked out of her state of shock by Quatre's shout, Sally suddenly realized she had spilled her coffee all over the place. Setting about cleaning it up, she gave Quatre an appraising look. There weren't many people willing to stand up to her fiancé, but she was glad when they did. It often brought him back down to Earth for a few days, and made him easier to live with. She also happened to agree with Quatre in this case. Noin was her best friend, and far from weak.
Sally looked up from mopping the coffee off her cream-coloured tee shirt. "Lady Une, what under the sun, moon, and stars possessed her to up and leave?"
Lady Une shrugged. "I honestly can't say for sure. The only theory I can come up with is that she and Zechs had a fight, but that doesn't make much sense. Noin has stuck with him through worse, why let a fight get to her? But I honestly can't tell you for sure." As one, every person in the room turned to Zechs. He gazed back levelly, hardly blinking. Sally wasn't sure, but she thought his eyes looked a little tight. Perhaps Lady Une's theory was correct? Was it at all possible?
Much to everyone's surprise, he nodded. "We did have a hard day yesterday, and it ended with a fight and then her declaration of resignation. She stalked out of our office and that's the end of what I know."
"But didn't you even try to call her?" Quatre asked, incredulous.
"I did. She didn't answer the phone."
Duo pointed a finger straight at Zechs, a half glare on his face. "I knew it, this has to do with you making her cry yesterday!"
"YOU MADE HER CRY?!" Almost everybody shouted at once. Everybody started talking, shouting out accusations and the such as Zechs.
"NO!" Zechs barked back, silencing the crowd. Now his face did carry a glower. "I did NOT make her cry. She made herself cry, by laughing so hard she sobbed." Was it Sally's imagination, or was his face a little red?
"I've done that before," Duo stated. Heero stamped on his foot, shutting the braided American up.
"What on Earth was she laughing about that could have made her sob?" Trowa asked, in his slightly monotone voice. He and Heero used to be horrendous at being monotone, but since they had hooked up with Midii and Relena, more expression had come into their faces and voices, if still not as much as normal people.
Zechs gave a truly nasty scowl, quite obviously announcing that he had no intention whatsoever of spilling the beans. Sally shared a look with Lady Une, who, by the look on her face, also knew of what had occurred between Noin and Zechs yesterday before this fight had come along.
Dorothy broke the uncomfortable silence. "Well, is there anything we can do about it? If not, then I suggest we get back to our normal lives and continue on with our daily routines. I'm not saying we should forget about the problem at hand, but remember, we need to think of a solution, not the problem itself."
Lady Une sighed. "Much as I hate to admit it, Dorothy, you're right. For now there is nothing we can do. Everybody back to work, and let's all hope and pray this works out okay. If I hear anything from Noin I'll let you know ASAP, as I expect the rest of you to do. Zechs, I'll send someone over eventually to take over Noin's paperwork."
"No, that's okay," he answered quietly, "I'll finish it up for her."
Lady Une looked genuinely shocked. "Are you sure?" Zechs nodded in response. With that everyone was dismissed back to work. Sally headed to her office, without her coffee, to do her own mound of paperwork. Oh Noin, I hope that wherever you are you're okay.
****
Noin's foot landed firmly on the Martian soil, and the rest of her body quickly followed. She was long since used to space travel, and had found the shuttle ride relaxing, giving her time to reflect on her actions. It hadn't taken her long to realize that she'd overreacted, but she had a stubborn streak in her wider than the Mississippi River, and pan fry them if anybody thought they'd get her to apologize now.
A smile lit up her face as she planted both feet firmly on the ground. Location wise, Mars felt more like her home than anywhere but Lake Victoria Academy. In her heart, though, she knew that wherever Zechs was her true home would be.
Shoving the platinum blonde from her mind, Noin registered herself at one of many desks inside the Shuttleport. She was here, and as long as she was here, she was going to be doing the work she longed to do most. It wasn't hard to get directions to the Central Intelligence building, since there were only four buildings currently on Mars. It would be another three or so years before real civilians would move in and make the planet seem like a real community. In the mean time, Terraformers such as Noin had to make the planet habitable so that civilians would be able to turn it into a community.
Stepping into the building, Noin readjusted the shoulder strap on her one bag as she walked towards the main desk where Cindy Gaelize was busy organizing all the paperwork needed to Terraform Mars into something habitable and hospitable. Noin remembered Cindy from when she had been here with Zechs. The girl was as air-headed as could be, and had had the galaxy's biggest crush on Zechs, but she really was decent once you understood she did have a brain somewhere beyond her mop of unnatural blonde hair and once she had realized that Zechs was Noin's, no matter what.
"Hey Cindy," Noin said, dropping her bag to the floor. "I'm back and ready to be put to work."
Looking up from a folder marked "Employees", Cindy blinked before she recognized Noin. A grin spread across her young face. "Miss Noin! You came back! You couldn't have come back at a better time. The grand poobahs are, like, arguing like crazy because they can't decide what to do, and most of us just knew everything would be okay if you were here. You know what to do, and how to like handle the men, and you can like pull strings like crazy! Plus you know how to operate on all those big doohickeys that I can like only imagine on how to turn the key. Is Zechs with you?"
Noin stared at Cindy for a moment, letting everything she had said digest. Noin blinked before she answered. "No, Zechs stayed behind. He has some Preventer work he needs to finish, and, well, I decided that I'm needed here."
"Ah, Preventers," Cindy said with more than a half-dreamy sigh. "It must be like so cool to be one. I hear Lady Une herself is in charge. Like, Is it true? Why did you come back without Zechs? Didn't you like have something to do there too?
"Er, uh, I finished what I needed to do…" Noin said uncomfortably. Zechs was the last thing she wanted to be talking about, especially in Miss Gaelize's company. "Uhm, Cindy, could you just find out what I can do? I'd really like to get to work immediately."
"Oh, of course! I'm sorry, I like totally wasn't thinking about that at all! Here, just a moment, let me like find the employee folder and I'll just simply add your record to it." Noin nodded gratefully and leaned up against the counter as Miss Gaelize searched through everything, looking for the employee folder. Nearly ten minutes later, the girl realized she was holding it in her hand. "Oh, doi, stupid me, how could I have forgotten!" the blonde laughed. She quickly added Noin's record to the file (nothing was computerized yet, since the Mars Terraformation project hadn't been going on for quite six months and they needed a power plant before the government would allow computers to be added) and directed her to the right to find somebody in charge to assign her to something. "Oh, and Miss Noin, don't go down halls six, seven, or eleven, they don't have any power since our generator is running low! Ta ta now!" With a friendly grin, Miss Gaelize waved Noin along her way. Picking up her gym back stuffed with things, Noin headed off in search of a familiar face to brandy for a job with.
Walking along the familiar hallways, Noin remembered the last time she had traveled these corridors. She had been walking with Zechs to the Shuttleport to catch the next shuttle to the colonies. Noin hadn't wanted to go, but as always she had been making a personal sacrifice for the man. It felt good to be back here, and yet, so…empty. She gave a heavy sigh. Without Zechs life was almost meaningless, even doing what she wanted to do most. Why oh why wouldn't the man get down off his high horse and apologize? Or why won't you get down off your high horse and apologize, a little voice in the back of Noin's head taunted. Wishing she could smack her conscious, Noin quickened her pace. As she turned a corner, she pulled a very classic move and ran into somebody.
"Oh, pan fry it! Shiz buckets!" Noin cursed, rubbing her sore head. "I'm sorry, sir." Looking up to see who it was she had ran into, Noin found herself staring face to face with Nicholas Berter, the man in charge of the entire Mar Terraformation Project. Asides from being very powerful and important, Nicholas was very good looking. His light brown hair fell just slightly in his face, giving him a heart-pounding quality. His emerald green eyes were framed with lashes the exact shade of his hair, almost a ghostly colour, but very intriguing. His face was angular, and when he held his face at just the right angle, one could almost swear he was Legolas Greenleaf's twin brother.
A slight blush crept across Noin's cheeks as she looked into his green eyes. It suddenly hit her just how little she had ever noticed men in this fashion. For almost as long as boys had been prominent in her life, Zechs had always been there to catch her heart. Even now while looking at Nicholas Berter, she didn't forget the keeper of her heart, but she became very aware of the fact that Zechs was on a far away colony, and Nicholas was right in front of her face.
"Lucrezia Noin!" Mr. Berter exclaimed, a grin lighting up his face and making Noin's knees go weak. It was a good thing she was already on the floor… "I didn't expect to see you here! Mind if I ask why?"
Ducking her head in recognition of him, Noin replied, "I came back to help on the Project. I just couldn't stay away." My lover and I had a spat and I ran off. How pathetic. "There's still a place open for me, isn't there?"
Letting out a booming laugh, Nicholas grabbed her hand and helped haul her to her feet. "Of course there's always a position open for you, Lucrezia! You're one of the best Terraformers I've had yet! I only wish you and Zechs hadn't run off. Speaking of him, is Zechs with you by any chance?"
A flash of embarrassment hit Noin. She was quickly coming to regret leaving Zechs Merquise behind. "No, sorry, he's still finishing up his work with the Preventers. I couldn't stay away, so I came back without him. He might be joining me soon, though." Liar.
Was that joy she saw flash across Mr. Berter's face? "That's too bad, he was another good one. But I can still work with you, my dear. You've come just in time, too. I fear that if we don't get the Terraformation Project working faster, our budget will be cut and we're not going to be able to accomplish the task of making this foreign planet habitable for humans."
Noin gasped. "Mr. Berter, you're kidding me! This Terraformation Project for Mars is the best thing that's happened to humanity since the end of the war! They couldn't just up and tell us to quit!"
Picking up her bag with a grave face, he replied, "Yes, they could. They think we're taking too long. Those who fund our project just don't realize what a great task it is to transform an inhabitable planet into something habitable."
With a force she meant, Noin said fervently, "They can't and won't shut us down, if I have to go out and find new people to fund our project myself."
Nicholas Berter appraised her for a moment. "You know, Lucrezia, I think you mean that. I'm glad you're back." Slipping her bag over his shoulder, his stuck out his hand to her and gave off another heart-warming grin.
"I do mean it, Mr. Berter, I do," Noin replied, shaking his outstretched hand.
He held up his free hand. "Please, call me Nick. Mr. Berter makes me sound so old and pompous, when I'm barely two years your seniour." Noin gave him a nod. Nick. It was actually a rather nice name. "Now come along, Lucrezia, I need to get you weeded back into the work force. If I can manage it, I'm going to put you in charge of everything, second only to me. You've got more brains than half of the entire work force combined, and that's something I could use." Grinning as she walked down the halls with Nick, Noin was suddenly very glad that she had come back. She was fitting right back into a job that she loved, and for once in her life, she felt like she belonged, even without Zechs at her side.
^*^*^*^*
A/N: Er, okay…that went better than I had expected. I'm still pulling this off the top of my head, and the story still has no definite ending. But that's the fun of writing, right?
Llahiry: Yeah, it is, until YOU get writer's block and stop writing your story!
Eh heh heh….*sits on Llahiry, my Muse of Deep Intellect* Bah. I'm going to finish this story, I really am!
Llahiry: *from being squashed* Yeah, that's what you said about The Intruder, too!
….*sweatdrop* Okay then, thank you for the positive support, you dumb muse. Anywhos, thank you once again to everybody who reviewed my first chapter! It really makes my day when I get reviews, because it reminds me that my story ISN'T as crappy as my mind makes it out to be. So. Here I go to write the third chapter. Now let's see if I can finally figure out where I'm going with this story…. ~~Callisto