Author's Notes: Most of the Gundams pilots and co. are European or something like that, right? Then they wouldn't celebrate Thanksgiving, right? Who cares! I need the holiday, so suddenly they've all adopted it for no apparent reason whatsoever. Just use your imagination.
Ack, I my computer said Wufei wasn't a real word, so when I clicked on spell check to change it, the top option to change Wufei to was wife! *falls over laughing* Oh pans, isn't that just ironic… ^_^
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Can Love Conquer All?
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Chapter Four: A Name
Signing off her computer, Noin felt rather content. She'd only been on Mars for two months, but she'd already helped accomplish quite a lot. The power plant had finally been built, and computers had been integrated into the system. Just last night the Terraformers had thrown a party celebrating the computers. Nobody liked doing anything by hand, and now they didn't have to anymore.
Noin stood up and stretched her back before she left her office. It was time to go home and get some shuteye. Eyeing her phone a bit guiltily, she remembered that she hadn't contacted any of her friends since that one call to Relena, not even her best friend Sally. She figured she owed them some news, but she just didn't want to call anybody for fear they'd harass her about Zechs. She missed him so much, and was even ready to apologize, but she was loving her work here so much that she kept putting it off. If she contacted him and apologized, she knew there was no way she'd be able to resist the urge to go back to him. She didn't want to leave just yet. And anyway, Nick still needed her to do her part.
Taking a quick look at her calendar on her way out, Noin realized with a start that it was Thanksgiving. Definitely feeling guilty now, Noin quickly dashed out of her office before she became so overcome with guilt that she placed a call to Lady Une's house. Lady Une had been planning a big Thanksgiving party for this year since almost January, and Noin had promised to come. She knew her friend would be disappointed, but Noin had completely forgotten!
Locking her office while waves of guilt washed over her, Noin jumped a foot when a hand was placed on her shoulder. "Fruit!" Noin exclaimed, taking a calming breath. She turned around to find herself staring at Nick. "You gave me a fright, Nick."
He grinned at her. "Sorry Lucrezia, didn't mean to scare you so."
"Anything I can do for you, Nick?"
"Yeah, actually, there is. I'm holding a Thanksgiving dinner tonight for as many Terraformers as I could manage. I'd be most honoured if you'd join me at my place tonight along with everybody else."
Noin managed a smile for the man. "I'd love that, Nick." Guilt hit her like a two-ton brick. What would Lady Une think? Curses, now she'd have to call the women. "But would it be okay if I placed a long distance phone call to a friend?"
Nick raised an eyebrow. "What for?"
A slight blush rose across Noin's cheeks. "This year I was supposed to go to Lady Une's for Thanksgiving, but I completely forgot about it until just two minutes ago. I need to call and apologize, and check up on all my friends and see how they're doing while I'm at it."
"Sure, no problem," Nick said, giving her an easy smile. "Care to walk over with me now? Cindy and Jack are waiting downstairs already for me."
"Sure," Noin replied, walking along with the man to join up with the other Terraformers to head to his place. Walking along, it hit Noin just how much she missed all her friends. It was all the little things that really hit her, like how Duo was always making jokes about everything and laughing his way through life, or Wufei's constant shouts of Injustice. Pans, but that made her so mad! Or Quatre's constant blushes when it came to women. One would think that with twenty-nine sisters he'd be okay with the things women talked about, but he was as shy as a little schoolgirl when the subject came up! And Trowa's silence that only Midii could break. Even Heero's constant glares at Zechs were something she missed. And then there were the girls. Hilde, who could get Duo to do whatever she wanted with a flick of her finger, while anybody else had to beg and plead and force the stubborn American to do anything. And Relena, the only person ever to get Heero to crack a genuine smile; Catherine's overprotectiveness of Trowa, and her constant circus talk; Midii's quiet ways and her piercing eyes; Sally's constant chatter about what a ninny-head Wufei was, while all the time smiling at the young Chinese boy; Lady Une's single-minded views on work, and her motherly attitude towards Treize Khushrenada's daughter Mariemaia; and Mariemaia herself, the nine-year-old trying to become a kid again. Noin missed them all so much, but more than any of them, she missed Zechs.
Zechs.
There wasn't just one thing about him she missed, but it was the entire picture. His looks, his voice, his opinions and attitude, the quiet way he said her name, and even the way he constantly said he didn't deserve her. He was perfect, her angel out of heaven.
And yet it was because of him she was here on Mars, walking to Nick's apartment for a Thanksgiving party with all the other Terraformers. What under the sun, moon and stars had she been thinking when she walked out of their office? If anything, that was the biggest mistake on her life. And yet she wasn't willing to return to the man, despite how much she loved him, because she wanted to stay in Mars because of a stupid job. Curse her stupid military mind.
"Wouldn't you say, Noin?" Miss Gaelize's voice broke through her thoughts, and Noin blinked several times to bring herself back to the real world.
"What was that, Cindy? I'm sorry, but I was off in my own world and I completely missed what you said."
"I was saying how men are like just about the dumbest creatures to walk any planet, but they're like the cutest dumb creatures! Wouldn't you say?" Miss Gaelize gave Noin a wink, and Noin had to work to keep her laughter bottled up.
"You're painting the picture way too nicely, Cindy…" Noin joined in the conversation, her friends back on L2 forgotten for the moment.
****
Lady Une smiled at her guests all around the room. Each couple was busy talking animatedly about one thing or another. Lady Une hadn't done many things right in her life, and she still couldn't do many things right, but if there was one thing she could do, it was throw a successful Thanksgiving meal.
Her smile faltered when she laid eyes on Zechs Merquise standing alone in the corner. Usually he and Noin would be busy reminiscing about Academy days and all the good times they had had. But not this party, because Noin was still on Mars. She was supposed to be here, though; she'd promised back in February that she'd make it to this party. Lady Une felt slightly hurt that her friend hadn't made it, but what could she do? She was here on a colony, and Noin was on the red planet Mars.
A tug on her hand pulled Lady Une's gaze away from Zechs and down to nine-year-old Mariemaia, the child she'd adopted after Mariemaia's incident two Christmases ago with the Barton Foundation. Mariemaia was Treize's daughter, and for that reason alone Lady Une was more than willing to love the child with all of her heart. "Lady?" Mariemaia asked. Upon discovering that Lady was what Treize had used to call her, Mariemaia had picked it up in memory of her deceased father.
"Yes, Mariemaia, what is it?" Lady Une replied with more patience than she felt. She wasn't angry with Mariemaia, only with Noin, but there was no reason to take her anger out on the girl.
"Miss Noin isn't going to come, is she?" Mariemaia asked. Lady Une shook her head in reply. Much as she wished her friend were here, she knew she wouldn't be making an appearance. "I didn't think so. I guess that's why she just called on the Vidphone." (A/N: Vidphone, what a crappy name for it. But you all know what I'm talking about, right? Those computerish looking things they used on the TV show? Yeah, that's it).
"Noin called us?" Lady Une asked incredulously. Not waiting for an answer, she charged past Mariemaia and made a mad dash for the kitchen where her Vidphone was. Sure enough, there was Noin on the screen, laughing at something Lady Une had missed. Lady Une ran to the Vidphone and pressed the button announcing her presence. "Noin! Where are you?"
"Anne! Hey! Look, sorry I'm not at your place, but I completely forgot about my promise to be there. Heck, before I left the office today, I had completely forgotten Thanksgiving even existed!"
"You were working on Thanksgiving?" Lady Une asked rather flatly.
"Yup. I told you, I'd forgotten it was a holiday. Now, as to your first question, I'm still on Mars, at Nick's place. He's having a giant Thanksgiving dinner for all of the Terraformers."
Lady Une quirked an eyebrow at Noin. "Who's Nick?"
"Mr. Nicholas Berter, the man in charge of the Mars Terraformation Project," Noin replied.
Lady Une had a sinking feeling by the way Noin said his name. She knew for a fact that when employees were on a first name basis with their boss, it meant they were close friends outside of the work force. The only Preventers who called her Anne were the five Gundams, Zechs and Noin. So what was the deal with this Mr. Berter and Noin?
****
Zechs, who was swimming in a deep pool of despair, snapped to attention when Mariemaia Khushrenada stood on the living room couch and hollered out, "Noin called Lady on the Vidphone!" There was a moment of silence in the room before everyone made a mad dash to the kitchen where they knew Lady Une kept her Vidphone. Indeed, there was Noin's face filling up the screen. Zechs felt his heart freeze. He hadn't seen his beloved for two months. He missed her so much…and yet here she was, conversing freely with her former and his current boss.
Everyone arrived just in time to here Noin explain who "Nick" was. Zechs felt a surge of anger streak through him. Back when he and Noin had been on Mars together, Mister Nicholas Berter had been the only idiot who tried to make a move on Noin. Zechs had put a stop to it before Noin found out, but the fact that the man was getting at his beautiful Lucrezia Noin when he wasn't around to prevent it irked him something bad. Zechs felt a strong desire to slam his fist into the screen when he saw Mr. Berter join Noin at their end of the connection.
"This is Nick," Noin's voice carried across the view screen. Lady Une stepped back so that the others could come by and say hi and spend a few minutes chatting with Noin and Mr. Berter. Zechs didn't want to take his turn, not with everybody standing around him, and with him standing beside her, but he didn't have much of a choice when Duo shoved him forward much against his will to take his turn.
The grin on Nicholas Berter's face evaporated immediately, to no surprise of Zechs'. "Hello, Noin," Zechs said cautiously without sounding cautious. "It's been a while."
Nicholas Berter held up a finger to silence Zechs for a second. "I'm going to head back to the party, Lu," his voice carried out across the view screen. "Come back and join us when you're done." Jealously like Zechs had never felt before washed over him in tsunami-sized waves. Lu? LU?! Nobody called her Lu but those present in the room with him. Zechs had even heard Noin specifically ask others not to call her that, since it was a privilege she reserved only for those close to her. The mere fact that Nicholas Berter could call her Lu and walk away without her snap following him made Zechs angrier than he'd been since the Eve War.
"Is something wrong, Zechs?" Noin asked, sounding almost…timid.
"Absolutely nothing. It's all peachy keen," he snapped in response, anger enveloping him. "I hope you're enjoying your stay on Mars, Lu, and I hope you're meeting new people." There was no doubt as to the meaning of his words, and Noin's face quite clearly stated that she understood what he was saying.
"What's wrong with you, Zechs?" Noin said irritably. "What burr got under your saddle?"
"No burr got under my saddle. A man-sized monster, on the other hand, would be more accurate. Now if you'll excuse me, I have memories to erase." With a curt nod, Zechs stormed out of Lady Une's kitchen, apartment, and building, storming off into the cold November night.
Silence was left in the kitchen after his departure.
****
Noin stared at the view screen in front of her. Incredibility swarmed over her. What was his freakin' problem?!
"I'd say his 'freakin' problem' is you," Duo said. Noin snapped her head back to the face now covering the view screen, which happened to belong to Duo Maxwell. She hadn't realized she's spoken aloud.
"Yeah, but why? What under the sun, moon and stars did I do? Pans, the man's exploding over nothing! Nick is only my friend!"
Sally's head replaced Duo. "Only a friend, huh?" Noin nodded curtly to her best friend. Sally sighed. "Lu, in this case I think it's you who's got your perspective all out of whack."
"What?!" Noin squawked.
"You heard me. You're the one with the problem. Do you remember what Nick just called you?"
"Lu."
"And who calls you Lu?"
"All my friends do, Sally, you know that."
Sally sighed in exasperation. "Is that so, Noin? Answer me, in all honesty. Who calls you Lu, or even Lucrezia, except those of us here at Lady Une's?"
Noin blinked for a moment before she understood where Sally was going. With a groan, Noin made the excuse that she had to get back to the party to end the conversation. She wished everyone well and clicked off the Vidphone.
Leaning up against the wall in Nick's apartment, Noin thought furiously. Was it at all possible that Zechs was jealous? It was possible, she guessed. Nick had once tried to make a move on her, she knew that, and Zechs had put an instant stop to it. He even thought she didn't know (hah, yeah right, a woman always knows). Could he think that Nicholas Berter was a possible rival? Oh Zechs, you should know me better than that. My heart belongs to you and you alone. Somehow she knew deep within her soul that it was going to take some time before Zechs would believe that.
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A/N: Wow, this chapter turned out better than I thought. Hee, y'all should have seen me. I had to go to the bathroom just after I wrote the part where Zechs stormed off, and I was freaking out while on the pot. So is this story as good as I think it is? R-E-V-I-E-W and let me know!
Thanks to all you marvelous people who have so far reviewed my fic! You give me encouragement and hyper rushes and make me all happy! The next day at school after I get your review I bug LM-chan by telling her everything you've said and how happy it makes me!
Auf wiedersang (sp?) till next chapter! ~~Callisto