Chapter 3: A Wife

"I hope you don't mind this," Relena said as she tossed a few embroidered pillows on her pink and white comforter. A few feet away, Heero finished arranging his dark blue sheets with military precision. The two contrasting single beds were far enough away from each other for decency, but close enough to fool a curious mother. They had decided on Relena as Heero's fake wife because Trowa was against Catherine doing such a thing, Sally was already married to Wufei, and Hilde just didn't want to.

"No," he replied simply, unemotional for all the kindness of the words, "I appreciate the effort all of you are making."

"It's no problem." Relena smiled over at him where he was digging through an old black duffel bag, her heart twisting oddly to see him doing such an ordinary task. "You're a friend and we're all happy to help you out."

". . ." He frowned at the gun he was pulling out. "I just hate owing people." Slipping the clip into the sleek black gun, he flipped the safety on and put it in the back of his waistband, covered by his jacket.

Relena glanced up at the clock and noted how late it was. They had spent all day getting this room decorated as if Relena and Heero really shared it. Pastels alternated with complementing darker colors, the nightingale by the cream-curtained balcony window, and the shelves were filled with assortments of books, many they had borrowed from Milliardo's study, and the rest were Relena's own collection, moved from her room. Heero had picked up one of her books as they were arranging them, and looked at her oddly. 'Love on the Lagoon?' he'd asked. Relena had flushed and jerked it from his hand, sticking it behind all the political books she'd been organizing.

'A girl has to have some romance around,' she'd murmured. 'God knows I don't have time for the real thing; so I improvise.' He'd only looked at her burning cheeks oddly for a moment as she dug in her boxes of books, then turned back to his own work.

Relena let out a jaw-popping yawn as she lay down the last rug, and Heero blinked over at her. She blushed and apologized. "Guess I'm pretty tired." She looked at the comfortable bed she'd just made up, got a devilish twinkle in her eye, and promptly swept all the embroidered pillows onto the floor. Ignoring the odd look Heero was giving her, she happily dug in her chest of drawers (which Duo, Milliardo, and Wufei had had to carry from her room to this one since it was just down the hall and faster than bringing all her stuff from it one bit at a time).

Pulling out a white t-shirt and pink boxer shorts, Relena strode purposefully into the bathroom and shut the door, coming out after a short while with her hair tied up in a long ponytail, a self-satisfied smile on her face as she turned back her bedcovers, then stopped, thinking of something and looking around with a frown.

"Not going to dinner?" Heero asked since he was about to go eat with the others, and purposely ignored the full figure those slim night-clothes clad.

"No," she still looked preoccupied, and he wondered what was bothering her as he left.

"The marriage working out?" Duo grinned as Heero took his seat. All he received was a patented death glare and a request to pass the bread. Duo just shrugged. "Guess not."

In the middle of the meal, a distraught Relena came into the room and took Noin away.

Upstairs, the two women looked everywhere they had been moving things, but had no luck in their searches. "You looked under your bed?" Noin asked as she got down to look under the dresser in Relena's scavenged old room.

"Twice," Relena sat down on her Queen-sized bed with a sigh, "I just can't believe he disappeared. Maybe," her voice wobbled, "maybe somebody threw him out. He's pretty old."

Noin yawned as Relena got down to check under the bed again, and the princess let out an unhappy breath as a dark figure stopped outside the door on his way to another room farther down, listening unnoticed to the conversation. "I can't sleep without him!" Relena glanced over at Noin who was in the middle of another yawn and trying to hide it. "Oh, Noin, you're so sweet, but go on to bed if you're tired. I'll find him myself." Relena smiled sweetly and pushed her friend out the door, closing it behind her, then got down to some serious searching.

In the hall, Noin smiled sleepily at Heero, who she passed on her way to her rooms. "Two years and she still can't go to sleep without that silly bear," she shook her head, "I can't even remember who gave it to her, but the thing's been stitched, stuffed, patched, and cleaned more times than I can count. Oh well." Noin ruffled her own hair sleepily and turned to go to her and Milliardo's room, not catching the almost startled look of the Wing pilot.

Heero went thoughtfully to the room he was sharing with Relena and looked sharply around it, then searched methodically in and under furniture. After a few minutes, he lifted the blankets hanging to the floor from his own bed, looking beneath it, and reached to pull out an old teddy bear. Its fur was worn and slightly rough from continuous cuddling, one of the eyes had been sewn back on poorly, the bow was limp and faded, and a few stitches in the left side were starting to come out, revealing some white stuffing.

It was the teddy bear he had given her for her sixteenth birthday.

As he stood there holding it, the door opened, and Heero turned to see a very dejected – and dusty – Relena entering, her head bowed to hide the tears from him. "Hn," he said, watching her crawl into bed and curl up in a little ball, facing away from him. After a moment, he walked slowly over to place a hand on her shoulder, which he could feel shaking slightly, and she stirred a bit before he settled the little bear into her arms.

Relena gasped and sat halfway up, staring at her bear before turning and blinking up at Heero with eyes red and puffy from crying. "Where–?"

He gave an almost-smile, replying, "Under my bed. Now sleep." He placed a comforting hand on her head before turning and flicking off most of the lights, leaving a small lamp by his bed while he went to the bathroom to change. When he got out, he climbed into his own bed and plunged the room into darkness.

Relena listened as his breathing steadied in the room, noting happily that he did not snore like her brother, and hugged her bear closer, cuddling down into her own bed, content for the first time in weeks as she drifted off into exhausted slumber.