Alphabet Soup

Chapter 6

Thank you guys very, very much for reviewing! It makes me feel so warm and fuzzy and loved! Um . . . standard disclaimers apply and everything like that, so enjoy! This chapter's a fuzz shorter than the other ones, but it's very significant to the story and is the whole reason I named this story "Alphabet Soup." Oh, and it's rather mushy. Enjoy!

Heero was puzzling Relena.

He had been behaving strangely the entire evening. Well, actually, he had been acting odd a bit longer than that. Of course, if one wanted to be particular like that, one could say Heero had never been normal. But he was acting odd for him. Relena shook her head, trying to regain her train of thought, which seemed to have suddenly jumped off its tracks as it always seemed to when she thought about Heero.

For the past few days, Heero had been uncharacteristically smiley and talkative around her ("smiley" as in maybe smiling at her once or twice a day, and "talkative" as in . . . well, saying something more than "Hn" whenever she spoke to him). Even odder still, Relena had noticed a few different times that Heero was acting somewhat . . . jumpy and nervous. Which was absurd. Heero Yuy was not a jumpy fellow. Ever. And he sure as hell never got nervous. So what was going on? Was he doing drugs? Had Duo been spiking his coffee? Relena just didn't know.

Heero was sitting quietly beside her, stirring his soup, and Alex, who was fast asleep between them, was cuddled up at his side. Heero was still stirring his soup. Stirring, stirring, stirring, and he occasionally took a small bite of soup, only to go back to fiddling around with the noodles.

Relena glanced at the clock. He had been doing that for the past five minutes.

Now she didn't know what to think, so Relena contented herself with eating her own soup. It had cooled down significantly since they had been sitting there, and she took a few bites now and then, but she really didn't have much of an appetite. Instead, she stared down at the noodle letters floating around in the orange liquid.

She nearly jumped when she felt Heero nudge her arm with his elbow a few seconds later.

"What?" she whispered, and he shook his head, looking down at the sleeping Alex between them in an indication that she should be quiet.

Relena nodded in understanding, bringing a finger to her lips.

Heero smirked at her, then he seemed to remember why he wanted to get her attention in the first place and jerked his head in the direction of his bowl.

Relena looked in his bowl. There, spelled out in alphabet noodles, was a simple message.

"HI RELENA"

Her eyes widened, and she began to smile. That was just so . . . cute. And uncharacteristic of Heero, sure. But still cute. She glanced into her own bowl, realized she had enough letters left to give him a message, and sent him a mischievous grin.

A few moments later, she held out her own bowl for him to see.

"HELLO HEERO"

Heero didn't smile, but there was an unmistakable gleam of amusement in those dark blue eyes of his. But when Relena flashed him a bright grin, his amusement seemed to fade, and his face was suddenly very serious. Tense, almost.

"What's wrong?" Relena mouthed the words.

Heero stared at her for a long, silent moment, his eyes intense, and then, as if making a very important decision, he took a deep breath and turned back to his soup. Relena blinked, confused, as she silently watched him stir his soup around and rearrange the letters, and she noticed that the fingers holding his spoon were clenched around the handle so tightly that they were pale. She blinked again, and, noticing her gaze, Heero raised his eyes to look at her. A small smile curved his lips, and he turned back to the soup. Relena noticed his fingers had relaxed. Turning away from Heero, she sighed softly, brow furrowed as she tried to work out why he was acting so strangely (indigestion?).

Heero's fingers brushed hesitantly against the skin of her arm seconds later, making her shiver involuntarily. She turned to look at him, eyebrows raised in a silent question, then Heero cleared his throat and looked down at his bowl of soup. Catching on, Relena followed his gaze.

What she saw made her heart leap into her throat.

"WILL YOU MARRY ME"

"Heero . . ." she breathed, turning to stare at him.

He brought a finger to his lips, jerking his head in the direction of the sleeping child nestled between them.

Relena could only stare at him. She felt moisture welling up in her eyes, stinging their corners and making her blink repeatedly. Of course, that caused the tears to fall, and she wiped them away embarrassedly.

She hadn't replied, and Heero was beginning to look nervous. He was staring at her intently, his expression tense and somewhat anxious.

Then Relena smiled widely at him. And nodded.

His eyebrows raised, and then Heero Yuy began to smile. It suddenly didn't matter to Relena that smiling was for unusual for him.

"Really?" Heero mouthed the words, not speaking out loud.

Relena nodded again, turning to her soup. She picked out two letters from the noodles left in her bowl and scooped them into her spoon, holding them out so Heero could see.

"OK"

Heero couldn't help it. Forgetting about Alex sleeping between them, he grabbed her chin in a hand and pulled her face to his, kissing her.

It wasn't by any stretch their first kiss, but it was the most heartfelt, passionate thing Relena had ever experienced. It was the kind of kiss she wanted to keep hidden away in a jewelry box so she could treasure it forever and show it to her children. Oh, God. Children. She so wanted to have children with this man. Heero Yuy. Her fiancé.

Her fiancé.

She could practically hear the "Hallelujah Chorus."

Heero and Relena were so involved in their . . . activities that they didn't notice Alex wink an eye open, yawning. He studied them for a moment before choosing to speak.

"I was right," he said sleepily. "Wasn' I, Uncle Heero?"

Heero and Relena froze at the sound of his voice. Then, quickly, they broke away, both rather pink in the face. Alex was watching them, tired-looking, his large violet eyes drooping.

"Are you gonna give her a ring?" he asked sleepily, rubbing at his eyes.

"Er . . . yeah," mumbled Heero, trying to maintain his cool and failing. "S-sorry, I was sidetracked . . ." He hurriedly fished around in his pockets a minute before pulling out a small, black velvet box. Glancing at Relena, who was still red, he opened the box and pulled the ring out.

"Heero," breathed Relena as he grabbed her left hand and slid the diamond ring onto her ring finger. She felt herself tearing up again. "Oh, my goodness . . ."

"Aunt Relena?" said Alex softly, sounding concerned. He blinked at the crying woman for a moment, then turned to Heero. "Uncle Heero, why's she crying?"

Heero opened his mouth to reply, but Relena responded instead, wiping at her eyes with her sleeve. "I'm crying because I'm happy, Alex," she replied with a watery smile. "I'm very, very happy."

"'Cause you're gonna marry Uncle Heero?"

"Yes, Alex."

"An' he'll be my uncle for real?"

"Yes, Alex."

"'Cause you like him a lot like he likes you?"

Relena let out a breathless sort of laugh, reaching out to squeeze Heero's hand. "Yes, Alex, I do."

Heero squeezed her hand in return, a tiny smile on his face.

Alex focused his sleepy gaze on him. "Can I tell Daddy?"

Heero glanced uneasily at Relena. He had forgotten about Zechs. He wondered if he should remove all firearms from the Merquise residence before Noin and Zechs returned. "Er . . . better not tell him just yet, Alex."

"Okay. When you gonna get married?" Alex asked curiously, still yawning and looking like he was about to drift back off to sleep any minute.

Heero shrugged, avoiding Relena's eyes suddenly. "I dunno . . ." he said quietly. "I was thinking maybe . . . in the Spring?"

The smile on Relena's face widened, which she didn't think was possible. "Sounds perfect," she whispered. "Spring."

Almost shyly, Heero raised his eyes to meet hers, and Relena just had to kiss him again.

Alex didn't seem to mind; he merely slumped back on the couch cushions and closed his eyes. "G'night," he yawned, a smile on his face.

They didn't answer.

It wouldn't be until a quite a few minutes later when Alex was asleep and Relena and Heero were thoroughly wrapped up in each other that all hell would break loose.

Bum-bum-BUM!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why this fic fits the "romance" genre along with the "humor." I think I need to visit the dentist because I'm sure I have cavities now. Was that too sweet and mushy? I've realized while writing this fic that it is very difficult to keep Heero in character when writing these types of stories. And a proposal written out in noodle alphabets may have been a little over the top . . . but what the hell, it was fun! And I realize that the messages they wrote with their noodles were not grammatically correct, but have you ever seen a noodle comma or a noodle period or a noodle question mark in alphabet soup? I didn't think so. They don't call it "grammar soup," you know. Hee-hee.
Stay tuned! One chapter and an epilogue to go! . . . I just have to write them first.