Oh my loyal readers I am so sorry about how long this update took and I'm not going to make any promises about the next chapter. I'm hoping it will come sooner I just don't want to disappoint any of you! But you have no clue how excited I am to get this chapter uploaded. I really really hope you all like it!

Well on with the story!

Chapter 6: And so it begins…

Fooled Myself

There was a large crash outside and a tumbling. Relena could hear a distraught Duo crying "Baby, I'm sorry I'll never do it again!" She took in a deep breath and rolled over to look at the clock. 10:30. Relena slowly stretched and then recoiled herself into a ball pulling the blankets around her. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept in so late or felt so relaxed. But the day was beautiful and if she didn't get ready right then she knew she would stay in bed all day. And besides if she stayed in her room today she wouldn't-

There was a knock at her door, "Relena, You awake?"

"Yea Hilde, come in." Slowly Hilde poked her head into Relena's room. "Goodness I didn't think that you'd ever wake up! Well the boys have left and we have some wedding dress shopping to do!" Relena smiled.

"So we have the whole wedding to plan…in 2 weeks? That is so like you Hilde." She groaned and bundled up back in the covers.

"Sure is. Now hurry up and go shower." Hilde threw a towel which landed right in Relena's face. She muttered a 'yea yea' as she walked toward the bathroom.

Duo was busy chatting away as the two young men began down the road on their own little shopping trek; Although Heero barely heard a word that was said. He had put his head on the window and enjoyed the scenery as it passed. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, even Heero couldn't deny that. As they drove he noticed a pleasant grove of trees in which he made a special note to visit later on that day when all this wedding business was done. He sighed and leaned his head back on the chair, closing his eyes.

Duo noticed this and felt concerned, "Heero? You all right man? You've been acting different ever since you got here." Duo really had noticed a big change in his friend over the years. After the war Heero had become almost (dare he say?) pleasant, nice, and occasionally fun. Everyone always said how they felt like the old Heero had died with the war. But ever since he had got to Duo's house he felt a little of the old Heero come back. He was quiet and distant. 'Wonder what the trouble could be...' Duo smiled to himself having a pretty good idea.

Heero with his eyes still closed just gave a simple grunt and that was Duo's sign to drop the topic and change it or even better stop talking.

Duo responded "All right you can have your way for now at least. But I warn you Yuy, I don't give up that easily. MWHAHAHA!"

At this Heero lifted up his head slightly and stared at Duo for a moment. Duo just continued his evil laugh and Heero rested his head once more.

While Relena was continuing to get ready in her room her cell phone rang. Stumbling over the mess she had made on her floor she managed to answer it just in time.

"Hello, this is Relena."

"Oh my love how I miss you!"

"Scott! I miss you too!"

"I don't have much time I just wanted to tell you that I love you, worship you, adore you, cherish you-"

Relena smiled to herself, "All right Scott I get the point. I love you too."

"Truly Relena, I do."

Relena knew this. Scott was never one to hold back his emotions. How she loved him too.

"So I will talk to you later?"

"I hope so Scott. I'll wait for your call!" And gently she set down the receiver. One week until Scott would be there with her. How much better she would then feel to have him.

Just then Hilde barged into her room, "Thank goodness you're ready! We need to go!" She grabbed Relena's hand and dragged her out of the room and into the car.

"What? No breakfast?"

"We'll stop somewhere on the way! Hello I'm the soon to be bride, stop being selfish Relena! We've got lots to do today!"

"Yea yea!"

"So how do you feel about this tux?" Duo looked at his best man lounging in a chair. Heero looked at Duo with distaste. The tuxedo was all white with a penguin tail, a hat, and a cane. "Honestly I hate it. A lot."

"Really, I thought it brought out my eyes." Duo claimed as he continued to turn in the mirror.

"White doesn't bring out anyone's eyes. And it drains your face."

"Oh, so cruel to me!"

Heero stood up from his chair and walked around the store a little more. "You should just do what I said and get a suit. They look better."

"Heck no!" He called out from the dressing room. "Hilde wants this wedding to be as traditional as traditional can get. She wants me in a tux!" He stepped out of the room and went towards Heero. "It's been a long day. You wanna stop somewhere for lunch or something."

Heero gave a light grunt which Duo took as a yes.

Hilde and Relena were quite busy themselves. Well more Hilde. Relena played the same role of Heero. She just gave her yes' and no's. And after the hundreds of wedding dresses that Hilde had tried on, and all the no's that Relena responded to them; Hilde was finally wearing a "yes" dress. And it was indeed a very beautiful dress. Very simple to the point of elegance. It was strapless with a light sequence bordering the top. With layers and layers of skirt. Hilde looked stunning in it.

"Yes I like it a lot too Relena, I think that this is the one." Right as she said it she turned to face Relena. As she did it she saw two very familiar men walking down the street outside the store. Hilde's face went pale. "RELENA IT'S DUO! DON'T LET HIM SEE ME IN MY DRESS!" She screamed as she ran into her dressing room leaving Relena alone. Relena was quite confused about what had just happened; she didn't see anyone. She began to turn to walk toward the dressing room when she heard a knock on the outside window. And there, behold, was Duo. Waving and motioning for Relena to go outside to him.

Relena waved back, smiling, and called out to Hilde. "Yep, he's out there all right, I'll be back." And as she walked out of the store she could hear Hilde's complaints. "He didn't see me right? Relena ask if he saw the dress. Relena!"

Right as she closed the door behind her the long braided Duo was there to greet her. "Ah Relena you look beautiful. It's been such a long time! Well I mean I saw you yesterday but you know…just for a while."

Relena smiled softly. "I know what you mean. You didn't happen to see Hilde in there right Duo?"

He just merely smiled and turned his back, "It'll be our little secret."

"Ohhh Duo! You saw?"

"Ahhh who cares about silly dresses anyway. But listen Heero went on ahead of me to a little restaurant for lunch. Do you and Hilde want to join us?"

"Will you hold on while I ask her?" Inside the store Hilde had moved to a different mirror (one that couldn't be seen from outside) and was trying on yet another dress. "Hilde! What are you doing? I thought we found "the dress"."

"Oh I know Duo saw it. So I just have to find a different one."

"Well your fiancé wants to know if we want to go out to lunch with him right now."

"You go on ahead and I will join with you later." Without looking at Relena she added, "There are like 10 more dresses that I want to try on."

Relena went back outside to where Duo was, "Let's go."

Duo just shrugged his shoulders and started to lead Relena to the restaurant.

As they walked along Relena was finally able to notice how beautiful everything truly was here. And not just the trees and shrubbery, as lovely and fresh as it all was. But Relena was much more intrigued by the beauty of the people. They were so at peace and they loved each other. She could tell as she walked by and heard their conversations. It had been a while since she could walk among strangers like this. And see some of the outcome of her work as well as the Gundam pilots. Together they had been able to help these people achieve this peace. This harmony. This life without war.

Relena looked at Duo and noticed the serene look on his face as well. "What are you thinking of Duo?"

"Hn?" He looked to her. "Oh not much. I'm just pretty lucky."

Relena smiled at him, "Yes, you are."

"So you think I'm lucky, right? Like, life is good for me?"

She suddenly felt very confused. "Yes Duo, I think that your life is a pretty good one. Especially after everything that you've been through. You have a home, a good job, a wonderful soon to be wife-"

"Yea, you're right, you're right."

"Is something wrong Duo?" She stopped walking and looked at Duo very seriously. He walked on a couple more paces and stopped with a sigh. Slowly he turned around to face Relena.

"I think so. I don't know how to express what I feel Rel. I don't know if I'm ready. Ya know?"

She looked down at her feet and then up at him again. Gently she placed a reassuring hand on his arm. "Duo, you'll be ready. Don't worry."

He then broke their eye contact and looked away, "Yea. So let's go get that something to eat!" His frown quickly changed into Duo's normal smile, he held out his elbow hinting to Relena to latch onto it. She did so and the happy friends made their way down to the restaurant where He was waiting for them.

Heero was never known to be an impatient man. In fact he had the patience that could be compared to a cat. He could wait hours, days, or months before becoming impatient. And so this behavior of his was not normal at all. He felt annoyed that it was taking Duo, Hilde, and Relena so long to come and join him. Mostly Relena but he would never admit to that. Not vocally at least. He was continually checking his watch, tapping on the table, looking out the window, and then checking his watch again. Until finally he saw Duo and Relena walking around the corner with arms in one another's. 'I wonder where Hilde is.' Duo and Relena looked around for Heero until they spotted him. Duo put his hand on Relena'a back and led her first to the table. Relena unfortunately was blushing profusely; she just hoped that Heero wouldn't be able to tell.

Heero quickly stood up and pulled out Relena's chair. She gave him a shy smile and sat down. Heero and Duo then took their seats on either side of her. And then there was silence. And what an awkward silence it was.

Heero cleared his throat and came up with the only thing he could, "Where's Hilde?"

Duo who had been playing with his napkin was brought back to his friend "Hm? Oh she's still trying on dresses. You know, women."

Relena just simply rolled her eyes. She always tried to stay out of "women" discussions because she always got a little too passionate and made a fool out of herself trying to stick up for her sex. Again there was silence.

Duo looked from one of his friends to the other. 'Maybe it's me.' "Well guys I'm going to use the little boy's room, I might be a while, ya know." He got up from the table and walked in the opposite direction of the bathroom altogether. But neither of them noticed because neither of them raised their eyes from the table.

Another moment had gone by and Relena decided that she was not going to let her vacation be like this. She and Heero had been great friends. She desperately wanted it to be that way now. 'Here goes nothing…'

When she began she wouldn't raise her eyes, so she looked down at her hands that were clasped together on the table, "So Heero," she took and deep breath and managed to look him in the eyes, "It's been a while, how are you?"

He had been looking at her the whole time. He could barely take his eyes away from her. "I'm fine Relena, thank-you." How she trembled when their eyes met. She had to break away, "I'm glad to hear that Heero, I've missed you."

Heero's head jerked when he heard this. 'She missed me?'

"I've…missed you too. So you still dating that Scott guy?" Still he held his steady gaze.

Relena turned to him with a shocked look on her face. "Did I tell you about him?" At Heero's nod she gave a quiet, "Oh…" then built up her courage to say, "Yes we are still going out. It's been almost 2 years!" she definitely felt awkward talking about dating with Heero, but still she was curious. "So Heero, are you dating anyone?"

"No."

"Oh. Anyone, ever?"

Heero laughed under his breath, 'She's curious? That's a good sign.' "Well Relena at one point I was dating a girl for a few months, but it never worked out from our first date."

Relena laughed quietly with him, "I know how that is." She put her head on her elbow and looked at Heero with a gentle smile on her face. "You've changed Heero, and yet you really haven't at all."

He returned the tender smile and was about to respond when he saw Duo and Hilde walking through the door with one another. Relena broke out of her daze and noticed the couple walking in as well. She cleared her throat and waited for them to hurry and sit down.

Duo pulled out Hilde's chair and what she meant to announce to Heero and Relena she announced to the whole restaurant when she claimed "I found it! I have found the perfect wedding dress!" Around the room she could hear congratulations and quiet clapping. So she could only think of the polite thing to do, she stood up and bowed. Duo, who rarely gets embarrassed, put his face in his hand and muttered so only Heero and Relena could hear, "Please, tell me when she's done." Relena looked at the soon-to-be bride who was still standing beaming with joy. But as soon as the 'cheers' died down Hilde sat down and laughed. Relena laughed with her, it had been such a long time since she had seen her best friend so care free and happy. That reminded her of Duo who now had Hilde's hand in his own. They were smiling at one another. Relena glanced at Heero who was glancing at her as well. They held the gaze for a moment and looked away in sudden embarrassment.

Soon the waitress came and took their orders. 'Good thing' Relena though to herself, 'It's so much easier to eat than it is to talk!'

"Ahhhhh! What a delicious meal! That ought to hold me over till dinner!" Relena was always astounded by Duo's appetite, here she had barely eaten half her plate and she couldn't imagine looking at food for the rest of the day!

"So my love, what shall we do now?"

"Well Duo I thought that Relena and I would do a little more shopping!"

"More shopping? C'mon, you are going to bore Relena out of her mind! She's your maid of honor not you wedding planner!"

"I never said she was!" Hilde managed to say through her gritted teeth. "What do you know? Relena loves to do this sort of thing, don't you Relena?" They both turned an angry gaze at Relena. Oh how she hated confrontation with friends.

"I…well…I am a little tired of shopping." She gulped and expected the worse but instead received the opposite.

"Well, why didn't you say anything? Oh goodness, what a horrible friend I've been. Ok forget the shopping we can do whatever you want for the rest of today." While Hilde talked Duo looked at Heero and whispered "I swear she's bipolar."

Hilde's face went through a transformation. Heero swore he saw steam from the ears, someone would have to intervene on this one or else it could get ugly.

"I'M BIPOLAR HUH? THEN REALLY DUO WHY MARRY ME! I MEAN-"

"I saw a really nice looking park when Duo and I were driving around this morning, we could go there and relax for a while."

Hilde turned to Heero now with an irritated look but thought it best not to yell at him. So instead she gave in. "Fine."

"Great! I'll go get the car."

Heero and Relena looked at each other with desperate looks each knowing what the other was thinking…it was going to be a long two weeks in more ways than one.

All right so what did you think? Please review as nicely or cruelly as you want. But please make sure that it's productive: ) Well I'm off until the next chapter! Thanks for sticking with me!

Fairleigh