AN: My apologies for the extensive delay; I was out of town for a week. But I also received a review from Pilot Zero that reminded me not to "lose the plot" in my efforts to churn out chapters quickly. It made a lot of sense; I owe it to you my readers to make every chapter good, so I should not sacrifice content to speed. Thank you, Pilot Zero. Just for that note, even though we do not know each other, I feel like you are not only encouraging me but also watching over my writing and helping me to improve as a writer. And that is only with the second chapter out. I can't wait to see how I can make the story better as I put out more chapters.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.
"Relena, when are you going to give us the grand tour?" asked Dorothy, as they made their way toward the guests' wing of the mansion. "This place is huge!"
"Must get lonely without us around to keep you company, huh," joked Duo as he walked with his arms behind his head, neck craning to take in the architectural detail of the ceiling. Quatre walked beside him, also admiring the beauty of the structure. Behind them strolled Trowa and Wufei, and even farther behind, Heero, eyes glancing left and right, noting the exits and entrances, scanning for surveillance cameras and sensors. His training had never left him.
Making a turn, Relena paused before a short hall. There were five doors on the left and four on the right. "Here we are," said Relena."All furnished with double beds, desks and chairs, secure wireless internet, dressers, full baths," she listed as she stepped around opening all nine doors. "Take your pick."
"DIBS!" yelled Duo, shooting a hand into the air like a first-grader and running to the front of the crowd.
"On what!" groaned an exasperated Hilde.
"The best room, of course!"
"Don't insult Relena! They're all great rooms!"
"Fine then, be that way..." Then his eyes lit up. "Better yet, be my roomie!"
"What?" Hilde looked at him as if he were crazy.
"Come on, I've got your luggage. It almost killed me, lugging it all this way; I'm not about to drag it into another room."
"You're crazy. There are more than enough rooms for all of us."
"Come on! It'll be fun!"
"No way, Duo. That would be improper."
"Aw, you're such a party-pooper."
While they had been arguing, the other six guests had all moved to claim their rooms. Heero picked the one closest to the front of the hall, for the quickest access to the rest of the mansion. Wufei retreated to the last room in the line. Sally, Trowa, Quatre, and Dorothy, too, had all taken the rooms across the hall. Duo turned to the nearest room, but just as he had reached the door, Heero stepped into the doorway to block his path and glared at him.
"HEY!" Duo cried, "That's MY room!"
"Wrong," replied Heero, a hint of annoyance in his voice, "Yours is over there... very far away."
"Can you believe this guy?" Duo demanded of his girlfriend, but she wasn't behind him anymore. "Hilde?" He turned a full circle and realized he was the only one left standing in the hall. A few steps away, Relena stood with hands clasped neatly in front of her, giggling a little at her loud American friend.
"There are still two rooms left," she told him smilingly.
Duo looked from one door to the other. Suddenly his sullen, pouting expression lit up in a luminous, wicked smile. The room next to Wufei's had not yet been taken.
-----
When all her guests had settled in – the necessary communications links to Preventers headquarters set up, the hurricane of unpacking summer dresses and piecing together outfits settled, and the obligatory showing up in and being kicked out of Wufei's quarters completed by Duo – Relena led the way to the dining room.
It was a bright and cheery room; one whole wall was made of glass, allowing daylight to stream unimpeded into the room and affording a stunning view of the extensive and exquisite rose garden. Pagan, in all his sensibility, had already set the table for nine.
Heero, once again, had fallen to the back of the crowd. As they all filed around the table and selected their seats, Quatre, Wufei, and Duo had stopped to pull out the seats for their girlfriends. Quatre's a good influence on Duo and Wufei. Relena mused smilingly as she watched the scene before her. Quatre's impeccable manners and chivalrous courtesy has never failed to rub off onto everyone he meets... even the incorrigible Duo. When she turned to take her own seat at the head of the table, she felt a figure nearby and turned. Surprisingly, it was Trowa who stood behind her, hands on the back of her chair. He smiled softly at her and pulled it out for her. Relena blinked twice, slightly surprised, but she smiled graciously and thanked him before taking the seat. She watched him walk a few steps to the empty seat on Quatre's other side and lower himself gracefully into it, and while doing so, missed the dark scowl on Heero's face.
Heero noticed that she did not look at him at all, and mentally kicked himself. You didn't have to get her seat for her. It's not like you're her boyfriend. In fact, you don't have to do anything for her at all. Just keep staying out of her way like you've been doing for the last three years. He watched her watch Trowa sit down, noting that all the while she had not glanced at him. She doesn't even care anymore. She barely even knows you're alive. His mind continued to hiss at him, and he turned his head to look passively out the glass wall.
Relena turned her eyes to Heero and saw him staring at nothing. What did you expect? He hasn't been around for four years, he's not about to pull out your chair. He doesn't feel anything for you anymore, so why do you still think about him? Remember what you said. "I know."
"What did you say?" Inquired Dorothy from her left side.
Had I spoken aloud? "Nothing," Relena smiled her politician's smile. Dorothy looked at her askance, astutely suspecting something was up, but Relena was saved from having to explain herself by the arrival of Pagan bearing coffee, orange juice, and one glass of water. The water he set down in front of Relena; it was her customary drink at almost every meal. He then gave a glass of juice to everyone else at the table. Finally, he poured coffee to those who would take it. Quatre thanked him politely and began to add the proper amount of cream and sugar to his mug. Trowa, Wufei, and Heero had all nodded their thanks and drank their coffees black. Duo, having thumped the old butler soundly on the back (and earning a strangely twisted but undoubtedly amused look from the assaulted man), proceeded to empty the contents of the sugar bowl happily into his drink. Sally, too, had asked for a cup, and, watching Wufei drinking his, took a tentative sip of the dark, unsweetened liquid. She managed to curb the small choking sound while it was still in her throat, but her expression had not gone unnoticed by Wufei, who smirked with the air of one supremely pleased with himself.
"Don't try that again, Onna," he called to her, "If you can't handle a little coffee, just drink your juice instead."
"It's SALLY, not 'Onna'," she addressed him, "And the coffee is delicious, thank you very much." And with that, she tipped the cup and drained it all in one gulp, drawing a cocked eyebrow to accompany that self-satisfied smirk.
"That's the spirit!" yelled Hilde, "You show him! Hey Duo, lemme see your coffee. I've got to support Sally in her quest to put Wufei in his place."
"Sure thing, Babe." He passed her the cup.
"Cheers," said Hilde, raising the mug to Sally and then to Wufei across the table, and took a mouthful. Before she could even take the mug away from her lips, Hilde's eyes went wide with shock. She clasped both hands tightly over her mouth and made a screaming noise, but she couldn't open her mouth without spitting Duo's sugar-saturated coffee out. Forced to keep the offensively sweet liquid in her mouth, her eyes began to water.
"H-Hilde?" Duo ventured tentatively, "Are... are you OK?" He peered into his coffee and couldn't for the life of him figure out what was wrong with it. It was perfectly good coffee.
Hilde glared at him with red, teary eyes. Then, needing to yell at him more than being disgusted by his coffee, Hilde squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed. She clutched her shirt right above her heart and took several breaths of air, face still twisted in a grimace. Then she rounded on her boyfriend.
"You idiot!" These two words began a torrent of passionate yellings. "What were you thinking? You almost KILLED me! Who in the world takes their coffee with twice its volume in sugar?"
Duo tried to raise his napkin between himself and his fiery girlfriend to block some of her wrath, but to no avail. Hilde simply tore the square white cloth from his pinched thumbs and index fingers and continued on, undaunted. A moment later, Dorothy joined in on the fun, on Hilde's side of course, and Duo was seriously beginning to look as if he might start crying. Presently, Quatre entered the fray trying to calm things down, but he did not have much luck against the determination of the wronged of the female sex. Soon, the whole table was in an uproar. From the other end, Wufei had gladly taken the opportunity at this time to take up some of his irritation with the American pilot regarding a few totally unrelated issues. Even Trowa had contributed to the din with the whole entire sentence, "This is very amusing."
In all the chaos, they did not notice it when Pagan entered again, this time carrying a large silver tray laden with sliced sponge cake, croissants, toast, and other assorted pastries arranged in concentric circles around a pile of fresh fruit. He had frozen midstep, unsure of how to proceed to announce his presence, but fortunately Relena saw him and rose to take the platter from his hand. She stumbled a little with the hefty burden, and was shocked to suddenly notice Heero at her side. He offered to take the large plate, but she thanked him and turned him down without meeting his eyes, saying only, "I can manage." She carried the heavy tray over to the table and set it down in the middle. "May these gifts appease you all."
Surely enough, the yelling stopped at the sight of the delicious-looking food. Duo snatched a piece of sponge cake before Hilde could reach for one, and presented it to her. "A peace offering," he said, grinning apologetically.
Hilde sighed heavily and finally snatched the fluffy yellow cake from his palm. "I hate how I can never stay mad at you." Duo winked at her.
The rest of breakfast was carried out in a markedly more civilized manner. As the food supply dwindled, Dorothy spoke up.
"Relena, do you have any plans for the rest of today?"
The Vice-Foreign Minister took a moment to think about it. "No, not really. There's a meeting for the generator funding for the colonies tomorrow, but I've already prepared my notes last night."
"Great. Because we're going to help you finish planning your party. And when the paperwork is passed, we're going shopping for your dress." At the mention of the word, the other two girls both voiced their enthusiastic consent.
"All right," Relena gave in with a smile. She could never deny anything that gave her friends such excitement and joy. Then, turning to the former pilots, "Forgive me, but it seems I will be occupied for the remainder of the day. You have free run of the house and use of its various forms of transportation, and Pagan and the rest of the housekeeping staff will be at your service. I trust you all to take care of yourselves?" They nodded. "And Duo–"
"Yah Phrinss?" was the noise that came from a mouth stuffed with cake.
"Stay out of trouble."
When the table had been cleared and the girls had taken their leave (after Hilde thwarted Duo's attempt to stuff the three last pieces of cake into his pocket "to save for later," as he had explained), Trowa spoke up.
"I received a new message from Une before breakfast."
The mood of the room became very serious in a split-second. They all knew this could only mean bad news, if all five of them had to be informed of the one development.
-----
Back in Trowa's room, where the pilots had gathered around his chair, staring intently at his laptop screen, Quatre asked, "It's about Relena, isn't it? What is it?"
In response, Trowa called up the message and displayed it for everyone to read.
07:18:54
Attention Gundam Pilots:
Obtained first information on new terrorist group.
Faction name: Baal
Faction size: Unknown.
Leader: Unknown
Location: Earth.
Objective: Take control of the political scene. Possibly will use influence to start another war. Large-scale weaponry and substantial arms detected and prepared for use.
Target: Relena Peacecraft.
They all looked at each other. Relena had given each of them way too much; they would protect her and her peace at all costs.
"Mission accepted."
AN: The next chapter will mark the formal start of the Heero and Relena content, and subsequently, the more serious, angsty mood. I'm not sure, but I think the rating might go up in two or three chapters. At any rate, I'll definitely let you know before it does. Support and advice are greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!