Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing

Chapter 7: The Rose

"Can you please tell me, why I had to bring a rose to school today?" asked Trowa as he headed towards Duo and Hilde who was awaiting him in front of Relena's locker.

"Have you ever worked for a girl, Barton" Hilde was dumbfounded. For a player didn't know anything about wooing a girl. "What better way to say you're interested than giving a girl a flower."

"Do I need to leave a card" This whole How to Get a Girl 101 was really confusing and hard work. After he enlighten them with his intentions, Hilde basically jumped him and started spouting out ideas. The girl wouldn't shut up about how great he was that he was doing this for his friend, after calling him every name on the book about playing with women's emotions about five minutes ago.

"No, you don't need a card" Duo added, interrupting what Hilde was about to say. "Relena doesn't need to know that you're actually interested. We're only trying to goad Heero, right? So, Heero will know who's it from. We just have to make sure that Heero knows Relena received a rose from a secret admirer." Trowa appeared reliable enough when he was talking about helping out Heero, but something still smelled fishy. Duo wasn't very knowledgeable about Heero and Trowa's friendship, but he was going to make sure that Trowa didn't get too close to Trowa. From what he had seen, Trowa knew nothing about girls and he wasn't going to risk Relena being hurt, even accidentally, because of Trowa's ignorance.

Hilde beamed at hearing this, "That's a great idea. I didn't even think of that."

"Whatever," Trowa said with a look of bored. "Let's just do what you have in mind. I have someone to meet before class starts."

"You gotta be kidding me?" Hilde looked unimpressed as she opened Relena's locker. "You're suppose to make it look like you're interested in Relena, you can't do that when you're making out with someone else behind her back."

"Don't worry about it, I'll keep it on the down low. She won't know about it. Besides, I'm not really into her."

"Hey, what's wrong with my friend?" Hilde asked defensively. She might not want Trowa dating her, but he didn't need to downplay Relena. Relena was a nice and smart girl, and a guy would be lucky to date her. Trowa should be showing her more respect and not act like it's such a difficult chore to act like he's interested in Relena.

"Hey, hey, that's not what I meat," Trowa blurted out as he noticed the angry looks Hilde was giving him. "It's just I already labeled her as Heero's girl from the start and I don't go after Heero's girl. I do have morals you know."

"Oh" Hilde was awed by Trowa's confession. It looked like that Trowa had some values after all and friendship was something that he relished. 'Maybe there's more to Trowa than I originally believed.'

"Of course, I have no qualms about stealing anyone else's girl." Trowa added with a smirk on his face. "I just won't steal Heero's."

Hilde shook her head at that comment, 'I guess I was right all along.'

"Fine, fine, do what you got to do, Tro" Duo interjected, "as long as you act like you're interested when Heero and Relena's around. And, try to not make it as obvious as before."

A silver Mercedes was rolling along the suburban street of Autumn Hills and inside there was a blonde girl wearing blue jeans and a white a white V-neck shirt laughing maniacally in the passenger seat.

"I am being serious here," a boy adorned in blue jeans and a blue long-sleeve shirt said annoyed at the laughter coming from the other person in his car. "I'm warning you about Trowa here and all you can do is laugh."

"I'm sorry" really said out of breath, as a couple of tears seeped from her eyes from the laughing attack she was experiencing. "I know you're being serious, but you don't think this is funny, even only a little bit."

"No, do you know what happens between Trowa and a girl?" Heero asked stiffly. He was slightly irritated that Relena wasn't taking him seriously and unconcerned about Trowa.

"Exactly!" Heero gave her a confused look. "Trowa looks for girls that are willing to give him something. He knows who those girls are because they blatantly offer it to him. Come on, look at me, Heero."

Heero gave her a quick glance, taking his eye off the road. "Trowa knows that I won't give him anything. So, Trowa can't possibly be interested at me, don't you see?"

"I was there when he said it, Relena. He said he wanted, you. It doesn't matter that you're not the type of girl that he's use to dating, he said what he said. I didn't understand it myself. I still don't understand it. Maybe he wants a challenge or maybe it's all a game. I don't know. All I know is that he's after you."

"So what?" Relena asked quietly as she was trying to swallow all the things Heero had just said.

"What do you mean so what?" Heero exclaimed looking at her like she had just grown a second head.

"Trowa likes me" Relena explained. "So what? I mean it's not like I'm interested. I don't even know him at all. Plus, I'm pretty sure he's a little bit too fast for me. It's not gonna go anywhere. He'll get bored of me within the week and be making out with some other blonde chick in an empty classroom."

"It's just . . ." Heero started to say something, but he didn't know what to say. He had no idea how to argue Relena's point. She was most likely right. However, he still did not feel right about all this. He was uncomfortable about Trowa liking Relena. Everything just felt wrong.

The ride to school remained quiet after that. Neither of them knew what to say anymore.

"Is that who I think it is?" Sylvia asked astonished as she pulled up in the parking lot. A couple of cars away was Relena coming out of Heero's car. She had to blink a couple of times to make sure what she was seeing was correct.

"Yeah, it's Relena" Dorothy droned out as she looked on at the new girl.

"What is she doing with him?" Sylvia asked furiously. "I didn't even know that they knew each other."

"Well, I guess they do."

"So this whole driving me to school thing was because of Trowa?" Relena asked while they walked to Relena's locker.

"Well, I guess part of it is." Heero confessed, giving her his 100-watt smile. From his mother, he knew that women get mad at the most trifle things and it seemed like this was something that a woman would get mad at.

Relena laughed at Heero's pathetic look and his unnecessary over-protectiveness.

"You've been doing a lot of that lately." Heero was getting extremely annoyed by all her laughing. He decided that it her laughter wasn't so amazing when she was laughing at him.

"I'm sorry what did you expect to happen. Trowa would pull up my driveway as I come out of my house. He'll say something charming and I'll jump into his car. Then, we'll drive off into the "sunrise" and live happily ever after."

"I don't like it when you're sarcastic." Relena just continued to laugh as she opened her locker.

"Oh my gosh," she beamed. In her locker was a single full-bloom red rose. "It's a rose."

"Trowa." Heero grumbled. He couldn't believe it. Trowa actually gave a girl something and a rose for that matter. 'What the hell is he trying to do.'

"Trowa, what do you mean?" She looked over her locker, "there's no card. It could be from anyone."

"There's a rose garden in Trowa's yard. That definitely came from his backyard." He watched as Relena smelled the rose and the obvious happiness she felt at receiving the rose. He felt a twinge of sadness of the possibility that he may loose Relena to Trowa and Trowa might be able to charm his way into Relena's heart. However, the sadness was outweigh by the anger he felt at this moment for Trowa. "Yeah, and you aren't the type of girl to fall for his charm." His voice was a mixed of anger and annoyance. He was getting irritated at how happy she was with the rose, even though she knew it was from Trowa.

"I don't care who the rose is from," she blurted, glaring at Heero. "I'm just ecstatic about receiving a rose from someone. It might be from Trowa; but even if it was from the captain of the chess team, I would still be acting the same way. It doesn't even have to be a rose. I would've been ecstatic to find someone left me some dandelions."

Relena understood why Heero wouldn't want her to go out with Trowa. He was worried about her and his over-protectiveness was cute. At first, Relena was flattered. However, now he was beginning to be mean about it and taking it out on her. He almost sounded like he was insulting here. 'I'm entitled to be happy about this. What girl wouldn't gush over getting a rose and having some sort of secret admirer. I guess it's no longer a secret admirer.'

Heero took the glare and the malice behind her voice into account. 'I took this too far.'

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I guess I got a bit worried that you would soften up to Trowa. Especially now that he's given you a rose and all."

"Heero," Relena said softly as she looked straight into his eyes. "There is nothing Trowa could do or give me that could make fall for him."

"Oooh, a rose!" Catherine cooed as she approached Hilde and Relena. Everyday between second and third period, the three girls would meet up on the benches located behind the cafeteria. It was the perfect location since it was near-by their next class. They would spend their five-minute break to discuss the tedious school mornings. "Where did the rose come from?"

"Apparently, Trowa."

"Trowa?" Catherine blurted, she was beyond shock. She didn't think Trowa was capable of doing anything close to romantic. He was the do 'em and leave 'em kinda guy. She looked at the rose suspiciously and gave Relena and Hilde a confused look.

"I found it in my locker," explained Relena. "Heero told me it was from Trowa since Trowa has some sort of rose garden in his house. There was no card or anything, but Heero was very adamant about it."

"Oh, okay." Catherine was still very suspicious about it, but the explanation appeared decent enough. "So, Trowa, huh Relena."

"Are you encouraging this?" Hilde exclaimed, glaring daggers at Catherine. She didn't need someone encouraging Relena about Trowa; especially since Trowa was going to pretend to be interested for awhile.

"No." She looked at Hilde like she was crazy. "Why would I encourage Relena or anyone for that matter to get involve with Trowa Barton. I was just teasing. Calm down, Hil."

"I'm sorry," Hilde conceded, she did kind of overreact.

"We both know Rel. She would never be interested in a guy like Trowa. I was only teasing her."

"Okay, can we stop this now?" Relena whined. She was really getting annoyed by all this talk about Trowa. That's all she's been hearing all morning. "I'm sick and tired of this conversation. We're all in the consensus that I'm not going to fall for Trowa, even though he gave me a rose. So let's drop it."

"So, I'm guessing your sick of this subject." Catherine was laughing inside at the irritated expression that adorned Relena's face. 'She must really be sick of this subject.'

"So, homecoming is right around the corner." Hilde changed the subject, hoping that she can get Relena to show some interest in going with Heero. Heero and Relena got along great. Trowa was correct when he said that Heero had never really paid any kind of attention to any girls before Relena. Heero would always acknowledge Relena in the hallway with a nod or something. Relena had no qualms about going up to Heero and striking up a conversation. What's even more amazing is that Heero didn't seem to be annoyed by it like he usually is when other girls would come up to him. There was something there between the two, but Relena had never made any indication that she wanted it to go further besides admitting that she thought he was cute before she had even talked to the guy. Hilde wanted Relena to make some sort of indication that she was interested in Heero. Trowa was convinced that Heero liked Relena. Hilde just didn't have the same convictions. Maybe she could get Relena to declare that she's interested in going to homecoming and hopefully she's interested in going with Heero.

"About that. I have a small predicament."

"What do you mean?" Catherine inquired.

"I need a date for homecoming."

"Okay, so do I." Catherine didn't know what the big deal was. Half the school needed a date for homecoming. Why did Relena seem troubled by it all?

"No, it's not like that." Relena clarified. "There's this guy that is interested in my mother, but she will only date him if I go to homecoming with a date."

"Then go with Quatre," Catherine said a matter-of-factly. Whoever didn't have a date between the girls would always bring Quatre. Quatre was their life saver. He was the perfect date – he dresses well, he can dance, he's a gentleman, and he'd never make a move on you.

"She specified straight guy," Relena sighed. Only her mother would specify a straight guy.

"Really." Catherine was surprised that the deal was the specific. "Ummm. Who else is out there?"

"I really want my mom to start dating again. I think it would really do her some good and help her get over the divorce."

"Oh, I got it." Catherine looked like a light bulb just went off in her head. "Why not take Duo. I mean I've seen you guys talk and he's a nice guy. I'm sure if you told him about it, he'd be happy to take you."

Hilde looked like she was about to kill someone. 'Out of all the guys in this school, she comes up with Duo!'

However, Hilde did not have time to voice her opposition to Catherine's suggestion because the bell had rung and they had to go their separate ways. Hilde's opposition did not go unnoticed, though. Relena noticed Hilde's expression dropped when Catherine had made the suggestion.

It was actually a very logical suggestion. She and Duo were friends. Catherine had often seen Duo teasing Relena or talking to her in the hallways. However, Relena wasn't going there. Hilde was more interested in Duo than she admitted, and Relena wasn't going to get in between that.

Relena was glad it was finally lunchtime. She really needed a break from those monotone teachers who thought that passing out worksheets was teaching. Her hand hurt from doing all those pointless worksheets. Really what was the point of copying down answers from the book. It wasn't even a challenge looking for the answers, all you had to do was read the heading.

By the end of third period, her stomach was growling. She didn't have enough time to eat breakfast since she had woken up half-an-hour late. She just finish changing when Heero pulled up into her driveway. It was very difficult for Relena to wake up in the morning. Therefore, she had her alarm clock and used her cell phone. However, that still wasn't enough and her mother usually ended up yelling at her to wake up.

The first thing she did when she realized that she was going to be late was started ranting at her mom. How could her mother forget to wake her up? However, that wasn't the case. Apparently her mother was yelling at her to wake up like she usually did. She had assumed that Relena got up after five minutes of yelling. It seem like that Relena was in deep sleep this morning.

As she entered the room cluttered with students and noises, all she could think about was the roast beef sandwich that her name on it. However, when she spotted her usual table, her hunger moved to the sideline. 'What is going on here?'

In her lunch table was the usual: Quatre, Hilde, Catherine, and Sally. However, they weren't alone. Trowa, Heero, Duo, and Wufei had decided to join their little table. 'What are they doing over there?'

Relena walked up to her usual table with a confused face, "What are you guys doing here?" She didn't even try to hide her confusion. Everyone knew this was a strange occurrence and there was no point in trying to pretend it wasn't peculiar.

She looked to Heero and then Duo for some sort of answer. However, they weren't any help. Heero had on his passive face, while Duo was trying to put up some innocent face.

So, she turned to Wufei who had on his trademark scowl. 'Not getting any answer over there.'

Trowa was the first one to speak up, "I just thought it was time for me to finally meet the new student. I just heard so many things about you and I wanted to finally get to know you for myself. So, I thought joining you for lunch was a nice idea."

"Okay," Relena said slowly. This was really strange. She took a seat next to Heero, which just happened to be the furthest seat from Trowa. Trowa was creeping her out. It wasn't just the gentleman-talk a minute ago, he was giving her weird looks. She wasn't scared or anything, it was just creepy.

Relena looked at her friends. Maybe they knew what is going on here. They just shrugged at her. So, she turned to her roast beef sandwich. However, she wasn't that hungry anymore and she ate her sandwich slowly. 'Thanks a lot Trowa. You just ruined a perfectly good sandwich and a hearty appetite.'

Everyone in the table decided that it was a good idea to concentrate on their food, and there was definitely a lack in the whole conversation department. Quatre was getting irritated by the silence. There was four fine guys in their table and nothing was happening. This is a once in a lifetime chance and it should be taken advantage of.

"So, do you fine boys have dates for homecoming." Quatre decided to give his sole attention to Trowa. He started batting his eyes at him. Trowa looked like he was about to run.

"Oh," Catherine cried scaring half the table. "Duo, do you have a date for homecoming."

Duo was about to answer no, but Hilde beat him to it.

"Yes, he does," Hilde said firmly.

Duo was confused, "I do." Catherine didn't hear the confusion in his voice and took his answer as a confirmation.

"Oh, then we have to find someone else to help you out Rel." Relena just wanted to go back to her bed and bury her head under her pillow. She didn't want to bring up her little dilemma like this, especially in front of everyone.

"What little dilemma?" Sally asked.

"Oh, she has to go to homecoming with a date so her mother would start dating," Catherine answered for Relena.

"That's no problem princess," Quatre said. "I'll be your date."

"Her mothered specified straight," Catherine answered.

"Oh, that's cruel." Quatre returned to his salad, thinking about his friend's dilemma. He started flipping through all the possible dates for Relena in his mind.

Relena looked at Catherine incredulously, 'I can talk for myself.' However, Catherine wasn't paying attention.

"Duo was my number one choice," Catherine began, "since you guys are friends and all. I've always thought that you were a nice guy and if we told you what was going on, I was sure that you'd help out. Since you have a date and all, I guess we're back to square one."

"Yeah," Duo gulped. 'Who was his date?' He was going to correct Catherine's assumption, but he decided not to when he saw the looks Hilde was giving him. She was silently telling him to play along or I'll break your leg.

'Wow, I couldn't ask for a better situation.' Trowa thought.

He made sure to catch Duo's attention before he spoke up, "Relena, If you . . ."

Trowa never finished since Heero decided to interrupt him, "Ill take you." He had caught Trowa's eye and he knew exactly what Trowa was going to do. If this was a normal situation, then Relena would have definitely refuse Trowa. However, she really needed a date to the dance and her friends were around. He was sure that Hilde would definitely against it, but Quatre and Catherine might convince her. The two of them were committed to getting her a date. Heero would not take the chance.

Everyone in the group was shock, except Relena. Relena just smiled at him and said, "Thank you."

An: So everyone this is Chapter 7. Hope you guys enjoyed reading it. And don't forget to review. I love all my reviewers.

Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter: GottaLoveIt, Remiera, Captain Stu, RayxJade . . .

Reignashii: I'm pretty sure this was only a typo (did I spell that right?), but I wanted to make sure anyways. You said you loved how kaoru and her mom interacted. I'm guessing you mean Relena?

CrimsonDragon010: Hope this one lifts up your mood. Yeah last chapter had a lot of personal feelings, I've been trying to build on the whole character development thing.

PureAngelEnchantress: Yup, Patrick and Elizabeth are Heero's parents. Relena's mom work for Heero's mom. I'm still trying to figure out how and when everyone figures this out.

Friend1004: Hopefully, this Chappy answered your question.

Kingdom Dreams: I'm glad that your group liked my story. I'm kinda curious about your group - what do you guys do and all? Don't worry, I'm sure there'll be more Duo/Hil and Heero/Rel moments in the future. There will be more Heero/Rel moments, though.

FluffieGirlie:Aww, this is your fave GW story. That's quite a compliment. I hope the stroy won't disappoint you when it finishes.

Miranda: Did you know that you're the first person to personally e-mail me a review. I just thought that you'd like to know that.