Warning: Unrepentant Relena bashing. Some 1x2 mentioned and a whole lot of silliness.
December 15th
Run Over
When the news hit Preventers there was shocked silence. And then Duo asked the question everyone had on their mind.
"Should we open up her gifts or send them back?"
Noin did her best to look appalled but Wufei and Trowa nodded solemnly. "Take them back."
It had been an accident they said. Relena had been touring a colony on Christmas Eve. Having been drinking eggnog at a benefit, she was quite inebriated. Drunk as a skunk, she staggered out into the snow-covered street, not realizing there was a Christmas parade in progress and was tragically run over by Santa's sleigh.
"Was it horses or actual reindeer?" Quatre asked. He was writing the obituary. Nobody was sure, but they thought it might have been horses.
"Tis a pity," He mused. "'Horse' just doesn't have quite the alliterative quality as reindeer."
They wondered if they should continue to have their Christmas party as planned, it just wouldn't be the same without Relena. Who would oversee the Christmas decorations? Who would string up the miles of mistletoe? There would be nobody to chase Heero around the house. In the end they decided to go ahead with their plans. They would just have to make do without her.
Everyone thought Heero was holding up remarkably well. Duo was staying with him and they sat around with the guys throwing back shots and playing poker. Eventually, Heero announced he needed a moment and left the room. A quiet word to the guys and Duo went after him.
Several hours later Sally wandered into the pantry for more sugar cookies and found Heero and Duo on the floor. Celebrating Christmas in their own special way. She smiled. It was so good that Duo was willing to help out Heero in his time of need. Heero must be feeling lonely without Relena and his yearly dose of mistletoe molestation.
Zechs had come to the Christmas party dressed in black, well he had black on his tie. It had a picture of Santa going down the chimney. They all thought it quite in good taste and told him so. After offering consolations over his loss of course. He thanked them all politely and agreed with Quatre that reindeer really did sound better than horses and nobody would know the difference anyway.
"What did you get her?" Wufei asked Trowa, as they were putting wrapped presents in a large sack.
"Moleskin day planner." He paused for a moment and then pulled a package back out of the bag. "On second thought, I think Quatre would like this. I'll give it to him instead."
Wufei nodded wisely. "I'd bought her a sweater, I'd give it to Sally but it's too small. And pink."
Trowa agreed that was unfortunate. There was no accounting for taste really.
The dinner was delicious. At one point when they were passing around the cranberry sauce, Une became quite choked up. "It's the color of the dress she was wearing the last time I saw her."
They sighed and took a moment to reflect on their loss. Then Heero cut the pumpkin pie and passed around the pieces. Whipped cream made everything better.
"Does anybody know who the driver of the sleigh was?" Zechs asked at one point. "Somebody should really send the man something, he must feel awful."
They all agreed to chip in a hundred bucks each to send to the fellow. It was Christmas after all.
As everyone parted ways that evening, they all agreed; it just hadn't been the same without Relena there.
It had been a lovely Christmas.