Sorry I haven't updated recently. My internet connection is still messed up...Thanks for all the reviews! They mean a lot to me...Well here's the next chapter.

Chapter Twenty-four

The next morning, Relena felt refreshed. She hadn't slept that good, in a long time. She turned over toward Heero and watched him sleep. She caressed his face with her fingertips. As she traced his soft lips, he caught he hand and kissed her fingertips.

"Well, good morning to you too," she said with a slight giggle as he kissed her neck.

"Good morning. How did you sleep?"

"Wonderfully. I don't remember the last time I slept so well." She snuggled up to him further. "You're so warm. I don't want to get up," she said with a playful pout.

"Well, we don't have to if you don't want to. I like staying this."

They laid like that in comfortable silence until they heard someone say, "Relena! Get up already! Your breakfast is getting…cold," Hilde said as she came storming into the room. The minute she saw them she blushed. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were in here."

"That's all right Hilde. We needed to get up anyway." Relena replied with a smile.

"Would you like me to bring your breakfast in here?"

"That would be wonderful. Thank you Hilde." Hilde smiled and left.

"Hey Hilde!"

"Duo! How are you? I'm sorry I haven't been around much."

"I'm doing fine and you don't need to apologize. You work for the princess. I'm sure she keeps you very busy."

Hilde smiled. "Kind of… It's mainly the head maid I have to answer to."

"Oh. So what are you doing now?" Duo asked as he and Hilde started walking.

"I'm going to get breakfast for Relena and Heero."

"Heero?" he asked as his eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Yes. I walked in on them laying on Relena's bed cuddled together. It looked as though he spent the night with her."

"I never thought that he'd have the courage to do that." He smirked. "Now I can tease him about it." His smirk turned into a mischevious smile and he rubbed his hand together. "This is too good."

Hilde couldn't help but smile. "Leave him alone Duo."

"You always have to spoil my fun don't you?" he asked with a playful smirk.

She began to laugh. "Of course. It's my job." She stuck her tongue out at him and giggled.

"Why you. Get back here!" Hilde had run off and Duo was in hot pursuit of her. "I've got you!" he declared and began to tickle her.

"Hahahahahaha! Duo! Hahaha! Stop it! hahahaha!" Hilde tried to get away, but Duo was too strong.

"You're mine now," he whispered in her ear. He stopped tickling her, but she was still laughing.

She noticed that his face had gotten more serious. "What?"

"Nothing." He bent down and kissed her. He pulled her closer to him and she wrapped her arms around his neck, her hands tangling in his long hair.

"Get a room Maxwell."

The two immediately broke apart and blushed. "Wufei, Sally! Hello. Good morning."

"Good morning Duo," Sally said with an amused smirk.

"Umm. I better get going now. I'm sure Heero and Relena are very hungry. If you'll excuse me, I have places to be."

"Did you just say you were taking breakfast to Heero and Relena?" Wufei asked surprised.

"Yes. I must get going before they get impatient." Hilde walked off, leaving the trio alone. In the distance four figures began to emerge slightly sleepily.

Midii yawned and stretched. "I am so hungry right now. I feel like I can eat an antelope. But of course I wouldn't do that because I'd be too much of a pig."

"You're still the same Midii. You still love to eat. I don't think I know any lady, or man for that matter, that can eat as much as you can," Quatre said playfully.

"Well, a lady has to eat you know," she replied playfully. "Don't you agree Trowa and Dorothy?" They grinned and nodded their approval. "See? I win." She lifted her chin and stuck her nose in the air with her eyes closed. Everyone began to laugh.

"I never could beat you in the past either."

"Hey everyone!" Duo called as the foursome got closer.

"Hi!" they all replied at the same time.

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"Hilde thinks that Heero stayed with Relena last night because she walked in on them cuddling. She's getting their breakfast right now. Do you guys want to join them? I'll just tell Hilde and we can help bring in the food. What do you say?" Duo asked.

The group looked at each other hesitantly, but decided to go along with it. "Yeah! Sure! I haven't seen them in awhile either," members of the group said as they nodded.

"To the kitchen, if we can find it," Duo said.

"Midii will lead you straight to it. When it comes to food, Midii is sure to find it," Quatre teased.

Midii elbowed him in the stomach. "Shut up!" The wind was knocked out of Quatre and he bent over forward, trying to get his breath back. Everyone broke out with laughter, and began to look for the kitchen. They eventually found it after asking a maid.

"Hilde? Are you in here?" Everyone in the kitchen turned to stare at him.

"Hilde!" a large woman called out as she stirred something in a big pot in front of her.

"Yes Jenny?"

"You have company," Jenny replied pointing to them.

Hilde followed her gaze and frowned. "Duo, what are you doing here?"

"We wanted to join Relena and Heero for breakfast. We needed more food, so we came here." Duo smiled at her innocently.

Hilde sighed. "Oh, alright, but I don't think that they're going to like this."

Duo smiled triumphantly. "Will you also join us?" he asked hopefully.

"I'd love to, but I don't think I can. I have a lot of work to do today." She looked just as sad as Duo when she told him.

Jenny noticed this and said, "Go on Hilde. I'll find someone else to do your chores while you're with your friends."

Hilde brightened. "Really Jenny?" she nodded with a smile. "Oh thank you Jenny, thank you!" she ran over to Jenny and gave her a big hug.

"You're welcome dear. Now hurry with that food and get moving." Hilde obeyed. She quickly gathered more food, dishes, and drinks. She then handed most of them to the men.

"I think that does it. Let's go." Hilde led the way with Heero and Relena's breakfast. When they arrived, she knocked.

"Come in." Hilde walked in, shortly followed by Duo and the rest. "Hilde it took you- Hello everyone. I wasn't expecting all of you." Relena moved from her embrace with Heero a bit embarrassed.

"Well, we haven't seen you in awhile, so we thought we'd join you for breakfast. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not! It's wonderful to see everyone again." Heero glared at Duo, who in turn smiled innocently at him. "Well, come into the next room. It has more room for everybody and a nice big table." Everyone who had food followed her first. Hilde, Dorothy, and Sally all quickly set up the table, and put food on every plate. Everyone sat down and looked to Relena to start eating. "What? Oh. You can all eat now." She picked up her fork and began to eat. Everyone followed. Soon the entire group was laughing and talking.

Knock, knock, knock "Princess Relena?"

"Just a moment please! Everyone be quiet okay?" they all nodded. She got up and walked to her door and opened it. "Yes Will? What is it?"

"Sir Michael wished to have breakfast with you." From his standpoint he could see about a fourth of the group. "What do you wish to do about this?"

"Tell him I will join him for lunch. If he asked any questions, just tell him that I wish I were not to be questioned about my actions. If he is very persistent, tell him I'm too busy."

"Yes my Lady." He bowed and left. Relena closed the door and returned to her seat. Everyone was looking at her.

"Yes? Well, will someone say something, and stop staring at me like that?"

"Well, I guess we all want to know about Michael," Duo said as he looked around the table receiving nods in agreement.

"He's not that special at all. He's self righteous and too conceited for his own good. His jokes make even the sun want to sleep before it is even time for that!" everyone started laughing. "Well, it's the truth. I don't like him one bit. Even my father seems to be a bit bored with him." They finished eating and Hilde began to clean up. "Just leave it Hilde. I'll get someone else to do it. I want to walk in the garden with everyone. Heero and I are going to change, so have everyone meet us at the garden entrance. We shouldn't take too long."

"Okay. I'll send in Mary to finish up with the cleaning. Come on everyone! Relena needs to change. Everyone out!" Heero took off to his room to change. "Heero and Relena are going to change, then meet us at the garden entrance." They all walked to the garden entrance and waited there, while Hilde got a maid to clean up Relena's room. Heero came back quickly, but Relena took a little longer.

As soon as she arrived she said, "Shall we go now?" They all nodded yes. Heero took her arm in his and led the way. Everyone else took their example and stood either beside or behind them. Everyone talked happily as they walked. Including Heero and Relena, but their happiness ended as soon as Relena heard someone's voice.

"Princess." Relena turned to her right and saw Michael sitting on a bench.

"Hello Michael. How are you doing?"

"Better since I've seen you. I was hoping that you would join me for breakfast, but that guard told me you would join me for lunch instead. Are they why you couldn't join me for breakfast?" he asked indicating to the group around her.

Relena held her head up high. "Yes they are. These are my friends. Allow me to introduce them to you. This is Heero, Duo, Hilde, Sally, Wufei, Trowa, Midii, Lady Dorothy, and Lord Quatre."

"It's nice to meet you Sir Michael," Quatre said as he extended his hand.

"Lord Quatre? As in Winner?" he replied as he shook his hand.

"Yes it is."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you. My parents talk very highly of your family. I do believe they know each other."

"Bartley right?"

"Yes."

"I do believe they do."

"Well, we better be on our way now," Relena said.

"May I join you?"

Relena sighed inwardly. "Why not? The more the merrier," she said with a fake smile.

"I agree." He walked next to Quatre and bragged about his family for the entire duration of the walk. Everybody was sick of listening to him, but he didn't notice. Near the end of the walk, someone else called out to Relena.

"Relena!" she turned around to see her brother and a very pregnant woman whom she guessed was his wife.

She smiled. "Milliardo! How are you?" she asked as she walked over and gave him a hug.

"Quite well, and yourself?"

"As good as can be expected." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "That's Michael Bartley whom father wants me to marry. No one likes him, but he hasn't noticed yet."

Milliardo chuckled. "I'm glad I'm not you."

"Yes. You're lucky. You got to marry whoever you wanted."

"Yes I did. Where are my manners? Relena, this is my wife Noin."

"It's nice to meet you Noin," Relena said as she extended her hand. Noin took it and was about to stand up when Relena said, "Oh don't stand up. Please stay seated."

"Okay," Noin said with a smile. "It's nice to finally meet you too. Milliardo's talked a lot about when you two were growing up."

"Is that so?" Relena said looking at her brother. "I had no idea."

"Relena dear." Relena cringed noticeably when Michael called. "There you are I was wondering what happened to you." He came over and put his arm around her waist. Relena tensed up.

"I was just talking to my brother and his wife. Michael this is my brother Milliardo and his wife Noin."

Michael looked hesitant to shake Milliardo's hand, but put on a fake smile and shook his hand anyway. "It's, uh, nice to meet you."

"Same to you," Milliardo said in an intimidating voice. Michael visibly shrunk back. Milliardo and Relena were both pleased. "Why don't we go for a walk? You are going to be marrying my sister, so why don't we try to get to know each other?"

Michael's face instantly went pale at the thought of being alone with Milliardo, a well-known pirate. "Certainly. If you'd like that."

"I would. I'll see you back in our room later, okay dear?"

"Of course," she said with a sweet smile. "I'm glad that you're making an effort to be nice to this man."

"Well come along then." Milliardo placed his arm over Michael's shoulders and walked away.

"Thank goodness for my brother. I can't stand that man." Heero finally walked over to Relena. "Heero, this is Noin, my brother's wife."

"It's a pleasure." He bent over and kissed her hand.

"The pleasure's all mine," she said with a slight laugh. "Relena," she whispered, "Who is this guy. He seems like a keeper. If I weren't married to your brother, I'd snag him myself." Relena burst out laughing. When she saw Heero's flushed face, she began to laugh harder.

"I'm sorry, but he's already taken. Well, sort of."

"How so?" she asked confused.

"I'd rather not speak about this in the open. If you'd like, I can accompany you to your room."

Noin knew what she meant and nodded her head. "Thank you."

"Heero? I'm going to take Noin back to her room. Will you tell the others for me?"

He nodded. "Will you be long?"

"I'm afraid so. Girl stuff you know."

"Okay. I'll see you later then."

Relena smiled at him, and turned her attention to Noin. After they got to Noin's room, she said, "So tell me what it is you'd rather speak in private about."

Relena fidgeted around a bit. "Well, I don't know how to put this."

"Bluntly will be fine."

"Alright. Heero and I are in love with each other, but I'm betrothed to Michael. But I don't like Michael at all. I tried to convince father to break the engagement but he refuses, so I'm at a lose of what to do. Heero and I are trying to think of something to break it off, but we haven't come up with anything and time is running out. I'm sure my father is going to have us married immediately, because he doesn't like Heero at all, and he disapproves of our love. There, I think that's all of it." Relena said everything but the last sentence quickly. She took a big breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm down.

"Okay. So you two are in love, but your father doesn't approve so he's making sure you marry Michael?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?"

"I don't know. I guess I had to get it off my chest."

"That's understandable. What if nothing works?"

Relena grimaced and glared past Noin. "I don't want to think about that. I know I'll be miserable."

Noin smiled knowing she was right, even if she did just meet her a few minutes ago. "Why don't we talk about something more pleasant? How was your breakfast?"

Relena's face brightened immediately. She had a humongous smile on her lips. "It was wonderful. Everyone showed up unexpectedly and we had a great time. It was almost like it used to be on board the ship. Is it wrong to say that I miss it? That I wish I could go back to it and live my life happily with Heero and the others?"

"No. It's not wrong. It's normal. Something similar happened to me. I met your brother and instantly fell in love with him. My parent disapproved greatly, but I didn't care. One night I ran away from home. Milliardo took me with him no questions asked. After several months, I got word that my parents were searching for me and weren't fairing too well in health. I asked your brother to take me home, which he did. After I returned I told Milliardo that I was going to stay to take care of my parent. We were both torn, but it was needed. He stayed around for a couple of weeks. During the weeks after he left, my parent's health got much better. Before long, they were their old selves, unlike me. I became quiet and withdrawn. I stopped eating, smiling, and laughing. I barely talked to them. They became worried, but I wouldn't tell them anything. They eventually got so worried that they called on your brother to see if he could bring me back to my normal self. The moment I saw him, I ran to him and hugged him tightly. I didn't want to let go and I wept like I had never before done. Every day he'd come over to see me. I started to eat again and began to smile and laugh all over again. One night after he left my parents pulled me aside and told me that I had their blessings for my relationship with Milliardo. I asked them if I could marry him and live on his ship. They said yes. The next morning I got up earlier than I usually did and headed to the docks. As I arrived, Milliardo was walking into the boat. I called out his name and he turned around. He walked back over to me and asked if I was there to see him off. I said no so he asked what I was doing there. I told him that I was coming with him. You should have seen his face Relena. His eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. I told him what my parents said and his face couldn't conceal his happiness. We laughed and he swung me around; then he kissed me. Well, we were eventually married and now look. I'm pregnant!" she ended with a smile and patted her stomach softly.

"Wow. That was some experience. Too bad fate wants me to be miserable."

"It'll work out, you'll see."

"Yeah, right. I don't mean to be pessimistic, but I don't see anything working out for Heero and me," Relena grumbled as she sat down and slumped in her chair.

"You never know. Fate could just be testing you." Relena snorted and rolled her eyes. Just then Milliardo came in.

"Noin! I'm ba- Relena! I didn't known you were going to be here," he said with a shy smile.

"I'll leave if you want me to," she said as she stood up.

"No. Please sit and stay. I was going to go find you anyway."

Relena's eyebrows rose. "What for?"

He smiled. "I wanted to talk to you about Michael." Relena flinched. "You know? It's kind of fun having him so afraid of me. He's such a wuss. He just about peed his pant, he was so scared."

Relena smiled. "At least he's afraid of someone."

Milliardo and Noin both raised their eyebrows, then relaxed their faces into smiles. "Yeah. He seemed unaffected by Heero, which is kind of strange seeing as to how most people are afraid of him." Relena and Noin nodded silently. "So! What have you two been doing?" Milliardo said, looking back and forth from his wife to his sister.

"Well," Noin began, "we were talking, trying to get to know each other better," she finished with a smile.

"I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."

"Not at all," replied Relena. "Are you going to keep standing or are you going to sit?"

"I guess I'll sit." Milliardo sat down next to his wife and struck up a new conversation topic with the two women.

Wow! I think that was the biggest chapter yet. It was 13 pages long! Normally they're between 3 - 6. Hope you liked it…please review!