A/N: I know, I know, it's been a looonnnnngggg time since the last update. Sometimes, I get blocked and sometimes I just get too busy. I've actually had some form of this chapter written for the last few months but wasn't quite happy with it. But I think this is as good as it's going to get. But just know that I'm basically going to love Gundam Wing until the day I die and the same goes for Heero and Relena. So rest assured, I'm not abandoning this story and it will get finished. Eventually.

The Interview

By the time Heero arrived, the lobby of the Royal Windsor was mostly empty except for the man at the concierge' desk and a couple of janitors mopping the floors. It was quiet. Eerily quiet. For a space that had been bustling with reporters, security, fans, and protesters alike just a few hours before, it seemed almost unrecognizably calm now. The intense glow of the incandescent lights reminded him momentarily of the sanctuary of the church where he had his weekly group meetings. It made him feel safe. A feeling that still seemed foreign to him.

Heero paced around the front desk for a few minutes, refusing the concierge's offer of seating. He was rather anxious, which surprised him. He hadn't felt anxious in years. She arrived with the ping of the elevator door opening. A muted melancholy overtook him in that moment, as he witnessed her appearing from behind the golden doors. Dressed in a loose fitting black shirt and leggings, she looked like a completely different person than the one he had witness give an interview earlier in the day.

"Heero," she said softly as she approached, almost cautiously. "I'm so glad you made it. I'm sorry about missing our dinner date."

"It's okay," Heero said. "It's been a busy day."

"So everything went alright at The Valknut?" Relena asked. "You weren't fired, were you?"

"No, everything is fine."

"Thank god," Relena said with a sigh of relief. "I was worried there for a second."

"Are you okay?" Heero asked.

"Huh?" Relena had almost forgotten the events of the day. "Oh yes, it was fine. Nothing I couldn't handle."

"Good," Heero said with a hint of a smile.

"Would you like to come up?" Relena asked.

"No, I can't stay," Heero said as he approached her slowly.

"What do you mean? What's going on?" Relena suddenly sounding very panicked.

Sensing her panic and wanting to allay her fears, he took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Gentleness, a concept that he had long since forgotten, newly rediscovered due to her efforts, he tried to comfort her with what little of it he understood of it.

"Don't worry, nothing's changed." He lied. "I just have to do something. I'll see you in class on Monday. I promise."

Heero leaned forward and gently kissed Relena on the forehead. She savoured his gentleness, his subtle gesture of affection. She had grown accustomed to them already. And somehow, despite all of his best efforts, perhaps even beyond the notice of the man himself, she felt him slipping away already.

Fifth floor women's bathroom of the Extraplanetary Affairs building

Ten hours earlier…

"Remember, the tone is formal but friendly, there's going to be a photoshoot, we want to present you as glamorous but also as a serious public servant," Augusta went on as she paced back and forth. "You are the last princess of the Sanc Kingdom, but you are also the Vice-Foreign Minister of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. You have to be formidable but still relatable. You can be beautiful but not intimidatingly so."

"Piece of cake," Relena said blithely as Laurie, Relena's personal makeup artist worked on her lashes.

The four of them had been camping out in the women's bathroom down the hall from Relena's office for the better part of an hour. Relena had made the decision do the interview with Vogue, much to the surprise of her team. The whole thing was rather rushed. Moments after Augusta had confirmed the interview with her contacts inside the magazine, they were in the bathroom going through practice questions and strategizing on presentation and style. Augusta had called Laurie right after confirming the interview and the poor girl managed to get from her place, fight her way through the crowds, to the Extraplanetary Affairs building in less than 20 minutes.

"You can talk about your work, but keep it general," Augusta continued, ignoring Relena's sarcastic comment. "You're a policy wonk and everyone knows it; no need to show off. Things like the terraformation project and humanitarian relief for war refugees are kosher, your feud with the ESUN Security Council and next month's budget negotiations are not."

"They're going to ask about it regardless of whether I bring it up or not," Relena said.

"Hold still," Laurie scolded her.

"Then, you're going to deflect and steer the conversation in another direction," Augusta said. "In this instance, you need to appear above politics."

"The reporter is going to be cordial and disarming, but they still want something juicy and won't help you if you to slip up," Cindy added. "You can clarify on the comments you made yesterday but again, don't go into details, remember Vogue's readership."

"Guys!" Relena exclaimed, involuntarily moving a bit too suddenly, much to Laurie's annoyance. "This isn't my first rodeo. I can handle myself."

"This is different," Augusta said as she put her tablet down on the counter and folded her arms across her chest, looking rather intimidating in the moment. "The world's different. Up until now, you've been viewed either as the spoiled brat of an Alliance dignitary, the princess of a dead kingdom, the puppet of Romefeller, or as the literal embodiment of peace. All in all, things could be worse. It's a rather romantic public image but you know what's wrong with romantic? It's backwards looking. It's nostalgic. It's been two years, we ought to be thinking about the future, not dwelling on the past."

Relena wanted to retort. But she knew that Augusta was right. It was time for humanity to slowly start moving pass the war. It was inevitable and it was good. But for her, it felt like she was leaving something behind, a part of herself, that which she had always considered core to her own sense of being. She grew up in the midst of it after all. In many ways, she was shaped by it. She never fought, on principle, but she, like Heero, experienced it deeply. And for better or worse, it was apart of her. While her mind knew better, a part of her heart had trouble letting it go. And it wasn't until just then did she realize how tightly she had still been holding on.

Maxine, Relena's stylist showed up a little late and brought with her several options that Vogue had sent over. Under normal circumstances, it would be the art director for the magazine that would make all of the wardrobe choices, but given the circumstance of Relena's rank and her careful and precise nature, she insisted that for the terms of the photoshoot, her stylist had final say as to what she would wear. The outfits that the magazine had sent over were all agreeable in the end so perhaps her insistence was ultimately unwarranted.

"Each of these dresses cost more than three month's ren," Maxine said. "We're in a public bathroom."

"Yeah, well Relena's office has glass walls so… suck it up," Cindy said. "Just hang them up on the hooks in the stalls."

"I swear if any of them get marked-"

"I'm sure Relena will cover the costs, right Relena?" Cindy asked.

"Huh? Oh yes… sure, whatever," Relena answered.

"Focus," Augusta said.

"What? Blame them," Relena pointed at the Cindy and Maxine.

Augusta sighed and returned her attention to her tablet. "Vustgaarde University has a long history with the Peacecraft dynasty, how has the weight of that history affect your current experience?"

"Oh you know, I try not to let it get to me," Relena said affecting a vapid tone. "Plus, we know how to throw some wicked parties! And the guys are soooo hot! They should really make a calendar."

"That's not funny," Augusta said.

"Oh my god, please actually answer like that," Maxine said with a giggle.

Relena stuck out her tongue at her.

"Alright that's enough! Everybody out," Augusta shouted.

"What about the dresses?" Maxine asked. "I just got here."

Augusta sighed. She put her tablet on the counter and rubbed her temples. "This is like herding cats."

Maybe Dorothy has a point.

After much deliberation, Maxine, Augusta, and Relena made the decision that Relena would have three outfits for the shoot and confirmed it with the Vogue team. They chose an elegant and rather extravagant black gown, presumably for the cover shot, a more casual look consisting of a pair of navy blue jeans, a maroon coloured silk shirt, with a pair of nude pumps, and finally a more modern variation on her signature pink pantsuit.

As they ran through the last few practice questions, Relena and company realized that they hadn't accounted for traffic and that they had to hurry if they didn't want to be late. Exiting the washroom, she noticed there was a not so subtle crowd gathered in the hallway. At first Relena thought it may have been for her but quickly realized, much to her relief, that something entirely unrelated was going on.

She did notice someone in the crowd. It took her a second to place him. His face was familiar in that classically handsome way but a little indistinct, especially among the crowd of similarly dressed men that surrounded him. She hadn't seen him in a while and had only had a brief interaction for a few hours several weeks ago.

"Colin, hi!" Relena said.

"You remembered," Colin said with a hint of satisfaction in his voice as he turned to face her.

"I'm good with names, it's part of the job", Relena said.

"Tell me about it."

There was an air of confidence about him that Relena didn't remember from their first encounter. Perhaps he was more in his element during work hours. Or perhaps, he felt emboldened that he had caught her a little off guard. Or perhaps, it was the last 24 hours of revelations and shocking paparazzi photos that made him feel a little less intimidated by the usually prim and proper Vice Foreign Minister.

She got the sense that the man thought highly of himself given the right circumstances. He was smart, that much she surmised from their first encounter at Noin's farewell party. That suspicion had only been further confirmed by Alicia. But she also got the distinct sense that he may think a little too highly of himself. She wondered what he was doing at her department, city business and Extraplanetary Affairs rarely crossed paths.

"I'd love to, but I can't. I have a meeting," Relena replied with an apologetic smile.

"Don't you always?" Colin said.

"Life of a diplomat," Relena sighed.

"Among other things."

"Oh you saw the news did you?" Relena said with a mischievous smile.

She knew where this was going.

"I think the whole world saw it." Colin chuckled.

"If you're expecting me to be embarrassed—"

"No, not embarrassed," Colin cut in. He tried to play it a cool, but she could sense his slight, but unmistakable grievance. He had asked her out weeks ago and she left him hanging. "Just didn't realize I had competition."

"He's not. And you wouldn't want to be in competition with that guy. Trust me."

"I'm not afraid. I'm up for a challenge." She could practically see him puffing his chest up. "I'm pretty slick on a motorcycle myself, if that's what you're into."

"Fine." She had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

She tried to convince herself that she did her duty. She gave him the warning without going into detail. Heero's identity was still not public knowledge and it seemed that he preferred it that way. And really, what was she supposed to say? That guy is the legendary pilot of the Wing Zero, don't fuck with him. I'm trying to save your life. Somehow, she knew on some level, even if she was at liberty to give him the more direct version, it wouldn't be enough to dissuade him. Some men were just like that.

"Hey, by the way," Colin said as his tone shifted into something resembling sincerity if not entirely that. "I wanted to say thanks for your support, I know this housing stuff is below your pay grade but the city council really appreciates it."

Relena smiled.

"I would say it's no problem but as you can see outside… It's making my commute longer to say the least."

Duo inserted his key card into the lock of the room that he had just exited. He waited for the lights on the lock to flash green three times. After being satisfied that his unauthorized entry into the office of whomever had been wiped from the data logs, he smiled. He felt proud of his little accomplishment, knowing that even after all these years, he still had it.

He hid the bottle of Hennessy underneath his leather jacket as he greeted every passerby with an overly generous smile. He had found that most people shied away from such uninitiated warmth, at least in his experience. Better this way, because he wasn't exactly being inconspicuous with his ill gotten goods.

It took him a good 15 minutes and a couple of trips up and down some stairs before he found Heero in an open waiting area on the third floor. The Valknut was a labyrinth of glass and concrete. Its endless corridors of unmarked private offices punctuated by the occasional conference room reflected the post-war bureaucracy that spawned the agency in the first place. There was a complicated geometric logic to it all and that's what Duo used to finally navigate his way out of wandering in circles. But for the uninitiated, it would be rather easy to get lost within its mundane depths.

"Hey look what I snagged from-" Duo's voice suddenly fell off.

It was an odd sight. It took Duo a couple of moments to even register the face. He had never seen the girl in person before, only briefly in a photo. Heero said something inaudible while pointing to something in the large textbook Mariemaia was holding in her lap.

"Hi…" Duo said awkwardly.

Heero looked up. "Right. Duo, this is Mariemaia. Mariemaia, Duo."

"Nice to meet you," Mariemaia said with only the slightest hint of sarcasm.

"What'd you get?" Heero asked.

"Uhhhh," Duo stuttered.

Heero looked at Mariemaia and looked back at Duo. "Don't worry, she's cool."

"Bottle of Hennessy, he had vodka too but I couldn't fit both underneath my jacket."

Duo said as he revealed the bottle and tossed it over to Heero. Heero caught it by the neck of the bottle as he stood up. He examined the bottle for a moment. Heero looked pleased, or at least as pleased as he could look, given his general stoic disposition. He got up and made his way over to a nearby coffee machine to get a couple of paper cups.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" Duo asked defensively.

"It's Saturday, dipshit," Mariemaia replied as she closed her textbook. "He's the pilot of Zero Two?"

"Yep," Heero said as he came back with the cups.

"Oh my god," Mariemaia said as she rolled her eyes. "How did I lose?"

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Duo asked.

"Relax, she's Katerina's kid," Heero said as he poured a double into the two cups.

"Right, right, I feel like I knew that," Duo said as he smacked his own forehead with his palm.

"Don't worry, I won't try to take over the world on you," Mariemaia said, her tone still seething with a premature teenage bitterness. "My mom got called into the office on short notice and she doesn't like leaving me home alone without supervision."

"I'm sorry, it's just weird to think of you as a kid," Duo said as he took a big swig of his drink.

Royal Windsor Hotel

Relena was surprised at how surreal it all felt. As if some otherworldly spirit was animating her body as her soul lagged just a few moments behind observing herself, scrutinizing her actions; her every pose. Surprisingly, she was rather impressed with her first formal photo shoot as a model. Perhaps she was drawing on her previous experiences with paparazzi and standing for photos at political events and public ceremonies, or perhaps she was just intimating what she had seen of behind the scenes photo shoots from the odd time she had seen such things on a plane or just browsing internet videos. Whatever the case was, she was gliding through the photo shoot on autopilot, occasionally focusing on the feint chorus of gorgeous, fantastic, you look absolutely stunning darling that came periodically from both the photographer and the art director, to keep her spirits up.

After a couple of wardrobe changes and a couple of more hours in hair and makeup, the photo shoot section was finally done. Relena let out a deep sigh once the final shot was taken. The whole experience was far more exhausting than she expected it to be. She gained a whole new level of appreciation for the girls who do the job on a regular basis.

Cindy and Augusta caught Relena at the elevators that led from the rooftop terrace down to the main ballroom where the Vogue team had setup for the interview portion. Cindy immediately handed Relena a bottle of water as they entered.

As the door closed in front of them, all three sighed as they leaned against the golden rail behind them. They let their focus go and for several floors none of them said anything.

"Maybe, we should've gone with the New Horizons or something…" Relena said as she took a sip of water. "They're much more my wheelhouse."

"No, no, the blonde girl with the weird eyebrows was right," Augusta said as she steadied her voice, shaking off the exhaustion and anxiety of the last several hours. "No more policy journals, no more academic publications. This is about controlling the public perception of your reputation."

"I didn't expect any of it to go this way," Relena said.

"Honey, what did you think was going to happen when you hopped on a stranger's bike and took off into the night?" Augusta asked sarcastically.

Relena didn't respond.

A few moments later as they arrived at the ground floor. Immediately, their little silent box filled with the ambient noise of reporters, photographers, fans, and protesters alike. Relena steadied her nerves and mentally ran through the practice questions they had drilled just a few hours earlier once more. This was what she was good at, this is where she excelled. She may have been a decent in front of a fashion photographer's camera and she may still have some of that aristocratic elegance about her from years of society and schooling, but this is where she truly lived. Questions and answers, the battle of wits; this was her home.

The interview setup was in the middle of the hotel's ballroom, a rather grandiose setting for such a small and private event. Well, private in the sense that there were only a few people to fill the vast size of the room, it was still being live streamed to millions of eager eyes all across the globe and in the colonies. The interviewer was a young blonde woman wearing a beige blazer that she had clearly never worn before. She ordered around the grips and the cameramen, trying to mask her nervousness with attempts to assert her authority and a general bitchiness that some women thought of as strength. Relena had seen this kind of behaviour before, she had that effect on people. Suddenly, Relena felt a kinship with this woman who seemed to feel just as out of place as she did.

"Don't be nervous," Relena said with a smile.

The poor girl looked at Relena shocked and after a moment, relented and let out an embarrassed sigh.

"I'm sorry, this is all so unprofessional," she said.

"It's quite alright," Relena replied warmly. "Take your time, slow and steady, and know that I'm every bit as nervous as you."

"I highly doubt that," the girl said with a nervous chuckle.

"No, it's true," Relena said. "I've never really had an interview with a fashion magazine before."

"It's an honour just to have the time with you," the girl said. "Oh my god, what's wrong with me? I'm Grace Leuty by the way, I'll be interviewing you. Of course you know that, why did I say that?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Leuty," Relena said.

"Oh Grace is perfectly fine, your Majesty," Grace said.

Relena cocked her head slightly and gave Grace a look that said, come on, you know better than that.

"I'm sorry, I had to," Grace said with biting her lip apologetically. "I promised my friends."

Relena let out a few chuckles. "It's perfectly alright, but please, Relena from here on out."

"Yes, of course, y… Relena."

"So, I know the list of questions was pretty long and quite expansive, but rest assured, we're not here to grill you about politics," Grace explained. "It's not really our focus. It's probably by design but for a person with as high a profile as yourself, the public knows very little about you outside the occasional tabloid gossip and a few fiery speeches in Parliament. You're kind of an enigma. We're just trying to get to know you as a person."

"Yeah, that's what I was afraid of," Relena said.

"Why is that?" Grace asked.

"I'm just afraid that your audience may finding me rather boring," Relena answered.

"I'm sure that's not the case, boring people don't create two media firestorms in the span of 24 hours, boring people don't tend to ride off into the night on the back of a motorcycle of a mysterious stranger," Grace said with a hint of mischief in her voice.

"And there it is," Relena said.

"Not to worry, we can circle back to that," Grace said as she looked down at her tablet, trying not to burst out into a flurry of, undoubtedly inappropriate, questions.

"You sure you're up for this," Heero said almost as if he were actually asking a question.

"Yeah, no problemo," Duo said as he took a sip of his drink. "Why? Are you getting cold feet?"

"Nope."

"Alright, if you say so…"

"Will you two shut up?" Mariemaia said as she momentarily turned her head to scowl at them. "It's about to start."

Mariemaia turned her attention once again back to the TV mounted on the far wall. She nibbled on her sandwich as the broadcast began. Earlier Heero had gone down to the canteen and grabbed some snacks for the three of them as his impromptu babysitting duties lasted longer than he had originally anticipated. It wasn't so bad. He didn't mind as he knew that Une was busy preparing the details of their covert operation with Hope and he didn't really have anything to do for the next few hours.

Heero pulled his phone out of his pocket as he and Duo obeyed the girl's demand for silence. Relena appeared on the TV on front of them as the live stream officially began. Heero's heart almost stopped the moment he saw her. He wasn't prepared for what he had just saw. Relena, glamorous even beyond her brief moment as Queen of the World. She looked absolutely radiant; she was stunning. He always knew that about her, her beauty was undeniable. So rather than deny it, he chose to ignore it, as best he could for as long as he could. It pained him to want, to want her, to know that despite all of his years of brutal training and self-denial, that he still had the impulse to want. And every time he saw her, as the world saw her, in complete adoration in awe, he felt that much smaller, that much farther away from her. So he looked away. He looked down at his phone.

"Wow," Mariemaia let slip.

But that was only natural. Despite her pretensions to greatness and the lofty ideas she had about her self-image during the height of her power, Mariemaia naturally looked up to Relena. How could she not? Relena was her role model from her earliest memories, when she had been hidden away from the world by Dekim. She watched intently as Relena delivered that first speech to the world as Queen. She was magnificent, powerful, and beautiful. She was everything Mariemaia ever wanted to be.

"Damn… I gotta say, she does looks good," Duo commented as he too became entranced by the woman on the screen.

"You gonna let him talk about your girl like that?" Mariemaia commented absently as her attention was still focused on the screen.

"She's not my girl," Heero said as he scrolled through his news feed to find something, anything, that wasn't Relena related.

"Yeah, she hopped on some other guy's bike last night, that looks coincidentally exactly like the one that's in underground parking, right?"

"Yeah, that must be it," Heero returned Mariemaia's sarcasm with his own.

"You know they're gonna talk about you right?" Mariemaia remarked. "I mean, that's the whole reason she's doing this interview. You guys stirred up some real shit last night."

"Does it still affect you?"

"Of course it does," Relena answered. "The death of a parent, regardless of age or circumstance is traumatic. But I was hardly the only person to lose a loved one during the war."

The ballroom was quiet now, only the faintest sound of the crowd outside of the hotel could be heard. The camera shutters had stopped, and the extraneous staff and assistants had been escorted out of the room, leaving only Grace, Relena, and a single cameraman.

After the cameras turned on and they began in earnest, Grace seemed to have found her footing and flowed naturally into the questions. It didn't matter that Grace was reading directly from her tablet, she did it well and made it sound natural. And it didn't matter that Relena knew the questions beforehand, she was a professional, and she made it sound like a conversation. Because in some odd way roundabout way, that's what they were having.

"But still, it's one thing to learn of the death one a loved one through the mail or via a military officer, it's quite another to watch them die," Grace continued.

"I don't pretend that it was easy, it still hurts me to this day to think about him. He was my father..." Relena winced slightly. "I do wish I had more time with him. He taught me so much about what it was to be a good person, how to navigate my way through the world."

Relena paused and took a moment to collect herself. Grace waited patiently. Relena's story was no secret, Grace knew, the world knew, of her journey. But this was the first that she had publicly commented on the issue. So Grace let Relena breathe and gave her the room to feel the emotions that had been brought to the surface by her questions.

Relena steeled her voice. "But I choose to honour his memory through living. I truly believe that's what he would've wanted for me."

"I'm sure he would be proud to see you now," Grace said softly.

"That's very kind of you to say," Relena said with a smile.

"What is it like to work with Katerina Une," Grace asked. "Knowing that she was the one who killed your father."

"She's a strong and capable woman," Relena said with a genuine sense of respect in her tone. "The past is the past, we've all made decisions that we regret during the war. But I truly believe that the path to peace lies in forgiveness."

"Sometimes that's easier said than done."

"Absolutely, but that's precisely when we have to try harder," Relena said. "During the last hours of the war, she offered me the chance for revenge. I bet you didn't know that."

"Really?"

"On MO-II, she presented me with a gun and offered her life in reparation for my father's," Relena said as she took a moment to recall the memory. "I will admit, I thought about it for a second."

"Did you think she really meant it?" Grace asked, not without a hint of suspicion in her tone.

"Absolutely," Relena replied with confidence. "Whatever else people think of her, she's a woman of honour."

"That's surprising that you think so, considering what she's done to you," Grace said. "She's not well liked amongst the political class."

"Well, luckily for her, she's not a politician," Relena said. "And I'd hate to think what a politician would do with an agency like the Preventers."

The room was darker than Heero anticipated. The day had been marked with clouds but even still, Une had dimmed her windows to 50% opacity. She sat there, motionless, with her index fingers posted together resting on the tip of her nose, watching the little holographic projection that emitted off the surface of her desk. She was completely transfixed. Heero could see the inverted image of Relena hovering in front of her.

"You wanted to see me," Heero said as he made his way towards her desk.

"She does present well when the occasion arises, I must admit," Une said absently.

"What she saying now?" Heero asked as he sat down on the chair on near side of her desk.

"She's talking about me," Une commented.

"I'm sure she'll be reasonable," Heero said trying to sound disinterested.

"More than reasonable," Une replied. "She gives me more charity than I deserve."

"She's like that."

Katerina reached out and tapped gently on the surface of the table. Immediately the holographic image disappeared and the tinted windows returned to full transparency. Une blinked a couple of times and shook her head to snap herself out of her daze. She looked at Heero.

"Hope and I have discussed Duo's proposal and have decided to go forward it," Une said. "Unfortunately with the intel we've gathered on Lucio, we think we're on a tight timeline so training will have to begin immediately. And it can't last long, a week at most."

"Training?"

Une leaned forward slightly and softened her tone. "It's been two years. Your midnight practices in the firing range, don't think I haven't noticed. You aren't at your peak anymore."

"I can handle it," Heero said.

"I'm not saying you can't," Une said. "Frankly, your worst day is still better than a lot of the guys downstairs at their best. But this is a sensitive operation. It doesn't hurt to do a few warm up rounds."

Heero thought about it for a moment. This wasn't a surprise to him, he had been keeping track of his scores as well. He was out of practice and he knew it. Even the most well trained of soldiers can lose their edge after being inactive for so long. Still, he hated having to admit it, especially to Une.

"Are you in?" she asked.

"Yes," he finally answered.

"Good, because frankly," Une said as she leaned back in her chair, sounding slightly relieved. "Duo and you are the only people I trust that can pull this off as a two man op."

"I suppose you have a plan, because what Duo suggested was less than thorough," Heero said.

"Hope will go over the details with you two once training starts but the general idea is to get you and Duo into Argentina with fake regional documents," Une explained. "Stake out the Lucio building for a few days. Once you've decided on your point of entry and confirmed it with command, proceed into the facility and hijack their wireless nodes so that we can gain access. No guns, no bodies, this has to be quiet. It will be like you were never there."

"Understood."

"Our assets on the ground, the few that we have, acquired the plans of the sewer system in and around the area," Une said as she pulled up the plans on the holographic projector and with a wave of the hand changed the orientation to face Heero. "Not sure if they will be useful, keep them in mind. The South American branch is setting up the safe houses as we speak."

"What about the contingency plan?" Heero asked.

"Contingency?" Une asked, sounding genuinely surprised. "Are you telling me there's even a remote possibility of failure?"

"No," Heero answered.

"Good, because you're going in as a NOC," Une said. "Should you get detained, the Preventers will not acknowledge your existence."

"You're not my primary concern in regards to that," Heero said.

"Relena," Une said with a nod.

"Yeah." Heero sighed.

"We'll cross that bridge should it ever come to that," Une said curtly.

"I have to say, I'm a little surprised," Heero said. "I thought I was in for a brow beating."

"Well… who am I to judge?" Une's voice softened noticeably. "I will tell you this, work relationships can get complicated, trust me."

"Do you ever regret it?"

A mutual silence arose between the two. Neither of them said anything but knew exactly what it meant. These days he wasn't spoken of much. They both understood why. He was a complicated man borne of a complicated time. He wasn't what the world needed at the moment. So the world buried his memory, at least for now. But Heero and Une wouldn't forget. And in that moment of silence, they gave the man the respect that he deserved.

"Not for a second."

"I understand your position, but it doesn't change the fact that you were born into the upper classes and were raised among the elites," Grace pushed a little harder. "You attended Saint Gabriel Academy, one of the most prestigious private schools in all of Europe and you are currently enrolled at Vustgaarde University, a school with long historic ties to the rulers of the Sanc Kingdom. How do you reconcile your politics with the privilege of your birth?"

"We don't choose the worlds we are born into and we shouldn't let them define us," Relena retorted. "At least, that's how I feel. I understand that I am fortunate. I am not oblivious, despite what others think, of the power and influence that comes from not only being a Peacecraft, but a Darlian as well. And I feel a great sense of weight and responsibility because of that power and influence. I feel that I have an obligation to use my privilege to better the world."

"In your rhetoric, you refer to the Aristrocracy and the former members of the Romefeller Foundation in the third person, do you not identify with them?" Grace asked.

"I identify with the fact that we come from common stock. I acknowledge the fact that I was an accomplice in perpetuating the power and crimes of the Romefeller Foundation when I accepted the title of Queen. And I feel a great guilt for that. Perhaps, I'm simply trying to atone for my part in the war. But as for their houses…"

Relena rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. She thought about it for a second, she thought about the advice that Augusta had given to her earlier about steering clear of these contentious issues. Fuck it. "I only see their obstinance as a sign of their lack of contrition for their part in the tragedies of the recent past."

"Is it not an easy position to take given that you are one of the few aristocrats that made it out of the war with their wealth largely intact?"

"Well, first of all, I wouldn't say I was one of a few. There many noble families that remained outside of the influence of Romefeller, even when it was at the height of its power." Relena answered. "But I understand what you are saying. It's a fair accusation, perhaps I am guilty of some aloofness in this matter. You can make that charge of me, I'll not hear it from them."

"And what would be the difference?"

"The difference would be that you may be sincere in that belief," Relena said. "To you I may as an out of touch princess in an ivory tower. Perhaps I am. But they make that charge out of pure self interest. For their part, is nothing but an act of bad faith."

Hope entered Une's office just as Heero was getting up to leave. They locked eyes for a moment, something was different. Heero found himself being examined rather intensely. There was something different about her in that moment. When they first met just a few hours ago, Hope almost completely ignored him. Now, there was a look of confusion and astonishment in her eyes. It didn't take long for Heero to put it all together.

"You told her?" Heero turned to ask Une.

"She's the mission commander, so has to know your capabilities," Une replied.

"New Edwards?" Hope asked.

"Yep," Heero answered.

"Brussels?"

"Yep."

"Libra?!"

Heero sighed. "Yeah."

"You're just a kid…"

"Can't tell you how many times I've heard that one," Heero said as he turned away and left Une's office.

Hope recomposed herself as she made her way to Une's desk. A part of her was still in denial. She wasn't sure what she expected out of the legendary Gundam pilots, but it definitely wasn't a kid barely only enough to drink. But she had to admit, there was a certain quiet intensity to Heero, something that defied everything she knew about soldiers and the type of men that fought wars.

"Yeah, it's just hard to believe, that's the guy," Hope said.

"I was rather surprised too when I first found out," Une said.

"Is he… Are they?"

"He accepted," Une said.

"Well then, we're all ready to go then, South American station chief confirms they are ready too," Hope reported.

"You're nervous," Une commented.

It took a moment but Hope nodded in admission.

"It's okay to be," Une said.

"I just don't want to screw this up," Hope said.

"You won't, they may not look like it. But these guys are old pros, you're in good hands."

"That's one word for them," Hope let slip.

"You have another?"

"Murderer, terrorist," Hope said. As impressed by their resume as she was, she wondered if she could trust these former child soldiers. "I heard New Edwards was a massacre."

"Yeah, they are those things," Une said bluntly.

She had known them a long time. The fought against each other, they fought alongside each other. They had a history together that no one else could possibly comprehend. So she didn't expect Hope to. And what Hope said was right. They are a bunch of murderers. They were terrorists. She had long since stopped trying to reconcile what she was to what she wanted to be. It nearly drove her insane. And she suspected, that the Gundam pilots were much the same in that respect.

"They'll be the last ones to deny it," Une said. "But so am I. Never forget that none of us got out of that war unscathed."

"Let's change gears."

"Oh here it comes. The part I've been dreading," Relena remarked as she nervously rubbed her hands together in anticipation.

"You seem more comfortable verbally beating down your political opponents than talking about your personal life. For the rest of us, it's the complete opposite," Grace said giving Relena a quizzical look.

"The political stuff I get, I've spent the last few years of my life mired in it, through the worst parts of the war, though I was never a combatant, I was constantly thinking about it, working out my ideas and thinking through all of hard questions of what it meant to have peace and why it is that we as a society make war upon ourselves," Relena tried to explain. "My personal life… took a backseat. I'm only starting to figure it out now."

"Like the motorcycle guy?" Grace asked with only a tiny hint of giddiness.

"I don't kiss and tell," Relena said.

"So you did kiss him?" Grace jumped in.

"Shit!" Relena accidentally let out. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to swear! See! This is what I mean! I'm bad at this kind of thing!"

Grace let out a heartwarming laugh. "Relena, it's fine. You can swear here. It's not a big deal. But just to be clear, you did kiss him?"

Relena pressed her lips together and gave the interviewer a resolute look.

"Alright, will you at least tell us who he is?" Grace asked.

"Ughh, I know this must be frustrating." Relena said. "And I'm not just being coy. I'd love to tell you about him, he's a great guy. But I can't."

"You can't, or you won't?"

"No, I actually can't. It's really complicated. And frankly, you guys didn't really give me much time to get my affairs in order. I wake up this morning and the whole world is asking for a comment."

"Come on now," Grace said. "You can't even blame a girl, and the rest of the world for that matter, for being curious."

"I suppose not, I guess I just don't understand the fascination," Relena replied with a nervous laugh.

"You're going to make me say it out loud aren't you?" Grace said as she rocked back and forth a little in her chair. "You're barely 18 years old and you're already one of the most, if not the most influential statesmen of our times. Not to mention royalty, like actual royalty. You're confident and smart, formidable yet compassionate. You have one of the most important and meaningful jobs a person could have, and attending one of the most prestigious universities in the world, all the while doing it while looking effortlessly fabulous. And as if that weren't enough, you're ridiculously gorgeous, like unreasonably gorgeous. Like, how is that fair to the rest of us? You can't have everything, Relena! Do you understand that about yourself? Do you understand that's how the world sees you? Do you understand how intimidating that is? Do you understand how insecure and small you make us girls feel? Like… how are you a real person? So yeah, we're a little curious about what impossible titan of a man could even exist out there that would come close to being worthy of dating you."

Heero arrived a few blocks away from the hotel only to be greeted by a wall of human bodies, presumably all there to catch a glimpse of Relena. He had to park his bike on a side street and continue on towards the hotel on foot. Slowly making his way through the crowd, he noticed that crowd got thicker and thicker as he approached the entrance to the building. He didn't like doing this, but he flashed his Preventers badge a couple of times to get people to move out of his way. Once he finally made his way into the lobby of the hotel, he found that the interview was still in progress.

"Magnificent, isn't she?" A familiar voice came from behind him.

Heero turned around. "Dorothy."

"Heero, fancy seeing you in the capital," Dorothy said in her signature playful tone.

It had been more than three years since they last saw each other but she was exactly the same person he remembered.

"I could say the same for you," Heero said.

"Well, you know me, I couldn't stay away from the action for too long," Dorothy said as walked up to him. "You on the other hand, I thought you would know better."

"Not sure what you're talking about."

"Relena Peacecraft," Dorothy said as she tilted her head towards the closed ballroom doors. "I mean I get it, I was there, I saw the sparks, it was undeniable to anyone who had eyes, but stealing her away in the middle of the night on a motorcycle? I must say, I didn't think you had it in you."

"It wasn't like that," Heero said.

"In any case, I wonder if you're truly prepared for it, prepared for this," Dorothy said.

"It's part of her job."

"It's part of her life, it's only going to get worse," Dorothy said fiercely as she turned once again to face Heero. "The media attention, the public scrutiny, I wonder… How do you think you fit into all of this?"