Author's Note: It's hard not to respond to a review uses the word masterpiece. It's unhealthy for the ego I know but it does make one feel warm and fuzzy inside. I'm pretty sure this story isn't actually a masterpiece but I do like to think I try and spoil you guys. Who says smut and fluff have to be mutually exclusive? ;)

Making Plans

Gobi Desert, Mongolia

January 9th, AC 199

"Clear!"

The voice of one of the Preventers Special Operations Task Force operators crackle in Wufei's ear. The compound was was secured. Although there wasn't much to secure in the first place. But they knew that going in. They had been monitoring the site for a few weeks now by satellite. Even then, operations seemed to have largely ceased. The last sighting they had of mobile suits being transported out of the facility was on the night they got visuals on the factory.

The location had lay dormant for weeks after and on January 5th, AC 199, a former Alliance surveillance satellite that had been commandeered by the World Government and given to the Preventers that had been tasked to monitor that location, witnessed the entire facility go up in flames. Wufei and the spec ops guys were sent in to investigate.

Two dozen men were too much for this operation. Wufei could've gone in alone. He knew this area well. During the months immediately following the end of Mariemaia's Rebellion, he and Sally had worked this region. But Une had been saddled with Nolan for the remainder of the investigation and she had to play nice. And allowing his men to accompany Wufei was part of playing nice.

After determining that the air quality was safe enough, Wufei removed his gas mask as quickly as he could. He couldn't stand those things. He looked around at the burned out ruins covered in a thick layer of sut. Nolan's men rushed around the site, checking for hidden explosives and collecting samples of what broken pieces of machinery had been left behind. But none of it was of any use. Their enemy had been thorough and once again one step ahead of them. No doubt the very public arrest of Toro Campana and the interim time when Une was in the political hot seat gave them time to regroup and change up.

Wufei put his finger to his ear. "There's nothing here. It's just like the others."

Back at the Valknut, Une, Hope, and Nolan had taken over an section of the building on the ninth floor and turned into their new base of operations. Une had began working on plans for a dedicated counterterrorism task force to be formally built out on a two year timeline. But the parliamentary committee had forced her hand and imposed on her an accelerated timeline. The space was a subsection within the Valknut, one of several, designed specifically for a specialized department, with an executive office, several deputy offices, an open work space for analysts and administrative work, and an operational command centre.

The three of them sat in that state of the art command centre in front of an area of high resolutions displays, monitoring the situation on the ground in Mongolia via a combination satellite images and body cameras.

"We were too slow," Hope said softly.

"You should've come to me with this sooner," Nolan said as he spun his chair to face Une, who was partially sitting on the table watching the screens in front of her.

"What? So you could send your men in to raise holy hell?" Une asked dismissively. "They want to fight a war."

"You want to too," Nolan said smirking at her. "You just won't admit it."

Une ignored Nolan's taunts. "Alright, is there anything of interest there?"

"Out here?" Wufei's voice came through the speakers. "In the middle of nowhere? I doubt it. It's all completely destroyed. All I can think of is that there were a few petty warlords out here the last time I checked. They were probably supplying the power for this plant. We could go talk to them. It's if they are still around. And if they are willing to talk to us."

"Hmmm…" Une pondered the idea for a moment. "I don't want you chasing ghosts. We'll keep the option on the table but just return to base for now."

"Roger that."

The static of Wufei's mic disappeared as he terminated their connection. Une turned to Hope and Nolan.

"Well, I'd like to say that was a disappointment but… " Nolan said.

"15 locations Campana gave us, and none of them amounted to anything," Hope said.

"These guys know what they are doing," Une said. "Frankly, I'm surprised we ever got eyes on them at all."

"At least we know now that he wasn't just straight up lying to us," Hope said.

"Yeah but what does that get us?" Une asked as she finally got off the table and sat down in her chair. "These guys cut Campana loose the moment they saw him on TV in cuffs."

"What about the other board members he gave up?" Nolan asked as he scrolled through the file on his tablet.

"Missing,," Une answered. "I suspect that's not a coincidence. We have a search warrant for their homes but it's going to take a little bit of time to dig through all of that"

"And the rest of Lucio?" Hope asked.

"Well, the company, including the CEO is cooperating. But I doubt we're gonna get anything from them now," Une said. "Whatever was on their servers is most likely long gone now, destroyed and scattered to the winds like these factories."

Vustgaarde, Sanc Kingdom

Relena wasn't a morning person. She was however diligent, disciplined, and hardworking. And through those efforts, she had forced herself into being a morning person. She could operate on just a few hours of sleep a night and still function at peak efficiency through the day with only a coffee to keep her going. Her work demanded it of her, and like any other challenge in her life, she rose to meet it. But she still hated waking up in the morning.

That was until she started sleeping with Heero. He had slept over at her place, whether at the Palace or her townhouse in Vustgaarde, since the new year. And the thing about Heero was that he actually was a morning person. His internal clocked forced him to wake up at 5:30 in the morning, every day. And he knew just how to wake her up.

His tongue ran along her inner thigh, slowly but steadily closing in. Her mind spun at the very thought of him in between her legs, pleasuring her in ways unimaginable just a month before. Heero had awakened something in her. Something urgent, something ferocious, and he stoked those flames daily. His tongue probed into her. She shivered. She moaned. He was gentle and loving. It was still early in the morning after all.

For the first two days, he thought it would be a nice surprise to wake her up with his mouth. And indeed it was. But after awhile, she had grown accustomed to it. She became excited about mornings. Now she woke up even before he did. The mornings became filled with anticipation. Would he eat her out before school and work? Relena made googly eyes at him but was always too meek to just directly ask. He seemed to enjoy her timidity, keeping her in suspense. But of course, without fail and sometimes at the last moment, he would pick her up where she stood, place her on the nearest elevated surface and open her legs. Sometimes he would catch her right before she left for Brussels, hoisting her onto his shoulders and bringing to ecstasy right there in her foyer. Other times, he would be so hungry that he would eat her out before leaving the bed. Today, he caught her in the kitchen.

Her internal clock marked out the mornings now, eagerly anticipating her daily orgasm, louder and more earth shattering than it had any right to be. But he seemed to like it too, he seemed to love it when her fingers curled and gripped his hair, he seemed to love it when she thrust her hips back at his face. He liked that she used him like that. It made him feel useful. It made him feel like a man.

"Yes baby! Just like that! Oh my god, you're amazing!" Relena breathlessly moaned as she struggled to keep herself upright on the little island in the middle of her kitchen.

The words encouraged him, they excited him. His tongue pressed down on her clit causing her legs to kick and her grips to tighten.

"Yes! Right there! Right there! You're gonna make me cum!" Relena squealed.

There came loud and violent knocking on the door. Relena was so close! But Heero's protective instincts kicked in as he immediately stood up.

"FUCKKK!" Relena let out in frustration.

Heero grabbed the kitchen knife and pressed himself against the wall.

"God upstairs, go hide," Heero commanded.

Relena brushed the hair out of her face, got off the kitchen island, angrily snatched her black silk robe off of the floor, and covered her naked body with it.

"Relax, Heero," Relena said in an annoyed voice. "I know exactly who it is."

Relena made her way from the kitchen to the foyer with heavy frustrated steps while Heero quickly threw on some clothes. Relena opened the door. It was Augusta, just as she had predicted.

"Hello Augusta," Relena greeted her flatly.

Her publicist merely stared daggers into her.

Mae Hong Son, Thailand

The mountainous and forested areas of Indochina were a maze for those who were not intimately familiar with the region. The Alliance resistance had held out in these parts the longest. As such, many abandoned bunkers and fortresses dotted the banks of minor of the rivers deep inland. The Merchant had managed to convert one of the old bunkers from the 180's into a jungle villa, hidden away from the prying eyes the World Government's satellite imaging network.

From the second floor balcony, the Merchant watched as the headlights and heard the engines of three jeeps as his guests neared. A few moments later the vehicles into the courtyard of his private abode. He heard the engines turn off and men exiting their cars. His guards came to a tense standoff with the security of the new arrivals but soon a detente was established as soon as one of them spotted the Merchant on the balcony and gave him a polite wave.

The Merchant left the balcony, through his private chambers, and quickly rushed downstairs to greet his guests. He was ambushed by Vincent, who had been waiting for him.

"Make this quick, we have guests," The Merchant said.

"About that, why are they even here?" Vincent asked. "We just burned out all of their manufacturing facilities. No doubt, they are going to be pissed. We should get rid of them."

"Why?" The Merchant asked curiously. "So that they can run back to Brussels and cut deals with the World Government and hamper our work even further? We don't abandon our friends in this business. Especially in this era. There are fewer and fewer of us everyday."

They reached the door. A guard opened it for The Merchant and Vincent. They were met by Wolfgang Preto and Stacy Williams, the two members of the Lucio's board of directors that Toro Campana had implicated in his deal with the Justice Department. They did not seem pleased to be there in the middle of the lush forests of Indochina.

"Friends, it's good of you to come," The Merchant said as he extended his arms hospitably.

"You didn't leave us much of a choice," Wolfgang Preto said sounding rather annoyed.

"No, that was the work of your colleague," The Merchant said diplomatically. "I'm just trying to clean up his mess."

"The Preventers are onto us!" Stacy interjected. "We had to run for our lives!"

"Yes, quite the predicament you are in at the moment. The way I see it, you can either turn yourselves into the authorities and join Mr. Campana in prison for the rest of your natural days," The Merchant said slowly. "Or you can come inside and we'll discuss our future plans like civilized people."

Wolfgang and Stacy looked at each other wearily and said nothing for a moment. The Merchant watched keenly as each of them quickly made the mental calculation, weighing the pros and cons of the two choices. But there really wasn't a choice, they had evaded the authorities once and they were already here in the middle of nowhere. Wolfgang signaled to his guards to follow him as he began towards the door.

Heero sliced the crust off of the bread, cut it into little triangles and set them aside. He then diced up a couple of cloves of garlic and threw them into the buttered up skillet he had sitting on a burner before taking a few eggs and cracking them into a stainless steel mixing bowl that Relena had around but clearly never used. Her kitchen was amazing but it was going underutilized. Heero felt like it was his duty to right that injustice.

He had learned the recipe for scrambled eggs from Maurice when he was convalescing at the Palace. Apparently it was Relena's favourite. Her chef showed him all of the little details to making it just right and Heero committed those tips to his nigh-eidetic memory. Heero was a natural cook, his affinity for precision and general dexterity made him suited for the tasks of a kitchen. Since they had returned to Vustgaarde, Heero had cooked breakfast for Relena every morning and it gave him a great sense of accomplishment and purpose to be able to do that for her since she had already done so much for him.

While Heero worked on breakfast in the kitchen, Relena and Augusta were tucked away in the foyer trying their best to keep their voices down. He could still hear them if he concentrated but he tried not to eavesdrop. The reason for Augusta's visit was obvious. He already knew this was about him even if he hadn't specifically heard his name yet. Relena had the patience of a saint. In the brief time they had officially been together, Heero had witnessed everyone, from Augusta, to Dorothy, to Relena's mother, not to mention the staff at the Foreign Ministry, demand either her attention or her time, and most likely both. And she handled it all with grace and kindness. A lesser woman would've been turned into a complete monster given the circumstances. He was beginning to understand why she liked him so much. Given the pressures of her life, he was the one person that didn't demand anything of her. He was just there for her and perhaps even her escape from the rest of her hectic life. He'd like to think so at least.

"You're living with him now?!" Augusta hissed.

"No!" Relena shot back. "He's not living here… he's just… staying here."

"For how long?" Augusta asked.

"To be determined," Relena replied meekly as she tightened her robe around her waist. "What do you care?! This is my personal life!"

"Oh, don't play dumb with me!" Augusta said harshly. "You know how this works! You date someone, anyone, and the whole world is going to hear about it! You didn't even bother keeping it a secret!"

"I specifically asked for the club to provide us with an alternate entrance so that we wouldn't be seen," Relena said.

"Oh, well that just about covers it," Augusta rolled her eyes. "Thank god, people don't have phones that are also cameras these days!"

Relena let out a frustrated sigh. "Look, I don't care. I don't care who knows… It's been too long. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of all of this hiding."

Augusta's stern expression, that which usually cowed Relena into seeing reason had no effect on her.

"What's that smell?" Augusta said as she sniffed the air.

"Oh, he's cooking," Relena said plainly. "He does that in the mornings."

Just then, Heero emerged from down the hall in a T-shirt and a hoodie and track pants. He approached the two girls as he zipped up his hoodie. He nodded politely to Augusta before turning towards Relena and kissing her gently on the forehead.

"I'm going for a run, I'll be back in 15 minutes. I've made breakfast," Heero said softly. "Don't let it get cold."

"Wait—" Relena was cut off with a kiss. Okay, that's a nice consolation prize. But she would've prefered they finished what they started before Augusta so rudely interrupted.

With that, Heero left. Relena pouted slightly, feeling rather annoyed that he had just abandoned her to Augusta's fury.

"Come on," Relena said unenthusiastically. "Let's go eat."

Augusta followed, Relena into the dining room. They were greeted by beautifully set table for two. Heero had made eggs madga on toast and served it with a glass of orange juice and coffee. Augusta was a little shocked at the effort he had put in for a simple weekday breakfast.

"Come, sit," Relena said as she took her seat.

"Okay, seriously," Augusta said as she sat down cautiously. "Who the fuck is he?"

"My boyfriend."

It was an intimate affair. The guests of note in attendance numbered no more than ten. But each of them had their entourage. The Merchant had a reputation for his hospitality, so while the warlords and the financiers met in the dining room, the bodyguards and girlfriends were out mingling by the pool.

Vincent hated being left out, but more so, he hated being treated like the help. Normally in situations such as this, he would have no qualms about letting his displeasure be known. But he knew that his position was a precarious one. He had delivered the data from the Mercurius but failed to deliver the suit itself. The Merchant recognized talent but his patience was not endless. So he contented himself by sitting at the bar for he knew that if he interacted with any of the other bodyguards and hired mercenaries at the party, he was liable to get into an altercation.

"So, you showed up after all," her voice grew louder as she approached.

Vincent turned his head. Kerestina sat down on the stool next to his. She was wearing a red two piece bikini that left very little to the imagination. Her slender body, long legs, and piercing eyes gave off the impression that she was one of the girlfriends or wives, rather than being one of the mercenaries.

"Corona please," Kerestina politely signalled to the bartender.

Vincent turned away and looked down at his drink.

"Not in a talkative mood?" Kerestina asked.

"I hate waiting around doing nothing," Vincent finally said as he finished off his drink and slammed it down.

"This isn't exactly nothing," Kerestina said as she spun around and looked at all those in attendance. "He's building something. It's pretty exciting if you think about it."

"I couldn't give less of a shit about the old man's plans," Vincent said as he signalled the bartender for another one. "He's alive…"

"Yeah, I saw," Kerestina said absently. "Strange though. Somehow I pictured him differently…"

Vincent didn't say anything. The bartender came back with both their drinks.

Kerestina took a sip of her beer. "But I can see why you're jealous. Relena Peacecraft… Quite the catch."

"I'm not jealous," Vincent snarled.

"No… You'd get bored of her way too quickly," Kerestina said. "You're tastes are more… wild."

"Oh, he won't admit it but he's not that different than me," Vincent said suddenly with a hint of glee in his voice. "We were trained by the same mad scientist afterall. Trying to live a better life, be a better man, with the pacifist princess noless. What a joke! Who does he think he is? Sooner or later he's going to reveal his true self and it'll all blow up in his face."

"Oh, I don't know. People can change," Kerestina said.

"Not Heero Yuy," Vincent said.

"And what if he has?"

"Then I guess I'll just have to teach him," Vincent said as he downed his drink. "That you can't escape your past."

The tension between Relena and Augusta had eased considerably over the course of breakfast. It was rather early in the morning when Augusta dropped by and clearly she hadn't had breakfast yet. But Relena had been actively avoiding her publicist since New Years and Augusta was determined to get a hold of her client before Dorothy did. With their hunger satiated and a little caffeine in their system, they finally felt as though they could talk to one another without biting the other's head off.

"So he was a soldier during the war," Augusta repeated back what Relena had told her, all while scribbling down notes in her small purple notebook. "And you two met in the Sanc Kingdom when he was serving in the Imperial Guard. And now he's your personal bodyguard assigned to you by the Preventers..."

"Yes," Relena said trying to mask her unease.

"You know you're not supposed to date the bodyguard right?" Augusta asked.

"Yes, I do know that," Relena answered. "And I don't care. I'm going to anyway."

"Hell of a choice for a first boyfriend," Augusta remarked.

"You know what, I've had it up to he—"

"Calm down," Augusta said. "It's not that a disapprove, I'm just trying to understand. Can't you tell me a little bit more about him? If I'm going to spin this, I'm going to need a little more than that."

"I wish I could," Relena said. "But it's not my story to tell."

"I wouldn't be telling it to anyone," Augusta said. "If he's got secrets he wants to keep hidden, if I know about them, I can help him. If anyone else finds out, I can preempt them. But not if I don't know what to look out for. I'm not out to get him."

"I know that," Relena said as she took a sip of her orange juice. "But he doesn't. He's got… trust issues."

"Sounds like a real catch," Augusta muttered underneath her breath as she scribbled a few more notes.

Relena rolled her eyes and pretended to not hear that dig. "You said something about my mother?"

"Yes," Augusta said as she grabbed her phone and scrolled through her messages. "She's requesting your presence at a party your grandmother is throwing for the start of the season."

Relena sighed and took another sip of her orange juice. "She's taking advantage of my obligations as a daughter."

"She's your mother, Relena," Augusta said. "She's allowed to take advantage."

"Okay, what else?" Relena asked sounding rather impatient.

"The usual, invitations to a myriad of society events. It's the usual, no, I'm guessing?" Augusta asked.

"If I'm hesitant to accept my mother's invitation, does it seem likely that I'll accept any others? What's the point of all of these parties anyway?" Relena asked back.

"The war is over, Relena," Augusta said. "It's okay to live a little."

"What about work? Anything from work?" Relena asked, changing the subject once again.

"Nothing in terms of public appearances for the next little while other than your scheduled trip to L2 G-178 in a couple of weeks," Augusta said once again returning her attention to her phone. "But I think Dorothy has a few things to go over with you."

"So you two are getting along?" Relena asked.

"Well, I'm certainly not going to complain about having less work," Augusta answered. "She's more competent than I originally thought."

"I'm glad to hear it," Relena said.

They heard the door crack open. They both turned to take a look. It was Heero, drenched in sweating and breathing heavily. It was the middle of January in northern Europe and he didn't go out with a jacket and yet he had managed to work up a sweat. He took off his shirt to reveal his sculpted back and his rippling obliques.

He turned to look at the two girls ogling him. "I'm going to take a shower."

"Okay, babe," Relena managed to say without sounding like a complete idiot. "Don't take too long though, we have class in an hour."

Heero went upstairs. Augusta slowly turned around and tried to maintain a neutral expression but her eyes gave her away.

"He cooks me breakfast, served my cause during the war, protects me, and looks like that," Relena said in a smug tone. "Yeah, you're right, I don't get the appeal either."

"Alright, let's review."

Une took a step back from the screen and examined the web of connections that she, Hope, and Nolan had painstakingly constructed over the past several hours. It was an intricate web of events, places, and people. And Une was sure she was still missing the majority of it. She sat down in her chair and turned to face Nolan and Hope.

"At the end of the Eve Wars hours before the pilot of the Wing Zero shot down Libra, Rinus Van Der Deen was last seen at a dinner party being held by the Margrave of Meissen," Une summarized. "Interviews were conducted with his family and known associates including the aforementioned Margrave. No information about his whereabouts could be established from those interviews. Cursory investigations into several unconfirmed sightings over the course of the next two years came to nothing. Then on an unrelated investigation into the illegal mobile suit trade in the South Pacific, Sally Po, code name Water, infiltrated a remnant cell of the Barton Foundation and obtained information pointing to their cooperation with Lucio Internationale. Two agents, Heero Yuy, code name Ivory, and Duo Maxwell, code name Onyx, were sent in to infiltrate Lucio's headquarters in Buenos Aires which resulted in an explosion in their private dockyards and the revelation of mobile suits."

"Quite the operation that was," Nolan added smugly.

Hope shot Nolan a mean look.

"Not that it's your fault," Nolan said. "You should have sent in professionals is all I'm saying."

"More likely than not, your men would have been killed during the mobile suit battle according to the intel we later received on the pilot of the Mercurius," Une shot back.

"Right, because your amateurs did such a good job going undetected-"

"Alright, that's enough!" Hope shouted just as Une and Nolan stood up out of their chairs.

Une sat down and cleared her throat. "As I was saying, the data we managed to get off of Lucio's internal servers and the executive hard drives led to the discovery that the remnants of the Barton Foundation have been in contact with Rinus Van Der Deen and in all likelihood have joined forces. The information found on the hard drives also led to the arrest of the company's CFO, Toro Campana, who in turn gave up more than a dozen shell companies that both financed and were directly involved in the manufacturing of illegal mobile suits. These locations as we have just confirmed have all since been abandoned and destroyed. He also gave up two key members of Lucio's board of directors, Wolfgang Preto and Stacy Williams as accomplices. Both of whom have gone missing."

Une looked around at Hope and Nolan, both of whom sat there staring at the display with vague looks of defeat in their eyes.

"Ahem."

"Seems right to me," Nolan commented.

"Yes, sir," Hope added.

"Okay," Une said. "What's next?"

Hope scrambled a little and flipped through her notes. "I uhh, found some unusual transactions in a bank account we had previously flagged as suspicious in Hong Kong."

"How unusual?" Une asked.

"10 million?"

"Hmmm… Could be anything," Une said. "Still, keep an eye on it. What else?"

"You said the parts of the Mercurius were sourced from L3?" Nolan began to say. "We should start there. My assets have been hearing chatter for months now out there. Let's round up anyone we have files on, see what the local police have. Shake the tree a little. See what falls out."

"No, too loud," Une said shaking her head. "They'd see us coming."

"Too loud?" Nolan asked indignantly. "Who was the one who blew up a building?"

"Exactly why we have to be more prudent this time around!" Une shot back.

"You're scared! You made one bad decision, now you don't want to make any!" Nolan said.

"Fuck you, Nolan."

"Great," Nolan said sarcastically as he spun in his chair. "Alright fine. We leave L3 alone. What else can we do then?"

"There's still the data from Lucio's servers," Une said. "We're not done combing through what we have yet."

"That's just stalling, it'll take months to go through all of that," Nolan said. "And you won't even tell the analysts what you're looking for."

"That's need to know," Une said.

"You're paranoid!" Nolan said as he pointed at her. "You think everyone's out to get you. That's why you don't use my men for your ops and that's why you don't trust McKinley out in L3 and that's why this investigation is going to fail!"

Vustgaarde University, Sanc Kingdom

"But I think that's all the time we have for today," the professor said as he checked his watch. "Next time, we'll take a look at the Romans and their political traditions starting with the ousting of Tarquinius, the last Roman King."

The projector turned off and the lights in the lecture hall brightened again. The crowd began to rumble as they got up in unison. They were all eager to leave. Heero and Relena however, were slow to move. Neither of them had another class or tutorial immediately after and they both hated the crowds. They sat towards the back of the lecture hall that day as they had arrived just a little late. Augusta had kept Relena a little longer than she anticipated.

Relena, as always, was the model student. She listened intently to the rather dry tones of the professor as he drones on ceaselessly on the virtues of Athenian democracy and how it differed from the Spartan oligarchy. She took scrupulous notes. Heero found himself a little distracted by her presence. Even though they had barely left each other's side since the new year began, something about sitting this close to her while she was focused on something else reminded him of the old days,when he watched her from afar. It made gave him a sense of perspective that he lacked when they were in the throws of passion. How beautiful she was. How absolutely stunning, all without even trying. He loved her. He had loved her all along. He just couldn't admit it to himself because there was always the possibility of losing her. That possibility still loomed. He had to protect her at all costs now. There was no choice.

"That's all the notes you took?!" Her voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

He looked down at his notebook in front of him. His handwriting was neat and orderly and perhaps a bit softer than what might be expected of him. Indeed, he wrote very little. He had sparse notes like small population of citizens compared to the general population of the city or Spartans viewed themselves as invaders and occupiers as per their founding myth. He had drawn a few crude diagrams of the electoral process and the different governing institutions. He wrote down a few names like Themistocles and Solon without any attending notes. He would probably just look them up later.

He looked over at her notes.

"You just wrote down everything the professor said," Heero said flatly.

Indeed, she had practically transcribed everything the professor said. She even took down some of his trivial asides and corny jokes, unprepared to be caught unready on the off chance, somehow, those tidbits made their way into the exam. Her page was filled with her pristine loopy handwriting, lines upon lines of shimmering blue ink. Who knows how many more pages she had taken during the course of the 90 minute lecture. She too had some diagrams on her page, but her's were, naturally, more detailed.

"Not everything," she protested as she slammed her notebook closed.

Heero did the same, having no interest in pushing the point any further. Once the last of the students cleared out, they left too. They were still a curiosity for the campus student body. Of course anyone that Relena deigned worthy of her affection would be of interest to people but Heero seemed utterly baffling to onlookers. He wasn't bad looking in any way. But the intense brooding expression of the Japanese boy that escorted her around campus seemed like the polar opposite of the always smiling, always polite disposition of the princess. Heero could feel the judgement everywhere they went. But Relena either didn't or chose not to acknowledge the opinions of those who didn't know better. And no one knew Heero better than her.

Immediately, as they turned the corner from a major hallway into a smaller one, Relena pushed Heero against the wall, pressed her body into his, raised her hand to stroke the ends of his hair, and kissed him passionately. She did not release his lips for quite a few seconds.

When she finally did, she said, "there, does that help?"

Of course, she sensed his insecurity. She just didn't want to give them the satisfaction of allowing herself to be affected by the judgement of others. Heero smiled. She loved it when he smiled. And she loved it when it was her doing.

"I'm not exactly the arm candy that they were expecting for you, am I?" Heero asked rhetorically.

"I couldn't care less what they expect," Relena said soothingly. "You're perfect. Don't ever forget that. But…"

"But?" Heero repeated apprehensively.

Relena hesitated. "Are you ever going to tell them about you?"

"What do you mean?" Heero asked.

"You know…" Relena said awkwardly. "That you're…"

"A terrorist?" Heero asked.

"A Gundam Pilot!" Relena retorted as she gave him a shove.

"I thought that part of my life was over," Heero said.

"I know. And it is," Relena reassured him. "You don't have to if you don't want to. It's just that… Augusta has been asking more questions."

"Great…"

"You can trust her," Relena said. "She's my publicist. Her job is to protect my public image. That means yours too if it ever came out."

"I don't know, Relena," Heero said.

"It's okay," Relena said as she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "I love you no matter what. Just know, your reputation isn't as bad as you think it is."

Relena leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his shoulder. He forced himself to return her hug, as he was still getting used to public displays of affection. Just then, both their phones went off. They broke their embrace to check them. It was from Dorothy asking them to meet her a specific address in Brussels. They had been summoned.