I do not own Gundam Wing. This fan fiction has no commercial value and I am not making any kind of profit or income off of this.

Chapter 13

He could see her moving inside her room. He hated keeping watch on her balcony, but he wanted to talk to her and it was the easiest way in. Relena disappeared into her adjoining bathroom, to take a shower, he presumed.

Heero sighed and turned his back to her room and gazed out at the stars. He didn't know how long he was lost in thought before he heard the door to the bathroom open again and he turned around…and about fell over.

She was only wearing a towel, a small towel at that, wrapped tightly around her slim body, the corner tucked in at the top near her left arm to form a 'dress'. It barely covered the essential areas as she walked over to her dresser and pulled out a nightgown. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her as the towel was carelessly unwrapped and then replaced by the silky fabric. She was beautiful.

Well, that answers one question about the wedding night. He thought as he sucked in a deep breath and tried to get his hormonal reaction under control. He turned away to look up at the night sky once more.

He waited a few more moments before knocking on her balcony door. She turned away from her vanity mirror where she was untangling the knots that had formed in her dark-gold tresses. She saw him and was startled, but moved to let him in.

"Heero, what are you doing out here?" She asked, puzzled that he would be standing out there on her balcony instead of in the hall at his usual post.

"I need to speak with you," he said gruffly as he moved to walk passed her and into the room. She closed the door behind him.

He looked around for a moment as the silence stretched between them. Finally he turned and glared at her. "Sit down," he said and motioned at the bed. She blinked and then frowned, but did as he asked and sat down on the edge of the bed closest to where he was standing. To her surprise he sat down next to her, so close in fact that their arms were pressed against one another. Uncomfortable with his proximity, she moved slightly away from him, covering her motives by turning to face his profile while still sitting on the bed. She looked at him expectantly.

He cast a sidelong glance in her direction, undeterred from his mission by her reluctance to sit so close to him. He was counting on his physical presence to intimidate her, and so he turned to face her as well, pinning her beneath his intense gaze. "Do you love me?" He asked in a low voice.

Her eyes widened at his words, but she couldn't look away. "I…"

"Tell me the truth, Relena. Do you love me?" He asked again still staring right through her.

She tried to retreat, but he reached out and grabbed her wrist, holding her in place. She looked away and finally managed a single word. "Yes," she said in a barely audible voice.

"Then marry me," he said flatly and released her.

She closed her eyes to the pain that washed over her with that statement. She wanted to say yes, but there was still this emotional wall separating them. She couldn't agree to marry him, not now, not like this. "No," she said just as softly.

He frowned at her; the deep creases in his brow announcing his displeasure. "Why not, Relena?" He growled.

She turned to face him once again and searched his eyes for that emotion she so longed to see reflecting in those ocean depths, but there was still nothing. She shook her head and moved to rise from her seat, when he once again prevented her escape.

"Why not?" He demanded. "I think I at least deserve an explanation."

She frowned; he was still trying to order her around - still demanding that she do the things she would gladly do for him without being told. He had yet to ask her to marry him, so far all he had done was tell her to. And so she knew that something still wasn't right between them; love shouldn't be like this. She met his gaze and looked at him with a sad expression. "Do you love me?" She asked him quietly. This time he was the one to turn away. "There's your explanation, Heero. If you loved me, perhaps things would be different, but you should find someone to make you happy - someone you can love. And you should let me have the same." She said and walked over to the inside door to her room and opened it, signaling him to leave.

He glared at her; he was reluctant to go as he couldn't help but admire the way her satin gown clung to her body. He sighed and forced himself to move out into the hallway.

"Good night, Heero. Certainly you can understand that I don't want you here right now. Please don't fight me when I ask them to reassign you," she pleaded quietly.

He turned and looked at her standing in the doorway with silver blue eyes tarnished by the sadness and pain of unrequited love. The urge was strong to give in to her demands, to ease that pain the way he always had tried to do in the past. But he was an expert at losing battles, and he wasn't about to surrender and admit failure. He hardened his heart to the look on her face and calmly replied. "I will fight you every step of the way, Relena. I will never break my promise to you - not even when you ask me to."

Unable to respond to his pronouncement, she quickly closed the door on him. Pain tore at her heart and she fell back against the wall and slid down to the floor. She buried her face in her hands and fought the urge to cry.

* * * * * * * * * *

Saturdays were always pretty lax around the Peacecraft mansion, the Vice Foreign Minister typically used that day to catch up on missed sleep from weekdays filled with early morning meetings and late night social functions. Duo arrived for the day shift at eleven o'clock and found his still-painfully-single friend at his regular post outside Relena's room.

"Well, I take it things didn't go so well, eh pal?" Duo greeted him cheerfully.

"Hn."

"So, care to fill me in on all the juicy details?" Duo asked with a grin, flopping down on the floor next to him.

"She said no," Heero replied tonelessly.

"You don't say. I never would have guessed that. What did you do this time, hold a gun to her head and say 'Marry me or I'll kill you'?" The former Deathscythe pilot chuckled at his own joke.

Heero turned to look at his friend. "Would that work?" He asked blankly.

"Doubt it. But she might start getting the idea that you care if you did that," Duo replied with a mischievous grin.

"Hn. Well she doesn't think so now."

Duo's shoulders slumped, and he closed his eyes in frustration. "What did you do?" He asked, a feeling of dread settling in his stomach at his friend's words.

Heero shrugged and looked away. "Nothing."

"Fine, what DIDN'T you do?"

Heero stared at the floor. "She asked me if I loved her."

"And you didn't say a damn thing!" Duo groaned. "Geez, and Wufei calls me a baka!" He said standing up from the floor, irritation written all over his normally cheerful face.

"I don't love her, Duo," Heero said mechanically.

Duo just stared at his friend. "You know, if you keep saying it like that, I might even start believing you. Might. But as it stands today, I don't buy it for a minute."

Heero stood up and glared at his friend. "I don't."

Duo threw up his hands in exasperation. "You know what? I quit. I'm going to go see if the infamous Zechs Marquise has a merciful bone in his body and will just let me quit now, instead of going down in flames with you."
"Fine."

"Hilde will divorce me for sure if I tell her we're moving to Antarctica - and no offense, but I don't exactly relish the thought of being stationed out there with just you and the polar bears. The damn bears would be my only company because they at least have a heart, you cold son of a bitch!" Duo yelled angrily.

Heero's lip curled up in a snarl. "Don't presume to know so much about me. You have no idea what my life's been like."

For some reason, his friend's declaration just rubbed him the wrong way. Fury rose within him, tightening every muscle in his body as he took up a fighting stance. "Yeah, maybe you had it a little tougher than the rest of us, pal, but we all have our problems - don't think you're the only one who grew up lonely. We all did. And we all have the same blood staining our hands, but in case you missed it, THE WAR IS FUCKING OVER!" Duo screamed and lunged at his friend. His fist connected with Heero's left cheekbone, catching them both off-guard. Heero's head snapped to the right and he instinctively struck out, punching Duo in the stomach.

"I know the war is over," he growled as Duo doubled over in pain.

"I don't think you do," he gasped as the wind was knocked out of him from the force of the blow. "The rest of us have moved on - look around you. I'm married, Quatre's married, Zechs is married, even Wufei and Sally are picking out rings. That just leaves you and Trowa - and believe me, Trowa's infinitely better off than you right now," he said, and pitched forward, tackling Heero to the ground. He fought to pin him down.

"How so?" Heero asked, grabbing Duo's fist with his left hand, and curling the fingers of his right hand around his attacker's neck.

"You don't think I haven't seen your apartment? It's like a soldier's barracks," Duo growled hoarsely, his oxygen supply being cut off mercilessly. He moved his hands up to try to loosen Heero's grasp. Unsuccessful, he worked to maneuver himself off of his opponent to launch a counter-attack. He brought his knee up and rammed it into Heero's abdomen, and scurried across the hall, trying to catch his breath. He stood up, breathing heavily, his hands resting on his knees as he finally got enough air in his lungs. Heero rolled up into a crouched position, looking poised to attack once again.

"You only have a few articles of clothing besides your Preventer's uniform, a single bed in a single bedroom - no luxuries, no decorations, just the barest of essentials. It's like you're still living the life of a soldier. When are you going to wake up?"

"And see what? That Relena thinks she's in love with me? She doesn't even know who I am, she just has this idea of who she wants me to be."

Duo saw something glint in Heero's eye, and suddenly everything clicked into place. "You're afraid," he said quietly, letting down his guard.

Heero lunged across the hallway, knocking Duo to the floor. The two men wrestled on the ground, throwing punches and trying to get the upper hand. Suddenly, the door to Relena's room opened and a firm but sleepy voice called out. "Stop it right now, both of you!"

The two men froze in place and looked in the direction of their interruption. Heero pushed Duo off of him and stood up. He had a cut under his left eye that was leaking a trail of blood down his face. Duo's right eye was already black and blue from the blow Heero had dealt the night before. Relena saw it and gasped. "Duo, are you all right?" She asked, stepping forward to help him up. He groaned and waved her away.

"I'm fine," he said and picked himself off the ground gingerly.

"But you're eye! Heero Yuy, I can't believe you!" Relena said, turning an angry look to the other young man.

"Relena, it's all right - Heero gave me the shiner last night. We were just having a discussion…"

"Some discussion. Heero, you're bleeding. Duo, you're a mess. You two come in here and let me fix you up. But no more 'discussions' inside the house. You know the rules!" Relena said, crossing her arms and glaring at her two bodyguards.

Duo grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, Relena. I forgot, no fighting in the house unless it's against terrorists."

Heero snorted. Relena looked un-amused. She watched the two men obediently file into her room and then her bathroom. She followed them inside.

Relena finished bandaging Duo's bleeding knuckles, and dropped his hand. He grinned at her, his one black eye still swollen and painful-looking. "Duo, please put some ice on that eye. See Pagan in the kitchen, he'll get you taken care of," she said with a sigh.

He stepped forward and kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks, babe," he said with a wink of his one good eye and quickly exited the room. Relena shook her head and turned her attention to the sullen young man nearby.

She crossed her arms again and glared. Heero couldn't help but think how the pink of her cheeks seemed to make her eyes dance. They danced with anger directed solely at him, but they were still beautiful. He dutifully moved and sat on the bathroom counter facing her.

Relena took out a cotton ball and soaked it in alcohol before rubbing it over the surface of his cheek. "This may sting a little," she said softly as she worked to clean the blood from his face. It took several cotton balls to wipe the last traces of red from under his eye. She then picked up his hand to clean off the few abrasions he had on his knuckles. He just stared at her while she worked.

"You should have been a doctor," he said quietly, watching her face as she tended to him.

A sad smile tugged at her lips. "Actually, I wanted to be a pediatrician," she said softly, avoiding his gaze.

This surprised him. He suddenly remembered the conversation he had with Noin.

“What did she dream of doing before the war happened and she had the fate of the world dropped onto her shoulders?”

"You would have been good at it,” he said simply. She was much gentler than any of the military doctors he had dealt with in his life. What else don't I know about you, Relena? He wondered, staring at her as if expecting an answer to fall from those full red lips that he suddenly found fascinating.

She finished bandaging his hand, and moved to drop it, but he wouldn't let go. She looked up at him in surprise, meeting dark blue eyes that were completely unreadable at that moment. He brought his free hand up to the side of her face, gently lifting her hair as it slid to cup her chin slightly. He leaned forward, his lips whispering hesitantly against hers.

She closed her eyes as their mouths met for the first time, a tingling sensation running through her body at his gentle touch. The pressure of his lips against hers became more forceful and she found herself instinctively kissing back. Her arms moved up to his chest as his hand finally let go of hers and came to rest on her hip. His palm seemed to burn her flesh through the thin nightgown she still wore, while the other one tangled in her sleep-knotted tresses.

The open-mouthed kiss they were sharing was pleasant, but Heero couldn't resist the urge to deepen it as he slid a searching tongue into her mouth, caressing hers softly with his own. A tremor passed through her body at the contact and he suddenly felt the need to pull her closer. As he made the move to stand up from the counter, tugging lightly at her hair to pull her head back just enough to accommodate the adjustment in position, footsteps sounded in the hall, causing her to pull away quickly.

"Hey hey! Look who came for a visit! Oops, sorry, Relena - I forgot you weren't dressed yet," Duo called out cheerfully, ducking his head in through the bathroom door. He noticed her flushed complexion, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. Were they…naw, couldn't be - but she looks like…and he looks like, oh he always looks pissed. Were they kissing? Duo wondered. "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything," he said in a low voice. Relena blushed furiously, and he glanced up at his silent friend in amazement. Heero just shot him a vicious glare.

"No, of course not. Duo, is there someone in my room?" Relena asked trying to cover up her embarrassment.

"Naw, I left him out in the hallway. I didn't know what you two were doing in here," he said trying to provoke her further.

She blushed an even deeper shade of red as she finally met his gaze. "We weren't doing anything, Duo. Now who is out in the hallway?"

"Trevor."

"Oh." Relena said, the name not doing anything to alleviate the pink color of her cheeks.

"What's he doing here?" Heero asked in his typical monotone, but Duo didn't miss the way his friend's jaw clenched or how his eyes narrowed dangerously at the mention of the other man's name. Who is it that's not in love, Heero? Duo thought gleefully.

He shrugged in answer to Heero's question. "I dunno. Maybe he and Relena have another date?" He fought to keep the evil grin from forming on his face as he ‘stirred the pot’ and tried to goad his friend into some sort of more visible reaction.

"No." Relena said quickly. "I don't know why he's here, but it's terribly rude to keep him waiting. If you two would allow me to get dressed…." She said in a polite attempt to get them to leave her.

"By all means," Duo said with an impish grin. "We're not stopping you - go ahead, get naked, I mean dressed."

"DUO!" Relena shouted and pushed him out of the way and towards the door of her room. "Out!"

"Okay, okay. Coming Heero, or do you get a private show?" Duo asked grinning wickedly. Relena reddened again, and to his surprise, he thought…No, couldn't be! Is he…is he blushing? Duo blinked and looked again. Must be hallucinating, he said to himself and shook his head slightly. He sighed as he realized that Relena was glaring angrily at him and shouting for him to leave. Heero followed him out the door and finally came face to face with…the opposition.