Love’s Choice 4

Katana Force

The guys had just returned from setting things up for their respective spots and were now standing outside the house staring blankly at one another.

"We can’t stand out here all night." Everyone agreed with Milliardo. "So, who’s going first?"

Duo motioned for Zechs to go. "Age before beauty."

Zechs’ face flushed red. "Duo, if I wasn’t the nice person I am, I would pound you into the ground."

"We shouldn’t be fighting at all. Tonight is a serious night for all of us, and I intend to get it started right now." With that said, Quatre turned and walked into the house.

Trowa looked at the remaining three. "I believe we should follow Quatre’s lead."

Duo smirked and followed after Trowa. "Quatre was always the brains of the operations. Well, after Heero anyway."

Wufei glanced to Milliardo. "Shall we?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Silently, Trowa and Midii made their way down the beach sands. The moonlight glittered off the silvery grains as they buried there toes. Trowa reached out and stopped Midii. At her questioning look, he gave her a soft smile. "You are probably wondering why I brought you here. I was hoping you and I could talk."

Midii cooked her head to the side. "I’m listening."

"Ever since I found out that you were alive, and that we had a chance for a new future, some emotions that I have never felt before are happening inside me. I don’t know what to do about them, Midii."

"What kind of emotions, Trowa?" Midii felt her insides knot up in apprehension.

"Emotions that make me want to do things." Trowa looked up at Midii’s waiting gaze. "Things like this." With that, Trowa pulled a surprised Midii into his arms and kissed her for all he was worth.

After a few minutes, a flushed Midii pulled away and smiled. "Trowa, do that again."

Trowa smiled and released her. "After we eat, love." Midii smiled again and followed after the love of her life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wufei, were are we going?" Sally asked as she followed behind Wufei. She could barely make out his form in front of her. The only thing that signified he was there was the flashlight’s beam.

"You will see."

After a few more minutes of stumbling through the woods, Wufei stopped suddenly; and Sally bumped right into his solid back. Wufei turned, handed Sally the flashlight, and ran the back of his fingers down her cheek before kneeling on the ground.

Sally, still a little shocked by his touch, followed Wufei’s movements with the light. She found he was trying to start a fire. After a few minutes, the bright glow of the fire revealed a picnic basket sitting close by with a large blanket laid out.

"Wufei, I don’t-" Sally was silenced by Wufei with a gentle touch of his finger to her lips.

"Sally, you know me better than anyone I know. You have put up with me for the longest time.

I don’t know how to thank you."

Never one to let an opportunity go by, Sally questioned him. "You can thank me by answering this question. What did you mean when you asked me why I hold so much power over you?"

Wufei took Sally’s hand and led her to a log near the fire. Sitting down, he pulled Sally down next to him. "Sally, I am only going to say this once. I am afraid of you. You hold a power over me that makes me want to bend to your every whim. That shows a weakness in me. Because of that, I am afraid you will bring out more weaknesses in me."

"Wufei, the power to love is not a weakness. It is a strength that binds our very beings together. It is something that makes us stronger."

"But look at Heero! He is the perfect solider and love does not abide in him!"

"That is where you are wrong, Wufei. Love has a stronger hold on him than he will ever admit. He just won’t acknowledge it. Search yourself. You know it is true."

Wufei sighed and looked into the fire while absentmindedly stroking Sally’s hand. "He loves Relena, doesn’t he?"

"Yes, and it is that love that drives him to survive every mission, to keep living."

"Indeed, I do not understand everything you say, but I will learn."

Sally reached and out turned Wufei’s face towards her. "I will teach you, if you will take the chance and trust me."

Staring into each others eyes, Wufei knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could trust the woman he loved. "I do trust you."

Sally gave him a big smile. "Good, now let’s eat!"

Wufei gave a devilish smile. "Indeed." Sally’s instincts were to slow to react to Wufei’s arms, but her lips responded well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The boards gently creaked under the weight of the lone couple. Hand in hand they walked down the long pier. Dorothy gasped when she saw the table, china, silk table cloth reflecting the moon’s light, and the lone candle.

"Quatre, what is this?"

Quatre stopped and smiled while taking Dorothy’s other hand. "I thought we should talk. About us."

A guarded expression fell across Dorothy’s features. "I’m listening."

Quatre took a deep breath and began. "Dorothy, ever since we spent those few nights together, I have felt awful. I feel like I have used you. I need to apologize for doing that to you. I also need to apologize for avoiding you for the past month."

Dorothy silenced Quatre. "Dearheart, please listen to me. You do not need to apologize for those nights of love. I have no regrets and neither should you. I do, however, accept your apology on abandoning me. Please know, that because of your kind heart, you have taught me how to love. I will never regret meeting you or being with you. I will always consider you a friend."

Quatre gave Dorothy a soft smile. "I hope we can become more than friends, but for right now, why don’t we dine while enjoying this beautiful night?"

"Lead the way, Mr. Winner."

"It would be my pleasure, Miss. Catalonia."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The cool ocean breeze blew over the couple as the day’s heat from the roof saturated their skin.

Duo and Hilde laid on their backs and gazed at the stars. They had just finished their dinner and were content to rest in each others presence.

"Aren’t they beautiful, Duo?"

Duo glanced at Hilde and smiled. "Yeah, beautiful."

Hilde turned to see Duo looking at her and not the stars. She felt like hitting him, but she restrained herself. A light blush shaded her cheeks, tempting Duo to kiss them.

"Hilde?"

Noticing the serious tone, Hilde sat up and gave Duo her full attention. "Yes, Duo?"

"Do you really doubt my love for you?"

Hilde eyes wandered to the stars. She looked at them without really seeing them. After a time, she looked back at Duo. "Yes, I do."

Duo’s face fell, but he quickly composed himself. "What made you doubt?"

Hilde’s gaze never wavered from Duo’s sapphire eyes. "The fact that I was always doing the work. I was always bending my schedule. I was always making sure you had all the creature comforts. The fact that I never had any help or even a single thank you." Hilde’s voice turned to a whisper. "The fact that you never said those three words."

"Yes, I have."

"Yes, Duo, you have said you love me, but you have never SAID you LOVE me."

"I don’t understand."

Hilde let out a small laugh. "Duo, every time you would go somewhere. Every time you would leave my presence, you would say ‘love ya!’ or ‘who loves ya?’ but never ‘I love you’. And lately, you haven’t even said anything remotely close to love." Hilde laughed again and turned her head away. "Duo, sometimes I wonder if you can love anyone but yourself."

Duo’s eyes watched Hilde, but his soul was being torn to shreds. He loved her with every fiber of his being, but he had failed her along the way. Somewhere, somehow, he had failed her.

But Never again would he.

"Never."

Hilde’s shocked faced turned towards Duo. "What did you say?"

‘Here goes nothing.’ "Hilde, I have failed you. I failed you and ended up destroying the faith you had in me. Never again will I let that happen. NEVER. You are too important to me. I need you in my life. Your very soul is the light to my dark world. You are something I don’t want to loose."

Hilde’s eyes grew wide as tears began to form. "Do you mean it, Duo? You actually want me more than my body?"

Duo never faltered. "Hilde, I make this declaration here and now. I love you. I love you for who your are, and I will continue to say that forever. With that declaration comes a question," Duo reached into his pocket and pulled out a velvet box. He opened it to reveal a diamond set in a 24k gold ring. "Hilde, will you marry me?"

The tears finally spilled over as Hilde flung herself at Duo. "Yes, I will marry you." Duo smiled and placed the ring on her finger. "You never answered me though."

Duo’s eyebrows rose. "On what?"

"Whether or not you wanted my body more than me."

Duo smiled and pulled her into his arms. "Hilde, I want you. Your body is just and added bonus."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Silently the wind blew as the couple sat on the bluff’s edge. Mist from the waves crashing below them rose up and gently kissed their faces. They had sat there silently for a time. Neither knowing what to say.

Noin broke the pregnant silence. "Zechs? Why?"

Milliardo Peacecraft looked at the beauty next to him. "I don’t know, Noin."

Noin gave a mocking laugh. "I always thought you would come back. Shows to go how foolish I am."

"What shows to go how foolish you are?"

"Me expecting you to return.....to me. It was a foolish thing. Actually the more I think about it, the more I begin to think this was a dumb idea." Noin got up and walked away, but Zechs’ hand on hers stopped her.

"You are not foolish! I was the foolish one for walking away from you in the first place! My leaving you was not your fault in any way, and you expecting me to come back was not foolish. I was foolish. I was stupid." Milliardo’s voice softened as he turned Noin to face him. "Do you forgive me? CAN you forgive me?"

Studying his crystal blue eyes, Noin saw the honesty that flowed from his soul. "Yes, I do forgive you." Slowly, ever so slowly, their lips drew together like true poles. With their gaze never wavering, Noin breathed her final requirement. "As long as it doesn’t happen again."

Milliardo smiled. "You have my word, not as a solider, but as a man in love."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"All right, let’s talk." Relena pulled herslef out of Heero’s grasp and sat on the stool opposite him. She watched him quickly polish off the food before saying anything.

"Heero, what do you want to talk about?"

"I want to know what is going on between us. You seem more guarded than normal."

"Gee, what tipped you off?" Relena repiled sarcassitcally.

"What is bothering you?"

Relena sighed and rested her head in her hands. "I keep having a dream, a nightmare to be exact, and it’s been getting worse, to the point that I can’t even sleep at night."

"Can you tell me about the dream?"

"No."

"Why?"

Turning sad eyes away from Heero, Relena’s thougts drifted to the most current dream she had just had. It was more horrid than the others. It was worse than a nightmare because it was something she had lived through. Relena decided to change subjects. "Why have you been avoiding me?"

"Avoiding you. You were the one who agreed with me that we made a mistake."

Relena buried her face in Heero’s shirt, the tears that she had never shed came burning forth. "You’re right. I am sorry."

"Shh, don’t be sorry. What is past is past."

Relena cried even harder. She didn’t want it to be the past. She wanted it to be the future. Just being in his arms made her long for what they had once had, but it was no more.

Relena pulled back, wipped her eyes, and gave Heero a weak smile. "How ‘bout that movie now?"

"Sure."

"I’m going to go get out of these sweaty clothes. Why don’t you start the popcorn?"

"Roger that.." Relena gave Heero one more weak smile before exiting.

Watching her retreating form, Heero’s arms still tingled. He looked down and fingered the wet spot on his shirt. ‘God, it felt good to hold you again, Relena.’

Relena had to restrain herself from charging up the stairs. She was confused and frieghtened. Confused because she was feeling things she had long since left in the past. She didn’t want her heart to get betrayed again, nor could she live through the pain of telling him. Frieghtened, beacuse she was not sure how to act around Heero any more.

‘Just like you’ve always done, Relena. Act like nothing ever happened.’ Taking a deep breath, Relena threw off the sweaty clothes and traded them for baggy sweat pants and a tank top. Putting her hair in a sloppy ponytail, Relena put on a thick pair of socks and walked into the den. She noticed Heero wasn’t there yet, so she took the liberty of turning the system on. The 72" tv glowed to life as the surround-sound warmed itself up. Relena began looking for the missing DVD disc.

"It’s over behind the lamp."

Relens threw a quick glance at Heero. "What is it doing over there?"

Heero set the big bowl of popcorn in the couch and shrugged. "Duo was the last one to see it. You’ll have to ask him. What do you want to drink?"

"Uh, Dr.Pepper." Heero nodded as he went to retrive the drinks.

Relena looked around the room. It felt like something was missing. She kept scanning the room until her eyes came upon the cold fire place. Smiling to herself, she walked over and flipped the switch. It clicked for a few seconds; but a bright flame qucikly engulfed the fake logs, casting a orange glow over the room.

‘Relena, you are bad.’

Settling on the couch, Relena started munching on the popcorn wondering where Heero was. One minute later, Heero, now clad in sweats and a tank top as well, came in and handed Relena her soda. "Are we all set?"

"Yep, just waiting for you."

"Well, I’m here so let’s get this party started."

Relena smiled and hit play.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The movie had just reached its climax when the front door opened and closed. Voices were heard as they walked past the stairs to the den.

"Hey, we’re home!" Silence met the couple at the top of the stairs. "Hello?" Duo and Hilde made their way downstairs. "Hey, we’re-"

"Shhhhhh!" Heero and Relena shot Duo the death glare and returned to the movie.

Leaning down, Duo whispered in Hilde’s ear. "It’s really scary when both of them look at you like that."

"Yeah, but they look really cute together."

Duo sat in the chair to Heero’s right and had Hilde sit on his lap. "Oh, hey! I’ve seen this movie! This is the part where-"

"Hilde, shut him up!" Relena snapped.

Hilde chuckled. "My pleasure."

Heero turned his head and looked at Relena before both turned to look at Duo and Hilde. "Well, that’s one way to do it."

Duo sileneced, Relena and Heero watched the movie in growing suspense. Five minutes later, the door opened again. Footsteps where heard as the new arrivals came down stairs.

"Well, I see the Heero didn’t kill you."

"Noin, shut him up."

Noin gave Milliardo a devilsih smile. "Sure thing, Relena, sure thing."

Footsteps where heard again as the couple made their way back upstairs. Heero again looked over at Relena.

Relena was quick to respond. "I don’t think we want to know."

Suddenly, Trowa and Midii showed up, startling Relena. "Gee, thanks for being so quite."

Smiling sheepishly, Trowa and Midii took a spot on the floor in front of the TV.

The door opened and closed again. Quatre and Dorothy were heard whispering, but they never made an appearance. Again the door opened. Sally and Wufei, hand in hand, made their way down stairs and sat on the floor on Relena’s left, next to the fire.

Thirty minutes later, the movie was over. Midii had fallen asleep with her head on Trowa’s lap. So he carried her upstairs. Wufei and Sally had disappeared a few mintues ago. Heero, stretching tense muscles, picked up the empty bowl and waited for Relena to proceed him upstairs.

Relena turned the fire off, and looked at Duo and Hilde. "Guys, it’s time to go." No response. "Um, hello? We are going now, you should too. We have an early start tomorrow." Relena looked over at Heero and smiled. "What do you think would break them up?"

"Duo, Oz is attacking!"

No response.

"Guys, the house is on fire!" Heero turned to Relena and shrugged his shoulders. "Deathscythe just self-detinated!"

No response.

Heero shook his head and signaled for Relena to go up stairs. "They aren’t going to stop. We might as well get going."

A few minutes later, Hilde pulled away from Duo. "Did someone say Deathscythe just self detinated?"

"I didn’t hear anything. Besides, Deathscythe is long gone."
"Hey, where did everyone go?"

"Probably to bed."

"I think that’s a good idea."

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I lay any claim, to Gundam Wing or anything pertaining to it.