This chapter is rated "S" for sappy. But it's all in good fun. I had to put SOME sap in there, didn't I? ^^
Also, this brings us to a decision. The hidden lemon chapter is meant to fit in between Chapter 11 and Chapter 12. The fic stands alone without it, and so does the lemon, though reading the fic it's attached to definitely helps. Anyway...the decision is this: Should I post the hidden lemon in context with the fic, or should I post it after I've finished posting the rest of the fic? Let me know! ^^
Anyway, without further ado...
Two Princes
A pseudo-songfic, loosely based upon the song "Two Princes" by the Spin Doctors
by Sara
Pairings: 1 or 2 xR...It's sort of like Romeo and Juliet. Except nobody dies. And I don't think Juliet had two suitors. But other than that, it's totally like it.
Chapter 9
Dorothy sat at her desk, elbows propped on its surface, fingers steepled. She glanced down at the desk top, and her brow furrowed.
On her desk was a newspaper, and on that newspaper's front page was a headline:
VICE FOREIGN MINISTER SEEN OUT ON TOWN WITH LOCAL COLOR
The headline seemed to galvanize her into movement. She grabbed the paper, and stood up. Relena should be done with her meeting by now, she thought, and headed down the hallway to Relena's office.
She barely paused for Relena's secretary to acknowledge that Relena was free before breezing past the secretary's desk and into Relena's office. Once inside, she strode purposefully across the carpet, and slapped the newspaper down in front of the other woman.
"Dorothy, what's going on? I don't understand--"
Dorothy cut her off. "Just look at the paper, Miss Relena."
Relena finally glanced down at the paper, and studied the picture. "Oh," she said. "There must've been a reporter in the audience at the orchestra concert. But I don't understand why--"
"Read the caption, Miss Relena."
Relena glanced at the headline, and her eyes widened. "Oh dear..." Her voice trailed off.
"All right, Miss Relena. You've had your fun, and spent some time with Duo Maxwell. Now it's time to sober up and move on, and put that loser behind you!"
Relena looked up at Dorothy sharply. "My, but we are demanding today, aren't we?"
Dorothy sighed in exasperation. "Don't you understand yet? You cannot continue to date Mr. Maxwell! It's bad for your PR image!"
"Oh for the love of...What does my public image have to do with my love life?"
"Everything!" Dorothy threw her hands up in frustration. "I have been trying to explain to you why you shouldn't allow yourself to be seen with Duo, but you just won't listen to me!"
"I have my reasons for spending time with Duo, and I hardly think they are any concern of yours."
"Oh? Think about it, Miss Relena. You've been on--how many dates now?--with Duo. I've heard about the things he's done on those dates. Come now, you can't honestly tell me that you don't mind it when he acts up and causes a scene in public now, can you?"
Relena shifted uncomfortably. "But...but that's not wholly his fault, Dorothy...it's partially my fault, too...after all, he isn't used to going to some of these places..."
"Are you defending him?"
Relena's patience snapped. "I cannot believe I am having this conversation in the first place!" she said, her voice charged with anger. "And I highly doubt that anyone else besides you cares, either. No one has stopped me on the street and asked me what I was thinking. In fact, the only person who really seems to care about all of this is you!"
"Oh, but you're wrong there," purred Dorothy, eager to use the ammunition she'd been storing up for weeks for just this occasion. "People have been talking; they're just too tactful to say it to your face. Or would that be more insidious? It's a close call."
Relena's eyes narrowed. "What have they been saying?"
"Oh, come now, Miss Relena. You know as well as I that Mr. Maxwell has been giving everyone plenty of things to talk about. Or shall I refresh your memory?" She examined her fingernails casually. "If you need a memory boost, I could bring up the most recent event, involving his rather...unique way of praising the ESUN Philharmonic's performance."
Relena's cheeks were flaming, and her voice had lost the majority of its heat. "That...that's not fair, Dorothy."
"Politics is not fair, Miss Relena. You, of all people, should know that."
Relena didn't say anything. Dorothy continued.
"If you really want to know what I've been hearing...the people I've talked to or overheard have all asked what you were thinking, dating someone like Mr. Maxwell, of all people, and are not able to understand what you could possibly have planned. The greater majority are wondering what happened to Mr. Heero, and why you're not with him. Some people think it's part of a political outreach to appeal to the common person. A few think it's just a ploy to make Mr. Heero jealous. Oh, yes. Speaking of Mr. Heero," She raised her eyes from her hands, and fixed Relena with a critical eye, "do you know where he was that night? The night of the concert?"
"N-no," faltered Relena. "He wasn't with me."
"Of course he wasn't with you. He was with Miss Hilde."
"Hilde? Not Hilde Schbeiker?"
Dorothy made a disgusted noise. "Honestly, Miss Relena. How many Hildes do you know? It's not exactly a common name."
Relena looked shocked. "I...I don't...I don't understand..."
"Well, did you expect him to wait for you forever?"
Relena looked up sharply. "I am not expecting him to wait for me at all!"
Dorothy's voice was deceptively casual. "Well, if you don't do something soon, you're going to lose him," she said.
Relena stood up impatiently, and began pacing. "That's not fair of you to say, Dorothy, and you know it," she seethed. "You know as well as I do that I've been the one waiting for him, not the other way around!"
Dorothy snorted with disgust. "Oh, please, Miss Relena. What era are you living in? Since when does the man have to be the one to make the first move? You could've made that move ages ago."
Relena folded her arms across her chest. "I am not answering that comment, and frankly, Dorothy, this discussion is over. I happen to like spending time with Duo, and I don't see any good reason to stop."
Dorothy made a slight, fluid shrug, and moved toward the door. "Have it your way," she said smoothly. "But if I were you--and I sincerely hope you do take my word on this--I'd read the article that accompanies that picture before you go off frolicking around with Mr. Maxwell." She departed from Relena's office, closing the door quietly behind her.
Relena watched her leave, and sank down into her seat tiredly. Why was Dorothy being so difficult about all of this? It just did not make sense. Were people really talking about her relationship with Duo? If so, why?
Before she could think longer, she glanced down at the newspaper. In spite of herself, she began to read.
. . . .
Heero walked into Relena's office, not even thinking that she might not be there. It was right about lunchtime, and he assumed that she would be waiting for him. It was Wednesday, and they usually went out together for lunch on Wednesdays.
However, when he stepped into her office, glancing around for her familiar figure, he was greeted with a very empty office. Relena wasn't behind her desk, nor was she in the conference room adjacent to her office. The door to the small washroom was ajar, and the light turned off, indicating she wasn't in there, either.
He idly played with the newspaper in his hands. He didn't think it odd that the paper had just happened to show up in his office this morning. Even before he read the headline, he knew who the likely perpetrator was. The strategic paper-placing had just screamed Dorothy to him. If Heero had to wager a guess, he was almost positive that Dorothy had been the one to put the paper in his office.
Regardless, he had read the cover story with some interest. Perhaps this was for the best, he mused. After all, Relena does have a certain obligation to her public image, and Duo doesn't exactly fit within the parameters of that image.
Still, he had hesitated before coming to talk to Relena about the article. After all, what had Hilde said last night about the couple? To let the relationship run its course. If those two were meant to be together, then there was little he or anyone else could do to break them apart, not without inflicting a great deal of emotional pain on everyone involved, and risking his own friendship with not only Relena, but with Duo as well. Best to leave them be, she had urged.
'And if Relena does end her relationship with Duo,' Hilde had said, 'she'll likely come to you, at some point in time, for comfort. And she won't do that if she suspects you had a hand in the break-up! Despite what you might think yourself, I don't think you want to alienate Relena. Why don't you just let them be? I think they make a cute couple.'
Heero had to admit that she made a good point, up to the part about them being a cute couple. But he did not think of many couples as cute to begin with, so that matter was irrelevant, to him.
He turned the paper idly around in his hands, contemplating his next course of action, when he heard rustling in the hall outside of Relena's office. He immediately stopped his fidgeting, and walked over to the doorway.
Relena's secretary, who had been away from her desk when Heero had first approached the office, was back. She was shuffling papers around idly, straightening things before departing on her own lunch break. He cleared his throat slightly, and she looked up, surprised.
"Oh! Mr. Yuy! I didn't even hear you come in." She sat down, smoothing her hands over her skirt, and picked up a pen expectantly. "As you can see, Miss Relena is out right now. Would you like to leave a message?"
Heero shook his head. "It's Wednesday," he said quietly.
Susan allowed this to percolate for a moment, then her eyes widened. "Oh my," she said lamely, "she must have forgotten." She shook her head slightly. "But, then again, Miss Dorothy was in this morning, and there was a bit of a heated discussion. I believe Miss Relena went to meet Mr. Maxwell for lunch, to discuss some matters. Something to do with...a newspaper article, I believe..." Her voice trailed off as Heero held up the article in question. "Ah yes. That's the article. But she told me that she may be late getting back from lunch, and to reschedule her appointments accordingly." She glanced down at the appointment book. "Fortunately, she has a light schedule this afternoon. Did you want me to leave a message for her that you were looking for her?"
Heero shook his head. "No. I'll find her, thank you."
Susan nodded, and turned her attention back to the phone, which had begun to ring.
Heero turned back toward his own office, at a loss with what to do next. It wasn't that he could not function without Relena; far from it, in fact. But he had grown accustomed to their Wednesday afternoon lunches, and it bothered him that she--
He blinked. Yes, it did bother him that she had canceled their traditional plans over his head to meet with Duo. But why did it bother him so much?
By this time, he had reached his office. I wonder if Hilde would be available for lunch, he thought aimlessly. After all, if Relena had decided to break tradition, there was certainly little she could say about him doing the same.
. . . .
Duo ambled up to the park bench where Relena sat, and sat down next to her. She didn't react to his presence at first, so he leaned back against the bench and admired the park. It was a sunny day, and the breeze carried the sounds of birds singing and children playing over to where they sat.
The day was not suitable for a serious discussion, which is what Duo assumed Relena had wanted, when she had called and asked him to meet her here.
Finally unable to stand the silence, he spoke. "Hey, Princess." His voice was friendly, yet laced with hesitance.
Relena didn't speak, at first. Instead, she handed a folded newspaper to him.
"What's this? I don't--oh." He studied the picture, which showed the two of them seated in the audience at the Philharmonic concert. The photo had captured Relena in mid-elbow rib, and a startled Duo's reaction.
Duo chuckled sheepishly.
"Read the article," said Relena. Her voice was soft, and didn't seem to be angry. Was she--regretful?
He started to read the article. "Vice Foreign Minister Seen Out on Town with Local Color." Duo chuckled. "Hey, I'm local color, now, am I? Better than teenaged terrorist, I suppose." He read further, his brow furrowing in ire. "Vice Foreign Minister Relena Dorlain, it seems, has taken to the streets...this time, to find herself a man. Sources tell us that the VFM has been seen in the company of local man Duo Maxwell for several weeks now, and..." His voice trailed off. "Do I have to finish reading this?"
Relena shook her head. "Dorothy thinks we shouldn't see each other any more."
Duo twisted the newspaper in unconscious anger. "Why that little viper. Can I kill her now or later, 'Lena?"
"Duo!"
"Sorry, 'Lena. It's just that seeing things like this make me want to wring her stringy little snake-like neck. How much you wanna bet she's got a hand in this little article? I swear she's not changed one bit since her Romefeller days."
"It's not wholly her fault, Duo. I think...I think she's being truthful, when she says others have been...talking about us."
Duo turned to face her. "But that's all just talk, right? It's not like you're going to dump me over all this, right?"
Relena didn't look at him. Duo grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him.
"Relena, I don't believe you. You are one of the strongest people I know. Why are you giving in to what 'everyone else' thinks?"
"But what if they're right?" she cried, the dam finally breaking. "What if being seen with you really is bad for my image? What if I should really be with--" She stopped.
"'Lena! Listen to yourself!" Duo had taken her by the shoulders, and was shaking her gently. "Weren't you just telling me that I shouldn't be afraid to be myself? How can you turn around and say that we should split just because a few stuffy bureaucrats don't think I'm high-class enough for you?"
Relena sniffled. "Dorothy keeps telling me they care," she said quietly.
Duo stood up and paced angrily, saying nothing. Finally, he turned to face Relena. "Just tell me one thing. Did you do this to Heero, too? Or were you saving it all for me?"
"What are you implying?" she asked, her voice suddenly suspicious.
"I'm implying that you're scared," he said, unable to hide the triumphant note of discovery in his voice. "You like the thrill of the hunt, but once you land your man, you lose interest. This is your way of letting me down easy. Just tell me the public doesn't approve, and I'll be on my way, none the wiser."
"I am not...that is, I do not...Duo, do you honestly think that I'm only after the 'hunt', as you put it?"
"Well, what do you expect me to believe?" he shouted. "First you're telling me that you like me because I'm me, then you're telling me you don't want to be with me because I'm me. If you're not trying to feed me a line, I'd sure as hell like to know what you've got up your sleeve!"
"I..." Relena's voice trailed off.
Duo just stared at her with narrowed eyes, then turned away angrily. "Honestly. I thought you were better than all that," he said, his voice quiet and hurting.
Relena made a strangled noise, and stood up and started pacing. "Oh, this is ridiculous," she said, scrubbing at her eyes angrily. "Why am I even allowing what everyone else thinks to color my judgment? I know that being with you makes me happy. That's all that matters, right?"
Duo was silent. Relena looked at him. "What do you think about all of this...you know, what everyone is saying?"
"You don't want to know what I think."
"Yes, I do, Duo. What you think is important to me."
Duo looked at her, a wry grin on his face. "Did you forget that I used to deal with competition and conflict by blowing it away."
"Duo--"
"It's true, and you know it." Duo's voice was quietly contemplative. "And you also know I don't give a shit about what everyone else thinks. I want to be with you, 'Lena," he said earnestly, taking both of her hands in his. "And I don't think that what everyone else says should even make a difference." He looked away. "If you want me to...um, clean up, you know, be more presentable around the people you deal with most often...then I will. But I don't think we should split up just because Miss Bossy Britches Catalonia thinks we're an ugly couple!"
Relena gave a half-laugh, half-sob, and threw herself into Duo's arms. "You're right," she said, her voice muffled against his shoulder. "It shouldn't matter. I just can't help but think that it does."
Duo held her close for a moment, stroking her hair gently with one hand. "Sometimes it's hard, 'Lena," he said quietly. "When everyone else says nay, but your heart says yea."
Relena sniffled, and looked up at his face. "How do you know which is the right answer?"
He shrugged slightly, then suddenly took her hand and turned away from the bench. "Come on," he said, tugging at her hand gently. "I want to show you something."
"What?" Relena allowed herself to be tugged along, only slightly resisting.
"I still owe you one for that concert the other night, right? Well, I know what I want to do. Come on, let's go!" He led her out of the park.
. . . .
It was Hilde's turn to be late to the meeting place. Unlike Hilde, however, Heero was not afraid that she would stand him up. He was slightly concerned with what was keeping her, but the thought that she might not show up never crossed his mind.
When Hilde finally arrived at the cafe, she apologized for her tardiness, draping her light jacket over the back of her chair. "I tried to get here as fast as I could," she said, slightly winded, "but I had to deal with one of those customers. You know the ones. They're not satisfied with anything you do, yet they keep thinking of more things they need. I thought I'd never get rid of him!"
A strange surge of protective emotions welled up in the pit of Heero's stomach. "You should have called," he said gruffly, inciting an angry glare from Hilde. He continued before she could retort. "I would have taken care of him."
Hilde's eyes narrowed in annoyance, then she suddenly burst into laughter. "Why Heero! I didn't think you'd feel the need to be protective of me!" She reached across the table and patted his hand. "I do appreciate the offer, Heero, but I can take care of myself. Oh, don't give me that look," she retorted when Heero raised his eyebrows. "I can. Duo made me take a self-defense class when we moved in together. He said it's the one thing he wished he would've known how to do, when he was a lot younger. Before he became a Gundam pilot. He never really did learn how to fight."
Heero snorted. "That's putting it lightly," he said sardonically, and Hilde laughed.
"Oh, come now. He's not that poor of a fighter, is he?"
Heero just shrugged. "Depends on how you look at it," he said noncommittally.
Hilde regarded him. "I know you didn't call to exchange pleasantries," she said baldly. "What's going on?"
Heero hesitated for a moment, then began to speak.
. . . .
Relena peered from underneath the visor of her motorcycle helmet as best she could, glad the helmet had an eye shield. Bike rides weren't much fun when your bangs were constantly flying into your eyes.
She eyed the terrain as their surroundings grew progressively seedier. Duo was taking her to a part of town with which she was definitely not familiar. She didn't even recall visiting the area as part of her local outreach speeches.
Finally, Duo slowed the bike, and turned into a well-patched parking lot. Relena looked up in surprise.
A church? Duo brought her to a church?
She bit back a groan of dismay. She knew that Duo had favored dressing like a clergyman back during the war, and she had assumed he was religious. Relena herself was uncertain about religion, and really didn't feel like spending the afternoon praying, especially if this was the way Duo thought was best to deal with the problems facing them.
Relena steeled herself, though. She may not want to spend any time in a church, but she was determined to show her best face, regardless. Duo had done the same for her, right?
Instead of pulling up to the church, however, Duo aimed the bike down a small gravel path that wound around the back of the church. Soon, a low, flat-roofed building came into view. A neatly kept lawn surrounded the front portion, and she spied a small playground peeping out from behind the building.
Duo rolled the bike to a stop in front of the building, and pulled off his helmet. He turned and smiled at Relena. "Here we are," he said cheerfully.
"Where are we?" asked Relena. Before he could answer, they were interrupted by a chorus of shrill voices.
"Duo! Duo!" Relena turned to face the building, and noticed a gaggle of small children pelting toward the couple and the bike. Duo quickly disentangled himself from the motorcycle and braced himself for impact.
The children ran into him, almost toppling him over. The air was filled with their happy chatter, and over the din, Relena could hear Duo's laughter. He stood up slowly, one small girl perched on his shoulders, another child tucked under his arm.
When he turned to look at her, his face had split with a wide, happy grin. He gestured vaguely at the girl on his shoulders. "'Lena, I'd like you to meet Kori...and this is Amos..." he jiggled the child under his arm for emphasis. The child giggled. "...and there's Doris, Karles, Micah, and Tad." He gestured to each child in turn, who giggled and stared at Relena with bright, curious eyes.
Duo smiled at Relena, gesturing for her to follow, and turned to face the building.
"Welcome to St. Augustine's Place, 'Lena. It's an orphanage."
==
Relena sat at a table with three small girls, watching them color, her expression bemused. The air was filled with the sounds of happy children. Across the room, two nuns conversed in quiet, yet animated tones, their eyes never straying from their charges. Relena looked up at Duo. her eyes filled with unspoken questions. Duo gestured for her to stand up, and they walked away from the children.
Once they were out of earshot, Relena turned to face Duo. "You wanted to bring me to an orphanage?"
Duo didn't look at her for a moment. He fixed his gaze forward, watching the curve of the hallway. "St. Augustine's Place isn't one of the more well-funded orphanages around here," he said, stretching his arms up and placing his hands behind his head. "But then again, neither was Maxwell Church."
"Maxwell Church?" The name sounded very familiar to Relena....
Duo looked at her. "You didn't know? I was an orphan, too. I grew up on the streets of L2. Father Maxwell took me in. If he hadn't, I probably wouldn't be here now." He shook his head ruefully, lost in old memories. "It's where I took my name from, you know. The Maxwell part. In honor of Father Maxwell and Sister Helen."
"I...I'm sorry, Duo," she said softly. "I didn't know."
Duo snorted slightly. "I'm surprised Heero never said anything. Then again, when it comes to personal facts about his friends, he keeps his mouth shut more tightly than the Hoover Dam keeps the turn-locks closed during a drought."
They were silent for a moment, with only the scuff of their shoes along the tiled floor betraying their presence. When Relena spoke, her voice was carefully metered, as if she was taking great care in choosing her words.
"I guess that...knowing what your past was like, I'm kind of...well, surprised that you would choose to do something that would remind you so much of your childhood."
Duo didn't speak for a moment, and Relena worried that she'd overstepped. But instead, he sighed slightly, and took to looking at the wall.
"That would only make sense, wouldn't it." His voice was quiet. "I mean, almost everything about my childhood was sad or depressing. You'd think I'd want to run as far away as I can from all of this." He turned to face her. "I guess this is..." He shrugged. "I know this church isn't affiliated with Maxwell Church. Heck, they're not even of the same religion. But I feel like...I feel like, when I come here, in a way, I'm giving back. I'm making up for leaving Father Maxwell and Sister Helen, when I should've stayed by their sides."
Relena took his hand, and squeezed it gently. "You can't change the past, Duo," she said softly. "From what I know of the Maxwell Church massacre, if you had stayed, you would've died, too."
Duo made as if to protest, but simply pursed his lips and shook his head. Relena made a mental note to ask him about it later. Instead, he laughed harshly. "Heero knew about all of this, you know. I'm actually kind of shocked he didn't tell you. To make me seem worse in your eyes, or something."
Relena's eyes widened. Did he know about Heero's scheming, and his obvious unhappiness about her relationship with Duo? She shook her head, and decided not to say anything. "Heero never really did talk much about you. In fact, he never talked much about anyone."
"Not surprised. Anyway, whenever I feel like life is getting the best of me, I come here and spend time with the kids. They don't have anyone but themselves, 'Lena, and the Sisters don't always have the time to play with them, and let them be kids. When you're with these kids, you are their whole world. And they'll love you unconditionally for any love you're willing to give to them in return."
The hallway had curved back around to the playroom, and she stopped just inside the doorway. "Oh, Duo," she whispered, and leaned up to kiss him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He responded by placing his hands on her hips, then pulling her closer. For a moment, they were lost in their embrace.
They were startled back to the present by the sound of several children giggling. They broke their embrace, and turned to realize they'd gathered a bit of an audience. The nuns tried to hide their smiles behind disapproving looks, and the children had gathered around the couple. The two of them had been so wrapped up in each other, they hadn't even noticed the children sneaking up on them.
"Duo and 'Lena, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-Eek!" The timeless chant dissolved into shrieks of laughter as Duo grabbed for any child close enough to his reach, mercilessly tickling. The children tackled him, and pulled him down into a squirming, giggling mass of children. Over their delicate voices, Relena could hear Duo's own deeper, hearty laugh, and for a moment, she forgot all about the problems facing them, as she waded into the fray herself.
~*~
TBC
As always, C&C is greatly loved and appreciated. ^_^
--Sara
