Relena pulled into Duo's yard, wondering what she had done in a former lifetime to result in this punishment. She swore that she had loosened a few teeth driving down that damn road. But she wanted to talk to Duo and he wasn't going to visit the Sank Kingdom anytime soon. Une called him fairly regularly, making sure that he had enough to eat, was taking care of himself. Duo enjoyed these small calls and occasionally called Une just to tell her that he was alright. Relena decided that since she had a few days free and Une didn't, she would visit Duo.
Yes, it was rude that she didn't clear this with him ahead of time, but it wasn't like he went anywhere! He walked into town for supplies once a week, took books out of the library and volunteered for story time with the children. Other then that, he was at that cabin, hiding. But he was getting better.
Relena could see that when she talked to him, he was so delighted when he told Une that he wasn't that nervous around Ian or anyone else in town anymore. And that the older man was coming out at night for coffee during the wee hours of the morning because he still couldn't sleep at night. So she was coming out here to hide for a while too. Hopefully Duo would let here. And she had to talk to him, even as screwed up as he was, she knew that he would give her good advice.
She got out of the car and stretched, loosening tense shoulder and neck muscles. May be she could talk him into giving her a massage. Relena walked around the cabin, following the sound of voices, hopefully Duo would be here and she wasn't parking at someone else's cabin in the middle of the woods, at the end of a teeth jarring road. She turned the corner and was happy at seeing Duo sitting outside, even though he had his back to a very large tree, reading a little and watching a bunch of kids their age frolicking in the water.
"Duo!" she called, waving her arms. "Just stopped by for a visit."
Duo looked up from the book that he had been reading and waved back, a big smile on his face. " 'Jousan!" he called waving back. "Never thought that I would see you out here."
"I have a break and I know that I was frightfully rude not to call ahead, but.." Relena let her voice trail off and she smiled winsomely at him. Her arrival was noticed by the others and they startled to get out of the water and greet the newcomer.
Duo ran up to greet her and let Relena give him a gentle hug, without flinching too much. He returned it and laughed a little. "Not like you ever announced when you were coming before, when you were chasing us about. Seems like old times."
"All I need is everyone staring at me like I was the biggest pain in the world."
"Sorry to say, 'Jousan, you were. Do you know how much trouble you caused, with Wufei and Heero?" Duo said quietly before letting her go and turning to the group that was sitting on the dock and openly staring at Relena.
"They're just staring at you now because you're the first visitor that I've had. Be braced for a lot of rude questions."
"Can't be any worse then some of the meetings that I've sat through." Relena murmured back.
Duo laughed again and called out, "Everybody, this is 'Jousan. 'Jousan, that's Tony and Claudia and an assorted cast of kids that like to swim here."
Relena smiled and waved, wondering what they thought she was here for. They were all checking her out but for different reasons. The boys, except for Tony, wondering if she was available. The girls, wondering if she was dating Duo and what she was wearing. Relena was glad that she had dressed down today, wearing casual slacks and a blouse.
Relena glanced over a Duo and frowned. He was still a bit pale and why was he wearing long sleeves and pants? The rest of the crowd was swimming, why wasn't he? He knew how, she saw him swimming at Quatre's once, he wasn't bad at it. She didn't push it though, she thought she knew his reasons. He had some color, but not enough, she decided. But he did look relaxed, and his eyes were a little more alive.
"How did you meet Duo?" Tony asked, his voice breaking through her musings.
"We have mutual friends, we meet a couple of years ago." Relena said, wondering how much of Duo's past these kids knew. And then she realized, none of it. They had the same innocence that her old school clique had. Untouched by worries, or life or anything that would convince them that they could be harmed. And she could write all she knew about Duo before he was a pilot on grain of rice, she didn't know anything about him besides that he was from the L2 sector.
"Really?" asked another girl whose name Relena didn't catch. "He didn't say that he had a girlfriend." Relena could hear the jealousy in her tone.
"Just friends really, never even thought of dating each other." she said with a straight face. Terrorists don't date. And I don't like men and I don't even know if he likes women.
The rest of the afternoon was filled with such questions. Relena answered all that she could without compromising Duo's reputation, and laughed off the rest. The gang continued to swim until the it got towards suppertime, when they packed up their stuff and headed back to town. Relena shook her head, amused at some of the things that had been said to her.
"They all like you Duo." she said in amusement. "A couple of the girls were ready to fight me for you."
"I'm a new face. And they are trying to be nice to the guy that owns their swimming hole" Duo said quietly.
"No, they like you Duo. Even if you don't swim with them, live out here own your own and cook better then their mothers."
"They're nice," he said wistfully, "They're so innocent. Were we ever that way?"
"I don't know." Relena answered honestly. "I don't think so. It was hard to be innocent when you think about your father crawling into your bed at night, that he takes you everywhere, not because he likes you, but because then he could cheat on his wife with you and she couldn't say a thing. If she even noticed."
Duo turned and stared at her, sorrow in his eyes. "I didn't know. That's why you merrily chased after us. You actually were hoping that Heero would kill you."
"I don't know. It would have been nice. I hated myself. I thought that it was my fault that everything happened. I thought that I tempted him in some way. And then he was killed and I was ashamed at the relief that I felt, that he would never touch me again. When Dr. J told me that I had the same innocent eyes as Heero, all I could think of was that he had lost it. My innocence left when.." Relena's voice trailed off.
Duo moved over to cautiously hug her. "No wonder you thanked 'Neesan for killing him."
"She told you that?" Relena asked.
"In Cologne, when we.." Duo took a deep breath, "We were talking, before we went to.I said something like that it must have been hard, listening about me from Treize, and she said that she had you, it wasn't that bad. And he did need to talk to someone at times."
"We all do. I must confess I'm here for a selfish reason. I need your advice." Relena said, sheepishly.
Duo started laughing, sitting down on the ground after a while when his legs wouldn't hold him any more. " 'Jousan," he gasped. "I'm so screwed up and you're coming to me for advice?"
"Well, yes. And home cooking. I never had anything that you cook and Une gets this look in her eye when she mentions your omelets. " Relena started, "And even screwed up, you should have good advice about things. Just because you have decided that you want to live like a hermit in the woods, doesn't mean that I can't get good advice from you."
"Une just looks funny about me and omelets because that's what I cooked for her after we tried to kill each other over T-chan. And then we decided to split him between us, like he was a doll or something." Duo said wistfully, remembering. "Man, he had nothing in his fridge, I had more food in the safe house. Granted it was mostly leftovers from take out, but it was food. All I could make was omelets. Then I bullied Une into staying for lunch."
"She misses you. She wouldn't mind if you moved in with her. She acts like your cooking is even better then sex."
"What about you? You two are still seeing each other, aren't you?" Duo asked. "Won't that put a cramp on your visits if you have me there?"
"Well, sort of, but that's why I came out to see you. The seeing part not the cramping part." Relena reluctantly admitted.
"Silk Teddies, champagne and whipped cream." Duo teased her.
"What?" Relena exclaimed.
"That will jazz up your love life."
"Silk Teddies?" Relena's tone was skeptical.
"Haven't you noticed that silk is just so.nice?" Duo said with a wistful smile, but those days were over for him. "And we better continue this inside while I throw supper together. I don't have much. But a salad, some veggies and a hamburger sound good to you?"
"Sounds great, I'm just trying to picture you in a silk Teddie."
"You are supposed to wear that, not me." Duo said.
"I don't know." Relena mused.
"You won't either," Duo said quietly. "I don't.." he took a deep breath, "don't think that anyone will see me like that again. I can't. Your brother. I'm sorry" Duo's eyes filled with tears. "I shouldn't tell you this."
"I was there, I sort of saw what he did to you. I think that I can guess the rest." Relena said softly, slowly putting her arms around him. Duo stiffened and then relaxed, letting Relena hug him. He was surprised to find out that it felt good. "Time, you still need time. To heal, not just your body, but your soul. You were fighting for a long time. Long before you were a pilot. It will take time for you to get over that. What happened to you in that storeroom is just another thing that is screwing you up. Treize's death, my brother's abuse, all the fighting. It does add up. You are going to take a long time to heal because it took a long time and a lot to hurt you."
Duo just buried his head in her hair, not trusting his voice. He was ready to cry again. It seemed that there were still days that all he did was cry.
Relena hummed in his ear and rubbed slow, light, gently circles on his back. They stood there like that, Duo shuddering once in while as he tried to control himself, before he lifted his head and smiled faintly at her, "I'm okay now. That just happens. I think that I'm doing okay, that I made a little progress and 'wham' I lose it again."
"Duo, counseling would be good." Relena said softly, "Or may be talking to someone."
"I talk to Ian. Or I listen to Ian, mostly. He's out here late at night. He probably won't be out tonight, cause he won't want to disturb us. No matter what you say, they are going to think that we are sleeping together."
"You don't talk to Ian about the war do you?" Relena asked, "Do they even know that you were involved. Not that you were a Gundam Pilot, but that you saw some action."
"No, they don't." Duo smiled, "Gossip has me hiding out from the law, an ex-girlfriend or being a weird genius working on something out here."
"Where do they come up with this stuff?" Relena asked, hugging Duo tighter.
"It a small town, I was the big excitement when I showed up. You can see it tomorrow if you want. I got to return some books at the Library. Do some shopping. I walk into town, it's only a couple of klicks."
"Walk? Well anything would be better then that road." Relena moaned. "Do you have a car for the winter? It'll be too cold to walk then."
"I got something in the garage. It's below the house. Since I don't have a license, I don't drive it, I keep it here for emergencies more then anything. It old and beat up and I put it together with bailing wire and duct tape."
"You should talk to someone about things if you don't get better." Relena said.
"Eventually." Duo shrugged. "Now I got to get you supper. And if you are a good girl tomorrow I'll treat you to ice cream."
"Oooo, bribery of a government official." Relena teased him.
"Won't be the first time," Duo said, sticking out his tongue at her.
"Don't stick it out unless you're going to use it," Relena said automatically.
"Didn't know that you swung that way, 'Jousan." Duo answered, starting to busy himself with dinner. He cooked quickly, listening to Relena tell him of the gossip at the capital. She didn't mention what else brought her out here and he didn't ask.
They ate slowly, Relena surprised at how good everything tasted. Must be the country air. They settled on the porch to watch the fireflies and the lake after they did the dishes, coffee in hand, content to just sit there.
Relena had fallen asleep, tired from the drive out to Duo's causing Duo to wake her up and escorted in the cabin, bundling her into his bed before he settled on the couch to sleep.
Relena woke up the next morning to the smell of coffee and toast. She sniffed appreciatively before stumbling out of Duo's bedroom. The bed was comfy, but small. She didn't think that two people could fit in there comfortably. As she was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she was happy to hear Duo laughing, even if it was at her.
"Nice threads 'Jousan." He laughed, "No wonder you're out here for advice, that is not how you keep your love life alive."
Relena stuck out her tongue at him and sat down, blinking at the coffee cup in front of her. Alright a pair of flannel PJ's with kittens and bunnies on them weren't the most romantic things. "They cover what they need to. And I don't wear them around Une. And Mrs. Darlian gave them to me."
"Mrs. Darlian, that's awfully formal even for you." Duo commented, placing a plate of toast in front of her.
"When I found out that she knew what was going on.." Relena's voice trailed off, her tone bitter. "I didn't consider her my mother anymore. She didn't protect me from him and she could have."
"That why you out here?" Duo asked softly.
"Part of it, but I don't want to talk about if now." Relena said, picking up her toast. "And part of it has to do with other things."
"Who? Or what?" Duo asked, sipping at his coffee. Relena frowned at him. "I don't eat in the morning. Too early." I've been awake for hours, but I'm not interested in food. Everything still tastes odd. I guess I've found out what sorrow tastes like.
"Noin." Relena sighed, giving in, there really was no good time to talk about these things. "She doesn't approve of my relationship with Une. I know that she was there for me during the war. She protected me from the Romafellers, she fought for the Sank Kingdom. But she now thinks that since she might have married my brother, she has some say in my life. And she doesn't like Une. She thinks our relationship is unnatural and I should settle down with a nice boy. Or Heero Yuy."
"Noin and reality didn't talk all the time." Duo said quietly. "I think that's why she got along with your brother so well. She didn't believe that he was sleepin' with T-chan the same time as he was with her." Duo stared into his cup, lost in his memories for a moment. "I know that she and Une didn't get along when they worked together during that battle. Une pulled some really silly moves, like with forcing Heero to blow himself up. They were hostile to each other in the control center that entire battle. And a couple of other things. Plus you did try to shoot Une."
"That is beside the point." Relena sighed. "I'm different now. I know who I am, mostly."
"Tell it to Noin. She's still in love with your brother." Duo said bitterly. "She thinks that he was a nice guy. If I told her any different she wouldn't believe me. But he never got nasty to her, like he did to me and T-chan."
Relena laughed bitterly. "You what just struck me as strange. It's my brother, or him. Not either of his names, Mirialdo or Zechs with me. I wonder why? I know he was my brother, but I don't feel like he was. Even before he tortured you. And I disowned him"
Relena held her breath for a minute. She finally said it out loud to Duo. Torture. Not roughed up, or nasty or any of the other words that Duo had used to skirt around what had happened to him. She hoped that he didn't freak over it, but it was something that he was going to have to let other people talk about to him if he wanted to get better. She usually felt better after talking to someone about a problem. And maybe Duo would stop thinking that it had been his fault that Zechs was crazy. If anything it was hers.
She was the one that had gone to the Libra in the first place to try and save Zechs from whatever madness was consuming his soul. She had been too late, a fact that she didn't realize until she watched him blow up that island and threaten the Earth with the same fate.
Duo stared blankly at her for a moment. "Yeah. Tortured. You were never one to mince words when you thought that it would get you someplace. A pity that it didn't work with Zechs. I could almost hear the arguments between the two of you, all the way out on the PeaceMillion, when I arrived there."
Relena slumped a little. "I tried so hard. I wanted to make it all better. Between him and Treize. And Noin. Between the Earth and the colonies. Between us. I wanted to wave my magic wand and have it all be better. So I would feel better. So I wouldn't feel dirty and worthless. I'd been used by Darlian, by Dorothy and by the Romafellers. I wanted to succeed at something, at saving someone. Wufei managed to save Heero, so that was out. I wanted to save my brother even after he was too far gone to be saved. Even after Treize said that he was too far gone and that he didn't love him anymore. And what happens? You come to save me from myself and he finds you after Dorothy used me as a hostage. And he did all those horrible things to you." Relena finished with a little sob.
Duo got up and hugged Relena gently, letting her cry on his chest. After a few moments she calmed down and almost laughed when Duo handed her a paper towel to wipe her eyes and blow her nose. "No tissues?"
"Ran out." Duo said seriously. "You okay?"
"I.I think so."
"You want to hear my take on things?" Duo asked seriously.
"I don't know. I know that you won't lie about it, but.." Relena let her voice trail off.
"Mistakes were made on both sides. Correction all sides. Zechs for letting his ego eat him alive. T-chan for hoping that it would just all go away or get fixed on its own. It took something really over the top to have them split up. You can guess what it was.
You were a kid that suddenly discovered you could make a difference. Be someone. And you wanted that so badly to forget what that bastard did to you. You survived him doing that to you, you're stronger then you think. And I made mistakes too. I should have sent Wufei or Heero to rescue you. I didn't though because I didn't want to disturb them. Wufei was recovering from watching his colony blow itself up and Heero was trying to deal with the ZERO System and a lover that was an emotional wreck. Heero had no clue on what to do. So I let them be, Trowa and Quatre were the same way. Besides neither one of them owed Une big time like I did. So I gambled and lost. It's not your fault that he tortured me. We might have never made it off the ship, we were close, but that doesn't count until it's over."
"But you're a mess because of what he did to you." Relena argued, tearfully.
"Weren't you the one that told me I was a mess because of a lot of things that happened to me? That I could get better over time? T-chan was the one really good thing that happened to me. The Maxwell church was too, but I never let them know everything. I was afraid that they wouldn't love me anymore. I told him everything. And he still loved me. Me, the little street rat that was a whore since he was seven. And then I told him that I loved him, the last time that we were together in Luxemburg. And it then it was all over, the killing the blood, the pain. The Peace that everyone had dreamed about. And I couldn't share it with him because I had been weak and told him that I loved him. And he died because of that."
Relena made a face when she waked into town. This was the closest center of civilization to Duo? No wonder the road out to his place was a mess. On their walk into town she saw more birds then she ever had outside a zoo, small furry rodent things in three varieties, and a lot of trees. But no humans outside Duo and herself. It was scary. She couldn't tell what year it was, never mind what country they were in, if she ever got lost here. Duo laughed at her expression and gave her a small hug.
"You ready for your bribe?" he laughed. "You look like you swallowed something nasty."
"Duo, this place is just so rural." she said with distaste. "Really primitive, have they even heard of the space colonies? It looks like the Federation never was here." No wonder you like it here, it looks like there wasn't a war. Not like the reminders you'd get in any other place that you went to.
"It's quiet. The big thrill is cow tipping, whatever that is." Duo said, shrugging a little. "But the people are nice and there's a library that will order stuff for me."
Duo made a quick stop to drop off the bundle of books that he had brought with him and picked up the bundle that was waiting for him. Relena noticed that he was teased by the kids that were in there, who were a little disappointed that Duo wouldn't stop and read them a story. Relena laughed at the glares and the loudly whispered comments of how girls made boys do icky stuff, even Duo.
"Duo read them their story before they mob me and drag me out to be burned because I made their Duo not like them any more." she laughingly ordered him.
Duo looked guilty for a second and then smiled. "You don't mind? I didn't know that you liked kids."
"I didn't know that you did." Relena said. "You can fill me in later about how you became their best buddy."
" 'Cause I have time for them." he said quietly. "I feel comfortable around them. Maybe because they're smaller then I am. I don't know. I grew up surrounded by a hoard of kids except for the last year or so."
"So read away. Can I at least choose the story?" Relena asked.
"What do you want to hear?" Duo asked cautiously, "If I've read it recently they may not want to hear it again."
"Mmmm," she thought aloud. There were several that she could chose, but she didn't want to upset Duo. "Snow White? Or the Little Mermaid?" Those two were borderline, but she couldn't think of anything else. Most of what she remembered had the prince overcoming incredible odds for true love. Since that didn't happen for Duo, she wasn't going to rub it in.
"Yuck, love stuff." One of the boys said. "Figures a girl would choose that."
Relena laughed. "It's a girl thing. They think that they're in love and they do stupid things. And they like hearing about love."
"Still's icky." He pouted.
"Okay, I give in. Tell what me you want to hear." Relena asked.
"Yeah!!! How about the knight stuff?"
"King Arthur?" Duo asked. At the enthusiastic nods, he pulled out a book and sat down. The kids gathered around him and sat still, hanging on his every word as he read to them about Arthur and his knights. Relena noticed that he read the happy stories, nothing that had anything to with death or killing. After a half hour he closed the book and promised that he'd be back next week to read.
Duo led her over to the ice cream shop, after waving good bye to all the children and the librarian, who beamed at the two of them and loudly whispered to another patron, -'They were such a cute couple.'
Relena had an attack of the giggles at that comment and had to control herself before entering the ice cream shop. "God Duo, I would have never believed it if I hadn't heard it with my own ears."
"Just don't tell 'Neesan. She'll kill me for trying to steal her girl." Duo exclaimed in mock terror. "She'll make me self destruct!"
"Like you needed her help with that!" Relena said sarcastically.
"Not my fault the damn thing never worked. I swear elves futzed with it in the middle of the night." Duo complained.
Relena hugged him impulsively happy to hear him joke with her. A few more months, some help, it might become a regular occurrence. He hugged her back, glad to see her laughing. She had been too serious last night, a flashback to the intense 'Jousan that chased them all over creation.
"Bribe. I want my bribe" she exclaimed. "And you better make it a double or I will tell Une!"
"What flavors?" Duo asked, entering the building. Relena wasn't surprised to see that it was done in what she was mentally dubbing 'rural Americana'.
Small tables, hokey music playing low and a board that listed a bunch of different flavors. She was surprised to see that they had some flavors that she wouldn't have thought of: Godiva white chocolate with chocolate chips, Grapefruit and Tequila, Latte Thai Tea and Cinnamon chocolate chip.å "mmm" she hummed appreciatively. "You choose two for you and two different flavors for me and we can share. Okay?"
"Sure thing 'Jousan. I never argue with a pretty girl." Duo agreed, "Just grab the corner table. I get the seat to the wall. You want to be adventurous?"
"Sure, Duo." Relena agreed, hugging him again before moving off to grab the table. Not that they had to worry about that, the place was deserted. Duo came back with their ice creams and a couple of soda's She frowned at him when he took the corner seat, with his back to the wall, but realized that he probably had that habit a lot longer then she wanted to know.
They chatter lightly of nothing, knowing that anything that they said would be over heard and repeated. Duo pointed out the highlights of the area and pushed her to run away from it all and settle out there with him. She teased him about moving back to the big city, listing the conveniences in it, stores, bigger libraries, a movie house.silly bantering that she hoped wouldn't upset him. She just wanted him to know that he was welcome at anytime to come back.
They were halfway done when Duo sighed and shook his head. A mutter "watch out" was all the warning that she got when she felt a very large hand settle on her shoulder and saw some idiot leering down at her.
"Hey baby, my name is Roger and I am the man of you dreams."
Relena smiled sweetly up at him then, grabbed his hand and twisted it so that he sunk down to his knees in agony. She then snapped her palm into his forehead, stunning him and letting go of his hand so that he fell. Relena then took both dishes of ice cream and poured their contents onto Roger.
Duo just started laughing helplessly. He nearly fell off the chair when Relena dumped the ice cream on Roger, even though it was a waste of good ice cream.
" 'Jousan," Duo gasped, "He's not going to hurt you."
"He bothered me." Relena said numbly.
"Well that's the job of the village idiot." Do said, worried that Relena was about to lose it. He tried to stop laughing but Roger, covered in the melting remains of their ice cream was too funny.
"To hit on every girl that he sees?" Relena asked in disgust.
"Hits on me every time that I go into here or the store. He doesn't bother me at the library because I don't think that he knows how to read. But he thinks that I'm a girl."
Roger growled and sat up, trying to lunge at Duo for laughing at him. Relena kicked him and then threw him across the room.
"Leave him alone!"
"That's not a guy," Roger snarled, wiping the white chocolate ice cream out of his hair. "A real man, wouldn't let his girlfriend fight for him!"
He charged at Duo again, forcing Relena to toss him across the room a second time. It wasn't hard, the guy left himself wide open for it, even though she was a rank amateur at this compared to Duo. Duo on his part was enjoying the sight of the former 'Total Pacifism' Princess, clean Roger's clock. If he had a camera, he'd take pictures and make a fortune off of it.
"I'm not his girlfriend! And no one has to take care of me now!" Relena screamed at him.
" 'Jousan," Duo soothed her coming up beside her to stop her from lunging at Roger again, "Its okay, just let the idiot stay there and we can go shopping, then to my place. Sorry that he's wearing your bribe. And what you just did to him has been the dream of many a girl around this place." Duo was worried that he'd have a hysterically screaming Relena on his hands.
"But I.I let you down.last time." she said tearfully, starting to sniffle.
"You came through when you had too, that's the important thing," Duo said, hugging her. "Just let's go before I really have to hurt him for making you cry. Because I don't know if I can stop."
Relena sniffed one more time and allowed Duo to lead her out of there and into the small store for a very quick shopping trip. He was paying for his groceries when Ian cam striding into the store.
"Duo. Damn it." Ian growled, "Didn't you warn your girlfriend about Roger? What kind of idiot are you?"
"I am not his girlfriend." Relena said quietly, and then smiled winningly at Ian. "For all you know I may be his sister."
"Actually" Duo said solemnly. "We're both members of a secret cult that likes long hair."
"I don't care, Roger wants me to arrest her for attacking him." Ian held up his hand. "You got witnesses that say he started it. So I'm gonna give you a ride home, and tell him that 'Jousan, got a sever tongue lashing. The ride home is in case he starts it again and the two of you got to hurt him so more."
"Fair 'nough." Duo agreed. " 'Jousan's a nickname."
"Don't care Duo, that's what goin' on the report that ass is making me file. Do you know how much I hate paperwork?" Ian asked Relena.
Relena sighed. "I am sorry. I did over react to him, but he annoyed me."
"Hell girl, he's annoyed every girl in the next three counties. Just most of them didn't beat up on him, in front of witnesses,"
"So you're saying that I'm supposed to let him maul me?" Relena asked in angry voice.
"Hell, no! Just don't have witnesses next time!" Ian laughed. "Witnesses is what made him mad."
"Ego, Why is it with every fucking male, ego drives everything that they do." Relena grumbled.
"Hey!" Duo exclaimed.
"Don't start." Relena warned him.
"I was just going to say, that was the first time that I heard you swear. You getting potty mouth?" Duo defended himself. "And I know that I've been stupid, ego or not."
"If you two will stop doing your imitation of a married couple," Ian scolded them, "I'll drive you home."
"Thank you Ian." Duo said quietly, "I'm sorry to trouble you."
No problem Duo, you just owe me a couple more cookies next time I visit you." Ian said, laughing, "Jousan can come by anytime and liven things up."
She's worth it if you laugh because of her. But what is she to you? Not a relative, you don't look anything alike. Not a girlfriend, because she wouldn't be trying to get you back to where she lives with promises of a bigger library. Or you wouldn't be telling her the virtues of a small town. More intense then friends, but not romantic. And I bet if I got her alone she still wouldn't tell me any more then I know about you.
"We are not acting like we are married, are we?" Relena asked Duo in a quiet voice, hoping that he wouldn't misunderstand.
"Nah, more like 'Neesan and T-chan. They bickered a lot too. But only in private. In public you saw how it was." Duo said sadly.
"Yeah, she followed him around like a shadow." Relena said thoughtfully, "I never understood it. I thought that she was just so, mindless to follow his orders that way."
Ian hustled them into the patrol truck and drove them back to the cabin. Asking Relena if she liked her stay so far, aside from the small Roger problem. Relena smiled, answered his questions with the professionalism that she had from being a vice-minister and managed to tell Ian nothing about herself, Duo or their relationship. She realized that he wasn't an idiot and knew that she was stalling him, but accepted everything that she said at face value and thanked her kindly, after accepting a cup of coffee from Duo, because he drove them out here.
After Ian left, Relena plopped down on the sofa and sighed. "I know that he wasn't happy with my answers, but if he didn't know them by now, you weren't going to tell him."
"This place survives on gossip. They call it something else though. But people talk. That's how you get information that you need for stuff." Duo said, perching beside her on the arm of the sofa.
"A swim?" Relena asked. "I don't have suit either, we can go in with all out clothes on."
"I don't know." Duo started.
"I know you can swim, I saw you playing tag with Quatre and Trowa at one of his places."
"That's not the problem," Duo said sadly.
"That's why I said all our clothes, well, maybe not our socks. A swim and a soak. Think of it as another bribe," Relena asked.
"Okay." Duo conceded to her wishes. It wasn't like she was going to see anything.
They swam for a while, Duo tossing her off the dock for talking him into this mess. After about an hour they crawled out of the water and sat dripping on the dock. Relena stretched out in the sun, wanting to dry off before going back into the house.
"Spill it," Duo said, flopping himself down beside her. "I know that Noin is giving you trouble, what's the other problem?"
"Une and me." Relena said.
"That covers a lot, could you be a little more informative."
"I want to move in with her."
"Yeah!" Duo cheered.
"I don't want to get her in trouble."
"You're close in age, you're a mature person. Oh, you aren't eighteen and Noin will nail her on that."
"Yes." Relena hissed.
"You are peeved at her." Duo asked in surprise.
"She thinks that Une cast some sort of weird spell on me, because she thinks that this is something that started after the war, not during it. Mrs. Darlian isn't helping either, but she realizes that she can't do anything about it. I told her she lost any say in my life when she didn't stop her husband from molesting me."
"That's hard Relena." Duo said, with his eyes closed. "But true. Parents are supposed to protect you from the bad people, even if one of them is your husband."
"So you see the problem, Noin will get her to force me to live with her until I'm eighteen."
"You got anything on Noin? Any blackmail material, 'cause that's what it's going to take.
"Nothing." Relena said in disgust.
"Just hang on then, you've got a year. I know that sounds like a long time, but it isn't." Duo said softly, "I had that with T-chan. You'll get more with Une, so visit her and gradually move in. Tell Noin if she don't like it, you'll move in with me."
"You at least are the correct sex, for her." Relena said in disgust. "I hadn't realized that Noin could be so narrow minded until she started this."
"But I'm also a ex-terrorist that was sleeping with her boyfriend's lover. Not who you want your 'little, innocent sister' to be with." Duo said sarcastically.
"Sally's ready to whap her one too." Relena said. "Noin was screaming all about this to her, until Noin realized that Sally's female 'roommate' was also her lover. Noin just got really red, choked out something and hasn't talked to her since."
"Idiot." Duo said. "Why should it matter, if it's love?"
"You answer that one and you get the prize." Relena said, rolling over to give him a hug. "Sorry to dump on you, but you about the only one that I can.
"That's what I'm here for." Duo replied, glad that he didn't flinch from the contact. "You guys helped me when I needed it. I never did thank you for the note. I was wondering sorta what happened to the others, thanks for telling me."
"They did want to look for you. Heero was hacking everyplace that he could think of to find you. Wufei was helping, but had lost it a little. He hated himself for killing Treize, he really didn't want to." Relena paused, wondering what was going through Duo's mind. "Trowa and Quatre were out of circulation, since Trowa was taking care of Quatre. Dorothy I haven't seen, but I hear things. She's getting her life back together, the bitch."
Duo snorted at that comment. Elegant little Relena was getting backbone and a potty mouth at the same time. It was funny. "Just so I don't see her again. She was a victim as much as the rest of us, but that doesn't mean that I have to like her."
"Not hard, she won't come near me either, but she's all buddy-buddy with Noin, when I'm not there. They visit the graves together."
"So long as I never have to see or deal with her again, don't matter. Sorry I wasn't more help, but let me feed you some more, have you recharge your mental batteries for a couple of days and send you back to Une with cookies."
"You were someone that listened. I needed that more then anything," Relena said.
End Part 5
Christine
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