24 Aug 2001
Pairing: 2+R (implied 2xR)
Category: Romance
Rating for this section: R
What to expect: Hetero-ai, sap, LIME-ISH.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to Sunrise, the Sotsu
Agency, and Bandai, and I intend only to increase their
revenues by contributing this derivative work.
/ denotes thoughts, emphasis
One day you will look...back
And you'll see...where
You were held...how
By this love...while
You could stand...there
You could move on this moment
Follow this feeling
A month and a half later, it was Duo's turn to be restless. More than restless, actually: closer to stir-crazy. Over yet another satellite linkup, he gave voice to the frustration. "I'm getting worse and worse at this distance thing, you know?"
"I know." Her sigh sounded exhausted. "I have these little fantasies of just dropping everything and running away--just us, very far away from everything else."
/Away from everything else./ Duo thought for a moment, a crazy plan forming in his head. "Where are you, exactly?"
"Right now? I'm at a conference outside London. In Britain."
"I know where London is, silly. How long would it take you to get to, say, Washidelphia?"*
"A-about seven hours of flight time--but I'll need to pack, and arrange for a flight, and get to Heathrow. Why am I going to North America, may I ask?"
"One of Hilde's cousins has a little house by the ocean. If it hasn't fallen down yet, it's here." His fingers hurried over the keypad, and a text box displaying directions opened at the bottom of her screen. "There are like six airports in the metro area, but this should get you there from any of 'em. If I catch the very next shuttle, I can be there in eleven hours--and if they let me fly it, I can be there in ten."
"Well--" She wavered, looking down at the conference programme, but then her chin lifted in sudden determination. "All right."
The cab ride seemed interminable, though the flight had been worse; one delay after another had gotten between her and the sky, and what should have been a ten-hour trip (including packing time) had become almost thirteen. Relena was too keyed-up to be properly exhausted, but almost too tired to keep her eyes open. The other delegates had stared in surprise when she pleaded a family emergency and fled the conference, but no one had asked any especially intrusive questions. Besides, she reassured herself, her own presentation was finished, and she sincerely doubted there would have been any further papers worth staying for. Nothing short of a global crisis could have kept her from that plane, and even then it would have been a toss-up. Unfortunately, the airplane itself had no sympathy for her plans, and required more than one bout of repairs before it agreed to fly. But at last she was on the other rim of the Atlantic, watching the Delaware coast fly past the windows of a rather dubious taxi.
The battered sedan bounced along the rutted track--barely a road--indicated on the directions. It was hard to believe they could be only miles away from a major metropolis; the only inhabitants of this sandy spur seemed to be gulls, and they hadn't passed a single car since leaving the highway. The driver pointed out that this was the off-season, and commented meaningfully that most people were too smart to plan vacations during the season of autumn storms. Relena only gifted him with a honeyed smile, silently willing him to drive faster.
At last they pulled up in front of a small grey house, bordered on three sides by a generous porch. Most of its windows seemed to be aimed toward the sea, and it turned a mostly blank face to the road. The driver checked her directions to confirm the address, and then hopped out to extract Relena's bag from the trunk.
It took several attempts before the taxi was able to turn around in the gravel, but at last it chugged off, clattering back to town through its own cloud of dust. Relena hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and headed to the house. The door was unlocked, but all was quiet; other than signs of a recent dusting, there was little evidence of life. Until she almost tripped over a pair of black boots next to the stairs, Relena was quite ready to believe she had managed to arrive before Duo after all.
There was still no sign of Duo himself, though, so she continued through the house, setting her bag down next to the kitchen counter. The sound of the sea was stronger as she reached the back of the house--the front, really, since the whole structure seemed designed to open its arms to the ocean. She followed the waves' call until she came out onto the porch, and then stopped. The sun was descending behind her, turning the highest of the eastern clouds into heaps of rose and tangerine fluff. At the horizon, the lowest clouds met the sea in a band of blue so deep it was almost purple. Almost like--
Relena smiled, closing her eyes. After all these months, the least of the things she had learned was how to tell when he was watching her. "It's beautiful," she murmured, referring to more than the sunset.
"Yeah." She turned to find Duo sitting sideways on the wide porch railing, his back against the corner post. He didn't quite smile, busy drinking in the sight of her. "You made it."
"I did." Relena lingered at the top of the steps, drawing out the final moment of separation for as long as she could stand it. Now he did smile, acknowledging her game, and played along by holding his position on the rail. She lifted her face to the brisk sea wind, letting it toy with her hair like a playful lover. The breeze did nothing to cool her, though, since it only reminded her of his hands--not so far away, now.
Unable to tolerate the distance any longer, Relena came down the length of the porch at last, her low heels tapping out a hollow rhythm on its weathered boards. She let her fingertips trail along the railing until she reached his offered hand, and then let herself be pulled into a close embrace.
A bit too close, in fact, and eventually Relena decided to admit that oxygen might be a good idea. She freed one hand enough to tap on his chest. "Can't breathe."
Duo eased his grip, dropping an apologetic kiss on the top of her head. "Good trip?"
"Horrible," she admitted into his shirt. "All right now, though."
"Everything's all right now," Duo agreed. "Remind me again why we waited so long to run away?"
Relena laughed. "Our priorities are in sad shape."
"You got that right." He was silent for a little while, stroking her hair as they watched the low waves spill over the sand.
"You're tired," she commented, feeling the sag of exhaustion in the muscles of his back and shoulders.
"I hurried," Duo admitted. "You look pretty beat, too."
"Not too tired," she insisted, idly stroking the back of his neck.
"Hungry?" Duo asked hopefully.
Relena turned a little, shooting him a meaningful look. "Not exactly."
His face fell. "Hey, you're supposed to be starving--I brought supper and everything."
"Supper?" Relena paused, considering, then went back to running deliberate fingers through his hair.
"Tomato soup. And champagne, too." It was increasingly difficult to remember what he had intended to say; it had been too long, and this felt far too good.
"All things that will keep, I think," she observed pointedly.
Duo drew back, fixing her with a suspicious stare. "Cut to the chase, Minister. You trying to get me into bed?"
"Maybe." Relena's smile was downright feline. "Would that be a problem?"
Duo shrugged, affecting innocence. "We'll have to wait and see how tired I am. I mean, that was a seriously long trip."
"Oh. Well--" She stepped back, sliding out of his arms. "Why don't you think about it for a while? Take your time. I'll go on upstairs, and get undressed, and perhaps start running a bubble bath, and then--"
Duo hopped down from the railing, darting past her to gather up the bags on his way to the stairs. "Not that tired!"
When Relena finished locking up and followed, she found Duo staring around the master bedroom with some chagrin, the bags at his feet. "What is it?" she asked, then paused to look around her. "Oh. Oh, my."
Hilde's cousin had evidently tried to capture the spirit of the seaside in decorating the room, with interesting results: the walls wore faux driftwood paneling, and jaunty nautical-print curtains hung at the windows. An alarmingly lifelike painting of gulls in flight nearly covered the wall at the head of the bed; the bedside lamp was a miniature lighthouse, complete with a tiny lighthouse-keeper waving from the front door.
Duo grimaced. "I can't decide whether this looks more like a kid's room or a cheap motel--and either way, it's damn disturbing."
Relena slid him a sidelong glance. "So you've spent a lot of time in cheap motels, have you?"
"Oh, sure." He nodded authoritatively. "That's where I take all my one-night stands."
"Really?" She pretended to consider this information, taking off her earrings and setting them in a polished clam shell on the dresser.
"Yup. I think it's a rule." Duo had disappeared into the bathroom, where he seemed to be testing the faucets.
"I see." Relena sat down experimentally on the bed and ran her fingertips over the nubbly bedspread. "I don't think I ever had one of those."
Coming back into the garish bedroom, Duo laughed. "You don't think so?"
"Well, how can I be sure?" she asked, stretching out on her side to lean on one elbow. "How do you know that's what it is?"
"They take you to a place like this, for starters," he observed, kicking off his shoes and launching himself onto the bed. The springs protested with a rusty squeak, making Relena burst into delighted laughter.
"Listen! It sounds like a peacock!" She bounced on the lumpy mattress, giggling at the metallic squeal.
Duo shook his head. "Only you could find something haute in this dump."
"Am I doing it wrong?" she asked penitently. "The one-night stand, I mean."
"Oh, yeah. It's supposed to go more like this." He slid to Relena's side of the bed, the motion setting the springs wailing again; fixing her with his best leer, he drawled, "I want you."
Relena widened her eyes coquettishly. "Whatever for?"
Trying not to grin, he lowered his voice to a seductive growl. "Totally meaningless sex."
"Oh, I see." Relena nodded wisely, lifting her arms and arching her back so he could pull off her sweater. "No strings attached, I suppose?"
Concentrating on blouse removal, Duo agreed, "No strings, no twine, no threads--which reminds me, these buttons are a serious pain in the ass."
"I'll make a note of it," she promised, senses already reeling from the movement of those clever hands against her skin. "Well, if you're sure--"
"Absolutely. I'll be gone in the morning, and you'll never know my name."
"Oh, very mysterious." She could hear the breathlessness in her own voice, anticipation making her giddy.
Leaning over her, Duo grew suddenly serious, brushing back Relena's bangs to kiss her forehead, her eyelids, the tip of her nose. "Changed my mind. I want strings attached--lots of strings." /I want you wrapped up in me and me wrapped up in you, so tight that there's no getting loose./ "C'mon. You know me."
Her eyes glinted up at him through lowered lashes, a tiny Mona Lisa smile on her lips. "Have we met?"
"Don't tease, Due. Say my name." The need was almost desperate; he was walking the razor's edge between delicious anticipation and the old hopeless longing.
Still playing the game, Relena drew out the torment. "Kaereste?"
The Danish endearment dropped easily from her lips, crisp and sibilant all at once; Duo decided to see if it tasted as good as it sounded, sipping the word from her mouth before shaking his head. "Uh-uh. Try again."
"Mmm...airen," she purred, stretching luxuriously beneath him and tilting her head to offer more of her throat.
"Relena. Say it." He accepted the invitation, nibbling along the curve of her neck before sitting up to pull off his shirt.
"Itooshii...cariad...amado...." Each word was accompanied by a lingering kiss against his newly-revealed skin; then Relena drew him back down, sighing in blissful satisfaction as his bare chest slid against hers.
Duo could barely frame words, pressing hungrily against her hip while he unfastened her slacks. "Closer."
Relena's head dropped back against the pillows, her breath coming in uneven gasps as his hands found her. "Oh. Oh, Duo."
He dragged himself up from a delicious slumber a few hours later to find her staring at the ceiling. "Hey. Why're you awake?"
Relena turned within his encircling arm, smiling to reassure him. "I can't sleep. Shh--you don't have to wake up."
"'S okay. I'm up, I'm up." Duo yawned, reaching out blindly to stroke her hair. "Is the time difference bugging you? Wait-- that'd make you more sleepy, right?"
"No--well, it's just that--" She sighed, shifting against his shoulder. "I'm just trying to decide what to do next."
This was too comfortable; he forced his eyes open, concentrating on the worry in her tone. "Next as in what's for supper, or next as in a week from now, or--?"
"As in a year from now. My term in office ends in eleven months, two weeks, and three days."
"You're not going to sign on for another tour of duty?" Duo asked, finally wide awake.
"That's what I'm trying to decide." She sat up against the headboard, pulling her knees up to her chest. "I never chose this life, after all. I did what I had to do--what anyone would have done, given the same circumstances. But now that the upheaval's past, I think the world can afford to do some spinning on its own; they don't need a figurehead any more. It's actually more dangerous to have that much perceived power concentrated in one very visible person, anyway. And with me safely out of the way, they'd be able to find someone with actual training to serve as ambassador, too."
"Sounds to me like you've thought this out. So what's the dilemma?"
"I have absolutely no idea what to do instead." Relena dropped her chin on her knees with a despairing sigh, and began to dissect the problem. "My resume is appalling. I haven't been in school, properly speaking, since I was fifteen; I've been appointed to public office, certainly, but never actually earned a salary until after the war of 196. To most of the world, I'm a talking head whose credibility rests entirely on a certain earnestness of expression--and that's not enough to bank a future on." She looked up at him with more than a little panic in her eyes. "Help?"
"Hey, it's really not a disaster," Duo assured her. "Just figure out what you want to do, and work out how to get there."
"What I want?" She mused over the unfamiliar concept. "I think that's the problem."
"We'll sneak up on it. What's most important to you?"
Relena spoke without hesitation. "Making sure the peace holds."
"Okay. How do you do that?" Duo watched her steadily.
"Well, the speeches were a start--" she laughed wearily. "But for the long term? People are less likely to repeat the mistakes of the past if they have it always in front of them--if we're not allowed to forget. And it would be good if we were accustomed to thinking about the motives of our leaders--if we could really understand what's at stake, and make informed decisions on our own instead of following some pompous ass in a uniform just because his epaulets are pretty." She was gesturing emphatically, her eyes sparkling. "It all comes down to responsibility: people will work for the peace if they feel they own it, if each individual understands that her actions and choices make a difference."
/And you wonder why the world needed you at the wheel for so long./ He shook his head. "So how do you make them responsible?"
"You have to get them to think--to work at thinking, even though it's easier to accept what people tell you. You have to teach them--" Relena trailed off, struck by her own words.
Duo was grinning like a cat; she almost expected to see a drift of yellow feathers from some hapless canary. "Uh-huh. You have to teach them. Didn't you have an institute that was going to do just that?"
Relena nodded slowly. "I did. But that wasn't--I hadn't thought things through, and--" She looked up at him with sudden eagerness. "I could do it right, this time. Find experts to help with the planning, and with the teaching--and I could go back to school, and then I'd know what I was doing, too...."
He leaned back against the pillow, entirely pleased with the results of his prodding. "So you need to pick a school, huh?"
"And find out about placement tests, and see what I should do about those missing years of high school, and--" Her mind was clearly in planning mode, plotting a course through the logistical tangle ahead. After a little while, Relena looked up, and the intent little frown smoothed itself into a smile. "Thank you."
"Me? All I did was listen--and that's the easy part, or so they tell me." He watched her with a fierce tenderness. "Proud of you, y'know."
She bit her lip, looking back down at her toes. "So, do you--I mean, I suppose you know what you're doing next, too."
"Thought about it." This was terrifying, but he was getting used to making these leaps. "And what I'm thinking is that I really ought to get my shots and move Earthside."
"Oh, no. You can't do that," Relena said sensibly.
"Says who?" Duo demanded.
Relena looked miserable, but held her ground. "I can't ask you to uproot your whole life just to listen to me whine _more_ often."
"You don't whine," Duo shot back. "And even if you did, you listen to me babble on often enough to deserve some whining time every now and then."
"You're avoiding the point--you can't move just for me," she insisted.
"I don't want to move for you," he explained patiently. "I want to move to you, for me."
"What would you--that is--" Relena was actually stammering; Duo started to wish he had captured this rare moment on tape, for posterity. "You have a life all set, and--"
Duo folded his arms behind his head, deciding where to start. "Well, it's like this. I've been thinking about going back to school too; I figure my background might be enough to talk someone into letting me into their engineering program. Something with computers, for sure, since I already know my way around those. As long as they're willing to overlook that little matter of a missing secondary school degree, I think I can hack it from here on out."
Relena couldn't resist. "And if not, you can always just hack it, hm?"
"Some princesses think they're sooo funny." He rumpled her hair. "Seriously. I want to make a go of this, Due. But I don't have a school picked out either, so maybe we could--"
"...make it a joint mission?" she finished, smiling in spite of herself.
Duo grinned back. "Can I walk you to class, Miss Relena?"
"Not if you're going to call me that, you can't," she groaned, wincing.
"Oh, don't worry--I've got a list of alternatives." His eyes were already laughing at her, though he was pretending to look serious.
"Oh, no." Relena wrinkled up her face, trying to appear transfixed by dread.
"Let's see--how does it go? Kaereste--" A kiss against her forehead; she sighed, submitting.
"Airen--amada--itooshii--" Each punctuated by the lightest of kisses against each cheek, and then on the end of her nose.
"Due." He finished by kissing her very chastely on the mouth, then drew back to look straight into her eyes. "Relena. Can I stay?"
Her answering laugh was only a little shaky. "As if I'd ever let you go."
--stay tuned for the epilogue!--
End of Part 10: Transubstantiation
*Before you take issue with my faulty geography, let me explain; for the purposes of this fic, please join me in assuming that names of nations may have changed a bit since the 21stC (which is why London's the capital of Britain, not the UK or England), and that the East Coast of the US has seen considerable urban expansion/merging (i.e. Washidelphia = the combined metro areas of present-day Washington DC, Baltimore, Wilmington, and Philadelphia--hey, it's halfway there already! ^_^).
(:./lilias/mystified10)
