02-Nov-2003
Title: Meeting Beatrice
Author: Sol (archived as Zefyr on FF & MM)
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Pairings: 1+R (past), 1+2, 3+4...
Rated: PG or PG-13 for mild cussing (maybe).
Warnings: Silliness and fun, mostly at the expense of two canon characters.
Archiving: Sure, just write me at zefyr@hereticstudios.com
Critiques: Always welcome, especially constructive.
Disclaimer: I just like to take them out and play with them. I promise to put them back where I found them.
Spoilers: Takes place 3 years after EW, and may reference some events/past history.
The next morning the house was quiet, and the signs of the previous night's revels lay scattered about. Quatre and Wufei were collecting glasses from the deck, while Trowa pitched beer bottles in the large trashcan. Duo was laying on a deck chair, offering moral support, while Heero emptied the abandoned remnants of food into a second trashcan. Most of the food seemed to have been cleared out by the seagulls.
"Hey, all, any hangovers?" Relena's bright voice was loud enough to be heard over the morning's low tide. She was carrying a glass of orange juice, and had a bagel in the other hand. "Ooh, Preventers on kitchen duty. I like." She settled herself into the deck chair next to Duo with a wide grin. "You'd look cute in maid's uniforms."
Wufei growled something under his breath.
"Oh, look," Relena said, laughing merrily. "The trained dog can now pick up trash. Can it do backflips at the same time?"
"I am NOT putting up with this!" There was a crash, and Wufei stormed off the deck, down towards the ocean. The rest of the pilots watched him go, and Heero gave Relena an infuriated look.
"If you're trying to alienate him, you're doing a thorough job," the dark-haired man snapped.
"What difference does it make?" Relena shrugged, but her demeanor was suddenly much less cheerful. "He hates me, anyway. Might as well have some fun."
"I wouldn't say he hates you," Quatre told her evenly. "But he's not exactly loving you right now."
"He did, once," she replied quietly. The four Preventers stopped what they were doing, astonished, as the young woman continued speaking. Her eyes were fixed on the ocean, and she sighed. "He told me... he was falling in love with me, and I told him I'd already had my heart broken by one Gundam pilot. I wasn't going to be target practice a second time... " She shrugged, and stood. "Here, Duo, have the rest of my bagel. I'm really not hungry anymore."
The five men were silent as she headed back into the house, her face closed-off and unhappy.
Dorothy watched Relena stalk past, and pursed her lips thoughtfully. Zechs and Noin were still asleep, and the living room was occupied now only by Dorothy, Bart, and Conrad.
"It's true," Bart continued the conversation they'd halted. "Heero accepted Duo, and now they're engaged. Not formally, but I'd bet they won't wait to get it done legally."
"Shut up, Bart," Dorothy said, her tone bordering on cranky. "You're not improving my vacation."
"Sorry, Boss," the young Preventer said. "You want some more coffee?"
"No, I want a way to have some fun," she retorted. "I'm going to die of boredom in the next hour if nothing happens, soon."
"I'm sure you'll find something, Boss," Conrad said, moving closer to Dorothy as he dropped his voice. "One of the local Preventers was awfully friendly to Bart last night," and he leered at Bart.
The younger Preventer flushed, mortified.
"Really?" Dorothy raised one elegant eyebrow at Bart, and waited. When the young man didn't say anything, she laughed, low in her throat. "This would be the young blonde ditz who's just started in the coastal district?"
"Her name's Louise," Bart mumbled.
"Louise. Ah. Does Louise have a last name?"
"Schlosser," Bart said.
Dorothy stared at Bart for several seconds, and then began to smile. Maybe the vacation wouldn't be a total loss, after all. The two men watching her pulled back, uncertain, and glanced at each other. When they looked back at Dorothy, she was still smiling, her eyes focused on Heero outside, leaning over to kiss Duo.
"You should invite her back," Dorothy purred.
Wufei climbed up on the outcropping of rocks not far from the house, and stared out at the mid-morning surf. Low tide was at its peak, and the waters seemed calmer than last night. Gloomily he brushed sand off his bare feet and thought about the vacation that was turning out to be complete hell.
Duo had always been a fun-hearted one, he thought. And Heero, too, all business! Even if he didn't agree with Duo's methods, he had always known they worked well together, Wufei reminded himself. But now, in love... Wufei dragged the word out, in his head, sarcastically. Now those two weren't good for much more than staring deeply into each other's eyes.
The Chinese Preventer scowled and undid his ponytail, letting his hair whip around him. Pulling it back from his face, he stared at the ocean, his eyes following the swoop and arc of noisy seagulls.
Stupid birds, he thought. Just like girls. All noise, all fuss, and never really achieving anything. He sighed, and leaned back, resting his weight on his hands and letting the wind tangle his hair completely. And it' s not like I hate women, he thought. I don't. Women are just fine. I like Sally. And I like Meiran... he closed his eyes, trying to remember a face from so long ago, and was saddened when it took several seconds.
I was so young. I just wanted someone strong enough. His anger came back full force. Weak. Wandering around, blind to the rest of the world, wrapped up in love. Wufei snorted. That qualifies as weak, in my opinion, and now I'm the only one of the five of us who's still standing tall. The rest of them, knocked down, in their prime. Not me, he assured himself.
He sat up, trying to smooth his hair back into some semblance of order, and caught sight of movement out of the corner of his eye. Damn, here comes Heero, Quatre, and Trowa, he thought. Crap, just what I don't want, dealing with their happy faces.
Grumbling to himself, he slipped down behind the rock, deciding to wait until they'd walked on by.
Twenty yards from the rock, Trowa bumped Quatre, who nodded. The blond Preventer turned sea-blue eyes on Heero, who grinned faintly and started making a beeline for the rock. The three were wearing t-shirts and swimming trunks, and carried towels on the pretense of swimming, but they'd sighted their quarry, and he was cornered.
"So," Quatre began, his eyes dancing even as his voice sounded perfectly serious. "Relena's in love with Wufei?"
The three men barely held their laughter as they heard a soft "what?" float over the rocks, followed by a scuffling sound. Heero turned and leaned back against the rock, propping himself up as he struggled to contain his laughter. After a minute Trowa elbowed him, and he waved the taller pilot away.
"I think it's wonderful," Trowa said to fill the space, lifting his head so he could be heard over the sea breeze. "Considering how much she treats him with utter contempt in public."
"I don't know," Quatre said, his voice doubtful. He grinned at them, and raised his voice. "Maybe she's just faking it when she says she loves him, Heero. Has she said anything to him? Given him any indication how she feels?"
"No, and she swears she never will," Heero replied, sighing. "She's in permanent knots over it. She's not faking, either! If you've seen what I've seen... "
Behind the rock, Wufei nodded, listening closely. Heero and Relena were best friends. If anyone would know... He waited anxiously to hear what Heero had seen. There was silence, and Wufei frowned. Strange, he thought, and tried to shift in his precarious position between two rocks well enough to raise his head to hear more clearly.
Above his head, on the other side of the rock, Quatre, Trowa, and Heero were in a furious hissing contest, as each prompted Heero on his next lines. The dark-haired man was laughing too hard, and the other two men were a little lost. This wasn't a side of Heero they knew, but their looks said they were writing it off as Duo's influence. Finally Quatre glared, and Heero managed to get himself under control.
"She cries herself to sleep at night, for starters," Heero's clear voice suddenly rang out. "And when the security systems pick up the sounds, and I've gone to see if she's okay, she's crying out his name. If I wake her up, she sobs helplessly but gets mad the second I tell her to say anything to Wufei."
"So you've counseled her to?" Trowa shifted a little, next to the rock, standing on his toes as he tried to see over the rock. Stepping back quickly, he grinned widely and waved encouragingly with his hands to Heero, who grinned.
"She refuses, point-blank," Heero told the two men. "She says she'd sooner rot in hell than give him one more chance to work her over the coals. But she's gotten to the point she hardly eats, barely sleeps... She's wasting away."
"This isn't good," Quatre said. His tone was serious but he looked like he was about to fall over in hysterics. Trowa hissed at him, and he blinked, and then straightened up. He didn't look Heero in the eye, and Trowa raised an eyebrow, wondering when the giggles had become a risk for two of the more ruthless soldiers he'd ever met. Quatre coughed softly before speaking, pitching his voice even stronger over the breeze. "There should be some way to let Wufei know... "
"What's the good in that," Trowa asked, reasonably but sternly. "You've seen the two of them. Wufei would just consider it more fat for the fire, and launch into her with all guns blazing, instead of the two he uses on her now."
"This is true," Heero said. "Relena's not a bad person. She's really a wonderful person, and a loyal friend. I don't want to see her hurt."
"She's funny, and charming, and intelligent," Quatre agreed.
"Except in loving Wufei," Trowa announced, his tone dryly amused. "Otherwise, yeah."
"So what do you think she should do, Heero?" Quatre elbowed the dark-haired man, who pushed his bangs out of his eyes and smiled. Quatre grinned back. "I think she should say something to him."
"Not going to happen," Heero said, a note of sadness entering his voice. "I don't blame her, either."
"Wufei's a good person," Quatre said. "Strong... an excellent warrior. One of the best Preventers."
"And witty," Trowa commented. "Especially when he's sharpening that wit on Relena."
"I still think we should tell him," Quatre replied, his voice ringing out clear across the rocks. "He's our brother-in-arms. We owe that to him."
"Please, don't," Heero said, his voice soft but still pitched to be heard. "I think we should just let Relena get over this herself. They're both good people, but together... "
"He doesn't deserve her," Trowa said, his voice sad.
The other two made quiet murmurs, until Quatre perked up. "This is really rather depressing, and we're supposed to be on vacation. Who's up for a swim?"
The other two men dropped the towels on the rock, and stripped off their shirts, holding everything down with a few well-placed rocks. Then they trotted off down to the shoreline. Trowa angled himself to watch behind him.
"Don't look now, dark shape appearing behind the rocks," he said, using the auburn sheaf of hair draped across his face to hide where he was watching.
"And?" Quatre practically wriggled in place. "You're killing me here, Tro."
"Unidentified dark shape is heading back for the house," Trowa said. "Looks like aforementioned dark shape is talking to itself."
"Yes," Quatre said, throwing his arms around Heero. "You were great!"
Unfortunately, Heero had been a little too preoccupied with listening to Trowa's mini-reports, and Quatre's attack knocked him straight into the surf.
Wufei glared over his shoulder at the three men rough-housing in the surf, and contemplated everything he'd heard. He was convinced of the veracity of the other pilots' conversation. After all, Heero was Relena's closest friend, and the head of her personal guard. If anyone would be around her enough to know, and to be privy to what she really feels, he thought, it'd be Heero.
The Chinese man ran a hand through his hair, automatically pulling the ponytail holder out and replacing it.
This is what you wanted, he told himself, and couldn't help a small smile appearing on his face. Relena likes me, he repeated. No, she loves me. He stopped, blinked a few times, and wondered when the goofy grin had spread across his face. Frowning, he concentrated on making it go away, but it only seemed to get wider.
Relena's a strong person, too, he thought. She wouldn't let love make her weak, but stronger. He recalled the stories he'd heard, about how she'd crashed a party to go after Une, in vengeance for Une killing Vice Minister Darlian. Wufei contemplated this, nodding. That had taken incredible guts, and strength of will, to go into a situation with only one's convictions, he knew. And Relena didn't even have the benefit of their training, and she'd knocked the rose off Une's uniform. And then, he thought, when they tried to make her into a figurehead, she held her chin up, bided her time, and turned the tables on them once she had the public's heart.
She's definitely strong, and intelligent, and beautiful, Wufei suddenly realized. I wouldn't mind waking up to see that every morning...
He paused, grimacing. Oh, if everyone finds out, I'm sure they're going to give me no end of grief about it, he thought. Especially Maxwell. But that's okay, he decided quickly. I'm growing up. I have the right to make stupid decisions in adolescence, but I'm nearly an adult now, and just because I hated broccoli when I was young doesn't mean I'll hate it all my life. I'm strong, too, he told himself, pleased with his epiphany. And sometimes being strong means admitting that I needed to make a slight correction in my path.
She probably won't trust me right away, he thought, slogging through the sand, only thirty yards from the deck. He pondered this for a second, and smiled to himself. I'll just be nice to her, and wear her down, until she realizes it's okay to show her feelings, too. Someone has to make the first move.
Satisfied, he nodded happily and continued back towards the house.
"Stage one of the mission is complete," Zechs announced, lowering the binoculars and handing them to Sally. "Thanks for the loan."
"No problem," the woman said automatically, her expression still a little baffled. "I can't believe I'm letting you rope me into this." She was still dressed in her Preventers' uniform, having arrived only a half-hour before. Zechs and Duo had immediately pounced on her and dragged her up to Duo's room, where they could comfortably watch the other three Preventers laying the first half of the trap.
"I have an idea," Duo said, a grin splitting his features as he watched Sally shrug off her jacket. "Let's send Relena to fetch Wufei for lunch."
Zechs whistled. "Excellent idea," he agreed. "I'll get right on it." With a soft chuckle, he was out of the room, with only his silver-white hair flashing behind him.
Sally rolled her eyes. "I am never arriving late for another vacation," she announced.
Wufei looked up as he stepped onto the stairs, to see Relena glowering down at him. Her hands were on her hips, and the breeze whipped her t-shirt around her slim body as she glared.
"Lunch is almost ready, but if you starved, I could care less," she told him.
"I appreciate you letting me know," he told her, smiling.
She froze, her eyebrows up, and then slowly narrowed her eyes. "It's not a big deal. If it had been, I wouldn't have bothered."
"So you don't mind telling me, then?" Wufei angled for the best possible light for her statements.
Relena blinked. "I don't mind... Look, if you're not hungry, say so. Duo will eat your share." With that, she turned and stormed back into the house, leaving Wufei alone on the steps.
He smiled to himself, pleased. She said she didn't mind... that's a good sign. He mused over her words. 'Lunch is almost ready, but if you starved, I could care less.' He puzzled over the phrase, then nodded to himself, convinced. There's a double meaning in that, he thought. Smiling happily, he made his way into the house.
End Part 4
(:./sol/meeting4)
