Legalese: I don't own Gundam Wing, I think Sunrise does.

The Queen of the World

Relena looked at the package, no return address, she wondered who sent it. She was just about to rip the tape off when Heero grabbed it out of her hands.

"It could be a bomb."

"I'm sure security would've caught it if it was a bomb."

Heero mumbled something she couldn't hear, but was pretty sure the word incompetent was involved. He weighed it in his hands, then shook it. He didn't look happy, but then again he never did.

"Can I open it now?"

"No." Heero left the room, taking her package with him. When he returned ten minutes later he didn't say anything, just handed the package back to her.

"So can I open it now?" He nodded his head.

"Carefully." He told her as she started to rip off the packaging tape.

When she finally got the box open, she looked inside to find a dress. Not just any dress, it was that formal white dress with the red slash that Treize had made her wear when she was made Queen of the World. A note lay on top.

Heero was standing behind her reading over her shoulder.

To the Queen of the World:

May you take your rightful place again.

It was unsigned. She wondered what it meant. The World Nation didn't exist anymore. Instead she gathered the consensus of the world leaders and acted as a liason between them and the colonies' leaders. It was a taxing and stressful job, but it was much more important than the figurehead position she had held for the Romefeller foundation during the war.

She laid the note on the table and went to pull the dress out of the box. It wouldn't fit anymore, especially not now. She recalled the last time she wore it. She was fifteen at the time. She placed her hands in the box and wrapped her fingers around the soft, smooth fabric. Something was wrong. The fabric was stiff and sticky. She pulled her hands away and had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming.

Her fingers were covered in blood. Relena jumped out of her seat and ran to the bathroom, washing her hands repeatedly. When she came back into the room, she saw Heero holding up the dress. It was covered in blood from the waist down.
~*~*~*~*~
Two weeks later the tiara came. Relena didn't open this package. Instead she let Heero take it down to security. There were no surprises after they ran the X-ray. The tiara was nailed into a skull in order to keep it in place. The skull was not the right size, much too large. The jawbone was missing but they were still able to ID it based on the partial dental x-rays. It was that of former Vice Foreign Minister Dorlain, Relena's foster father.

A note within the skull read:

To the Queen of the World:

Your crown awaits you.

Relena was rocking back and forth on the bed, her fingers digging into the pillow that she clung to. She had stopped crying, her tears having run out long ago. Now she closed her eyes tight, trying to earse the image of her father's skull out of her mind. Heero sat down behind her on the bed, resting his chin on her head and wrapping his arms around her.

"We'll find them, Relena. We'll find them and we'll stop them."

"I know.It's just..."

"What?"

"It's just...I guess with all the other people trying to kill me..." Heero stiffened a little at this, but she was just being honest. There were a lot of people who wanted her dead. "I've always felt it was because I was princess or Vice Foreign Minister, but this feels personal. Like someone really hates me."

"You think you know who's sending you these packages?"

"No I didn't mean that, it just feels like someone's trying to hurt me just for the hell of it."

"There are a lot of sick people out there Relena, it would almost be better if it was just one wacko, you know that no one can get past security at the palace."

"Except you."

"Except me and I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"Excuse me Heero, Relena..."

"Yes Miss Noin."

"I just wanted you to know that the police called. They checked your father's grave and the rest of his body is still there. We've already arranged to have the head returned."

"Thank you Miss Noin."
~*~*~*~*~
There were no more packages. Relena walked in the garden, the matter of the dress and tiara basically forgotten. It had been at least two months. It was a beautiful spring day and she had a half an hour before she had to board her private jet and go to the Moon for a week of conferences. The roses were having a bad year so when she saw one bush covered in blooms she couldn't help squealing with delight and running over to the bush. She bent down to sniff the blossom when she saw an unmistakable blue jacket. It was attached to a partially decomposed corpse.

Relena began to scream hysterically and run back towards the house. Guards poured into the garden, calling to her but she pushed through them. She had to get to the house, to get away from him. So intent was she that she was totally taken by surprise when a pair of strong hands grabbed her upper arms and started to shake her gently.

"RELENA!"

"Heero?" She flung her arms around him and began sobbing into his chest. She was shaking terribly.

"Relena what happened?"

"It's...It's..."

"What? What is it?" Heero held her away from him so he could look her in the eyes.

"It's Treize."

"What?" Heero's eyes widened for just a second, betryaing his shock and confusion.

"There." She pointed towards the rose bush. "Treize Kushrenada is in the rose bush."

A pair of guards looked at the bush she was pointing to.

"Oh geez, it is him. Or at least it might be, that's his uniform, but well it's kinda hard to make out his face." One of them said, a look of disgust on both their faces.

"Get him out of there and find out for sure." Heero ordered them, then he turned Relena around and escorted her back into the house.
~*~*~*~*~
"Mr. Yuy?" The guard motioned for Heero to come into the other room.

Heero placed his hand on Relena's shoulder. "I'll be right back." Relena didn't say anything, she just continued looking into her cup of tea. She was scared and Heero couldn't seem to get through to her.

"We identified the remains and the body it's definitely that of Treize Kushrenada. We found this note on the body." The guard handed Heero the note and left. Heero unfolded the note and read it.

To the Queen of the World:

May you vanquish your enemies.

Heero folded the note back up and put it in his pocket. So far the messages seemed meaningless, but if there was a clue in them, he'd find it.
~*~*~*~*~
"The dress and tiara were purchased by a wealthy collector who donated them to the museum that they were stolen from. Surveillance cameras were disabled prior to the robbery. Neither the Pleasantview Cemetery or the Manassas Battlefield cemetery have any kind of security beyond a closed gate. The exhumed body of Mr. Dorlain was discovered by police after we informed them of the findings of the dental records. Mrs. Dorlain would probably have discovered the body, because she visits the grave site every Sunday, but was away visiting relatives on the week that the theft took place. Grave diggers discovered the unearthed grave of Treize Kushrenada at 5:30 am on July 16th. That's two weeks before Relena discovered the body. Lady Une managed to keep the media from getting ahold of the story, but police were investigating the theft. So far they've turned up no clues. As for how the perpetrator or perpetrators managed to get past the palace's security to plant the body in the rose bush, frankly we don't know. We've reviewed surveillance tapes and interviewed every member of the imperial guard. So far we've turned up nothing. However we did have an excessive amount of rain a week prior to Relena's discovery. The surveillance cameras had limited range during that time. The gardiner has said that he purposely didn't tend to the rose bush concealing the body because it was flourishing while the others were in need of care. So it is possible that the body could have been there for a week before being noticed."

"Wouldn't someone have smelled it?" Duo interrupted.

"Apparently not." Miss Noin commented before continuing. "Relena is not on the grounds right now. She is on the Moon attending a week's worth of conferences. Heero is with her. It is our desire to have this matter resolved prior to her return. Are their any questions so far?" The four pilots shook their heads.

"Good, I've already informed the palace staff that you all have been given full access to anything and everything in the palace. The bodies have been returned to their resting places, but the police reports, dress, tiara, surveillance tapes and the notes are all in the security office on the ground floor. If there is anything else you think you need, let me know and I'll get it for you."

"Thanks Miss Noin. I hope we can find out who's terrorizing Miss Relena for you." Quatre stood up out of politeness while she left the room.

Trowa who had also stood, took his place back on the couch next to Duo and Wufei. "This is going to be difficult. There isn't any clear purpose to these threats. They're not really even threats."

"Well Heero thinks they're trouble. He wouldn't have called us in if he didn't think this was a serious threat." Duo wasn't happy about being torn away from his home, but it wasn't like Heero asked a lot of them, in fact he couldn't think of any time that Heero had ever called on him before.

"Heero has gotten too emotionally attached. Frankly, I wonder if we can trust his judgement in matters where Relena is concerned. I don't think there is a real threat here." Wufei said.

"I disagree. These are threats. Maybe the notes don't sound threatening but the blood on the dress, the corpses, they definitely imply harm to Relena. I think that Heero avoided calling us in sooner because he didn't want us to think that this was just a matter of someone stalking his wife."

"Calm down Duo, no one's bailing out here. I know you are upset about being dragged out here Wufei, it's an inconveniece to us all, but you know that Heero can't devote time to this. Not now."

"Hmm. I never had any intention of 'bailing out.' I just don't feel that these are the actions of a terrorist organization."

Trowa looked thoughtful. "I agree with WuFei there. I don't feel these are the actions of a group of people. I think only one person is involved in this."

"So where should we start?"

"We should start with the last incident. The packages may be disturbing but they can't do any real harm. The fact that someone got past palace security carrying a human corpse is pretty impressive, even if it was during a downpour." The other three pilots nodded their agreement and motioned for Trowa to continue. "Manassas Battelfield is also quite distant. The body must've been transported either by sea or by air. We should be able to track it. Quatre, I'll leave that to you. Let's work under the assumption that it is only one person. I think someone should talk with personnel at both cemeteries and see if anyone suspicious was hanging around prior to the thefts. Duo, Wufei will you look into that?" They both nodded. "I'll look around the palace grounds and review those surveillance tapes. Remember we only have a week."
~*~*~*~*~
Relena had relaxed once they reached the moon. She didn't need anymore stress right now. Heero had suggested cancelling the trip, but Relena wouldn't be able to travel to the Colonies in another month so she had to attend this conference.

The meetings were exhausting, they never ended on time and it was the same issues again and again. Heero had checked out the hotel to secure the premises while she attended the meetings and he also escorted her to and from the procedures. When the last meeting of the day finally ended, Relena wanted nothing more than to relax in a nice warm tub of hot water, so when Heero suggested going out to dinner she was less than enthusiastic.

Her mood changed when she saw the restaurant. It was dimly lit with a real band and real flowers on every table. She couldn't help but be entranced. It had been so long since they had had a romantic dinner out. They didn't order appetizers, instead they danced while they waited for their entrees. She loved dancing with Heero, it always brought back memories of when they were young. Everything was so intense then. Her life seemed so settle now. Meetings everyday, in bed by eleven. A nice quiet life. Until recently.

"I think our food's ready." Heero motioned to the table interrupting her thoughts.

"Oh good. I'm starving."

"You're awfully quiet tonight."

"I'm tired."

"Is that all?"

She nodded. "Are you going to eat your pickles?"

Heero looked down at his plate. "I'll share them with you."

Relena smiled and speared one of the pickles on Heero's plate, she then dipped it in the cocktail sauce that came with her shrimp platter and ate it. "Thanks."

After dinner, Relena was really bushed and decided to forego the bath and just hit the sheets.

"I want to take a shower so why don't you use the bathroom first."

"Okay." Relena grabbed her toothbrush from the suitcase and proceeded to the bathroom. Heero was laying out the clothes he needed for tomorrow when he heard Relena call his name. Her voice had a note of panic in it.

"Look." Relena said pointing to the door. On the hook hung the remnants of Zechs Marquis mask. Its shattered pieces were glued together. When Heero took the mask down, he found a note inside it that read:

To the Queen of the World:

May the Peacecraft name not be sullied.

Relena walked out of the bathroom and sat down on the bed. "You checked the room?" Heero nodded. "Then the mask was placed here after that." Heero nodded again. "How is that possible?"

"I don't know. Yet. You okay?"

She nodded. "At least there wasn't a head inside the mask. But I am worried."

Heero kneeled by the bed so that he could look her in the eye. "No one will harm you while I'm around. And I'm not leaving your side." Heero tried to sound confident but he was worried too.

"Not about that." Heero looked at her confused. "I'm worried about what the next surprise is going to be. Or who it's going to be." Relena added a bit quietly. Heero nodded, he was a little worried about that himself. He hoped that the other pilots were making progress in their investigation.
~*~*~*~*~
"I heard that the mask shattered in the battle between Oz and Zechs, you know right before he came to outer space as Milliardo Peacecraft. What he did with the mask after it shattered is anyone's guess. I mean he could've thrown it in the trash. Who knows how our boy got ahold of it."

"Duo's right, we have no way of tracking the mask's origin, so we have no way of knowing how our perpetrator got ahold of it. It was of course wiped clean. No fingerprints. We should forget about the mask and concentrate on the note that was found in it." Trowa unfolded the note and held it out even though they all knew what was written on it.

"We know what it says but what's it mean?" Quatre asked taking the note from Trowa.

"It means nothing. Milliardo was insane. He played at being the ambassador to the Cinq Kingdom but he lead the White Fang and tried to destroy the earth. These actions are definitely contradictory to the ideals of the Peacecraft monarchy. So yes he did sully the Peacecraft name, but no one knows if Milliardo Peacecraft is even alive or not. So why piece together Zechs Marquis' old mask and stick a note in it? It makes no sense. None of this makes any sense." Wufei was not prone to outbursts but he was fed up. This investigation was taking longer than he thought. None of their leads had panned out and their week deadline was almost up.

"Perhaps Wufei makes a good point. I think that we have been looking at this from the wrong perspective." Everyone perked up at that. Quatre continued. "What if the notes aren't referring to Relena but to Zechs. I mean think about it. Zechs sullied the Peacecraft name, not Relena. Treize was Zechs' foe in the war. The dress Relena wore was covered in blood implying that maybe being queen was never her rightful place. And the tiara was attached to Mr. Dorlain's skull. If our perpetrator wanted to he or she could've unearthed King Peacecraft's skull instead of Mr. Dorlain's. I think that maybe the tiara implied that Dorlain's daughter isn't fit for the crown."

When Quatre finished everyone looked a little skeptical. It was stretching things.

"So if all this stuff is relating to Zechs instead of Relena does that mean that someone wants Zechs on the throne of the Cinq Kingdom?" Duo asked trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

"No I think it means someone wants Zechs to rule the Earth and Colonies."

"Who would want that?"

"Anyone who wants a war." All the pilots sighed, they weren't getting anywhere.
~*~*~*~*~
"I'm almost glad you guys did come up dry, it's been so long since I've seen you all." Relena hugged Duo first. "I'm so sorry about the divorce. How are you?"

"What me? Aww I'm okay you know me. I'm enjoying the life of a bachelor. Women of the world watch out, Duo Maxwell is back and better than ever." Relena couldn't help but giggle at what he said, she knew it was a mask though. She was so shocked when Heero had told her, she had always thought Duo and Hilde were meant for each other.

"I'm sure the women of the world are indeed watching out."

"Wufei!" Quatre didn't get to finish his admonishment because Relena threw her arms around him next. "Now Relena you know we're all going to be at the baby's baptism."

"Yes I know Quatre, but that's still quite some time away."

"Is it? I thought you were pretty far along."

"She's only five months pregnant, she's just using it as a an excuse to eat everything under the sun." Relena stared at Heero with her best death glare. He stared back until she began to giggle.

"Heero! That's not a very nice thing to say." Quatre couldn't help but smile. Heero had changed so much and yet some things never changed. "I think you look beautiful Relena."

"Thank you Quatre." She let go of Quatre and moved on to Trowa who kissed her hand instead of hugging her.

"I also think you look wonderful. Especially considering the stress you must be under with these surprises. I want you to know that we all agreed to stay until this matter is cleared up."

"Well thank you Trowa. I know I'll feel much safer with all of you here." Relena turned to Wufei. "I am honored that you could come."

Wufei inclined his head.

"Relena you should rest now, they'll still be here tomorrow."

"Oh, okay. Goodnight all." Relena waved Heero back when he motioned to accompany her. She knew he wanted to speak to the other pilots alone.

"Goodnight Relena."

"Good night pretty lady."

"I'll be there in a minute." Heero closed the door after her and then turned to the other pilots. His face was grim. "I know there's something you're not telling me."

"We didn't want to say anything with Relena around, but well, we think that maybe it's an inside job." Heero looked at Duo, he wasn't expecting to hear that.

"You have a pretty large staff here, Heero. How well do you know all of them?"

"Well I retooled the staff, mainly the imperial guard after Relena and I got married. Most of the house servants were hired on refferal by Peygan. Miss Noin and I conducted all the final interviews ourselves and everyone who was hired had to pass a security check."

"How often is the security check updated?"

"Supposedly every 2 years, but that's Miss Noin's department not mine. I deal mainly with the imperial guard, I know them all personally. I don't think that any of them are responsible, but no one is above suspicion. So do you have anyone in particular you are looking at?"

"No one that we've singled out, but when I reviewed the surveillance tapes I found missing time on several of them. Those tapes never leave this palace, right?" Heero nodded. Trowa continued. "Then only someone on the inside could tamper with them."

"So how do we find out who it is?" Duo asked.

"Simple, only 6 members of the imperial guard travelled with you and Relena to the moon, since Zechs mask was discovered there it must be one of the six."

"That may be simplifying it too much Wufei, after all Miss Noin took a team of Taurases out as extra protection for the shuttle. They landed on the moon and refuelled before returning to earth." Heero was furious. The thought that one of the men he hired was terrorizing his wife made him wish Oz still existed. He had a definite need to blow something up.

Quatre disrupted Heero's thoughts. "It takes about a half an hour to refuel a Tauras. Would that be enough time to leave, plant the mask and return all unnoticed?"

"Yeah I think it's plenty of time. So how many people did Noin take with her?" Duo asked.

"Three." Heero knew exactly who they were.

"Then we have nine people to investigate." Wufei stated.

"No, ten." Heero corrected.

"Ten?"

"No one is above suspicion."
~*~*~*~*~*~
Relena had hit her nesting stage. Of course the palace was immaculate thanks to the it's cleaning staff. With nothing to clean she turned her attentions onto Heero. First she fussed with his wardrobe, which he sat through with a hunter's patience. Unfortunately that wasn't enough to keep her occupied. She loved his unkempt hair, it was part of his charm, but it was the only thing that she could find to straighten. Heero seeing his wife come at him with a comb and spray bottle, did some quick thinking and led her to the one room that he knew could use her attention.

The ballroom hadn't been used in years. Relena was practically cooing in anticipation. She opened the door and found the room to be tomblike. The windows had been covered years ago when the Cinq Kingdom had been hit by torrential rains and apparently no one had bothered to uncover them. Relena fumbled around on the wall for a light switch of some sort but stopped when Heero grabbed her hand and then covered her eyes.

"Heero, what...?" Relena could feel the tension in Heero's body.

"Come with me Relena." He led her back into the hall and into the first room they came to, it was a small study that Relena used when she needed to do work and didn't want anyone to find her. There was a small couch in the room that she used more often then the desk.

"Stay here."

"Why Heero, what was in that room?"

"I think I saw a body hanging from the chandelier." Relena gasped but didn't interupt him. "I'm going to call the others and then I'm going to take a closer look. You stay here." Relena only nodded, a numbness seemed to spread outward from her chest.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"What a waste of a perfectly good looking woman. Did you know her Heero?"

"Her name was Dorothy Catalonia. She was the granddaughter of Duke Durmeil and the neice of Treize Kushrenada, but you should know that Duo. She stabbed Quatre on Libra."

"Oh her, yeah I remember seeing her picture, I never got to meet her though. Pity." Duo raised an appraising eye at the young woman hanging from the chandelier. She was thin and tall, her long blonde hair looked natural. She still looked pretty good, she must've died recently. "Was she a friend of Relena's?"

"No, I don't think Relena has seen her in years. I don't see any kind of injury on her, I wonder how she died."

"Heero are you ready?" Trowa asked while standing on a chair propped on the table with several large tomes under the legs. Duo was holding the chair steady and Heero stood beside the chair.

"Yes I'm ready." Trowa cut the rope and Heero caught Dorothy in his arms. He then walked to the edge of the table and handed her off to Wufei who carefully laid her on the floor.

"There should be a note, check her pockets." Wufei complied with Trowa's command with a look of great disdain on his face. All the gundam pilots were disturbed. They of course had seen a number of deaths, but to die like this was most wasteful, especially for someone like Dorothy.

"Hey I found it." Duo rolled up Dorothy's sleeve. The note was written on her arm in black ink.

To the Queen of the World:

The Battle for Peace awaits you.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Quatre stroked Relena's hair as he held her. They had both cried when they heard the news and now they were reminiscing about the small time Heero and Quatre had spent in the Cinq Kingdom with Dorothy and Relena while attending school here. Quatre had been more then happy to watch Relena while the rest of the pilots went about the unpleasant task of cutting Dorothy down and searching for clues.

"I heard she was going to law school."

"Really? I think she would have made a great lawyer. She was definitely a very persuasive young woman. After the inicident on Libra, she was so dispirited. I knew she had a good, kind heart. It hurt me to have to leave her behind, but I didn't have a choice." Tears came to Quatre's eyes as he remembered their battle on Libra.

"Oh no, of course, you didn't. What choice did you have in the war? What choice did any of us have in that war? None really."

"No I guess we all just did the best we could. I wonder why anyone would do this to Dorothy. Have you even talked to her since the war ended?"

"Yes, once. It was over 4 years ago. She was in a mental institution, working things out. She had admitted herself there voluntarily, it was more like a place for her to rest and relax. You know, a spa with doctors."

"What did you two talk about?"

"We talked a lot about my brother. I wanted to understand why he did the things he did during the war. I thought she might be able to explain his motives to me, but after talking with her, I think she was just interested in playing wargames and she sided with my brother because she knew he would fight battle after battle, whether they had any meaning or not. He just didn't know anything else to do. I really felt sad after seeing her. I had always thought Milliardo had some great plan, that I just couldn't see, but she made me realize that he was really just a very sad person who gave into his fears and caused others to suffer as a consequence."

"What do you mean, he gave into his fears?"

"You know his fears of peace, at the time I couldn't understand why anyone would fear peace. I still find it hard, but because of my time with Heero I understand that it is difficult to change your way of thinking, when you have held a certain belief for so long, even if that belief is wrong. Milliardo believed that he could never be anything more than a soldier and there is no need for soldiers in peacetime, so he created the war in order to keep doing the only thing that he knew how to do."

"I see, that is very sad. Relena, do you think about Milliardo a lot?"

"No, not really. I did at first. Miss Noin was convinced that he had made it off of Libra before Heero destroyed it, so I really wanted to find him. He is my only living blood relative, but after looking and not finding him, well I guess I just sorta forgot about him. He obviously doesn't want to be found and Heero and the baby are all the family I need. Of course I still have my mother. Although I haven't seen her in a while. She and Heero don't get along." Relena confided the last part to him with a knowing smile. Quatre had 29 sisters. Not all of them accepted Trowa with open arms.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Relena giggled as Duo played with just about every gadget he could get his hands on.

"You really know how to travel in style Relena." He said as he played with the dimmer dial that controlled the tint level of the windows.

"Duo, you've been in my limo before."

"Yeah, but Heero never lets me touch anything."

Relena giggled again. Duo was such fun to be with. She could see why he attracted women so easily. "I can't believe you volunteered to come with me. Heero hates taking me to the doctor's. He usually gets Noin to do it for him."

"Well, I always took Hilde to the doctor. She was so afraid to go that if I didn't go with her, she would skip out on her appointments."

"Really? I always thought of Hilde as being fearless."

"Yeah, me too." Duo stared out the window and Relena knew it was time for a change of subject.

"So how's the business going?"

"Oh it's good, same as always. Had to hire someone to take care of the books, but I'm doing well. You know me, I've got simple needs." Duo flashed her a big smile and Relena giggled again.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Heero looked at the autopsy report. She was poisoned. The doctor surmised that she died less than 24 hours from the time that they had found her.

"It doesn't make any sense. Normally no one goes into that room. Especially not Relena. Why hang Dorothy up in a room that no one uses?"

"I don't know, but I did find out something very disturbing."

"What's that Quatre?"

"Well after my talk with Relena yesterday I started looking into Dorothy Catalonia's life these past few years. You were right about Relena not having any contact with Dorothy, but I did find out that Dorothy met with Miss Noin quite a few times in the last few years. In fact the two seemed to meet regularly."

"About what?"

"That I don't know."

"Well we need to find out. Wufei would you bring Miss Noin here?" Heero's eyes were cold and dark as he watched Wufei leave the room.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Duo stared at the monitor trying to figure out just what he was looking at. He could tell that the big white blob in the middle was supposed to be the baby's head, but the rest of the image was incomprehensible to him. He looked at Relena and saw the tears twinkling in her eyes. She had a big smile on her face and he felt a slight pang of sadness that he didn't have any little Duo Maxwells' on the way. Well, at least none that he was aware of.

"Okay Relena, I need to take a sample of the baby's blood." The doctor pulled out a syringe with a needle that was about eight inches long on it. She then positioned the end of the needle on the middle of Relena's bare stomach and slowly began to insert the needle into Relena. She stopped when she heard a loud thud.

Duo's wide eyes were now closed as he laid on the ground unconscious.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"What do you mean you can't find her?"

"She's not here, Heero. No one that I spoke with knew where she was."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"What do you mean I fainted?"

"Well according to the doctor you fainted when she was taking a blood sample from Mrs. Yuy-Peacecraft. We brought you out here to rest, besides we couldn't leave you lying on the floor." The nurse fixed Duo with a big smile as she laid a hand on Duo's arm. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Oh yeah, I feel great." Duo smiled back at the very cute nurse, then he remembered Relena and then he mentally pictured Heero pointing a gun at his head when he found out the Duo had left Relena alone with the doctor. "I gotta check on Relena, can you lead me to her room."

The nurse's smiled faltered a little, but she did as Duo asked. When Duo opened the door he saw Relena's doctor lying on the ground with a large cut on her forehead that was still bleeding profusely. Relena was gone and the window was open, with the screen popped out. Duo mentally pictured Heero firing the gun pointed at his head.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"You fainted!"

"Well I'm sorry I saw that needle and well, I've just never been good around needles." Duo began to play with his braid nervously.

"Heero, it was accident. Getting mad at Duo won't help anything. We need to figure out where Miss Noin took Relena." Quatre said as he stood between Heero and Duo.

"Yeah, you're right. She wouldn't take Relena back to the palace. Where else could she take her?"

"I guess that depends on what she plans to do with her." Heero shot Trowa a look that was much worse than his old deathglare, it promised more than death. But Heero knew Trowa was right, Relena's life was in Noin's hands now.

"Heero didn't you once tell me that the palace was filled with secret passages?" Quatre asked.

"Yeah but she couldn't use those because I know where they all are."

"I wonder...Who showed you where the passages were?"

"Noin did." Heero eyes filled with understanding then. "Come on let's go."

Duo began to trek out of the room with everybody else, then his face scrunched up as he put the peices of their conversation together. "But if she's hiding Relena in a passage she didn't show him, then how will we find her?"

"Isn't that obvious Maxwell? We're going to tear the palace walls down." Wufei said with conviction.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Relena woke up chained to stone wall. She was lying on the floor, but there was a pillow beneath her head. "Where am I?"

"You are in the palace's dungeon." A familar voice said, Relena was still too groggy to place who it was.

"My palace doesn't have a dungeon."

"Actually it does, but you and I are the only ones who know about it. Here." Relena looked up to see Miss Noin hand her another pillow and a blanket.

"They caught you too?" Relena looked at Miss Noin, she wasn't chained to the wall like Relena was, but they were both inside a rather dingy looking cell.

"Not exactly." Miss Noin chuckled and then walked over to the cell door. She opened it and walked out of the cell. Relena just stared in shock, not comprehending what was going on.

"I didn't want to have to chain you to the wall, but I couldn't find the key to the cell and I can't have you running off. Not until I figure out what I am going to do with you." Miss Noin then left Relena's view before she could ask any of the thousand questions that were coursing through her head right now.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Well there are two ways we can go about this. We can just start gutting the place..." Duo and Wufei's eyes lighted up at that suggestion. Trowa ignored them and continued. "which could do Relena more harm than good; or we could go through the secret passages that Heero already knows about and see if there is some kind of hidden door or corridor that will lead us to her."

"The passages are very long, they meet up with the city's sewage system in some places, thereby extending for miles beneath the city. It could take days to search them all." Heero was too impatient for that approach.

"So what do we do?" Quatre asked with a tremendous amount of worry on his face.

"We have to figure out why Miss Noin took Relena. If we know that, then maybe we can figure out where she took her. If there is some way we could learn what Dorothy and Noin were meeting about..."

"But there isn't. An investigation like that would take way too long and you know it Trowa. We don't know how much time Relena has. I am sorry to say this Heero, but she could be seriously injured or dead already. We have to think about the baby too. Relena can't handle a lot of stress right now. I know it is dangerous but I think we have to start ripping this place apart."

"I think Wufei is right. But we can't just start blowing up walls, we have to control the destruction. Now that we know that Noin is responsible, we can bring the rest of the palace guard in on this. I think that we should position groups at all the known passage exits and then begin moving towards the palace, dismantling the tunnels and exposing additional passageways as we go. The groups should be large enough that if a new passageway is discovered then the group can splinter off without having to wait for backup." When Heero finished the other gundam pilots nodded thier agreement.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Noin sat at her computer and listened to the gundam pilots plan. It was a good plan, and unless she fled now they might capture her, but she didn't care if she was captured or not. If they worked their way in, then it would take them at least a day or more to find Relena, since the dungeon was located directly beneath the palace. She thought about killing Relena, her life was unimportant now, but Noin couldn't do it. All those years of looking after the girl, no the woman (and that was the cause of all this wasn't it), had resulted in Noin having quite a bit of affection for Relena. But Relena had been a pawn when she had met her, and she was still a pawn. Miss Noin picked up the teddy bear with the red ribbon that was sitting next to her cup of coffee. She had one last message to send to her knights.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Noin picked up the teddy bear and the syringe she had taken from the doctor. She needed to place the bear somewhere where the pilots would find it, but she couldn't get caught, not yet.

She crept into the unfinished nursery and listened for anyone that might get in her way.

Heero and the others had already begun working on dismantling the tunnels, so she didn't have any trouble leaving them her last surprise.

'There's no going back now.' Thought Noin as she crept out of the room and made her way back to Relena. 'Zechs don't disappoint me.'
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Okay let me talk to her." "Hello, who is this?" "No, Mr. Yuy's busy right now, you'll have to tell me." "Really? Was there a note attached to it?" "Hold on." "Mr. Yuy, I'm sorry to disturb you sir, but one of the maids found a note addressed to the Queen's rescuers, it was attached to one of Miss Relena's teddy bears."

"Okay let me talk to her."

"Hello, Mr. Yuy? It's Mary, I'm sorry to bother you Mr. Yuy. I know you're looking for Miss Relena and goodness knows I hope you find her, but I was cleaning in the nursery and I saw that teddy bear that Miss Relena always keeps on her nightstand and when I saw it I thought, well this doesn't belong here, but then I thought well maybe she wants the baby to have it..."

"Mary?" Heero snapped at the woman and then corrected himself. He didn't want his frustration to show. "Just tell me about the note."

"Yes Mr. Yuy, sorry. Anyway I picked up the teddy bear and when I squeezed it...well" The woman on the other end of the vidphone began to sob softly.

"What happened when you squeezed the teddy bear Mary?"

"It...it started to bleed." The poor woman was really crying hard now.

"What?! The teddy bear was bleeding?" Heero didn't like the sound of this at all.

"I squeezed the bear and there was blood all over my fingers. It was just horrible Mr. Yuy. Anyway I dropped the bear and ran to the bathroom to wash my hands, of course, and when I came back, well I noticed that there was a piece of paper in the crib lying next to where the bear was. When I opened it, it said:

To the Queen's rescuers:

May the causualites of war be few.

It wasn't signed by anyone." She held the note up to the screen so Heero could see it.

"Okay thank you Mary. I am sorry that you had to go through that."

"Well it's okay if it helps you to find Miss Relena. I do hope she is alright, I don't know why anyone would want to hurt her."

The woman took a breath and Heero immediately cut in. "Well thank you Mary, goodbye."

Heero handed the vidphone back to the guard who had first given it to him. "I want the blood in the bear analyzed, find out who's it is and go ahead and evacuate the palace staff. I don't want anyone to get hurt accidently."

"Yes sir."

Heero then turned to Wufei and Trowa who were sitting in front of a set of blue prints. He relayed the tale to them.

"Another clue, what's it mean?" Trowa wondered, he was still trying to figure out what was going on in Miss Noin's head.

"It means we need to find Relena quickly." Heero replied, he was in no mood for riddles.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Could you please tell me why you're doing this?" Relena swallowed down her panic and retained her composure.

"Really Relena, does it matter?"

"Of course it matters. I thought you were my friend, my best friend! You've been there for me ever since I came to the Cinq Kingdom. There were so many times when you and Peygan were the only friends I had. I don't understand why you're doing this. What's changed Noin?" Relena wondered if perhaps this wasn't the right approach, in truth she's never had any real friends. Peygan is her servant and Noin, her security officer.

"Nothing's changed Relena. I'm sorry but I have never really been your friend. I may have to kill you, if Zechs doesn't show up."

"Zechs?! Millardo is coming here? He is behind this?" It was a shock to be sure. Her own brother wants her dead.

"I hope he is coming, but he may not. If he doesn't, I will kill you. He will come then." Noin looked distracted, her eyes focused on something that wasn't there.

"You're doing this just so you can see Zechs again? He'll hate you for this. He is still my brother and I know that he wants the Peacecraft legacy to continue."

Miss Noin sighed. If it was in frustration or exhaustion, Relena couldn't tell. "You've never understood Zechs. Zechs is a soldier, a pilot. He isn't a strategist or a leader. He didn't lead the White Fang to free the Colonies or destroy the Earth. He led them so he could continue to fight. He left the earth and the colonies in your hands and you've done a good job. Too good of a job. You've left him nothing to fight for. Even though we are so far apart right now, I can feel the sorrow in his soul that this peace of yours has created. I thought that when you married Heero, he would help you see the damage you've done. I thought he and Zechs were the same, but Heero's changed. You changed him. You've made him weak."

Relena tried to think about this, but she just couldn't accept it. "I didn't make Heero weak. I draw strength from him and I know that he draws his strength from me as well. Zechs and Heero aren't the same, they've never been the same. Heero fought for the Colonies, for peace. Heero fought because he had to, not because he wanted to. His kind heart made every battle meaningful. He never fought just to fight. I still don't understand what you hope to achieve here Noin. Did you kidnap me thinking Zechs would come to save me? Your notes mentioned a battle for peace and returning me to the throne. What does that mean? Answer me Noin!"

Miss Noin ignored her, instead she opened a box and pulled out the shattered mask of Zechs Marquis. It had been glued back together so it was in one piece now. "It doesn't matter if I win or lose this battle, either way you'll die. The tunnel that leads from your bedroom to the sewers runs directly above the dungeon. If the other gundam pilots try to dismantle it then the ceiling will collapse and crush you to death. I am sorry about the baby. Bad timing on your part I'm afraid."

She left Relena then. It was time to finish this meaningless battle.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Wufei and Trowa proceeded down the main tunnel while Heero and two members of the imperial guard began investigating the hidden corrider that they had found behind the tunnel's outer wall. Heero was unhappy with the progress that they were making, but they were limited by the hardware, so there was really nothing he could do about it.

"Mr. Yuy, you have another call, sir."

"Who is it?" He wasn't in the mood for any more surprises.

"I think it's Miss Noin, sir."

Heero grabbed the vidphone. When he looked at the screen he saw the mask of Zechs Marquis, but it was Miss Noin's chin that peeked out from beneath it. "Where's Relena?"

"I'll tell you, but only if you can beat me."

"What?! What kind of game are you playing Noin?"

"I have spent years repairing and rebuilding 01. Meet me in Wing Zero in south Ziot's county. It is deserted there. If you win the battle, I will tell you where Relena is hidden."

"Why do you want to fight me?"

"If the other gundam pilots show up, I'll consider that cheating and I will self-detonate." She ended the transmission. Heero started to run back towards the main tunnel.

"Mr. Yuy where are you going?" The guard yelled at his back.

"Keep looking for her, I have to meet Noin." Heero called back as he turned towards the direction of the hanger bay where Wing Zero was waiting.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Okay Noin, I'm here now, but I am warning you that you have made yourself my enemy and I will not show any mercy if you don't call this all off now and tell me where Relena is. We both know that Wing Zero the a superior mobile suit in this fight, and I am the superior pilot. You have no hope of winning this battle."

"It doesn't matter whether I win or not, only that we complete this fight."

Heero mulled that over in his head. He had never fought Noin before, but she was wearing the mask of Zechs Marquis. Was Noin insane? Did she really believe that she was Zechs Marquis or was she doing this for some other reason? He banished these thoughts from his mind and concentrated on finishing this battle as quickly as possible. He just wanted to know that Relena was safe.

Heero aimed the beam cannon at 01's right leg and opened fire. Noin managed to avoid most of the attack but the damage to the leg was enough to force her into the air. She unsheathed the beam saber and thrust towards Heero. Heero couldn't kill her because he needed her alive to tell him where Relena was, Noin had no constraints on her. She aimed for Heero's midsection but he was able to avoid the sword easily. Heero conteracted with his own beam saber and soon they were embroiled in a fencing match.
~*~*~*~*~*~
When the first stones began to fall from the ceiling Relena screamed, calling for help, for them to stop but her screams couldn't be heard over the sound of machinery and walls falling and cement cracking. She couldn't get out of the chains and the only protecion that she could find was the pillow that Noin had given her. That wouldn't do much good if a stone fell on her head. She curled in as much of a ball as she could manage with her extended belly and screamed agian.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Heero had her pinned, he could finish her off easily if he chose, but he couldn't do that and they both knew it.

"I've won Noin, now tell me where she is!"

"This battle isn't over yet, Yuy." Noin used the guns on 01's shoulders to force Wing Zero away from her. She charged up her beam cannon and aimed at Wing Zero's cockpit. Heero dodged the blast and brought his beam saber around in a vicious arc, separating the left arm of the mobile suit from it's torso. The beam cannon fell to the ground. Heero raised the beam saber over Wing Zero's head to separate 01's right arm when something black in the distance caught his eye. It was Epyon.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hey Duo! DUO!" Quatre had to scream in Duo's ear before the other pilot responded, the noise in the tunnels was almost unbearable.

"Yeah what is it Quatre?" Duo shouted back.

"The rocks, they're falling down!"

"So?"

"So they shouldn't be falling down!"

"Why not? They aren't going to fall up!"

"They should be falling in!"

"Huh?" Duo scratched his head and wondered whether he had heard correctly.

"They should be falling on the ground, into the tunnel, but they aren't! They are falling through the tunnel floor!" Quatre pointed behind him, where they were imploding the tunnel walls in hopes of finding a secret door.

"Yeah so?"

"So that means there must be something below us?"

"Like a room?"

"I don't know, but we should stop the machines and take a look!"

"Yeah okay!" Duo signaled the bulldozer operator to stop. The operator did so, and Duo motioned for him to back up. The bulldozer had backed up about 5 feet when a large cracking sound echoed in the tunnel. Before anyone knew what was going on, the bulldozer fell through the floor, along with most of the dismantled walls.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Stop this! What is going on here?"

"Zechs, you came. I knew you would."

"Is that what this is all about? You did all this just to bring him here?" Heero screamed angrily.

Wing Zero and 01 stopped their battle but remained locked in each other's grip. Epyon stood separate from the other mobile suits. Milliardo Peacecraft looked at his video displays. On one screen Heero Yuy stared back at him, with eyes of pure hatred peering out of an emotionless face. He was older looking now, but still the same. On the other screen he saw a cracked image of himself. Noin wore his old mask, the cracks from when it had shattered still visible.

"Noin, why are you wearing that?" His voice was quiet and soft but the last word was said with just a touch of disdain.

"That's not important right now. Make her tell me where Relena is."

"Relena? I heard that she had been kidnapped that's why I came. Then I saw you two fighting. Why aren't you looking for my sister?" Milliardo knew that Heero and Relena were married. All the people on the earth and the Colonies knew that the Cinq Kingdom princess was married to the war hero. Milliardo had been able to leave her alone, secure in the knowledge that with Noin and Heero looking out for her, she would be safe.

"I don't need to look for her. Noin knows where she is, don't you Noin?"

"Yes Heero, you've won. Relena is in the dungeon beneath the palace. It is located below the tunnel that leads to your bedroom."

Heero nodded and Wing Zero sped away back to the palace, leaving 01 and Epyon alone.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The bulldozer operator was okay. The room beneath the floor turned out to be quite large. It was littered with stones though. Duo and Quatre carefully crept across the floor, there were several cells cut into the wall. The place was in bad need of repair, even before the ceiling had caved in. Not all the cells had doors. Some of them had cots with rotted away mattresses, most didn't. Several had shackles hanging from the walls. Duo was looking at one cell which was littered with rocks when he noticed a delicate hand peaking above the stones. The hand was shackled against the wall.

"No, aww No. Quatre get over here!" Duo ran over to the hand. As he got closer he saw a bit of cloth from the dress Relena had been wearing earlier. He frantically began moving away the rocks. Quatre soon joined him.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Noin took off the helmet and left the cockpit of 01. She waited for the pulley to lower her to the ground and then walked over to Epyon. She stared up at the black mobile suit. It looked like a demon from hell. She waited for the cockpit to open and for Milliardo to come out. She knew he would be angry. She wasn't afraid of that. She knew he would be disappointed in her. She was prepared for that. She knew that he would probably never want to see her agian. That he might possibly kill her himself. She preferred that, better that she die by his hand.

Milliardo Peacecraft looked down at the woman standing at Epyon's feet. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but he knew about the unpleasant surprises his sister had been receiving lately. He knew Heero must be fighting Noin for a reason. He knew that Heero loved Relena more than anything. The way Zechs Marquis had loved Noin. No, the way that he should have loved Noin. If he were a kind and decent person, but he wasn't. Epyon had messed with his head. It had taken him a long time to conquer the system and accept that there was more to life than fighting. He still couldn't accept all that he had done. He wanted to make reparations, to suffer for his crimes. He saw no reason why Noin should suffer with him. But looking down on her now he realized that she had suffered, a great deal. He looked at her through Epyon's electronic eye. He looked into her eyes and realized that he had driven her insane.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Relena was unconscious, but she was still alive. They handled her gingerly. They had already discovered one broken bone when they were cutting off the shackles and the amount of blood coming from her head made it a sure bet that she at least had a concussion. Probably a fractured skull, maybe even brain damage. They had told Heero to meet them at the hospital, hoping that Relena would be in the ambulance by now. But they had to arrange a pully system that could pull her up from the dungeon to the tunnel above. It had taken a long time and Relena had grown paler, her breath shallower in the meantime.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Milliardo looked Noin in the eyes. She flinched, but returned his gaze. Her dark blue eyes held too many emotions. He had always been able to read her just by looking in those eyes, but now he found her unfathomable. And how did she find him? He had left her, run away when he knew that she wanted to be with him, to help him. He couldn't allow that. He didn't feel that he deserved her help and he wanted her to protect Relena for him. It all seemed so selfish now.

"What's going on?" It seemed the most appropriate question to ask right now. He waited for her to answer.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Heero felt the cold of the glass biting into his hand, it was a small relief for he felt like he was on fire. The doctors had come to tell him that they might not be able to save both the mother and the child. 'Choose,' they had asked him. 'Choose.' How could he choose. Relena was his life. All of it, there was no part of his life that didn't revolve around her. No place he could hide if she died. Everything would be shattered. And if he chose her and she lived, how could he face her? How could he stand before her, knowing that he had killed their baby? She wouldn't be able to forgive that would she? Would he be able to forgive himself? No, he could't choose, had refused to do so and now they were operating on her, trying to save them both. The risks were higher now, more likely that they would both die. Heero felt tears run down his cheek. He was crying now, here in the hospital hallway where everyone could see his weakness, and he didn't care.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Dorothy loved you, she had found you and I was jealous. I killed her. I regret that, but nothing else. I make no excuses. If Relena dies it is all my fault and that's the way I want it." So cold, Milliardo couldn't believe it. She was so composed, but her eyes betrayed her. They were filled with shame.

"So you did all this to hurt me? To hurt me the way I hurt you?" He sounded so calm. He wasn't a calm man by nature. He was passionate, that was what she wanted. To hear and see his passion.

"Yes...no. It isn't that easy Zechs or Milliardo. Who are you? I don't know, but I loved you all the same and now I don't know who I am." That explained everything, it was all his fault. He knew it. "Please Zechs, have mercy." So honest, so open, and now she expected him to kill her. She took out her revolver and held it out to him. "I don't want to continue on like this."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"It's amazing, she's so strong. And the baby's strong too. I didn't think we could do it. I thought for sure we'd lose them both, but somehow they survived, despite the hemorraging. You're a very lucky man Mr. Yuy." The doctor was obviously pleased with himself. Heero smiled, a genuinely large smile that reached his eyes. He had the urge to hug the man in front of him. Of course he didn't, but he did shake his hand.

"Can I see her?"

"Yes, she's stable now so it's okay, but she's still sedated. It will be a while before she wakes up."

"That's fine." Heero turned to the other pilots, they had heard and were smiling, even Wufei.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"I can't kill you. I don't have the right, and even if I did, I wouldn't." Zechs pushed her hand with the revolver away.

"But how can you forgive me, after what I've done?"

"I can't. I can't forgive you, but I won't kill you. Heero might, if you don't leave here now." He turned to leave, but she stopped him by placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Please, don't leave me like this." She was desperate. He should stay, make sure Relena was alright, make sure Heero didn't kill Noin. He should stay and repair the damage he had done. Help her, she deserved that. But he couldn't. He was dead to it all, somehow.

"I'm sorry." He looked at her with guilty eyes. She looked at him with hate. She raised the gun and pointed it at his head.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Heero?" She felt his presense, more than saw it. His hand squeezed hers.

"I'm here. Don't move, you've got several broken bones, including your skull, but you're gonna be alright." His voice was soothing. It made her sleepy.

"The baby?"

"He's okay too." Relena smiled at that, a quick, small smile. She then closed her eyes and fell back asleep. Heero didn't mind. She needed her sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Are you going to kill me Noin?"

"I should. You're a bastard! I've thrown my life away for you! How can you be so cold, so uncaring? Have you thought of me even once in the past five years?" She was shaking and he thought the gun might go off because of that, but he didn't care if he died now. He was of no use to anyone anyway.

"I have." His voice was even.

"That's all?! You have. When? When you clean the pawns on your chess board? When you wipe your feet on the doormat? When you're beating the dead dog you found in the alley? You threw me away a long time ago didn't you? You wiped your hands and walked away and forgot to tell me! Well I deserve better than that, you jerk!" She yelled and shook, but didn't fire the gun.

"I'm sorry Noin. I truly am. I can't give you what you want. I don't know what you want, and I suspect that you don't know either. I have to go now. I think you should leave. Heero will kill you if he sees you, and I have faith that you can overcome this. Best you should think of me as dead and move on with your life. I am dead, in a lot of ways. I don't want you to become what I am." He turned around and grabbed the line that would take him up to Epyon's cockpit. He didn't turn around. Noin wouldn't shoot him in the back.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Relena had forbidden Heero from killing her. When they picked her up, she was kneeling and slumped over. There was a revolver in her hand, but Trowa had no trouble walking up to her and taking it away. She said nothing to no one and stared at the ground. She was docile and didn't cause them any trouble, but refused to answer their questions.

They put her in an institution, the best that money could buy. Relena visited regularly, but Noin wouldn't talk to her. Heero came once, but never asked her anything. He just sat and waited. For what, nobody knows. At night she could be heard talking to herself. As the years passed the other patients said that she was a witch. They said that she talked to ghosts. They said at night a tall, long, white haired figure would sneak through the halls to visit her. Or wait outside her window. One night she disappeared and the patients said that the ghost had taken her away. Some were afraid after that and refused to sleep at night with the lights off. The hospital's staff said that there were no signs of forced entry and couldn't give an explanation of what happened.
Heero fretted, but Relena assured him that Noin wouldn't be back.

"She's up in the stars with him now. Why would she come back down to earth?" Relena asked as she tucked her son into bed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Epilogue~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Heero watched Cody's little nose wrinkle up. His mouth opened in a yawn and his tiny, pink tongue flicked over his lips. Every move was precious and he could watch his son all night, but the warm arms creeping around his waist and the hot breath tickling his neck reminded him that he had someone else to tend to.

"Come to bed." He nodded, more than happy to comply.

Relena let go of his waist and grabbed his hand, dragging him away from the crib.

"I know it's hard to take your eyes away from her, but we both need our sleep." She admonished her husband while taking off her robe. She laid down on the bed.

Heero appraised his wife objectively. She still was about 10 pounds over her 'normal' weight, but her lactating breasts made her waist look slim. The overall extra weight caused her nightgown to cling to her body tightly.

Heero laid down beside her and began stroking her stomach. It was still pretty hard to believe that the tiny person lying in the crib at the end of the bed had come out of his wife's body. Heero leaned over Relena and looked her in the eye.

"You're beautiful." He whispered. Relena smiled, lifted her head from the pillow and kissed Heero on the nose.

"Goodnight Heero." She whispered and then closed her eyes. Heero was a bit disappointed, he decided not to give in without a fight. He slowly began to increase the area that he was stroking until he was rubbing her breasts along with her stomach.

"Heero, what are you doing?" He didn't answer, instead he began to nibble on her ear. She moaned softly and batted at his head with her hand.

"Heero, I still have stitches you know." He grunted, he had forgotten about that. He moved his hand from her stomach to her face and traced her lips with his finger.

"It doesn't hurt to give your loving husband a goodnight kiss, does it?"

Relena smiled. "No." She leaned over and kissed Heero on the lips, he used the opportunity to sneak his arm under her pull her into a tight embrace.

"I love you." He rubbed his nose to hers as he whispered against her lips.

"I love you too." Heero could feel Relena's smile as they rubbed their cheeks together.

"Relena?"

"Yes Heero?"

"When your stitches come out can we try for twins?" Relena's eyes popped open and she bit Heero on the nose. Heero let Relena go and rubbed his sore appendage. He watched as his wife rolled over and went to sleep.

'Too soon.' Heero thought. He laid back down and brushed Relena's hair away from her neck, he then draped his arm over her and settled down to sleep. Visions of Relena with a horde of Prussian blue eyes children danced in his head.