<html><head></head><body>Disclaimer: Gundam Wing belongs to Sunrise and the Sotsu Agency, as well as Bandai. No, none of those are me.

Author's Notes: This occurs after Endless Waltz. You know, where they say Zechs and Noin are "nowhere to be found" *cough cough*.

***

"I'm not letting you go again." Her words rang in his head.

'I will survive. I will make it out of this,' he kept repeating to himself, fluffing tufts of platinum blond hair out of his eyes. 'I will make it out of this. I will survive,' his words mingled with hers as they rocketed around inside his brain. He sliced through another doll.

"Zechs!" She cried as he came down the gangplank. He was looking good, Sally noted. The year he'd been away had done him some good. She averted her eyes as Noin walked over to the man and hugged him tightly, obviously restraining herself from planting kisses all over him. "Are you ok?" The raven-haired woman looked worriedly into Zechs's eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you ok?"

CRACK! The slap rang out across the loading bay and Sally turned, along with everyone else present to see what had happened. Noin's face was glowing vividly, her eyes flaming, and Zechs had his head lowered. "We'll talk about this later, Zechs," Noin said softly, walking away. The man quickly gathered up his bags and followed after her silently, keeping his face stoic.

The door slammed shut and Noin turned quickly. "Dammit Zechs! I can't believe you. A year! A whole year! What kind of a moron are you? How could you do this?" He blinked. Noin never behaved like this. The whole time they'd known each other -- eight years -- the whole time, he'd never fathomed that she might behave like this. She'd always controlled her temper, even the time when he crashed his trainee mobile suit outside the girl's dorm to show off and ended up in the infirmary for three weeks with severe internal bleeding. She'd never been like this. He had to say something. He had to stop her before she rocketed out of control.

"Noin, I didn't know you cared so much." She looked up, confused. It wasn't sarcastic, it wasn't toying...was he really serious? She put her hands up as if to push him back.

"Look, Zechs, I thought..." She sighed. "I thought you were a human being. I thought you were more perceptive than tha...No, don't talk. I don't want to hear a thing, ok? When I want to talk, you'll know." She stalked of, leaving him behind in the loading bay's only empty waiting area.

"What should I do?" He asked softly. The girl across from him stifled a giggle.

"You really are clueless, aren't you brother?" Relena laughed. "Noin was worried. This whole year you've been gone, she was denying your death. I'm amazed you didn't see it sooner," she laughed again, then delicately lifted the tea to her lips and took a sip.

"Didn't see _what_ sooner?" Zechs asked, looking clueless. Relena laughed again, and this time it was visible that it was harder for her to stop.

"You are so...typical," the brunette murmered when her laughing subsided, placing the cup gently down on its saucer. "Noin...well, she...she, um..." For once in her life, words failed her. "She...you know..."

"She what?" Zechs pushed, sipping from his own teacup and wincing at the bitter taste.

"She loves you, my dear brother," Relena finally blurted out, shifting uncomfortably in her chair. "I guess she just thought you felt the same way."

"What should I do?" She asked softly. The woman across from her gave her a sympathetic look. "He's a guy," Sally said, dropping into the last seat. Absently, she fiddled with the controls on the panel, trying to make the ship go faster.

"I know that, Sally. That's one of the perks, remember?" Noin laughed bitterly. "And one of the downfalls," she muttered. "Eight years...eight years of my life wasted because he can't come to his senses and give me a clear yes or no. God, Sally! I...we even..."

"What did you do?" Une asked, raising a brow.

"What do you think?" Noin replied, the sarcastic tone in her voice growing. "I mean, we were only seventeen, but I was so sure...I thought he felt the same way. Blast it!" She yelled, slamming a fist into the control panel. "Why does all this have to be so difficult?" Sally hugged her friend close for a moment as Une looked uncomfortably at them.

"He's a guy," Sally repeated with a shrug.

"Yeah, they're all like that, ne, Sally?" Une winked at the blonde, who blushed. Noin nodded and the three went back to work.

He looked uncomfortably around the Preventer headquarters, then ducked into Une's office. "I have to speak to you," he said softly. The woman turned from her place at the window, her hand dropping as she fixed him with a sad look.

"Yes?" The brunette asked, sliding into her desk chair and shuffling papers around.

Zechs slipped into the chair in front of the desk. "I need to know what to do. About Noin." Une nodded wisely.

"Zechs," she said after a moment. "I'm going to tell you a little story. Once there was a girl who loved a man. And the man loved her. But they worked together. They married in secret, and consummated, and everything was good, until he died in battle. They loved each other very much, though he never said so to her. The girl is still alive," she continued, looking into his eyes. "And though she knew he loved her, she never got to hear it from his lips. Don't let that happen to you and Noin," she finished, still efficiently shuffling paperwork around on her desk. Zechs stood.

"You're right. My condolences about Trieze," he left the room quickly.

Une stood and returned to the window.

"Oh Trieze-sama...please tell me I just did the right thing," she murmered, one hand to the cold pane. Zechs ducked his head back in the office.

"Une?"

"Eh?" She jumped, turning to look at him again.

"Where is Noin staying?"

"With Sally. If you're planning on surprising her, though, I can get Sally to stay with me and Mariemaia for a night or two."

"That would be great." Zech's head disappeared and she turned back to the window.

"Trieze-sama..." she sighed again.

"Oh, and Une?"

"What is it?!" She snapped, whirling back around.

"Thank you."

She smiled softly. "Get out of here before I smack you." Zechs nodded and left. "Kami-sama help that man..." Une murmered, sitting back down at her desk.

Noin unlocked the door, smiling at the smell of fresh Chinese food. 'Sally must have Wufei over again,' she mused. 'Chauvenist though he is, the boy can cook. Of course, they'll want me out of here then...' she trailed off in her thoughts as she walked into the dining room. "What...?" she whispered, looking at the food all over the table, at the candles, at the flowers. Not a rose among the bunch, she noted to herself in absent delight. Soft music, either Mozart, or maybe Vivaldi -- two of her favorites -- played from the stereo. She wandered slowly into her room, dropping her coat and bag on the floor and walking back to the dining room in a preoccupied manner. "Zechs..."

The blue eyed man looked up. "You're home early," he said softly. Then; "Hi."

"Hi," she looked around carefully, then back up to meet his eyes. "What is all this?"

He gestured at the table. "It's...for you. To try and make up for the hell I must've put you through."

Noin sat down abrubtly. "Who are you and what have you done with Zechs Merquise?" She asked, eyeing him warily even as she began serving herself from the plates in the center.

"I'm him," Zechs said quietly, walking behind her and gently starting to massage the knots from her back.

"But you...I...we..." Noin looked up at him, confused. "You've never..."

"I know," he sat down beside her. "I've never told you that I cared. I've never treated you as more than a friend, except for a couple times. But I learned something. I love you, Lucrezia Noin. More than anything. And I'm not going to let you go," he pulled her close and they embraced for a moment before she pulled back.

"So...what now?" She asked quietly, looking at a non-descript corner of the table.

"Now...you tell me where we stand. It's up to you, Noin," he leaned back, just out of reach.

"Zechs..." she murmered. "You're such a moron." He looked up in surprise.

"How can you leave this up to me when you know what the answer is going to be?"

He frowned and stood, picking up his coat. "I'll go then," he said as he reached the door. That was when he felt two warm arms slip around his waist.

"Didn't I just say you were a moron?" Noin teased as their lips met.

Finis.

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