by Windsor Blue
Disclaimers - I don't own Gundam Wing, nor do I own any eligible bachelors. If you do, then be happy and well in the knowledge that you make more money in a week than I have in my entire working life, and that you have much better, bigger and more important things to do with your time than hassle me.
Send comments to windsorblue17@yahoo.com
"God," Duo groaned, stretching his arms wide. "I thought we were never going to get off that shuttle! It feels so good to stand up and walk around."
Hilde bent backwards for a second, her hands on her waist. She straightened and rolled her head back and forth, trying to work the kinks out of her neck. "I know - the trip back here just takes forever."
"Really," Duo agreed, adjusting the strap of his carry-on bag on his shoulder. "Come on, let's go pick up the rest of our stuff."
They made their way through the airport, chatting easily. The baggage claim took less time than usual, and Duo was feeling pretty good about his return to New York. Just as he was thinking it had been too long since the last time he'd been here, he was stopped short by a prettily smiling blonde, her thin legs clad in a short red skirt and matching heels. "Mr. Maxwell?" she chirped.
"Yeah," Duo replied warily.
"Hi, Mr. Maxwell! My name's Heather, and I'm from the magazine." She drew out the last syllables on her words a little too long, her smile was a little too sunny, and Duo took a moment to assess the terminal for an exit strategy. "I'm here to make sure you get to the hotel okay, okay?"
Duo and Hilde exchanged a wordless glance.
"You must be Miss Schlebekker?"
Hilde winced. "Scheibeker."
"Whatever," Heather replied brightly, cocking her head to one side. "So are these your bags?"
They looked down at the luggage around their feet, then back up. "Yeah," Duo said, trying not to sound sarcastic.
"Okay! Tashtago will go ahead and get those for you, okay?" A startlingly large Samoan man in a chauffeur's uniform rose up from the chairs behind her, came around, nodded at Duo, and began pulling the suitcases out of their hands.
She took Hilde by the elbow and began chattering at her about something that sounded dangerously girly, leaving Duo and Tashtago in her wake. "It's okay, man," Duo began, "I can carry my - "
Tashtago shushed him with a small wave of a big hand. "Trust me - it's better if I just take them. Gives her one less thing to bitch about, yeah?"
Duo couldn't help but grin at that. "Well, okay - if you're gonna put it that way..."
A few feet ahead of them, Heather turned and called "Yoo-hoo! Are you boys coming? We've got a lot to do today!" Hilde's eyes were wide and stunned, giving Duo a 'get-over-here-and-rescue-me-or-suffer-the-consequences' look.
Duo blinked and Tashtago sighed. He shouldered the last of the luggage, nudged Duo's elbow, and began trudging in her direction. Duo shrugged to himself, figured there was nothing else for it, and followed.
"It is the opinion of the people of the Russian Republic - whom I have the pleasure and duty to represent - that these allegations merit further investigation by this body, and that Representative Peacecraft should be censured from voting until they are complete!"
Heero rolled his eyes. Representative Ouroussoff was, in his considered opinion, a gasbag. He found it hard to believe that the people of the Russian Republic gave a flaming rat's ass about Relena's love life, or that they thought they were really being well-represented by this guy. How he'd managed to get elected at all was a mystery on par with the origins of the universe.
The rest of the General Assembly, however, seemed willing enough to play their parts. After the translation delay, indignant noises rolled around the hall, met by some scattered rumbles of agreement. For her part, Relena sat stubbornly in her chair, her face unreadable.
"Furthermore, the influence of the Winner family on this august body cannot continue! Not since the time of the Tsars has one family held their level of wealth and power! I ask the assembly - is it right that one family from one colony should be able to impose their will upon the rest of the Earth Sphere - especially when they are clearly willing to do so from the bedroom!"
Jaden Winner shot to her feet, shouting over the rising din. "Mr. Chairman, I object to Representative Ouroussoff's implications! The delegation from the L4 Colony requests recognition!"
"I will not yield the floor!" Ourousoff countered. "The Winner family does not intimidate me! I will have these charges investigated, and I refuse to yield the floor until the matter is put to a vote!"
That met with even more rumbling. "Mr. Chairman, I demand to be recognized! The delegation from L4 will not sit idly by while our colony and our family are so purposefully and maliciously maligned!"
"The Winners don't want the rest of the Earth Sphere to know what they're up to!" Ourousoff roared, and he still was barely heard over the assembly.
"Mr. Chairman!" Jaden cried angrily, the legendary Winner patience on its last legs.
Heero wasn't sure where to look. The General Assembly was rather quickly dissolving into chaos, the Chairman was hollering for order, and Ourousoff and Quatre's sister were on the verge of rushing across the hall to beat the daylights out of each other. Then suddenly, as suddenly as it had begun, the fracas lost momentum and stilled into silence, beaten down by a loud, steady cadence. It took Heero a moment to realize that the noise was coming from the direction of Relena's seat. He craned his neck, and couldn't help but grin at what he saw.
There was Relena, standing tall, calm and resolute. In her right hand was her shoe, and she was pounding it on the desk in front of her.
"You..." Ourousoff hissed into the silence. "You mock the heritage and history of the Russian people!"
Relena ignored him. "Mr. Chairman," she said firmly, placing her shoe quietly on the desk in front of her, "The delegation from the Republic of Sanq requests recognition."
The chairman nodded once. "The Chair recognizes Representative Peacecraft of the Republic of Sanq."
"Thank you," she replied. "Mr. Chairman and my fellow representatives, in the interest of seeing the process along, I would like to answer Representative Ourousoff's charges, to the best of my ability. Firstly, he accuses me of having a romantic relationship with Mr. Quatre Winner. I find his steadfast belief in this more than a little amusing, since he stood before this chamber not a fortnight ago and demanded to know the nature of my relationship with my bodyguard, Heero Yuy. Let me assure you all that I am not involved with Quatre Winner on anything more than a professional level."
She paused for a moment, drawing in a deep breath before continuing. "But even if I were, it would be of no relevance to the proposed legislation. Representative Ourousoff has implied that there is some sort of financial or political gain to be realized by either Mr. Winner or myself if the legislation should pass. So I put the question to you, my fellow representatives: what could this gain possibly be?"
The room started to grumble again, but as Heero flicked his gaze around he could sense the tide was turning.
"You all have copies of the bill. I invite you to have your staffs go over it as thoroughly as they possibly can. If you can find a way in which either Mr. Winner or myself stand to make a single credit from what we've proposed, then by all means bring your evidence before the General Assembly. I, for one, would be most interested to see your figures."
Heero forcibly removed the grin from his face by coughing into his palm. A few pages and staffers standing near him shot questioning looks in his direction before returning their attention to the action on the assembly floor.
"Thank you, Mr. Chairman," Relena nodded. She smoothed her skirt with both hands, tugged quickly at the hem of her blazer, and sat down.
The Chairman stood silent for a moment before leaning into the microphone. "On that note, I call today's session of the General Assembly closed. I should hope that we can all return to our more civilized selves tomorrow." He cast a warning glance at both Ourousoff and Jaden Winner, then flicked off the mic and stepped away from the podium.
Relena was standing and slipping her shoe back on by the time Heero reached her.
"I never thought I'd hear myself say this," she murmured to him, "But I can't wait to get on the plane. Please tell me it's time to head to the airport."
Heero's lip quirked up into a crooked smirk. "It is. Bonnie had your bags put in the car already."
"Thank God." She gathered up her briefcase, took two steps, and promptly fell sideways with a surprised yelp. Heero jumped to catch her, and as he did, they both looked down at her feet.
The heel of her right shoe had snapped cleanly off.
Heero bit his bottom lip and Relena sighed. Their eyes met, and Relena pushed herself off his shoulder and onto her feet. "Apparently, I don't know my own strength," she said flatly.
"Apparently not," Heero replied, just as stoic.
She kicked off the shoe and marched down the stairs, her gait made crooked by the inch-and-a-half height difference between one foot and the other. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, turned to Heero and asked, "Are you coming or not?"
Heero could stand it no longer. He burst into laughter. After a couple of seconds, Relena did, too.
"And then we can take you over to Claude Remy's down on Eighth Street and have him do something with your hair!"
Hilde reached up and cautiously ran her fingers through the hair at the back of her neck. "What's wrong with my hair?"
Heather smiled that same vapid, bright smile she'd been wearing the whole afternoon, and Duo hated her just a little bit more with each passing second. "Yeah," he snarled quietly. "What's wrong with her hair?"
"Oh, don't worry, girlfriend - it's nothing that Claude Remy can't fix in an hour or two." She cocked her head, giving Hilde a perfunctory look. "Maybe three."
Duo shot Hilde a 'please-let-me-kill-her' look. Hilde volleyed with a 'not-now-you'll-make-a-mess-in-the-nice-car' glare. He sighed grumpily, folded his arms over his chest and tried to force his body out of the car through osmosis by wedging himself even deeper into the seat. He leaned his head back against the glass that separated them from the driver, and while he was sitting there wishing for lightning to strike Heather down where she sat, he noticed the glass vibrating in time with whatever music Tashtago was listening to in the front. He turned and tapped on the window, signaling to Tashtago to turn the music up. Tashtago complied with a short laugh, then turned his attention back to the road.
"Hey," Duo began, "How come we can't hear what he's listening to in here?"
Heather made a dismissive little wave with one primly manicured hand. "Oh, he listens to weird old music. I don't like it."
"Oh, yeah?" An idea was starting to bubble in Duo's head. Hilde could hear it rattling around in there from where she sat across from him, and she shot him a questioning look that he chose to politely ignore. "Like what?"
"Oh, you know," Heather replied. "Old stuff - pre-colony rock and roll. Tashtago's kind of a dinosaur. Anyway, as I was saying, after we get your hair done, Hilde, we can -"
"Pre-colony rock?" Duo gushed, schooling his voice to mimic Heather's own saccharine tone. "That's my favorite!" He turned around in his seat, bouncing a little, and started pushing buttons on the control panel beside the window. He didn't acknowledge the look of curious warning Hilde was shooting his way, either, assuming he noticed it at all. One button pressed opened the sun roof , and the next lowered the glass between the driver and the passengers. Duo finally turned to Hilde with a manic grin as the radio played the sound of a jet landing, covered by a distinctive guitar riff.
"I've always wanted to do this," he snickered, and in one smooth motion he was standing on the seat with his head and torso out the sun roof, singing along with the radio. "Flew in from Miami Beach BOAC, didn't get to bed last night. On the way the paper bag was on my knee - man I had a dreadful flight..."
"Mr. Maxwell?" Heather squeaked unhappily. "Mr. Maxwell, what in space are you doing?" She whirled on Hilde. "What in space is he doing?"
Hilde shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest. "He's singing. What's it look like he's doing?"
"Well, stop him!" Heather insisted.
Hilde scoffed. "Like I could if I wanted to..."
Duo's backside started swaying in front of them. "Been away so long I hardly knew the place - gee it's good to be back home. Leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case - honey disconnect the phone." He reached down with one hand, waving to Hilde to come up with him. She started towards him with a grin, pausing as Heather grabbed her arm.
"You can't do that," she insisted urgently.
Hilde raised an eyebrow at her. "Anything he can do, I can do better," she replied. Then she hopped up onto the seat and stood up.
Duo had his hands up as he moved in time to the music and he threw her a smile that was somewhere between manic and proud. He bent a little to sing in her face, wagging his head from side to side, and she laughed as she joined him.
"Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out, they leave the West behind...and Moscow girls make me sing and shout that Georgia's always always on my mi-mi-mi-mi~nd!"
Below them, Heather was leaning over to slap Tashtago on the shoulder. "Turn it off. Turn the music off! Stop the car, Tashtago!" He turned his head ever-so-slightly to regard her hand on his shoulder for the barest of seconds before reaching over to the radio and turning the volume up even louder.
People were stopping here and there on the sidewalks, watching the car move through mid-town Manhattan, either gaping outright or chuckling to themselves as it passed. Of course, this being New York, Hilde thought, a sizable percentage of the pedestrians they passed didn't even look their way, as if this sort of thing happened every afternoon around lunchtime.
"Show me round your snow peaked mountains way down south - take me to your daddy's farm. Let me hear your balalaika's ringing out - come and keep your comrade warm. I'm back in the U.S.S.R. - you don't know how lucky you are boys...Back in the U.S.S.R.!"
Their serenade finished and Duo bowed to the pedestrians as well as he could while hanging half out the sunroof of a moving car. A couple of people clapped, a few more laughed, the majority ignored him completely, and one shouted out that he shouldn't quit his day job. With that, Duo gave Hilde a wicked wink, and plopped back down onto the seat, taking her hand and pulling her back down as well.
"Mr. Maxwell," Heather huffed, "That little stunt was the most -"
"Fun we've had in weeks?" Duo countered. "Why yes, yes it was. Thanks for noticing. Hey, do you mind if we make a quick stop before we get to the hotel?"
Heather was trying to work up into a powerful snit, but his question threw her off a little. "What? No, we most certainly cannot - "
Tashtoga clucked his tongue. "Of course we can make a stop, if you like. You two are guests of the magazine, aren't they, Miss?"
"Great!" Duo enthused as Heather slipped into a crestfallen pout. "Preventers Headquarters, then, if you please - two blocks up and make a right." He turned to grin at Hilde again. "We have some friends we need to catch up with."
Hilde grinned right back. He clearly had a plan, and she had an idea as to what it was, and she thanked her lucky stars once again that they were on the same side.
"Wufei!"
Wufei turned in the direction the shout had come from. Sure enough, there was Quatre, waving affably, with Trowa and a woman he didn't know right alongside him. He smiled as Sally slid out of the chair she'd adopted during their wait at the airport terminal, taking a few steps forward to meet them halfway. "Quatre, Trowa - how are you?"
Quatre took his hand and shook it firmly, pulling him into a quick one-handed, back-patting embrace. "We're both well, Wufei - how are you? It's good to see you, my friend!"
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Wufei replied as Trowa greeted him in similar fashion. Wufei felt his smile grow. It really had been too long. "How was your flight?"
"Educational," Trowa smirked, earning a small glare from Quatre and a sigh from the woman with them. Wufei raised an eyebrow at Trowa, who shook his head in return. "Later," he murmured.
"Alright," Wufei said slowly.
Quatre bent to give Sally a quick kiss on the cheek, and she grinned at him. "Does this mean we're dating, now?"
He barked out a laugh. "Be careful - it might. The next thing you know, you'll be just another part of the ever-expanding Winner harem."
"What," Sally drawled, "And give up my glamorous career?"
Wufei rolled his eyes, turned his attention to the strange woman clutching a stack of files next to Trowa, and extended his hand. "I'm sorry - I don't think we've met. I'm Special Agent Chang Wufei."
She smiled brightly, shifted the load in her arms, and put her hand out to meet his. "Hello, I - "
"God, I'm sorry!" Quatre interrupted. "What happened to my manners? Adele Chapman, these are my dear friends Chang Wufei and Sally Po. Chang Wufei, Sally Po, this is my press secretary, Adele Chapman."
Adele shook Wufei's hand, and then Sally's, with a firm, confident grip. "How do you do?"
"Nice to meet you," Wufei nodded. "You have a formidable job, Ms. Chapman."
"It has its moments, Agent Chang," she grinned.
"Like today, I'm sure," put in Sally. "There were a couple of camera crews setting up outside when we got here, and that was about an hour ago."
Adele nodded. "I figured as much."
Quatre frowned at her. "I thought you said that the New York press wouldn't be interested..."
"No sir, I said if we were lucky, they would have lost interest by now. Looks like luck isn't going to be on our side today."
Quatre sighed and Trowa shrugged. "Might as well get it over with, hm?"
Quatre gave him a sidelong look. "You just want to get to the penthouse so you can play with the baby."
"What's the point in having nieces if you can't play with them?"
"True," Quatre laughed. He took a deep breath and looked at the people gathered around him. "Let's get on with it, then."
Sure enough, a throng of reporters awaited them on the street outside the terminal. Quatre heard Adele sigh a little bit as Wufei moved ahead of her to put a hand on the push bar of the glass door.
"Ready?" Wufei asked.
Quatre nodded once, and out they went.
Wufei led the way, with Adele and Quatre in the middle and Sally and Trowa behind them. The crowd began to mold around them, shouting questions from all directions.
"Mr. Winner, are the rumors about you and Relena Peacecraft true?"
Quatre put on a charming smile. "No, of course not. Relena and I are old friends, and that's all."
"Who is the special girl in your life then, Mr. Winner?"
He cranked up the voltage on that smile and gave the assembly a little wink. "What, you mean besides Adele, here?" A chuckle rippled through the crowd as Adele gave him an irritated sidelong glance. "Truthfully, between my sisters and my friends, I'm blessed to have many special women in my life - more than I could possibly deserve." He raised a finger and wagged it at the group. "And while I may be many things, I'm hardly foolhardy enough to stand here in front of all of you and declare any one of them any more special to me than the others."
Another laugh echoed around before someone shouted another question. "Come on, Mr. Winner - there isn't one girl who means more to you than all the rest?"
They were almost to the car now, and Quatre turned as Wufei opened the car door. "Alright, you've caught me," Quatre relented with a hint of mischief in his eye. "You're right - there is one who's got a quite a stranglehold on my poor heart right now." He reached into his coat pocket to take his wallet out. "Do you want to see her picture?"
They noise of the crowd settled down to murmurs and the clicking of camera shutters as Quatre flipped through his pictures, and after a few seconds he found the one he was looking for, gave it a fond smile, and held it up proudly.
The picture showed a baby girl with two lilac bows in her wispy blonde curls, smiling a wide, toothless smile.
"This is my newest niece, Giselle," Quatre began. "She's almost nine months old. Isn't she beautiful?" He beamed at the picture again before folding the wallet closed and tucking it back into his coat. "I have a lunch date with her this afternoon, and I don't want to keep her waiting, so if you all will excuse me...?" There was an agreeable noise from the group, and Quatre slipped into the car behind Adele, with Trowa, Sally and Wufei behind him.
As the car pulled away from the curb, Quatre gave Adele a cheeky grin. "How was that?" he asked.
Adele rolled her eyes a little and cupped her hand to her ear. "Does anyone else hear that?"
"Hear what?" Trowa asked, an amused tone in his voice.
"The sound of 30 million single women between 18 and 34 all saying 'Awww, how cuuuute!' at the same time."
Sally snickered. "Oh, is that what that noise is?"
"Alright," Quatre sighed, sinking back into his seat. "It may have been a little over-the-top."
"A little..." Wufei muttered.
"No, actually," Adele demurred, "It was just right. Deflect and redirect - perfect strategy to get you out of the question and make you look like you didn't. Well done, Mr. Winner, well done."
The car made a right turn at the stoplight, and as it turned, a figure clad in a dusty gray overcoat turned with it, tracing its progression with his gaze. He waited until it got to the end of the block, brown eyes darkening to the color of black coffee. He stepped to the edge of the sidewalk, held up a hand, and got into the first cab that stopped for him.
