Well, hope you like this, and this wets your appetite for the WHOLE story. Note, I'm obviously a Non-Yaoi writer, and a person who tends to write sappy stories, so if you don't like this kind of story, then GET OUT NOW!!! Now, enjoy.

Gundam Wing: Raptures of Paradise
Chapter 3----------A Face in the Crowd
By Sailor Celaeno

The crowd was heavy that day. What could she do about that? She left the office and proceeded to walk to the garage. Paegan waited for Relena. "Hello Miss Relena."
"I'm glad to see you Paegan." She sat with her briefcase in her lap.
"Has anyone been able to track Heero?" she asked.
"No, I'm afraid. He is a very difficult young man to locate. He is very good at his job. I suspect he has a way of finding you. I must confess that I think it is pointless to have people searching for him," said Paegan.
"I suppose you are right. I am being rather foolish. He will find a way to get near me. I suppose I should simply call the agency to stop the search for him."
"I am just curious. Why exactly are you looking for him?"
Relena began to blush for a moment. "Why am I looking for him?" She thought for a moment very carefully. "It's just that I need to know the truth about something."
"About what?"
"I need to know why he has been protecting me during the wars. I never got a clear answer from him. No one ever gets a clear answer, not when it comes to him personally. He guards it like precious treasures. He never seems to trust anyone. Not totally. I just don't quite understand him. Why he protects me, yet he avoids me." Relena stared out the window. As though hoping against that she might spy him among the endless sea of faces.
"I see. I understand that you received an invitation to Milliardo and Miss Noin's wedding." Paegan turned a corner and drove on the highway leading to Relena's penthouse apartments.
"Yes. Milliardo finally decided to take the plunge. I'm very much surprised. I never thought he had it in him to do such a thing. I never thought he was ever capable of that much love."
"All people are capable of love. Some simply choose not to show it." Relena immediately thought of Heero, the perfect soldier.

The apartment bell rang. "Who is it?" asked Paegan.
"It's us." A man's voice could be heard. Paegan looked through the view screen and clearly saw Milliardo Peacecraft and Lucrezia Noin.
"Yes, sir." The two lovebirds entered the large apartment.
Relena emerged from her bedroom with her casual clothes and fuzzy slippers on. "Hello, Milliardo," she said politely, but without much emotion. "Lucrezia." She nodded as she acknowledged her friend and future sister-in-law.
"Hello Relena," smiled Noin in her usual way.
"Yes, hello Relena."
"Would you like anything to drink?" Relena continued in her formal tone of voice.
"No thank you," the two visitors reply. The three people proceeded to sit in Relena's living room. Paegan leaves the room.
"What brings you two here?"
"Simply this," Milliardo begins with HIS formal tone of speech. "We were hoping that you would be Lucrezia's maid of honor."
"I see," she said thoughtfully. She looked back up at him. "You bothered yourselves to come all the way here to ask me that?"
Noin looked worried when Relena asked that. Milliardo remained unchanged and unmoved by his sister's comment. "It was no trouble. We have been meaning to visit you in your new apartment. It suits you well." The penthouse was decorated with creamy colors, and allowed plenty of sunlight during the day. The light curtains would flutter gently in the breeze and the decor matched well.
"Thank you Milliardo. I appreciate that," she said continuing with her formal politeness.
"How has your job been going?" asked Noin. She and Milliardo had held hands since they walked in.
"Very well. I detest the long speeches at the conferences and all the paper work. But there's nothing I can do about it. How are the Preventers?"
Noin was one of the junior supervisors at the Head Quarters building. Milliardo trained and briefed Preventer agents in their new field assignments. "Very well," was all Milliardo said.
Noin looked at him for a moment. Then she turned to say, "If you are wondering, Hilde is returning tonight. She's getting her new assignment, that is, if she really wants it."
"If she wants it?"
"I must say, it took a lot of string pulling to get her a field assignment. There's an opening that I'm saving. If she wants is, then she gets is. However, there are other agents that could also do the assignment. If she decides to stay on Earth, then the job can easily be given to someone else."
"I have this feeling that it'll take a lot to get her to stay."
"Yes. Someone called Duo Maxwell."
Relena smiled a little. She still had contact with the other pilots, except Heero of course. "I suppose so."
A beeper went off. Milliardo looked at the message. "I have to leave now. I'm meeting some associates from Head Quarters."
"I'm staying for a little while." Milliardo bent down to kiss his fiancé. He left the penthouse. Noin quickly turned to her future sister-in-law. "What is it with you and him?"
"Funny, I asked you that last week, when you two said you were getting married."
"Seriously Relena, I'm worried about you two. You are still distant towards each other. It hasn't always been that way as Paegan told me."
"I suppose. But years apart and different points of view does a lot to two people," Relena said frankly.
Noin nodded in comprehension. "But just the same, you could try talking to him."
"Me? I simply don't understand why it has to be me. He clearly has nominal interest in me. I'll leave it to him to talk to me. He should make the first move."
"In spite of how he acts or even what you think of him, he does care about you."
"Enough to leave ME responsible for our kingdom? Enough to make sure that he can kill people and try to destroy the Earth? Yes, he does care a great deal doesn't he?" she replied heatedly.
"Don't be like that Relena? Go easy on him."
"Like you? He treated you like his puppet. You always did whatever he asks of you. I suppose I should just buck up and love him without getting anything back from him," Relena continued more sternly.
Noin was silent. "I suppose that is true. He knows how I've felt about him since the academy days. I suppose I agreed to marry him because I know that he wants someone he can count on, for the rest of his life," Noin said with great hope in her voice.
"I can't count on that as being the way to being close with him."
"No. You have to find a way of your own."
"I suppose I do then."

Duo was miserable. "God! Where can she be?" Hilde had vanished. She ran away from home. She ran away from him. Hannah was his girlfriend and she did whatever she could to help him. But their relationship was fizzling out.
"Any luck finding Hilde?" Hannah asked with her Parisian accent.
"Nothing. Damnit, why can't Noin tell me where the Hell she went?" He banged furiously on the desk.
Hannah looked at him with pity. She touched his hand gently. "Duo. You know that Noin's not aloud to do that. I know you want to find her, but you can't do anything. Not like this. I'll try to help you. In fact... here," she handed him a paper.
Duo took the paper and read it. "To Lieutenant Noin, we have received word that Agent Hilde Sheibecker has finished her assignment. Her excellent reports have made her a outstanding candidate for this latest assignment in the Lakota Space station near Colony 148. Once she returns to Earth, please inform her of this mission. Because of her current situation, we will allow her the opportunity to choose whether she accepts the assignment or not. If she declines and agrees to resume her position at Headquarters, then this mission will be assigned to another agent." He looked up at Hannah. "How did you get this?"
"I have my ways," she smiled slyly.
"This means that Hilde should be coming back very soon. It's dated yesterday. God, what if it's tonight?"
"Duo? It's after hours. In order to inform Noin about her decision, she has to report to Head Quarters during regular business hours. If she comes back tonight, you'll see her tomorrow."
Duo smacks himself. "Doi, Duo! You should've thought of that!"
Hannah smiles at him. "That's alright. I know you are very worried about her." She looks sadly at him.
Duo notices and starts to look sad. "I hope that it's because of Hilde that we're breaking up over."
Hannah changes her facial expression again. "Oh no! No. Hilde isn't responsible. It's just that the magic is gone with us. We're better off being just friends."
Duo relaxed a little. "Whew! I was afraid that we were splitting because of..." He stopped.
"Don't be silly! It's not because of her. In fact, I'm as eager to find her as you are. I'm very worried about why she just took off without even talking to YOU."
"I have been wondering about that..." He stared into outer space for a moment. "God Hilde! Where are you?"
"Come on Duo." Hannah interrupted his train of thought.
"Huh?"
"We have to get to the seminar in ten minutes."
"Right." Duo got out of his chair and swung a leather jacket over his shoulder. "Say, you wanna go to Laramie's tonight later?"
"Sure."

Relena had taken a vacation. She decided to have a long three-day weekend and spend the time to go shopping and visit a spa. She needed some serious R & R after three months of negotiations and long, dull conferences. She had to deal with SO many people, and complex issues that required long hours of constant reading. Her eyes were getting tired and she needed more sleep. She had shopped at Saks, and at Lord & Taylor's. With a large shopping bag in each hand, she walked the street just like everyone else. Another ten blocks and she would arrive at Spa Royale.
Spa Royale was an excellent place for her to go. Mud bathes, massages, mineral water, facials, the best food, and a great place to just do nothing for hours on end. However, as she walked those blocks, she had a strange feeling. A feeling that she was being watch. Two Prussian blue eyes watching her every move. A chill ran through her as she kept walking. Aware of a certain person's gaze. "Heero?" It was very odd of her. She seemed to have some sort of ability to know when the Perfect Soldier was near.
She casually turned around her, but she could only see an endless sea of faces. "Where are you Heero?" her mind echoed the question. She continued walking. Another six blocks to go. Her mind kept focusing on Heero. "Why are you following me?" Relena thought. "Why don't you tell me you are here?" That chill went over her. Was it fear? Was it anticipation? Was it the kind of chill you get when someone you love is near?

Relena arrived at the spa and was already in the sauna. She began crying a little. "Heero... what do you want from me?"
A person appeared in the sauna. "Miss Darlian?"
"Yes?" Relena had calmed down and looked up.
The lady looked thoughtfully at the young 16 year old minister. "There's phone call for you."
Relena gathered herself and began walking to the door. "Alright." She had dressed in a robe and let her hair free. She went to a phone and picked it up. "Hello?"
"Listen carefully Miss Darlian," said a strange voice. "No matter what happens, don't get involved. You will only get killed for it." Relena's eyes widened at the ominous warning.
"Who are you?" she demanded. The other person simply hung up. Relena stared at the phone nervously. The voice was a woman's voice. By itself, the voice was gentle and calming, but her words frightened Relena, who had already been a target of assassination attempts on several occasions. "What can't I get involved in?" She said to herself as she walked to the locker room where she left her things.

Heero had been very close by when she had picked up the phone. "Yes indeed. What can't you get involved in?" He thought to himself. "I have to find out. I can't watch her, if I don't know what kind of danger she could be in." As soon as Relena was out of sight, he quickly attached the phone to a mini laptop. He accessed his tracer program. He had the phone number and quickly determined where the person had called. The location was revealed on the computer screen. "Pleiades Coalition Headquarters." He glared at the computer screen. Then he glared as he thought about that famous most profitable company. He knew what he had to do.

Author's note:
Hope this has caught your attention.