by Hex
Warnings: Ermmm none really. Implied violence? Does that count???
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.
Happy Christmas was written and performed by John Lennon. The song belongs to whomever owns it now. I do not. I am just including it so people can see the source of my inspiration.
Author's Note: I don't know why, but I woke up with Happy Christmas stuck in my head the other morning even though it's only fall and I haven't listened to that song since last December. So I really have no explanation for this fic other than I was walking around mummbling the words to the song (because I can't sing) and this is what happened when I plunked down in front of my computer. *shrugs*
Happy Christmas (war is over)
So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight
A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so happy Christmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now
Happy Christmas
Relena sighed and pushed her chair away from her desk. 9:15 pm blared in bright red from the digital clock on her desk. She frowned at it and after a quick look that assured her she was completely alone in her office, she blew a raspberry at it. She slumped in her chair taking on the very unladylike pose of sticking her legs straight out in front of her and spreading them apart wide. She slipped off her flats and wiggled her toes then slumped happily in the chair and let her head roll to the side. She was bordering on plain old exhausted but she felt good. The peace was still shaky but its hold was a good deal more firm than it had been exactly a year ago to this very day.
Relena paused and tilted her head to the side. The building was quiet and dark except for her office. She normally would have been bothered by the eerie quiet that only a large, empty building could have, but tonight it suited the place. Everyone was gone for the night. She wondered if there was anyone in the whole building. She took a deep breath and let her eyes slide shut for a moment. It was nice to stop and rest the way she wanted to. Not worrying what anyone would think if they came in and found her slouching down like a lazy bum in her chair. Not worrying that they might notice she was several years too young for this job. A young girl barely old enough to be out of high school who was apparently single handedly responsible for the peace of the Earth Sphere and the Colonies. Relena snorted and opened her eyes. She gazed out into the dark and noticed it had begun to snow. She felt herself drawn back one year to a different lifetime.
It had been horrifying, being held hostage. Oddly enough, what had terrified her to her very core wasn't the guns pointed at her or the force of mobile suits she knew were tumbling towards the Earth. It was the idea that she had failed everyone. Taught them to be pacifists in such a way that they thought rolling over and excepting whatever hardship was thrown at them. She felt for a moment that she had taken away every ounce of the world's ability to defend itself. Tied it up in a neat little bow and handed it to Dekim Barton complete with a sweet, naive little smile.
Relena had squashed the moment of self-pity and tried to reach everyone before Dekim Barton had cut off her news feed. She didn't know it at the time but she didn't have to worry. The people fought back and told Dekim Barton's forces to go make their war elsewhere. The Earth and the Colonies showed that they didn't want to have anything to do with it. They had found their peace and were not ready to let it go or have it stolen from them by whatever blowhard came waltzing along. Relena smiled with real pride. It hadn't been her alone that worked tirelessly to create the type of relations to ensure peace on Earth and in space but her efforts were there and she couldn't help but be proud of the results. With pride came a slightly older warmth, but then again, thinking about the war always lead to certain other thoughts.
Relena pried herself from the chair groaning at her aching back muscles as she did so. She came to stand inches from the large picture window and shifted so she could gaze past her own reflection. She pressed her palm against the frigid glass and pulled it away quickly feeling guilty about the smudgy hand-print she left behind. She knew trying to clean it would only make a bigger mess so she simply sighed in resignation.
Thinking about Heero made her a little forlorn but it wasn't an aching loneliness like she would have thought only a year ago. Heero had disappeared after his initial treatment in the Preventers hospital. How or when he slipped out of the Intensive Care Unit, no one knew. Only that the doctors came running in with the crash cart and Heero was nowhere to be found. It hadn't upset her very much after she got over her initial concern about Heero being off on his own and hurt after a battle. She comforted herself with the knowledge that it wasn't the first time, but all the signs pointed that to it being the last.
She smiled broadly at the snow. Heero had given her what she needed a long time ago. She just hadn't realized it right away. Heero had been the first person to believe in her not because of her social status or her last name. Heero believed in the strength of her convictions and he believed she could change the way the world and space thought of themselves and each other. Heero had believed in her because of who she was and who she was determined to be. And when that knowledge had finally sunk in Relena had felt even stronger. She no longer needed Heero as a crutch; she no longer needed his convictions to feed her own. She carved her own path and with the help of others and they made a road of peace, stone by stone. For generations to walk and stand upon.
The road wasn't smooth, she admitted it freely. They stumbled and slipped where stones stuck out and didn't fit together quite right but the more people walked on the road the smoother it became. It became old hat and even the stones that didn't fit right or stuck out to far were whittled down to become even and flat like the others. Everything was evening out and road was becoming well used. She was becoming wary of the days when people couldn't remember a time before the road and they might stray from it. But Relena held firm. She trusted that even when a stone or two became loose that the people wouldn't leave the road and they would walk it forever. Suddenly the desire to walk the road, rather than pave it struck her.
She flitted happily to the closet in her office. It was her favourite thing about the place. I rather large walk-in closet that allowed her to have several extra sets of clothing on hand in case she need to change clothes going from her time in the Earth Sphere Peace Office to go to whatever formal dinner she was expected to attend. She pulled out a drawer that she rarely had the opportunity to open. She smiled at the contents fondly. She pulled out the blue jeans and golf shirt.
"Oops." She muttered as she realized the sweater she had borrowed from Quatre nearly three months ago was still in it. "Guess I better give that back. Actually....."
Relena emerged from the closet wearing a pair of jeans and a cream coloured golf shirt. She put on the fuzzy beige sweater Quatre had lent to her one night when they had escaped an annoying social function to eat fast food and ice cream. They had stayed out until the wee hours of the morning goofing off in the park. Relena grinned down at the shirt and a red blotch caught her eye. Ketchup stain. She grimaced as she realized she had let a ketchup stain settle in her friend's shirt for the past three months. She sighed loudly and grabbed her winter coat.
Relena felt the cold blast her in the face as she pushed the doors open. She slipped her hands into her pocket and pulled out the contents. She put the earmuffs on as well as the scarf and gloves. The soft leather of the gloves felt odd for a moment as she flexed her hands in an effort to get them to adjust.
She walked away from the building and towards a park. The snow was falling a bit heavier now, a thick blanket of white was beginning to form on the road. She was happy she had worn her practical rather than stylish boots, as the snow was nearly at her ankles now. She made her way through the park watching an elderly couple walk by. Her heart nearly jumped into her throat as the older gentleman nearly slipped on a patch of ice. He righted himself and moved on, his wife teasing him asking him if he walked much. His snappy reply of not since yesterday made Relena shake her head and move on.
"Come on! Let's go on the big slide!"
A boy, about twelve, shouted as he ran past her. He was completely equipped to go sledding minus the sled. The sled followed a few minutes later pulled by a younger boy who was so bundled up Relena was surprised he could move.
She walked down the park's winding path enjoying the snow and the soft glow of street lamps. It was peaceful, it was ideal. She marveled at it. The peace was broken by a loud bang, several clatters and a scream. She pressed her back up against a tree and as quickly and quietly as possible made her way to the source of the noise. She peered around the trunk of a tree to see the two boys from earlier sliding down the toboggan slide chasing after their sled. "STUPID! WHY'D YOU DROP IT?" The older boy roared as he made it to the bottom and grabbed the sled by its cord.
Relena nearly laughed out loud as she pressed her glove-covered palms into her eyes. Her heart was still beating frantically as visions of new mobile suits and a new war faded from her mind. She slipped her hand into her jacket pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She walked briskly until she was out of the park and began wandering down the nearly empty street. She dialed a number from memory and waited.
"Hi Quatre." Relena dropped all pretense of formality and twined a piece of hair around her finger as she walked with the cell phone cradled to her ear.
"Mmmfff. 'Lena? Is something wrong?" Quatre asked, yawning.
"I was just walking in the park and there were some kids playing on one of those metal toboggan slides. They dropped their toboggan down it. It was so loud. And my first reaction was to duck and cover." Relena said softly.
"Old habits die hard Relena." Quatre said and she could hear him rustling around.
"That's what worries me." Relena whispered.
She looked up to the sky waiting for Quatre to breach the silence her comment caused. The snow was falling but for some reason she got the sensation that it was actually her that was moving, rushing skyward in search of her ideals. That if she moved fast enough through the snow she'd be able to create the place she thought the world should be. She shook her head while Quatre wrestled with the right words to reassure her.
"Relena...." Quatre began, taking in a big breath. Relena stuck out her tongue and let a large, fluffy, white flake melt on her tongue.
"UGH!" Relena croaked and pulled her tongue back in her mouth. "Polluted snowflake[1]!"
She raspberried in an attempt to get the ashen taste out of her mouth.
"Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!" She nearly gave in to the urge to dance around as she chanted because the taste was so unexpectedly disgusting.
"It's not funny!" Relena grouched into the phone as Quatre struggled to breathe in-between nearly hysterical laughs.
"Yes it is!" Quatre said emphatically. Quatre's breathing changed slightly and she could almost see him sobering in the back of her mind.
"Relena it is getting better. Things are getting smoother." Quatre said softly.
"I know. Sometimes I just need to hear it from someone else so I know it's not just my wishful thinking." Relena said. "What are your plans for tomorrow?"
"I'm getting up in, oh.... 2 hours." Quatre groaned. "It's not fair." Relena grinned. She could almost see Quatre's exasperated expression right then. "It's one of the few days I don't answer calls from the office at all and it's the day I get up before the crack of dawn."
"The price you pay for having your nieces and nephews over." Relena teased.
"It wouldn't be nearly as fun without them." Quatre said truthfully. "I rather enjoy being grumpy Uncle Quatre anyway. That way they try to cheer me up. Last year they performed a play to make me happy. It was the best piece of theatre I had seen in ages."
Relena laughed and pressed two fingers against her temple.
"I'm sorry Quatre I just needed........." Relena trailed off.
"I know. How many times have I called you for the exact same reason?" Quatre asked.
"Quatre, go to sleep. You don't have much time left. Give my love to your family and to your special guest." Relena said, smiling slightly. She resisted the urge to tease Quatre a little more about his budding romance.
"The war is over Relena. Really over." Quatre said softly.
"Thanks Quatre." Relena whispered.
"Happy Christmas."
Relena hit the end button on her phone and stared at it for a moment. She spread her arms out wide and looked skyward once again. She tilted her head back as far as it could go. She blinked rapidly trying to discourage the snow from landing in her eyes. And then she was spiraling skyward. She smiled at her own fanciful ideas then whispered.
"We're almost there."
[1] This is right out of Peanuts. I can't remember if it was Linus or Charlie Brown but it made me laugh! Nope, still can't explain where this came from. Oh well....
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