Comments: I had the first paragraph or so written with no real plot lined out until I read Anna May’s Duo/Relena fic challenges and one seemed to fit. [Relena puts an add in a news paper, one of those nice girl looking for Mr. Right type of adds, and after a dozen or so awful dates and Relena is about to go insane Duo responds. ^_^ ] Walla ~ a story plot for the fic. It may not be one of my best works but it is not horrible. Please, let me know what you think.

Relena laid stretched out across the full size bed in her room staring up at the ceiling. She let out a heavy sigh before rolling over and tucking the pillow under her head as she tried to drift off to sleep. Her eyes opened, sleep was not coming. She rolled over to her other side and kicked off the blankets in the process. Shutting her eyes, she tried again. Time passed and the only though was that it would be nice to have someone else in the bed with her to place warm arms around her and to snuggle up to. She mentally shook her head. She flipped onto her back and her cat hopped onto the bed and punched on her chest. She stroked his fur as her mind questioned.

She did not crave a companion often since she was older. It was a different matter when she was a teenager with hormones running rampant. Even when she was younger, she hid her longings behind her diplomatic persona and work. As she got older, she came to the realization that there might not be some one out there for her, and she was truly alright with it except at the moment. She hated when such feeling haunted her. It was always at night for she was too busy during the day.

Relena had enough and crawled out of bed. She had to move around, do something else, get her mind off of it. She headed to the kitchen for a cup of hot tea when she ran into Hilde who was making her patrol of the household.

"Miss Relena, what are you doing up?" she inquired.

"Couldn’t sleep," Relena replied in passing on her way to the kitchen.

Hilde finished her rounds before locating Relena in the kitchen. She sat down across from Relena as she sipped her tea and flipped through yesterday’s paper.

"Something eating at you?" asked Hilde as she peered into Relena’s haggard face.

"Yes, but it will go away eventually," replied Relena to her body guard on duty.

"Let me guess, it is about men, or you lack of one?" inquired Hilde.

Relena gave her a shocked questioning look.

"Don’t look so shocked," said Hilde, "I can see it in you face and eyes. It is a look I have seen often on my own face."

Relena agreed that was what was bothering her.

"At times, I just want to wake up and there be a set of arms to wrap around me and let me know I am loved. Some one to offer me strength and a shoulder to cry on. Some one to make me laugh and share each other's lives with."

"Some one to have sex with?" asked Hilde wantonly.

Relena blushed at Hilde’s bluntness.

"That would be nice too," she honestly answered through her embarrassment. "However, I do not come across many desirable candidates in my daily life."

"What about that good looking new guy," pointed out Hilde.

Relena knew who she meant.

"Gay," she replied.

"Oh," said Hilde disappointingly.

"It seems all the good looking ones are married, gay, or total jerks," pointed out Relena. "Most of them I run into through my job are pompous jerks underneath the shiny exterior. I think it goes with being a diplomat and I honestly don’t trust them as far as I can throw them."

Hilde laughed at Relena’s statement and knew the truth to it. Her eyes drifted to the paper before Relena.

"Since you can’t find anyone in the circles you travel, we need to look else where," pointed out Hilde as she held up the personals.

Relena groaned at the suggestion.

"Take out a personal add? I don’t think so. You get all sorts of sicko’s who respond and it makes it sound like I am desperate."

"Well, you are in a way. Desperate to meet new people you would not normally meet."

"Thanks, that cheered me up," Relena said sarcastically.

"Come on, give it a try. I will take care of all the details and even screen them for you," offered Hilde.

Hilde saw that Relena was weakening.

"I will let you read the add before I place it. What do you have to loose?"

"All right, all right," said Relena caving in to Hilde’s suggestion

A week later Relena scanned through the personals and located her add. She still could not believe she let Hilde talk her into this.

Single, attractive, professional female looking for kind caring man for long term relationship.

Relena read the add. It sounded corny. She would never meet her Mr. Right this way, but she would humor Hilde. Who knows, it might prove fun.

Hilde had sorted through the responses, preformed background checks, compared them to the list of desired attributes Relena had given her and arraigned dates with only the promising ones.

Candidate 1:
Relena showed up at the restaurant wearing the white rose bud on her jacket as Hilde had arranged. She scanned the foyer for a man with a matching flower on his lapel. A tall handsome man approached her.

"Tom?" she asked.

"Yes, you must be Relena," he confirmed.

"I am," she smiled up at him. "This might not be so bad after all," she thought to herself.

They were shown to a table and ordered their meals.

"You look really familiar," Tom observed. "Where have a seen your face before?"

This was the part Relena was dreading. Her dates reaction to her being who she was.

"I have been on TV a few times," she admitted.

She was not on as much now as when she was younger. She had changed since then. She now wore her hair above her shoulders instead of dangling down her back. It looked more professional now.

"Your Relena Dorlian, aren’t you?" said Tom making the connection.

She nodded and the rest of the promising evening went down hill from there. Tom turned out to be very opinionated about politics and government policies and shared them all with her. He droned on for hours and finally Relena graciously excused herself on the pretence of having work to do.

She returned home and leaned against the closed door letting out a sigh of relief. Hilde looked at her hopefully.

"A bust," answered Relena to the unasked question.

"What happened?"

Relena told Hilde of the promising evening turned bad.

Candidate 2:
Different restaurant same set up. Relena entered with a white rose bud on her outfit. This time she was meeting Daniel. He was divorced and a father of two. Hilde had not been sure on this one since he had kids, but Relena opted to try it. Not long after they sat down, Dan’s phone rang.

"Hello. John, stop teasing your sister. No, I will not bring you home a new toy. Yes. Stop being troublesome for the babysitter, and I expect you to be in bed when I get home …"

Just listening to the conversation made Relena realize that she was not ready to be an instant mother. This was not going to work. After a mostly pleasant evening Relena returned home and gave Hilde her report.

"You were right. No more with children," Relena told her matchmaker.

Candidate 3:
Charles was nice and good-looking. He owned his own business, was not into politics, had no kids. Dinner was wonderful and so was the conversation. He made her laugh with his antidotes and they actually had some interests in common. Relena thought things were looking up until the end. As they were leaving the restaurant he kissed her hand in farewell. He leaned close to her while holding her hand and whispered in her ear.

"Come home with me. I want you. I want to feel you naked body pressed up to mine. I want to have hot sex with you all night with you tied to my bed."

That was just too much for Relena. She felt like running from him as fast as possible. Relena believed sex should wait until after marriage. Sex after only one date was a definite no, especially what Charles proposed. She made her way from him as calmly and diplomatically as possible before fleeing to the sanctuary of her home.

Candidates 4 through 9 were disasters from almost the beginning. For nine she did not even let him know she was there. She scoped him out before hand, then had a message delivered to him saying she was sorry but could not make their date. Relena was ready to give up. There just were no nice decent men out there, well, at least that responded to her add.

Some time between Candidates 4 and 5, Hilde had the day off and was reading the paper while sitting on the couch when Duo entered their shared apartment and through his Preventer jacket on a chair. Since she worked mostly nights and he days, they rarely saw each other.

"Long day?" she asked.

"Just boring. Not much going on," Duo replied before flopping down beside her.

"Plans tonight?" she asked.

"Thought I would just hang out in front of the TV."

"Not going out at all?" questioned Hilde.

"Don’t feel like it," came his dreary response.

"You have not been out since Mary broke up with you. We need to get you hooked up with some one."

"I don’t want to."

Hilde not being detoured by her friend’s negative response pulled out the personal adds and started reading. Duo rolled her eyes at her.

"It means she is fat and does not get out much," Duo responded to one of the adds Hilde read allowed to him.

"She is dog ugly," he commented of another.

Hilde keep reading adds with Duo making negative comments about the placer of the add. She came across Relena’s add and a light went off in her head. She looked at Duo and mentally ran through the list of traits Relena had given her. Duo did not fit all of them, but it was worth a try.

"Here is one that is promising," Hilde pointed out. "Single, attractive, professional female looking for kind caring man for long term relationship."

"Her life is her work," commented Duo.

"Maybe she needs someone to change that and you could be the one," pointed out Hilde before throwing the paper at him and walking way.

She watched from around the corner as Duo picked up the paper and looked at the add she had marked while reading it. He tossed it aside and turned on the TV.

Just after candidate 9, Hilde received a response to the add that was addressed with very familiar hand writing. A smile spread across her face. She quickly opened it to confirm her suspicions. Duo had actually responded to Relena’s add. She could not help but laugh and rub her hands together as pieces began to fall into place. First she would have to convince Relena to go out on one more date.

"Relena," said Hilde when they were a lone together. "I have one more for you."

Relena sighed and said, "No more, Hilde. The last several were enough to drive me up the wall. I can’t take another one like that."

"This one will be different. I promise. I have checked him out thoroughly and I think you will at least have a pleasant time with him," she offered. "He has brown hair and is quite good looking. He is the same age as you, no children, no ex-wife, his last girlfriend broke up with him four months ago, has a bit of a childish side to him, he is employed with a stable job, and an all around nice guy."

Relena was taken back by all the info Hilde through at her. She considered it.

"This will be the last one, I promise," said Hilde pleadingly. "Just go out with this one."

"O.K. I will," relented Relena.

Hilde almost let out a cheer of joy at Relena’s agreement, but restrained herself and smiled widely at Relena.

"You won’t regret this," promised Hilde before leaving the room.

"I already do," said Relena to herself.

Hilde made sure Relena entered the restaurant with the white rose bud on her person then watched from a distance. Relena scanned the room and found a familiar braid swaying across the back of its owner sitting at the bar sipping a soda. She casually walked up behind him and playfully tugged on it to get his attention. He turned at the assault and smiled at her in recognition.

"Relena, what are you doing here?" he inquired pleasantly as he turned completely to face her.

She noticed a white rose bud standing out in contrast to his crisp black dress shirt and laughed as the reason for Hilde’s vast knowledge of this candidate.

"The same thing you are doing here," she said pointing to his flower that matched hers.

He looked at her bewildered before the truth began to sink in.

"You ran that add, but I was to meet someone named Lena," Duo uttered confused as he helped Relena into the bar stool beside him.

"And I was to meet a Max," she responded. "Yes, I ran the add," she confirmed almost embarrassed. "Hilde suggested it and took care of all the details. All I had to do was show up for the dates which have been disastrous so far," she gowned.

Once Hilde’s name was mentioned, everything became clear to Duo. Hilde had bated him, and he fell for it. He would have to return the favor some day. The two decided to go ahead and have dinner together. They were shown to a table and given menus to choose their food. After placing their order, Relena started to unfold her tale to Duo of how the add came to be and the resulting dates that only went down hill. Their food was placed before them while Relena was describing date seven. They continued to laugh and talk, something they did not do often on a one to one basis. Relena watched an animated Duo as he recounted a funny story about him and Heero on a mission. Duo nearly toppled his chair in his retelling and grabbed for the table to steady himself. He gave her a sly embarrassed grin before continuing his narrative.

That smile struck her as sweet and endearing. As she watched him, she noticed that all his facial expressions had some element about them that warmed her heart. She wondered why she had never noticed before how charming he was underneath his childlikeness. Admittedly, she had never spent much time with Duo. Usually they were at some social function or working. His violet eyes danced with mirth and levity as he caused her to laugh yet again. This was the most Relena had laughed in quite some time, and she was enjoying every minute of it.

She had to admit Hilde was right. This date was turning out to be very pleasant, and Duo was good looking. He was funny and charming, a good conversationalist. Relena hated it when she was the only one caring on the conversation. She talked for a living. On a date she did not want to be the only one to say anything. She actually found herself getting lost in his violate eyes. She had never considered Duo as anything other than an acquaintance/friend, but she found herself looking at him in a different light as the evening progressed. She was being drawn to him, and in the back of her mind she started weighing the pros and cons of a relationship with Duo, what life with him might be like, and if it would even work.

"I don’t even know if he has feels for me other than friendship?" she pondered before pushing it aside and determining just to enjoy the evening.

They both returned to Relena’s where they knew Hilde would be waiting for a report on the evening.

"Wouldn’t it serve her right, if I just did not return tonight," observed Relena as they neared her home.

Duo raised an eyebrow at the statement.

"Where would you go?" he inquired.

"I don’t know. She would find me where ever I went. She would suspect your place and if I took the limo the drive would tell her, so it is not a feasible idea," Relena shrugged.

They entered the house, but Hilde did not greet Relena at the door like she did after the past dates. They wandered the house looking for her. They found her in the kitchen with drinks made for the three of them.

"Have a nice time?" she inquired knowingly since she had watched the whole date.

Relena truthfully answered yes while Duo glared at his roommate accusingly.

"And you Duo?" Hilde asked.

"Yes, but you set us up," he accused.

Hilde could not help but smile as the two sat down with her at the table.

"I guess I did," she admitted.

The following week Relena was at a conference and ran into Duo who was on the security force. They stood facing each other. The air between them filled with apprehension as both searched for words to say.

"What are you doing for lunch?" blurted out of Duo’s mouth.

"I actually have plans," said Relena regretfully, "but I am free for dinner," she smiled.

"I get off at six," Duo said. "Pick you up at six thirty?"

"Sounds good to me," Relena replied.

Six finally rolled around and Duo almost sprinted from his post. After running into Relena, the afternoon seemed to drag on forever. He found he had to keep reminding himself to focus on his work instead of letting his mind slip into thinking about his dinner plans. He closed the door behind him and started shedding his uniform so he could change cloths after a quick shower.

When he was given this assignment he had hoped to run into Relena there. Ever since their date, thoughts of her tickled at the edge of his mind. Sure he had known her for years now, but he had never thought of her as right for him. He had noticed over the years how she had turned into a beautiful woman, but only in an passing admirer way. No matter how lovely he thought she was or what passing interest he had in her, he though it would be a waste of time to chase her. Now that all changed since the date. Where before she seemed beyond his grasp, now she seemed very approachable. They were both looking for some one, and he hoped that they could find the one they were looking for in each other.

He arrived at her door at six thirty promptly. She answered the door and smiled warmly at him. Duo managed to keep from gasping at how radiant she looked even if she was wearing jeans and a sweater.

"Were are we going?" she inquired as he offered her his arm.

"Someplace different," he replied.

Relena gave him a sideways look and smiled at his impish attitude of mystery. They made their way out of the hotel and started walking down the sidewalk.

"It is not too far away so I thought it would be nice to walk," explained Duo as they put space between them and the hotel.

"Actually it feels wonderful to be out walking," assured Relena. "Any thing eventful in the security area today?"

"Not really," he assured. "A few disgruntled delegates, but nothing major."

They continued to share the events of their day as they walked.

"Here it is," announced Duo as he opened the door of the restaurant, White River Landing, for Relena to enter.

They entered and were surrounded by people waiting to be seated. One of the servers asked how many in there party and told them it would be a few minutes. While they waited they took in the sight before them. The entire restaurant was decorated in a fishing theme. There was a canoe hanging upside down from the ceiling over the bar before them, and various other items used for fishing scattered around the room they stood in. Relena pointed out to Duo the tackle boxes containing the salt, pepper, etc setting on the tables.

"Unique idea," said Relena. "I have never seen anything like this before."

"One of the locals I was talking to today suggested it. It is suppose to have really good food," informed Duo.

Just then they were shown to a table and given menus. The waiter took their drink order and disappeared.

"Someone must have really put a lot of thought into this," commented Relena as she looked around at the items hanging on the room walls. "Those fishing vests with all the pockets must come in handy for the waiters.

Even the food had theme names, like hook-line and sinker. After they ordered, they continued to talk. Not long after they got there the place filled up and people were waiting outside to be seated. The noise level was not bad but when the topic of conversation might drift to things others did not need to overhear caution should be taken. They found themselves leaning in close across the table as they conversed, especially when the subject drifted to work and diplomatic issues. From their close proximity Relena found herself admiring Duo’s violet eyes again. She did not know why, but found that they drew her into them as they talked. They called to her sole, speaking volumes yet keeping secrets that danced just out of range of being decipherable. She could see that there was more to Duo than his happy go lucky audited that he put on for the world. So far they had not gotten past that, but it was only their second date. She hoped one day to be able to breach the wall and know all facets of him and he her. That was in the future, maybe, and for now she would be content to enjoy his friendship for the evening and let things develop in their own time.

Duo escorted Relena back to her room after their meal. They stood outside her door looking at each other. They stared into each others eyes without saying a word. The anticipation in the air was almost palatable.

"Thanks for dinner," said Relena.

"Thanks for going. I had a nice time," responded Duo as they both muttered the customary pleasantries.

Duo found himself leaning closer to Relena. He placed a light kiss on her lips before scampering away to his own room. Relena watched him go before entering her room. She closed her door and collapsed against it as the sensation of Duo’s kiss made her knees melt. She could still feel his soft lips against hers, and the taste the garlic from his meal lingered on her lips. The smell of his cologne filled her nose.

As Duo made his escape, his mind was filled with thoughts of Relena. He could not believe that he had actually kissed her, yet he smiled at himself at the memory. It was not something he regretted doing. It had been a nice kiss, but was he ready to follow it up. He had not had good luck with relationships lately. When he was around Relena he felt safe. She was different from the other girls in a way he had not identified yet. He really, really, really wanted this to work out between them, so he wanted to take it slow and not rush anything like he almost did tonight.

The door bell rang.

"I’ll get it," called Relena as she came dashing down the stairway from her room.

Every one knew to stay out of her way since it was probably Duo. Over the past few months Duo and Relena going out had become almost a weekly event. Relena was almost school girlish in her anticipation of his arrival to pick her up. Their friends hoped that it would work out between the two of them. Just in the short period of time they had been doing things together there was a remarkable change in each of them. They both were a bit mellower. Relena was not as high strung and bothered about work when he was around, and Duo was not quite as mischievous with his attention directed at Relena.

Relena flung open the door and her face lit up as Duo stood on the other side. He looked her up and down and let out a low whistle. She had on a short dark brown skirt and a tight fitting, tan, narrow strapped shirt. Over that she wore an unbuttoned, white, loose fitting blouse. The entire outfit was very form fitting and hid almost nothing of what it covered.

"You look great," he complemented her.

She blushed and looked down even if it was the reaction she had been looking for.

"Thanks," she murmured before looking back into his eyes.

"Shall we go?" asked Duo as he offered her his arm.

She accepted and the two headed out. They had planned on going dancing tonight at one of the local bars. When they arrived, it was early. There weren’t many people there yet. They grabbed a bit to eat before hitting the dance floor. The music was so loud it made conversation impossible. They did not mind as they moved to the pounding beat of the music. Their bodies swaying to the rhythm pouring from the speakers and the movements of the other. Those watching them could tell the couple were deeply infatuated with each other.

They danced for an hour with out stopping. It did not matter what kind of music played, fast - slow, they danced to it all. Body speaking to body with the language of dance.

A heavy hand landed on Duo’s shoulder and pushed him aside. Duo stumbled a few paces, bumping into people, before he regained his balance. He turned to find a large man trying to dance with Relena. He was trying to place his big hands on her as he verbally tried to persuade her to dance with him. Relena was politely turning him down as she tried to keep his hands off of her. Duo was seeing read. He grabbed the man’s shirt and pulled him away from Relena.

"Excuse me, but I was dancing with the lady," Duo said in a low tone with edges of steel.

"So…" said the bigger man obviously use to having his way.

"And the lady does not appear to want to dance with you," Duo added.

The man only let out a chuckle from deep in his gut before he swung at Duo. Duo skillfully dogged the fist. Everyone around them stepped back far enough not to get involved yet where they could get a good view. Duo’s fist did not miss it’s target. It contacted solidly with the man’s face. He staggered backwards before hitting the wall that was exposed as people moved out of the staggering man’s way. The wall shook with his impact. The man shook his head to clear it before rushing at Duo again.

"Let me," said Relena as she stepped in front of Duo to everyone’s shock.

The man was too angry to notice Relena had stepped in front of his target. When he came within range, Relena grabbed his arm and used his own momentum to flip him over and land on his back. A loud "Ouff" emerged from his mouth as the wind was knocked out of him.

"Maybe you should listen when a woman tells you she does not want to dance with you," Relena said authoritatively to the man at her feet. "Come on Duo, let’s go,"

With that the two exited the bar.

"Where did you learn that move?" asked Duo.

"Heero," she replied off handedly as if it was nothing.

"You are full of surprises," he commented as he opened the car door for her.

"There are things about me that you don’t even know about," she teased as he shut his door after getting in, "and I bet there are things about you that I don’t know," she added more seriously.

"You are right on that account," he agreed, some of the normal levity was missing from his voice as he started the car.

"Duo," she gently said, "what are you hiding? What has hurt you so?"

Silence filled the car. Duo keep his eyes on the road before him. Minutes ticked by and Relena began to worry if she had said the wrong thing.

"Forget I asked," she finally said to relieve the tension.

"No, it is a valid question and you deserve an answer," he replied with a brief glance over at her.

Relena caught the look in his eyes in the brief glance. They were haunted and filled with pain. Her heart broke at the sight, but she wanted to know more than the happy side of this man. She wanted to know him behind the front all people put up.

Duo pulled over into a grocery parking lot, stopped the car, and shut off the engine before turning in his seat to face her.

"You are right that I am hiding things," he admitted to her. "I have always hid things. It is safer that way."

"You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to," Relena cooed.

"I want to," he reassured her as he took her hand in his and he started pouring out his life story to attentive ears and a sympathetic heart.

"Oh, Duo," said Relena at the end of his tale.

She brushed away a bit of moisture that clung to the corner of his eye. He caught her hand before it pulled away from his face and placed a thank you kiss on it. A thank you for listening, for caring, for not condemning or hating him like he often felt like doing to himself.

"I can’t promise that things will always be sunshine and grate, but I do promise that I will be here when you need some one to confide in and a shoulder to cry on," she offered.

Duo was amazed at how much better he felt after sharing his darker side with her and she was still wanting to be with him. He leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"I love you," he whispered.

"Ditto," she replied before catching his lips with hers to express her feelings in more than words.

Relena once again laid stretched out in the full size bed in her room staring up at the ceiling. She let out a heavy sigh before rolling over. Two strong warm arms snaked around her and pulled her close.

"What’s the matter?" whispered a sleepy masculine voice in her ear.

Relena snuggled close to her husband.

"Having trouble sleeping," she murmured into his muscular chest.

He gently placed a kiss on the top of her head and trailed light kisses all the way to her lips. She moaned into his kiss and snuggled closer. He pulled back and pushed a strand of blond hair away from her face.

"I love you," he whispered before pulling her into the comfort of his arms.

"I love you, too," she responded before giving his long brown braid a gentle tug.

"Go to sleep!" he growled playfully.

Relena obeyed. She laid her head down on his chest and he placed his chin on the top of her head. The rhythm of her lover’s heart sounded in her ear that was pressed against his chest. Soon the couple wrapped in each others arms was fast asleep.

The End