I do not own Gundam Wing. Once again, I am just borrowing the characters for some fun.

I hadn't planned to jump ahead in my series of Heero/Relena stories like this, but I couldn't stop the idea, or the muse, so here it is: a Christmas story, with a newly-wedded Heero and Relena at the forefront.

'Tis the Season

Chapter One: All the Time in the World

Snow was just beginning to fall, each flake a marvel in its own right, completely different from any other. It was cold, but not bitterly so, and the young woman walking through the large garden tipped her rosy-cheeked face back to catch the delightful crystals on her tongue. It was overcast, low clouds scudding along the horizon, and she knew soon it would be dark, forcing her back inside the lovely old farmhouse she called home.

He watched her from the kitchen slider, a mug of coffee in his hand, a slight smile on his handsome face. She was oblivious to his scrutiny, though he knew she didn't mind him looking out on her. That was his right as her husband. Husband. Even after almost eight months of marriage, he still found the concept a little foreign, and certainly intriguing. The old grandfather clock chimed from the front hall and he set down the mug and opened the slider, stepping out onto the deck.

"Relena." He spoke quietly, knowing he needn't raise his voice to her. He never had to raise his voice. The woman turned and smiled, her nose a bit red from the crisp air. "It's five." He leaned against the railing, bits of snow catching in his chocolate hair, hair that was continually mussed and tousled.

She nodded, and glanced around her for a moment. Watching a snow flake dance down from the sky, flitting and swirling on unseen currents, Relena smiled and suddenly twirled around, throwing her hands up in the air. She didn't care that she looked phenomenally silly, spinning to a tune that only she could hear. She was lithe and graceful, and happy. Ending the impromptu dance with a solid pirouette, she grinned up at her husband, and heard him chuckle.

"Do we really have to go, Heero? They won't miss us, I can assure you," she said, pleading.

He pointed at the house, a stern expression on his face. "Yes, we have to go, and you know they would miss you. You were, and still are, their favorite."

Relena sighed and came up the steps, a wounded look on her pretty visage. She wrapped her arms around his waist and gazed up at him, a pout on her lips. "Please, Heero? I'd rather stay—"

"I know, love, but this is not something you can skip. Or me, as much as I'd like to. Now come on." He managed to keep the stern look, but his voice had gentled, and he knew she was thinking that he was weakening. But the Harmony Ball, a charity event hosted every year by the United Earth Sphere Alliance to promote peace among the nations on Earth and her colonies, was not avoidable.

Relena sighed again and released him, tossing her head in stubborn defiance. "They could do without me for one year. It wouldn't kill them." There was a hint of rebellion in her soft voice, so Heero took hold of her elbow and propelled her toward the slider door.

"Oh no, baby. I didn't let you spend that awful sum of money on a new dress just for it to hold court in the closet. Go on, get ready," he ordered as they stepped back into the warmth of the kitchen. The scent of hot peppermint seduced their senses, and Heero walked to the counter to blow out the candle. At his wife's delicate clearing of her throat, he sighed and picked up the candle snuffer, sufficiently suffocating the jar of wax.

"Thank you," Relena said and walked from the kitchen. Heero just shook his head. He could tell by the heaviness of her footfalls that she wasn't the least bit happy with him. But, blast it, this wasn't his fault. She knew this was a command performance. Just because she'd retired from the position of Vice Foreign Minister didn't mean the world had forgotten her. No, she was still their Princess, their darling of peace who had worked so hard to bring happiness and harmony to everyone.

Retrieving his mug of coffee from the table, he headed for his sanctuary – his office, the one place Relena was not allowed to spread her femininity, or clean up. His laptop was quietly humming as he sank into the leather chair and leaned forward. The walls of the office were bare, but for a few pictures his lovely wife had hung up while he'd been gone on a low-key mission. He hadn't been happy, but she'd been adamant that he needed some decorations, and finally he had relented, a little afraid that if he didn't concede on the pictures, she would start bringing flowers and knick knacks, and he would not have that.

He had quit his job as a Preventer field agent, but still kept in touch with the organization as a trouble-shooter, a job that he honestly liked much more than slugging it out with would-be terrorists and assassins. Of course, he and the new leader of Preventer didn't always get along. In fact, they were usually at odds, and only agree to work together because they both loved Relena. In Heero's opinion, Zechs Peacecraft was an egotistical tyrant. And in Zechs' opinion, Heero was...well, who cared about his opinion?

"Heero?"

He glanced toward the open door, half-expecting to see his wife standing there. When she wasn't, he frowned. Was he going to have to go look for her? "What?" he called out, still feeling a little irritated with her.

"Heero?" Her voice sounded tense, and had risen in volume. He felt his pulse quicken as he got up and walked out into the hall, searching for her.

"Love? Where are you?" he asked, heading for the spacious living room. When she didn't immediately answer him, he felt panic itch through him and narrowed his blue eyes. No, panic was not the proper response, not for him. When a quick sweep of the living room yielded nothing, he turned for the kitchen. "Relena? Baby, where are you?" His voice was a little louder, and more than a little commanding.

"Heero!"

He spun around at her cry and tore off down the hall, his feet sinking into the plush navy carpet. Sprinting up the stairs he turned the corner and rushed to their room, cursing every step. The carpet muffled sounds too much. If someone had gotten in, they could've walked right by his office without making a noise. Their bedroom door was shut and without bothering to check the doorknob he barreled into the wooden obstacle, sending it flying inwards.

Relena was on the floor on her hands and knees, and she stared up at him in shock. "Was that necessary, darling?" she asked, gesturing to the ruined door that was now only partly on its hinges.

Heero's features tightened and he balled his fists as he strode over to her. "What are you doing?" His tone was clipped and chilled.

She stood up and smoothed her dress. It was a pale violet, almost smoky, short and sleek and strapless, and if it weren't for the fact that he was angry, he might've been inclined to reach out and feel the soft curves the fabric accentuated. But he was angry. And he wanted an explanation.

"Looking for my other earring. I know I had—"

"An earring?" He groaned.

"What? Heero, those earrings match this dress perfectly. I have to find the other one!" She hadn't intended on making it sound like such a big deal, but his unjust anger was making her mad.

Heero shook his head, his chocolate hair falling forward over his right eye. He looked so boyishly handsome that she nearly forgot about the earring, but his uncovered eye was glaring at her. "I thought you were in danger."

"Danger?" Relena gave an unlady-like snort. "What possible danger could I be in?"

Her husband scowled at her. He did not like being belittled, and that was certainly what she was doing now. "What was I supposed to think, with you screaming for me?"

"What?" Relena's eyebrows rose and she scoffed. "I was not screaming. I was just calling for you, and you were ignoring me!" She felt like stamping her foot, which made her think about the lovely pumps she had purchased to go with the dress, which turned her attention back to her missing earring. "Heero, I don't have time to argue. I need that earring!" She moved away from him only to have him grasp her left wrist to stop her. "Heero—"

"Stop it. The earring isn't what's bothering you. You've been dragging your feet all day about the Ball. Tell me why," he ordered, and she knew he wasn't going to let her get away with a half-truth.

"Alright, fine. Do you mind releasing me?"

Heero let go of her and gestured to the queen-sized bed. "Sit. Tell me."

Relena complied, fiddling with the hem of her dress. How could she tell her husband what was actually bothering her without him getting angry? Heero reached over and took her hand, squeezing it gently. He had the patience of a saint, when he chose to. "Do you remember Senator Mike Young?" she asked, glancing at him.

"Yes." Heero felt a thin river of irritation run through him just at the name. Mike Young had fancied Relena and had tried to woo the young politician away from him, which of course was impossible. Relena had been in love with her handsome bodyguard since their first chance meeting on the beach, and vice-versa. They couldn't be wooed away from one another.

"Well, he contacted me—"

"Why?"

Relena turned sideways and reached out to softly touch her husband's face. "Relax, darling. He just wants me to help with a problem the Alliance is having on Colony L-10, that's all."

Heero visibly let down, the tension draining from his muscular body. "You don't want to?"

Relena bit her lip. "It's not that I don't want to. It's just...if I start helping, is the Alliance going to come to me with every little problem they have? I mean, I love helping others, you know that. But I really enjoy being home with you and working on the new social-reform papers." She sounded truly torn and upset, and all of his anger at her faded.

"Just tell them this is a one-time deal. They'll either take it or they won't," he told her, his Prussian eyes warm with concern.

"yes, I suppose you're right."

"I take it Young wants your answer tonight?"

Relena nodded. "Am I being silly, Heero?"

"Of course not. I think your concern is very tangible." Heero glanced at his watch. "I need to get ready, sweetheart. And I'll help you find your earring."

Relena smiled, blushing slightly. "I remembered where I left it."

"Why the blush?" he inquired, lifting his hand to her silken cheek, his long fingers tracing over it gently.

"I wore them Wednesday."'

"Wednesday?" He eyed her in confusion, seeing by her pointed look that that should mean something, so he began wracking his brain. He'd gone to Preventer HQ that day to meet with Zechs and Trowa Barton on security for the Harmony Ball, and then met Relena for lunch afterward. She'd been wearing a black mini, high-heeled black boots, and that incredible violet three-quarter length shirt that clung to her...

"Ah. Wednesday." He grinned and Relena blushed deeper. That shirt drove him crazy (well, anything she wore did that, but this particular shirt was way too tempting) and he'd not been able to control his urges, finally pulling his Jeep off the road and bending Relena to his will. Not that he ever had to force her; his young wife was an enamored with him as he was with her, and she never refused him.

"Yes. The earring fell out and I left it in the Jeep." Relena was starting to grow warm with his blue eyes focused so intently on her. "So you can get ready—"

"We have time." He touched her bare shoulder and an electric shock raced throughout her, making her body ache.

"Heero..."

He grinned and pushed her down on the bed, his kisses tender and his hands gentle, as he began plying her to his will yet again.

A/N: I know it's maybe a little racier than anything I've written before, but hey, they're married, and they're in love. RL2