Title: Vidphones to Mars

Author: Omnicat

Rating: K / G

Genre: General, Angst, Romance

Spoilers & Desirable Foreknowledge: The Gundam Wing anime, and Endless Waltz movie.

Warnings: Hints of a sexual relationship with no romantic attachments and no problems, and a romantic one with problems. No hidden message intended.

Pairings: Lucrezia Noin x Zechs Merquise, Sally Po x OMC

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine, and the money made off of it goes only to the owners. Now guess who's not making any money by writing this?

Summary: There's Sally on Earth and Noin on Mars. And then there's Zechs, always in between them. Like the bars on a prison cell. [Het 9 and 6, gen 9 and S.]

Author's Note: I've always been strangely pessimistic about 6x9. And whaddeyaknow, there's a story idea to be had from my pessimism!

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Vidphones to Mars

"Noin residence, who's calling?"

When the murderously expensive, once-a-month vidphone call was answered not by the dark-haired woman Sally was expecting, but by a man with a pale, gaunt face, lank blond hair that stuck to his sweaty forehead in inelegant tendrils, and tired eyes, she was naturally surprised.

"This is Sally Po, calling from Earth. Where's Lucrezia? We have an appointment every fifteenth of the month at this time."

A frown dug its way in between the man's eyebrows, suddenly adding five years to his already hard to determine age. "Her team responded to an emergency breach of the outer hull this morning. It's been chaotic all day, I don't know when she'll be back." Sally didn't hear anything, but suddenly he looked away, to the side. "Oh, that'll be her." He stood. "I'll tell her you -"

But he was interrupted. "Sally, Sally! Did anyone call while I was -" Noin's distant voice was quiet for a moment before her flushed face, streaked liberally with sweat and the red dust that was so characteristic of Mars, came into view. Grinning from ear to ear, she plonked down in the newly vacated seat. "Thank goodness, I was afraid I'd miss your call."

"Good to see you too." Sally said, smiling back, relieved. "I hope you weren't caught up in anything too serious."

"We got it under control. Nothing too serious, but we're lucky it was only a small asteroid. At least now we know the deflection mechanism needs to be revised before people get killed. The rest of the crew is still busy putting some temporary protective padding back on, but I got special leave to talk to you."

The women shared mischievous grins. Real-time communication with Earth was so pricey and hard to plan for that the members of the Mars Settlement development team would be excused from just about everything if they could prove there was a call from Earth or the colonies waiting for them.

Noin leaned to the side for a moment and called: "Honey, could you make some tea? I'm parched."

Sally started. It hadn't registered when she saw him, but the man who had answered the vidphone - that had been Zechs. She hadn't seen the man's face since the days of White Fang, now years ago. The change was astounding - and not exactly flattering.

But a happily oblivious Noin was smiling at her again, and soon the two women were deeply engrossed in their usual topic of conversation: life without each other. Sally told Noin the latest news about Lady Une and Mariemeia, about Wufei's reign of terror over new Preventor recruits twice his size and almost invariably five to ten years his senior, about her happily non-romantic affair with one of the company's medical staff. Noin told Sally about her new friends at the Settlement, people Sally would, in all likelihood never meet, and about all the joys and pains of being stuck on a hostile planet far away from the rest of mankind. Some things she simply could not share with her fellow developers, be it because of issues of morale or simple awkwardness.

Sally knew and accepted that her friend and one-time colleague used her to vent her fears and frustrations. Things had changed between them since the times they worked together. Just the distance made Sally automatically think of it as a lamentable thing, but sometimes there was good to be gotten from the bad. She missed Noin immensely, but it was fine with her in this case; their long distance confidentiality brought similar advantages to herself.

But with Zechs's visible misery still clear before her mind's eye, she started to wonder if the grief life on Mars brought Noin did not outweigh the joy. Noin, too, tended to look tired and worn, even on calm days.

Silence fell as Noin finished her story about the results of a new experimental method of drawing water from the icy Martian soil, while Sally was still lost in her own thoughts. She wanted to ask, but how did one go about poking ones nose into the private business of someone on the other side of the known world? Even if they were such good friends?

Eventually she just came right out and asked: "Noin, are you happy?"

Noin was understandably flustered. "What? Oh, sure... I guess. I mean, I've always loved outer space, and getting to do something like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"And how's Mill? He didn't look so good when I saw him just now."

Sally wasn't sure what kind of reaction she'd expected, but this one wasn't it: it was like the emotional equivalent of the Mars Settlement dome came down across Noin's features.

Though maybe she should have. The two of them discussed everything together in the scant time they had each month, from the small to the big to the silly and absurd. Everything except Zechs. During Noin's first year on Mars he used to come up regularly: he and Noin shared a home under the guise of young newlyweds from an overpopulated colony, out for the challenge of creating a new home for mankind with their bare hands. With a little help from the Preventor Agency, they had changed their names to Milton Noin - to be addressed as Mill at all times lest one incurred his severe disgruntlement - and Lucrezia Noin née Henderson. Noin had been distinctly pleased with the arrangement right from the start, but after a while her accounts of her 'husband's' doings had dwindled in frequency and enthusiasm, until Sally sometimes forgot the man was still even there.

Noin looked away an sipped her tea like she held a personal grudge against it before speaking again, her voice clipped and terse. "He's still trying to get used to our new life. A lot of people are having a hard time acclimatizing, even the old colonists."

"That's not really what I -" Sally began tentatively, but was cut off by something that was almost a snarl.

"It's a big change, okay. You know he's never handled change well."

Oh, that Sally knew.

And so did Une.

Breathing deeply, Sally let her friend's anger wash off of her. Clearly she'd hit a nerve. With the voice of a commander who was not afraid to tell her superiors to stuff it, she said: "Does he love you back, Lu? Does he think you're worth making the change for, or is he just using you for consolation?"

Noin's dark eyes closed, her jaw set and her mouth pulled into a grim line.

Exactly what she'd been afraid of.

Sally plowed on. "I'm asking this because I care about you, Lu. You're very far away and I'd hate to see you waste away without being able to do anything to help. I know you've always put yourself second when it comes to him, but don't you think it's about time you got something back for all your efforts?"

There was so much bitterness in Noin's eyes when she looked up, it scared Sally. Never, in all the time they had fought together in the war, worked at Preventors and kept in touch through vidphone, had she seen Noin so defeated and spiteful.

"Don't play dumb, Sally. You and I both know there's only one reason Lady agreed to help us disappear."

So they could keep an eye on Zechs Merquise, Milliardo Peacecraft. A man like him, born, bred and self-styled for leadership, to be a revolutionary, gather power and followers in his wake and take to hand the very course of history, was too dangerous to be set loose. Should he ever decide he was sick of hard labour and anonymity, he had the name, the history, expertise and charisma to stir up trouble all over again. And there were only three ways to keep him under control: death, imprisonment... and Noin.

Noin, who sided with a man wanted for crimes of war and crimes against humanity. Noin, who was now doomed to be his keeper even if she never got out of the deal the things she wanted. Never got out of life the things she wanted.

"I should go." Noin said at length, her voice carefully neutral. "If I don't get a shower soon I'll lose my mind. See you next month."

And just like that, the screen went blank, leaving Sally to wonder whether one day, she'd lead a squad of Preventor agents to the Mars Settlement to put out a fire made by Agent Wind.

She wished she could say where Noin would stand, should it ever come to that.

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PSAN: The end? Unless a miracle happens, yes. I won't torture you by planting false hopes. But if anyone wants to pick up this premise, feel free, and do drop me a line. I'd love to read it!