Disclaimer: Sigh....come on. They're not mine, already.

Author's Notes: Thank you for all the great and groovy comments. Yall are the best!

Dedication: To my Mom...who has, of late, a knack for only stumbing onto the stories I don't want her to read, namely the ones that have "the sex".

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Going to the Chapel
by Kristen Elizabeth

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12:10 PM

*Ding, dong*

From her place on the parlor couch, where Millardo had practically ordered her to rest, Noin looked up from her book and glanced at the front door.

*Ding, dong*

She looked at the foyer, expecting someone to come down the stairs at any second, or appear from the kitchen to answer the door.

*Ding, dong*

Heaving a great sigh, she set down her book and struggled to her feet. "No, no," she said out loud, to the empty space. "Don't rush, anyone. I can get it." With the amusing gait of a very pregnant woman, Noin slowly made her way to the door.

*Ding, dong*

"Give me a damn second," she muttered. Her palm cupped her belly. "You didn't hear that, baby." It took a lot of effort to open the heavy door.

A man in a grease-splattered uniform stood at the door. He tipped his ball cap at her. "Ma'am. I'm Bill from the delivery company. I dropped off an ice sculpture awhile ago to this house."

Noin blinked. "Okay."

Bill cleared his throat. "Well, it seems there was a mix up down at the warehouse. We sent the wrong sculpture here and the person who ended up with your sculpture is mighty upset. If it's not too much trouble, ma'am, I'll just switch 'em right quickly."

"Sure," Noin agreeed, easily. She pointed to the kitchen. "They probably put it in the freezer."

"And where would that be, ma'am?"

Gritting her teeth, Noin placed a hand on her aching lower back. "Follow me."

****

12:45 AM

"Look at them all down there." Relena let the lace curtain fall back over her bedroom window. "Don't they have any more important news to report than every detail about my wedding day?"

Sally parted the curtains to get a better look. The sprawling front lawn was dotted with reporters and camera crews. "Are you going to say anything to them?"

Relena lifted her shoulders. "I sort of have to. Heero offered, but he hates reporters so much I couldn't possibly make him do it." She sat at her dressing table. "If Heero had his way, he'd put a restraining order on the entire Associated Press."

"Look on the bright side. You'll have terrific wedding photos." Sally winked.

Smiling weakly, Relena stared at her reflection in the mirror. "Am I just being paranoid, or do I look paler than usual?"

The doctor came up behind her. "There isn't a lot of color in your cheeks, you're right. May I?" Relena allowed her to take her pulse. "It's a little elevated; probably just nerves," Sally finally said. "Have you been eating well?"

"Until today, yes."

"Sleeping well?"

Relena hesitated. "As well as can be expected."

Sally lifted her eyebrow. "Any drastic changes in your lifestyle?"

Once again, the bride was hesitant to answer. "Well...just one, I suppose." Sally waited for her to go on. "Heero and I...well, we haven't..." She looked at her hands. "I thought it would make things more special to...stop...before the wedding."

"Ah, I see." Sally lifted her chin, knowingly. "No wonder Heero dropped three plates and two glasses at breakfast."

Relena folded her arms across her sweater. "No one has ever gotten physically ill from lack of sex. Maybe I've caught some bug. And Heero's having a bout of clumsiness."

"I once saw Heero rewire a mainframe and take down fourteen soldiers at the same time during a practice drill." Sally shook her head. "Clumsy is not in his genetic makeup."

There was a pause. "Even if it were true that not making love for a month was affecting us physically, it's only another four hours and fifteen minutes until the wedding. Surely we can make it that far." Relena looked back at her reflection. She touched one pale cheek. "Can you hand me the blush?"

****

1:05 AM

"Damnit, Heero!" Wufei jumped back to avoid the glass from a stack of dessert plates. "That's the fifth thing you've destroyed today!"

Heero, who had only been trying to move out of the caterer's way when he lost his balance and stumbled backwards into the table holding the glassware, put a hand to his forehead. "I think I'm coming down with something."

"Yes. Terminal stupidity," Wufei declared. "All you had to do was move forwards instead of backwards. If you had, there wouldn't be glass all over the floor now!"

"Hey, ease up on him." Trowa bent down and picked up a large piece of a broken plate. "After tomorrow, when his little problem has cleared up, you might regret calling him stupid."

Wufei crossed his arms, refusing to help clean up Heero's mess. "What little problem?"

Trowa glanced back at Heero, who was staring at the glass with the strangest expression on his face. "Relena's bedroom door has been locked to the poor guy for a month."

A flash of what could be interpreted as sympathy appeared on Wufei's face. His arms relaxed. "I suppose that explains it...somewhat. Still, I expect more out him."

Heero shook his head, blinking out of his reverie. "How much longer until the wedding?" he asked.

Wufei snorted. "You can get laid again in just about four hours."

A scowl settled onto Heero's face. "You don't really think that's why I want to marry Relena?"

"I can't imagine any other reason for getting married," Wufei retorted

Trowa sat back on his heels and watched the fight unfold.

"Someone should tell Sally that so she can get out before it's too late."

Wufei's eyes became enraged. "What goes on between me and that woman is not your concern!"

Heero shook his head. "Must be hard for her. All of her friends getting married...and not so much as a proposal from you." Some of the life returned to Heero's eyes as he argued with his friend. Perhaps a good fight was just what he needed in lieu of a passionate embrace.

"You have no idea what you're talking about, Yuy." Wufei adopted a battle stance. "Your words are unjustified! I will defend my honor!"

Prussian blue glinted in the brightly lit ballroom that was serving as the reception hall. "The last time we did this, I won."

"The last time we did this, you gave up," Wufei corrected him. "To save your woman, if I remember correctly."

"And the rest of the world!" Heero shot back. He raised his fists.

"Okay, okay." Trowa stood up, mindful of the glass all around him. "You both have big ones....fight over." He looked at Heero. "Would you want Relena to come downstairs and see you brawling? Or maybe you'd like to say your vows with a black eye."

Heero lowered his fists. "Fine." He glared at his Chinese friend. "But we'll continue this someday."

Just then, Duo and Hilde appeared from seemingly nowhere. Duo's braid was in disarray and most of Hilde's lipstick was on his chin. Hilde herself looked rather flushed. The couple stopped dead upon seeing the three men admist much broken glass. "Is Heero breaking stuff again?" Duo asked.

The groom turned on him. "Where the hell have you been?? I've been looking for you everywhere."

Duo's forehead crinkled. "I just saw you in the parlor. Remember...the balloons?"

"That was two hours ago!" Heero approached them. "You've been gone ever since."

Hilde chewed on her lower lip. "We got distracted."

At the same time, Duo said, "We got lost." The couple exchanged a look. "What I mean to say is, we got distracted and then got lost and so we've been..." He took a breath. "...wandering around this place for two hours. Thank God we found you or else we might have missed the entire wedding..." His voice trailed off and he laughed. "Funny, eh?"

Heero blinked. "Whatever." He held out his hand. "Is the ring still okay?"

"Sure it's still okay." Duo reached into his pocket, but came up empty-handed. "Hold on." He reached into his other pocket, but still procured nothing. "I know it's here somewhere..."

Hilde covered her mouth with one hand. "I know where it is, Duo."

Remembering, her husband slapped his forehead. "Oh yeah! Man, how could I have forgotten?"

Heero looked back and forth between husband and wife. "Well? Where is it??"

"A very safe place, I assure you." Duo smiled nervously. "Give us a few minutes and we'll go get it."

"No way." Heero shook his head. "And risk you getting *lost* again? Uh-uh. I'll come with you."

Once more, Duo emitted nervous laughter. "Sure, Heero. That's fine. Just, um....keep in mind that I'm your best friend. And my face will be in the wedding pictures, too."

His words did nothing to soothe the groom. "Just find the ring," Heero said between clentched teeth.

With the Maxwells leading the way, the strange little procession made its way into the kitchen. The freezer door lay open already. Puzzled, they went inside. Quatre was standing in the cold room, staring at a very pretty ice sculpture of two swans, beak to beak. He glanced over his shoulder when he heard them come in. "Well," he began happily. "The ice sculpture people fixed their mistake!"

Duo pushed past him and got down on his knees, searching the ground around the base of the sculpture. When he found nothing, he sat back on his heels and looked up. "It's not here," he announced.

Heero's eye twitched. "What do you mean, it's not here?"

"I put it down over there..." Duo made a vague gesture with his hand. "But there was a different sculpture at the time..."

Quatre nodded. "It was the wrong one. Miss Noin said they came by and took it back."

"Oh fuck me," Duo breathed. "It must have fallen on the naked ice dude."

Heero stood over his friend, murder in his eyes. "So, you're telling me that the ring....the ring I spent almost six month's salary on....the only ring that could ever be good enough for Relena.....the ring I am supposed to put on her finger in four hours....the ring I *stupidly* entrusted to you....that ring is gone?"

Duo squeezed his eyes shut. "Remember....wedding pictures!!"

"You mistakingly assume he's planning to hit your face," Trowa deadpanned, coming into the freezer. "There's plenty of you to hit that won't be visible."

"Are you encouraging him?" Duo cried. He looked up to see Heero shaking with anger and although he didn't know it, extreme sexual frustration. "Hey!" he yelled, scrambling to his feet. "What if I find the ring??"

"How would that be possible?" Heero's voice was too calm for someone who's entire body looked as though it was about to explode.

Duo thought quickly. "Quatre...who delivered the sculptures?" Quatre looked at his clipboard and read off a name. "Good! That's good. I'll just go there and get it back!"

"You're not going alone." Heero seemed a bit more in control, but it was only a pretense. "I'll go with you. To make sure you don't fuck this up."

Quatre looked helpless. "But...Heero, there's only four hours until the ceremony! What if you don't make it back in time?"

"We'll make it back," Heero assured him. He yanked on Duo's sleeve, pulling him out of the freezer. Heero stopped short. "And Relena doesn't really need to know about any of this, does she?"

Trowa sighed. "Now he's done it." The groom and best man were already gone. "Just by saying that, he pretty much guaranteed that not only will he be late, but Relena will most assuredly find out."

Hilde shook her head. "Not if I can help it."

"In a house like this..." Trowa spread his hands. "I wish you good luck."

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TBC