Disclaimer: Gosh and golly...they're not mine!

Author's Notes: Ah...this chapter smells nice and lemony. Hope you enjoy that particular scent. But since you clicked on an NC17 story, you must.

Dedication: To the people who have reviewed my stories, in particular, Saz, Sagittarius Girl, Stella, Sabacat, mama-sama, twilightshadow, Lady Saffir, and any other repeat reviewer whom I've forgotten to mention (please forgive me). I appreciate every single wonderful comment everyone has ever given me for this story and my others. Besides the voices who tell me "write or curl up and die", you are the reason that I do what I do.

****

Two Can Play
by Kristen Elizabeth

****

The gown was perfect for a pre-Christmas ball. Made of a rich, forest green velvet, it clung to every curve Relena had, even creating some that she didn't. It was innocent enough not to be scandalous, yet just sexy enough to remind everyone that the person wearing it was no longer fifteen.

She had picked it out with Heero in mind. Now, as she stared at her reflection in her bedroom mirror, she wished she could take it back.

"Relena." There was a light rapping on her bedroom door. After a second, Millardo opened the door a few inches. "Are you ready?"

She took a breath. "As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose."

Her brother stepped further into the room and gave her outfit a once-over. "You look lovely, Relena."

Relena smiled. She had half expected him to start ranting about the low cut neckline or the high slit up one side. "Thank you."

"Come on. The limo is waiting." He held out his elbow.

"Just a minute. I have to get my coat." She ran for her closet and started rifling through it.

"You know..." Millardo rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "There is something missing..."

She threw him a glance over her shoulder. "Millardo...it's supposed to be backless."

"No, it's not that." He reached into his tuxedo jacket. "I think it might be this."

Relena watched as he extracted a jewler's box from his pocket. "What is that?"

"An early Christmas present." He opened it up and pulled out a lattice work of diamonds. "It belonged to our mother. Salvaged out of the wreckage of the old palace. Pagan's had it for years." He approached her. "I've been waiting for the right time to give it to you."

"Oh, Millardo..." Relena's eyes flooded with tears. "It's so beautiful."

He reached for her wrist and fastened the bracelet around it. "She'd be so proud of the woman you've become, Relena. I know I am."

She threw her arms around her brother's neck. He held her for a long moment. Finally, Relena drew back, wiping the tears from her eyes. "We're going to be late."

"Damn...Lucy's already in the limo." Millardo turned around. "Get your coat. We'll be waiting."

After he left, Relena stared at her wrist. The diamonds were cool against her skin. She looked in the mirror and raised her hand to her throat, to show off the bracelet. Next to her bare neck, her wrist was overdressed. She reached for her jewelry box.

The first thing her fingers touched was his necklace. She picked it up. The gold heart caught the lamp light and shone. Quickly, before she could change her mind, she fastened Heero's gift around her neck. Her outfit complete, she located her jacket and started out the door.

****

"Oh wow!" Hilde tightened her grip on Duo's arm. "Have you ever seen such a wonderful tree?!"

Duo looked down at his girlfriend. Her blue eyes shone with excitement. Smiling, he pulled her closer to his body. "It's pretty amazing", he agreed.

She reached a hand up to touch his cheek. On her third finger, a single diamond caught the light from the tree and sparkled. "I love Christmas", she sighed, happily.

"I can think of something I love more", Duo murmured into her hair.

"Are we interrupting?" Hilde and Duo turned their heads to see Quatre and Trowa approaching them. Quatre smiled and took Hilde's hand, bringing the back up it up to his lips. "It's been too long. You look lovely, Miss Schbeiker."

Duo was surprised to feel a twinge of jealousy as his fiancee blushed. However, Quatre was simply speaking the truth. She did look beautiful. Her gown was muted silver-blue, a color that he never would have thought could possibly look good. On Hilde, however, it transformed her into some sort of incredibly sexy ice princess. An ice princess with the warmest of hearts.

She tucked her arm back through Duo's. "Are we all early or is Heero late?"

"You're all early", Heero said, coming around the Christmas tree. He glanced at his watch. "According to her security detail, Relena left five minutes ago. Taking traffic into account, she should be here in fifteen minutes. That gives us plenty of time, once Wufei arrives, to go over the plan."

"There's an actual plan?" Hilde raised an eyebrow. "And I'm part of it?"

"Everyone's a part of it, babe." Duo winked. "It's going to take all our powers combined to get Heero la..." He stopped when he caught Hilde's look. "To get these two crazy kids together."

"So, what is this plan?", Trowa asked.

Heero glanced at the entrance to the grand foyer and the people streaming in, decked out in holiday finery. "I'd rather wait until Wufei arrives to lay out the plan."

"Don't hold up on our account." Wufei approached them, arm in arm with Sally. Her red silk gown perfectly complimented Wufei's traditional Chinese formal wear.

"Nice pajamas", Duo snickered.

Wufei threw him a patronizing glance. "Did you do something to your hair, Maxwell?" Duo's lower lip protruded as he reached for his braid, protectively.

"All right. Since everyone's here now...", Heero began.

Quatre winked at Trowa. "The plan."

"Here's how it'll go down. Duo, don't even think it." Heero tugged at the knotted bowtie around his neck. "Hilde...you're the first player in the game...."

****

Relena accepted the gloved hand held out to her by a livery-clad Preventer and stepped out of the limousine. She looked up at the entrance; bright strings of white lights illuminted the building with Christmas cheer. The faint strains of a string quartet playing carols floated in the night air. Instinctively, she reached for Heero's hand. Her fingers met with empty space.

She closed her eyes, feeling rather moronic. Heero wasn't there beside her. She had not given him any indication that she *wanted* him to be there. In fact, she wasn't even sure if he would be attending tonight. Part of her hoped that he wouldn't. It would probably kill what little self-control she was managing to maintain to see him in his tuxedo. Only Heero could make evening clothes look so damn good.

"Relena...everyone's waiting for you." Her brother beckoned to her. Relena lifted her head and cleared her throat. Her people were waiting. She would not let them down.

****

Hilde Schbeiker did not consider herself a daring person. True, she liked doing daring things every now and then, but that was in the privacy of her own home with only Duo as a witness. And goodness knew he wasn't talking. Not if he ever wanted a repeat performance.

So, she was forced to ask herself how a not-so daring person like she was found herself heading straight for the Vice Foriegn Minister, former Queen of the World, in the middle of a ballroom full of the world's most important and influential people, preparing to have a frank talk about sex.

After having survived the recieving line and being forced to shake hands of every single one of those important and influential people, Relena was finally alone as she headed for the ladies room. Hilde followed her.

Relena stood in front of the lighted mirrors, staring at her reflection in the glass. The faucet of the sink in front of her was running, but she made no move to do anything with it. Hilde turned on the sink next to hers. "Merry Christmas, Miss Relena."

The other woman blinked and looked at Hilde's reflection in the mirror. "Miss Schbeiker....hello. Merry Christmas." Relena smiled politely.

Hilde pulled a lipstick tube from her evening bag and applied a coat. "You know you can call me Hilde, right?" Relena nodded, but said nothing. The melancholy she emenated was not lost on Duo's fiancee. Hilde continued. "I love your dress."

"Thank you." Relena glanced over. "I like yours, too."

There was a long pause as Hilde finished with her lipstick and desperately tried to think of something to say. Why couldn't Heero have given her a script or something? And why was this part of the plan, anyways?? It wasn't as though she knew Relena that well. How was she ever going to bring up the subject of sex? Sex with Heero, at that??

Relena's voice broke through her thoughts. "Is that an engagement ring?"

Hilde blinked and looked down at her left hand. "Yeah. I mean, yes...it is." She couldn't stop the silly grin that settled on her face. "Duo asked me to marry him."

"Congratulations", Relena said, warmly. "I'm sure you two will be very happy."

She seized the opportunity before Relena could leave. "He caught me completely off-guard when he asked. I suppose in Duo-land, asking a girl to marry you right after having sex is a good idea. Still, it guaranteed that I pretty much had to say yes, which might have been what he was thinking. It's hard to say no to man who's just made you....well, you know."

Relena's cheeks flushed pink. "No. Actually, I don't."

Hilde bit her lip and threw caution to the wind. She could only pray that Relena wouldn't take any sort of offense to the sudden turn their dicussion had taken. "Do you mean that you and Heero have never...?" Relena shook her head. "But you've done other things...right?"

Feeling quite like a little girl, Relena played with her new bracelet. "We've never had time to get..." She blushed deeper. "...really into things. There was one time..." She stopped, too embarassed to continue.

"Oh, it's okay, Miss Relena. Go on", Hilde encouraged.

"I don't think I can talk about this sort of thing with you still calling me 'miss'." Relena's eyes twinkled. "Please call me Relena, Hilde." Hilde bobbed her head in acknowledgement. "Well..." The Vice Foriegn Minister glanced around the bathroom to make sure it was empty. "We were on our way back from a state dinner. It was just the two of us in the limousine. We started kissing..." She trailed off.

"You can't just stop there, Relena." Hilde leaned against the marble counter. "What happened next?"

Determined to prove that she wasn't a baby, Relena continued. "I was wearing a skirt, so it was very easy for him to..." She put a hand to her throat, surprised to find that her skin was warm. The memory was a powerful one. "I'd never felt anything like it. It was like..."

"Stars dancing in front of your eyes?", Hilde supplied.

"I suppose it could have gotten to that point, yes. But I made him stop."

Hilde blinked. "Why'd you do that??"

"Because...it was getting to the point where I wouldn't have been able to stop it. And I wasn't ready to go that far." Her lower lip trembled. "I'm still not ready, I don't think."

"Well..." Hilde straightened her back. "You have more willpower than most women, Relena."

Relena frowned. "What do you mean?"

Hilde crossed her fingers. This had better work... "I'm sure I don't have to tell you how attractive Heero is. Not as cute as Duo, mind you, but definitely sexy. It takes a strong woman to keep herself under control around a man like that."

"I have to keep myself under control. I can't afford to behave otherwise."

"And you have my respect for that", Hilde assured her. "If Heero were the type of guy who was just looking for a good time, I'd say you were doing the right thing, unquestionably. However..."

"However?"

Hilde picked up her evening bag. "Anyone can see that he's very much in love with you."

Relena wet her lips. "That doesn't make it all right for me to lose control."

Duo's fiancee raised her glitter-dusted shoulders. "I don't know. All I'm saying is that no one who's ever been in love with someone could ever look down on you for being a normal, healthy, sexual being." She smiled. "I think I might have said too much for one night. It was good to see you again, Relena."

The Vice Foriegn Minister's reply never came. Hilde didn't mind; she hoped she had left the other girl with a lot to think about. Emerging from the ladies room, she quickly made her way back over to Heero and Duo. Her fiancee handed her a glass of champagne.

"How did it go?", Heero asked.

Hilde smiled and raised her glass. "Phase one...complete."

"It's Noin's turn now." Heero took a gulp of his own drink. "The plan has reached its critical point."

"Don't worry", Hilde reassured him. "From what she told me she was planning to do, I can assure you, Miss Noin will not fail."

****

In a very dark, very tucked away corner of the ballroom, Lucrezia Noin slipped to her knees in front of her fiancee and reached for the fly of his tuxedo pants.

Millardo braced himself with one hand against the wall. The other hand ran through Noin's dark hair. "Lu...someone could walk by..."

She looked up at him. "That never seemed to bother you back in the Academy. If I remember correctly..." She pulled the zipper down slowly. "...formal events turned you on."

"We were a lot younger then, Lu. Besides..." He closed his eyes upon feeling her breath over his half-hard, still-covered length. "I'm supposed to be setting an example..."

"An example for whom?" Noin kissed the wedge of grey underwear she had exposed; his hard flesh jerked under the cotton.

His words were forced. "For...Relena."

"Oh, that's right..." She hooked two fingers around his pants and pulled them down, leaving him open to her lips and tongue. She licked him teasingly. "Speaking of Relena..."

"Let's not...speak of Relena." He bit his lip to hold back a moan as her tongue danced around the tip of his shaft.

"I just think it's sad....that Relena can't experience....this sort of thing....with the man she loves."

Millardo looked down. Noin's lips were wrapped around him, surrounding him with the warmth of her mouth in between her words. "Why are we still discussing this?", he asked.

His fiancee pulled back and wiped the corner of her mouth. "All right then. I'll stop."

"No! No..it's all right. Sweetie, you can talk about anything you damn well want to."

She smiled and resumed her ministrations. "So....don't you agree....with me?"

"Um..." He held back another moan. "I guess...um...wait...what were we talking about?"

"Relena..." She sucked softly on the tip of his length. "And Heero."

He shook his head back and forth against the wall. "No...she's too...too young. Can't ruin...her reputation..."

"Being...with Heero...like this...would sully...her reputation?" Millardo's stomach muscles flexed as he nodded. "Well then..." She pulled her lips away. "What does that make me?"

The loss of sensation as well as her words left him speechless. "Lu..."

"I'm a woman first and a high ranking officer second." Noin licked her lips as if to remind he what he was missing. "Why does Relena have to be a politician first and a woman second?"

Millardo lowered his head. "I never thought about it like that." He lifted his chin. "But life isn't fair, Lu. We all make sacrifices for the things that are important. And Relena is very important to the world."

"Then, the loss of her sexual identity is the sacrifice she makes?"

"Until she's married, yes."

Noin began to laugh. "Excuse me while I wrench that giant stick out of your ass."

"I don't find that very funny." He crossed his arms over his chest. With his pants around his thighs, he presented a very comical picture. Noin continued to laugh. "Why can't anyone see my point of view?"

She kissed his toned abdomen. "Someone does see your point all too well. And she's miserable because of it. Not to mention the man she loves."

Millardo scowled. "Oh, I'm so sorry that I'm making it hard for Heero Yuy to get off."

"That's not what he's after and you know it." Noin was suddenly serious. "He loves her. Probably more than he loves his own life."

"Even if I cared, which I don't, it doesn't erase the fact that Relena has to be very careful how she conducts herself. She's in the public eye; she can't afford to..."

"Get caught with her pants down?"

Millardo glanced down at his bare flesh. "Cute."

Stifling a laugh with her hand, Noin shook her head. "What can I do to make you see reason?" Before he could reply, she took his length back into her mouth. He drew in a sharp breath. "What do you...say? Will you...talk to her?"

"Lu...this isn't...god damn", he hissed. "This...isn't fair..." She raised an eyebrow and continued, harder and faster. "I give in! I...give in...I'll talk...to her."

Noin ran her hands up his chest under his shirt. "What...will you say?"

He watched her head moving up and down. He could never deny her anything, even when she wasn't blowing his mind away with her talented tongue. "That...she has..." He squeezed his eyes closed in pleasure. "...my blessing....and approval...."

The lips wrapped around his hard flesh smiled.

****

Heero watched as Noin and Millardo re-entered the ballroom a half hour after they had disappeared from it. They briefly kissed before Millardo got pulled away by a gaggle of senators. Noin made her way over to him, lifting the hem of her white ballgown as she ascended the shallow set of steps leading up to the bar. Her hair was slightly mussed and her lips were swollen.

She passed by him with a smile and wink. "Mission accomplished."

Heero decided right then and there that, although he was grateful for it, if he never found out how she had convinced Millardo to advocate for his and Relena's sex life it would be too soon.

****

TBC