Warnings: OC+R , 1+2,3+4, 5+6. Yes, het AND implied yaoi. Sillyness, a smattering of voilence, and one hell of a ride for a prospective groom.

Dating Relena...and Other Minor Disasters

I never thought it would be easy to court Relena Dorleen-Peacecraft. I understood that. Really, I did. I would be expected to make certain provisions. There would be expectations and a certain decorum to uphold. I thought there might even be a bit of danger involved. But I never, ever, imagined that it would just about kill me. Was I afraid of the paparazzi? No. Fringe rebels unhappy with the USEN? Not even close. There were, after all, certain risks I would have to undertake if I wanted to be with someone of Relana’s caliber.

Do you know what makes me break out in a cold nervous sweat? Have you the slightest clue why I can’t use a public restroom without checking the stalls first? No? I’ll tell you. What terrifies me, what makes me lose sleep at night, are the six, yes S.I.X., ex-gundam pilots now Preventers, who worked diligently to put me in my grave during our early courtship.

I have never been a man prone to paranoia. I am now. They made me that way. If I have learned anything, it’s that you’d better be on your best behavior anywhere, anytime; because they are watching. They are very protective. And they are very very well armed. But I didn’t give up or give in. I didn’t piss my pants or run for the hills. I dug my heals in. I fell in love. I survived trail by fire and artillery, and earned my place beside Relena.
I’ll start at the beginning. My name is Daven Connell. I was born and raised right here on Earth. I’m a fairly boring individual. My life, up until I meet Relana, was also pretty mundane. I have never served in the military and I have never used a gun. I’m not an adventurist and I don’t do politics. I’m the guy who uses the cross walk even when it’s out of the way. I cross my ‘T’s and dot my ‘I’s. I don’t have any parking tickets, I don’t drink and I don’t smoke. Like I said, all very boring.

During the wars, I went to med school. I was shaping up to be a pretty good surgeon but that all changed in my third year. I found health care to be lacking. The people who needed the help were not getting it. Administrative decisions stripped medical care away from those who needed it the most. I couldn’t see becoming a doctor only to be told who and whom not I could treat. And so I found a new calling. A non-profit organization that specializes in no/low cost medical care. Not my parents’ favorite decision, but they respected it. Since the end of the last war, we’ve managed to put at least one new hospital on each of the colonies. My earnings don’t even come close to what they would have been had I become a surgeon, but I never regretted it. Besides, that’s how I meet my future wife, Relena.

It was a charity dinner. Once every few months I dust off my tux and my tin cup and try to get the funding we need to keep our organization going. We usually do pretty well, but we were a long way from where I wanted to be. This one was going to be a bit different from most of the other events we’d done in the past. It was a lot bigger, for one. We had two senators on our guest list for the night. That was big news for us.
So the dinner started off without a hitch. We had a few speakers from the colonies and the supervisor from our community outreach program made his speech. I made a plea for more funding and gave our goals for the next year, which included a new burn unit for our hospital on L3. Something I really wanted to get underway as soon as possible.

After the introductions, the dinner and the speeches came the hob nobbing. This was the part I hated the most. Mingling with rich people to try and part them from their money. I shared brandy over polite conversation, danced with their wives and then I went in for the kill. ‘Can we count on you for a donation this year?’. What can I say; begging, but with style.

I saw her from across the room, just like in one of those sappy romance novels. She was simply the most beautiful being there and I was immediately entranced. It took me a moment to realize I was staring, and another to realize she was staring right back. And then she smiled. I think that’s what did it for me. That smile. The ballroom lit up in a way that had absolutely nothing to do with the chandeliers.
She turned and whispered something to her escort. I assumed he was her escort, anyway. The man was tall and blonde, wearing some sort of military garb and seemed to have something of a death grip on her arm. He looked very unhappy with her request, and then he looked very unhappy with me. I’d have shivered if it weren’t for the genuine happiness Relena had on her face when her escort seemed to give into her request. She wanted to meet me and she wasn’t about to be deterred.

We were formally introduced and if I felt a connection from across the room, it was even more with her just inches away. She just took my breath away with her grace and geniality. We could only speak a few minutes, she being such a high profile figure, she was whisked away to meet with other diplomats that had been in attendance. Through the night we caught each other eye again and again. I was deeply fascinated and it seemed she was too. Her escort also caught my eye a time or two, but for an altogether different reason. The man looked like he was plotting my demise.
Mr. Killjoy, it turned out, happened to be Relenas’ brother, Millardo Peacecraft. I don’t know why it took someone pointing it out to me for me to realize. I couldn’t help but notice the man was armed. And protective. And imposing. Did I mention he was armed? He took the time to run has hand over the holster under his coat five separate times while eying me like I’d become public enemy number one.

By the end of the night I had told myself that Ms Peacecraft was off limits. I didn’t take it too personally, though. Her brother had managed to make every man who set eyes upon his sister feel as though they should be writing his last will and testament. We’d done well with the fundraising and I should have been happy with that. I felt a pang in my chest as reality set in that Id never really get to know that lovely young lady behind that smile. Imagine my surprise when Ms Peacecraft approached me. She dimpled as she handed me a card. “Please call me Mr. Connell; I’d love to hear more on what you do." And with that, she was whisked away…but not before I got a piercing death glare from the gun toting brother.

We talked. Oh how she could talk. I never tired of her voice. We spent hours on the vid-phone, almost everyday of the week. She was charming and witty and as smart as she was beautiful. Unfortunately, she traveled almost as much as I, but we finally made plans for dinner over the next month.
Our first date. I say that with a fond smile….and a shutter. The smile, is for our first candle light dinner. The shutter? That would be for what might have been our first kiss. And how could a first kiss cause such a reaction, you might ask? Simple. You see, that was the night I met the devil.

Sakusha