57As Relena took her time in the shower, Heero returned his attention to the kitchen. Since he'd made himself responsible for her care, he figured he should attempt to assemble some sort of dinner for her. But sifting through his stock of canned goods left him feeling dismayed; Relena had probably never eaten anything from a can in her life. The thought might have made him chuckle, but he was worried about her physical state following her ordeal. He hadn't even had a chance to examine her for injuries- at least not as thoroughly as he should have…
His face flamed at the thought. Well. He'd nearly had a chance. She'd asked him to help her undress, after all. He supposed that shouldn't have surprised him; this was the girl who tore apart her own dress, shortly after they met, to wrap his wounds. And after he'd tried to kill her, no less…
Heero shook his head, smiling slightly as he surveyed his supplies. Relena was one of a kind; there was no doubt about it.
And she was so close, for a change. He wondered if she was thinking the same thing about him- how unusual their current predicament was. It was hard to believe they'd only crossed paths a handful of times over the past year or so. And yet each moment of those encounters was burned into his memory, and steadily increasing in intensity…
Heero heard the abrupt sound of the shower shutting off, wresting him from his thoughts. After a moment he heard the bathroom door open and the bedroom door close. He wondered idly if Relena might need help finding something to wear, his mind clinging to the still-fresh image of her long hair tumbling over the bare skin of her back. It was a difficult thing to ignore, as was the tightening sensation in his trousers... an inconvenient interruption. Heero scowled. He needed to reroute his attention elsewhere, but that task was proving to rival some of his fiercest battles. Which, he realized, was stupid. He was a guy. She was a girl. This was a universal occurrence; there was nothing new or special or significant about his attraction to her.
Even as he stood in denial, staring uselessly at the granite countertop, he knew better.
Heero decided he would wait for Relena to emerge before he selected which cans of food to serve, if he could even call them that. At least there was something for them to eat, he reasoned. Things could have been worse.
But after awhile, when she still hadn't left the bedroom, Heero's nagging worries returned. He strode the small distance of the cottage to the bedroom and rapped lightly on the door.
"Relena…"
He frowned when he heard no answer. He tried again, a little more loudly.
"Relena?"
When she still didn't answer him, he tried the door handle and found it unlocked. He pushed it open and stepped into the darkened room. As light flooded in, Heero saw Relena, splayed across the middle of the bed, her long hair fanned out around her. She was wearing an old tank top of his and a pair of sweatpants. Both items were oversized on her lithe frame, and the sight of his clothes on her gave Heero an ache in his chest that was starting to feel familiar...
He stood watching her in silence for a moment, awestruck by how beautiful she was. Then he chided himself for the base observation, because of course she was. It was hardly a startling revelation, yet it struck him all the same. However, he knew he would be drawn to her no matter what she looked like. It was something she possessed; a power she had over him like no one else. It was who she was and what she meant to him. He'd first felt that pull long ago, and had spent the past few years struggling to explain or define it, even to himself.
He was at a profound loss over what to do about it, though. And so he stood, stupefied, his eyes glued to the rising and falling of Relena's chest, the shirt she'd borrowed from him teasing more skin while keeping the most tantalizing parts covered.
Heero shook his head to turn his thoughts, and it felt like forcing himself to wake from a dream. Which was all this was, he told himself, and all it could be. He had brought her there to protect her, but that needn't involve standing guard at her door all night. She was safe, now; he had seen to it. All that was left to do was let her rest and recover.
Heero stepped into the room and crept over to the side of the bed. He carefully pried the blanket beneath Relena loose enough to drape half of it over her. She stirred only slightly, turning over and cocooning herself inside the folds of fabric.
Taking another blanket and pillow with him, Heero set about making a bed for himself on the leather couch. It was only slightly less comfortable than the twin mattress in his university flat. Not the best place he'd ever slept, but far from the worst.
Sleep never found him that night; at least it didn't feel that way. His thoughts were still wrapped up in Relena and what she may or may not have suffered during the attack on the Sanc castle. He kept picturing her, tied up on her bed, her white gown torn and bloodied. His feverish mind made the memory even worse than it was, and a fresh wave of fury surged through his veins. He wanted to go back there and find the men who'd held her captive, and take his time showing them the true meaning of pain...
He still didn't know what they'd done to her, and part of him didn't want to. But he would likely find out one way or another; it was part of the investigation, and once Preventer questioned her, Relena would undoubtedly cooperate and disclose everything she knew. Heero felt a small measure of comfort when he remembered how she'd acted when he brought her into the cottage earlier that night; like her normal, if a little brazen, self. He reasoned that she couldn't be too traumatized if she could smile and tease him like that. But then he remembered how frightened she'd been when he found her in the castle, the wild look in her eyes. How he'd held her as she cried.
She had surprised him with her strength in the past, but Heero knew it was tempered by a fragility she rarely showed to anyone, any more. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her cry, or even look like she was about to lose her composure. Instead he recalled how time and again she'd told him she wanted to be strong, like him. But he had always seen her as far stronger than he could ever be. He wondered if, to this day, she fully understood the extent of his weakness, despite the glimpses he'd given her. Falling into her arms mere months ago, yielding to her, letting her hold him and safeguard him, for once. It was a vulnerability he'd be running from, but Heero was done running. Whatever he was feeling now… it was an awful lot like surrender.
He didn't know what that meant for him - for them - but he was beginning to formulate a plan…
Relena slept through the night and morning; Heero didn't want to wake her when she clearly needed the rest. It was late morning when she finally resurfaced, bleary-eyed and asking for coffee. Fortunately, that was one area in which Heero could indulge her. And while he only had the instant variety on hand, Relena didn't seem to mind.
She had taken her coffee outside to the porch when Heero received the call. Une, berating him for his rash actions. Heero only half-listened to the Preventer commander's reprimand before ending the call with a promise to return Relena to the castle in a few days' time. He wasn't sure how long they'd need at the beachfront hideaway, but he wanted to ensure she would have ample time to recover from her trauma before being swept back into the demands of her daily life. And Heero didn't care how chipper she was acting; he knew Relena had to be shaken by what she had gone through.
He joined her outside on the porch, where she sat facing the beach, the sea breeze whipping her long hair behind her. She didn't turn her head at his steps, continuing to stare out at the North Sea, sparkling silver in the near distance, the barest hint of sunlight slipping through the gray clouds above. She only looked up as he sat down beside her, and offered him a smile.
She was still wearing his tank top and pants, but there was a chill in the early April air. Heero shrugged out of his Preventers jacket and offered it to Relena. She quickly accepted it, brightening as he slung it across her shoulders.
They sat and talked together, wiling away what remained of the morning, and Heero was filled with a contentment he'd never really known before. He knew it was all due to the girl beside him, and her unique ability to soothe him. He was realizing more and more how easy it was to stay by her side- far easier than running, as it turned out. But he'd started coming to that conclusion a while ago. It was hard to believe he'd once planned to stay far from her; of course, he'd failed at that as badly as following through on his empty threats to kill her...
"So what will you do next?" Relena asked after a while, tilting her face to look at him.
"Next?" Heero didn't have an answer for that; not exactly. He knew what he wanted, but-
"You know. After you take me back to Sanc," Relena clarified.
"We are in Sanc," Heero said. "You're free to go any time." Relena arched a brow at that.
"Really? Shall I teach myself how to drive the motorcycle you stole, or just limp away in my busted high heels?"
Heero frowned and glanced down at her feet, even though they were bare. "They're busted?"
"Well, they will be if I attempt to walk that dirt road in them." Relena sighed and stretched her arms over her head, the black and green Preventers jacket slipping from her shoulders. "I guess I'd better stay put, for now. But how long are we going to hide out here?"
"Depends," Heero said with a shrug.
"On what?"
"On you," he said evenly. "On however long you need to… process what's happened."
Relena's expression flattened. "Oh. Well. I've processed." She turned away from Heero, her eyes scanning the gray horizon. "I don't need to process any more."
Heero sat studying her hooded eyes for a moment, searching for what he should say. He didn't want to risk upsetting her further. "Do you... want to talk about it?" he asked at last, still at a loss. Relena shook her head firmly.
"No. I'm fine, really. It's everyone else I'm worried about. I have no idea what happened after I was separated from the group, and I-" She stopped short, turning to Heero with wet eyes. A muscle clenched in her jaw. "I feel like… like this is my fault. I was responsible for my guests. If I hadn't brought them there, if I-"
"It's not your fault," Heero said vehemently, his stomach twisting. If anything, it was his fault for not being there in the first place, but they'd already gone over that, and she'd insisted he shouldn't shoulder the blame, either. "The rescue mission was successful," he reminded her gently. "The situation is secured, and everyone is safe, now. That's the best result we could hope for."
Most importantly, Relena was out of harm's way. That was really all he cared about. The fact that there were no civilian casualties was an added bonus, but he would choose her life over thousands. Their lives would be meaningless without her, anyway, he reasoned. He knew his would be.
Heero shifted in his seat on the edge of the porch, sinking his feet deeper into the sand. He watched as Relena wriggled her own toes next to his. He looked up to see her smiling at him again.
"You and I are too hard on ourselves sometimes, aren't we?" she sighed. "We have that in common."
Heero met her steady gaze. "Yeah."
"So..." Relena's left foot drifted toward Heero's right, tapping it lightly in the sand. He stiffened at the sudden contact. "Back to you, and your plans," she continued. "I don't mean to pry, or anything. I'm just curious…" She paused and tapped her chin with her index finger, her eyes drifting skyward. "Where will Heero Yuy go off to next? And when might he show up again, out of the blue? Even after all this time, he's still too mysterious to track..." She lowered her gaze back to him, grinning. "Makes a girl wonder."
Heero's lips tugged upward. Her playfulness was reassuring. "I don't know," he quipped. "Haven't really thought about it."
"That's a lie." Relena's eyes were shrewd as ever. "You plan out your every move, don't you?"
"Not always."
"You planned this." Relena swept her hands around them. "You had to…"
"Not really." She gaped at his answer.
"I don't believe you. You've been planning this all along, haven't you?"
Heero shook his head once. "Like I told you before, I found this place a while back. I didn't plan to take you here today. It's just a coincidence."
Her laugh startled him. "Coincidence? Yeah, right." Relena tugged at the tank top she wore, and Heero could glimpse the tops of her breasts. "This is no coincidence, Heero Yuy, and you know it." Her eyes were dancing up at him, which Heero knew only because he was forcing himself to meet them. "I see this shirt in my dreams, you know," she added, her lips curving upward. "So," she continued unabated. "You just stumbled across this place, and decided to… commandeer it for your own purposes? And then you brought me here…"
"I had to bring you somewhere safe, and secluded," Heero protested. "This just… came to mind."
"Uh-huh," Relena quipped. "Right."
Heero frowned at her. "You make it sound like I'm trying to seduce you."
Both of her eyebrows rose. "Are you?"
"No," Heero said flatly, ignoring the flash of heat scalding his neck. If anything, she had tried to seduce him, but he wasn't about to accuse her of that. He was trying to do the right thing, even if she was all he really wanted.
But if he was going to work for her… he needed to tread carefully. It was a delicate matter.
"Relax, Heero," Relena said, bumping his shoulder with hers. "I was only teasing."
"Hn." That was a loaded statement, but Heero kept the observation to himself.
"You could come back to Brussels with me, though," she added softly. "If you wanted…" She paused and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her gaze falling to the sand. "I know you have school and everything, but-"
"I can take classes anywhere," Heero finished for her, surprising himself with his rapid response. Relena's head snapped up, her eyes showing her own surprise.
"Really?"
"Yeah. There's this thing called the internet," he deadpanned. Relena's eyes rolled.
"I know you can study remotely, Heero. I just didn't think you'd want to…" She dropped her gaze again. "But… if you did… I have plenty of room at my new place… I'm just saying." She gave a careless shrug, as if it didn't matter to her what he chose, although he knew it did.
"Sure," he said just as carelessly.
"What, just like that?" Relena whirled on him. "Are you so easy to trap after all, Heero? You should have told me long ago… you could have saved me the trouble of tracking you down all those times, or pining away for you to visit me now and then, when really, all I had to do was ask… Ugh," she finished with a groan, throwing her hands in the air, although it was plain to see she was more excited than angry. Especially when she turned gleaming eyes up to meet his.
"You're too much, Heero," she added, and the fond look that followed her words was unmistakable.
"Sorry," he said with another shrug. Relena rolled her eyes again, but a smile spread slowly across her lips.
"I forgive you," she said, "but only because you've agreed to stay with me, now. And no going back on your word, either," she added firmly, wagging a finger at him. "You promise?"
Heero nodded once. Relena shot him an exasperated look, but the smile playing at the corners of her lips betrayed her. She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder, just as she had the previous summer. The same day he'd kissed her for the first - and the only - time…
"I'm not letting you get away from me again, Heero," she said. He smirked over her head, reaching over to pull his fallen jacket back around her shoulders.
"You're one to talk," he muttered.
"Oh?" She raised her head to look back up at him. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"You're the one with a knack for getting into trouble," he said wryly.
"Well, if you do stay with me then you won't have to worry about that anymore, will you?" Relena replaced her head on his shoulder, this time looping both her arms through his. Heero secretly savored the contact, allowing himself to rest his head atop hers.
"Hn."
"So you'll continue your course work online, then?"
"I guess." It wasn't the most appealing option, but then he wasn't all that interested in school at the moment.
"What are you studying now?"
"Engineering."
"That's impressive, for a seventeen-year-old," she observed. "When did you have time to finish high school during the war, anyway?"
"When did you?" Heero shot back.
"I took a test."
"So did I."
"Well," Relena said with a huff, "you're still onto college courses, already. Much better than me."
"You have a job," he pointed out. "I'd rather be working myself."
"No, you wouldn't." He felt Relena shake her head beneath him. "Enjoy school - and your youth - while you can," she said with all the wisdom of an old sage. "It'll be gone before you know it."
Heero found the statement funny, considering how much of their youth was already gone- how much had been lost to the war. They'd both experienced far more than they should have at their age, but that was ultimately what had threaded them together.
And he didn't want to sever that tie anytime soon.
"I'll probably look for a job when I get to Brussels," he said, at last bringing the conversation to where he'd wanted it to go.
"Doing what?"
He loosed a low chuckle. "Personal security."
"Oh? And where could you do that?" Heero could hear the smile in her voice.
"I know of someone who may be hiring. Or should be," he added gruffly.
"Pffft. And who might that be?" Relena asked, her voice dripping.
"This young female diplomat who keeps getting kidnapped," Heero quipped. "It's annoying. I'd like to try to prevent that from now on."
"Maybe you should try the Preventers," she retorted.
"I doubt they'd pay me to devote myself to one person full-time. But I have a feeling ESUN might."
Heero swore he felt Relena shiver against him, although it could have been from the wind.
"I see," she said after a beat. "Well, it sounds like it could be an advantageous position for you…"
He scoffed mockingly. "I'm sure I'll have my work cut out for me."
"Well, it's a good thing you like a challenge, then." Relena arched back enough that Heero had to move his head, but her arms remained laced through his. She turned her head and looked up at him with smiling eyes. "So… when can you start?"
Heero barely managed to suppress the grin that tugged at his own lips as he faced Relena, sitting so close beside him, reminding him of that shuttle ride last year. And just like then, he was tempted to reach up and brush the loose hair from her face, and promise to protect her with his life. For the rest of his life.
This time, he just allowed himself to smile.
"I think I already have."
A/N: Hmm... This feels suspiciously like an ending, doesn't it? Whaddya say, fam? Is it over?! I did say I may keep this story open for a while, and keep adding fluffy little vignettes as I feel like it, but... we shall see. I do have a lot of other pending works in progress to update, and I don't want to keep any one of you waiting too long. :D
I am feeling extra emotional, as this past weekend I had the joy of hosting not one but two GW authors in my home! ^_^ It was a dream come true! Scarlet Eve and I have been real-life friends for years now - and yes, we met on here - and now we've had the pleasure of meeting Mistaken Miracles in person. I can't even tell you how extraordinary it was to have so much beauty, brains and talent all in one room ;) Yassss I talk us up, but it really was too good to be true. At one point I looked around our little group, sipping cocktails at a waterfront bar, and thought, Wow. We are all here because of this little anime that came into our lives in the early 00s... how can that be? But here we are! It's just amazing to be able to sit and talk with like-minded people, but you all know what a special little fandom this is :D And I want you to know that if you're reading this, I treasure you, too, and wish we could all hang out in person. Maybe someday I'll make my 1xR meetup goals a reality!
Thank you for helping to keep this fandom alive by reading and reviewing!
Love, hugs and Heero,
- RFP
