Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Eternal Promises ❯ Part 11 ( Chapter 11 )

Disclaimer : I've never claimed to own Gundam Wing, or it's affiliated characters, so you can't sue me for that. I'm mearly borrowing them for my entertainment, and shall return them upon compleation of this fic, . . . perhaps ^_^. I do however stake claim to all original characters I happen to throw in here, and to this particular story.

Eternal Promises

By Eden

Part 11

Relena opened her eyes, and immediately had to close them against the bright sunshine. A groan escaped her lips as she brought a hand up to cover her face. She felt like she had one time after having too much wine at a dinner party.

Instantly she heard voices around her.

"Relena? Are you awake? Can you hear me?" A female voice asked from beside the bed.

Again Relena opened her eyes, this time shading them with her hand. She managed to pull her hand away after a moment and looked up to see Sally smiling at her brightly.

"How are you feeling, Relena?"

Her eyes moved, quickly taking in her surroundings. I'm home. She thought feeing suddenly giddy and smiling back at the woman. "Good now that I'm home."

Now that her eyes had adjusted to the brightness in the room, she tried to push herself into a sitting position. Sally helped her by putting pillows behind her back. Once she was propped up against the headboard, she looked around at the other people standing around her bed, and smiled shyly.

Her brother Milliardo stepped forward, towards the bed, and leaned down to hug her tightly. Surprised at the appearance of the man she hadn't seen for three years, she returned the embrace. She was grateful for any human contact that proved everything wasn't a dream, but was especially glad that her only living relative was here as well.

"We were all worried about you, Relena." Milliardo spoke once he'd loosened his hold on her shoulders. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

The shock hadn't worn off yet, so when she answered his question she did so in a happy tone.

"No, they didn't even lay a finger on me."

When he let go of her and stood back a bit, she saw that her answer seemed to relieve the look of apprehension that had been on his face.

Again she realized that there were other people in the room gathered around her bed. Slowly she moved her eyes around the room and looked at them all gratefully.

"Thank you all very much for all that you've done. I don't know if I can thank you enough for bringing me home again."

Quatre ran a hand through his blond bangs as he smiled at her. "We're just gland that we could do something to help you, and that your not hurt."

Everyone seemed to be here: Quatre, Wufei, Duo, Trowa, Ms. Noin, Sally and her brother. She frowned when she saw who was missing. As she was about to ask about his whereabouts, a wave of dizziness came over her, forcing her to bring a hand to her head to steady her vision.

She could feel Milliardo take hold of her shoulders. "Relena, what's wrong?"

She hadn't realized she'd closed her eyes until the strong grip released her. When she opened them it was to see Sally sit down on the bed beside her. Gently the woman took Relena's face in her hands, and turned it from side to side while asking what had happened.

Relena could see concern flashing through everyone's eyes. Not wanting to cause unnecessary worry, she forced a smile. "Oh, I guess I'm just tired."

Sally dropped her hands from Relena's face and stood up. "You should get some rest, that would help you out. You've had a hard couple of days, with the stress and the sleeping drugs."

"Thank you." Relena looked up at the woman.

"No problem, you just focus on getting better." She gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder before getting up to face the others. "Alright everyone, let's go for now and give her a chance to rest."

Nodding their heads in agreement, they all waved and wished her pleasant dreams before filing out the door and into the hallway.

Relena watched as Sally waited for everyone to leave and then gave her head a nod in the direction of her balcony. "Make sure she gets some rest."

"Hn."

She closed her eyes as her breath came in sharply. There was only one person she knew who could sound so hard and unemotional, even under the most stressful situations. She honestly hadn't thought he was still around, when she hadn't seen him earlier. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked in the direction the voice had come from.

The sight of Heero standing against the wall by the balcony doors was a sweet shock to her senses. The brief glance she'd had of him over the computer hadn't done him justice at all; he was much better looking in person. A smile crossed her lips as she took in the characteristic messy brown hair that hung in his eyes, while he continued to stand in one place, his arms crossed over his chest. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

After the door clicked shut, signaling Sally's departure, Heero looked over to meet her gaze. Neither of them did anything for a long moment, except regard each other carefully while taking in every detail.

Having seen the small changes in his appearance, and nervously smiling, Relena found her voice.

"I thought that you had already left."

He shook his head stiffly. "No, I didn't leave."

The uncomfortable silence willed the room once more. It seemed that they were both at a complete loss for words. It wasn't that she didn't have anything to say, it was that she had so many things she wanted to ask Heero she didn't know where to start.

After a moment of running through her mind all the things she could ask first, she started with the most basic of questions.

"Where were you all this time?"

"A lot of places." He took a hand and pushed it through his ever-wild hair. "I was on Earth for a while after Mariemaia's coup-de-tat, and then went back to the colonies."

Relena could see that he was trying this, trying to be open with her, but he was having a hard time relaxing. Motioning towards a chair standing in the corner of the room, she smiled at him. "Why don't you come tell me what you were doing in the colonies all this time. I would very much like to know how you've been getting along."

Understanding what she wanted him to do, Heero nodded slowly and retrieved the chair. Once he had placed it fairly close to the side of the bed, he sat down to face her.

"I didn't do anything exceptionally exciting once I made it back to space." Relena saw him stiffen up a bit as he started to speak, but he began to relax a bit the more he talked. "I thought that since I'd spent enough time fighting I should try to live in the new world, and so I enrolled in school again."

The almost expressionless look he had on his face faded once he mentioned school. Before she could ask him what was wrong, he had gone right on talking.

"Going to school during the war had been different then after," He went on, not quiet meeting her gaze as he did so. "I hadn't really paid much attention back then to the things going on around me, because I was always busy worrying about strategies and missions. Once I didn't have to worry about that any of those things, I started to pay attention to all the people around me, and I saw how ignorant they really were about the war." When Heero did look up he had anger burning in his eyes that caused them to swim with darker shades of blue. "Most of them don't even understand the true conflict behind the war, or why it had been fought in the first place."

Relena listened to all he had to say and nodded her head in agreement. "Your right, most people don't know the real reasons behind the war. Even many of the new leaders don't have a clue, but don't you see? It doesn't matter. The reasons behind the war only fuel more hate and more fighting. If the real reasons are forgotten, but if the lessons remain, then the war served its purpose."

"Knowing that doesn't make the reality any less frustrating." His face remained the same as he continued to stair at her.

Not really wanting to see him like this now, she tried to take his mind off of the conversation by changing the subject. "What else did you do while you were up in the colonies?"

Heero seemed to think about the question for a moment before relaxing and answering. "After I decided that school wasn't what I wanted to do, I took odd jobs that moved me around a lot, until I ended up working maintenance for the Mars Terri-forming project."

"You met with my brother and Ms. Noin their, right?"

He nodded. "It seems that they have been helping out on the Terri-forming project since they disappeared two years ago."

"It sounds like you must've spent some time with them while you were there."

"Some." Heero agreed. "Noin invited me over at least once a week for dinner. She was worried I didn't eat enough."

She couldn't help but grin at the last comment. This was turning into quite an experience itself. Relena couldn't remember a time when they had spoken like this. The conversation was so relaxed and comfortable that she had to remind herself whom she was speaking to. She wanted to take this moment and seal it in her mind so that she would never forget it.

"At least someone looked after you. I think that you'd be apt to just forget about meals and work through whatever project you were involved with, without so much as a break."

To anyone besides the people who knew this young man, it would've seemed like his expression hadn't changed. Of course knowing him like she did, Relena noticed the guilty look that came to his eyes. She was just about to ask him another question when she felt another wave of dizziness that forced her to raise a hand to steady her head.

Heero was at her side in a moment. With his hands gently resting on her shoulders, he guided her to lean back against the pillows. After taking a few deep breaths Relena was able to open her eyes and lower her hand. As she looked up, she caught the concern in his Prussian eyes, and her heart melted.

How many times over the past two years since he went away did she imagine him looking at her like that? How many times had she dreamed he would come to hr and let her know that he cared? She had thought about both of these things so many times that she had almost begun to think she was crazy.

That was before all of this happened.

"Are you alright?" He was leaning over her while staring into her eyes.

"Yes." She couldn't lie to him even if she had wanted to. It was as though he was gazing into her soul.

They stayed there like that for what seemed like forever. Neither of them moving, and barely breathing. Suddenly Heero moved one of his hands to her forehead.

"What are you doing?" Relena asked finding her voice finally.

His face was devoid of any emotion that he had been showing just moments before. "You had a slight fever when we found you in the warehouse yesterday afternoon. It seemed to burn itself you by the time we got you back here, but I wanted to see if it came back." He relaxed after a moment.

"Well?" She questioned.

"You seem to be fine," His gaze softened as he looked back at her. "Besides needing some rest, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong."

"Does that mean that you're going to make me go to sleep now?"

Heero moved back a bit and looked at her carefully. "I'm not going to make you, but I think that you ought to. You've been through a lot, the rest would be good for you."

"Alright." Relena stared back at him. "I'll get some rest, but I'd like to say something first."

"What's that?"

Something about the way Heero was looking at her made her hesitate and then stumble over her words. His eyes were burning into hers with a little too much intensity. "I -," She started, suddenly feeling nervous. "I - I wanted to say thank you for coming. It means a lot to me."

As he continued to stair, Relena felt herself blushing furiously, and turned her head away from his gaze. It was almost a full minute before she saw movement out the corner of her eye, and turned to see Heero raising her covers around her shoulders.

When she looked into his face, there was no indication that he was upset or withdrawn. He looked rather thoughtful, which came as nothing less then a surprise to Relena, considering what she had just told him.

"You really should get some rest now," He repeated taking a step back from the bed. "You've had a rough couple of days."

"You're not leaving, are you?" She asked quickly. "Are you still going to be here when I wake up?"

Heero had turned around as if to walk away, but instead of heading towards the door, he pulled the chair he'd been sitting in before closer to the bed and sat down.

Relena let out a sigh when she saw this, and smiled as he spoke again.

"I'll stay here while you sleep. It was decided that this would be the best thing to do while we have no idea what the kidnappers are up to."

"Even though they have no interest in kidnapping me again?" She felt her look turn to one of amusement.

"You don't know that for sure." Heero crossed his arms across his chest as his expression turned stony. "All that you know is what they told you, and what makes you think they would have any reason to tell you the truth? They are the ones who kidnapped you in the first place."

"That's true, but they also let me go, just like they said that they would."

She knew she had a point, but Heero refused to relinquish his position on the matter. "We have no idea what their true intentions are, so we need to be as careful as possible."

He turned his eyes towards the floor after that, and seemed lost in thought. It was just the same way she had found him several times during the war, while he and Quatre had been staying in the Sank Kingdom. Relena had come to associate this expression to things that made him worry, which would of course explain why he had always looked this way during the war, but did this really warrant all this worry? Concern surly, but the kidnappers weren't even interested in her, they were after someone else they had said would come out of hiding with the announcement of her disappearance.

Of course! The many pieces in her mind seemed to snap together like a jigsaw puzzle, the picture becoming clear. Heero must know who the kidnappers were after, or at least have an idea. Knowing the way his mind worked, he was most likely trying to find a way to handle the kidnappers without involving the unknown person in question.

Relena stifled a yawn with her hand, and turned her eyes to look at Heero once again. Still deep in thought, he didn't seem to be making any moves to leave his position in the chair. Even though she was fairly sure she would be safe in her bedroom by herself, it made her feel more at ease to know Heero would be close at hand just in case.

A smile forming on her lips, she snuggled back against the pillows and closed her eyes. As she slowly felt herself drift off into oblivion, she realized that she felt a way that just a few days ago would have been impossible. She was utterly and completely at peace.

When Heero looked up finally, he was surprised to see that Relena had already fallen asleep with a slight smile turning up the corner of her lips. Something about the way she looked while she was asleep made his heart feel at ease. Perhaps it was the fact that when she was sleeping in her own bed she was away from harm. That probably had a lot to do with it.

She seemed more relaxed today while in a natural sleep rather than a drug induced one. This was good; because he knew she was going to need all the rest she could get to prepare her for tomorrow. She was going to get the chance to tell them all about what had happened to her while she had been held by the kidnappers. He knew that their would be all kinds of questions, and that she would have to go over everything more than once to make sure she didn't leave out any details they could use later.

From the chair he was seated in Heero watched as Relena's brow's knit suddenly as she dreamed, and then relax as though everything was fine. He fought the urge to reach for her hand, and reassure her while she slept. The last thing he wanted to do was wake her up now that she'd just gotten to sleep.

In order to take his mind off of the alluring figure under the covers, he began to look back at their earlier conversation. Heero was rather surprised that it had been so easy to tell Relena about what he'd been doing the last two years. He had never been able to do that with anyone else before. It was as thought he found comfort in confiding in her, it made the weight on his mind less with someone to help share the burden. Of course just the fact that she made him feel so comfortable was a dangerous thing for both of them.

No matter what Relena said, it was always a possibility that the kidnappers could make another attempt to get at her again, especially now that they were fairly positive who their targets were now. Anything could still happen to her if he or Zecks didn't find a way to stop them.

I'm wanted to say thank you for coming. It means a lot to me.

His jaw locked. He never imagined that he might be causing more problems for her by coming back now, but it seemed that he was wrong. Of course, he couldn't leave now without putting her in danger again either. What a dilemma.

This was not the way he had pictured coming back, and yet it was undeniably happening. He could be putting her very life in danger by just knowing her. Undoubtedly Zecks was thinking the same things right about now. They had to come up with a strategy to keep Relena safe incase of any more advances by the kidnappers. The first thing that he needed to do was to keep his mind on protecting her.

Making sure his emotions were in check when he was around Relena was going to be difficult, especially when he had found himself slipping so many times while they had been talking earlier. There were things that he had wanted to tell her, but seeing as the situation was escalating, he would need to wait until things had been dealt with. The thought of asking the others for help during the nighttime watch had crossed his mind, but he had quickly dismissed it. Guarding Relena was his responsibility, and he wouldn't make the others burden themselves with it as well. He just wanted to know that they would be around if anything were to happen.

The thought of what had happened to Relena while she had been with the kidnappers had been on his mind for a while now. He hadn't asked her any questions about it though, because he knew she would be explaining everything soon enough. Of course the fact that she didn't even seem upset about the kidnapping anymore told him all he needed to know about how she'd been treated. For some reason, this worried him; it had not been like a normal kidnapping at all.

In all the cases he had ever heard of, even if the kidnappers took someone other then the objective, they never returned the first victim without some kind of trade off. What these people were playing at was completely unknown and, even if Relena disagreed with him, it made them even more dangerous.

Sneaking another look towards the bed, Heero saw that Relena hadn't moved and was still sleeping soundly. It wasn't all that surprising considering all of the drugs they'd given her over the past few days. It didn't escape his notice that even though she'd been through so much in the last little while, she still managed to look beautiful.

He turned his watch up to look at the dial. There was a good six or seven hours until Relena would wake up. Pulling his gun out of the back of his pants and resting it on his knee, Heero settled himself in for the rest of the night.