Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Eternal Promises ❯ Part 16 ( Chapter 16 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, or any of it's ascociated characters, much to my dismay and pain. Of course, while I cannot claim them, I do claim ownership of this particular story and any original characters I happen to throw in.

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Eternal Promises

By Eden

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"When I first heard that you had been kidnapped the first thing that came to my mind after I got over the shock was that it had been political. Of course, after listening to what the kidnappers made you tell us during your broadcast, Zecks' first suspicion turned out to be correct."

"And what was that?"

Heero was still fighting a battle within himself about how to go about answering this question. He didn't have any more excuses to stall with, and knew that stalling would only be putting off the inevitable, and hurting Relena. He had no desire to do either.

"It's because of me."

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Part 16

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"It's because of me."

Heero was surpised at how calm his voice sounded. "Whoever kidnapped you was trying to get to me. They somehow know about our past, and knew that the easyiest way to get to me would be through you."

A couple things happned in the next few moments. Heero watched as emotions passed across Relena's face; starting with shock, then relief, then slowly changing to confusion. He felt her hand move to rest ontop of his own. "Why on earth would someone want to come after you?"

He shook his head slowly. "I don't know who or why someone would be interested in me, but it's not like I haven't done anything to warrent this sort of pursuit."

"It was a war Heero." Relena sait, instantly understanding what he spoke of. "Everyone did terrible things for what they believed was right. I know that, and so do many others who saw things up close." Her expression was now serious as she watched him carefully through her clear violet eyes.

He spoke slowly. "Your right, but that still dosn't rule out the cause of this sudden interest in me."

Relena nodded and was silent for a moment while she seemed to be contemplating.

"I wish I could remember his name," She said finally, her voice was soft and earnist. "I know that the discription of a tall blond man dosn't really help a thing, but for some reasson that's all I can remember."

Heero had never been good with, or had much practice with comforting words. Even now, two years after the war and the fighting had stopped he hadn't had much opportunity to use them.

Carefully Heero moved his hoand out from under Relena's and reached up to brush back a strand of her hair. "You did everything that you could do, no one can ask more of you then that."

"But I should be able to give you so much more" Relena frowned. "I staired right at him, I spoke with him, and he told me his name. At the very least, I should be able to give you a discription, but it's as though my mind was wiped blank. All I can remember is a veague discription, and his general traits."

"We're much better off with a small bit of information then none at all."

Relena turned to face him, her eyes carefully taking stock of what she saw.

"What is it?" He asked after giving her a moment of silent observation.

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Heero had changed more then she had realized over the two years they had been seperated, and Relena was only realizing it now. How could she have been so stupid? Of course he had changed! Everyone had. Two years without war was enough to change anyone, especially someone who had been involed with it as much as Heero had.

But still, . . . she couldn't help the way her heart fluttered at his kind words, and the way her skin warmed at his touch. He was gentler then she remembered him being, and the though made her shiver with joy.

"Relena?" Herro's voice brought her back to reality. She could feel her cheeks flush with embarrasment.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to space out like that."

"What is it? Are you alright?"

She turned to face him again, and squeezed his hand in what she hoped was a reasuring gesture. "I'm fine, I guess I'm just tired. It's been a long day after all."

Heero reguarded her carefully, and after a moment nodded. "Your right. I'm sorry for keeping you up so long."

"No, it's fine. I'm glad that you did. Thank you for telling me what you know about the kidnappers. It helps to just know about them a little more."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this sooner, but I wasn't sure how to tell you. I didn't know how you would react." Deep prussian eyes met hers.

She knew that he meant every word he spoke. It was as though by looking into those endless pools she could see the number of times he had thought about telling her, but hadn't. It didn't matter though. He had told her, even if it had taken a while, and for that she was thankfull.

Relena smiled at him. "I know, it's okay."

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Heero could hardly contain his relief. Relena didn't seem to be angry at him for not telling her about the kidnappers sooner, but instead seemed to understand. The eavning was going quite well.

He heard the bathroom door open and the soft padded footsteps of Relena moving across the carpeted floor towards her bed. His eyes followed her, watching her slender form, covered only by a long thin nightgown slowly pull back the comforter, and crawl underneath the bedsheets.

Just as the night before, he was seated across the room in a chair that gave him a good view of both Relena's bed, and of the locked balcony doors. Right now, he wasn't paying much attention to the doors.

After she has crawled under the covers she took a moment to arrange the comforter across her legs. As he watched; Relena's mouth opened slightly, almost as though she wanted to say something to him. Before she uttered a single word though, she slowly shook her head and turned her lips up into a smile.

"What is it?"

"It's nothing." She answered continuting to smile. "I was just thinking."

"About what?"

It may have been his imagination, but Heero could've sworn that Relena's cheeks got slightly flushed before she answered. "Just that it must get rather uncomfortable sitting in that chair all night long."

Heero shrugged his shoulders. "Its not that bad. I've been in worse situations then this."

She let out a small laugh. "Yes, I suppose that your right. These are hardly rough conditions, but still I'm not sure that I like the idea of you spending all night awake again."

"I slept all afternoon, I'll be fine tonight. You don't have to worry."

His words seemed to do little to comfort her. She fixed him with a pointed gaze before speaking again. "You know what I mean. I doubt that if anyone came into this room in a second attempt to kidnap me, or get to you, that either of us would fail to wake up."

"Your probably right, but I'd rather have you safe then see something happen to you because of my negligence."

Relena didn't make a move to respond to this last comment. She had fixed her gaze on her lap, and seemed to be thinking.

He hesitated for a moment before standing up and crossing the short distance between his chair and her bed. Once there, he sat down facing her. "You really should get some rest."

An amused smile passed across Relena's lips. "Your always telling me that."

Heero allowed the corner of his mouth to raise slightly. "I suppose I am. I can't help it."

She continued to smile up at him, and then let out a small sigh. "Right now," She said. "I'm going to sleep right now."

"Good." He said taking hold of her hand and bringing it to his lips. He had to admit, he enjoyed hearing the small sound she made when his lips met her skin. When he looked up, her lips were parted slightly in surprise as she watched him.

"Heero," He heard her start to say as he leaned forward and captured her lips with his own.

Everything about Relena was soft and sweet, as he was only beginning to discover. It was addicting to be connected to her like this, and he knew that it was only going to get harder and harder to pull away from her as time went on. Hell it was hard now.

Reluctently he ended the kiss and leaned back to look at her. Relena's eyes opened the instant their lips were no longer touching. Her face was flushed, and she was slightly out of breath just as he was. There was no mistaking the surprise in her eyes. She clearly had not been expecting the kiss.

"Goodnight Relena." Heero said softly before turning off the bedside lamp, and standing up to return to his chair.

He had just gotten himself comfortable when he heard the blankts rustling from the direction of Relena's bed as she did the same. After a moment the sound stopped. He strained to hear more closely, but the only sounds he could make out where those of soft even breathing. He leaned back in his chair again, thinking that Relena had fallen asleep quickly, but was surprised by the soft whisper he was just able to make out in the darkness.

"Goodnight Heero."

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She was tied up, bound hand and foot. The room was dark, just as it had been before, and the strange frightning man was present again. He was leaning over her, his face obscured in the darkness. His breath blew sickly warm against her cheek as he spoke to her in the same distorted voice.

"You think that you'll get away from me now that you think you know the truth? You only know the half of it my dear." His teeth glowed large and white as he smiled crulelly.

Relena struggled against the ropes, trying to twist herself away from the offending and terrifying figure.

"I am still going to come for you. You may not be who I was after in the beginning, but I've found that you are just too dear to me to give up compleatly."

As he continued to speak, Relena tried unsucessfully to contain a scream. She could feel him touching her hair, running his hands through it. She cringed as she felt him bring a strand of it up to his face, and as he took a deep breath.

"Let me go," She pleaded, trying to ignore the revulsion she felt towards this person. "I promise no one will come after you, just let me go!"

"You think it's just that easy, don't you?" He was leaning directly over her now, his hands gripping her upper arms unconfortably tight. "You think that I can just let you leave without any harm coming to you at all? Without proving how serious I am?"

Her breathing was fast and shallow as she continued to struggle under his tight grip, and that of the bounds still holding fast. "I believe you! You don't have to prove a thing to me! Just let me go, please!"

"It's alright, Relena." The figure's distorted voice warped even more, becoming scratchy and then suddenly deeper toned. "It's only a dream."

"No," She gasped as the grip became unbearablly tight. "Let me go! Leave me alone!"

"It's just a dream," The voice went on, the once meanacing tone had turned slightly desprate. Or had her ears begun to betray her as well?

"Wake up, Relena. Wake up!"

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"Relena!"

She didn't know what she was doing, or where she was. All she knew was that she had to get away.

Somehow she knew that it was easier to fight back now that her limbs were no longer bound, but she didn't take the time to think about this. She also didn't stop to wonder why the voice calling out her name was no longer distorted, or why the hands that were gripping her upper arms no longer seemed to cut into the flesh painfully, but held her carefully.

Without really thinking about it, realization set in, and Relena suddenly stopped struggling.

"It's all right, it was just a dream."

The reasurring words that had pulled her out of the dream, and awakened her came back, but not as a memory. They were softly being spoken into her ear as the protective arms took advantage of the fact she was no longer fighting to get away.

"Heero?"

"I'm here," He said pulling her more firmly into his embrace. "Your alright now."

With those words it was as though he sucked every bit of fight she had out of her. She felt her body collapse against Heero's firm chest, and burried her face deep into the shoulder of the sweatshirt he still wore. He was real, and everything else had been just a horrible dream.

She didn't move away from him right away. Relena felt her heartbeat slow and return to normal, her breathing slowed, and all the tension in her body melted away. When she was finally sure that she was truly awake, she raised her head off of Heero's shoulder.

"Are you alright now?" Relena could detect nothing but concern in Heero's voice.

She nodded. "Yes, thank you. for waking me up."

"It's alright." He was silent for a moment, his hands still gripping her arms as though afraid to let go. "Do you think you could go back to sleep?"

Relena nodded again.

"Good," He said reaching up with one hand that had been on her arm to brush back some of the hair that had fallen into her face. "You should try to sleep if you can."

"Will you stay with me?"

"I promise I won't leave."

She took a deep breath in. "I mean while I sleep. Will you lay with me?"

Silence.

In all honesty, Relena wasn't surprised. She wasn't even sure what had possesed her to ask him if he would. All she could think of was how she wanted him to stay near her so that she could draw off of the stregnth and security he gave her without realizing it. She fully expected him to get up and move back to his chair across the room.

"Alright."

Stunned wasn't a strong enough word to discribe what she was feeling at that moment. Dumfounded might've come closer, but it still wasn't right. Relena thought that she had heard him wrong for a moment, until he made a move to change positions beside her.

Suddenly her mind began to work again. She moved over to make room for him to lay down next to her. He moved to make himself more comfortable in the spot, but that was when he stopped moving.

Relena had leaned back against the mound of pillows resting against her headboard, and was watching Heero. Once he had stopped moving around, he'd turned his head to towards her to do the same. Neither of them seemed able to make the first move.

After forming her resolve, Relena finally made a small move towards Heero. Slowly she reached out her hand to rest on his chest, appreciating the firmness of the body underneath his bulky shirt. She felt him reciprocate by bringing his arm up to wrap around her back to pull her forwards against his body.

Finally, Relena though to herself as they both sank back togeather to rest against the pile of pillows behind their heads. This was where she wanted to be, this was where she felt safe. Wrapped up in Heero's warm protective arms. She sighed and tried to pull herself closer to his body.

She had no way of knowing how long he would stay with her tonight, or when they would have another moment like this. All that Relena knew for sure was that for tonight at least, she would be able to sleep without anymore nightmairs.

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A/N : I know it's been a while since my last update, and I would like to apoligize again for that, but this was not compleatly my fault. I had some computer problems last month, and ended up compleatly loosing this chapter once. I'm usually pritty good, and I try to save all my writing to disc because of the potential for those types of things happening, but for some stupid reasson, this one chapter got missed. Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk, eh? It did get finished eventually ^_^ One other thing I would like to apoligize for, is the last few paragraphs of this chapter. I tried for a couple hours to get them just right, but I had to give up. Chalk it up to the time of night, or whatever, but they suck in my opinion. If I get a chance I'll try to rewrite them later, but for now I just wanted to get this part posted.

Thanks again for the wonderful support you have all given to me and this fic. It's very much appreciated. ^_^

Till next time all!

~Eden