Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply here. I do not own Gundam Wing; however, I DO own Alexandra, Adjani, Joshua, Glacia, Eve and anyone else who is unfamiliar to the show. If you should wish to borrow them, PLEASE let me know!

Series: Gundam Wing

For Eternity

Chapter Six: Landslide

Written by: Tiasha

~

I took my love and I took it down

I climbed a mountain and I turned around

And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills

Well the landslide brought me down

[…]

Well, I've been afraid of changing 'cause I built my life around you

But time makes you bolder

Children get older

I'm getting older too…

Lyrics: DixieChicks -- Landslide

~

Yes, she most definitely had a headache, he decided as she quickly downed two pills of Advil with a glass of water in one large gulp. He imagined that all of this was drudging up unwanted memories, and he could understand that she would get a headache from it. But God it hurt knowing that-she had suffered so much…knowing that Relena had feared seeing them after she had changed…it hurt…

He looked away from her towards the doorway of the kitchen area when he heard soft, somewhat clumsy footsteps on the stairs. Soon those footsteps approached the living and kitchen area and Heero found himself staring at a childlike version of the old Relena Dorlain… The child was rubbing sleep from her eyes as she stumbled into the kitchen where she was sure her mother was, honey-blonde hair mussed from sleep.

"Look's like the little terror is awake," Alex mused from the other room, also having noticed the child. The Irish woman was mildly scolded by Adjani but he could tell that it was only a half-hearted attempt. Apparently the Irish woman was like this on a normal basis…

"Mommy?" the child called sleepily, making her way towards the kitchen. Heero looked to the young woman who had just finished downing the Advil and water, watching as she winced before looking at her 'daughter.'

"Hey Pumpkin, did you have a good nap?" she asked, picking the child up as soon as the four-year-old was in arms reach. The little girl nodded while poorly smothering a yawn as she did so, and then looked in his direction. The child blinked a few times before shyly burying her face in the crook of Relena's neck.

Heero continued to gaze at the child, raising an eyebrow as the latter peeked up at him curiously. This kind of behavior was new to him…he was not used to children and their-moods-actions-behavior…least not when they were this young… But it wasn't too bad so far…

"Oi [1]! What is this? No greeting? I'm offended!" came a familiar, yet (in Heero's opinion) unwanted voice. Heero threw a glare at the young Preventer Anaya who had entered the house, jacket flung over one shoulder while the other hand held a laptop case.

Relena took a glance at the young Preventer before give him a sour look, putting the child on the floor when the four-year-old began to show signs of wanting freedom. "Whoop-di-do," Relena said in a sarcastic tone as the little girl raced over to the young man, shouting 'onii-chan [2]' as she went.

The young man had just placed his jacket on the back of a chair and placed his laptop case on the kitchen table before he bent down to pick the girl up. He had a somewhat smug grin on his face as the girl gave him as big of a hug as she could manage. "Well, at least someone here appreciates me," he said, that smug grin still on his face as he looked towards Relena and Hilde who were in the kitchen.

Alex was entering the kitchen and upon hearing the young man's statement, Heero noted that she rolled her eyes and promptly flipped the young man off. Relena then cleared her throat as if in warning and Heero quietly chuckled as the Irish woman scowled at the former Vice-Foreign Minister. Apparently this was all very routine for them…but that still did not dispel the displeasure of having Preventer Anaya here…

"Oh please, Josh! The only time we appreciate you is when you're asleep," Hilde quipped, turning her back on him in favor of opening the refrigerator. Heero watched as Josh stuck his tongue out in retaliation before giving the dark-haired young woman an innocent look when she looked over her shoulder suspiciously. It might have worked…had the child not been trying to hide her giggles.

Hilde gave a huge exasperated sigh, "Ugh, why do you even bother to keep him around Lena?" She had turned her attention back to the fridge as she dug around in the back of it for something.

Heero watched Relena's expression carefully, though trying to seem uninterested at the same time. Perhaps it was not that she enjoyed the young man's presence but was due to orders from Une? That small sliver of hope was dashed quickly as Relena gave Preventer Anaya an amused grin, shaking her head jokingly.

"He's a good pack-mule."

Said young man gave her a hurt look and whined, "Aw, come on! That's not it and you know it!"

Relena tilted her head to the side, "Is it?" At the young man's crestfallen look, she shook her head and smiled. "You've got chores still before dinner. You're expected in the stables. Oh, and check the roost on your way too please. See if Sharazade's wing is doing any better, okay?"

Joshua Anaya stood there for a moment, a baleful expression on his face as he looked at her, the little girl still in his arms. Finally, he shook his head, muttering something under his breath and Heero caught the tale end of 'stubborn alpha-female.' But as to what that pertained to, Heero had no idea…it was just something to add to the list of things he was going to need to research.

"The things I do for you, bitch," Joshua Anaya sighed in an exasperated tone, shaking his head as Relena merely smiled like a Cheshire cat. Taking the little girl with him as he moved out of the kitchen, the young Preventer did not even spare the ex-gundam pilot a second glance as he headed towards the stairs to, Heero assumed, change out of his uniform into something more suited for chore-work. Heero glared at him as he left, extremely upset that this man had the audacity to call Relena a 'bitch' of all things!

However, Heero's attention was quickly diverted when Alex commented on how stupid the young man was. So the Irish woman wasn't too keen on the young preventer either…but Heero was getting the impression that the woman wasn't keen on most people…

"Bitch?" Heero heard Duo question as he entered the kitchen area, surprise evident in his tone. Heero was suddenly very aware of how quickly the women froze in their spots, tension filling the air as a personal subject had been touched upon. None of them wanted to explain it-that was obvious from the side-glances the girls stole from one another. But in the end it was the French woman who spoke, though glancing at Relena before she dived deeper into their past.

"McCloud had somehow found a way to reconstruct human DNA and RNA…he had been ecstatic about it and began using his prisoners-us-as his test subjects. He reconstructed many of the human DNA/RNA with canine…

"Joshua, Alex, Relena, myself and others were…altered. The human DNA/RNA is still dominant but the canine DNA enhanced the animalistic part of it. We tend to think in terms of packs, alpha-males, alpha-females, and whatnot. From those of us who were altered came about…hm, was it three or five packs…

"In any case, those in this household are marked as those of the Erinnyes [3]'s pack. That is why Joshua so casually throws the term 'bitch' around. For us, it's just another every-day term."

Heero noticed that Relena had been staring at the countertop for a very long while… She couldn't stand to look at them, he surmised and frowned as another thought occurred to him. She wasn't ashamed, was she? She had had no control over what had happened in there… Granted, this was probably one of the reasons why she felt she couldn't return as the Relena Dorlain she had used to be but-surely she would realize that they didn't fault her for that! Or any of what had happened to her in there!

"Before you even ask, no. A male leads not every pack and especially not this one. Joshua is outnumbered in this pack sadly. Relena is alpha-female and leader of this pack…Joshua is alpha-male and has authority over the male half of the pack-that is, until Relena chooses someone else as alpha-male."

"Dare I ask how and why that happens?" Duo asked, blinking in surprise at this sudden turnabout. The braided young man shared a quick look with Heero and Heero couldn't help but clench his fists in anger. That compound must have truly been Hell for them…that kind of testing and interrogation and intensive training… God, why hadn't he kept searching for her?! He had left her there for them to torture and destroy…

"Well…um…uh," Midii stuttered, obviously not sure if she should phrase it or allow the person in question to answer. Relena finally decided to rejoin the topic of conversation by heaving a tired sigh.

"That will happen when I choose a 'mate,'" she explained, curling her index fingers to indicate quotation marks around the word 'mate.'

"So you and that Josh guy aren't-" Duo ventured, but was cut off by Relena's shriek of dismay

"Hell no!" Relena nearly shrieked, whirling around with a look of disbelief on her face. "Josh and me-ugh! Oh my god no! God, he acts like he's Eve's age for cryin' out loud! That'd be-ugh, oh god that's so-so-so-"

"Disgusting?" Adjani supplied from the family living area.

"Horrid?" offered Midii.

"Revolting?" chimed Hilde.

"Icky?"

Relena paused in her ranting to throw the Irish woman a strange look, only to be answered with a waggle of dark red eyebrows from the said Irish woman. Heero glanced at the other two women in the kitchen and noted with amusement that they too were giving Alex a strange look.

"Icky?" the four women somehow managed to chorus together. The redhead merely nodded with an insanely perky 'yup!' in between all the nodding of her head.

"Of all the witty comebacks and comments and shit you dish out, you come up with icky?!" Hilde asked the redhead incredulously. When Alex nodded again, Hilde gave a disbelieving 'amazing' while Midii shook her head saying something in French, and Adjani calling the Irish woman an idiot.

Relena shook her head while laughing, saying "And somehow it has the effect I was looking for."

---

It was nearing dinner time in the residence of the Erinnyes and was one of the few meals that every member of the household ate together…or at least attempted to eat together. With the conflicting schedules each member had, breakfast was out of the question; in fact, the only people who had breakfast together were Relena, Eve, Miguel and the furry members of the house, and that usually constituted Relena rushing to get Eve and Miguel ready for school. Lunch was pretty much the same way. Those at work would meet up with others if they were nearby during lunch-break, but that wasn't always the case. Dinner, on the other hand, was the meal that they all tried to make it to.

However, tonight was one of the few nights that Relena felt like hitting her head against the wall. Not only had she just finished getting the ex-gundam pilots set up for staying in her home the next few weeks, but then there had been preparing dinner, and she had never thought that the formal dinning room would ever be used. The common dinning room was able to fit the normal group well enough with an extra seat or two. But add another five people to that list and there was absolutely no room to pull up the extra chairs needed.

And now Relena was busy trying to count to ten in an attempt to keep herself from screaming at her daughter. Why, of all the nights, did Eve have to choose to be difficult about washing up for dinner? Why was everything going downhill as if a landslide had suddenly appeared?

"Eve," she said slowly, taking great pains to be patient and keep an even tone with her daughter. "Please, go wash up for dinner."

"No!" the four-year-old whined, moving to hide behind Hilde who had just moved into the formal dinning room, carrying a bowl of vegetables. The force of Eve moving behind her caught Hilde off guard and the young woman found herself losing her balance.

"Lena!" she cried out in surprise, tossing the bowl in the other woman's general direction as the dark-haired petite began to trip over the little girl and fall to the floor. Instinctively, Relena lunged for the bowl of vegetables only to find that the shouting had attracted the smaller of the two dogs she owned into the room and had moved in between her legs, tripping up her feet.

Relena found herself falling to the floor too and quickly looked for some way of saving the vegetables. If she threw it on the table from where she was the bowl would break or spill, and if she took it down with her, there was no doubt in her mind that the little border collie would ruin them with its curiosity in sniffing and licking everything.

"Miss Relena?" came her savior's voice as he entered the room.

"Quatre! Catch!" she tossed the bowl in his general direction, hoping nothing would happen to cause him to be in the same predicament she and Hilde were in. Looking at the startled blond Arab, she found her hope to be misguided. He had caught the bowl, but was so surprised at the sudden object coming at him that he had backed up in his surprise, not realizing that the larger of the two dogs had been behind him. And there he went, preparing to land on his rump, the bowl now tossed up in the air and preparing to smash onto the nice linoleum of the kitchen floor.

"Duo!" Quatre shouted in desperation to save the bowl from shattering.

"Got it!" the braided young man called, rushing to catch the bowl as gravity took effect. A triumphant grin spread across his face as he caught the bowl, but that was soon replaced by a look of dread as the large dog stood on its hind legs and roughly placed its front paws against Duo's stomach and chest, barking excitedly. This caught the braided young man by surprise and found that the combined weight of the dog and himself were enough to send him toppling backwards. "Shit!" he yelled as the bowl once again went up into the air, preparing to crash to the floor once again.

But there was no crash or shattering of ceramic against the linoleum floor. "Can't you do anything right, Maxwell?" came the annoyed comment as Wufei Chang stood a foot away from the braided man and dog, holding the unbroken vegetable bowl with a look of annoyance.

The large golden retriever, who had previously flattened the God of Death, barked happily and moved to jump against Wufei. A resounding chorus of 'no' was heard as the dog prepared to reenact the scene with Duo but was stopped by Heero as the young man grabbed the dog's collar and gave a commanding 'sit' to the happy canine. The retriever gave a pitiful whine as Heero gave a slight tug on the collar to emphasize his command.

Still whining at having been scolded and not knowing why, the dog complied, looking at the young man who had, in its eyes, claimed dominance as the new alpha male for the time being. It received an apologetic rub behind the ears for its effort before it looked up Wufei, licking its muzzle as it stared up at the bowl.

The sudden, short moment of silence was broken by an angered shout from the formal dinning room.

"Eve Rumiko Daniels! Upstairs now!" Relena yelled from where she had fallen to the floor.

"Demo okaa-san…[4]" her daughter whimpered from underneath Hilde, who was currently doing an odd rendition of a backbend in the attempt of not flattening the child.

"NOW!"

The quick patter of feet on stairs was accompanied by the sobs of crying as the child ran up the stairs. The four men waited patiently for something else to be said. They were unprepared for the furious young woman who came stomping into the kitchen, stepping over the fallen Quatre and Duo with ease as she did so. Moving to the porch door she opened the door and gave a short, high, crisp whistle.

"Cindy! Rusty! Come!" she called and the two canines barked as they raced towards her only to slow down as they realized her intentions. Heads down and tails between their legs, the two dogs shamefully walked out onto the back porch. "Go bug the cats or something," Relena muttered as she gently closed the door behind the two animals. She watched them through the window, a small smile spreading across her lips as she watched the two dogs race toward the stables. Cindy (the smaller of the two) was attempting jump up on Rusty's back but fell at every attempt. Typical of those two canines.

"Lena?" Hilde asked tentatively as she also entered the kitchen. Relena watched through the reflection of the glass panes on the porch door as the young woman helped Quatre stand since he was somewhat blocking the doorway. Her gaze then flicked to Duo as he and Heero stood, then to Wufei and finally at her own. The slight smile was reminiscent of the old Relena Dorlain, but it couldn't be her because she had died years ago...hadn't she? She didn't know anymore, ever since they came here earlier today she was slowly starting to doubt her reasoning…

"Please finish setting the table Hilde-san [5]," she said in a flat tone, turning away from the door and striding out of the kitchen, intent on going upstairs. "I need to speak with my daughter."

"Lena it wasn't her fault-not really at least," Hilde said in hopes of keeping the child from being punished too severely.

Without pausing, Relena threw over her shoulder, "I never said it was, now did I, baka [6]?"

---

Hilde heaved a tired sigh as she turned to Wufei and took the vegetable bowl, the cause for all this trouble. The stupid, offending, insignificant vegetable bowl had caused a lot of trouble in those past five minutes. God, if they weren't so many people eating dinner that night, she would have dumped it all in the sink… She still had half a mind to too…

Gently placing the stupid bowl on the table, she turned back to the kitchen to grab the last of the food in there. She smiled at Quatre as the young man passed her, carrying a bowl of bread rolls as he moved to place them on the table as well. It was strange having to incorporate the five of them into their routines now, but it wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be…

Hilde bit her lower lip as she realized that everything was done and that what was left to do was call everyone to dinner. "Alex, do you want to go tell Josh and Frank that dinner's ready?"

"Why me?!" came the indignant reply from the study. Hilde silently counted to five, smiling as the Irish woman came stomping out of the study, pausing long enough to pull on a pair of boots before going out the back toward the stables. Her dark mutterings followed her the whole way.

"Thank you!" Hilde called sweetly before the porch door was slammed shut. Shaking her head, she turned back to the five young men who would be staying with them for the next couple of weeks and motioned for them to go towards the dining room.

"Go ahead and take a seat," she said casually, avoiding the gaze of the Deathscythe's former pilot. "I'm going to go get Adjani and Midii."

---

Relena heaved a heavy sigh as she carried Eve down the stairs, the child refusing to be out of her mother's reach. She was so frustrating sometimes… But a soft, adoring smile touched her lips as she tenderly kissed the crown of the little girl's head. Oh, but Relena wouldn't trade her for the world… Eve was her baby, her life, her motivation, her hope, her family…

"Ma petite tresor precieux [7]," she whispered to the girl clinging to her. "Aishiteru [8], baby."

"Aishiteru okaa-san [9]," Eve whispered back and clung to her tighter. Entering the formal dining room, Relena moved towards the open spot next to her own chair and placed Eve into the booster that had been placed there. She then moved to her chair and sat down, looking up to find Joshua Anaya sitting across from her, Adjani next to him and Midii next to the Greek woman. Frank sat on the other side of Eve and next to him was Alex with Hilde next to the redhead. The five new additions were next to Hilde and Midii and Relena glanced down at them.

She frowned momentarily, realizing that one more person was missing. "Where's Miguel?" she asked, looking at Frank. Miguel was boy of about thirteen with dirty blonde hair and magnificent black eyes, who had stumbled upon the small estate perhaps two years prior. He had come to learn of their secrets (since McCloud was after the boy for an unknown reason) and had offered his skills to them. He was an excellent marksman and was becoming quite the animal-tamer with help from their expert, Frank.

"Practice at school for the play," Frank answered in a matter-of-fact tone. His deep baritone voice always soothed her nerves, much like a father's voice would. She nodded in understanding, as it was that she had forgotten the boy was part of the set crew for the play his school was preparing to perform.

"You gave him credits to buy food, I assume?"

"Naturally."

"Any clue as to when the brat will be back?" Alex asked, joining the conversation. Relena glanced at the redhead and smiled reassuringly at her. The boy had reminded Alex of a family member she had lost during the war, and had seemed to take to the boy rather quickly. She was more protective of him than anything else really, tolerating his presence more than any other males', aside from Frank.

"Late, but don't worry," Frank answered. "A parent of another student agreed to drive him to the front gate. I'll meet him there and walk back with him."

Alex said nothing, just narrowing her eyes in a manner that was non-threatening. "Who said I was worried? I just wanted to know how long that brat was going to take. He'll need the computer for homework no doubt and I still have reports to work on."

Frank and Relena merely nodded but Joshua rolled his eyes, smiling in a knowing manner. Slowly a growl began to surface from Alex's throat and Relena's eyes flew toward Joshua's, meeting his answering gaze. The Hispanic young man quickly apologized and let out a silent sigh of relief when the growl died. The Irish woman was definitely on edge and making her cross that edge was dangerous.

"So!" Adjani said quickly before anything else could happen. "Let's eat!"

"But we haven't said grace yet," came Eve's small voice, confusion evident in her tone. Everyone paused to look at the little girl, who slowly sunk into her chair at the suddenly large amount of attention she was getting. "Can I say grace?"

"¿No veo porqué no? Dígalo en francés también, para honrar Midii que nos es vuelto [10]," Joshua said, winking at the little girl.

Smiling happily, the small child sat up straight and clapped her hands together. Relena smiled proudly as Eve had understood what her 'brother' had told her. The child was gifted, though whether naturally or from the compound she didn't know nor care, when it came to languages. Already four and she could speak three different languages fluently and understand three different languages.

"Cher God," Eve said, eyes closed as she prayed. "Merci de notre nourriture et amis. Merci de nous apporter la maison de Midii encore et merci de l'observation au-dessus de nous. Amen.[11]"

"Très bon. Je suis heureux de voir que vous ne vous êtes pas développé rouillé avec mon absence. Et merci, il est bon pour être à la maison [12]," Midii answered, smiling at the little girl who beamed at the compliment.

And with that, the evening went by rather smoothly to Relena's surprise. The former gundam pilots helped with the clean up of dinner and later Eve developed a bond with the majority of the pilots. The bond with Wufei had previously been developed when the child had unknowingly struck a chord with the usually harsh and indifferent man.

He had scolded her the day the two had first met, when he had unexpectedly shown up on Relena's doorstep, and she had questioned him. His reasoning quickly led to some comment about honor and Eve had been in absolute awe about it. She then began to ask him questions of where he had heard it, why he still remembered and such questions of the like. She ended up begging him to teach her martial arts when she realized she could achieve some sort of honor through such practice. Grudgingly, Wufei had agreed since, as it turned out, he was to help the Erinnyes perfect their martial arts by Lady Une's orders.

But it came as no surprise to Relena when Eve began to form that same type of bond with each of the pilots, Quatre and Duo most especially. In fact, Relena was slowly beginning to worry how it would play out in the end of the few weeks, after the battle when they would all have to go back to their own lives. How was her baby going to take it when they left because Relena wanted them to…when they disappeared out of their lives for good… Did Relena even want them to leave-no, they had to leave…they wouldn't accept her the way she was now. There were too many memories-too many habits-too much pain involved…

"Adjani-nee-san [13] says that you can make the weather however you want it when you live in the colonies," Eve's inquisitive little voice broke through her thoughts. Relena watched her daughter bounce around the room happily as her questions were answered truthfully, happy to know more. The girl was always curious to learn more…

"Most of the time," answered Duo, leaning back in his chair. "Unless some kids mess with the climate simulator."

Eve's eyes went wide with comprehension before giggling and spouting off another question.

"You know, you should stop her before she hurts herself," she heard Joshua whisper in her ear and she smacked his arm to silence him.

"She's happy," Relena defended. "That's all that matters."

The Hispanic young man nodded his head, "Los parecer él van a nevar pronto. ¿Apenas en la hora para los días de fiesta, no? [14]"

She gave him a blank look but quickly finding her gaze switching to her daughter when the girl squealed happily. "Really? Can we go riding when it does? Please, mommy! You promised that when it snowed again we could go riding! Please?" her little girl asked, bouncing up and down.

"Uh-uh-hai [15]," she stumbled out as her daughter let out a cheerful 'yatta [16]' in response.

Joshua then stood from his seat on the fireplace stoop where he and Relena had been sitting. "Well, I think I'll go with Frank to get Miguel, since there really isn't anything better to do." Frank had gone down to the front gate perhaps five or so minutes ago to wait for the boy to return, and Relena found herself wanting to go as well. But she was the hostess after all and she was leader, and a leader of any pack did not leave their den unprotected, even if the strangers to the pack were allies…

"Baka," she said, crossing her arms. "If you were that bored I would have given you something to do earlier."

"Really?" he asked, a mischievous gleam in the young man's eye. "Like what koi [17]?"

"Like clean the attic."

He shook his head, "Nope, that's boring too."

"Whatever, just go."

He gave her a measuring look before turning, muttering to himself, though she had a good idea about what. Her attitude. Her attitude was different. She was snippier, more on edge now and it was causing the rest of her pack to become antsy too. She had to get over this and quickly. She was supposed to be a better role model for them.

Sighing, she stood and excused herself, moving to the back porch. There she sat on the swinging bench, Rusty and Cindy coming to lay at her feet. It was going to be hard…but she knew she could do it. She had to…

"You look like you could use some company," a baritone voice said and Relena turned her gaze quickly to the source. Frank stood with his hands in his pockets, his guitar strapped to his back. How long had she been sitting here lost in her own thoughts?

"I guess," she responded half-heartedly. "How long have you been back?"

"Not long miss." Silence fell across them for a moment before he spoke again. "Would you care to join me?"

She smiled at him, slowly nodding her head and sitting up straight as Frank took the guitar off his back and strummed it to get a feel for the tuning. He then played a measure or two to see if she agreed upon the song. She nodded quickly, clearing her throat as she prepared to join him.

"I took my love and I took it down…I climbed a mountain and I turned around…And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills…Well the landslide brought me down…

"Oh, mirror in the sky…What is love…Can the child within my heart rise above…Can I sail through the changing ocean tides…Can I handle the seasons of my life…

"Well, I've been afraid of changing 'cause…I built my life around you…But time makes you bolder…Children get older…I'm getting older too…Well...

"Well, I've been afraid of changing 'cause…I built my life around you…But time makes you bolder…Children get older…I'm getting older, too…Well I'm getting older too…

"So, take this love and take it down…Yeah and if you climb a mountain and ya turn around…And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills…Well the landslide brought me down…And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills…Well maybe…Well maybe…Well maybe the landslide will bring you down…"

Relena looked over to Adjani who had joined them outside with Joshua who had also brought out his electric guitar, knowing it would suit the mood. It seemed that Country Blues were going to be on the record tonight, not that she really minded. And she had a feeling that sooner or later Eve would want to know where she was and Alex would open the window so that the four of them outside would be heard.

"Up for some more Dixie Chicks?" Adjani asked, moving to sit next to her on the swinging bench. "Care if I join?"

Relena threw her arms around the young woman next to her in a much needed hug, gaining one in return. "Yes, please join. You up for travelin' soldier?"

Frank began to strum his guitar, looking to Joshua who also strummed his, then allowed the older man to play a measure for the two women.

"Two days past eighteen…He was waiting for the bus in his army green…Sat down in a booth in a cafe there…Gave his order to a girl with a bow in her hair…He's a little shy so she gives him a smile…And he said would you mind sittin' down for a while…And talking to me, I'm feeling a little low…She said I'm off in an hour and I know where we can go…

"So they went down and they sat on the pier…He said I bet you got a boyfriend but I don't care…I got no one to send a letter to…Would you mind if I sent one back here to you…

"I cried…Never gonna hold the hand of another guy…Too young for him they told her…Waitin' for the love of a travelin' soldier…Our love will never end…Waitin' for the soldier to come back again…Never more to be alone when the letter said…A soldier's coming home…

"So the letters came from an army camp…In California then Vietnam…And he told her of his heart…It might be love and all of the things he was so scared of…He said when it's getting kinda rough over here…I think of that day sittin' down at the pier…And I close my eyes and see your pretty smile…Don't worry but I won't be able to write for awhile…

"I cried…Never gonna hold the hand of another guy…Too young for him they told her…Waitin' for the love of a travelin' soldier…Our love will never end…Waitin' for the soldier to come back again…Never more to be alone when the letter said…A soldier's coming home…"

Relena heard one of the windows to house open as she had predicted it would and smiled. Those in the house were no doubt listening to them now and when she should have felt embarrassed at the fact that she was singing this song, she wasn't. Even though her own soldier was listening to it-no, not her soldier-Hell, who was she kidding? She would always love Heero…having lived with Joshua for the past four years with no relationship development beyond friendship had proven that…

"One Friday night at a football game…The Lord's Prayer said and the Anthem sang…A man said folks would you bow your heads…For a list of local Vietnam dead…Crying all alone under the stands…Was a piccolo player in the marching band…And one name read and nobody really cared…But a pretty little girl with a bow in her hair…

"I cried…Never gonna hold the hand of another guy…Too young for him they told her…Waitin' for the love of a travelin' soldier…Our love will never end…Waitin' for the soldier to come back again…Never more to be alone when the letter said…A soldier's coming…

"I cried…Never gonna hold the hand of another guy…Too young for him they told her…Waitin' for the love of a travelin' soldier…Our love will never end…Waitin' for the soldier to come back again…Never more to be alone when the letter said…A soldier's coming home…"

Relena smiled softly, feeling rejuvenated as she sat on the swinging bench with Adjani. This always seemed to calm her and clear her mind to a state of peace. She gave Frank a thankful smile as the older man nodded, strumming the next few measures of the next song. Yes, this had been what she needed.

Terms:

1. Oi - Hey (Japanese)

2. Onii-chan - elder brother (Japanese)

3. Erinnyes -- Divine avengers of wrong

4. Demo okaa-san - but mother (Japanese)

5. Hilde-san - Miss Hilde (Japanese)

6. Baka - stupid or idiot (Japanese)

7. Ma petite trésor précieux -- My little precious treasure (French)

8. Aishiteru - I love you (Japanese)

9. Okaa-san - mother, mom, mommy (Japanese)

10. ¿No veo porqué no? Dígalo en francés también, para honrar Midii que nos es vuelto. - I don't see why not? Say it in French too, to honor Midii being returned to us. (Spanish)

11. Cher God. Merci de notre nourriture et amis. Merci de nous apporter la maison de Midii encore et merci de l'observation au-dessus de nous. Amen. - Dear God. Thank you for our food and friends. Thank you for bringing Midii home to us again and thank you for watching over us. Amen. (French)

12. Très bon. Je suis heureux de voir que vous ne vous êtes pas développé rouillé avec mon absence. Et merci, il est bon pour être à la maison. - Very good. I'm glad to see that you have not grown rusty with my absence. And thank you, it is good to be home. (French)

13. Adjani-nee-san - elder sister Adjani (Japanese)

14. Los parecer él van a nevar pronto. ¿Apenas en la hora para los días de fiesta, no? -

Looks like it's going to snow soon. Just in time for the holidays, no? (Spanish)

15. Hai - Yes (Japanese)

16. Yatta - Yay! (Japanese)

17. Koi - lover, lover, beloved (Japanese) [AN : Josh is saying this 1) b/c he and Lena always do and 2) he's noticing that Heero gets 'jealous' when he calls Lena this]