False Sense of Security

The Lamboatghini (as Heero called it) cruised along the top of the green seawater for a few more minutes, and after those few had passed, Heero glued his eyes to the radar and guided their ride to what seemed to Relena and anonymous place in the open sea and dove. She gasped at first, but she trusted Heero, as she always had, one hundred and ten percent, and just held on. She smiled inwardly. He loves me, she thought happily, but she felt that now wasn't the best time to discuss how he felt about his one and only. Now was the time to concentrate. Relena cleared her throat.

"Heero, why didn't I remember you?"

Heero sighed. "Some time ago when your brother dropped you off, he may have given you some Memo-Block, and that's a new drug that's been proven to block your access of primary brain cells, the ones that store your basic information: Your name, age, height, etcetera, etcetera, things you should just know about yourself."

"Ok, I gathered that, that's when I forgot about you. Now why?"

"You're in danger."

"I know that. That's why I went into hiding two months ago. Why did you take me away, and where is my brother?"

"One thing at a time," Heero groaned, "It's not safe for you at the Sheltons anymore. You've been found out. I didn't like the idea of those Memo-Blocks, there was such a big risk of you losing everything, but Zechs didn't want you living in fear, so that's why he pushed me so hard for them."

"What were you doing with them?"

"Relena." Heero gave her his 'just one moment, please' look. She closed her mouth.

"Ok, first of all, I don't know where your brother is. I've been trying to contact him since the day after he dropped you off, because it was then that I found out that that particular plan for your safety was officially void. You'd been sought out since then."

"What? By who?"

Heero gave her the look, and went on, "Zechs never called me to confirm he gave you the Blocks, and I called all five of his numbers for days, never got him, never got Noin, tried to find you, and failed miserably."

"Because you were looking for 'Relena Anybody,' and I was…Aleta?"

"Yeah. I could only ask around. There was no way you'd be in the phone book, and for the longest time, I was…despairing…but then I saw you, and I couldn't let you go."

"I understand everything, except why I'm really in so much danger, last I remember, it was something about a revolutionary."

"Yeah, and I think I know him, too."

"A friend of yours?"

"Not exactly. An acquaintance." Heero paused, "and the Memo-Block was given to me by a friend who was trying to get rid of them. I told him I could sell them, I think."

Relena adjusted herself to sit sideways in the seat so she could look at Heero. Heero hadn't changed a bit. Relena scolded herself repeatedly for forgetting this wonderful young man. She knew Heero wouldn't respond well to what she was thinking, then she realized, Heero was different.

"Heero, you're more…talkative than I remember you being."

Heero looked at her. "I guess…I just had a lot to tell you." He cracked a small smile.

Relena smiled sweetly. She hugged Heero Bear. "Where are we going?"

"Quatre is waiting for you at this hotel. You may have to stay there overnight or all week, depending on how fast I can trail this guy; he's not too keen on staying in one place for very long…almost like he knows he's being sought out…"

"Maybe he does."

Heero pressed his lips together at the suggestion.

Nearly an hour later, they surfaced in some underground, water-ridden tavern, and drove up to the cement shore, transforming the Lamboatghini into a car again. They drove for a few minutes through the dark, until they were admitted back into the streets via an alley with a huge hidden trap door. Heero cruised down the street a bit, then smoothly turned into a middle-class, below-Relena hotel parking lot. The cement was cracked and over grown in some places, and in others it looked pale and sickly, torn from the ground and scattered about carelessly. From outside, the huff and puff of the expensive car was cut off when Heero pulled the key. He put it in his spandex pocket. Relena looked about the small, mangled lot through the tint. She looked at Heero.

"We're going in through the back," he explained, "this is one of the few times you've been to a hotel and not made a flashy entrance, right?"

"This is the first time I've been to a hotel like this." She confided quietly. Heero touched her chin with the knuckle on his index finger.

"You'll be fine. Quatre's here. He won't let anything happen to you that I wouldn't let happen."

Relena smiled faintly, somewhat comforted by Quatre, but disappointed that her Heero wouldn't stay himself and protect her. Heero secured her hand and hurried the ten or fifteen feet to the inconspicuous side door, pulling it open with a flex of his strong arms and pushing Relena in, turning his back to the door for one second to look behind them, then opening the door and taking one huge stride in. Heero guided her to the side stairs and nudged her at the third floor. Heero opened the door first, looked up and down the hall, then let Relena in, again secured to her hand, again going in a hurry. Upon approaching a corner, he flattened them both against the wall and peeked around. When he decided a few seconds later that they were safe, he proceeded around the corner, stopping at a door half way down the hall. He knocked. There was a three second gap, obviously the time Quatre needed to stand from a nearby chair, peek in the hole, and open the door, smiling at Relena. Heero gave Relena a slight push in, and entered himself. He still held her hand, but faced Quatre.

"I called Duo. He and Trowa are still trying to get Zechs while they help me trail. Did they fax you or something?"

"Yeah, Trowa called my line and said somebody saw him yesterday at colony 16739 Beta, Cramer Community Bank."

"What in hell would he be doing in the colonies? He was just on Earth, it was all over the news."

Relena's eyes widened when Heero said 'all over the news.'

"He's not too keen on staying in one place for very long."

"Did Wufei confirm whether or not he's building arms?"

Quatre shook his head. "He's trying. You said you were positive, he said he was trying. We interrupted him from training somewhere back home-"

"Not again. He has to stop getting so pre-occupied with himself."

Quatre smiled. Heero looked at his watch.

"Listen, I really have to go, remember what I told you." He looked at Relena.

"Relena, I know you may not like it, but I need you to do what Quatre says. I promise it's for your safety."

Relena looked down at her hand, held by Heero, and nodded. He dropped it, cutting off her feeling of being loved by the one whom she wanted to love. He stood by the door.

"I'll call you if things get hot." He promised, and was gone. Relena bit her lip.

"Hey Relena."

"Hi Quatre."

"You might be here for a while. Do you want something to eat?"

"No thank-you, I'm fine."

"Would you like something to drink?"

"No thank-you."

"Are you tired? I bought you some pajamas in case you wanted to sleep."

"No, I'm not, I'm fine."

"Wow," said Quatre, "you're easy to take care of."

Relena chuckled lightly. "Not when I first wake up. I'm a mess, and a bossy one."

Quatre smiled. "May I offer you a place to sit down?"

Relena smiled back. "Yes, thank-you."

Quatre pulled out the chair he was sitting in and dusted it with a nearby towel. Relena sat down and sat very lady-like. Quatre sat on the bed. Relena looked away and cleared her throat.

"You don't have to watch me every second, Quatre."

"I apologize Relena, I'm not trying to. I'm just very bored. Heero and the others felt that they would be better at muckraking and finding all the little details." Quatre smiled, "Trowa called me a spoiled little rich boy."

Relena smiled to herself. She was bored. And tired. She looked out the small window, and realized it was getting late. She turned on the television, and scooted her chair to face it. Quatre moved to the other bed and watched with her. They watched TV for a few minutes and discussed what they saw and drifted into other conversations. Relena stretched and yawned.

"That was nice, Quatre. I think I'll take a shower and put on those nice new pajamas you bought for me."

Quatre smiled modestly. "Ok." He reached over to the side of the bed he sat on, exposing tiny wrinkles in his shirt that crawled up his side, and then straitening them when he produced her new sleepwear. She took in gratefully and exited to the bathroom. Quatre waited a few short moments until he heard the shower turn on, then waited a few more, and called room service.

"How can I help you?"

"May I please have a cup of decaffeinated coffee and skim milk?"

"It'll be right up, sir."

"Thank-you."

Seconds later, there was a knock at the door. Knowing it wasn't the front deskman or any of his comrades, he pulled out his automatic handgun and held it ready. He looked cautiously through the peephole. To his utter surprise, the front deskman was there, holding a cheap, silver-colored tray with his milk, coffee, sugar, and a napkin bearing the cheap hotel's ugly logo. He slowly let down his arm to unbolt the door. He opened it enough to stick out the upper half of his body.

"Here's ya coffee." Said the grungy clerk.

"Thanks." Quatre accepted, taking the tray by its bottom and closing the door. The front desk clerk muttered a few dirty words about his lack of tip, and went back to the front, regretting his trip up.

Quatre pressed his ear to the bathroom door. The high spigot above the tub sang with the flow hot water. Relena was still in the shower. He set his small drink ensemble down beside the little television and opened the can of milk. He poured it in his coffee, watering down the drink to a chocolate brown color. He poured in both provided packets of sugar, and lifted the lukewarm mug to his lips. He took a huge gulp, and chocked on the rancid flavor. If the coffee was fresh, it was cheap beyond belief, and tasted like mud strained from old socks. He sipped down some more, finding it to still be quite disgusting, and then gave up trying to enjoy it. He was surprised to see the stuff half gone, and felt somewhat pleased that it wasn't completely wasted. He sat down. Relena was still in the shower, and he could hear the sound of the water being thrown to the bottom of the tub in floppy chunks as she rinsed her hair. He felt a little woozy. He turned his head to see the clock. It was getting to be nine o'clock, and he was already sleepy. Should have gotten regular coffee, he groaned inwardly, now remembering his love of hot drinks and the way they out him asleep. His stomach knotted. He rubbed it as sleep came closer and closer. He shook his head, but the drowsiness persisted steadily on, growing heavier as the seconds pushed him further and further away from reality and into dream world. He stood up in an attempt to wake up. That didn't work; it made him realize how tired he really was. He sat back down, refusing to lay on the bed and just be completely out. This isn't right, I shouldn't be falling asleep this fast…was his last thought before he closed his eyes and went limp in the chair.

After making absolute sure her hair was clean and well conditioned with the ill-quality toiletries, Relena wrapped up her hair and dried off with another towel. She tried on her pajamas from Quatre. They were a little big, and quite different from her usual gown, but comfortable nonetheless. She exited the bathroom, rubbing a few spots here and there on her head with the towel. She spied Quatre laying, apparently asleep in the chair that he'd previously offered her. She smiled. She laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, Quatre," she gave a little nudge. He didn't respond.

"Quatre?" She shook him a little harder. He still seemed to be asleep.

"Quatre…" she called to him, and shook him gently on both shoulders. His head swayed from side to side, but he remained unconscious. Relena began to worry. She called him once more, and shook him as hard as she could without being impolite, which should have awakened him, and he still didn't wake. She took his pulse. It was slower than hers, too slow. Her heart began to beat with the adrenaline of real panic and she backed away from her guardian. She took a breath, tried to calm down just a little, and tried to open the door. The dead bolt seemed to stand between her and getting Quatre a decent glass of water, and with an annoyed grunt, she opened it up and walked out.

The dim hallway seemed to smell of city nights and deep sleep; the lovelier, more 'civilized' hotels Relena was accustomed to had a sweet smell of pricey floor cleaners and air freshener. It was an interesting change, but she didn't like it anymore than she liked Heero's abandoning her or Quatre's loss of consciousness when he'd told her earlier in the eve that he needed to stay awake most of the night. Relena started to go back to the desolate staircase she had gone with Heero, but it was night now, and she felt that the night would protect her from whatever reason Heero was trying to protect her. She went the opposite way of the side stairs, walking slowly but worried to death nonetheless. She tried to concentrate on the sweep of her socks against the thin carpeting, the gush of the wind she stirred up through her damp, 'herbal'-scented hair, anything but the image of her guardian, limp in the chair, unattainable in conscious respects. She turned a corner. The main stairs sat quietly behind an open doorway covered in chipped paint the same color as the hotel's logo. She scurried down to one landing, then another, and finally met the lobby.

If you could call it a lobby. The heavy smell of sweat and chlorine crept out from a slender hallway labeled 'POOL & GYM' on one side, two chairs were on either side of the stairs she'd just come down, some ten or fifteen feet away, each accessorized by little coffee tables with lamps, old magazines, and later editions of Colony Times, a colorful newspaper Relena recognized from her last visit to space, so long ago. On a worn table near the front desk, a coffee maker, half-full with some kind of 'Bavarian Roast' was still and quiet behind its coffee's packaging, which was beside an unorganized bunch of Styrofoam cups and packets of sugar and cream. The still life before Relena made her the slightest bit calmer, but at the same time more nervous, as if it should fit the chaos she felt inside. She took long strides to the desk and gave the bell one good, hard ring. The same grungy clerk that had served Quatre appeared, breaking the pattern of brass room keys behind him.

"May I help you?"

"I need some bottled water. Do you have any?"

"There's some in the vending area."

"Thank you." Relena didn't have a dime. "Where is the vending area?"

"By the pool. Open up the cooler and get you a bottle."

Thank God it's free, she thought with a contented sigh. She pushed away from the counter and looked out the big, glass doors at the busy night. She froze. There was a man in a car. He was staring at her. She stared back for a few seconds, feeling his eyes tracing her.

"Hey!" the clerk called. Relena jumped.

"Anybody ever told you ya look like The Vice Foreign Minister?"

Relena told the truth. "No, never." She shrugged and took a breath, and then entered the slender, nauseating hall.

After a twelve-foot claustrophobic nightmare, she reviled at the smell of the dirty, over-chlorinated water and covered her nose and mouth. Sure enough, there was an old, red cooler marked 'WATER.' She used one hand to lift the top, putting it in the large groove and pulling back. In mostly melted ice, there were three or four bottles of gas-station brand water, half-floating in their watery home. She reached in and pulled one out, ignoring the intense cold, and dropped the lid with a muffled slam. She hurried out, barely noticing the gym.

If the attendant was still at the desk, she ignored him, completely devoted to bringing Quatre his much needed splash of 'wake up and protect me.' She jogged up the thinly carpeted stairs, losing some breath at the final landing, and then began down the hall, undeterred.

She had only come half way back to the room when the door opened. A woman stepped out. Relena thought fast, thought Heero, and jumped behind a protrusion in the wall. She waited for a minute. The woman obviously wasn't coming her way, or she would have seen Relena. Relena smiled. So Quatre has a girlfriend, she thought devilishly. She peeked out from her hiding place. The woman was gone. Relena hurried down the hall, smiling about the revelation. The door was cracked open, just as she'd left it. She pushed it open. Quatre was gone.

Quatre's phone rang a metallic song, scaring Relena, and she dropped the bottle. As the bottle hit the floor with a fling of moisture, she rushed at the phone and jerked it up.

"Hello?" she asked in fear.

"Relena?"

"Heero! Wait just one moment, please." Relena laid down the phone quietly, and closed the door. She picked the phone up.

"Hello?"

"Relena, are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Let me talk to Quatre. He should be answering the phone, in case the lines are tapped."

"He's not here. I got in the shower for like fifteen minutes, and got out and he was asleep in the chair, and I shook him and he didn't wake up and shook him more and he didn't wake up, so went down to try to get him some water-"

"You went down stairs?" Heero sounded alarmed.

"Well, yes."

"Relena, you shouldn't have left the room. The idea was for nobody to know you were there, not even the front deskman. And Quatre's gone? Where?"

"I have no idea. I got back up, I saw a woman coming out of his room, and I thought he was seeing somebody."

"What kind of woman?"

"What do you mean 'what kind'?"

"What did she look like?"

"I didn't get a good look."

"Listen, Relena, I'm coming to get you. Just stay there until I get there, don't let anyone in, and don't leave the room."

"When can I expect you?"

"Tomorrow morning, ten o'clock. Be ready."

"Heero?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm a little…scared."

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. I'll be there in like twelve hours. Try to get some sleep. Just don't leave that room."

"Okay."

"Bye, Relena."

"Bye, Heero." She hung up. Heero sounded upset. She was nervous. There was no way she could get to sleep. Where was Quatre? She could at least know where he was, and be a lot more comfortable. She turned on the television. Relena noticed that the tacky tray with a carton of milk, used packets of sugar, and smelly, half-gone coffee was missing. Perhaps the lady she'd seen exiting was the maid, and Quatre had been gone before she came. But she didn't have a cart of toiletries and cleaning supplies, so who was she?

Relena didn't remember falling asleep. Her anxiety woke her up at something-to-nine, and she sat up with the sun in her eyes. She took another, shorter shower, and put her capris and baby t-shirt back on. Heero Bear, she realized, I left Heero Bear with Heero. The last thing she wanted was for Heero to think she didn't appreciate his gift. Heero Bear's blue ribbon was still tied around his chubby neck. Relena hugged herself. It was nine-fifty. She prepared herself to wait longer that ten-o'clock, in case Heero meant that his flight came in at ten. But Heero would have specified that of it were true, Relena half-felt.

Nine-fifty-four came as slow as a snail, and Relena seemed to have tried everything to distract herself from her lonesome wait. She tried to put her hair up in some intricate style, but it only took away two minutes to put up and take the monstrosity down. She welcome nine-fifty-six with open arms and began pacing. She stopped at nine-fifty-eight and just sat in the excruciating silence. At nine-fifty-nine, she decided she was more than ready to pull all of her hair out. But then the clock became one and three zeros. There was a knock at the door. Relena rushed to the door and flung it open. Heero stood there with an eyebrow raised.

"Always ask who it is," he grunted, taking her hand and pulling her out, leaving the door open. Her shoes clomped against the floor, a switch from the swish of her socks from the previous night's unrest.

"What about Quatre?"

"Duo will be down when he can to try to find him, but right now, I have to get you somewhere safe."

This stunned Relena. "But I thought Quatre was your friend."

Heero picked up the place to the colorless steps, opened the door, and turned to Relena, "I don't have friends."

He hasn't changed, her heart signed, falling from her chest and under Heero's foot.

She was wrong to estimate Heero and his skills-a-plenty. They boarded a bus, got off on some random street, and loaded up in another car, a world's difference from Heero's Lamborghini. This was a regular sedan, a used one, for the interior reeked of pizza and smoke. The windows were, like on the Lamborghini, tinted. Relena realized that no one needed to see the crusader of peace cruising around in a Lamborghini with an unidentified teen boy. Heero Bear wasn't in the car.

Some hours later, Heero stopped the car. He got out, and got Relena out. They went in the front door of a building, ironically enough. It was a girl's home. Relena didn't take in her surroundings, she just felt the hand of love pulling her this and that way, unsure of exactly how she should be feeling. Heero let go of her hand. She looked at him. He had a hard, yet sorrowful expression.

"Listen, Aleta," he started, catching her attention, "Just stay here. Kirsty, Summer, and Gianna will take care of you."

Relena nodded. Heero hugged her, the warmest gesture he'd ever given this young woman he allegedly loved. She felt abruptly drawn to his chest, then quickly released, and Heero was gone from her side again. In an ideal world, she remembered from one of her speeches, every man, woman, and child is free from oppression. In my ideal world, Heero comes, and doesn't go. She personalized her old message. A small woman with happy, bright green eyes and shiny brown hair was in her face.

"Aleta, would you like to go where the other girls your age are?"

Relena-Aleta sighed, smiled, and followed the little woman, who later identified herself as Kirsty, out to the gymnasium.

The rest of the day was a complete blur. She thought she loved Heero, she definitely believed Heero when he'd said that he loved her, but why did he find it so easy to just pack up and leave her? She didn't play very much with the other girls, and none of them spoke to her during lunch, when they were served spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread. Relena ate, though not very much, and kept to herself.

Heero, unbeknownst to her, had left her a small amount of toiletries, her pajamas from Quatre, and Heero Bear. She lay in her bed that night, hugging her worn teddy, worried about Quatre and missing her love that couldn't be…or could he? She'd fought with herself for months, she remembered, before being taken to the Sheltons: forget about him or always keep him near? Was he worth her? Did he deserve her? Her eyes stung and the wild fur about Heero Bear's eyes bore hot little salty droplets. Heero Bear cried with his mommy.

A rustling jolted Relena from her middle-of-the-night daydream. She hadn't slept, and had no idea what time it was, but it was too late for anyone, even Kirsty, Summer, or Gianna to be awake. She swung her legs over the bedside and took her balance on the tiny rolls of material that made the carpet. She hugged Heero Bear with both arms and peeked out the crack in the door. Darkness shrouded the furniture in the hall, and when Relena stepped out, her foot hit a table. She ignored the pinching sting, and proceeded down the hall. She almost ran into a huge man dressed in black. She gasped and tried to scream, but it wouldn't come, and the man didn't seem to care, this little girl wouldn't live to tell anyone anything anyway. The man's scent lingered in Relena's nose until he was out of sight, then she could only remember. The screech of fleeing tires shot through the air, then followed its source, leaving Relena completely alone and frightened in the dark. The Heero in Relena seized her at once and she about faced to the direction from which the intruder had come. There was only one room in the darker part of the hall, and no windows for her to jump out of in case he'd left a nasty surprise inside. She grasped the handle, holding as tight as ever to her tiny ball of bear comfort. She turned her wrist and pulled the door, not hearing the creak for her heart beating in her ears. Nothing. There was actually nothing. But then, from the furthest reaches of her conscious being, her ear caught the distant, suffocated ticking that closely resembled and old-fashioned alarm clock. She held her silent companion in the crook of one arm and pawed through the various-sized buckets and half-full bottles for the loudening tick-tick-tick. It lay behind a bottle of Pine-Sol. A cartoon-ish device that consisted of several red sticks with a common wick, bound by off-colored duct tape. Only this was real. The Heero in her drifted away as Relena took his place. She stood up and backed away from the troubling distraction. The door was wide open, threatening to swallow her in the thick darkness if she stopped. She turned her back in panic, and hurried back up the stairs to her room, she had to get the girls up, had to wake them, warn them, do something. She shoved the door to her shared sleeping quarters open-and Heero caught it. Relena didn't have time to revile in complete shock, or even allow the shock to come on before Heero took helped himself to her waist and hurried her, whimpering, to the open window. She opened her mouth to scream, at least awaken the other girls, but Heero silenced her, grabbing her, holding her so close with one muscular arm, and jumping out of the window.

Relena's glass-breaking scream came then, right before they hit the ground, when Heero whipped out the hand-held copter he'd borrowed from Duo and held it high. Relena realized how deeply her fingernails had dug into her crazy savior, and she made the huge mistake of opening her eyes. She was flying. Her eyes widened, closing the calm gap between her silken lashes and her eyebrows. She twisted each leg about his thighs, vying for security high in the cool night air. Heero held her like she often held Heero's tiny, furry counterpart, grasped tightly against his chest. She could hear Heero's pulse racing, his heart beat as if breaking out of his chest, desperate after a long search for a way out. His face, of course, never came remotely close to betraying his inner workings. Relena heard a gigantic pop, as if someone had unscrewed a bottle of soda pop the size of Tokyo Tower. She looked over her fuzzy shoulder at the home. The left wing of the place had fallen in a fiery heap, and the other side joined its twin with a gaseous explosion. Heero suddenly grasped his load tighter.

"Shit! Hang on!" he screamed, titling the hand-held copter away from the disaster. They flew at an angle, and Relena could feel the heat of approaching destruction. Heero's deep and frustrated growl vibrated in his chest. Relena was hit by flying debris. She screamed, as a piece of something felt hot on her back, not hot enough to burn, but tortuous however hot. She wanted to jump, to let go, to fall again to her death, but Heero's grip never loosened. He pushed the nitro booster with his clammy thumb, and they managed to shoot just out of the reach of the blaze. That drained the little bit of fuel left in the device, and Heero lowered them to just over six feet, before they hit the ground with a THUD! Heero took two huffs, two puffs, and was on his feet again, and pulling Relena to her unwilling, shaky legs.

"Come on, Relena, please, just a little further." He moaned, pulling her into a run. Hurt, frightened, and beginning to cry, she pushed herself as Heero pushed her, and ran without thinking about it through some thin foliage that she vaguely remembered seeing ways off in the distance that day. They slid down a steep gravel driveway and landed in somebody's backyard, powering through a hedge. A few branches caught bits of Relena's hair and ripped them out, and she fell to her knees more than once, fully crying and Heero just dragged her on to the front of the house, and into the street. They ran down the street, hand-in-hand-in-paw, until they reached another short street, at which corner Heero had parked another car, this one without tinted windows. She opened the door for herself, and had barely closed it when Heero fired up the motor and drove out of the area.

Relena sat as she'd been two days prior; dumbfounded by the incident, and thoroughly shocked. She looked at Heero. He locked eyes with her.

"The other girls," she cried, tears blurring the dim portrait of Heero before her. He shook his head.

"I'm sorry Relena, I'm so sorry. I only made it in time to save you."

Relena cried harder. She smothered her sobs in Heero Bear's belly. At least he had a heart.

The car came to a regular stop at a camping area. Log cabins dotted the mountainous terrain, and a lake was situated in the middle of a splendid painting by Mother Nature. Heero looked at Relena, a human look, apologetic, sincere, sorrowful. Relena pulled the handle of the car door and stood out of the vehicle, paining all over. She had no will, no way, no hope. From now on, she simply couldn't leave Heero. He was too much for her not to have. She followed him, at a distance, to one of the smaller cabins, and took one step at a time to its creaky door. He switched on a small lamp, revealing the first room, a woodland-smelling place similar to a family room, with a beat-up couch, old television set, and a wall phone. He stepped past her to a dark room on her left, and turned on a light. A rasp of running water lasted a second, then the lights left the room black and Heero emerged from the darkness with a glass of water. She took it gingerly, and he watched her with his arms crossed indifferently as she slowly sipped it all down. It tasted raw and dirty, nothing she was used to, but pretended not to notice, and the water was gone. He took the glass and set it in the darkness of the kitchen, and guided Relena to another darkness. This darkness was abated by the glowing moonlight that illuminated the room to a low glow. Heero had to gently push her to the bed, in which he'd obviously been sleeping, and pull back the sheets. She slid her slender frame in, Heero Bear first, and sank her head into the pillow that had once lay under Heero. He covered her up.

"Nobody can hurt you in any way, Relena. I'll be right outside. Goodnight." She stared at him blankly, and still stared at the same spot when he had gone. The weak light in the family room vanished with a click, and the sound of Heero fluffing up the old couch was followed by the snap of a sheet unfolding. The couch squeaked as it received his weight, which was obviously more than it was when he piloted his Gundam, because then, Relena remembered, he would sit in all sorts of squeaky furniture at school, but it never betrayed him. But this couch didn't just squeak, it had a peculiar groan like Heero was all dead weight and then some. He'd gained weight, but on Heero, Relena would never believe and ounce of it was useless fat-it had to be rock-solid muscle. The moon was bright, big, and warm. The stars twinkled their merry show for her, but she refused to enjoy it. She didn't want him to leave her anymore, just as he had in the past…but this wasn't the past, so things had to change, be it for her safety or for her danger. She left Heero Bear to sleep alone and crossed the threshold into the front room.

The floorboards moaned beneath her bare feet, and she stopped when she heard Heero rise from his place. He was a shadow imprint against the dark, and the pale light from the moon above shimmered on Relena, making her a glowing entity.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't want to be alone. I want to sleep with you." She walked around the shadow of Heero, and leaned forward to feel her way to the couch, which was lower to the floor that she'd presumed. She sat down gently, hoping the couch would refrain from its noise making. Heero stood behind her.

"Come, sit by me," she insisted, patting the darkness she sat on. Heero hesitated, but joined her. She felt his weight beside her, supplemented by his body heat, which seemed to have risen. Relena scooted just a bit closer, though In my ideal world, Heero would make all the moves.

"It's cold," she shivered, totally faking. Heero responded, just as she hoped he would, taking the blanket that had been flung over the back of the couch and wrapping both of them in it. Relena couldn't help but snuggle beside him, her dream of being this close to him finally realized.

Heero was very nervous. He knew Relena was expecting some kind of affection, affection that he was more than willing to give, but what exactly should he do? He scolded himself for not listening to Duo when Duo warned him of situations like this one, and their inevitability. But now wasn't the time to wallow in shame. Relena's breath was warm and dewy on his shoulder, and his lips ached to kiss. He laid an unexpected kiss on her sweet lips, lips unspoiled by other men, lips untouched and pure, sacred. She received him like an old lost love, and puckered mid-kiss. Heero then drew his bottom lip along her top lip, eventually slipping it into her break. Her unspoiled, sacred lips opened to kiss him deeply, at once suckling his bottom lip and slowly drawing away. He seized her by her waist, imploring her never to leave him, hence she'd never be without him, and pulled her into another deep kiss. She held his head, sliding her small hands though his wild mane, and his hands ran up her back and down her torso as he pushed her under him. He kissed her deeper, searching for her, every live, breathing part of her, and finally settling to unbutton her pajamas.

She felt him through his spandex, which showed his feverish desire to have her. She felt her pajama bottoms slipping away, and her pajama top becoming more and more revealing. Heero stood up at one moment to pull his shirt off from over his head, and Relena kissed his newly-gained muscles, pulling at his tight pants that suffocated and caged the raging passion within. He broke the barrier, and The Peace Crusader and The Perfect Soldier were one.