I do not own Gundam Wing.  This fan fiction has no commercial value and I am not making any kind of profit or income off of this.  

 

Chapter 15

 

            Heero stepped into the observation area that looked in on the room where Relena and Duo were talking.  The little space hidden behind the two-way mirror was empty except for a file folder resting on a small table.  Heero picked it up; it was the department’s file on the Governor.  Curious, he began to flip through it, when some photographs spilled out onto the concrete floor.  He crouched down to pick them up, and froze when he saw the images leaping off the photographic paper, taunting his brain with jealousy and fueling a newly-realized fury in his heart. 

             

            Relena smiled warmly at Duo.  “He has a talent,” she thought as she realized that the nervousness she had felt at first was now completely gone.  She had answered all his questions honestly and accurately, but was amazed that he had managed to make the unpleasant ordeal seem more like a friendly conversation. 

            The things Duo told her about what was going on saddened her.  As angry as she was at her father and brother, it was difficult for her to believe that they had done what they were being accused of.  But it was even tougher to agree to testify against them.  Duo had just dropped that bombshell on her when the door swung open, and was then loudly slammed shut.

            Duo and Relena looked up in surprise to see Heero.  His face was an angry crimson color, his eyes blazing in undisguised fury.  He threw a file folder on the table, the contents spilling out in a small wave of paper and colorful photographs.  Relena stared at him in shock.  She had never seen him this way.  She stood up from her chair, “Heero?” she questioned softly.

            “You lied to me,” he charged in a voice that wavered between anger and warning.  “What part did you play in all this, Relena?” he demanded, advancing toward her.

            “I..I don’t know what part I played, Heero, I’ve been trying to figure that out myself.” She said quietly, confused by what could have made him so angry with her.

            “Don’t lie to me.  You and Trowa were setting me up, weren’t you?”  He sneered, taking another step in her direction.

            “What?” she cried out and stepped back, fear gripping her heart.

            Duo noticed the photographs on the table and felt a sense of dread come over him.  “Heero, you don’t understand, let’s go talk outside, okay, buddy?” He said nervously.

            “Shut up Duo.” He reached out and grabbed Relena by the arms, ignoring the pain it caused in his still unhealed wounds.  “Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” He shouted, shaking her violently.

            “Stop!  You’re hurting me!” Relena cried out.

            Heero heard her cry, and stopped.  He released her and turned away.  His shoulder was throbbing and so was his head.  He drew in a shaky breath and ran his hand through his unruly hair.

            “Heero, tell me what’s wrong,” Relena pleaded with him.

            Duo had been shoving the contents back into the folder.  “Heero, we need to talk outside,” he said sternly.

            “What’s wrong?  I’ll show you what’s wrong!”  Heero yelled.  He turned around and grabbed the folder from Duo, ripping the photographs out from amongst the pages and throwing them at her. 

            Relena watched the pictures flutter to the ground before bending to pick them up. 

            Duo’s hand came up and slammed against his forehead.  “Heero, just listen to me….”

            “Shut up Duo.  She’s got more to do with this than she’s been letting on,” he said harshly before turning his attention to the girl scooping up the shameful photographs he had thrown at her a moment earlier.  She had tears rolling down her face as she gathered them to her chest.  “You either tell us the truth now, or I’ll have you arrested for obstruction of justice, do you understand me?”  He screamed at her.

            Just then, Treize threw open the door, “That’s enough!  Yuy, get out here, now!”

           

            Duo bent down and put his hand on Relena’s shoulder.  She was shaking.  “Relena….”

            She pulled away from him, still holding the pictures close to her body.  But he had already seen them.  He had seen them the day they had shown them to the Governor.  The old man had the same murderous look on his face that he had seen on Heero’s face just now.  But what could he say to her?

            Tears still glittered in her eyes as she squared her shoulders and looked him proudly in the eyes.  “You’ll have to talk to my attorney if you have anything further to discuss with me,” she said coldly before exiting the room.

            In the hallway, Heero and Treize were still having a heated discussion.  Relena didn’t care what they were saying; she grabbed Heero’s good shoulder and spun him around to face her.  Before he could react, her open hand connected with his face with enough force that his head jerked violently to his right.  Her blue eyes glowed fiercely, “You’re disgusting!  Did you get some kind of perverse pleasure out of this?” she yelled, holding up the stack of photographs before throwing them back at him.  He looked surprised.  Her slap had hurt, and he reached up to touch his cheek.

            “You can’t turn this around on me – you’re the one walking away.  You’re the one that lied, not me.  You could at least grow up and face it, instead of ….of this slander!”

            “What?” he cried out incredulously.  “You still deny it?  Well, I have news for you - photographs don’t lie, sweetheart!”

            “Actually,” came Duo’s voice from the doorway.

            Relena didn’t hear him; furious, she turned and stalked down the hallway towards the door.

            “Uhn!”  Heero yelled and punched the wall.  The plaster gave away, little chunks flying everywhere.

            “Heero,” Treize said, his voice sounding strangely compassionate.  Heero turned to look at him.  “I don’t know how to tell you this, but….”

            Heero’s face was dark with anger, “Just spit it out Treize, I know I was out of line.”

            “That’s not what I was going to say.”  Treize took a deep breath.  “Those photos were doctored.  We used surveillance pictures of Trowa with another girl and super-imposed Relena’s head on her body.  If she told you she never slept with Trowa, then I’d say she wasn’t lying.  We followed the two around for months, hoping to get a shot of them doing something intimate enough to get under the Governor’s skin, but they never did.”

            A wave of nausea swept through him as Heero shut his eyes and leaned back against the wall.  His wound was on fire, the activities of the morning had jarred and irritated the delicate work performed by the hospital surgeons, prying apart fragile stitches and freeing fresh blood from his deep, near-fatal wounds.  He started to feel dizzy and Treize’s voice seemed to fade, like he was getting farther away.  Suddenly all the energy left his body, and he slumped to the ground.  He welcomed the darkness that overtook him.

            *                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

            Relena sat on the beach, the one place where she could retreat from the world that caused her such confusion and heartache.  She wriggled her toes into the wet sand as she hugged her knees to her chest and shivered slightly in the chilly air.  She stared out at the sun setting over the horizon admiring the colors of the violet and ginger sky as it reflected in the ocean surface farther out at sea

“How did I lose everything so quickly?” she asked herself, thinking of the events of the last few weeks.  She had quit school, lost her boyfriend, and lost her first love…again.  Not to mention the fact that her father was losing his political career and her brother was going to prison.   She felt sad for a moment, and then her anger took over as she remembered earlier events from that day.  “He’s such a coward!  He couldn’t even tell me he was just using me…”

            Lost in her own thoughts, she listened to the sound of the waves crashing into the shore as it drowned out all other noise around her and left her with a feeling of peace. She didn’t notice the figure that sat down beside her, getting wet sand all over his good navy blue suit.

            “Hey, hey pretty lady.  What’s a beautiful girl like you doing out here all by yourself?”  Duo asked with a grin.

            Relena wasn’t fooled by his smile; she saw the sadness behind his eyes.  “I just came out here to think.”  She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.  “What are you doing out here?”

            He ran his hand through his bangs, and down the smooth texture of his long braid - it was a nervous habit.  “I was looking for you.”

            “Oh,” she said and laid her forehead on her knees.   

            They fell into an awkward silence as Duo tried to figure out the best approach to the situation.  His friend needed her - no matter what he said - and Duo was determined not to repeat his own past mistake.  “Relena, we had to take Heero back to the hospital.”

            “What?” She exclaimed, straightening up and turning her full attention to Duo.  “Is he all right?”

            Duo could see the worry in her eyes, and felt somewhat relieved.  “He’ll be okay - he exacerbated his wounds, and needs more bed rest.  I told him to stay put the first time, but he never listens, does he?  He’s just so damn stubborn!”  Duo pounded his fist into his hand in a rare display of anger that only bespoke the concern he felt for his friend. 

            Relena smiled faintly.  “Yes, he is,” she said quietly.  “I’m glad he’s going to be okay, Duo.  Is there something else you wanted to say to me?”

            “Relena, I don’t know what you think about those pictures, but they were faked.”

            Her eyes narrowed angrily.

            “I know, I know - but Heero didn’t forge them, it was Treize.  He did them a while ago to show to your father.  He was supposed to get rid of them, but somehow…I don’t know.  No one else was ever meant to see them, Relena, I’m really sorry.”

            Relena put her hands up to the sides of her face and began to rub her temples.  Her eyes were closed, and her eyebrows furrowed.  “You showed those horrible, indecent, shameful invented things to my father?”  Her pulse had quickened with anger, and something else she wasn’t sure of. 

“I didn’t pay all that money for you to go to law school so that you could become some mobster’s harlot!”

            Her eyes opened, revealing the anguish she felt inside.  “How could you?” She cried.

            “Relena, wait a second.  You’re missing the bigger picture - Treize told Heero what he had done, and he’s not mad anymore.  He’s sorry.  He’s really, really sorry and wants to talk to you.  Please Relena, he loves you - don’t you understand?  He believed those pictures were real, and he became horribly jealous.  That’s what it was all about.  Please, go see him.”

            Relena shook her head, and started to get up.  “No, Duo.  I’m tired.  All you people seem to be able to do is use me.  I don’t even know who I am anymore.  I have nothing left to give,” she said coldly and walked away.

            Duo sighed as he watched her retreating form.  “And its only going to get worse,” he said and shook his head sadly. 

            *                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

            The tape recorder played in Heero’s hospital room.  Treize sat in a chair by the door; Duo had taken a position near the window.  A female voice was talking steadily into the microphone, occasionally interrupted by Treize as he asked Dorothy another question.        

“What’s so funny?  How did you send these messages?  We found no records on phone or computer,” Treize spoke from the small black device on the tabletop.

            “Of course not.  That’s because Relena carried them in person,” Dorothy replied.

            “What do you mean?  Are you saying Relena was involved?”

            “Well, she was involved, whether she liked it or not, but to be fair, she didn’t know she was carrying the messages.”

            “Please explain,” Treize commanded.

            “Gladly.  See, first, Zeches and I had to get Relena and Trowa together.  The agreement, to my understanding, was that Trowa was allowed to date Relena, but it didn’t have to be exclusive.  However, Zeches strictly forbade Trowa from laying a hand on his sister.  Dating was fine, but not sleeping together.  At first, it didn’t seem to be a problem, but then we could tell Relena was getting to him.  Eventually, we found out from the Governor that Trowa broke his word, and well, you know…gave into temptation.”          

“Stop,” Heero said from his place on the bed.  “You realize you caused this whole disaster by doctoring those photographs, right, Treize?”  Heero spat at his superior.

            Treize sighed.  “Yes, Yuy.  I’m well aware that you are terminally pissed at me for ruining things with your girlfriend.  I’m sorry.  But, I also know that she has to be a very forgiving person to be with you in the first place, so I’m sure she’ll come around eventually.  Can we get on with this?”

            Heero glared, un-amused at Treize’s dry comment, and he silently promised himself he’d get revenge - once those doctors let him out of this place.  “Fine,” he growled.

            Treize pressed the play button on the tape recorder and, once again, Dorothy’s voice filled the room.   

“Zeches was incensed by this….”

Treize interrupted her.  “We’re aware of this part of it, Miss Catalonia.  Please tell us how you managed to get Relena to unwittingly carry messages back and forth between Barton and Chief Marquise.”

            “Well, that was where I came in.  I befriended the poor dear before she was set up with Trowa, so that I could build her trust in me.  I’ve always had a certain flair for fashion, and I was finally able to put it to good use.  We sent signals via Relena’s wardrobe.”

            “Excuse me?  I don’t understand.”

            “It was easy, a certain color ribbon was easily coerced into her hair, or I’d suggest the purple dress instead of the green one - at the last minute, depending on the message we were sending.”

            “You’re kidding.”

            “No.  It was quite clever of us, actually - you had no evidence, no record of a relationship.  That is until Darlian crumbled under the pressure.”

            “How did Trowa send messages back?”

            “Oh, that was easy enough.  Relena would tell me all about her dates with Trowa.  I just got her into the habit of telling me about what he wore.  His response could be the color of a tie, the cut of a suit, or even wearing a hat.  It was simple, yet it worked so well, don’t you think?” 

            Treize stopped the tape recorder and looked across the room at Duo. 

“Man, her own brother.  And Trowa.  Is it just me, or does anyone else feel sorry for the poor girl?” Duo asked, shaking his head; then he glanced over at the figure lying on the bed.   Heero lay there with his eyes closed, presumably lost in thought.

Duo turned back to the window.  He heard Relena’s voice echoing in his ears. “All you people seem to be able to do is use me.”  His train of thought was derailed, however, by the sound of light snoring coming from the room behind him.  He turned around to see that Heero was fast asleep. 

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

            Outside in the hallway, Duo glared at Treize.  “You didn’t even tell him the worst part!”

Treize winced.  “I know.  But what could I do?  He’s already pissed about the photographs, and the doctor said he needs to rest.”

“Yeah, but he deserves to know.”

“Oh, so you want me to go in there and tell him so the surgeons can accuse me of upsetting their patient?  The way he acted today, this could send him into cardiac arrest!”

“I don’t know…”

“Besides, it could all amount to nothing, and then he’d be upset for no reason.  I think we should talk to her first.”

“Don’t you mean I should talk to her first?  Since she won’t talk to you anymore.”

“Yeah, but you can’t influence her decision, Maxwell.  I won’t allow it.  No matter what you think is best for your friend in there, this is her decision, not his.  You just keep that in mind,” Treize warned.

Duo put on his most innocent face.  “Whatever you say, boss.”

 

 

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