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 12

“Locked on target.” Trowa said and fired two shots off rapidly. The enemy mobile suits threatening the ally shuttles exploded. Heero and Relena wasted no time in boarding Sally’s ship.

“Thanks, Trowa,” Sally said to the pilot on the video screen.

“No problem. I’m on my way to support Duo and Wu-fei. Out.”

“That was close,” she said turning towards the recent arrivals.

“Too close,” Heero agreed, shooting a fierce look at Relena.

*          *          *         *          *         *          *             *             *             *

Duo and Wu-fei were relieved to see Heavyarms enter the fray. The three battled wave after wave of enemy assaults, dropping back ever so slightly with each attack. Suddenly, the comlink beeped, and the Gundams retreated to the pre-determined coordinates. The L6 base promptly erupted in a ball of flames, taking out the majority of the remaining mobile suits. The group finished off the ones that escaped the blast before turning back towards earth.

            *             *             *             *             *             *             *             * *             *

Sally, Heero, and Relena arrived first. Heero had to be rushed to the hospital. He had sustained burns, a broken right leg, and a deep gash on his left shoulder. She rode with him to the hospital, but he wouldn’t speak to her. He was still angry about her disobeying his order not to leave the shuttle. She didn’t care; “He’ll get over it,” she thought to herself. “What’s important is that he is alive. I won’t lose him again.”

At the hospital, he was rushed into surgery, his shinbone had broken the skin, and he was losing blood quickly from the shoulder wound. Relena stayed in the waiting room. Eventually, Noin, Milliardo, Quatre, and Sally joined her. Relief washed over her brother’s face when he saw Relena. She ran to him, and buried her face in his chest as she gave him a big hug. He smiled and hugged her back; he was thankful she was all right. “How is he?”

“They’re operating right now, but Sally said he should be fine,” Relena replied, concern evident in her voice. “Where’s Jacob? I thought he would be with you…” she trailed off as she saw a strange look on her brother’s face. She turned towards Noin and Quatre, who both looked at the ground, unable to meet her eyes.

“What’s going on?” she asked, confused by their behavior.

No one said anything.

“Well, is someone going to tell me what is going on or not?” her voice was rising.

“Sally, how long is Heero supposed to be in surgery?” Milliardo asked.

“I don’t know. It will probably be a quite a while before he’s out of there and conscious,” she replied.

Milliardo sighed, and looked back at Relena, her posture and flushed complexion revealing her displeasure. Then he shot a questioning look at Noin. She shook her head. “Well? I’m waiting,” Relena said.

Quatre finally took her arm and led her outside. They were still visible to the group through the window. The three watched as she turned red with anger then paled. It was punctuated with a hard slap across the face. Milliardo winced. “That hurt,” he said aloud.

            Relena came back into the waiting room, her face an unhealthy shade of white. She was shaking as she fought to control the turmoil of emotions she was feeling – anger, hurt, betrayal, embarrassment – as she looked at the others, “Tell me this is someone’s idea of a sick joke.”

            No one replied.

“I see,” she said as she looked down at the ground in defeat. But she had always been stronger than that. With a strangled cry, she turned and ran out of the hospital.

Duo, Wu-fei, and Trowa were almost to the main entrance of the hospital when they saw Relena sprint out towards the parking lot. There was a squeal of tires, and they turned to see Milliardo’s convertible peel out of its parking space.

“She knows,” Trowa said quietly.

Duo ran after the car, yelling at Relena to stop. She paused at the edge of the parking lot before turning into traffic. Duo managed to grab hold of the side of the car before she sped off again. He held on for dear life as she turned the corner, before he was able to pull himself into the passenger’s seat.

Milliardo and the others just watched from the entryway. “Duo, just make sure she comes back in one piece,” he said to himself.

Quatre turned to Noin, “This isn’t good.”

Noin sighed, “No, it’s not.”

*             *             *          *          *         *          *         *          *         *          *

The car’s tires squealed as they hugged the turns. Death metal blared from the radio, and Duo was trying to pull his seatbelt tighter. “Please, I want to live,” he prayed as the speed increased and they narrowly missed another car while changing lanes. The sun was setting; it was getting late, and he was quickly losing patience.

“Relena!” he yelled. “Where are we going?”

There was no response. He was relieved to see they were changing course slightly and heading toward the next exit - mostly because the car was slowing down.

She pulled over at a gas station, and reached across him to open the passenger’s side door. “Get out.” She said sternly, not looking at him.

“I can’t do that,” Duo replied, crossing his arms.

She glared at him, “Get the hell out, Duo!”

He was shocked by the wild look in her eyes. Recovering quickly, he closed the door and said determinedly, “I am not leaving, Relena.”

She punched him. “Damn you!” she yelled, and took off again.

*             *             *             *             *             *          *          *         *          *         *

The nurse entered the waiting room. “He’s awake. Still a bit groggy, but coherent. He’s asking to see Relena.”

Without hesitation, Trowa and Noin took off towards his room.

*             *             *             *             *             *             *             * *             *             *

“Where are we going?” Duo yelled at her again, turning off the radio.

When she didn’t respond, he said another silent prayer before declaring, “That’s it!” Duo grabbed the wheel and jerked it to the right.

The car spun around before he was able to straighten it out just in time to make the exit. He stepped on her foot to engage the brake, and brought the car to a screeching halt on the service road. Then he pulled her across him into the passenger’s seat, and took over the driving. She reached for the door, but he quickly locked it and took off.

He made the U-turn and got back up onto the highway. Then he used his wrist com-link to call Sally.

“Hey, hey! I’ve got her; we’re heading back now. Should be there in about a half hour or so.”

“Thanks Duo. He’s awake and asking for her,” Sally replied.

“Tell him we’re on our way!” he said cheerfully.

*             *             *             *          *          *         *          *             *             *             *

Trowa and Noin appeared in Heero’s room, and he knew something was wrong.

“Where’s Relena?” he asked looking at Trowa.

“She’s not here right now. She didn’t handle the news too well,” Trowa admitted.

“She’s been through a lot lately, she probably just needs some time to sort this all out.” Noin said soothingly.

Heero closed his eyes. Trowa understood, and gently guided Noin to the door. He would never let them see how much his heart ached.

Sally arrived at Heero’s room, and was surprised that Noin and Trowa weren’t there. He looked like he was sleeping. “Heero?” she questioned softly.

His eyes snapped open. For a moment, she thought she saw pain flashing in their depths. She gasped. He glared at her, then looked away. “Duo just called, he and Relena will be here shortly,” she said smiling slightly.

He didn’t acknowledge her. After a few seconds he heard the door close.

*             *             *             *          *          *         *          *         *          *         *

Duo hit the button to put the top up on the convertible, so they could talk.

“Relena, you have exactly 30 minutes to get this out of your system, and then you have to go see Heero.”

“I don’t want to see him right now.”

“Why? I don’t understand.”

“You wouldn’t.” she said miserably.

“Relena, please. I want to understand. Tell me, maybe talking will make you feel better.” Duo pleaded with her.

Her face softened somewhat as the internal battle within her waged.  She finally gave in.  “I’ve always loved him,” she began.

“I know,” he said quietly, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

“I never gave up hope that he would come back to me. It broke my heart to have to agree to marry someone else. He was all I ever wanted.” She said quietly, staring ahead blankly.

“But this…” she gasped, “…this is too cruel.” She buried her face into her hands and sobbed.

Duo looked at her, and felt guilty. He pulled off the highway, and turned off the car. He tried to comfort her. “He cares about you very much, Relena. You didn’t see him when we found out you were gone. He looked so…lost. Please, you need to talk to him.”

She nodded, but continued crying.

*             *             *             *             *             *          *          *         *          *         *

When they arrived back, it was dark out, and the rest of the group had gone home. They were informed Heero was sleeping, but the nurse gave Relena permission to go to his room.

            She opened the door softly, and crept in so as not to wake him. From the corner of the room, the moon illuminated his sleeping face. She just leaned back against the wall, with her arms crossed and waited.

She didn’t have to wait long. “You came,” he said flatly.

“Yes,” she replied softly.

His eyes opened and he glared at her severely, “You blatantly disobeyed me up there, Relena. You could have been killed.”

“And just who do you think you are? My commanding officer? Oh, better yet, who are you today? Heero Yuy, the Gundam pilot? Or are you Jacob Quincy, my fiancé? I’m afraid I’ve lost track.”

“Why does a name matter?”

“A name? You didn’t just change your name - you took on his identity. Blonde hair, green eyes…” she lowered her voice, “And more importantly, you deceived me.”

“I had to,” Heero replied, crossing his arms.

“Why? So you could make a fool out of me? So you could satisfy your ego one more time?” She yelled. Then she added softly, “So you could break my heart one more time?”

“I never meant to hurt you,” he said, his voice softening.

She turned her back to him.

“Relena….” He said, and silently cursed his broken leg for keeping him from going to her.

“Don’t worry,” she said, her voice taking on a harsh tone. “I’m sure the council will amend the contract so you won’t have to continue this charade.” She started towards the door.

“Relena…don’t go….”

She turned towards him, the moonlight reflecting off silent tears. “I learned this move from the best,” she said bitterly as she walked out the door.

She ran right into a wide-eyed Duo. Relena glared at him, and pushed him aside angrily before continuing down the hall.

Duo knew his friend well enough to give him time to gain control before trying to talk to him. About an hour later, Heero heard the door open, and looked up at Duo.

“She hates me,” he said flatly.

Duo sighed, “Women. Who will ever figure them out?”

“Where did you two go, anyway?” Heero asked.

“We didn’t go anywhere. I almost broke my neck diving into the car, and then she tried to kill me with her Mario Andretti impression! Oh, and she hit me, too – when I wouldn’t get out of the car in the middle of nowhere.” Duo whined. “She was pissed.”

“You didn’t manage to calm her down much. She was still angry.”

“I heard,” Duo said. When he noticed the death glare he was getting from Heero, he quickly amended the statement, “the last part. She had the door open when she said the part about leaving….”

Heero winced, and looked away. Duo hung his head, “I’m sorry, man.”

“Forget it,” Heero said unemotionally.

“Hey, how long are you stuck in this place, anyway?”

“Two more days.”

“Yuck!”

“I actually could use the time to decide what I’m going to do.”

“Milliardo won’t let her do anything rash. She’ll come talk to you again when she’s calmed down.”

“I know.”

“Well, get some rest, buddy.”

Heero nodded.

“Hey, can I sleep on the floor in here?”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to walk back to the palace. I’m beat.”

“Why would you walk back?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure Miss Peaceful Princess wasn’t in the mood to wait for me.”

“Hn.”

*             *             *             *             *             *             *             *             *             *             *

The morning sunlight streamed into Heero’s room through the window. It was early, but Noin and Milliardo were already there. Duo was snoring peacefully in the corner.

“She won’t talk to any of us,” Noin sighed.

“She wouldn’t take breakfast this morning, and has locked herself in her room,” Milliardo said wearily.

“She wouldn’t listen to me last night, either. She yelled at me, then left before I could say anything,” Heero said.

“And what an exit she made!” Duo said, yawning.

“What do you mean?” Noin asked.

Heero glared at him.

“Nothing,” Duo said fearfully.

Milliardo turned and glowered at him.

Duo turned red, “She said that she learned this move from the best – referring to Heero’s leaving her.”

“Ouch,” Noin said quietly.

“I don’t understand why she’s so upset. I asked her yesterday, and all she could tell me was that she had always loved him. Then she said something about this was too cruel,” Duo said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

“Too cruel…” Noin said thoughtfully. “Did she say anything like that to you last night, Heero?”

She noticed his frown deepened. “I’m sorry, I know it’s personal, but I just thought maybe she said something that would give us a clue as to why she’s so upset.”

Trowa walked into the room. “Did you talk to her, Heero?”

“I tried, she didn’t really let me talk.”

“Hn…Well, someone needs to go tell her what your ‘mission’ was,” Trowa said. “Since it was your mission, Heero, you are the only one that knows how far you were planning on taking it.”

“How far were you going to take it?” Duo asked.

“I was under the impression he wanted to marry her,” Milliardo said with surprise.

“As we all were. But maybe we made an assumption that she didn’t,” Trowa said looking at Heero.

“Well, Yuy?” Milliardo asked, his voice rising.

“Yes, I was going to marry her! My plan still hasn’t changed,” Heero said defensively as realization dawned on him, “Could she really think I would be that heartless?” He wondered aloud, and then buried his face in his hands.

“She probably doesn’t know what to think,” Noin said, feeling sorry for the young man.

He raised his head.  “I’m breaking out of here,” Heero said suddenly, a fierce look in his eyes