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.  I also do not own the quote below…and don't know who to contribute it to - other than perhaps the creators of Xena (don't ask).

You could miss your true path by the width of a hair, but that is the same thing as missing by a mile.

Chapter 1

“Heero, you can’t go with me. It’s a public ladies room – what would people say?” Relena tossed her blond hair with exasperation.

Heero narrowed his cobalt eyes to mere slits. “Hn.” He replied, then reluctantly moved aside and took up a post outside the restroom in the City Conference Hall. “She’d better not even think of trying anything,” he thought and glared at her again out of the corner of his eye. He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest as she opened the door and disappeared from his vision.

Relena let out a small sigh of relief as she closed the door. Her eyes darted quickly about the room and came to rest on the small window at the end of the row of stalls. She smiled.

After opening the latch on the window, she didn’t dare climb out that way – she knew it led to the back of the building and she would be missed before she could leave the grounds. Instead, she went into the nearest stall and stood on the toilet seat. From that position, she was just tall enough to remove one of the ceiling tiles. Pieces of dingy gray insulation fell down, lodging in her hair and dusting the floor. She sighed and cleaned the mess up quickly.

With strong hands and arms from weeks of weight training for ‘stress relief’, Relena hoisted herself through the opening. She struggled a bit as her upper body rested on a solid beam and her legs dangled very unladylike, clad only in a short summer skirt without stockings, into the room below. Her sandaled foot found the top of the stall and she pushed down, propelling her entire body up into the dank attic. She quickly replaced the tile and began to crawl along the rafter as she tried to avoid the itchy insulation.

She didn’t have far to go. The men’s restroom was only a few feet away, but it was nearer to the side exit, and its entrance was around the corner from where her diligent bodyguard stood watch. She smirked as she thought of the look on Heero’s face when he discovered she was missing. He thought he was so unbeatable.

Relena reached her destination and strained to hear any possible noises indicating there were occupants in the room below. She didn’t hear anything, so she cautiously peeled one corner of the ceiling tile up and peeked through the crack. Nothing. She hadn’t expected any trouble with her plan – it was the right time of day. Not many people were still lurking about. She smiled to herself, pulled up the tile, and started to climb down through the opening.

When she was dangling by her fingertips, Relena realized her one flaw. “Damn it!” She cursed and dropped to the floor. She looked up at the gaping hole in the ceiling and shook her head. “You’re getting sloppy, Relena,” she scolded herself. She wouldn’t be able to replace the tile and her escape route would be found. “I’ll just have to think of a new one,” she sighed.

Relena crept to the door and listened. She didn’t hear anything. She poked her head out the door. No one was in sight. She made a mad dash across the hallway to the side exit.

When she reached it, she flung the door open and ran to a waiting taxi. She had called the company and made the arrangements before she had even left for the office that morning. She looked down at her watch, “Right on time.”

She climbed into the back of the cab and gave instructions to the driver. Then she settled back into her seat and watched the Conference Hall and all her troubles melt into the distance.

The only thing Relena regretted was not getting to see the scowl on Heero’s handsome face while he tried to put the pieces together about how she escaped. She laughed quietly to herself, before that nagging feeling began to tug at the back of her mind. Guilt grabbed at her heart for a moment, and then subsided. She shook her head, “I won’t feel guilty. He deserves it.” Then she added for good measure, “And I don’t love him anymore.” But even to her own ears, those words sounded hollow.

The taxi continued through the heavy city traffic. Eventually, it came to a stop in front of a large movie house. She paid the driver and politely declined his offer to set-up a return time. “They’ll have found me by then,” she thought wryly.

Relena walked up to the box office and purchased a ticket. Then she made her way to the appropriate theater, stopping briefly to pick up a coke, small popcorn, and chocolate-covered caramels at the concession stand. Once inside the darkened auditorium, Relena chose a seat way in the back and sat by herself. She felt a pang of loneliness at not having someone to share her popcorn with, and talk about the movie to later. But the sentiment was lost as the projector started to whir above her, and she looked up with child-like enthusiasm at the dancing images playing on the large white screen. For the next two hours, she would escape….