Love’s Choice 7

Katana Force

Dawn came and went, but no one stirred in the beach house. It was around nine in the morning when Heero decided he needed to get up and get some breakfast. Pulling on some clothes, Heero padded down the stairs and into the kitchen in his bare feet. Starting the coffee, which had been prepared last night, Heero pulled out a box of cereal along with the poptarts, bagels, cream cheese, oranges, banannas, and some leftover dougnhnuts. He was about to take a bite out of the orange when he heard someone clear his throat. Heero turned and saw Relena standing in the doorway with a goofy grin on her face.

"Don’t even say it, Relena. Don’t even think it."

"What? That you eat more than Duo? Naw, I would never say that, let alone dream of it." She threw a wink at Heero as she walked past him to the fresh pot of coffee. "What are you doing up so late?"

"You mean you were already up?"

"Yep. I’ve been working since six." Taking the empty seat next to Heero, Relean snatched his last doughnut.

"You only got three hours of sleep?"

"Mmuph." They ate in silence for a time.

"How is it coming?" Relena shook her head in exasperation and started to slam her head on the marble counter top. Heero reached out to stop her, afraid she would do some real damage. "That bad, huh?"

"Yep."

"I take it the colonies and earth are not agreeing with each other?"

"Yep."

"Are you not getting anywhere with them?"

"Yep."

"Are you going to say anything else than ‘yep’?"

"Yep."

Heero was getting slightly annoyed. "Like what?" An evil grin spread across Relena’s face, but before she could say anything, the others came walking or rather stumbling in.

"Good morning everyone!"

Duo cringed. "Cheerful person at three o’clock."

"Stay up to late, Duo?" Relena took a glance at the others. "Did all of you stay up to late?" Some blushes and groans were directed her way. "Sorry. Just wondering. I think I will be going now."

A few hours later the group had badgered Relena into coming outside with them to go swimming, and the guys had convinced the girls to wear the suits they had worn, which had just happened to slip into their suitcases, on that fateful night. Everyone was in the water with water guns and other miscellanous toys. Stretching in content, Relena closed her eyes and let the sun saturate her skin with its warmth.

She was halfway in lala land when she felt something cold on her hands and ankels. Looking up, she saw a grining Duo at her feet and a smirking Milliardo directly above her.

"Hey, Zechs! I think Relena looks a little to dry, how about you?"

"I agree, Duo."

Relena had a growing sense of dread. "Think we should rememdy that?" Duo asked.

"Yep." Both guys hoisted her off the ground and over their heads. Relena screamed bloddy murder, but no one seemed to hear her. The guys were up to their thighs in the sea water when Relena yelled for reinforcements.

"Hilde! Noin! HELP!"

Hilde and Noin glanced up from where they were floating and saw the perfect oprotunity to get revenge for the water gun incident. With lightning speed, the two took off after the guys. Wufei, Trowa, and Quatre noticed this and went after the Hilde and Noin to stop them, and Midii, Dororthy, and Sally went after three guys to stop them.

"Hey, Zechs, incoming. Two o’clock."

"I see them, Duo." By now the guys were waist high in the water. "On three, Duo." Relena screamed again. "One, two-" Zechs count was stopped by Noin who had jumped right into him. Hilde had decided to swim underwater and knock Duo’s legs out from right underneath him. Relena screamed once again when she felt herself falling, but a pair of strong arms caught her.

"Heero!"

Heero looked down at her through his wet, spiky bangs and smiled. "Gotcha." The all out water war that ensued between the other couples was lost on the one couple as they withdrew into their own world. It seemed as if time itself began to slow down so it could enjoy every second of this moment.

In such close proximity, it was impossible to not notice the solid outline of his body, nor the soft curves of hers. Heero’s grip tighened and their faces drew closer, ever so slowly. Their lips met in the sweetest of kisses, but Heero’s legs were knocked out from underneath him by Duo and Noin.

Heero’s arms wrapped around Relena in protection, their lips still connected, as they went under. What seemed like minutes later, Heero broke off the kiss and pushed Relena up for air. Both broke the surface of the water, sputtering.

Relena glanced at Heero through the veil of her bangs before walking towards shore. She had to get away. She needed to think. This couldn’t be hapening. Pulling her towel off the nearby chair, Relena wrapped her shivering body in the sun warmed towel and sat down. She couldn’t stop shivering, but her insides felt like they were one fire. It was a different experience for her. One she had never expected to feel. Something had happened when they went underwater, something wild.

Glancing up, she saw the others still fighting in the war, but Heero was nowhere to be seen. She was begining to wonder were he had gone when someone, more speciffically, Heero, settled down beside her.

"You ran."

"I did."

"Why?"

"I can’t take it."

"Can’t take what?"

"The secrets."

"What secrets?"

Relena sighed and hung her head. "My secrets." Heero wanted to question her futher, but he wisely held his tongue. "Heero, I forgot to tell you, you and I are leaving in three days to go back to work."

"How come so soon?"

"Une said she could only spare you about a week and a half, and that is all I could get from the ESUN." The two sat in silence for a time, just watching their friends play Marco Polo. Heero couldn’t help but wonder if he would ever find out what her secrets were.

"Relena, will I-"

She held up a hand and forstalled his question. "Yes, Heero, you will know someday, but until I get over my fears of telling you, please, be patient with me."

"I will, Relena. I will."

Two days later, around five in the morning, found everyone at the small airstrip just on the other side of the island. The others were saying goodbye and thanking Relena, each in their own way, for all she had done. It was a quiet couple that boarded the plane, and it was a quiet couple that never spoke a word to each other on the flight back.

Heero watched with reliefe and angunish as Relena was escourted away by her Preventer bodyguards. He had no clue as to what was going on inside her head, and it was only recent that things started to come into the light.

When he had left the next morning after what he had did, he left, knowing that he had taken something from Relena that was not rightly his. For months, he wrestled with himself until Duo had caught up with him and convinced him to come back. Relena had seemed fine, except for the fact that there always seemed to be something she was holding back.

As time grew, as did thier friendship, there wasn’t much they didn’t share or talk about. Until now, and he would be damned if he didn’t find out what Relena was talking about. First thing was first, check all records on Relena for the past four years. Hopefully, he would find something to at least give him a hint.

Hours later, Heero walked down the halls of the top floor of Preventer HQ with one destination on his mind. Clutched in his hands were printouts from what he had found, things that were destroying every emotional wall he had ever built. To say he was in shock was an understatment, Heero was beyond shock. He was mortified.

Une’s secretary tired to stop Heero from barging in, but a quick glare in her direction silenced her. Walking past the cowering woman, Heero slammed the door open, casuing Une to jump in her seat. Without a word, he slammed the printous on her desk and waited with crossed arms. "Explaine."

Une picked up the papers and began to glance through them, but she never made it past the first page. She knew what what they were, knew them by heart, and now Heeri had found out. Measuring her words, Une set the papers aside and leaned forward. "What you read is ture."

Joy, sadness, pain, longing, and fianally understanding ran through Heero, leaving him in slight shock. "How is that possible."

Une smirked. "My, Heero, I though you would have know about this at your age." Heero couldn’t stop the small grin that escaped. "You need to go and talk to her. Tell her your feelings. I think you already know hers."

Heero left without a word.

Relena ran the brush through her hair, easing the pain the tight bun had brought. It had been another long day due to the arguements between the two construction companies; but with a few orders from Quatre, a few pulls of a string here or there, things were begining to run smoothly again.

She soon found her thoughts traveling to the recent events. Try as she might, she was not able to convince herself to even get the guts to tell Heero her secret. He would hate her! And that was something she could never take, could never handle. She’d lost so much already, loosing him would send her over the edge.

Getting up from her vanity, Relena smoothed the silver nightgown she had worn what seemd like years ago and walked onto her balcony. The sun was just begining to set in the west, casting a golden glow around the Sanq Kingdom. Looking down at NewPort City, Relena watched as the children were called in for the night, while husbands and fathers finished some last minute work around their houses.

They were all so peaceful and happy, and it did Relena some good to see them that way. It was her reward for all she had done, and she accepted it. Staying for a few minutes more, Relena’s thoughts were interrupted with a knock at her door. She walked across the vast expanse called a room and opened the door. Her world stopped.

"Heero, what are you doing here?"

Heero took in Relena’s attire, noting she looked more beautiful than ever. "May I come in?" Relena stepped back, and Heero took that as a silent invitation. Taking a qucik glance around the room, Heero turned and faced Relena. "Do you trust me?"

Relena’s eyes grew wide at his question. "Yes, I do."

Heero nodded and took a few steps towards Relena. "Then do you believe that I will never hate you?"

The dreams came flooding back. "No."

"Why? Tell me why you think I’ll hate you?"

The tears wouldn’t stop. Relena had cried enough, but the tears wouldn’t stop. "Because you would."

"That’s not good enough, Relena. Tell me why I would hate you."

"No."

Heero walked closer so that they ended up close but not touching. "Tell me."

The dam broke and the tears, the pain, the hurt, the fear-it all floated up to consume Relena, leaving her shaking and distraught. "I killed someone, Heero. I killed someone! I did something that I hate the most!"

Still not touching her, Heero nodded his head once. "And why do you think I would hate you for that?"

It was too much. She couldn’t take it anymore. The words came out before she could stop them. "I killed our child, Heero! I killed the baby I never knew I had!" Crossing her arms over her stomach, Relena prepared to loose her soul at the angry words that were sure to come.

What she got was unexpected.

"I’m sorry."

The pain in his eyes and in his voice were enough to stop Relena’s tears. "What do you mean?"

"I’m sorry that I wasn’t there to protect you. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there when you needed me the most." Relena shook her head and turned away, denying what she was hearing. "Relena, why can’t you accept that I am not angry at you? Just because you are angry at some events that you had no control of doesn’t mean that I hate you."

Relena dared to look at him, and found that he was honest in his feelings. There was no hate in his eyes, only love and sorrow. "Heero, do you really mean it? Do you really forgive me?"

"Relena, there is nothing to forgive. I read what happened in some medical files. You had no control over that horse bucking you off."

"Yes, I did! I shouldn’t have been on that horse at all!"

"Relena, how could you have even known? Sally herself said that you showed no syptoms, even at two months."

Relena felt the last of her defences braking under Heero’s logical answers. "I should have recognized the signs."

"You were under stress. How were you to recognize the signs as anything else?" And the last wall of defence crumbled. "You have mourned long enough, Relena. Think of the future and future children. Think of their happiness and joy. Focus on that Relena, and I’ll be by your side the whole way."

Hope, something foriegn to Relena, began to build inside her. "What are you saying?"

"I’m asking you to marry me, Relena Peacecraft."

Hesitation halted the words in her throat, but the love in Heero’s eyes brought them out. "Yes, I will."

Heero closed the small gap and pulled her into his arms. "I promise you, I will never leave your side. And we can build a family. Together." Relena smiled as he sealed the promise with a kiss.

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I claim, Gundma Wing or anything pertaining to it.