It was late one night on the balcony when I saw light shimmering off metal and realized Relena was in danger. I ran over and hit the assassin in the temple and caught him before he hit the floor dead, so Relena wouldn't wake up.

She cries herself to sleep at night. Because of me. Every night she sneaks out to be alone in the garden wondering where she went wrong. Because of me. “Where did I go wrong? What did I do to make him leave me?" I’d hear her say. I've heard her cry into that teddy bear I gave her. That's all the comfort she has to sooth her life. A single teddy bear. Every night I have to watch my blue-eyed angel cry herself to sleep. So why can't I comfort her? Stupid question, Heero. I'd hurt her. I've been trained to be the perfect soldier. Emotions such as love have been out of the question. Until Relena.

Love. That's what they call it isn't it? I didn't even know what caring for someone was until Relena wrapped my wounds at the military base and put herself between me and Duo. I guess that is when I started to feel emotions. Normally I wouldn't have been afraid to die, considering I had been trained to be the Perfect Soldier. But when Libra was falling to the earth, I realized that I did have something to live for. Relena.

"Heero"

I snapped back to reality at the sound of Relena's voice. I looked over at her and saw her tossing and turning in her bed. I walked over and stroked her hair and caressed her face with my hand. . With that her nightmares went away and I returned to the corner of her room closest to her bed to watch her from the shadows. She's having nightmares again. When will these stop?

When you return to her.

For once I obeyed my heart. And that once will be the rest of my life, I thought.

The next night was her birthday. I stood on the balcony waiting for Relena to come to her room. When she got there I was shocked. I'd watched her mature for two years. I'd see her in dresses that left men speechless. But when I saw her she was more beautiful than anything I'd seen. And that happy look on her face……then suddenly her eyes were filled with tears.

“What’s the matter?”

“You.”

“You left me crying to sleep every night, wondering where I went wrong, Having nightmares about you, thinking you didn’t care about me, that you had run away from an insignificant brat to the point where I almost couldn’t go on!”

I turned away. When I looked back I saw Relena, knees pulled up close, face in her arms and sobbing uncontrollably on the floor. I walked over and scooped her up in my arms and carried her to the bed. She looked up at me with questioning eyes. Heero looked down at her to answer the question she didn’t have to ask.

“Because I love you.”

She just couldn’t take it. She broke down and started sobbing worse than before. I pulled her close and let her sob on my chest.

“I thought you never loved me. That you didn’t even care about me.”

“Shhh. It’s okay. I love you and always will, Relena.”

I laid her down on the bed and got in with her. She snuggled closer to me and laid her head down on my chest.

“Maybe tonight I won’t have any nightmares,” I heard her say to herself.

“Yeah.”