In the Moon’s Shadow

Chapter Five: Unexpected Blessings

1163 A.D.

27 miles from London, England

Outskirts of the village Rhisha

Relena felt all the blood drain from her face as Caleb looked at her expectantly. What was he thinking? He couldn’t possibly expect her to know what to do, could he? She looked down at Rebekah’s sweating face and felt fear grip her heart. What if there were complications or she didn’t do something right, what if the baby died because of something she didn’t do, what if...?

A strong hand on her shoulder made her turn to meet Heero’s eyes. They were still filled with weariness but there was also a special determination that dampened the fear inside her. She knew that he had faith in her even when she had no clue as to what to do, and she would have rather died than disappoint him. She just had to think...had to think...

“I need hot water and clean blankets, as clean as you can get them.” She said halfway calmly. “And a midwife. There must be one in the village. Someone needs to go get her.”

“Relena, I don’t think my baby wants to wait for--” Rebekah cut off as a contraction caught her, muscles rippling along her abdomen. Relena suddenly snapped into action, years of diplomatic missions giving her a sense of authority. She may not have known what she was doing, but she would at least ACT like she did. And after all, she was a woman, and women always seemed to have a natural way when it came to birthing babies. Well, she hoped so, anyway.

“I’ll get the midwife, Rebekah.” Caleb said, smoothing his wife’s dark hair away from her face. “I’ll be back soon.” And then he was gone, out the door in a flat run for the village. Heero left also, presumably to get the water, which left Relena to comfort the distraught woman.

“All right, Rebekah, this is what we’re going to do...”

Needless to say, the night was long one. Relena helped Rebekah through her contractions alone, as Heero was made to wait outside and Caleb had been unable to find the midwife, who was busy delivering another baby. They were on their own, so Relena made the best of it. She sweated right along with her friend and her hand was squeezed so hard it was basically like feeling the contraction. All she needed was a baby and she could almost say she had given birth. And the baby did not seem to want to come. The hour was pushing towards early morning and Rebekah was tiring, and the baby hadn’t even crowned yet. Relena became more and more nervous that she was doing to something wrong and that was why the labor was taking so long, but she had no idea what else she could do, so she continued to help Rebekah breathe and offer what support she could, but the worry ate at her just the same.

Finally, after another excruciating hour, the baby’s head crowned and Relena almost passed out from sure relief. She told Rebekah and urged the woman to push one last time. The baby slipped into Relena’s waiting arms and the Vice Foreign Minister laughed like a child, deliriously happy just to hold that small, crying bundle for a moment before passing it into the proud mother’s arms.

And so it was, that a hour before the first rays of morning touched the sky, Relena came out of the cottage with a happy but weary expression on her face and announced to the men the birth of a healthy baby girl.

Caleb’s eyes immediately went round with shock before that grin of his lit up his entire face. “Sara!” He crowed, and ran headlong into the cottage. Relena watched him go, a whimsical smile on her face, before turning back towards Heero, who straightened from his leaning posture against the side of the well. His face was cast in twilight shadows (tee hee) so she couldn’t read his expression but then he held his arms out to her, and she understood. With exhausted steps she went to him and collapsed gratefully into his arms, releasing a shaky breath she felt she had been holding all night. Heero’s powerful arms that could break a man’s neck in less than a second, wrapped around her as gently as a brush of butterfly wings and she closed her eyes, wishing they could stay like that forever. Heero rested his chin on top of her head and she remembered that he had worked in the fields the previous day and stayed awake all night. He must be just as exhausted as she was. Except, of course, that he was trained to go for days without sleep, but still, he had definitely looked worn out before. She should probably make sure he went to bed but she was so comfortable in his arms...

“Are you all right?” His deep voice rumbled near her ear, his breath tickling her skin. She sighed drowsily.

“I’m okay.” She replied, softly in the predawn stillness, “I’m just so relieved I can barely stand. I was afraid I would do something wrong and that the baby wouldn’t be born right...”

Heero’s arms tightened around her briefly. “But it was.”

“Yes.”

A moment of silence fell between them and Relena watched the sky slowly lighten towards morning. It was amazing how only hours ago she had been consumed with the need to get home, but now...now she only wanted to stay in Heero’s arms and enjoy the moment. She had helped bring a life into the world and her heart was so full she was afraid she was going to burst. Maybe there was a reason they had been brought here and she was only just now beginning to understand what it might be.

“Heero?”

“Hn?”

“Do you think we could get a couple hours of sleep before the sun comes up? I’m so tired...”

She felt him half-smile above her head, as they both slowly slid down the side of the well until they were on the ground, with Relena laying against his chest, his head bent over hers, eyes closed.

And that was exactly how Caleb found them, two hours later.

* * * *

The days that followed little Sara’s birth were happy ones and so full of laughter and sunlight that Heero and Relena found no time to talk about what their plans might be. Heero and Caleb rose before the sun each morning and headed out to the fields for the day’s harvest while Relena cooked, cleaned, and sold vegetables in the village for extra money. Heero worried about her going into the village without him but she assured him that it was perfectly safe and besides, they would need the extra money for Sara. Rebekah spent her time recuperating and sewing new clothes for both Heero and Relena as a way of saying ’thank you’, and when Caleb worried that their ’family’ would be worried about them, Relena firmly told him that they were not leaving until they were sure Rebekah and the baby were settled. And that was that.

Day after day, Relena and Heero became more and more integrated into village life. Heero became well known among the other peasant workers as a man with ungodly speed and strength, who said little but always listened. He became respected and well liked, with a reputation for never shirking his share of the work and always helping his neighbors with a nary a word said. Relena, too, became well-known. Some likened her unto a ray of sunshine that lit everything around her. She brought the men in the fields water everyday and they began to look forward to her visits with friendly grins. Those whose looks were more than friendly earned themselves the Heero Yuy Death Glare and they quickly looked elsewhere when Relena passed. Relena was also well-loved among the wives of the other farmers for babysitting their toddlers while they worked or fetching a trinket from the market. Relena’s smile was seen as the greatest gift of all, but then, Heero Yuy had known that all along.

It was on one of the exceptionally bright days that the week long tourney began in London. The knights again rode the roads at all hours of the night, laughing and cursing in turns, and very drunk from that days jousts and winnings. They were even worse if they lost. Heero began to sleep with his stolen sword close by and Relena said nothing to dissuade him, though she knew that as a pacifist she should have. But even she could not argue with his reasoning with just one look at the tiny Sara who slept not far away. She would have done anything to protect that child and her friends...anything.

The day after the tourney began, the village church held a festival to celebrate Sara’s arrival, as well as any babies born that month. It was meant to bolster the spirits, as harvest time was always hard on the families and a little fun would do them all good. That day, Relena and Rebekah spent every minute cooking, and of course, keeping the men from ’sampling’ everything they made. When they had finally made a nuisance of themselves, Heero and Caleb were sent outside to entertain the baby until it was time to leave.

They all walked together to the church, taking turns carrying Sara. Relena and Rebekah wore their long hair down so it flowed around their shoulders like a waterfall, Relena’s glittering gold in the light and Rebekah’s drinking in the light until it shone a dark brown. The two women laughed and joked, feeling sixteen again, while Heero and Caleb regarded them with amused looks. Caleb was dressed in a new set of clothes Rebekah had made him and Heero was wearing the outfit he had worn when they had first arrived: boots, black pants, and a white button down shirt with long sleeves. He had rolled the sleeves up and left the first four buttons undone as concessions to the heat. The thing he did not wear was his sword.

All in all, they made a presentable party as they arrived in the church courtyard. Many welcomes were exchanged as Relena and Rebekah unloaded the food from the baskets that had slung over their shoulders, and Sara was passed around until everyone had cooed over her at least once. As evening fell, pipes and makeshift drums were produced and dancing commenced on the green grass. Relena and Rebekah slipped off their shoes and were twirled around barefoot by various partners, their laughter tinkling in the night air like chimes. As she was being whirled, Relena caught Heero watching her and she was shocked by what she saw in his eyes. Burning jealously and a flare of passion that made every nerve in her body tremble suddenly in response. She blushed and looked away to regain her composure only to find Heero suddenly in front of her, looking dark and mysteriously handsome. She swallowed.

“Excuse me, but I would like to dance with my wife.” Heero said, flatly, to the man dancing with her. Her partner drifted away but she barely noticed him leaving, as all her attention was riveted on a pair of incredibly blue eyes. He had said ’wife’. It was the first time she had heard him call her that the whole time they had been there and it made her feel warm, and protected. Precious, almost. She only wished it was for real.

Whoa. Back the wagon up. Where had that come from?

But she had no time to question herself for Heero suddenly swept her into his arms and they were dancing. The song was a slow one, with an odd, sort of melancholy tune that drifted through the surrounding trees like a siren’s song. Relena would have enjoyed it, if she hadn’t been so hypnotized by Heero’s nearness. She found it very hard to think clearly with their bodies so close and his dark eyes seemed to burn into her very soul. Finally, she could not fight against the pull of his will any longer. So she did the only thing a girl could do.

She surrendered.

With a little sigh, she rested her head against his collarbone, tightening her arms around his neck. It seemed to be the right thing to do for she felt some unseen tension leak out of him and his arms secured themselves around her waist. She closed her eyes as they danced, listening as the music twined itself around them, almost bringing tears to her eyes at the beautiful sound of it. She forgot everything with the feel of him against her, all her quiet worries about how they were going to get home. Everything except the simple, musky scent of him and the way he held her so carefully. At that moment, she would have done anything for him, just to make him happy. Anything. If he asked her to give up her position in ESUN she would throw it all away to live as a shepardess or something. Whatever it took, just to see one of his special half-smiles.

Surely this was what it felt like to be in love.

* * * *

Heero closed his eyes and let himself just feel. Something he didn’t do often. His thoughts quieted and he lost himself in the way Relena’s petite frame fit so surely in his arms, the way her hair danced in the breeze, the way she gave herself so trustingly to him, as if his hands had never been stained with blood. When he was with her, he forgot everything. He was just a man with her, and she was a woman. Not the Vice Foreign Minister, not a princess, not an angel. Just a girl who ignited feelings in him that he had once believed he didn’t have. But he knew better now.

As the song drew to a close, he stepped back and looked into her pleasantly dazed light blue eyes. Disregarding any consequences, he bent down and, to his satisfying surprise, she stood on tiptoe as their lips met in a sweet kiss that made Relena’s knees turn to water. Heero steadied her with a strong hand on her back and they melted into each other. As perfectly as two people who were always meant to be one could.

For the two, it was both a beginning and an end, for the night was not yet over.

tbc...

* * * *