Well, this is a bit shorter than usual. And like always I appreciate everyone who reviewed the last chapter. You guys are great! 

If anyone has been looking for my website, sorry for the trouble, my server shut down with only giving me a one day notice. I never checked their news section, I'm sure I would have known much sooner. But the only sent me a message the day before they did it. My new address is http://24.183.169.147:3684  

Disclaimer - Gundam Wing doesn't belong to me plain and simple, and I make no money or other profit off of this story.

To Protect Until the End

Relena sighed as she and Daniel entered the large auditorium. She glanced at the two guards that were not very far from where she was at, at all times. They had been assigned to her after Heero left to do a few things for the Preventers for a few days. Lady Und had needed Heero's skills pretty badly, but not as bad as Relena wished he was here. There was something about this place that bothered her, but it was probably because this was her fist public speech without having Heero's reassuring presence around. But she was glad that the lecture was held close to home for once. 

It has been a week since Heero had told her his reason from moving out. He had kept his promise and was at the estate before she woke, and left well after she was in bed. She had tried to talk to him all week, but he took on the role of being the protector in the shadows, so she hardly saw him. She would only get brief glimpses of him, or he would be standing off in the distance. Whenever she tried to approach him he would slip out of the room, leaving her slightly hurt and angry.

She had to talk to him, she had to know why he said that to her. Was it because he, as a friend, didn't think that Daniel was the one for her? Or was it something else? Could it be that Heero truly.... loved her and was jealous?  Just the thought of it made her heart skip a beat. She had waited a long time for Heero, hoping that he would find in his heart that he had feelings beyond friendship for her. But when years passed and he showed no signs of wanting to go beyond friendship she had to move on. 

Getting beyond the hope that Heero would ever change his view on their relationship had been hard. But as time passed, and she met Daniel, she was able to get past, but not truly move on from the hope that was still in her heart. It was important for her to talk to Heero. She had to know what was going on between the two of them before she decided to make a decision that would surly change her life. 

"Relena." Daniel's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. Daniel pointed at his pager. "I have to get going, I'm on call today. If you need me then page me." He quickly gave her a kiss then stroked her cheek with his thumb. "You'll be ok, I'm sure that Heero wouldn't have given you anything but the best guards that he could find."

"I know." Relena offered him a smile, and then watched Daniel walk off into the crowd of people that were starting to gather. She then walked over to her assigned seat, where she would wait until it was time for her speech an hour later.

Relena looked over her speech to make sure that everything was in order, knowing that she would be the next guest speaker. It was ten minutes into one of the speeches of another guest that Relena's eyes looked into the crowd when the sound of gunfire rang out. She could feel her heart quicken when looked around for her two guards and found them both gone. The audience was scrambling out of their seats while trying to get to one of the five exits of the auditorium making it impossible to tell where the shooter was, or where her guards may be.

While still looking for her guards, and hoping that everyone got out safely, Relena didn't take notice of the man that was quickly approaching her from the left. It wasn't until she heard the deep monotone of a voice speaking her name and a sharp tug to get her out of her chair, that she glanced and seen Heero pushing her to get her off of the stage.

She grasped his hand tightly, and quickly wondered what he was doing there, but allowed him to push her past the podium toward the back of the stage. They didn't get very far before Heero pulled her back as he took shelter behind the podium. Relena gasped in surprise as she landed in his lap, her back was pressed up against his chest. One arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her off of his lap to face him, and he pulled out his gun with his free hand and shielded her with his body.

"Don't move." His lips brushed against her ear as he spoke, sending a shiver down Relena's spine. Heero then moved slightly around the podium to see if he could find out where the gunfire was coming from. He was certain that the person that was firing upon the crowd and speakers wasn't after anyone in particular, and was shooting at anything that moved.

Heero pulled back just in time before a stray bullet hit the podium, splintering the wood over his left shoulder. When he felt Relena's body stiffen slightly he turned to look at her and seen that she was covering her left cheek with her hand. "You're hurt."

"It's nothing...it's just a scratch." Relena responded, a hint of fear was in her voice.

Heero pulled her hand away from her face to see a small scratch on her cheek with a slight trace of blood starting to form. He quickly wiped it away with his thumb, causing Relena to flinch slightly. It was at the moment that she felt a flash of pain hit her right shoulder causing her to scream out in pain.  Relena closed her eyes tightly and grabbed her shoulder with her good arm. She knew that she had been shot, but she didn't know how bad things truly were until she looked at Heero and saw a look that resembled shock and pain on his face. 

"He...Heero."

When he looked her in the eyes she felt a since of dread at the dull painful look of his eyes. A few seconds later his body slumped forward and Relena caught him, wrapping her arms around him, forgetting about the pain that was burning in her shoulder. 

Relena could feel the warm stickiness of his blood on her fingers as she held him closely.  When she looked at her blood covered hands she started to cry. "Heero.... why are you here! You're not supposed to be here!"

Relena loosened her embrace some when Heero started to cough. She saw a small amount of blood on his lips and knew that there was internal bleeding. "You wouldn't have gotten hurt if you weren't here!" She screamed at him. 

"It's....it's my job." Heero mumbled against her neck.

Relena closed her eyes and shook her head. 'This can't be happening. Please don't take him from me. Please.'  Her skin tingled when she felt Heero's fingers run along her cheek. 

"Don't, don't cry. I'm alright." Heero could feel his strength fading very quickly. He knew that his injury was bad, but all he wanted at that moment was to stay in her arms and to let her know how he felt for her. 

"Heero, please don't, I know it's bad."

Heero tried to smile for her. "I won't leave you. I promised to protect you....... I... love you." Heero closed his eyes and sighed. He felt like the weight of all his worries was lifted off of his shoulder with those three words. When he heard her words of love whispered in return, he then let himself surrender to unconsciousness.

<<<<<<<>>>>>>>

Daniel was looking over the last chart of his rounds for that hour when he heard his name being paged to go to operating room three. He quickly put the chart down and ran down to the elevator to take him to the third floor of the hospital. Once he reached the OR he was given the patient's status, and that he was going to assist in the operation. But when he heard that the patient had been at the lecture when he had been shot, the same lecture hall that he had left a few hours earlier he suddenly felt sick.

Daniel felt his throat tighten with the thought that Relena may possibly be hurt. As much as he hated it, he had to concentrate on the patient, but had asked someone the check on news about the Vice Foreign Minister. And to give him the information as soon as he came out of surgery.

The whole time that he prepped, his thoughts ran to Relena. He didn't know what he would do if she was hurt. One of the other Doctors that walked into the room nodded at him and they both entered the OR. Daniel normally doesn't look at his patient while passing by, but something caught his eye and he froze in his spot staring at the person on the table. He didn't know how long he had been standing there until he felt someone shake his shoulder

"Dr. Kincaid, are you alright?"

Daniel looked at the Nurse that was standing beside him and nodded. "Yes, I'm fine." Daniel started to walk to get started and threw another glance at his patient. 'I've never lost a patient. And I won't loose you either...... Heero.'