Disclaimer: Yadda yadda I don’t own Gundam Wing and so on.

The Symbol of Temptation

Chapter Four

There’s no moment longer than one spent in panic. Running up the stairs, Relena beside him, he knew panic for the third time in his life. It seemed almost fitting that every time he panicked it was because he thought an innocent person was in danger.

Danger.

Laura.

They burst through her bedroom door with a loud ‘crack’ and began calling out to her. She screamed in response. Where was she? He wanted to go ballistic but that wasn’t an option. There was already a ballistic Relena tearing the door off the closet where Laura’s scream had come from. She sat, quivering, in a pile of clothes she’d knocked down when trying to cover herself up. What had she been trying to hide from? Security was so tight around here even he’d have trouble getting in. So what could it have been?

He went over to the closet where Relena had gathered the frightened child in her arms and was rocking her back and forth. He could hear Laura sobbing something about “a big ugly black thing” that had tried to get her.

He looked over toward the window and saw a coat rack by the wall casting a shadow on the wall that would easily terrify the child. And sure enough, when Relena asked Laura to point out to them the “thing,” she pointed right at the shadow and then buried her face in Relena’s shoulder.

If it hadn’t been Laura, and she hadn’t been only five years old, he would have said something about how unnecessary it was to scream over a stupid “thing” without even investigating it to see what it was.

And maybe if her screaming had come a few seconds earlier, he wouldn’t be kicking himself for kissing Relena.

And…touching her.

He shook his head. Laura was just a child. She’d be too scared to investigate something out of the ordinary. He walked over to the coat rack and moved it out into the hallway where Laura couldn’t see it. By the time he came back in, she was already lying down in bed and Relena was giving her a kiss on the forehead.

Another feeling he knew nothing about swept through him without any mercy.

When he and Relena walked out into the hallway, he wanted nothing more than to retreat to his own room and berate himself for his foolishness.

Kissing her.

How could he have been so stupid? So selfish?

When she grabbed his arm, he jumped a mile high and gave a silent gasp.

She was going to drive him crazy. Either that or he’d eventually die of shock from the slightest touch of her hand.

He kept his body facing away from her and turned only his head slightly to the side so he could just see her out of the corner of his eye. She looked concerned. And anxious. Don’t kiss me again, his mind pleaded. Just let me go.

She pulled on his arm until he turned around.

Whatever she was seeing, whatever she found in his eyes when she looked at him, it put an expression on her face that made him die inside. She looked like she was in pain. Why? Why did she look at him like that? What was he supposed to do? Supposed to say?

He fell out of his skin when she whispered, “Stay with me.”

He didn’t know his body could be so tense.

Her hand squeezed his arm lightly. “Please?”

She was pleading with him. Dammit! He felt hot and cold and heavy all over. Nothing was making sense in his mind today. He’d become comfortable, living in this house with her, and had been more responsive than he wished he’d been when she kissed him. And why? Why did she kiss him?

Didn’t he have any answers anymore?

Despite all those thoughts, he found himself walking with her, her hand in his, toward her bedroom. He shook. Again. He was almost used to shaking now, since she was still everywhere.

He had no escape from her.

Inside her room, he felt the familiar rush of air that brought all her scents to him and gave him the feeling of extreme comfort and relaxation. He’d begun to consider sitting in her room at night just to relax and let all the things he couldn’t sort out slip away with the steady sound of her breathing. But the thought had been discarded. He did not have permission to be in here every night.

He should not be in here now.

But there they were, lying down together on her bed, her head resting on his arm, and his senses being filled with her presence as she drifted off to sleep beside him and he lay awake in alarm.

Perhaps the feelings washing through him right now were what Duo called “desire.”

What a wonderful torture he forced himself to endure before he fell asleep.

* * *

Never in his life had he slept better than he did that night. And never in his life had he thought that Peagen could yell so loud for so long without taking any breaks for air. While Heero stood like a stone statue by the side of the bed, listening to Peagen’s rant, Relena giggled and laughed like he’d never heard before. Just when he thought Peagen couldn’t be any angrier than he already was, Relena sauntered over and gave Heero a peck on the cheek and invited him into the shower with her. If it hadn’t been for the wink she gave him, he would have thought she was serious.

Apparently, though, Peagen hadn’t seen her wink and ordered Heero out of the room.

While he walked back to his room for a shower, he laughed to himself and finally allowed his mirth to show. He really enjoyed being here, no matter what he told himself.

And no matter what he told himself, he was going to have to stay. He couldn’t be this happy anywhere else. Not now. Not after knowing what it was like to live in this place, with these people.

With Relena.

How could he be happy now if he left and didn’t take her with him? And how could he take her with him without Laura?

There was only one answer to this.

The only answer he had.

He had to make himself a part of this life. A permanent part.

He knew what he wanted.

He knew what he had to do.

This was just like every other mission, every other battle he’d ever had.

Only this one would lead him to her.

That day, he watched her leave for the office and knew, just knew, he had to make her his wife. He’d felt it when he woke up. Her face, her eyes, her hair. She was everything. Everything. She made him smile. She made him laugh. He found it strange to remember his thoughts the night before, when he wanted to run. When he wanted to get away. Just being near her wasn’t enough now. This morning, when he woke up, he knew it had changed. He didn’t how. He just knew.

He just knew.

But there was something he had to do first. He had to find the people who were after Laura. They posed a threat. No one could be left any opportunity to threaten his life here. With them. With her. He had to make them safe. He had to make her safe.

He had to make her his wife.

And he had…he had to tell her…what he felt.

What he knew now.

He loved her.

It was the most irrational thing he could ever think of getting himself involved in. Yet here he was. In love. With her. Why had it taken him so long to realize it? Had he been afraid?

He couldn’t fathom being afraid now.

He felt like he did before he stepped into the cockpit of Wing Zero before each battle.

He knew what he had to do. He knew how to do it.

He just didn’t know if he could work up the courage to ask her if she wanted him in her life.

But he had to try.

He couldn’t go back now.

He loved her.

When she got home, he was going to tell her.

At least, that was his plan before he got the call.

It was a call from Quatre, saying that he'd gotten a lead on someone he suspected of being the person trying to kill Laura. He also said this person had many resources at their disposal, including elite hackers that could easily budge the security schedule, especially with so many people on patrol. No one would question being let off early when there were about thirty other guys on duty at the same time.

So, Quatre told Heero about his plan.

He would continue to conduct his investigation from there, and Heero would take Laura and Relena into hiding with him. Quatre figured it would be better if Heero alone protected them in an undisclosed location rather than thirty other guys protecting them in the middle of a giant target; the Darlian Residence. Heero agreed to this plan and Quatre gave him the coordinates of a cabin his father had owned in a forest in North America. Quatre explained his father's love of trees and the fresh scent of pine. Heero ended the transmission before Quatre let himself slip a mood of sad reflection.

When Relena arrived home from the office at the usual time, Heero explained the situation to her and they left immediately, Peagen having already packed her things. They drove to the airport and took a small plane (which Heero piloted himself because he didn't want anyone besides Quatre to know where they were going) to the coast of former France. There they refueled and set off across the ocean to North America.

And to the place where Heero decided he was going to tell her everything.