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

The Symbol of Temptation

Chapter Two

He snapped awake, fully alert and sensing that something was amiss. He flung the covers off himself and stood up from the bed, waiting. Any sound, just one, would be all he needed to point him in the right direction.

He waited, the silence ringing in his ears. Then he heard it.

A muffled sob.

He walked over to the door, opening it slowly to keep quiet, and crept into the hallway. He looked around, determining which way it had come from. It didn’t make sense. Laura’s room was on the left, but the sob had come from the right. Who else would cry besides the child?

Another sob sounded, louder now that he had left his room. He followed it, the sobs continuing as they lead him to a door at the very end of the hall. The door did not lead to a guest room.

It was Relena’s door.

He wrestled around in his brain for a minute, deciding whether or not he should enter the room or if he even had the right to do so. Curiosity won. He wanted to know why she was crying.

He opened the door, slowly, afraid that knocking would wake someone in the house. Or maybe that was just his excuse. He didn’t want to startle her, he just wanted to see her. When she was vulnerable. Unguarded. He wanted to find out why she was smiling without feeling.

And maybe see that ‘something’ flicker in her eyes again.

When the door was opened wide enough, he slipped into the room, glancing around as he did so. It was pleasant. Not too fancy, not too plain. Easy on the eyes. Like her.

Another sob. He looked up immediately and saw her, lying in the center of a queen-sized bed, tightly clutching the soft white covers. Her face was glimmering with fresh tears, but her eyes were tightly closed. She was crying in her sleep.

His chest tightened. A strange cold spread through him and made him shake. Again. The only times he shook like this were when she was in pain, but he didn’t know what to do about it. Then again, all the other times he had known she was in pain, he had not been able to see her, had not been able to hear her. He just knew that she was in pain. He had not been there for it. Now that he was, he wanted nothing more than to make her stop crying. Her sobs seemed to be stinging him and every movement she made appeared to call him to her side. Excruciatingly.

So he went.

He approached her cautiously, as though she were a frightened animal likely to scamper away at the slightest hint of danger. He stood next to her bed, watching her, until she made a noise other than a sob. She called out to someone, and he realized what he’d been neglecting. The person she called out to; her mother.

He watched her still, finally allowing his eyes to wander. But not too far. He would not disrespect her in such a way. He saw only that the strap of her nightgown had fallen down and that her hair lay entirely behind her body, exposing her neck and shoulder. All the rest of her was covered by the white comforter being clutched tightly to her chest. She looked…mesmerizing. He extended a shaky hand, asking himself if he dared to touch her, for he was not deserving of such a thing from someone so great. He moved to pull his hand back, deciding he did not want to tarnish her in any way, but as he did so one of her own hands shot up and grabbed his wrist, squeezing it as tightly as her other hand squeezed the covers. She gave a few more sobs before her eyes opened, watery and unfocussed. He panicked.

He was not supposed to be in here. He was not supposed to come in here like this. He was not supposed to be watching her. He was not supposed to try to touch-

“Heero?” She blinked up at him, trying to focus. Her voice was strained. How long had she been crying before the sounds woke him?

Instead of answering, he simply stared, fascinated. She was so very beautiful, sitting there in the moonlight. Maybe she was more beautiful because of the moonlight. He couldn’t tell. He just wanted to look at her. Looking into her eyes seemed to sooth him. It warmed the cold. But he did not stop shaking.

“What are you doing in here?” she asked, but he barely heard her, he was in such a daze. He watched her, transfixed by her movements, as she pulled up the fallen strap of her nightgown and wiped at as much of the tears on her face as she could. Tears were still falling, and she was wiping at her skin almost frantically to try and rid herself of them. He reached out and gently grabbed her hands to stop her.

“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself,” he said calmly, “Facing your pain is not something to be ashamed of.”

She looked surprised for a moment. She blinked out a few more tears and smiled at him, that ‘flicker’ in her eyes again. His face heated up.

He suddenly felt like a frightened animal, trying to scamper away from that hint of danger.

“No, I guess it isn’t,” She said, her voice more controlled. She brought her left hand up to wipe at her tears again, but instead of her hand, the tears met with his, the warm droplets cooling almost instantly on his skin. He shivered. She didn’t see. “Why did you come in here?”

“I wanted to see-” he started, barely catching himself before he said something regrettable. “-what the noise was.”

She laughed softly. “Was I really that loud?”

He smirked, feeling a little amused himself at the whole thing. She laughed outright at this and pulled her hands away from his, leaving his palms feeling both warm and cold at the same time. He had stopped shaking.

She looked up at him, her face gradually turning somber. “Heero…thank you. For all of this.”

He nodded, unsure of what to say, but feeling much more at ease knowing that she wasn’t offended by his intrusion. He helped her pull the covers back up over herself and she laid there, watching him for a while, apparently as content to gaze into his eyes as he was into hers. She made several comments about his ‘smirking’ as he continued to enjoy her presence, her voice, and her smile. It was not empty when she smiled at him. When she finally yawned and whispered “Goodnight,” he turned and left the room, more angry, astonished, reproachful and pleased with himself than he had been since he had begun seeing her in his mind a few months ago.

* * *

He hadn’t gone back to sleep. Instead, he had gone to check on the child, Laura. He hadn’t intended to stay awake all night after leaving Relena’s room, but something about Laura held his eyes on her young face until it was almost daybreak. Laura? So he was using her name now. Interestingly, he had been reluctant to refer to her as anything more than “the child” the previous day. He wasn’t sure why. He didn’t want to think about it on top of his confusing situation with Relena.

Situation? So it was a situation now? Of course it was. She was distracting him from his work, his sleep, whatever he might be doing when she popped into his head. That was situation enough. He needed sleep to do his work, and he needed to do his work in order to sleep. If he didn’t do his work, it meant that somebody would be dead, and then he wouldn’t be able to sleep. She was throwing everything off.

Or maybe he was just telling himself that because making excuses was better than answering questions he shouldn’t even ask. And entering rooms he shouldn’t enter in the middle of the night.

After he went back to his room, he took a shower in the adjoining bathroom and shaved, annoyed by the routine the same way he was every day. Shaving was annoying. It really, really was. He then put on a suit, a very crisp business suit, because Peagen had asked him to. He guessed the old man wanted him to look presentable to any company Relena might receive. He only agreed because he wanted to be able to blend in if he had to go out with Relena or any of her acquaintances. Especially since the person trying to kill Laura could be a close family friend. Maybe even Relena herself.

He laughed at the thought, but the strategist in him left an open door to all possibilities. No matter how ridiculous they seemed. Laughing at seemingly absurd possibilities was how people wound up dead in their own homes. But that wasn’t going to happen here. He wasn’t going to let it happen.

Even though he was more accustomed to battle than to playing bodyguard.

When he went downstairs at six A.M., he wasn’t surprised to see Peagen awake. Peagen walked up the stairs, right past him, heading in the direction of Relena’s room. He figured the old man was going to wake her up so she could get a head start on all the work she’d missed the day before in order to be present for his arrival. He didn’t feel like telling Peagen it had bothered him, too. He just let the old man be mad at him when it came to Relena’s work issues.

She came down a half hour later, radiating beauty in a pale colored skirt-suit, smiling. She seemed to blind him every time she came into the room, because all other things vanished from his sight. Her hair was down, waving behind her as she came down the stairs toward him. He noticed an extra bounce in her step.

What happened? What changed?

“Good morning, Heero,” she greeted him cheerfully. She smiled at him almost playfully. “Did you sleep well?”

He nodded. It wasn’t a total lie. He’d slept well until she woke him.

She laughed at him.

He wanted to be angry with her. He wanted to be angry with her for interrupting his sleep and keeping him awake. And for laughing at him. But, that wasn’t the case. Nope, she just got to have the satisfaction of seeing a half-smile from him when she giggled at his nodding.

Was everything he did so amusing to her?

She stopped suddenly, amusement in her eyes still, but some other look on her face. It seemed appreciative. Caring.

Affectionate.

Something inside him was suddenly pained.

The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs drew both of their attentions to Laura as she descended at a quick pace. As soon as she reached the bottom step she ran over and grabbed Relena’s leg, seemingly frightened that she would leave and never come back. She had tears in her eyes.

The pain intensified.

Relena knelt down and stroked the girl’s cheek. “Laura, it’s alright. I’m not going away forever,” she said soothingly, “I’ll be back tonight. Mr. Yuy will be here with you all day today. Is that alright with you, Heero?” She looked up at him, waiting. He nodded. “There, you see? Everything will be fine.”

Laura looked from Relena to Heero, then back again. She looked at Heero one more time before she simply walked over and grabbed his hand. He didn’t know what his reaction should be, so he just looked down at her, and she looked back up at him. It was like her eyes were talking to him, saying, “Don’t leave me alone.”

Relena stood up. “She likes anything with apples,” she informed him, “so if she gets hungry in between meals just give her some applesauce mixed with cinnamon. She likes cinnamon.” Relena glanced down at Laura with a look in her eyes Heero hadn’t seen there before. Very unsure. Very protective. Very motherly. “Call me if anything happens. I left a cell phone in your room with my office number on it.”

She’d gone through a little bit of trouble. He realized she must trust him an awful lot to leave someone she obviously cared a lot about in his care. That was probably why she hadn’t just gotten a babysitter.

Peagen came down the stairs a few seconds later and warned Relena that she would be late if she didn’t get a move on. She said goodbye to the pair of them and headed for the door, looking back as Peagen opened it for her, then disappeared with the loud “thud” of the door as it closed behind her. Heero looked back down at Laura, who was already staring at him.

“What do you want to do?” he asked, completely at a loss as to how to entertain a child. She turned away and led him by the hand toward a large portrait of Relena. She pointed at the portrait, then pointed at him. It took him a moment, but he realized her meaning.

“You want to pain my portrait?” he asked.

She nodded her head vigorously, giving the first hint of a smile to him. They gathered the supplies (well, actually she gathered and he carried) and went back to his room, where she pointed at a chair and then set up her workstation. Obeying, he sat down and watched her. For a child, she had focus. She arranged the small tray of paint and dipped her hands into the glass of water. She then dabbed different fingers into different colors of paint and began to run her hands along the canvas. He thought she was making a simple finger painting until he noticed the colors she picked and the way she moved her hands. The colors were that of his business suit and his brown hair, then his blue eyes and light skin, then the colors of the room around him. He found himself wondering what her portrait of him actually looked like.

After a good forty-five minutes, which surprised him, she dried off her hands and looked up at him, beaming. He moved forward and sat down beside her to admire her work. It deserved admiration, in his opinion. Even though the portrait itself wasn’t that great, she got a message across to him, loud and clear.

In the portrait, his eyes were wide as saucers, but his face looked mad. In the background, in lighter shades, two more faces hovered around his head. One was smiling, one was crying. He looked back at Laura and she promptly pointed a finger at his cheek, as if directing his attention toward a tear he should be able to see but couldn’t. She suddenly looked distressed.

“Hungry?” he asked, instinctively. She nodded.

He stood up and she took his hand, smiling as though she’d made a point to him. He wasn’t sure what it was.

* * *

“There were no problems today?” Relena asked as she hugged Laura in greeting at six o’clock that evening. Heero shook his head.

“She painted my portrait.”

“Really?” Relena looked down at Laura, who beamed back up at her, then said, “Well, I’m glad. It’s better than doing nothing but eating all day.”

Laura and Heero exchanged guilty looks.

“You didn’t…”

He smirked at her, something he’d been doing all day. Laura put him in a light mood; kept his mind off things. That made it easier to relax in the home of the woman who wouldn’t leave his thoughts.

Which reminded him, “Did anything happen today?”

Knowing she had caught his secret meaning, he nodded when she answered “no.” Together the three of them went into one of the sitting rooms and chatted about their day. It was just like dinner the night before. And so was the dinner that night after they left the sitting room. It was all comfortable. All casual. In a few days, he felt like he’d lived there for months. They’d settled into a routine: Relena went to the office in the morning while he stayed and watched out for Laura, then she came home and they talked about their day and had dinner. On the fourth day, he was so used to Relena and Laura’s company that he smiled often and almost forgot why he was there. He never seemed to smile when they weren’t around, though. Like when he was lying in his room alone at night, or when he received a call from Quatre inquiring about his and Relena’s health. He only smiled in their presence. It was his treat to them for making him feel so warm and light, and putting his mind at ease with their gentle eyes. Both of them.

It was only a week after his arrival that Heero knew he was in danger. In danger of becoming attached, and longing to stay with them beyond the necessary time. He knew when this was over he would go back to the colonies, to the confusion, and to the places where Relena haunted him from every angle. While he was here he was not confused. It all made sense as long as he could look at them when he woke up in the morning.

That alone was what troubled him.

He didn’t want to need them.

He didn’t want it all to make sense because of them.

But in the back of his mind, he already knew it was too late.

That’s why a week after his arrival, he accompanied them to their parents’ wakes, which were held as one. Instead of crying, Relena faced grief with a sad smile, but showed great strength in spite of herself and talked only about good times with her mother instead of the little things that she would miss. She left no room for sadness. Instead, she saved the little things she would miss, and any other pain she was carrying, for the night after the wake when Heero found her crying in her bed again, this time fully awake. She cried into his shoulder every night for three days until she seemed to have finally dealt with the initial pain. The loss would never go away, but she returned to sleeping through the night and smiling in the morning.

During all of this, he knew only thing about his situation with Relena.

The pain in his chest was getting worse every night. He did not know how to ease it.

That’s why he was going to ask her.