~Bound~

Chapter Three

" ’Cause you’re a god

And I am not

And I just thought

That you would know

You’re a god

And I am not

And I just thought

I’d let you go"

-Vertical Horizon "You’re a God"

Elvis stared dully at the third toothless saw he had made in the past hour. Around him were strewn the debris of once-great tools, now reduced to bent and broken shadows of their former glory. No matter what he tried, chain cutters, blowtorch and chisel, hammer, chainsaws, *nothing* could withstand those handcuffs.

Relena made a distressed noise and delicately avoided the instruments strewn about her feet, not to mention several bladed saw-teeth that had been severed in their quest to vanquish the handcuffs.

"Why isn’t anything working?" She wondered out loud, shaking her head a bit, her hair clipped up and covered once more.

"Whatever metal those things are made of- well I’ve never seen anything like it. You’re gonna have to go get it analyzed by someone a little more educated than me."

"Wait, what did you say?" Relena looked distraught, her whole frame tensing.

"I don’t think I can do anything. You’re gonna have to fi-..."

"No," Relena cut him off, "Before that."

Elvis shot her a confused look. "I said that whatever metal this is made of, it’s not like any I’ve ever seen."

"Oh my god." Relena moaned, mortified, as the last pieces of the puzzle fell into place, the cute little click accompanying it ringing like a death toll.

"What? Relena, what!?" Heero looked concerned.

‘Well that’s fine…he should be.’ Was Relena’s dismal internal response.

"I know what this metal is." She answered, hardly daring to look Heero in the eye.

"You do!?" Heero cried, barely able to believe their luck.

"Yes. It’s the new alloy Duo was working on."

"Well, how do we cut it!? What are the properties!?

"I don’t know! All they told me was.." Here, Relena faltered. Taking a breath and mentally reminding herself that Heero wouldn’t blame her for this, she choked out the last bit. "…that it’s even stronger than gundanium."

Heero’s stony silence came like a chilly blast from beside her.

"So that’s what their motivation was." He said, voice low and menacing.

"Hilde told me that she and Duo were in the area to meet with a sheet metal provider. They’re using us as guinea pigs to test it!" Before Relena had felt guilty. Now she was fuming. To be *exploited* like this.

Mentally, she berated herself. She trusted Duo and Hilde more than that. There must have been another reason for handcuffing her to Heero, other than a test for their brain child and a good laugh at her expense. She just didn’t know what it was…

Elvis quietly observed the pair. Outwardly they didn’t seem too happy about being handcuffed together but…there was something else there that made him think twice about it. After all, he wasn’t witness and participant in lifetime of bizarre experiences without developing some sense of intuition.

He frowned at the explanation Relena offered though. “That’s a weird way of testing an alloy. There are cheaper, more accurate tests that technology researchers will administer free of charge. Seems kinda fishy that they’d go through all this trouble for a simple test.”

“He’s Duo. All logical explanations end there. Its no use even trying to reason- you’ll be wrong in the end anyway.” Heero nodded confidently.

Relena blushed and averted her eyes, trying to forget the little piece of information she had purposefully omitted when informing Heero of Hilde and Duo’s motivation- her little harmless comment. Harmless. That was a good one.

Elvis’s expression lightened. “Well, in any case, we still have one more option left!”

Heero and Relena’s heads jerked up, their rapt attention focused on the mechanic.

"What you need to do is find whoever made these things, and get the key."

"The-"

"Key?" Relena and Heero echoed quietly.

"If all we need is the key, can’t we just pick the lock!?" Relena asked, excitement rippling off of her.

Elvis looked at her with owl eyes. "That’s brilliant! Why didn’t *I* think of that one!"

Heero looked skeptical. Duo forgetting that they could do something as simple as pick the cuff lock? It wasn’t likely. Still, it was worth a try.

Elvis ran into the back room and emerged triumphantly, carrying a ballpoint pen, and a tiny flat piece of metal.

"You know how to pick locks?" Heero asked, a disbelieving eyebrow raised high and proud.

Elvis grinned. "I won’t know until I try, now will I?"

Heero gave him an uneasy look, but offered his wrist for the attempt.

Elvis turned off the music that had been filtering pleasantly throughout the garage and focused all his concentration on the task before him. He would need it absolutely silent to know if the pins were sliding into place.

Breaking the clip off of his ballpoint pen he bent it at a ninety-degree angle.

Relena oo-ed an ah-ed at his resourcefulness.

He slide the improvised tension wrench inside the lock and then the make-do pick. Slowly, he felt around for the first pin. A thrill of exhilaration shot down his nerve endings as he heard it click into place on the shear line.

"Now I gotta apply torque." He explained to the curious Relena and turned the ballpoint clip a little.

Unfortunately, in his eagerness, he turned too hard. The clip immediately broke off. Elvis stared at the tiny nub of the "wrench" in his hands.

"Oh, fuck me." He breathed, barely able to believe he had just done something so monumentally stupid.

"You’ve just screwed us over just a *little* more than we already are, didn’t you?" Heero asked, expression void of any emotion except certainty.

Elvis had the good grace to look sheepish. "I forgot how strong this metal is. Snapped my little pen clip clear off. Effectively…jamming that lock."

Heero shot Elvis his "I’m not impressed nor amused" glare.

“Hey, look at the bright side! You’ve still got one more!” Elvis grinned sheepishly, an uneasy foreboding pooling in the pit of his stomach. Luckily, Relena broke the tension building between the two men.

"Thank you for trying anyway, Elvis." Relena stepped in, ever the mediator.

"Well sure, I’m just sorry that all I did was make it worse." Elvis shot the girl an apologetic glance.

"We could go to a professional locksmith." Relena suggested.

Heero shook his head. "That’s not going to work."

"Why?" the young politician huffed, losing patience with the situation.

"Duo is a master lock-picker. He would definitely have known we would try to take that avenue. He probably had a double locking system or something even more complicated installed. And considering the strength of this metal, I’m not sure normal lock-picking tools would do much good anyway." Heero reasoned.

"Well then what do we do?" Relena’s shoulders slumped in dejection.

"We gotta find Howard. He’s a genius with metal. He’ll know what will get these cuffs off."

"Or we could just find Duo and get the key back from him." Relena pointed out, attempting to cross her arms but failing miserably when it became apparent that Heero wouldn’t give her the slack to do so.

Zero’s former pilot shot her a long-suffering scowl. "Do you honestly think that Duo would be easily found now that he’s royally pissed us both off? He was our expert in stealth and concealment. He knew how to get the things he wanted without leaving his tracks behind."

Relena heaved a deep sigh and pouted. "Alright, Howard it is then. But we need to get started right away. If I know anything about the former Gundam team, it’s that they’re never easy to find. It’ll probably take a few days."

She turned to Elvis, offering him a small smile. "What do we owe you?" She asked reaching into her purse.

"Nothing, honey. This one’s on the house." Elvis winked and then leaned in closer. "But a word of advice. When you pack for your trip, go strapless."

"Excuse me?" Relena’s expression was blank.

"Well, unless you think that big guy next to you will fit through your right sleeve, you’re gonna have to. There’s no way that arm will be able to get anything over it."

Shock washed over Relena. Elvis was right, she wouldn’t be able to wear anything with straps. In fact- she’d have to go clothes shopping! She gulped and eyed Heero uncertainly, all the color draining from her face. But there was a reason for the blonde’s seemingly irrational reaction to this bit of news.

Relena Darlian had had a total of two re-occurring nightmares in the course of her life.

The first always began with her, trapped in a cage, in a zoo. People would stand in front of the cage and start clapping. The zoo keeper- who bore more than a passing resemblance to her adoptive father- would come up and plop a crown on her head. She’d then ask him what was going on and he would shrug and reply, "You figure it out."

Her second re-occurring nightmare was far simpler than the first. In it, she was shopping for underwear. Naked. With Heero Yuy.

"Come on," Heero muttered, tugging on the handcuffs, "Let’s go buy some clothes."

Relena was dragged mutely out of ‘Butch’s Awesome Car Repairs’ before she could even blink.

~*~*~*~*~

~Seven tube tops, eight pairs of pants, two duffel bags, various toiletries, two skirts, five tank tops, and seven pairs of boxers later~

‘Alright, girl, hang in there. You’ve gotten through it ok so far. You can do it…’ Relena gave herself a mental pep talk as they headed towards the women’s underwear department. ‘Just…make some small talk…’

"So, Heero, why did you get tank tops when you know we can’t wear anything with sleeves?" Relena’s voice sounded strained as she fiddled with the jacket slung over the handcuffs to conceal them.

Heero shot the girl trudging behind him a puzzled look before replying. "I’ll just have to cut the left strap and then sew it back once it’s over my shoulder. It’s fairly simple."

"Oh." She squeaked. The rows of frilly under things loomed large and intimidating before her. She shrunk back from them, a little surprised at how fast they managed to sneak up on her.

"Here we are." Heero announced, rather unenthused, "Go pick out your woman’s things."

Relena stood stalk still staring at the rows and rows of underwear. A bead of sweat trickled down her spine as she audibly gulped. In the next moment she was tearing through the isles, snatching bras and panties, anything she could find, and tossing them at Heero. Anything to get her out of there faster.

"Relena." Heero said with a deadly calm, "Are you looking at what you’re picking up?"

"Of course I am." Relena snapped, squeezing her eyes shut, trying to ignore the furious pounding of her heart.

"Then why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?" Came Heero’s dry inquiry.

Relena stopped dead in her tracks, ignoring the solid bump of Heero’s body as it ran into hers. Tentatively, she cast a fearful glance over her shoulder. Among the many scraps of lace in Heero’s arms was a neon green nursing bra, proudly draped over his right wrist. Relena slumped, the dreaded knowledge that she’d have to spend longer than she wished in the women’s underwear department thumping dully in her head. She closed her eyes against the uneasiness welling up inside her.

"Are you embarrassed to be underwear shopping with me?" Heero sounded amazed.

Relena felt her heart jump in her throat at that question.

"Embarrassed is not the word." she grumbled. And it was true.

She wasn’t embarrassed- she was terrified. And she’d be damned if she knew exactly why that was. She’d just felt so human in that dream. So flawed. And in front of Heero. And for some reason, she couldn’t forget that feeling, and discard the nightmare. What if being handcuffed to Heero forced her to learn the truth- and her fears came true. Did he really like her better as a politician than a person? How could she live with that reality? If she had just kept her mouth shut, Hilde wouldn’t have had this idiotic idea and she wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. It was just a stupid dream. And these were just a stupid pair of handcuffs.

"Relena." Heero dumped the garments on the floor in favor of settling his hands on her shoulders.

Slowly Relena raised her eyes to meet his, surprised by the gentle expression softening the planes of his face.

"It’s okay. We’re both mature adults. We can handle this." He smiled softly.

Her heart was pounding for an entirely different reason now. Somehow, Relena got the impression that he wasn’t just talking about underwear shopping. Looking into his rich blue eyes, bloodshot though they were, she felt something move inside her. Despite the fact that he was obviously miserable, he was still trying to help her. Slowly, she found herself returning his smile. Underwear shopping with him…wouldn’t be so bad.

"You’re right. We’ll get through this. Ok." She took a deep breath and stood up, arm raised in a triumphant stance. "Let’s go buy some underwear!"

~*~*~*~*~

Relena’s enthusiasm was severely lagging thirty-six hours later when she stumbled into their motel room on L2. Within fifteen minutes of leaving the clothing store Heero had hailed a cab to the spaceport, then immediately booked the next shuttle to the colony Howard and his Sweepers were last rumored to be seen. So far she hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep. She eyed the bed with longing, but there was something she wanted worse than sweet unconsciousness.

Relena dug briefly through her duffle bag, gathering a few essential items before making a beeline for the bathroom, kicking off her shoes as she went.

"Again?" Heero sighed in exasperation, "You already went twice on the shuttle!"

"I don’t need to go to the bathroom." Relena said, "I just want to take a shower!"

Heero’s heels dug into the carpet unexpectedly. Relena strained against the handcuffs. "What?" He yelped, clearly surprised. He stubbornly stayed rooted to his spot, despite Relena’s insistent pulling.

"It’s been almost three days since my last one. I am *dying* here!" Relena lamented, voice full of woe. She shot him her most pathetic look. "Please Heero?"

He knew then that he didn’t stand a snow cone’s chance in hell, but still he didn’t move.

"But…what about…" Heero gestured wildly at the handcuffs still requiring them to be within ten inches of the other.

"Just don’t peek, and I’ll live. We’re both mature adults remember? You said it yourself." Relena threw back, absolutely determined to get herself clean.

‘Famous last words, Yuy.’ Heero deflated, letting himself be led to the bathroom, but still had the heart to glare at his tormenter’s back the whole way.

Once Relena had settled her pajamas and toiletries in the bathroom she handed Heero a pair of scissors. He took them, sending her an evil glower from underneath the shadows of his bangs. His message was loud and clear. HEERO. YUY. IS. NOT. PLEASED.

Relena had to fight against herself to resist the impulse to tweak his nose.

"Cut me out." She demanded when he made no move to do anything with the scissors.

Heero complied, though reluctantly, cutting Relena’s right arm sleeve, right through her bra strap, straight to the neckline. He steeled himself for what he knew was coming next.

"Now close your eyes." She instructed patiently.

Heero obliged her very willingly. Suddenly, the bathroom was too closed in, the rustling of cloth seeming to scream in his ears. Taking deep, calming breaths he assured himself that he wasn’t *really* in the bathroom with Relena while she was showering, that this was just another one of his dreams, and one that would NEVER. COME. TRUE.

Unexpectedly, he felt hands on his chest, pushing him towards the toilet, shattering all his feeble attempts at denial.

"You’re gonna have to sit here while I’m washing."

Her voice sounded very close. Too close. What had he just been saying about the bathroom feeling too cramped? The hands lifted from his shoulders as he thumped down on the toilet. He heard her turn the nozzle and the hiss of water, and knew that she had to be standing right next to him, utterly and completely nude. A shiver shot down his spine.

Relena stepped into the tiled bath, hot water rushing over her in a comforting manner that she had sorely missed. She let out a little moan of contentment as she felt her tired muscles relax against the soothing warmth, unknowingly causing her bodyguard to stiffen and redouble all his efforts at visualizing a sunlit field.

After she was well into the shower, however, a new dilemma hit Relena. She could wash and shave with her left hand, but there was a task that required *both* her hands.

"Heero, I need to use both hands to shampoo my hair." Relena called to him, tentatively. There was a moment’s pause as she waited for his response.

"Alright." His voice sounded thick and gruff.

For the most part Heero had been attempting to keep words like "glistening", “wet” and "bare" from his vocabulary and a certain unclothed diplomat from his thoughts for the duration of the shower. Despite his gender and the astonishing amount of sexual tension he had been building over the years, he was doing well.

All that stopped the instant his knuckles grazed over slick skin as Relena lifted her hands to lather, rinse and repeat. Heero felt the words he promised not to even consider crash back into his awareness and the certain unclothed diplomat pranced across his mind, scenarios that would make a sailor blush playing across his mind.

In a desperate attempt to avoid giving into temptation and jumping in the shower with Relena, probably causing a very awkward scene in the process, he resorted to survival tactics- he pictured the bloodiest, gruesome, most horrific things he could possibly imagine. It was a shot in the dark, but it was all he had left, dammit!

The sudsy strands of Relena’s hair sliding over his fingers as she worked the shampoo in were not working in Heero’s favor. His meditation on the finer points of decapitation wavered as he swallowed hard, cursing the steam for making it so hard to breath. If Relena would just stop being so damned *naked* this shower ordeal would be a whole lot easier for him to cope with.

In the next instant his hand dropped, Relena’s task apparently over. Heero would’ve breathed a sigh of relief if he still didn’t feel so on edge.

"Alright, Heero, I’m getting out now." Relena said. "Do you want a shower, too?"

Heero tried to imagine how much of a mess he’d be if he decided to take a shower now, knowing Relena was a mere ten inches away. "I’ll take one tomorrow." He replied weakly.

"Suit yourself, stinky. Close your eyes."

His heard pounded as he heard her step out and grab a towel. Against all his orders, his eyes opened and his face turned upwards. A man’s subconscious will could only take so much, after all.

He both thanked and cursed God for making motel towels so tiny. Relena stood frozen, dripping hair slicked back, her wide, clear eyes breathtaking and startled. She barely had all her essentials covered, leaving plenty of glistening, flawless skin for Heero’s eager eyes to drink in. The color of her hair was darkened to a burnished bronze, the tresses clinging and contrasting to the pale skin that covered the graceful slopes of her shoulder and upper back. His gaze traced the line of her throat to delicate collarbones, skipping down to admire long, slender legs that disappeared under white terrycloth. Quietly, he studied the curves hidden from his view constantly. Until now.

She was absolutely beautiful.

And she would never be his.

Heero blinked and forced himself to look away. He stood and walked out of the bathroom. Relena was forced to follow for a few steps when the links of the handcuffs pulled taut. Slowly, he reached out and shut the door. In the crack left open to accommodate the chain she saw Heero’s back.

"Heero?" Relena was clearly bewildered.

"Get dressed." He growled.

She bit her lip. Whatever had been opened up to her at the clothing store had been closed again. Heero was back in his ‘bodyguard’ role. She resolved to forget about her moody companion and get some sleep as she pulled on her pajamas and grabbed the hotel hairdryer. Meeting her own cerulean eyes in the mirror, she flipped the switch and sighed.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Duo cackled to himself as he entered the room with the take-out he and Hilde had ordered. So far, no Heero-barging-in-waving-his-gun-around-like activities. This was a very, very good sign.

‘Not that he’d be able to find the God of Death when he doesn’t want to be found.’ Duo smirked, closing the door behind him.

He looked up expecting to see Hilde watching TV.

Instead he saw her sitting in a chair next to possibly the most elusive of the Gundam pilots. Trowa’s green eyes gleamed beneath his distinctive wheat colored bangs.

"Trowa!" Duo shouted, throwing his arms out to embrace his reserved friend.

He stopped, letting the grim smile he had been holding back surface when he felt the press of Trowa’s gun to his temple.

"Duo, Trowa wants to have a talk with us." Hilde smiled, acting for all the world as if she didn’t notice that her boyfriend had a loaded gun to his head.

"You know about the handcuffs, don’t you Tro?" Duo asked, already knowing that the answer to that question was ‘yes’.

Trowa, seeing that Duo had no intentions of running or resisting, holstered his weapon. "It’s a good prank, Duo, but I can’t let it continue.

"It wasn’t just a prank." Duo argued, "It was for his own good. Hilde told me he had barely spoken to Relena since her election. He doesn’t realize how close he is to losing her!"

"That may be true," Trowa countered, "But, this isn’t our place to intervene. It’s up to Heero to accept his feelings for her himself. If we force him to, then it will lose its’ meaning."

Duo felt his anger die down and scratched his head in annoyance. "Damn, I didn’t think of it that way. I just wanted to help the guy out."

Trowa bestowed Duo with one of his rare smiles. "I know, my friend. But this isn’t the way to do it. Give me the key. I will deliver it to Heero."

Duo sighed deeply and fished a tiny silver key from his shirt pocket. "I don’t know when you got so damn smart, Trowa, but…thanks. For thinking enough for both of us." He grinned as he pressed the key into Trowa’s outstretched palm.

"If it helps, I know how you feel. I, too, wish Heero would just bite the bullet and tell her. It’s frustrating to watch him fumble his way through this." Trowa’s tone held the hint of aggravation.

Hilde smiled. "Well, I suppose we can’t hope that he’s declared anything to Relena yet, but perhaps he’s learned a few things."

Trowa nodded slowly, and without another word, walked out of the room.

"Well, babe, it was a fun thing while it lasted." Duo tossed her a wistful grin.

"Look on the bright side, Duo. This is still the best prank you’ve ever pulled on Yuy." Hilde pointed out.

Duo allowed himself a self-satisfied smile. "You’re right. Even if I didn’t get Mr. Emotional Constipation to say the words, I’ll still go down in history. Damned if I don’t." Duo laughed a little and puffed out his chest. "Not to mention Wrought Iron INC will jump all over this once they get my final report back."

Hilde rolled her eyes and grabbed the take-out. "Alright, come on, I’m hungry and you’ve done more than enough gloating these past few days."

Duo immediately forgot all about Heero and Relena and handcuffs at the prospect of good food and good company.

~*~*~*~*~

AN: Yes, I actually researched how to pick handcuff locks. I can’t promise I’m one hundred percent accurate, but I did the best I could! I’m up for any guesses as to the symbolism behind Relena’s two nightmares ^_~ I’ll let you know what I intended them to mean in the next chapter.

In this chapter we get a teensy bit more serious as we see Heero and Relena’s insecurities about each other come closer to the surface thanks to their circumstance. By the way, that last sentence is a clue to interpreting Relena’s second dream!

The Soundtrack:

Ayeyaiyai [Alpha Song] by Power Jet

Testosterone by Bush

Tubthumping by Chumbawamba

Desire by U2

She Drives Me Crazy by Fine Young Cannibals

Faith by George Michael

When Love Comes to Town by U2

Little Black Backpack by Stroke Nine

You’re a God by Vertical Horizon