Refuge Waiting 2/3 - The Light in Me Will Guide You Home

[Smarty Cat]

<b><u>Chapter Summary:</u></b> Relena makes a bid for a day of freedom and public service of a different kind.

Chapter completed October 25, 2009. Over half a decade has passed since this was started. It's about time I finally wrap it up. Just don't expect great things, ok? Feel free to rip and critique to pieces though.

<b>Refuge Waiting</b>

by
<b>Smarty Cat </b>
smartycat9383@yahoo.com

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<b>Part 2 ? The Light in Me Will Guide You Home</b>
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"We are here today to mark the most momentous occasion of the last decade. Historically, this has been a day reserved as sacrosanct by those of particular religious faiths, but those of my generation and yours are united by a bond forged in blood, tears, and metal."

The slender figure stood regally, fair hair blazing in the morning sun, in front of one of the hotel suite's massive windows overlooking the sea. Winter sunlight poured in a warm and blinding arc across the marble floor, unobstructed by the heavy embroidered drapes that had been thrown back and hastily tied to the side. The tableau dazzled the eyes when compared with the intentional gloom of the remainder of the room, and for that reason it made an excellent practice arena for real speeches to be performed on stage or under the glitter of hundreds of cameras. She could not see beyond the sunlit floor, and even it swam within her vision, but that did not matter. She only had to keep her eyes open through the glare in an illusion of sight as her tongue formed what should be the newly familiar words of her latest speech.

She stood tall and proud with her back gracefully curved, shoulders squared, feet braced, and an unneeded notebook held low against her left hip, leaving her right hand free to made grand, emphatic gestures tinged with irritation.

"And so the clouds were lifted, and the sight came true to mine eyes, and I realized that which I had not known before. Yadda yadda yadda, insert appropriately moving ending remark."

Relena Darlian flung the scrawl-covered memo pad at the desk in disgust and stalked across the room in its wake, hitting the wall mount to turn up the lights with the flat of her hand. She yanked back her chair, collapsed into it, and buried her face in her hands. Soft locks of honey blonde hair tumbled over her shoulders, and she curled her fingers in the strands, pulling with frustration.

"I've never had a problem getting the words to come before. Why is it so hard now?" she grumbled and winced internally at the snarl in her voice. Clearly, it was time to take a holiday again away from the cutthroat influence of her colleagues.

Relena forced her breathing to slow, rose, and retrieved her notebook from where she had tossed it, carefully smoothing the crumpled edges of the pages before closing it and setting it beside her computer. She ran her fingers blindly across the top of the desk.

A few years ago even a borrowed hotel desk would never have been so neat and tidy, so barren. However, she had not pursued any office again at the end of her last legislative term, instead choosing the greater personal freedom of a lobbyist and motivational speaker. Since then Relena had been bemused to discover that she held just as much, if not more, influence simply speaking to her former lawmaking peers on behalf of those she represented as she had had when she had been a lawmaker herself. Other politicians proved more willing to act in her favor when they did not feel threatened by her own position of power, something which she rarely failed to exploit on behalf of her clients, having learned her own political lessons quite well.

As one well-manicured nail tapped idly against the desk's surface, she reflected ruefully that the problem this time lay at least in part in that she did not believe in some of the things that she had been paid to say. And if she could not believe in what she said then what good did it do to say it?

With a wrinkle of her nose, she also reflected that there were other thoughts swirling through her mind and chasing on the tails of one another. More than dissatisfaction with the planning and restructuring of her most recent speech preoccupied her thoughts when she stayed in this city. How was he? Did he think of her as often as she thought of him? Had she somehow managed to do any permanent damage to the perpetual, sterile neatness of his most unexpected choice of home? Her lips twitched. Heero in a charming brownstone with a cheerful red door, who would ever have thought it?

Thoughts of Heero inevitably drew her back into thoughts of her teenage years and their accompanying chaos and then beyond that into thoughts of her childhood. Once upon a time she had been privileged and free?Darlian's disobedient daughter?tearing around wherever she pleased with Pagan a constant benevolent shadow. So much had changed. No longer was she known as Darlian's daughter; she had far outshone her well known political father?both of them. Pagan had retired from Relena's service and was currently perambulating about the South African coast with her mother because it was the Christmas season, and since Relena's father's death, nothing said Christmas like being away from the staid, empty house that no longer saw his presence.

Relena slumped against the polished cherry wood of the desk, idly noting how nicely the rich color contrasted with her skin. So dark beneath so pale. So very pale. So long since she had spent any time out in the sun. Her fingers curled beneath her hand, biting into the skin of her palm.

It was time to shake off the cold, to shake off the personal winter that had formed around her. Her life was too ordered, too structured. She never had any free time for herself, and she needed a little normalcy, a little chaos, a little bit of the freedom that Darlian's disobedient daughter had known.

"Nina!"

The call left her throat before she was consciously aware of having the desire, and her personal assistant poked her head in the doorway of the smaller, connecting suite, eyes inquisitive behind wire rim glasses.

"Do I have anything of absolute importance scheduled for the rest of the day?" Relena demanded, fingers tapping a rapid staccato as her mind considered and discarded plan after plan.

The other's eyes glazed over briefly as she made a mental rundown of all of her employer's appointments. "No, ma'am, there's nothing that can't be rescheduled."

"Cancel them all then," Relena ordered, sweeping her eyes consideringly across the room towards the vista view.

Nina blinked in shock and clutched the doorway with white-knuckled fingers. It was unheard of for Relena to cancel meetings!

"Is everything all right, Miss Relena? Has something happened?" she questioned, her voice tinged with poorly concealed alarm.

"Oh, everything is quite all right," Relena assured her before adding under her breath, "or at least it will be."

"Pardon?"

"Just cancel all of my appointments, please, Nina. I won't be available this afternoon. Not to anyone."

"Are you sure, Miss Relena?" Nina asked weakly.

Relena braced her hands firmly on the top of the desk and rose to her full height, meager as it was. Her keen gaze swept the few small stacks of correspondence waiting for her attention, and she smiled faintly.

"All of it will still be here when I come back. I'm sure of that."

Nina nodded and disappeared back around the doorway while Relena looked around herself thoughtfully. Spontaneity was good in its measure, but it always had been following her initial impulses that had gotten her into trouble so often when she was younger. Faint memories of fleeing across the mansion grounds only to be greeted by a pale-haired prince from the stars mingled with the finding of a darker prince washed up on a sunset-drenched beach. She chewed on her lower lip, suppressing a silly, wistful smile lest Nina come back and see her employer mooning in her office, until her eye fell on a canvas bag tucked away unobtrusively behind a potted plant.

Perfect!

Relena laughed aloud before calling, "Nina, do you have your gym clothes with you today?"

"They're in my car," the reply drifted back.

"Well, go get them."

Nina reappeared, a puzzled wrinkle lining her forehead. "Do you want me to put them on?"

Relena smiled at her pleasantly. "Yes, we are going out for lunch, and it can't be looking like this." One graceful hand smoothly indicated their impeccable business suits.

Nina stared at her for a moment then shrugged, already growing accustomed to this newest of eccentricities on the part of a most eccentric employer. "If you say so," she muttered, lapsing into the informality that Relena so encouraged during private moments.

Relena saw her assistant out the connecting suite door and closed it firmly behind her before locking it out of sheer habit. She hummed softly as she crossed to the large windows with the awe-inspiring view of the Mediterranean and pulled the drapes closed.

The bag crackled when she fished it out from its resting place, and a small, fond smile lit Relena's face as she pulled out a white T-shirt. She raised the soft cloth up to her face and inhaled gently. Despite its washing, she fancied she could almost smell him woven into the cotton.

Heero's name rolled off her lips in a long practiced puff of air, and she set the shirt aside, running gentle fingers over it before lifting out the gray pajama pants obtained the same day.

Brief minutes later she emerged from her suite clad in the voluminous white shirt and gray pants, whose waistband she had had to roll to avoid stepping on the hem. The comfortable but hideous suede slides she often wore in the privacy of her office adorned her feet as she strode across her assistant's lodgings and flung open the door to Nina's closet.

Nina emerged from her bathroom dressed in similar, though better fitting attire, and gaped at her employer's appearance. Relena looked thoroughly disheveled and comfortable, completely at odds with her customary prim business suits.

"Miss Relena, where exactly will we be going for lunch?" Nina asked, watching Relena busily dig through the "remainders" box, a treasure trove of lost-and-found left behind by unidentified guests and university interns alike, which Relena insisted be brought along everywhere just in case a reunion was forthcoming.

The younger woman smiled secretively over her shoulder before throwing a random university logo-ed sweatshirt at Nina and pulling another over her own head. She fluffed her hair out before twisting it up and safely tucking it beneath a black cap pilfered from Duo on his last visit.

"You'll see. Leave your purse, and carry your money and keys on your person, please."

"Miss Relena!" Nina protested, but Relena turned her back on the befuddled assistant and strode out the door into the hotel hallway, slides slapping against marble tile.

"Miss Relena, wait! Miss Relena!" Nina glanced despairingly from her employer's rapidly disappearing back to her tidy desk with its agenda and appointment books. "I could get fired for this."

"Nonsense! I hired you!" Relena called back carelessly, laughter bubbling in her voice, and Nina moaned before quickly donning the sweatshirt she'd been given, snatching up her hotel keycard and some cash, and scampering down the hall after her.

Relena moved at a brisk pace, and Nina was panting by the time she caught up with her. Relena slipped out one of the back exits, Nina following close behind and peering around anxiously as she finished stuffing her positions safely away in the depths of the sweatshirt's pockets. Relena did not pause in her progress down the alley to the main thoroughfare, even when Nina's hand snagged her elbow.

"Miss Relena, where is the car?"

"We're not taking the car."

"We're not?"

"We're taking the bus."

Relena said it with such a strange sort of relish that Nina immediately quailed. "I really don't think that's such a good idea. You'll be so exposed and vulnerable and--"

"That's precisely the point. How can I effectively serve if I don't know the people's needs and wants? And how can I ever learn those needs and wants if I never go among them?"

"But Miss Relena--"

"If you don't want to go with me I'll go alone, but I am going."

Nina stared at her helplessly. "I'll go with you, Miss Relena, but I don't think this is a very wise move."

"Wisdom is a surprisingly fickle thing and more dependent on circumstance than people like to acknowledge." Relena's clear blue eyes focused intently on Nina's face. "But if this is not a wise move then neither is it unwise. Call it an accomplishment or a kindness but do not speak of it in terms of wisdom."

"I don't understand."

Relena smiled beatifically. "You will, and believe me, the outing will do both of us good."

<hr>

<center><i>"Bring me flesh, and bring me wine,
Bring me pine logs hither;
Thou and I shall see him dine,
When we bear them thither."
Page and monarch, forth they went,
Forth they went together;
Trough the rude wind's wild lament
And the bitter weather!"</i></center>

The bus ride proved to not be tediously long or uncomfortable, much to Nina's surprise, but Relena was in her element. From the moment she settled on a worn and slightly ripped bench at the front of the bus, she proceeded to engage the driver in a surprisingly philosophical conversation concerning the relevance of a unified world nation while simultaneously cooing over every toddler that came on board. And that was before a wizened grandmother led the young Vice Foreign Minister in a clear soprano rendition of traditional Christmas songs!

After Relena and the elderly woman finished their version of "Good King Wenceslas," Relena bumped Nina's shoulder with her own. "Cheer up, Nina! It's a beautiful day, and we're out of that stuffy old room."

"Yes, Miss Relena, that lavishly appointed, absurdly comfortable hotel suite was indeed stifling. The pillows alone would have been the death of me before the end of the week. Thank you kindly for this timely rescue," Nina responded dryly, uncoiling from her slouch against the window and stretching lavishly. "I wish I knew where we were going."

Relena's forehead crinkled and her lips curled in delight at her assistant's droll rebuff and rumpled appearance, so different from her usual exceedingly proper professionalism. Nina's cheeks darkened under her employer's amused scrutiny, and she snorted and folded her arms, tilting her face away from Relena's knowing smile.

"I told you that you'd find out when we got there," Relena reminded her. "Well, we're here. Come along, Nina. We're going to accomplish something."

'Here' proved to be a plain brick building downtown with various less than reputable looking people ensconced comfortably in the sunlight on the steps leading up to the entrance. Nina eyed it and them doubtfully as she hopped from the bus steps onto the pavement. They gazed back at the two young women in mismatched, over-large lounge and exercise attire with mild curiosity.

"That's wonderful, Miss Relena, but couldn't we have accomplished something somewhere else?"

Relena laughed. "Oh, Nina, you worry too much! Come on!"

She marched up the steps, giving polite greetings to the people there as she maneuvered around them and leaving Nina with no choice but to follow her. Nina plastered a smile that largely a grimace onto her face and strode in Relena's wake, taking exaggerated care not to step on or in any other way offend their watchers.

The interior of the building was a large open space, rather worn and drab, lined with long cafeteria tables. Nina glanced around in bewilderment. Surely her employer did not want to eat here. "Miss Relena, what is this place?"

"This is a soup kitchen, and we are going to help give out food to the homeless."

"What?"

Relena ignored her assistant's small squeak of surprise and strode ahead to the food line. An older man turned to face her, looking her up and down with a discerning, critical eye. Relena clucked internally. Such suspicion. She would almost prefer for him to blatantly challenge her out than look at her with such distrust. Then again, he had no reason to trust her. For all appearances she was just another rich kid slumming for a day, and that was not really so very far from the truth.

She gave him her best smile and stuck out her hand. "Hello! I'd like to volunteer as a server, a cook, anything." She thumbed behind her at the rather mortified Nina. "My friend will help too."

<hr>

Heero collapsed on his couch with a tired sigh, aimlessly switching on the television and flipping to the news channel. He left the oddly comforting buzz of the television on as he wandered into his bathroom and showered briskly. He turned off the stream of water and stepped out onto the cold tile floor, wrapping a towel around his lean hips before padding out into the hallway to get some orange juice from the kitchen.

"Well, John, this is no doubt one of the more uplifting stories we've covered recently."

"You're certainly right, Jana. It appears that Relena Darlian has been volunteering at the Portside Soup Kitchen. Our resourceful Todd Gallant saw through her apparent disguise and caught these images of our own Dove of Peace dishing out the afternoon meal."

The glass shattered on the floor beside Heero's feet as he stared dumbly at the images on his screen: Relena among a group of homeless people, Relena playing with grubby children, Relena singing into a ladle, Relena looking very little like a worldly diplomat, Relena in his clothes with her hair shoved beneath a hat, Relena, just Relena.

And in their idiotic desperation for a story, those damned reporters had blown her cover!

He growled and stalked into his bedroom, the door slamming viciously behind him.

<hr>

Relena watched the same broadcast some miles away, her face an impassive mask. Nina fluttered nervously behind her, bemoaning the inevitable loss of her job.

"Well, now everyone knows," Relena's quiet, resigned statement broke her assistant's babbling. "We won't be able to go back again without an escort." She shrugged, a wry smile tugging at her lips. "I'll just have to put them to work too."

"Except they won't let you go back. It's too dangerous."

Relena looked up at the dark man lounging lazily in en suite doorway while Nina paled and gaped.

"Heero, don't you ever knock?"

"No," he responded, straightening and striding into the room.

Relena bounced to her feet with her pleasant diplomatic smile, very subtly positioning herself between her startled assistant and the intruder. "Did you come for your clothes? I have them right here." She leaned down and scooped up the neatly folded pants and shirt from a basket by the bed. Nina goggled at the intimacy implied.

Heero narrowed his eyes at her in a long familiar warning that she had never once heeded. "That's not why I'm here, and you know it." He turned his sharp glare to Nina. "Get out."

The force behind the statement was impossible to ignore, and Nina looked at Relena worriedly even as she obediently sidled toward the door, careful to keep a wide berth between herself and the man Relena had called Heero.

Relena placed the clothes on the bed and waved Nina on before folding her hands primly in front of her and staring at them both from beneath demure, down-turned lashes. "It's all right, Nina. There's no need to be worried on my account or to call for guards. Heero's an old friend. He won't hurt me . . . unless of course it's a very little death."

Nina turned bright crimson as the French words rolled off Relena's tongue, stammered an apology, and bolted out the door.

Heero's fierce gaze never left Relena's face, and his voice when he spoke was quite conversational. "I should shoot you for that remark."

Relena chuckled. "It accomplished your goal didn't it? There was far more harm done to my reputation than yours, and I'm sure that I've made much graver offenses over the years. You haven't shot me for any of them. So to what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Heero?"

He walked fully into the room, shutting the door behind him and locking it. "You know what."

"Do I? Please enlighten me, Heero," she responded, cocking her head to the side and perching on the bed like an eager pupil awaiting instruction.

"Don't pretend ignorance, Relena. You know how dangerous it is for you to be out in public unescorted."

"Ah, yes, that. You didn't seem anywhere near so concerned about my escort when I showed up drenched on your doorstep that time."

He raked a hand through his hair and exhaled slowly. "That was different."

"No, it wasn't. I was wandering alone through the city, a strange city might I remind you, and dressed in my normal diplomatic attire. Anyone could have recognized me. At least this time I made an attempt to stay anonymous, and I had Nina with me."

Heero snorted. "And she could have protected you?"

"We were in no danger; I didn't need protecting!" Relena responded with a flare of temper that she quickly reined in and tamped down. Only the heat in her eyes remained as she humorously added, "However, if you must know, when she screams she can hit decibels that make ears bleed. You can sit down now, Heero."

He shot her a sharp look and slowly eased down onto the very foot of her sumptuous, excessively large hotel bed. Relena grinned impishly at the vast expanse of space separating them before crawling down the coverlet and perching beside him.

"Your clothes really are wonderful, Heero," she began conversationally. "I almost don't want to give them back to you. I love how they feel against my skin, so very comfortable. Nothing at all like those stiff, itchy business suits I usually wear all day."

His hand clamped down on hers, cutting off her stream of words. "You're avoiding the issue."

Relena sighed. "There's no need for you to worry. It won't happen again because no one will let it. I'll be observed more closely than a lab specimen. I wish I could be like you and slip around unnoticed as it pleases me. Do you have any idea what it's like, Heero? Living under constant surveillance, constant scrutiny? Being the one surveyed and not the surveyor?"

"When you look at me," his eyes carefully avoided hers as his grip on her hand gentled, "it seems like you can see all the way down to my soul, like I can't hide from you, like you always know what I'm thinking. It is not pleasant."

Relena laughed, a startled, breathless noise, and touched his knee hesitantly with her free hand. "I don't know what you're thinking now."

He leaned over her, cupping her cheek in his palm. Relena stared at him with wide blue eyes as his face drew ever closer. He pressed his forehead to hers, their noses lightly brushing and their breath mingling together.

"I'm thinking that this is a bad idea."

And with that he was gone, leaping from the bed and darting across the floor with an economy of movement that was impressive to behold. It was only after he had gone that Relena was able to quiet her senses enough to focus on her immediate surroundings. Unexpected evening rain pattered on the windowsill beneath an open window, and the voice of one of the hotel security staff crackled over the intercom system. She inhaled deeply, raggedly, and responded with quiet conviction that she had noticed no disturbance in her suite and that there must have been some brief, hopefully temporary, malfunction in the security system.

As she sat in the new quiet, fingers stroking idly across the folded shirt and pants atop her bed, a slow grin spread across her face. "He forgot his clothes," she murmured quietly, bubbly delight ringing in every syllable. "He forgot his clothes!"

[The Angry Angel]

"It's all right, Nina. There's no need to be worried on my account or to call for guards. Heero's an old friend. He won't hurt me . . . unless of course it's a very little death."

Okay, my education must have been a quack because I don't know what that means. What does that mean? I'm admitting to a level of stupidity here, so please don't give me too hard a time.

So...yummy little piece as always, can't wait for more, and as there wasn't anything really juicy or satisfying here, where's the "more"? Bring it!
I'm imagining something like...Heero returns as a bodyguard for her--so typical, yet so fitting!--or...whatever you had in mind, just come on already!

Go fight win, Relena
And well done Smarty

[Wingnut]

"It's all right, Nina. There's no need to be worried on my account or to call for guards. Heero's an old friend. He won't hurt me . . . unless of course it's a very little death."

Okay, my education must have been a quack because I don't know what that means. What does that mean? I'm admitting to a level of stupidity here, so please don't give me too hard a time.

It's a translation of a French phrase. La petite morte if I spelled it right. In short, it's a euphemism for an orgasm.

[Smarty Cat]

Okay, my education must have been a quack because I don't know what that means. What does that mean? I'm admitting to a level of stupidity here, so please don't give me too hard a time.

Oh, goodness, I hope I don't have a reputation for giving people a hard time for asking questions! Wingnut is correct about it being a French term or orgasm. I have to get my Heero teasing in somewhere!

[Tomorrow]

Ooohhh, too cute, Smarty Cat. I just love this little romantic tango you're having them perform. Such a tease. However, I do hope that in the third installment we get a little more closure rather than simply more sensual taunting and evasion.

Really, though, I'm enjoying this series and can't wait for the final piece. I just hope you don't make me wait as long as I've made all of you wait for continuance with anything I've written. ::Sigh:: Maybe this summer I'll finally resurrect my writing. Until then, I'll just drown myself in the masterpieces of you gifted authors.

[The Angry Angel]

Ah, yes. Always count on Wingnut to respond to my posts. Thanks so much for educating me.
And Smarty, worry not. Do not change your writing to accommodate the stupid. We learn so much here. More than a multi-thousand-dollar bloated college career provides!

[stormwind16]

please continue this story smarty cat! I can't wait to read more