Anyway. Here is the end. If you are confused about anything there is also a part 2.5 in addition to 1 and 2 because I am a big cheater.
Relena, who could not be persuaded to enter the speakeasy under any circumstance before she had changed, was escorted to a small room above the flower shop and told to wait. Heero and Trowa, without a glance back, left her there. She looked around at the small bed and the dresser with nothing upon it and got the idea that this was only a room for when someone got too tired to stand up anymore. Taking a nap would be nice, after only vaguely restful nights and weary and bruised bones, but it would not be appropriate when she was expecting someone to arrive soon. Trowa?s sister, Relena thought to herself, I wonder what sort of person she is.
With nothing much to fuel that line of thought it was far easier, but much more stressful, to ruminate on the things she had just learned only minutes ago about Heero?s past. He admitted to murdering a bunch of his own comrades in arms as well as bunch of Germans in cold blood. Maybe insanity could explain it, but she could not understand a lot of what could motivate someone to behave like that. Something told her this could have a bit to do with why Quatre would not respond and why so many men who came home seemed to look so lost.
Or so angry.
Her father, who had always preached about staying out of the war not from solely a sense of isolationism but from a deep commitment to his belief that war was wrong, said that it took away our humanity. People like Quatre and Heero seemed to prove him right in one sense while people who were rousing up trouble across the country in the name of stamping out Bolshevism and promoting racial superiority proved it in a different manner. Perhaps things like that were already brewing and the war simply helped dredge it out, but whatever the cause they had to deal with the consequences now.
It hurt to admit she did not know how to help. Quatre had become her mission partly out of loyal friendship and partly because it meant she did not have to entertain any other suitors. Heero was right; she was martyring herself without good reason because it had a lot of elements of the selfish. It was right to visit her friend and help him. It was wrong to make that all her life was. When had she lost focus? Her life was slowly spiraling into smaller swirls that ended in that one visit a week. It was time for a change. Even Heero could use her help far better than Quatre.
There was a thought. Why not help Heero?
She already missed him, having been in his company for quite some time solidly. His presence was so natural, even if it had not started out that way. In her heart she was glad he had abducted her and glad that had come to Chicago together not just for the adventure, but because he was better company than she had had in a while. He had real thoughts and real issues and the pain he was in contrasted starkly with her own, making it so frail and fake by comparison. This was a man she would bleed for, and she wasn?t entirely sure why that thought occurred to her. When they talked it felt like she was saying more than she had in years.
And there was also the embarrassing truth that she had kissed him once already, even if it was innocent. You just didn?t do that, but emotion and a new desire to touch and be touched had clouded her. Physical contact was for the lower classes, right? Etiquette books and the rules of propriety had always been enough before. She could look down on all those people who snuck off and did lord knows what in the bushes at parties. Used to be she would never even consider it but now she was wondering if perhaps she was being just a bit. . . prudish.
The door opened and Relena turned wide eyes to meet the smiling form that greeted her. Short perm, tightly curled, red brown hair. Tight green dress with fringe following the sway of hips that pushed above the low waisted but high hemmed garment. Bangles, necklaces, lipstick, rolled stockings. . . this must be Trowa?s sister. Even if the picture she presented was shocking to her senses, Relena was willing to give anyone a chance.
"I?m Catherine, I suspect you?re Relena?" Relena wished there had been a mirror. She knew she must look a fright. "Don?t worry honey! We?ll have you dressed to the nines in no time." Catherine?s accent was thicker than Trowa?s, and she looked older too, despite her garb.
"I?m so sorry to inconvenience you. These clothes were purely an incidental acquisition."
"Huh. Hear you talk and everyone will know what?s up. You better get with it and be a little less keen to use large words." Catherine ushered in a woman who carried a bowl and pitcher as well as a mirror and towel. Catherine, Relena noted, carried a bag. "But first of all, we?re going to clean you up. It?s lucky you seem to be about my size, though you might have to squeeze in a bit below. You?re hips are bigger than mine." Relena bristled a tad, but she knew that the woman was not trying to belittle her.
"What are you going to do with those?" Nervously, Relena eyed the scissors and many bottles and compacts that Catherine pulled out of her bag. "You are NOT cutting my hair."
"Don?t worry, missy! Just a trim. Then we?ll do your makeup while Sarah gets a dress for you." The girl nodded and made her way out. "Now get out of that monstrous sack and we?ll get you fixed up."
They used a couple pitchers of water to wash Relena?s hair and face. Catherine left the room while Relena scrubbed her body as well. Having completed the cleaning process, and wearing nothing but a slip, Catherine trimmed the bottom of her hair (complaining all the while that a shorter do was all the rage) and they started on the makeup. Once the dress came, Relena was feeling rather dangerous and glamorous.
Catherine presented her with an elegant red and black evening gown. It was long too, so Relena didn?t have to learn how to roll her stockings (Catherine tried to demonstrate but it just didn?t take). All ready, it was sunset and soon they would go to the club for dinner. Catherine had given her lots of incidental gossip about people she didn?t know but could possibly meet while there, so Relena felt somewhat prepared. Her social graces were well trained and surely they would be well received in any situation. Catherine went off to change into an evening dress for herself and Sarah led Relena down to meet the men. What greeted her shocked her: Heero in evening dress. If she knew that her appearance shocked the hell out of him too she would have been more pleased.
He hadn?t known what to expect. More worried about what she know knew of him than how she would look when they next met, the thought of Relena had been invasive and nerve-wracking. Now here she was, looking as beautiful and alluring as he could have imagined, and just tonight he could pretend that she was glad to be with him. A fine figure of a woman, she was too, as the dress hugged her a little more tightly than he liked to see. Other people looking at her simply was not acceptable, as even Trowa?s arched eyebrow in her direction made him want to punch his commander very hard.
"Pistols at dawn?" Trowa said under his breath as he met Heero?s glance.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Once Catherine descended, they made their way over to the club. It was only just starting to pick up for the night and the band hadn?t yet set up entirely. Some appetizers and drinks were served. Trowa must have ordered ahead of time, not that they would have had to wait long in any case. Not in the company they were currently keeping.
"So what do you do, Mr. Barton?" At once Relena realized what she had asked and whom she was talking to. Maybe the social graces didn?t serve so well for polite conversation.
Trowa smiled and Catherine laughed. "I sell flowers. You?d be surprised how lucrative it is." The music finally began and Relena tried to find a safer topic.
"Do you like Chicago? I hear it?s a frightfully exciting place."
"Frightful is right, Lena." Catherine gave a funny smile as she sipped her whiskey. "A week doesn?t go by that there isn?t some shooting in the paper, and if that wasn?t enough fun for you there is always the riot going on or Bolshies being knocked around."
"Don?t listen to my sister. It?s just a city like any other. You?d find similar violence anywhere. It simply makes the papers more often here." Trowa threw his sister a glance to stop trying to scare their guest.
"You have a very nice, hm, establishment." Relena persevered through the small talk.
"Why thank you, Miss Peacecraft." Trowa?s smile almost glowed and it lit with a rare added sense of humor as Heero bristled at him for looking so enamoured of Relena in that moment. His friend was just too easy to tease.
The entr?es arrived and talking ceased as they listened to music and ate. Catherine excused herself to go talk to some of the girls who were filing in. The place was filled rapidly. A man came and whispered something into Trowa?s ear not long afterward and he slipped away with an apology. Heero and Relena were left now, alone, at the table.
"Care to dance?" Relena was hopeful. She very much wanted to dance and hadn?t had the chance in so long.
"I don?t dance."
"Oh please? I have something to tell you and it will be easier on the dance floor." Heero, though sure it was a bluff as well as a bribe, relented after a bit more pushing and led her out onto the floor for a slow song. Couples were cheek to cheek, and as they closed the gap between them a bit, Heero felt his skin burn everywhere he touched her.
"What did you need to tell me?" He was feeling light headed, even if he had only had a couple drinks with dinner.
"Hm? Oh yes. You look very handsome." She pressed in closer and Heero swore that she was the most confounding woman he had even laid eyes on.
"That?s hardly important."
"It?s important to me, because you are important to me. I?ve been thinking about it all night and I don?t care what you?ve done Heero. I actually feel alive with you." He could feel her heart beating, they were pressed together so closely and he hoped she couldn?t feel his.
"Relena, you?re just carried away by the excitement of the past few days." Shut up. Let something nice happen to you for once, his brain pleaded. "Tomorrow morning I?m going to leave you with Trowa and I am leaving for Canada." Relena stopped moving, and there they stood on the dance floor, others laughing and moving around them.
While they were motionless on the floor, Trowa was speaking to some cops in the back. They had started out with the usual business but they had some extra information that interested him greatly.
"We?re sorry, Mr. Barton, but we can?t stop them from busting in here. This Peacecraft fellow called in a favor with Chief Kushrenada. That?s way above our heads. If you can get the girl out we can tip them off and lead them away, but otherwise you?d better get out of here."
"Thanks boys," Trowa said as he slipped them an envelope. "I?ll remember this next month and there will be a little bonus in it for you."
"Much obliged Mr. Barton. You?re a stand up guy." One of the cops volunteered in a chipper manner.
"Tell them you spotted Yuy and Miss Peacecraft catching a cab one block from here and heading north. I assure you they will not be here should anyone deign to enter."
"We?ll get right on it, Mr. Barton." They tipped their hats to him and Trowa made his way to the now still figures on the dance floor just as the song was ending.
Heero turned towards his friend, giving his full attention, while Relena looked down at the ground. Her eyes burned, but she refused to cry this time. It wouldn?t do her any good and wouldn?t make her feel any better so there was little point to it. Trowa and Heero spoke in low whispers for a moment or two, but by the time the next song?s intro had finished she found herself being pulled backstage by Heero who was following Trowa.
"Good luck. You know my door is always open. Just wait for the heat to dissipate a little before you visit next time." Trowa grasped Heero?s hand firmly and the two men exchanged a glance as Trowa opened up the back entrance into an alleyway. "Don?t worry about the dress Miss Peacecraft. My sister has more than enough garments, and I suspect she?ll use this an opportunity to get me to buy her more." With a slight incline of his head, he watched them disappear into the alley. Things would get trickier from there for the both of them.
*
*
*
They had taken a cab north and then south and now they were hiding in an alcove, watching men run this way and that, shouting at one another about the findings of their search. These cops were certainly more effective and more plentiful than the ones they had encountered previously. Relena shivered in her thin dress.
"Do you have to go to Canada?"
"This is not the time to discuss this Relena." He made a motion to his lips for her to be silent.
"It?s just that I think I want you to stay. . . with me." Heero?s happiness level skyrocketed and then plummeted as reality, like gravity, brought him violently back to earth.
"Whatever you may think, I was just protecting you because it was my obligation. There can?t ever be anything between us." It was harsh. It was a lie, but it contained some truth and hence it was all the more acceptable. He really thought there was no way for them to be together, but he would die before he let anything happen to her and he had a good idea that it was much more than obligation that spurred his protective instinct. This was the woman he had obsessed over for months. Half in love with her then, he had no chance to resist once he had spent some real time with her.
"Oh." Her body was shuddering, but she didn?t appear to be crying. The expression in the moonlight was one he recognized for he had seen it more often than not: despair. He had broken both their hearts.
The yells died off, and the cars moved on, but Heero had made a decision. If he couldn?t have Relena ? he didn?t want much of anything anymore. This wasn?t his world anymore. Standing, he led them both out in the open. Catching a cab, he took them straight downtown to the police station there. Relena, as she realized what he was doing, began to struggle.
"No! I won?t go back! Not like this!" She pulled against him as cops passed by them, not registering that these well-dressed people were sought after fugitives.
"Stop it Relena. It?s how it has to be. I?ll go back to the hospital or prison, and you?ll go home. We?ll both be in a better place." They are sure to put me in solitary for what he?d done. If not, he would soon get himself put in solitary. Anything to forget.
"If I?m a martyr then you?re playing God! We?re together on this and I refuse to let you go. I?ll follow you to hell Heero Yuy, see if I don?t, but you can?t get away from me!" Several cops halted in their tracks at the sound of the name of the man so many of them were seeking.
"Sir, please come with us." Several of them approached him warily. They had heard what he did the last time someone had tried to apprehend him. Relena tried to hide her face in his chest and bunches of his suit jacket were clenched in her fist as she willed this not to be true. As they were pulled away from one another, (literally pried, as Relena wouldn?t let go) she couldn?t help but glance down in wonder at her hand. His handkerchief had stayed with her from her clutching at his jacket and it was none other but her own that she had bound his wound with days ago. It bore her initials and a faint bloodstain so it was unmistakable.
"You rotten liar," she mumbled to herself as they were led away from one another. "You rotten, rotten liar."
*
*
*
Milliardo Peacecraft paced back and forth in front of the prisoner. He was about ready to burst with anger.
"Well, Mr. Yuy," he spat the hated name out. "It seems that my sister and you both have very different accounts of what happened. Now, if I am to believe her," and here he consulted a clipboard. "She ?convinced you to kidnap her even though you were reluctant to do so all as an attempt to get some attention.? This does not sound like my little sister at all. What sort of influence do you have over her to give such a blatantly false statement when yours is more close to my understanding of the truth of the matter?"
"Relena will do as she likes. I can?t force her to do anything."
"You will speak of her as Miss Peacecraft, and may I remind you that it is only her good word that will keep a rope from around your neck so you had better come clean." Milliardo looked like he was just one step away from violence, but Heero had nothing to give him that he hadn?t already said.
"Hn."
"Very well!" Milliardo continued to pace more furiously. "Then I can do nothing for you. People like you make me ill and I hope that they throw away the key to your cell next time." He stalked out.
All things considered, Heero thought that had gone quite well.
*
*
*
He was back in the hospital. The room that had been his world for so long became so once again after his little ?vacation?. But now there were bars on everything, and heavy locks that could only be accessed from the outside. Already he had figured out a way to break out, but there was no reason. There was nothing out there for him, the war and his own bloodymindedness had seen to that.
The click of heels in the hallway made him think of her again. It was the 102nd time that day, and it was only noon. His meal would be given to him soon. Maybe he should ask for some books or something, now that plotting and brooding had fallen to distant seconds in his mind to. . . her.
The door opened and closed. He continued to lie on the bed, pretending to sleep. Someone coughed and he looked over, startled that anyone lingered in his room.
"Relena?" Great. Now maybe he really was going crazy. Hallucination was up there on the bad sign list of symptoms.
"Yes, Heero?" Maybe she was real. He got up and walked over to her. Giving her cheek a little pinch she pushed him back sharply. "Hey! You know, you?re supposed to pinch yourself, not the figment." He gathered her up in his arms and held on as if she would go up in a puff of smoke, which he halfway expected her to do still.
"Why?"
"Well. . . I decided that since I was having so little luck with Quatre I would try to help some other patients. And I think you could use a little attention. Now that his real fianc? is tending to him, I?m pretty useless anyway."
"Real fianc??"
"Dorothy. I cornered her a while ago and asked her some questions. She broke down and told me after a while. We went to see him together yesterday. I told him we were breaking up, and that I wished him and Dorothy every happiness." Relena began to tear up. "He laughed Heero. A real honest normal laugh. I think he might have a chance to get better, but it wasn?t be that did anything."
Heero felt his heart began to beat again. He had felt dead ever since he had been shuffled from police station to police station until finally landing back at his old ?home?.
"You sure you want to help me?"
"Something tells me you?ll get better pretty quickly. . . what with the job dad has for you once you get out." She looked a little ashamed, as if she were afraid he?d reject her offer. "Milliardo is going to set up a household in New York with his wife, and dad could use some help here. But if you?d rather not, then that?s fine too."
"We?ll see." It wasn?t a no, and that?s all Relena needed to feel hopeful about the future.
"Oh, and I have this for you too." She handed the handkerchief to him. He had wondered where it had gone. "It was what betrayed you, I thought you might want it back."
"What am I going to do with you?" He sounded annoyed but a rare smile graced his features, lighting his unusual blue eyes.
"I don?t know. What ARE you going to do?"
Winding his hand in her loose hair, Heero tilted Relena?s head to the side and kissed her with all the passion he had hid from her. Closing her eyes and giving a little groan her hands pushed their way up his back as he drove a knee between her legs and stepped in even closer. When it was her tongue that invaded his mouth, he pulled away slightly in surprise.
"Did I do something wrong?" She had just been carried away in the moment.
"No." Heero ran his hands over her in a way that made her feel weak in the knees. "I?m starting to feel rehabilitated already."
haha...erm anyways.
)
Bravo..you cheater..haha...erm..like you..said..yea..ok..
) I really *love* the last line, there's hope for Heero yet! I would really like to see how they end up, so could you consider writing an epilogue? 
Awesome....simply awesome Angel. So it was a three and a half part. it was still really worth it. Can't wait for your next work!!! 
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