Sitting in a Tree [4/7]

[RelenaFanel]

Sitting in a Tree K-I-S-S-
Chapter 1: http://blissfulignorance.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=5759
Chapter 2: http://blissfulignorance.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=5869
Chapter 3: http://blissfulignorance.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=6069

She opened her eyes to darkness and excessive ringing. Rubbing her bleary and tired eyes, she peered at the alarm clock. The darkness could be explained by the early hour, but the ringing could not. With one eye still closed, clinging to the last vestiges of sleep, she glanced around her room for the origin of the noise. She knew it had to come from her cell phone, but finding it was another matter.

She finally noticed the minuscule phone beside her on the nightstand, right where she left it. With a mumbled curse, she turned it on, expecting the person on the other end to have hung up impatiently.

?Hollow?? Her greeting was less awake than she intended, but she supposed at three in the morning any greeting she could manage was lucky. It better not be a reporter.

?Relena?? The woman on the other end sounded less professional than she did. Somehow she managed to recognize the voice, and the panicked pain inflicted in it.

?Hilde?? She shot up in bed, shaking off the dizziness caused by the sharp movement. ?What happened??

?Duo?s missing in action.? Hilde started crying into the phone. Relena tried calming her friend with words as she flopped out of bed and tugged on a pair of jeans from the laundry pile. ?I just? he was? oh God, Relena. I don?t know what to do.?

?Where are you??

?The Preventor offices on L3. They called in next of kin. I didn?t even know Duo had me as his next of kin.? Hilde renewed her sobbing. Relena jabbed at the button on the elevator as she shoved her arms into a jean jacket, then finally gave up and pushed into the stairs.

?Shhh. I?ll be there in a few minutes. I just happen to be on L3 this week.? Relena hurried down the stairs, praying she was awake enough not to take a tumble on the polished oak floor.

?Yeah. I think that was the point.? Hilde replied, almost resentful. Relena didn?t have time to dwell on it as she managed to finish her scurry down fourteen flights. She closed the phone with one hand as she broke into the lobby, the doorman scrambled from his napping spot to aid her.

?Miss Dorlain. You didn?t call down to request a vehicle. Will it be the jag or the limo this evening?? Unspoken was the question of whether she was going somewhere unsupervised, with a need for discretion, or if she was leaving on business. She always left on business.

?The jag.? She impatiently tossed her hair out of her face, vainly wishing for an elastic. ?I don?t know when I?ll be back.?

He gave her a kindly ?good-for-you? look, obviously one of the many on the band of Relena-doesn?t-have-a-life. It irked her that he thought she was on her way for a romantic rendezvous. A little voice in the back of her head screamed that she was mainly upset by the fact she wasn?t.

The jag glided up on the moveable road in front of her condominium. She waved her thanks to the security doorman and hurried down the front steps to her vehicle. As much as she loved her car, it was only an inanimate object, giving her no reason not to speed on the almost deserted roads.

She pulled up outside of Preventor headquarters in a flourish of tires and magnificent blood-red car. She slipped her security pass through the slot and placed her palm on the pressure pad. The gate let her in without a hitch and she drove up to the front of the building, leaving her car to security and technology to handle. A Private, recognized by the wings on his jacket, stopped her outside the door. Rather rudely too, for someone of her priority.

?Identify yourself.? His cleanly shaven head reminded her of a peach-egg hybrid.

?Relena Peacecraft Dorlain, Foreign Minister, Queen of Blah.? So shoot her, it was early. On a normal day she was too modest to give her long list of credentials. This day was proving to be long and tedious, not giving her time to luxuriate at not being known.

?State your name and purpose here, young lady.? His arms were crossed sternly, not booking any amusement at her attempt to be blas?.

?Young lady?? She hadn?t been called that since her father died. A glimpse in the glass door behind her perfectly showed the reflection of a young woman with long blond hair, shining blue eyes, wearing a tiny camisole under a jean ensemble. And holy crap she wasn?t wearing a bra! ?Look here, you??

She was cut off when he raised his hand and placed a finger on the tiny speaker in his ear. He blushed up to the crown of his hair-less head and started apologizing into the mic before he turned towards her.

?I?m sorry Miss Dorlain. If you will follow me, I?ll escort you to the elevator.? She fell into step behind him. ?I?ve been assured you know where you are going.? He paused and winced good-naturedly. ?You have excellent contacts upstairs. I managed to piss off most of my superiors with this. I apologize again.?

She smiled politely as the doors closed. She didn?t have time for bumbling newbies. For some reason it was imperative for her to reach Hilde as soon as possible. The elevator door slid soundlessly open, giving her a view of the visitor?s lobby. Hilde was on the far side, arguing with a harried military receptionist. Her friend?s arms wove more and more agitated as the seconds progressed, and as Relena walked closer, she could hear snippets of conversation.

?Five days?? Hilde became more agitated, her serene face becoming dangerously close to homicidal. Relena recognized the desperation in her stance. The receptionist calmly murmured something to the raven-haired woman, and immediately took a step back as Hilde?s swing went wide. Relena stepped in and grabbed Hilde?s arm before she could try again.

?Whoa, calm down. I think Duo would rather be here to witness you beat someone up instead of hearing about it.? Relena worried she said the wrong thing for a second when Hilde pointed her searing gaze at her.

?Yeah.? Hilde muttered, moods swinging quicker than a pregnant woman?s. Her eyes saddened, becoming teary. Personally, Relena would rather deal with the anger. ?He was a pervert, wasn?t he?? She wiped at her eyes with a cotton sleeve. The receptionist quickly scuttled off in a rushed survival instinct. Relena placed her arms around Hilde in a loose hug, knowing that nothing could rightly calm a person?s sorrow for a missing loved one.

?What happened to him? Was there an accident??

?It was just a routine check of the inner-colony. The pipes and electronics? you know, the stuff most people never see?? She broke off to blow her nose. ?A team went down with experts to check on a report of faulty wiring?? A loud sniff. ?Or maybe Heero was the expert, you know, after he finished his engineering at NovU, they?ve been using him for a lot of stuff like that. He?s like a one-man team of twenty.?

In fact, she hadn?t known that. Heero wasn?t open with his assignments, and it always seemed too easy to her to access his file from her office at UPH (Unified Preventor Headquarters). Maybe he just assumed she did look. She almost snorted out loud, which would have ruined the comforting atmosphere she was trying to create for Hilde. Who was she kidding; Heero knew everything from what she ate for breakfast to her underwear material and color. Especially her underwear material and color. The two of them were building up a nice case of UST. She made the required noises for Hilde to continue on.

?They hit some kind of snag. Personally?? She breathed heavily, sniffed, and then gave a weak little cough. ?? I think it was some kind of bomb threat or something equally as overdone.? Hilde paused, Relena could feel her withdrawing. That was interesting. ?So Duo and Heero split up and send the rest of the team to the surface. Heero shows up at the rendezvous point, Duo doesn?t.? The next sentence came out in a blubbering rush. ?Heero went back in to find him, but it?s been five days and nothing.?

That admission wasn?t something she could answer with a noncommittal grunt. How could she answer that, when the fact Heero made it and Duo didn?t thickened the air with animosity? She couldn?t just say that Heero was the best. She also couldn?t suggest that maybe Duo got lost, because that still implied Heero?s superiority. ?Maybe Duo found something interesting and is currently investigating undercover so as not to show he?s close to cracking the case.?

Score one for late-night mystery marathons and best-selling fiction.

Hilde looked unimpressed, but nodded her head anyway.

?I?ll tell you what. Why don?t we go up to my office, where I?m sure there is a nice couch, and you can rest while I talk to Lady Une? I?ll grill her for details. And if that doesn?t work we?ll just have to hack into the computer and pull the file.? Hilde started crying again at the word ?hack.? Relena supposed she could see the connection and led her sobbing friend towards the elevator. She hoped she could remember what floor her office was on. Another colony, another office in UPH. It was a convenient arrangement since she was a transient at best.

She found her office right where she left it. With a handy little swipe of her middle finger (apt) over the sensory pad, she unlocked the door and stepped in. She practically dragged a hysterical Hilde (?But what if Duo comes in and I miiiiiiiiss him??) over to the couch. Relena paused for a second, wondering if she should administer a sleep-dose to Hilde. Knowing personally how much the pilots were against artificial aid of any kind, she left Hilde without one. It was best not to alienate your only friend.

She did lock the door from the outside. A near-hysterical woman was not something she could handle with her current mission. She was sure Lady Une was somewhere in this building. Unless there was a major catastrophic event going on somewhere, the former colonel would be drawn to a blotched upper-level mission.

The elevator went up four levels and over three blocks. She took a deep breath, not sure if she wanted the answers to her questions. Hilde had implied that this whole situation could be her fault. Ever since those bastards had promised a hundred million for anyone who managed to take her life a few years back, loonies were popping out of the metalwork trying to get a piece. She wasn?t sure if the contract still stood, but at least it hadn?t been fulfilled yet.

The elevator doors opened smoothly and quietly. The noise from Lady Une?s office was not so inaudible.

?I don?t care where the hell she is or who the fuck she?s talking to. Get me Lady Une now. I?m going back down without her permission.?

Relena hurried into the receptionist area. The poor Preventor secretaries were being totally harassed today. She knew that obscenity-spouting voice anywhere. The door opened dramatically to show Heero about to toss a desk out the window.

It was hot, in a ?if a penny tossed off a sky-scraper could kill someone, what would a desk do?? kind of way.

?Put the desk down.? She felt like she was talking to a kid. Seriously, was the whole universe regressing and suddenly she became mom? She almost expecting Heero to pout and petulantly question her motives. He didn?t. He also didn?t move the desk. The receptionist skittered out the room behind her and dove at the closing elevator.

Relena turned back to give her attention to Heero, but he was no longer there. Thankfully the desk and the window pane were. ?Hee?oomph.?

His lips slanted against hers. His tongue pushed violently into her mouth before she could close it from the attempted conversation. His hand possessively slid up her hip and inside the flimsy little nighty she was wearing. She was suddenly very glad she wasn?t wearing a bra.

Heero cut off the kiss as suddenly as he had cut it on. They were both breathing heavily, but there was a slight rasp of desperation in his. Heero?s fist balled and he drove it through the wall next to her head. Any and all sexual thoughts were driven from Relena?s head as if he had personally struck her.

Somehow, in his own way, he was hurting, and was using her as a distraction. Not that she minded. It was not like they were having random rebound sex or anything. It was not as if they were having sex at all, though granted his hand was still on her breast, so maybe that would come later.

?Are you ok?? She slid their embrace into a hug. It was amazing sometimes that a man like Heero could be hugged. He was solid and didn?t faze easily.

He remained uncomfortably silent for so long, she was sure this was one of those times he just wasn?t going to answer her. He probably figured he couldn?t get out of this one without admitting he was upset. ?I now understand the meaning of the term friend.?

Relena almost smiled. There it was. He was admitting to her that he was distressed about Duo. She would have done a happy dance at getting him to open up, but it wouldn?t be prudent to do so at this exact time. She?d save that for later.

?He was my friend.? Heero intoned. ?And I couldn?t bring him back.?

Relena was suddenly hit with Heero?s sorrow as if it was traveling to her via osmosis. In the back of her mind, she always believed Heero would do something, and Duo would be ok. She had deliberately tried to keep her thoughts light all evening, and now the dam broke.

Surprisingly Heero didn?t run away in fear as she sobbed against his chest. He held her solidly, rubbing her back in fleeting caresses. ?It?s ok to cry.? She blubbered, trying to justify it for herself as well as give him permission to join. Heero was never that good at taking what she offered.

?Yeah.? His voice was rough. When she settled enough he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. It tasted like the salt from her tears, and served the purpose of putting a balm of comfort over both their emotions.

The alarm on his watch went off, and he stared at the tiny code flashing across the screen. His face became impassive. A closed book. So clich?ly Heero. ?Duo just walked in the front door. Cocky bastard.?

She grinned a watery grimace and tried valiantly to wipe the tears off her face. Sharing time was over. He probably wouldn?t take too kindly to tears anymore.

Instead of leaving her, he backed her up against the wrecked wall. His eyes seared into her face in what she could only describe as a leer. ?I like it when you wear this to bed.? His fingers played with the lace at the low neckline of her make-shift top. Oh yeah, definitely a leer.

?RelenaFanel2004

[Mellie]

eeee!!!! This was amazing! In just one chapter you managed to do so much! I can't wait to read more of these one shots, they all have been so amazing!

[Raspberry]

Oh yeah!

This surely made my day!

Thank you Relena Fanel and congratualtions for such wonderful work!

Te he hee I loved the histerical Hilde, Heero JUMPING on Relena and that she didn't mind it at all and that Duo was just playin' with 'em!

Hope you'll update soon!

[Morrighan]

*snicker* Bad, Heero, bad!!

I just loved the dynamics of this! It was always constantly moving and changing. Awesome job!!

[lilac310]

ooohhh....gotta love that ending!!!..can't wait for the next chapter though....I wonder if they'd carry on that "conversation" on another level? or maybe somewhere else?..lala-land perhaps?..what d'ya think? Great job here!

[sadie003]

happy birthday!

[kawaiiemogirl]

Dang it's getting good. Heero is being a really really bad bad boy.