A/N: Hints of OCxR and Rx1.
Still don't own. Sorry guys. It would be so nice to own... *sighs* Thanks to all of you that are continuing to read this. Sorry it is taking me so long to write, I've been so busy doing other stuff. I can almost hear the Boss laughing at me... I guess there is no hiding from the noodle of death. Next time I know to write ahead. See that way, she will not know I'm writing it.
Note to Mel who was sweet enough to read this and offer advice ? I accidentally closed the window before I wrote down the line you suggested I change. *smacks head* It was such a good idea too! *Frumps*
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Hugh leaned over from his sitting position to look out a large bay window in his room. Drops of rain pattered along the panes and formed small tears that slowly rolled down and disappeared on the ground below them. Hugh felt fixated by these drops as somehow they filled a void he felt in his heart.
His lack of action betrayed the thoughts racing through his mind, and when a guard standing watch over him, checked to make sure his prisoner was still there, a smug grin for an easy day's work crossed the guard's face before returning to his nap.
Hugh reached out to touch the coolness of the window, letting the dew run down his fingertips. His palm pressed the glass with little force, his fingers crunched against it, and then his arm drooped to his side again. His mouth formed a straight line and the twinkle that Relena had put in his eyes was missing. For all accounts he looked defeated.
Somewhere in the recess of his brain, he recognized the void, the volumes of nothingness, as his body's response to loss. But was it the loss of Relena or his mother?
His gaze dropped down to the wood boards that formed the floor of his room. Just below the giant window, a few boards had begun to rot from many years of water gradually seeping in from the rain and the wet air that came from being near the ocean. It reminded him of his sailboat where he had first met her.
How had it come to this? And why? Why was it - No, that wasn't right... How was it had come to love this girl that those he loved were so against? A small, inaudible groan formed at his lips and his eyes closed. It was like Romeo and Juliet - except his Juliet had already found her Romeo. Shaking his head lightly, he tried to banish this thought.
It didn't make sense, just like everything else in his life now. But then again, maybe it did and he was still adjusting to seeing things differently than he had before. He had never thought to question the desires of the ones that raised him; he was too busy granting a dying woman's wish.
He should have known it was never that simple. Life was never that simple. He should have known something was wrong the minute he pulled up to their home.
She had been waiting for him for the first time he could remember in a long time. It felt strange to be his age and going home to his mother, but he didn't regret his decision to have her stay with him until she passed on. She was sitting on a rocking chair on the porch, starring at the ocean when he arrived.
At first he thought she didn't hear the car pull up, but then she looked at him with something indeterminable in her tired blue eyes. The look was no more than a glance, and she was soon rocking back and forth on the chair he bought for her looking at the ocean.
He walked a few more feet to the front door, dropped his bags, and then turned slightly to walk a few more feet and stop by her side. The moment was finally arriving and he still hadn't decided whether to try to convince her of Relena's goodness or deceive her about what had happened on the boats.
The ocean roared peacefully at them, which seemed to bring a slight smile to her eyes. He saw her close them and breathe in the smells that engulfed them, as he knew she often did now that she knew she wouldn't be enjoying those smells much longer. Her eyes opened to look at her precious son, a wise smile in them that extended to her lips. Placing one hand on her son's arm, she lightly pulled him in to hug her.
"Hugh," she breathed, "It's so good to finally have you home."
Looking at this woman who had aged ten years in the weeks he had been gone, he noticed her skin was tighter and more etched and her hands were even frailer than he thought possible. She must have lost several pounds while he was gone. Worry replaced the urgent need to decide how to handle his mother.
"Mother! Are you okay? Have you been eating properly?" Hugh queried, grasping her hand, his knuckles white.
"As well as can be expected, and yes I'm eating." She smiled again at him and unsuccessfully tried to prevent a deep cough.
Not satisfied, he loosened the pressure on her hand but continued searching for the answer to her dramatic decline in health.
"Taking your medicine?"
A nod followed, and she was lost to the ocean again. He knew it distracted her from her pain and her concern for herself and the pending death in the months or perhaps weeks to come. She would answer no more.
He turned to leave her, determined to use the time to gather his emotions over his dying mother and to devise the best course of action for dealing with his feelings for the woman she hated. But a hand grabbed his arm with a force that he couldn?t quite believe came from his dying mother.
Turning, he saw another strange look cross her face. At first he was concerned, but then again, she had had a lot of unusual expressions since dad died and she found out she was sick.
"Did you take care of my final wish so I can be ready for the death that haunts me?"
"No," he stated quietly, his head drooping to the floor, examining the boards of the patio.
"I see you didn't bring her to me either, my son," her tired voice said firmly with a slight touch of bitterness.
He found no answer to be the best and simplest response.
"I didn't think so - it would have been all over the papers. Still, a boat, the sea, her body wouldn't turn up for weeks - if at all."
Hugh nodded, carefully letting nothing cross his face as she examined him for clues. That last statement said it all for him - she would never accept his feelings, especially since Relena turned him down because she loved someone else. It was ironic really; his mother often said Relena thought she was too good for the rules everyone else on the earth and colonies played by. Now "the pampered princess" as she referred to her, was too good for her only son.
There was only one answer for him, Hugh decided. He had to deceive her. Guilt formed in him, but he kept it in check as determination to carry out his decision hardened him with renewed energy and purpose.
It was until after he lied that he realized she knew the truth before he stepped on the porch that day. Now he was a prisoner in his own room of his own house. A small disbelieving smile briefly appeared on his face. The men he had led to capture Relena trapped him. He had already tried to persuade them to let him go, but they were too angry about his deception, not to his mother, but to them and would not let him go.
'Damn it," Hugh thought, determinedly punching the bed underneath him. Now more than ever his mother was determined to punish Relena. And this time, it wouldn't be a simple gunshot to the head or heart. No, this time, it was even more personal for her. She was going to make Relena suffer for somehow convincing Hugh to lie to her. It was all his fault and if he didn't do something about it soon, his mother might just get her wish.
Once again, Hugh's eyes filled with determination for a worthy cause. He looked over to his door and found his only guard asleep, disillusioned by the silent, formerly still Hugh to be concerned about the possibility of him escaping.
The house was quiet. Now was his chance...