Missing by a Mile - Chapter 25

Post by **blackrose** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 10:12 pm

Missing by a Mile
by the Black Rose
AN: Would anyone believe me if I told you I promise you won't have to wait as long between chapters? At least for a while? I have started a new regimen of getting up between 5:30-6am and writing for 2 hours before work. Since beginning this routine(Feb 28), I have completed a short story entitled Disarm - which I hope to post in the near future, and rough drafts of chapters 26-28 of Missing by a Mile.
I plan to get chapters 26-28 completed and posted on the following schedule: Chapter 26 - April 2, Chapter 27 - April 16, and Chapter 28 - May 7.
My total chapter estimate at this time is approximately 35-36 chapters. But, that's not guaranteed. I don't THINK it will go over 40.
Thanks for staying with me.
Much love,
Rose
PS - Flashbacks are italicized. Most of the flashbacks in this chapter happened in chapter 22 while Heero and Relena were on their date to Club Swing. Typically, when I "flash back", I take a piece from the actual chapter, and then continue to include something we didn't see. So, in that way, I'm not just duplicating words I already wrote, but revealing additional story that maybe wasn't there, or I try to offer a different POV on the same'happenings' by having the flashback from the other character's POV.
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Missing by a Mile 
Chapter 25
Loud cheers erupted from the television set on the opposite side of Duo's living room. "Here's a novel idea! Try pitchin' something they can't hit!" He growled at the screen and contemplated throwing the remote at his TV. Instead, he stabbed the switch with his index finger; the image dissipated.
"Hey!" Trevor sat up in the recliner. "I was watching that."
"Forget it. We've already lost." Duo glared at the screen. "Let's go over the plan again."
Trevor groaned. "Again?"
"Yeah. With Trowa in the picture, and Heero being?well, Heero, we need to make sure we've thought of everything."
"By definition, that's impossible, you realize." Trevor flopped back into the cushions.
"I will outsmart him. I'll show him who's the idiot."
"Is this really about you? Or him?"
Duo sighed. "It's about her, really."
"Is it?"
"Yes! I mean, it's not just about her, he's my friend, too, but?" something tingled in the back of his throat. The Preventer swallowed; the action only managed to send the tingling sensation into his chest. "They both deserve to be happy, ya know?"
"You're their friend, and that's a good thing. But I have this terrible feeling that this kidnapping deal is going to backfire and horribly." His friend's voice sounded flat. Duo glanced over; Trevor took another sip of his beer.
The 'tingle' in his chest became something larger. "Worst case scenario; Heero catches us, we explain that we took it upon ourselves to kidnap her in an attempt to make him realize how much he cares for her. I get a short vacation in a hospital with a feeding tube stuck into my arm, and the world goes back to the way it was."
"Hmmmmm?" Trevor continued to sip his beer. "I suppose." He sat up and looked at Duo. "What's the best case scenario, again?"
"We nab her, spend a weekend watching bad movies on cable in a roach-infested hotel room waiting for Heero to show up and rescue Relena, admit that he loves her, and see soldier-boy and his princess live happily ever after."
Trevor snorted. "And?"
The Preventer grimaced. "?And then Yuy will send me on a short vacation to the hospital complete with aforementioned feeding tube stuck into my arm."
"You bring new meaning to the term glutton for punishment."
"Yeah, it's part of my charm." He took a breath and heard something wheeze in his chest. "So, about the plan?"
"Yeah. The plan." Trevor placed his beer down and brought both hands up to his face. "Did we decide to tell her beforehand or not?"
"I think we decided to tell her after we nabbed her. If she's expecting it, then she might accidentally drop a hint and tip someone" Duo took a breath and felt a tightness in his chest. He wheezed and coughed against the obstruction. Cough. Hack. "..off. Damn."
His friend dropped his hands and glared. "You'd better not be getting sick."
"Nah, I'm healthy as a horse." Duo beat a fist on his chest. 'Ow! That hurt? Why do people do that?'
Trevor rolled his eyes. "Great. Except that even healthy horses get sick."
"Well, if I am, doc, I'm sure you can get me a prescription. Am I right?"
"I guess. You could probably use some cough medicine either way."
Duo screwed up his face. 'Cough medicine, yech.' "Eh. I guess. Just try to lay off the codeine would ya?"
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Heero stared at the empty space in the fourth convenience store that was strangely devoid of any and all pregnancy-preventing?supplies. On a Monday night. In an area of town that should have been replete with such necessary tactical equipment.
He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. 'I smell a rat.'
The Preventer took a deep breath, opened his eyes again, and started towards the clerk at the front counter.
He was a skinny kid with pale skin and white blond hair. He wore braces on his teeth and had a nametag that read: Tommy. He seemed to be trying to climb up the shelves behind the counter (which held the 'adult magazines') backward. Heero stopped at the edge of the counter; the kid's neck was in arm's reach.
"H-how can I h-h-help you, sir?"
Heero growled.
The clerk's neck disappeared into his collar. His head shook from side to side in a fast, jerky motion. "I-I-I?"
"Who bought them?"
"I-I-I?"
Heero narrowed his eyes. "How long ago?"
"I-I-I?"
The Preventer aimed his gun at the chest of the stuttering clerk.
"It-it-it?" His teeth chattered in his head, and his whole body began shaking.
He disengaged the safety and moved the gun to point at the kid's head instead. "Talk or I'll kill you."
Blood moved up from his neck, and turned the kid's face red. Finally, he gulped, and spilled his story in a steady stream from his lips. "It-it-it was an elderly man! He came in and asked where to find condoms. And I pointed, and he said thank you. He went over there, down that aisle where you were, and then he came back, his arms were completely full. I don't know how he carried it. He placed the stuff on the counter. So many boxes. He even took the time to line them up neatly. And he didn't act like anything was wrong. But I knew there was. There had to be. I mean?he was old! It made me ill. He bought all the condoms and?" The young man swallowed. "Everything else."
'Pagan.' Heero dropped his arm holding the gun.
"How long ago did he leave?"
The red began to drain from the kid's face again. He looked like he was at least breathing. "Ah-about, ummmm, no more than about three or four minutes. Five tops."
Heero tucked his gun back into the waist of his jeans. "Which direction did he go?"
White streaks crept into the convenience store clerk's complexion. "He took a left here and headed back towards the main drag."
"When he came in?"
"He came from the same direction." Tommy placed shaking hands on the counter and peered up at Heero from beneath his almost translucent bangs. "Is he, is he your grandpa or something? My grandpa went crazy a, like two years ago, too. He went to all the Stone-marts in the area and bought boxes and boxes of Lucky Charms and hot dog buns"
'I'm sorry, Relena, Pagan went crazy buying thousands of dollars of condoms and I had to shoot him.'
"Are there any other convenience stores along this stretch of road?"
The convenience store clerk frowned like he was thinking. "Not for another uhhh 'bout ten more miles."
"Dammit."
"You could just try calling convenience stores to find out if they've seen?"
Heero glared at the clerk. Tommy took his hands off the counter and moved a giant step back.
"Or not. I mean. It's none of my business."
'Ten miles there means ten miles back.' He turned and paced towards the door. But with a five minute head start?'
"Hey, aren't you a Preventer?"
Heero slung open the glass door and ran back to his car.
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Noin shook her head and placed her arm around her husband's neck. "What is it?" She nuzzled her face against his cheek. "Come on. Once you get it out, you'll realize how ridiculous this all is ? getting upset by a dream."
"He asked me?" Noin watched Zechs's adam's apple bob up and down the front of his throat. The way his mouth was set reminded her of the look on a child's face in those old movies - when the parent had just forced them to take a spoonful of castor oil.
"Yes?"
"?for a condom. So he could screw my sister."
Noin released his neck, threw her head back and laughed.
Her husband growled. "I still don't find any of this humorous."
"You know, it never really occurred to me how much you act like her father." Noin put her index finger to her lips.
"I don't?"
"You do." She cocked her head to one side. A dark scowl had etched itself into Zechs's features. "A sibling relationship is one that transforms over time. It has its protective leanings, but it's more equal than that of a parent-child relationship."
"We lost our parents when we were children?"
"And you've protected her ever since."
The dark look eased. "From a distance, yes."
"Maybe it's time to close that distance." She took a step closer and wrapped her arm around his waist.
"I didn't mean it like?" He pulled back and met her gaze. "I see what you're getting at."
"Relena had a father that she was very fond of. She's never had a brother." Noin shook her head. "An equal. Someone to laugh with. Someone male to share her dreams and fears with. Of all of them, Trowa has been the closest to that."
Zechs pulled out of her hug and turned away. "Don't say that name to me. He's worse than Yuy." He took another step from Noin, and placed one of his large, pale hands with long fingers on the opposite wall. His shoulders hunched. "At least Heero's a worthy opponent. Trowa's?manipulative. He appears to be exactly what she wants, and I don't trust his motives."
"You think Heero cares for her while Trowa just wants to go to bed with her."
The tips of his fingers tried to dig through the wallpaper and grip the sheetrock. "Something like that." He turned and shot her a look over his shoulder. "Can we stop talking about my sister's sex life? It's making me feel nauseated." The left side of his lip curled up.
Her pulse quickened. Noin decided the expression was a little sexy. She grinned. "But you'll think about what I said?"
"About killing Trowa?"
She stepped close enough to punch his arm. "I didn't say anything about killing Trowa."
He dropped his arm from the wall and turned to face her. "Hm. My bad, I could have sworn someone said something like that."
"Must have been that inside voice in that fat head of yours."
He arched an eyebrow. "Fat head?"
Noin giggled. "It tends to get fat and hard as a rock from time to time."
The left side of his mouth quirked up and his eyelids lowered.
Her heart thumped and a band tightened across her chest. "No, the one at the end of the long skinny?" She wrinkled her nose. "Wait. Let me try that again."
"Want to know what my inner voice is saying now?" His voice was low and seductive; it sent shivers up and down her spine.
Noin shook her head. "No, absolutely not."
Zechs gave her a sidelong glance that she had always found extremely sexy - and he knew it. "That's too bad. Because that voice has all kinds of ideas for what to do with that nightgown of yours."
"Hm." She smiled and kissed the tip of his nose. "Figures."
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Heero dashed back to the car, threw open the door and lunged inside, turning the key in the ignition at the same time. 'He had at least a half hour head start, but the kid at the last convenience store said that Pagan had only left five minutes before I arrived and began questioning.'
The Preventer checked his watch. 'Of course, the clerk also thought I had been there for ten minutes. I was only there six minutes and twenty-four seconds. But either way, Pagan's got a twelve to fourteen minute advantage.'
Heero shut the door and glanced up in the rearview mirror. 'I have to beat him.' He threw the car in reverse and backed out of the parking spot.
An image of clocking Pagan with his gun palmed in his fist appeared in front of his eyes.
"No, Master Yuy, I-I'm sorry."
Heero threw a right cross that connected with Pagan's cheekbone. A loud, satisfying CRUNCH erupted at the same time he felt the older man's bone structure give way beneath his knuckles.
He shook his head to dispel the fantasy. 'Unacceptable.' Heero took a deep breath, shoved the car into gear, and gunned the engine. The car hit the dip between the parking lot and street and the Preventer swore the tires saw air time. He spun the steering wheel and the car lurched in the right direction, crossing three lanes of road into on-coming traffic. He swerved back to the correct side of the street. Heero sped away from the main drag to head towards the Brown Bag located just on the edge of town.
He set his jaw and looked down at the gas gauge. 'Half a tank. That should be sufficient.'
The silence in the car gave him time to think. Unwanted time.
"And I'm not capable of that?" Anger flared through his system in a white-hot wave.
"You're capable, Master Yuy. But I'm not terribly interested in ptitude without application?You disappeared completely for the better part of five years, you have ten thousand dollars to your name, no past, no present, and certainly, no future."
Heero growled. 'Between him and Trowa, you'd think I had intentionally set out to hurt her when I left. But I?How could I know?'
He slammed his hand against the steering wheel. The horn honked at the night sky. No one else was on this road; he was the lone idiot chasing after a crazy old man who was out to purchase all the condoms in a twenty mile radius from the epicenter of New Port City.
The Preventer snarled. 'Mission note: suggest mental help for Pagan once we're married.'
He drove passed a speed limit sign and glanced down at his speedometer. He was only going twenty-five over.
'Married.'
Heero smiled. She had finally accepted his proposal, and tomorrow she would become his wife. "And there's nothing Pagan can do to stop it." The former Gundam pilot chuckled for a second, but the large tan and chocolate sign of the Brown Bag became visible just over the top of the next hill.
'Target acquired.'
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The Brown Bag was a refined establishment complete with sawdust on the floor and a special on buy-one-get-one-free pork rinds. Heero scowled; sleeping in the jungle or pitching a tent in the desert was one thing. Stepping on a floor covered with alternating sticky?stuff and wood pulp - and don't forget the cockroaches that were so at home, they didn't bother to scurry in the dingy overhead lighting - was another.
'Pagan would have died in a place like this.'
Heero took an elated breath. 'Perfect.' He pulled the door open. The clerk behind the counter looked like he was a long-lost member of the band ZZ Top.*
The former Gundam pilot nodded in the man's direction. The clerk blinked, but other than that, gave no sign he was alive. Heero quickly scanned the aisles and picked out the pharmaceutical row. He shoved his hands in his pockets and headed in that direction.
"Ya can't bring that gun in here."
Heero paid no attention to the clerk; instead he sped towards the end of the aisle that had better have what he--
CA-CHEK. The former Gundam pilot froze. He knew the sound of a shotgun when he heard it.
"I'm a Preventer." He kept his voice calm despite the fact that he was itching to do violence to someone. Anyone. Preferably Pagan, but anyone standing in his way right now would do. "It's issued equipment."
"Whatdoya want?"
"Condoms."
"We're out."
Heero whirled around.
"Some guy. 'Bout fifteen minutes ago. Must've had a hot date or the kinda kitten ya don't wanna be caught pettin for the number he bought." 
"Older? Looks like a butler in one of those serialized television shows?"
"Nope." The clerk spit on the floor. "Young guy. Taller 'n you. Same jacket, though."
"Hn."
The corner of the clerk's mouth lifted underneath the black scraggly beard. Heero got the impression the man was either amused or knew something he wanted to tell. "Sabotagin' yer date eh?" He lowered the gun and put it back on the shelf behind him. "Hell of a way ta do it. You ain't screwin his girl are ya?"
"No. She's my fianc?e. I'm marrying her tomorrow, and he's?"
"Jealous. Got it."
Heero ran a hand through his hair and thought briefly about yanking it all out. "This is the fifth convenience store I've been to."
"You could give up."
The Preventer snapped his head up and glared. "Not an option."
"You try the bathroom?"
"No." He frowned. "What's in the bathroom?"
"Coin-operated jobbies. Separate stock. Do'n know fer sure, but I did'n give the fella no key. Ya gotta have a key ta piss in tha can."
Heero took a second to process the information. 'Coin operated?condom machines.' He glanced up into the man's beady eyes. "Can I have the key?"
"Might cost ya."
The Preventer drew his gun and aimed it at the clerk. "How about your life?"
"I reckon." The clerk tossed the key at his lone customer. "Enjoy 'er." 
Heero caught the key and stuffed his gun back into his jeans. He leapt toward the door and raced around the building to the men's restroom.
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If Heero thought that the Brown Bag convenience storefront was a bit on the unkempt and?utterly disgusting side, the restroom was the one thing that redeemed his belief that the whole place should be condemned.
The Preventer pulled open the door and immediately grabbed the collar of his t-shirt to place over his nose and mouth. A putrid stench of sulphur and ammonia filled the air and burned his lungs. 'I don't want to know what that smell is.'
There were no stalls, no urinals, just a single toilet and some of the dirtiest, half-broken tiles covering the floor and the walls. The tiles were all brown; Heero wasn't sure if there was a reason other than the materials were cheap - and the grime seemed to blend in a bit easier with its brown-tile surroundings.
'Condom machine. That's all I need. And then I'll have to sterilize myself before I touch Relena.'
He stepped into the seventh level of hell; the discolored fixture overhead provided little illumination. But if Heero left the door open, he could clearly make out a stainless steel dispenser standing upright in the far corner of the room.
The Preventer had to fight the urge to throw his head back and laugh maniacally. His vision burned through the stifling air, and everything became clearly visible in the dimness. He approached the wonderful invention, and as he neared, he could see the single most important feature of this particular dispenser: it still had stock.
'Checkmate.'
"Condoms 25 cents." He dug in his pockets for change. Heero was certain he had a few thousand pieces - or should. He pulled all the coins out of his front jeans pocket. He had only four quarters. But it was enough.
Heero bent down and shoved a quarter into the slot and began to turn the handle that would mechanically collect the coin and dispense the condom packet.
The handle turned and locked.
The Preventer twisted harder.
The metal groaned and refused to budge.
Heero tried winding it in the other direction. The slot where the quarter fit was empty. Two fingers dug into the space where the condom packets should drop. There was nothing there.
"Dammit."
He twisted one direction and then the other.
Nothing.
Heero scowled, took a second quarter, and watched it jump from the palm of his hand and land somewhere in the grime. It splat. 'Casualty of war.' He picked the third quarter up and shoved it into the difficult machine's slot.
"Come on?."
He turned the knob; it began to spin.
And then locked.
Heero growled. "You lousy--"
He stood up and kicked the base of the machine. It rocked back violently, and he heard something click. He smirked and moved to shove the last quarter into the dispenser. He spun the knob.
It froze.
The Preventer scowled. "That was my last quarter, you piece of shit." He grabbed the machine in both hands and shook it. "Give me the damn thing! I paid for it. Haven't I more than paid for this?"
He strangled the dispenser mercilessly.
"There's only so much a man can take, and let me tell you? I'd had enough when I saw her naked in her room. But I'm trying to be responsible. I'm trying not to rip her clothes off and vent my frustration in a very very enjoyable way, but you are trying my patience."
He growled at the machine and continued throttling it. "Give me the damn condom, or I will fill you full of so many holes, you'll think you're a new metallic kind of swiss cheese!"
He released the dispenser and stood up. Heero grabbed his gun from his jeans and took careful aim.
BAM! BAM BAM BAM!
Metal shrieked and popped. The machine slammed back against the far wall and splintered into a shower of steel and a pile of prophylactics.
Heero let out a loud bark of laughter. He shoved the gun back into the waistband of his jeans and grabbed a handful of the little square packets. "Hmmm." He eyed one package with a large hole through the center and then tossed it aside. "Hole." Toss. "Hole." Toss. "Hole. Ha!" He found a stack of perfect foil packets and grabbed them up.
"First target acquired. Mission proceeding."
Heero kicked the door wide and pushed by a bewildered-looking man standing outside.
"Here." He shoved the key the clerk gave him at the other guy. The man grasped the plastic fob with two fingers and glanced at the restroom door. "Everything okay? In?there?"
'Shit. I have no cover story?.' Heero blinked and said the first thing that came to mind: "Germs."
The former Gundam pilot turned and broke out into a run back to his car.
"Hey! Aren't you a Preventer?"
'Next target: Relena.'
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Heero tucked his?procurements into his right jacket pocket and let himself in the front door. Once he had left the bustle of the main highway to turn into the residential area where Relena lived, it was like time froze. Single beams of light along the road didn't so much as flicker. No one stirred from inside their home. No pets scurried along the sidewalks, the whole neighborhood slept.
And Relena's house was no different.
His ears picked up the sound of a clock ticking in the kitchen. Crickets chirped outside in the front hedges. The air inside the house was warm and stifling in its silence. Heero walked to the edge of the stairs and glanced up at her door.
There was no sign of life.
He drew in a deep breath and looked down at his watch. 'It's been almost two hours.'
He sighed and felt his shoulders slump. His mind flit back to earlier that evening?
"Answer me, Relena."
Her eyes were closed; she was refusing to look at him - again. His hands closed on the menu, and he wrestled against the urge to tear it in half. She had rejected him at least three times already, and never had he felt so?angry about it. 
"Relena?" He winced when the word came out louder than he intended.

Her eyes flew open and she met his gaze. 
Something in his chest panged at the memory of that moment. Her expression? Reminded him of the time he held a gun to her head and told her to say goodbye.
"Heero, I?I just?" Her brows knit together in the center of her forehead, and she looked like she was pleading with him.
"What does it take, Relena? What do I have to do?"
"I don't know? I care about you, I know that?that I love you." She shook her head. "It just seems so sudden, and you're?
"I'm what?" He lowered his voice. Heero was trying to stay calm, but the mission was in jeopardy. Words tumbled from his lips - an accusation he wasn't sure he knew where it came from.
"Not good enough?'
Her eyes widened. "No! I don't think that at all!"
"Then why won't you marry me, Relena?"
"I don't know!" Her hands pushed at the top of the table. It teetered back and forth and jostled their water glasses. 
"I need time?to think this through to figure things out, to be sure." Her hands came up to her face. Her pale cheeks were streaked with red. Heero had never seen her look this flustered. 
"I-I-I don't want to rush into things and have them fall apart. When?when I get married." Her hands dropped to her lap and out of his line of vision. She bowed her head, and her voice calmed. "I want it to be for the rest of my life. I want to be sure."
Heero trudged up the steps to her room. He should just keep watch outside her door, but something inside him said he couldn't do that without looking in on her first. He grabbed the door handle and turned it, but stopped before pushing it open. The Preventer glance over his shoulder, and noting the Pagan's distinct absence, finally let himself inside.
"Relenaaaaa?"
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Trowa stood silently at attention inside his commander's office. The room, he had been in many times before, and it was as harsh and unforgiving as the woman herself. Overhead fluorescents glared down on the occupants and objects in the room. Trowa found himself squinting even in the dead of night. Or perhaps especially in the dead of night?
"Barton."
He glanced up at the former Oz Colonel who had kept the title despite her obvious higher rank within the Preventer Corps. She should have been called 'General', or perhaps 'Chief', or even 'Administrator'. "Yes, Colonel." 
Une stared directly at him from her place behind her desk. Her brown eyes had softened over the years, but she still maintained that air of authority. "I don't believe I have your undivided attention."
"Yes, Colonel." He nodded.
"So you know what's on the list in each room of the house?" One light-brown eyebrow lifted, and an amused-looking smirk toyed with her lips.
"Yes, Colonel."
"Good." She stood up and began pacing the room. "Considering the threats we've intercepted on the Vice Foreign Minister's office lately, I'm expecting you to question anyone who enters or exits that is not currently in this room." She clasped her hands behind her back. "No one else has authorization."
Trowa had to swallow a smile. "Except for those in this room and the minister's personal bodyguard detail."
"That's correct." Une shot him a look out of the corner of her eye. "So in answer to your unasked question, Agent Barton, no, you do not have permission to throw Sergeant Yuy out of the Minister's household."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the three other Preventer agents glance quizzically at one another.
"Any questions so far?"
A fairly young-looking female agent with short, auburn hair raised her hand. Trowa grit his teeth, waiting for her high-pitched voice to invade the room; he preferred the way it sounded when she was out of breath and calling his name.
"Yes. Rogers."
"Could we go over the list one more time?" She sounded like she was about to giggle at any time. "It seemed a little confusing."
"Yes. The reason it's confusing is because the list is very specific. The courts have given us very little leeway with this." The head of the Preventer organization held up the piece of paper and began to rattle off the list once again.
"Phone logs for only the lines listed on the order; network logs for two static ip addresses owned by Zechs, information from wire taps?"
Trowa's head snapped up. "You have wire taps installed?"
"On a couple of phone lines."
The Preventer agent swallowed. "The main lines?"
Une sent him a sharp glare. "The two roll-over lines and a little-used private line. If someone was trying to get in, they wouldn't use the main lines."
Trowa nodded.
"We've also been granted permission to make copies, for the purpose of listening to or watching, any logged security camera footage or recorded personal meetings in the rooms listed on the warrant."
Barton's breath caught. "For which rooms?"
She gave him another one of those half-amused, half annoyed looks. "All are non-personal rooms. So, we don?t have permission to watch any tapes of Relena undressing."
His peripheral vision caught Agent Rogers turning her head in his direction. He could almost feel the heat of her glare.
"What about Zechs's office?"
Une glanced down at the paper. "I don't show that he has any surveillance equipment in that room."
The walls in the room seemed to grow closer, and it was like he could see invisible particles throbbing in the air. His vision sharpened, and so did the knotted feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"He not only has surveillance equipment, but he backs it up on disk every night."
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Heero's whole body reacted to the sight that awaited him. The drapes were closed, and Relena had turned her bedside lamps on low, casting the room in a gauzy glow. She lay on top of her covers; her form sprawled out on the mattress and looking far too comfortable for words.
He stepped further into the room.
The nightgown wasn?t indecent, or at least it wouldn't have been if she was standing up in the dark. But she must have tossed and turned because the gown had hiked up to mid-thigh, exposing her long legs to the amber-colored light.
That wasn't the worst of it.
Blond hair spilled over the pillowcase, except the few strands that clung to her cheek. Her pink lips were slightly parted, and emitted little sounds as she breathed deeply in and out; her nightgown twisted beneath her shoulders, skewing the straps and exposing more of her breasts than how it was designed.
Heero sucked in a breath as his vision finally adjusted to his surroundings. Air must have decided that it didn't belong in his lungs, and he felt the sudden urge to cough. He tried to hold on to it, Heero definitely did not want to wake her?
No, he definitely DID want to wake her.
Wait.
Yuy's lungs burned and he lost. His whole body shuddered and he bent forward as he involuntarily hacked against that burning feeling in his chest. 
She stirred, and he saw her eyelids crack open. Blue eyes peered up at him through tiny slits. "Heero?." Her voice was breathy, and it did all sorts of things to his anatomy just to hear that name on her lips and know she wanted him.
"Relena."
A small smile curved her lips. "You're here."
"Yeah."
Her right arm swept over the top of the comforter in a wide arc to rest her hand next to her head. "Mmmmmm. You?" her voice became some muffled groan. "?join me?"
A vision of ripping that nightgown off her body and keeping her up all night taunted his brain. Only to be dispelled by the image of her dragging out of bed at a terrible hour for some meeting or another.
A tiny snore escaped her lips, and Heero knew he had lost. He sighed and pulled off his jacket; the Preventer sunk down on the edge of her bed. His hand drifted to rest on the top of her ankle. Her skin was smooth, perfect - like silk - with ripples of goosebumps along her shinbone. Heero glanced at the comforter beneath her body, and stood up to grab the end on the other side of the bed. He folded it over her and sat down again.
"I'm sorry." Heero turned to look up the length of her form and focus on her face. He leaned back against the bedpost. "I always screw up when it comes to you."
He closed his eyes and couldn't help but remember their date from earlier that night - though it seemed as if ages had passed since then.
"I want to know, Heero. If you want to tell me."
The stars and the moon twinkled overhead. Fresh air flowed into his body. But he felt every jostle of the trailer; the hay pricking him in the back. "I?" He turned to look at her, and lost the rest of what he was going to say.
She smiled ? a smile that reminded him of something he couldn't, shouldn?t touch for fear of breaking it. Her blue eyes had changed, and he felt like he was looking at her for the first time. Her. Relena Darlian. A girl he met at school one day. Just a girl?. 
"I love you." Her voice shook when she said it, but her expression never wavered. "And nothing you've done in the past can change that." 
He opened his eyes and stared at the sleeping woman in the bed. "And what about what I'm doing, now?"
Heero took a deep breath and felt something thick and suffocating fill his lungs instead of the air he so desperately needed. He put his feet back on the floor and slid up the side of the bed.
"At first, Relena, I wanted to protect you. I've tried to protect you... even from myself." She continued to breathe softly; her hair shone an amber-gold color in the low lamp light. "But?I don't know if I can do that, anymore. It's too much."
"Too much." He heard a faint rustling noise, and he realized his eyes had slipped shut again. He struggled to lift his eyelids. She had moved, but only slightly - the hand that had been resting next to her head disappeared beneath the comforter he had bundled her up in. His fingers smoothed a piece of hair from her cheek and tucked it behind her ear.
"I want?" His voice came out sounding hoarse, almost a whisper. "I don't even know what it is; I can't put it into words. All I know is when you're there, here, it's there. And when you're not, it's gone. And I feel empty."
"Why won't you let me protect you, Relena?"
Her head bowed and he strained to hear her speak over the blaring music, but her words couldn?t have been any clearer if she?d shouted them into the club?s massive sound system: "Because I don't need you anymore." 
The memory still felt like his ribcage had contracted and his heart was scraping against the hard bones with every beat. "Empty didn't used to be so bad, Relena. Before you, it was never?" He took a sharp breath. "?this bad?" Pain gripped his chest; his hand came upand pressed against his sternum in an effort to quell the ache. He bent forward and rested his forehead on her shoulder.
"It was a mistake. I miscalculated, and I killed her." Heero felt something wet on the top of his hands where his fists rested on his knees; he couldn't take a chance and look at Relena. "She wasn't an enemy. She didn't even know"
"Heero?"
His palms burned where his fingernails cut into the flesh of his hand. "I chose to fight to protect people"
"I know." She placed a hand on his shoulder; it felt like salve on a wound. "And you did. An entire planet"
"But I couldn't save her! She never got to be scared of her first day of school, or forget to do her homework?"
"And when did you get to do those things?" Her voice was calm, the hand on his back rubbed gentle circles between his shoulder blades. 
He glanced up at her; she was wearing an odd look on her face. "I didn't."
"Exactly." A tear escaped from the corner of her eye. Had she been the one crying or had he?
"Relena, don't--"
"Heero, it was a tragedy. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not trying to give you reasons to excuse yourself." There was a steely edge to her voice, and her eyes flickered in the moonlight. "There is no excuse for killing innocent people."
Heero winced.
"But there is always forgiveness?."
<HR width="100%" noShade SIZE=1>
*ZZ Top - a Texas band who plays heavy rock and is known for their two front singer/guitar players with long, scraggly beards (and sunglasses). They were famous in the 1980's and 1990's with such hits as 'Legs', 'Velcro Fly', 'Gimme All Your Lovin', and 'Sharp Dressed Man'.

LilTrix · Post by **LilTrix** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 12:42 am

I am the first to review this so let me be the one to say...

YOU DON'T KNOW HOW LONG I'VE WAITED FOR THIS CHAPTER!!!!!!!!

I love this fic so much, but I feel for poor Heero's suffering. And Trowa...even though he is plotting against Heero, he is still so sexy

I am getting so exicited; I can't wait for the other chapters

Caliborn · Post by **Caliborn** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 1:21 am

Rose, my eyes popped when I saw this chapter just sitting there at the top of the page, oh-so-innocently, as if it hadn't been a long-awaited installment of this story for some months now . . . I thought I was just tired and seeing things, really! So imagine my delighted shock when I clicked on the link and found that it was actually a new chapter and I wasn't just hallucinating!

I'm just give ya a hard time. ^_~ Don't mind the pot calling the kettle black, now!

But, anyway . . . Poor Heero! He's just so . . . pitiable . . . when he's thinking deeply about stuff. There were a few lines that just made me crack up laughing, though. Never underestimate a Heero on a mission. The manical laughter that fought to escape when he found the condoms in the bathroom? I totally thought of episode one of GW (at least I -think- it was episode one) where we first see Heero in a gundam and he's laughing his head off like an insane lunatic. @.@ It just fit so well, here . . .

And poor Rel fell asleep! Something tells me she's gonna get kidnapped before she and Heero get to do anything . . . Darn interfering Duo. -.- And Trowa's in the game now, too? Ahhh! Poor Heero is getting teamed up against, and no one--not even Relena-- is making this very easy for him, are they?

Anyway, thanks for making me crack up laughing at eleven at night . . . I can't wait for the next chapter. ^_^ I shall keep an eye out for it!

Beer-monster · Post by **Beer-monster** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 8:00 am

Short!!!! Grrrr :evil: A great read, gut-wrenchingly funny but too damned short!!!!

You're doing this deliberately aren't you, just to spite me? Cruelty to Beer-monsters, thats what this is. Why must we all suffer just coz I say you namby pampy.

Write more, write more, write more, write more, write more, write more

*poke poke poke poke poke*

You can't leaves us in suspense or leave Heero with the worst case of blue balls ever. The man has a gun! Think of the casualties...you must write for the good of the world!!!!

PS: You're such a pervert Rosey

RyanEX2000 · Post by **RyanEX2000** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 10:46 am

Ditto. Although I always thought you were into the cruelty bit Brit

.

Peygan and clownie trying to keep the guy a virgin on one side(or get Rel pregnant depending on how determined Rel nad Heero are), and Duo on the next looking for another thrashing. There's gonna be one interesting honeymoon in the future.

perfectpeach · Post by **perfectpeach** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 12:09 pm

LMAO!!!! hahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahaha hahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

so fuuny! reminds me of something i saw on TV a few years ago^^

aaawww. poor heero. i just wanna huuug him

you have to do the next chapter now.

that moment in the bathroom...yeah. that was so totally ep 1!

Wingnut · Post by **Wingnut** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 12:56 pm

The Heero laughing manically was indeed in episode 1 just after he blasted those first two Aries away with one shot.
There already hass been a casuality Beer. That condom dispenser. You'd think by this that Trowa and Paygen are in it together. If he is marrying her tomarrow, than what is one more night after all the time thry have waited so far? Duo is going to royally screw up an otherwise perfect situation, no doubt.
All I have to say/threaten you about Rose is that Heero had better get it on with Relena by the end of this fic, and be the first and only one to do so to her.
I was bent over laughing for several minutes straight while reading the part about Zechs and his dream. Espically since Heero thought of that very senario himself earlier in the night.
Next time I see one of those dispencers in a restroom I'll likely crack up on the spot and cause anyone else in the room to wonder what is wrong with me.
Thanks, Rose.
Fourtunately it seems Zechs is at least sympathetic to Heero's position, and it is also good that Zechs favors Heero over Trowa.

Post by **blackrose** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 11:55 pm

LilTrix wrote:I am the first to review this so let me be the one to say...

YOU DON'T KNOW HOW LONG I'VE WAITED FOR THIS CHAPTER!!!!!!!!

I know, I know. But, I'm making a lot of progress on this fic. I plan to finish it before it's 5 year anniversary - which for me is in Nov 2005. That's the plan, anyway.

I love this fic so much, but I feel for poor Heero's suffering. And Trowa...even though he is plotting against Heero, he is still so sexy
I am getting so exicited; I can't wait for the other chapters

Yeah, poor Heero. Oh wait. That's right, he's marrying her ONLY SO HE CAN PROTECT HER! No sex for you, Yuy.

Heero: O_O;;;

*hugs* Thanks for reading, and the kind comments.

Love,
Rose

Post by **blackrose** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 11:59 pm

Caliborn wrote:Rose, my eyes popped when I saw this chapter just sitting there at the top of the page, oh-so-innocently, as if it hadn't been a long-awaited installment of this story for some months now . . .

I'm getting better. It's only been about 5 months since the last one. But, I'm going to do better than that this next time...

I thought I was just tired and seeing things, really! So imagine my delighted shock when I clicked on the link and found that it was actually a new chapter and I wasn't just hallucinating!

Ok, ok...and what will everyone do when I finally finish the fic and you guys have nothing to harass me about?

I'm just give ya a hard time. ^_~ Don't mind the pot calling the kettle black, now!

Uh-HUH. So are you the pot or the kettle?

Anyway, thanks for making me crack up laughing at eleven at night . . . I can't wait for the next chapter. ^_^ I shall keep an eye out for it!

You're welcome!

Thanks so much for sticking with me and for the (mostly) nice

comments!

*hugs*

Love,
Rose

Post by **blackrose** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 12:03 am

Beer-monster wrote:Short!!!!

It's ACTUALLY one of the longest chapters I've written for this fic, you bum. SHEESH, there is NO PLEASING some people!!!

You're doing this deliberately aren't you, just to spite me? Cruelty to Beer-monsters, thats what this is. Why must we all suffer just coz I say you namby pampy.

You caught me. This whole fic was conceived as a way to get back at you. Sense a conspiracy? There is one.

You can't leaves us in suspense or leave Heero with the worst case of blue balls ever. The man has a gun! Think of the casualties...you must write for the good of the world!!!!

You know, I really never had any intention of writing a lemon for this fic. You realize that, right? Is this the PURE Brit asking for smut?

PS: You're such a pervert Rosey

There seem to be quite a few pots hanging around here, calling innocent kettles black.

"I fear the words 'I have a cunning plan' are marching with ill-conceived confidence towards this conversation...."

Blissful Ignorance

A Heero and Relena Dedication site

Missing by a Mile - Chapter 25

the Black Rose's fanfiction.

Missing by a Mile - Chapter 25

Wai-ness!

Re: Wai-ness!