Chapter Four
"R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take care, E-C-T"
-Respect by Aretha Franklin
Relena Darlian had been chained to a machine. Of this, she was utterly convinced. Heero had hardly spoke, hardly eaten, hardly slept, for the past two days they had been on L2. What he *did* do was search. Constantly. Relentlessly.
Without the novelty of his laptop, he was forced to do it all on foot.
Relena cursed the fact that she hadn?t had the foresight to buy sneakers.
Inwardly, she was slightly hurt. Was she really so bad that Heero had to run himself ragged looking for a way to escape her? She cast her eyes downward, studying the gravel on the sidewalks as they flew by. If she was being honest with herself, she hadn?t really minded being handcuffed while Heero had still been acting human. She had been worried about the media, yes, but the idea had grown on her. If only he hadn?t gotten angry with her. And she didn?t even know what she had done.
She spared a glance at her bodyguard. They had methodically been visiting each garage in colony, asking about past transactions or rumors. So far, they had turned up nothing and Relena was getting short on time. She would be expected to be in the office in just a few days. Maybe it was for the best that Heero was rushing.
They entered the tenth garage for that day. Heero immediately stalked to the back, Relena struggling to keep up. He barged through the door labeled "Manager".
"Uh?hi, what can I do ya for?" a young man with sharp features greeted them rather awkwardly.
Relena marveled at the clash of bubblegum pink and banana yellow of the man?s polka dotted shirt as Heero did the grilling.
"We?re looking for a man."
"Well, that sure narrows it down." The manager grinned, getting a kick out of his own joke.
Heero displayed his best menacing scowl. He meant business.
"His name is Howard. He works for the Sweepers and owns a ship called Peacemillion 2: The Great and Sexcellent."
No matter how many times Relena had heard Heero recite the name of Howard?s new ship, she still couldn?t help the embarrassed cringe that always seemed to surface.
The man sitting at the desk gave him a suspicious look. "Who are you and what do you want with my father?"
"Your father?!" Relena choked on the unfamiliar concept. The man beside her was apparently having as much trouble accepting this as she.
"Howard has *children*!?" Heero gaped, the first sign of any emotion he had displayed in the past forty eight hours barring impatience and surliness.
"Well, if he doesn?t, then I don?t know what the hell I?m doing here." The young manager had switched from suspicious to distinctly annoyed.
"That explains your fashion sense." Heero remarked almost as an afterthought.
"What did you-"
Relena hastily intervened.
"Ah, what Heero said was that explains your?uhm ?PASSION VENTS!" She winced as she desperately tried to cover up her bodyguard?s unintentional insult.
"Passion vents?" Howard?s son echoed, frowning.
Relena made a mental note to strangle Heero after this ordeal was over.
"Yes! Passion vents! They were?erm?on Howard?s ship. I?ve never seen them anywhere else, except here. And that makes sense. Because you?re Howard?s son. So he would have given you the deals?on passion vents?" Relena felt the sting of defeat as she trailed off.
The manager shrugged. "Beats me, Dad was the one that built this place. I just manage it."
She almost collapsed in relief. He had bought it. Heero gave her a quizzical look.
"Can you tell us where your father is right now?" Relena asked, voice laden with hope.
"Listen, I don?t tell anyone where my Dad is, even if they are uncommonly pretty." He gave her a roguish grin and went back to his paperwork.
Relena was so intent on blushing she missed Heero?s posture go from passive to menacing.
"Please", She begged, capturing the man?s attention once more, "We know him from the war, and we have a very big problem we need his help with. I know you don?t know us, but please trust our good intentions."
No one could resist a Peacecraft?s pout. Just ask Lucrezia Noin. She?s pregnant with her third child.
Howard?s son sighed as he, too, gave in to the power of the pout. "Alright, alright. Let me go print out the coordinates he left me. Never could turn away any of Dad?s friends."
Heero suspected that it had more to do with his libido than his respect for his father?s amigos. He glowered as the man left the room before he turned to Relena.
"What the hell was that all about?" He asked, his irritation at the man re-directed at her.
She glared at him, anger inflating at his tone. "I was saving our butts, that?s what!"
"I had everything under control, if you had just let me-"
"Heero, people don?t *help* you when they?ve just been insulted." Relena?s voice was tense, the strain of keeping her anger in check obvious.
"Duo does." Heero pointed out obstinately.
"Duo was also the one that *handcuffed us together*. I think all of his behaviors are null and void for any further support in arguments." She bit out.
Heero opened his mouth to argue, realized that he was debating with one of the best politicians in the world, and quickly shut it. Howard?s unnamed son swept back into the office, a few papers clutched in his slender fingers.
"This is the most recent communication I received from him. He was a few hours from L2. I hope it helps." He said, while eyeing the expanse of exposed flesh left by Relena?s tube top.
She smiled and took the papers with her left hand, right hand still clutching the concealing jacket over the handcuffs. "Thank you, I know it will be."
With that expression of gratitude she turned on heel and walked out, not even sparing a backwards glance for the man chained to her or the manager. Heero barely had time to give the manager an aggressive growl before he was pulled in tow of the women ahead of him.
"Y?know, boss, there was something funny about her." One mechanic commented lazily as his superior stared wistfully at the departing figures.
"What do you mean?" Howard?s son asked.
"I just mean, the ways they was standin? so close an? all. And that jacket- she hung on to it for dear life. Then jest now that man looked almost as if he wus *pulled* after her. There?s something fishy going on."
"Well you?ve got right. Do you know who that woman and that man were?"
"Naw, man." The mechanic rubbed his greasy hands on his coveralls.
"That was President Darlian and her bodyguard, Heero Yuy." Howard?s son smiled softly, eyes going back to the exit just as they walked out.
"No kiddin?!? Why did yew act like yew didn?t even know them!?"
"I?m sure the President wouldn?t want anyone knowing that she was on the L2 colony. Besides, I wanted to get to know the people behind the titles. They both have good hearts."
The mechanic smiled lopsidedly. "Gee, boss, you sure are good at figurin? people out."
"It *is* my specialty. I don?t like that Heero guy, though. He?s coarse, rude, and has terrible judgement. I happen to think my fashion sense is impeccable." The manager sniffed disdainfully.
His mechanic coughed delicately and went back to whistling and polishing his oily tools without comment.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Now that Heero and Relena had obtained Howard?s location it was just a matter of finding transport and getting there.
Which was far more difficult than it sounded. L2 was, by far, more under-funded than any of the other colonies, making it?s transportation businesses questionable, at best. They wouldn?t be getting a fair price here. Especially when Heero?s idea of bargaining was as follows.
"I won?t part with it for at *least* X amount of dollars."
"I bet you wouldn?t want to part with any of your fingers, either."
Needless to say, they didn?t get very far in that arena.
"I swear, Heero" Relena complained, "You have no people skills what-so-ever. Let me handle the next guy."
Relena didn?t do much better than Heero. Especially since this was the typical dealers? idea of bargaining.
"How about you show me what?s under that pretty little top of yours and I?ll knock a few bucks off."
"How about she doesn?t and I knock a few of your *limbs* off."
Relena was rapidly beginning to give up all hope of ever getting off L2. That?s when she saw it- a ray of sunshine in the dark churning sea of testosterone that was transport providers. A *female*.
Dragging Heero behind her, she raced to the woman?s small shop, flinging herself through the doorway.
"Can I help you?" The woman asked, riots of wheat-colored curls restrained by a well-worn ponytail holder.
"We?need?transport?" Relena gasped, an aura of complete desperation radiating off her.
"For how many people?" She asked casually, eyeing the blonde girl with a sort of gross fascination.
This was the first time in a good two hours the reply to Relena?s request hadn?t been a come-on. She held back tears.
"Two," She choked out, overcome with gratitude.
"Alright. I?ll do my best, but this may set you back a bit." She stated, clicking through her computer to find Relena an available ship.
The tears Relena had been so valiantly trying to hinder slipped down her cheeks as she praised whatever higher being there was for women.
Heero bristled at the woman?s comment, however. "Unless you want *me* to set *you* back a bit, you?ll-?"
Relena slammed her hand over Heero?s mouth and turned her attention to the stunned woman.
"Whatever it costs, we?ll take it." She sobbed.
Within the hour they were on-board a small spacecraft and ready for departure.
"Thanks for standing up for me all those times, Heero." Relena smiled.
Heero glanced at her then back at the controls. "It?s my job."
Relena?s smile remained intact, but it lost all its? warmth.
~*~*~*~*~
Five hours later, they received permission to dock on Peacemillion 2: The Great and Sexcellent.
Relena exited their ship with a sense of relief. The silence between her and Heero had been stifling. Also, something about being around him in this situation made her feel so?useless. She couldn?t even pilot the ship for a while so he could get some sleep.
"Heeey jive turkey?s, Zephyr sent a coded message over to let us know you were on your way!" Howard?s eyes crinkled from laughter beneath his sunglasses. "So what brings the Great Yuy and the Peacecraft Princess to the Peacemillion 2?"
"The Great and Sexcellent." A passing mechanic added.
"Who?s Zephyr?" Relena inquired.
"My son!" Howard exclaimed.
"So *that* was his name!"
"We have a situation." Heero jerked everyone back to the topic at hand, and seeing that he had their attention, lifted up the jacket.
"Maaan, you came all the way here so I could look at a kink accident!?" Howard fussed, clearly not impressed.
"It was *not* a kink accident." Relena felt herself turn crimson all the way to the roots of her hair.
"Duo and Hilde got us drunk." Heero explained.
"And drugged us." Relena added helpfully.
"And cuffed us while we were unconscious." Heero continued.
"Handcuffs made out of Duo?s indestructible new alloy." Relena elaborated.
"Dumped us in a hotel room in a town three hours outside of Brussels." Heero grumbled.
"And then went into hiding, leaving us to our own devices." Relena finished.
"Hmmmm." Howard considered their outlandish story. "That sounds exactly like something Duo would do."
"We need you to analyze the metal and tell us what we have to do to remove the handcuffs." Heero said.
"I can do that. But not until tomorrow night."
"Tomorrow night!?" Relena exclaimed. "Why so long?"
"Hey, listen kids, I have a business to run. I can?t just drop everything because you waltz in here asking for my help!" Howard reprimanded them sharply.
Relena looked understandably chastised. Even Heero appeared slightly guilty.
"Besides, I just got a new *nightclub* built on the ship! PAAAARTAAAAY!" He threw his hands up in the air and danced away.
Relena and Heero exchanged an odd look.
"Is it just me," Relena mused, "Or has Howard gotten *worse*?"
"It?s not just you." Heero confirmed.
"Well, there?s a reason Howard is like this now." The same passing mechanic confided, obviously overhearing their conversation. "After the war ended he had to turn to something different to fill the void left in his soul."
"Pot?" Relena asked.
"Crack?" Heero suggested.
"No," The mechanic answered gravely. "New-age philosophy."
"Oooooh." They both exclaimed in their comprehension.
"Well that explains it." Heero replied.
"Hey, I just forgot, you guys might like a room! What with you bein? handcuffed and all!" Howard sang, dancing back into room.
Relena sputtered at the implication.
"The room will be used for sleeping and that?s *all* it will be used for." Heero?s stony expression was completely lost on the small, exuberant man.
"Sure man, sure." He grinned, wiggling his eyebrows up and down. "I get it, *top secret affair*. Don?t worry, my little spandex lover, it?s safe with me."
Relena rolled her eyes and followed Howard. He led them down raw metallic halls to one of the bunking rooms on the ship.
"This?only has one bed." Relena observed, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Despite being handcuffed, she and Heero had managed to avoid this part of being inseparable by pushing two hotel beds within six inches or so of each other. Effectively, uncomfortable as it might be, falling asleep with chastity still intact.
"Here on the Peacemillion 2-?" Howard grinned devishly,
"The Great and Sexcellent." A different passing mechanic called.
"There are *only* single beds in the rooms. And? a *nightclub*! Enjoy your stay, hipsters!" Howard slammed the door and danced off once again, already anticipating the heavy techno beats of the establishment he would soon be patroning.
A long silence stretched over the two occupants of the bedroom.
"I don?t suppose you want to go to the nightclub, huh?" Relena?s smile was tired, but wry.
Heero stared at the bed mutely. Him. Relena. In closer proximity than they already were. In a bed. We can assure you, it wasn?t visions of sugar plums that were dancing in Heero?s head.
"I need a shower," He replied brusquely, pushing past Relena.
Relena tried to ignore the sting of his brush-off as she was forced to follow. Heero handed her the scissors.
"Cut." He ordered, no hint of emotion in his command.
Relena bit her lip, feeling crushed. She had just been trying to lighten the mood. Somehow, the more time she spent with Heero, the more his indifferent attitude hurt her. She cut the strap of his tanktop, avoiding his gaze. He stalked into the bathroom, pulling Relena behind him. Clothes flew as he began to disrobe, apparently uncaring whether Relena observed or not. She clenched her eyes shut out of preservation of her own modesty. Feeling the tug of the chain as he entered the bath she moved a little closer and leaned against the wall. The toilet, unfortunately, was situated across the bathroom. She would have to stand for the duration of his shower.
For a long time the only sounds in the bathroom was the echo of falling water, and the steady hum of pipe work. Relena wallowed in her own discontent, completely ignoring her surroundings. Finally, Heero broke the silence.
"You don?t have to worry about the bed. I?m sleeping on the floor."
Relena stiffened. He couldn?t even bring himself to sleep one night in the same bed with her. Relena was hurt, but more than hurt- she was angry.
"Is that so." She snapped, opening her eyes.
Heero poked his head out of the shower to look at her. "What are you angry for?" He asked, brushing away his dripping bangs.
"Am I really so horrible?" Relena asked him, glaring for all she was worth. "That you can?t even bare to sleep in the same bed as me for *one night*?"
Heero looked surprised. "Relena, that?s not-?"
"Well guess what Heero! I don?t care if you don?t like being handcuffed to me! Being handcuffed to you hasn?t been a romp in the field, either!" She shouted before she stomped out of the bathroom.
Heero was too disoriented by Relena?s outburst to resist the pull of the cuffs. He stumbled out of the shower, grabbing for a towel and missing by inches. Relena led him out into the bedroom, too absorbed in her anger to notice his state of undress.
She was fighting hard not to completely lose her composure. All the little ways Heero had shown he couldn?t stand her had just finally gotten through her defenses. She knew she obviously wasn?t his favorite person in the world, but did he have to be so *mean*? Especially when he had to know how she felt about him. Oh god, she was going to cry. To stifle that urge she gave the handcuffs a good jerk and rounded on her bodyguard.
"And for another matter-oomph."
Relena, unfortunately, hadn?t taken into consideration that her little tug had sent Heero barreling forward, and ended up knocking him over when he collided with her. Losing her delicate balance as well, she too, fell over- right on top of him.
It was too much for her. The stress of her situation, the cold shoulder she had received from Heero the whole time, her own emotional turmoil, and now she had had a total klutz attack right in the heat of her angry speech. She burst into tears right there, on top of his naked chest.
~*~*~*~*~*~
AN: Man, did I leave you at a great spot or WHAT!? Alright, Relena?s dream interpretation time!
The first one should be obvious. It?s pretty much how she feels about her life. She?s trapped in a cage of expectations, to be a certain way, to be relied upon, when sometimes she feels like she doesn?t know what?s going on anymore than anyone else does. That, of course, is scary, because her decisions are so important, so it makes that dream a nightmare. Her father?s death was the mark of when this change in her life took place, so that?s why he?s the one who presents her with the crown, which represents her responsibilities.
The second one was a little harder. Nakedness is symbolic of being stripped of all defenses and fa?ade?s. Shopping for underwear with Heero was a way (a really, *really* weird way, but hey it?s my fic, and we all know I lack a great deal of sanity) of representing that she was comfortable with the fact that Heero knows her true self. BUT- Because Relena feels fear in this dream- it means that she isn?t confident about Heero accepting her. When she went underwear shopping with him for REAL she was standing up against that fear, but unconsciously.
I always felt that Relena would develop some sort of complex about being accepted by Heero if he constantly treated her like he did throughout the series, especially if they interacted on a day to day basis. He did have his moments, but the majority of the time was spent brushing her off, for whatever necessary reason. This is why being handcuffed to him is difficult for HER to deal with. She?s faced with possibly showing weakness and imperfection to someone who she not only fears isn?t too fond of her, but when he does speak of her, exaggerates her abilities beyond what she thinks she is capable of. A very heavy burden, especially because it?s coming from someone she admires and loves so very much.
With Heero, it?s simpler. Relena is the one person he considers able to bring order to the world. By involving himself with her, he would be messing all that up for his own selfish desires because ultimately, he deems himself incompetent in the capacity of relationships. This is demonstrated in the series by his reluctance to see her face to face, but his willingness to protect her from the shadows and leaving certain teddy bears on certain airplane seats. But by being handcuffed to Relena, Heero?s forced to confront his desires constantly and as a consequence, be reminded of his inadequacies. So, to help keep that at bay, he shuts Relena out, unintentionally hurting her in the process.
These are the motivations in my story, but as something that actually happened, it?s purely speculation, especially the bit about Relena having a complex about Heero. But it?s a possibility I feel was very real. Anywho, that?s enough rambling from me!
PS: If you?re wondering why Howard was acting so bizarre- besides the recent faith in new age philosophies- it?s a joke on my mailing list. I was officially picked to be "Howard" and the way he acted was my own special brand of insanity when I emulated him. OOC, I know, but I thought it was too good an opportunity to pass up. To the girls on the LRML, PENGUINS FOREVER!
The Soundtrack:
Queen of the Crimson Nile by Electrasy
I?m Too Sexy by Right Said Fred
Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind
Send It Up by Vertical Horizon
Little Black Backpack by Stroke Nine
When It?s Over by Sugar Ray
Peaches by Presidents of the United States of America
The Motivation Proclamation by Good Charlotte
I Want Your Sex by George Michael (the official Peacemillion 2: The Great and Sexcellent theme song)
Respect by Aretha Franklin