I do not own Gundam Wing.  This fan fiction has no commercial value and I am not making any kind of profit or income off of this.  

Chapter 13

            Heero caught up with them at the rented burgundy Jaguar waiting outside in the parking lot near the administration building.  He recognized the driver immediately, and shot Trowa a cold glare.  He looked down at the card the secretary gave him to remind him of the fake name that Relena was using, and called out to her.  "Jessica!"

            Relena paused in her conversation with Mr. Foster and turned at the sound of Heero's voice.  She tried to keep her calm expression as her heart began thumping wildly in her chest.  "Heero, it's so good to see you," she said in her polite, diplomatic voice.

            "You weren't going to leave without saying hello to an old family friend, were you Jessica?"  He asked meaningfully. 

Mr. Foster cut in before she could respond.  "Ah, Mr. Yuy, I forgot our meeting.  So sorry about that, but it won't be necessary after all.  Your friend, here, has made me realize what an asset you truly are to the University, and I want you to know that we are behind you one hundred percent, young man.  Don't trouble yourself with this nasty legal business, I'll personally see that it's taken care of."  He was addressing himself to Heero, but never took his eyes off Relena.

            Heero blinked and looked at her, but she was avoiding his eyes. "She bought him off," he thought.  "Thank you, sir," he said aloud. 

            "Well Ms. Matthews, again, thank you for coming all this way.  Please give my regards to Mr. Winner," he said, shaking her hand once again before turning to go.  As he passed by Heero, he gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder and went back to his office whistling a happy tune.

            "How much did that cost?"

            Relena shrugged, and moved her head to hide her eyes behind the brim of her hat.  "It's no matter.  It's my money; Quatre just manages it for me.  I can't do much with it these days..." her voice trailed off wistfully.

            "Relena…"

            "I have to go, Heero.  Please, take care of yourself," she said and turned to open the door to the car.  Heero's hand shot out and held it closed.  Trowa moved, but Heero stopped him with a glance.  "I can't stay," she said softly.

            "Can't or don't want to?"

            "Heero… " she said and turned back around, still hiding under the beautiful, yet frustratingly effective hat.  Heero reached out his hand and pulled it off in a swift motion.  He gasped at the sight of her golden hair tumbling around her shoulders, in a liquid motion of shining light and faint perfume.  Her face was pale as silver tears coursed their way down her cheeks and stabbed his heart. 

            He wouldn't let her go, not this time, he thought as he stepped towards her and wrapped his arms around the fallen angel before him.  "Relena," he whispered softly just before his mouth came down on hers in a gentle kiss that soon turned more passionate in testimony to all the feelings he had hidden for so long. 

            The kiss broke, and with her logic suffering from the overwhelming tumult of emotions swirling around her sense of consciousness, Relena turned to Trowa and murmured,  "Trowa, go without me."

            He barely heard her, her voice was so soft, but as he glanced up, he saw Heero's face light with satisfaction and nodded slowly in understanding. He complied silently, but not before meeting his friend's gaze with an unspoken message in his eyes.  "Take care of her."  Trowa climbed into the car and left the two lovers to the passion of their hearts. 

            *                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

            Relena woke to a stream of light cast over her features by the opening of the door to Heero's dorm room.  She clutched the sheets around her tighter as Brian tiptoed in and shut the door quietly.  He grabbed some books off his desk and turned to leave when he glanced over at the ‘sleeping’ form on the bed.  He almost dropped his books in surprise.  Relena was awake and looking at him with wide eyes.

"Good morning,” he greeted her cheerfully, trying to disguise his shock at seeing her there.  He had found a red tie on the outside of the door - usually Brian’s signal to Heero that he had ‘company’, but he had no idea who his roommate was with. In truth, he had even suspected that perhaps Heero had just wanted to be alone after receiving what promised to be grim news from the University’s president.   “I just stopped by to grab the books for my first class.”

            She smiled shyly at him, trying not to blush as she sat up, still wrapped in the sheets of Heero’s bed.  “Good morning,” she said softly, not meeting his gaze.

            Brian laughed at her expression.  “I’m glad to see you’re feeling better than the last time we met.”

            “Thank you,” she said, still looking a little flushed about their ‘situation’.  She glanced up at him; he was just staring at her in amusement.  She shook her head, “Men,” she thought wryly.  “I’m sorry you were driven from your room last night,” she said aloud.  “I hope it wasn’t too inconvenient for you.”

            Brian grinned.  “Nah, no problem.  It’s not like Heero hasn’t done the same for me.  I still owe him,” he said, his tone of voice sobering on the last sentence.

            She looked up at him then, his eyes were no longer sparkling with amusement.  Instead, he wore an expression of concern.

            “I’m glad you came back,” he said sincerely. 

            She blinked with surprise at his statement then looked at him thoughtfully.

            Brian laughed nervously at her scrutiny.  “He may not be so good at saying it, but his actions give him away.  Whether he knows it or not, he needs you.”

            She bowed her head, and stared at her hands resting in her lap.  “I always thought that I was the one who needed him,” she said with a smile that didn’t quite extinguish the sadness dulling her beautiful sapphire eyes.

            “Do you love him?” He inquired earnestly.

            Relena’s head snapped up, and her shoulders stiffened into a dignified pose.  “Why do you ask me this?”

            “He’s been my roommate for four years, Relena.  I don’t want to see him hurt.  Whether you know it or not, you have hurt him in the past.”

            Relena smiled wryly at him.  “We have both managed to hurt each other, Brian.  But to answer your question - yes, I do love him.  But I can’t promise that in my given situation I won’t end up hurting him again.  I tried to keep him away for precisely that reason, but I’m just not strong enough without him,” she said evenly.  “It’s a funny thing how he manages to make me stronger and weaker at the same time.”

            “Just take care of him, all right? I’ve got to go, or I’m going to be late for class.”

            Relena nodded.  “I will.”          

            When he was gone, Relena climbed out of bed and padded over to the bathroom to take a shower, thinking of her conversation with Brian. “Take care of him?” she wondered.  “I thought that’s what I had been doing - or trying to do.”  She shook her head and turned the handles to start the water in the shower.  She would get cleaned up and dressed, then wait for Heero to come back from his classes.

She knew she didn't have many days of freedom left, so she wanted to make each one count.  She felt as though she had a lifetime to live in no more than a few moments, and only hoped they could keep ESUN's shadow over her life at bay for just a while longer.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *

Brian found his roommate in the hallway on the way to class.  “Hey hey!  Sleep well last night?” He asked with a large grin on his face.

Heero’s face held its usual blank expression.  “Brian,” he nodded in acknowledgement.

“Ah, come on.  I expected you to be a little more cheerful this morning, considering…”

“Considering?” Heero asked blankly.  He knew what Brian was getting at, but he wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of reacting.

Brian dropped his voice.  “Considering I had to spend the night over at Mike’s,” he hissed.

“Oh.  Yeah. Thanks.”  Heero said without expression.

“That’s it?  You finally get to spend the night with the girl you’ve been pining for the last four years of your life, and all I get is a blank stare and a vague ‘thank you’?  I was just sure that I’d finally see what you’d look like with a smile on your face.”

Heero’s face darkened.  “You went to the room?”

“Yeah, this morning to get my books.”  He stopped at the look on his roommate’s face.  “Heero, you know me better than that.  I’ll never say a word about her.  Just tell me how long I’m going to be at Mike’s.”

“Just for the week.  We leave Friday to go to that wedding,” was the flat reply.

Brian frowned with frustration.  He was genuinely happy for his roommate, his little talk with Relena that morning had put most of his fears to rest, and now he knew for certain that she loved his friend.  But talking to Heero totally deflated the momentary bout of self-less joy.  Brian shook his head.  “You know what, forget it.  I don’t know why I bother.”  He started to turn away.

Heero grabbed his shoulder. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing,” Brian replied angrily.

“Bullshit.  Look, I’m sorry you’re having to stay at Mike’s for the week.”

Brian glared at his friend.  “I don’t care about that.  I’m fine with staying there.  It’s just I thought you might finally be happy, but you don’t seem to be at all.  I know you two have been through hell, and I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you.  But can’t you see how lucky you are to have this chance?”

Heero snorted.  “Lucky.  You’re right, you have no idea what I’ve been through.”

Brian looked around, suddenly aware of their surroundings.  “You want to continue this conversation somewhere else? I understand there are some things you don’t want everyone to know about you.”

Heero shrugged.  “I have a class now. So do you.” 

“You can’t run away from this forever, you know, Heero.  You’re going to have to face up to it sometime.  And as much as I hate to say it - so will she.”

Heero looked at his roommate and narrowed his eyes at the genuine concern he found there.  “You’re wrong.  We’ve been through enough, already.  Lord knows we’ve been through enough,” he said and walked away, disappearing into a throng of chatting students.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *         

As expected, the days flew by quickly, despite the fact that Relena rarely ventured far from Heero's room.  Though she felt happier than she had in a long time, Relena could not be completely at peace while the rest of the Earth sphere was in such turmoil - turmoil that ESUN was more than happy to attribute to the beautiful fugitive.

Broadcast after broadcast announced the status of the blockade as it moved to block trade routes between the colonies.  Heavy embargoes had already been levied against commerce with Mars because of their continued support of the ESUN traitor.  With recent speculation that she had become a terrorist (planting the bomb on L1), the government had imposed sanctions against the fledgling territory.  Their response was to concede to ESUN's demands and name a new representative. 

Heero and Relena would watch these broadcast announcements in silence - lost in their own thoughts.  Heero was amazed by her calm acceptance of these developments, especially because they made his own blood boil.  Several times, he had shut the television off in disgust, turning away in self-directed anger from the woman that he felt he was failing to protect.   But she would always comfort him - silently slipping her hand into his, and kissing away the tension and distress. 

            Too soon, it was time to leave.  They had to go to L2 for the Maxwell Scheibecker wedding, and as much as they were happy for their friends, that happiness paled in the deep shadows cast by an unspoken sense of apprehension.  Neither spoke of their fears, however - not wanting to break the spell cast by their time together.  Heero knew that when it was over, she would not return with him to L1.  He knew she would have to go back to L4 if she was going to remain protected.  Quatre had far more resources than he did - as much as he hated to admit it, she would be safer there than with himself.  He wouldn't fight her on it, but he did make a solemn vow that he'd find a way to be with her, someday.

AN: For those of you that have more adult tastes… There is a companion to chapter 13.  It’s the missing scene in this chapter and is rated NC-17 for sexual content.  It is NOT essential to the storyline….