Current Vice-Foreign Minister and former Queen of the World, Relena Darlian stared out at the assembled crowd of politicians and aristocracy with a dry mouth.  None of them had any idea how difficult this was for her.

Public speaking always made her nervous no matter how many times she did it, but tonight was different.  Tonight Heero was out there somewhere with a gun and he was going to shoot her.  He was really going to do it this time.

The only thing that kept her from flying apart was knowing it was Heero behind the gun.

Duo stepped up and past her on her left side, scanning the crowd.  He was wearing the same black suit that all her security personnel were wearing, only he made the stark attire look good.  She didn’t know how he did it; turn that dark color into something eye catching, but he did.  She saw more than one woman in the audience assess at him with more than a passing interest.

Poor Hilde, it must drive her nuts, Relena thought.  I’m glad Heero doesn’t attract female attention like that.

Duo glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, holding the gesture long enough for her to notice and nod slightly.  This was the signal that everything was ready and she should start her speech.

She saw Duo’s lips move.  He was talking to someone through the tiny radio receiver attached to his lapel, telling them that they were in position.

Relena took a deep breath and stepped up to the podium.  All she had to do now was begin her speech and wait for the bullet’s impact.

She knew it wouldn’t be long.

********

Heero circulated among the guests with ease.  Most people made plenty of room for the heavily laden tray of champagne he was carrying, once they took a glass that is.

He deftly maneuvered his way to the front of the throng, making sure everyone he passed had a beverage before moving on.  The best way to blend into the crowd is to do the job you’re using as a cover better than the professionals do.  In this case, a waiter.

It didn’t hurt that no one actually looked at him in their haste to grab a free drink.

He looked up at the stage and caught Duo’s attention, giving him a single nod before turning his back on his friend.

“We’re in position.”  Heero heard Duo say over the radio tucked into Heero’s ear.  Heero counted to five slowly, absently noting two more people taking drinks off his tray, before he turned around, lifting his right arm in a smooth fluid motion.

It took less than a second for him to center his aim on the chest of his target.  Hair the color of wheat, golden and ready to harvest waved in the target area.

Heero squeezed the trigger.

*******

Relena hadn’t gotten more than two sentences out when she felt an explosion in her chest.

Its impact sent her flying backwards, but Duo was there to catch her instead of the floor.  He laid her down gently and she braced herself for the needle prick he gave her.

“You’re going to be fine Relena.”  He whispered in her ear as people came screaming onto the stage in an attempt to save the Vice-Foreign Minister.  “Sleep well.”

Relena could feel the drug working, making her eyelids heavy, but she clung to consciousness for a moment longer.

“Hilde is a lucky woman to have you Duo.”

Duo looked momentarily surprised, then smiled gently.

“No, it’s I who is lucky to have her.”

Relena knew there were many listening ears now.

“Goodbye Duo.”  She said as her eyes slid firmly shut.  She didn’t hear if he responded.

The people surrounding her thought her a saint for saying goodbye with her dying breath.

Duo picked her up in his arms.

“Please everyone, let me pass!  If we can get her to a hospital we might be able to save her.”

The people surrounding him moved quickly out of the way, though no one believed him.  There was too much blood on the floor.

Duo walked then ran to a side entrance of the building where an ambulance waited.  He jumped into the back, nodding to Wufei who slammed the door closed.  Duo laid the unconscious Relena on the gurney, turned to the attendant and grinned.

“It went off like clock work Sally.”

“Good.  Now let me have a look at her.”  Sally pushed him aside to pull apart the blood covered front of Relena’s dress.

“She’s fine.  I gave her the injection just like you showed me.”

“Good.”  Sally smiled at him and circled the air with one finger.  “You can still turn around though.”

“Oh all right.”  Duo grumbled.  “It’s not like I would look with Heero in the driver’s seat anyway.”

“Speaking of which, he’s waiting for a report.”

“Well, I’d better get up there before he forgets he doesn’t like guns anymore.”

Duo moved into the cab of the ambulance as it sped down the road taking the passenger seat.

“Any problems?”  Heero asked as he drove the ambulance passed vehicles like they were standing still.  Duo was reminded of Heero’s piloting skills.

“Nope.  The whole thing went exactly as planned.”

“Did she say anything?”

“Yeah, she told me Hilde was a lucky woman to have a guy like me.”

“She said that?”  Heero couldn’t hide his surprise.

Duo laughed.  “You know Heero, if I didn’t know you better, I’d think you were developing a sense of humor.”

“When it comes to you, Duo, I had to in self defense.”

Duo laughed again, enjoying this side of his friend.  Heero didn’t show it often.

Duo decided to change the subject.

“Have you talked to Relena yet?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“The time wasn’t right.”

“Well, you’re going to have plenty of time on your hands now.”

Heero was silent for a moment.

“You may be right.”

Duo grinned.

“Need any tips?”

“No.”  More silence, then, “I read the book.”

“Say no more, my friend, say no more.”  Duo took his own words to heart and stopped talking, but he couldn’t quite wipe the grin off his face.

*******

Something in Relena’s mouth tasted terrible.  She swallowed trying to get rid of it.

“Relena?”

She knew that voice.

Relena forced her eyelids open and found herself only inches away from Heero’s intense Prussian blue gaze.

“Here, drink this.”

He helped her to sit up and held a cup to her lips.

“What is it?”

“Water.  It’ll help with the bad taste in your mouth.”

She took a sip, then another.

“How did you know?”

“It’s a side effect of the drug.”

“Oh.”

Heero laid her back down.  Relena looked around.  She was lying on a narrow bed, on top of the blankets, still clothed in her ruined dress.  The room they were in wasn’t large.  There was barely enough space for the bed she was on, another just like it against the opposite wall and a small table.  The walls were painted a dull gray, there were no windows and a single naked light bulb lit the room.

“Where are we?”

“We’re in the hanger where the Preventers store the Tallgese III and Noin’s Taurus.  This used to be a storage room.”

“Oh.”

“Only Lady Une, Wufei, Sally and Duo know we’re down here.”

Relena took another swallow of water.

“My brother is going to have a fit.”

“Yes.”  Heero knew Milardo Peacecraft well enough to agree with that assessment.  “Lady Une plans to tell him when she thinks it’s safe.”

“Mean while he’ll be taking apart the planet stone by stone looking for you.”

“Yes.  He doesn’t like me very much.”

“No, he doesn’t.”

Relena tried to sit up, but winced at the deep ache that spread across her chest. 

What caused that, she wondered, putting a hand to the painful area?  Then she remembered, oh yeah, the bullet.

“What’s wrong?”  Heero hadn’t missed her wince.

“I’m just a little sore.”

Heero pulled her hand away and very deliberately opened the front of her blood stained dress.

A large bruise was already beginning to form where the bullet impacted.  Not even the bulletproof vest she’d been wearing could have prevented that.

Heero stared at the patch of discolored skin until Relena finally did the buttons up herself.

He sat down next to her still staring at her chest.

“What have I done?”  Heero’s voice was racked with self-loathing and guilt.

But Relena was having none of that.

“You saved my life.” 

“I hurt you.”

“No.  You prevented me from getting hurt, like you always do.”

“No, I..”

Relena was tired.  Tired of waiting for the right moment to confess her feelings for him, tired of hiding those feelings from both of them.  Tired of arguing.  It was time to set the records straight.

She kissed him.

A simple press of her lips against his, but she’d have thought she struck him by his reaction.

His eyes widened and he stopped breathing for a long moment.  When he did breathe again it was erratic.

Relena decided she liked the feel of his lips.  They were firm and cool and they tasted good.  She wasn’t sure how to describe it, but she liked it a lot.

She pulled away to check his reaction.  He seemed in shock.  He wasn’t moving except for the uneven rise and fall of his chest.  Relena took that to be a good sign and moved closer, taking his face between both hands.  As she angled her head to kiss him again his eyes got even wider, like he couldn’t believe what was happening.

This time she let her lips move against his.  She really wasn’t sure what she was doing, but it felt good so she did it.  She opened her eyes to see how Heero was taking this to find that his eyes had slid shut.

Good, it’s about time, she thought.  Then he turned the tables on her.

He kissed her back.

His lips moved beneath hers in a way that made her whole body tingle.  She caught her breath as the feeling zipped through her.

They pulled apart, both breathing deeply now, staring at each other.  Heero leaned forward, but didn’t quite complete the distance between them.  Relena understood, he was giving her a chance to stop, but there was no way she was going to do that. 

She met him half way.

Their lips touched again and this time both of them actively participated in the kiss.  Relena felt something soft and wet trace the seam of her mouth.  She parted her lips slightly, allowing him to taste her.  If felt good, really, really good.  Relena opened her mouth a little more, letting her tongue touch his for a moment.

They both groaned at the contact, broke apart and came back together.  Heero’s mouth pressed harder this time, his tongue darting here and there and everywhere.  His hands were on her waist pulling her toward him, pressing her body against his.

Relena couldn’t get close enough to him to suit her.  His body felt so hard and warm and she needed to feel more of it.  She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his head down, kissing him as feverishly as he was kissing her.

His shirt was in the way.

She tore her mouth from his to pull it up and over his head.  She put her hands on his bare chest.  Oh yes, this is what she needed.

“Relena?”

“What?”  She asked absently trying to kiss him again, but he dodged her mouth.

“Relena?”

“What?”

“We..should stop.”

“Why?”

Heero’s expression began to look desperate.

“Because.”

Relena smiled at him.

“I don’t want to stop.”

His eyes got wide again.

“When you look at me like that Heero I feel like I could do anything.”

“You can do anything.”  He whispered, his eyes never leaving hers.  “Anything you want.”

“I love you, Heero.  You know that don’t you.”

“Yes.  I love you too.”

Relena never expected to hear him say it.

“You..you do?”

“Yes, but I shouldn’t.  I’m not good enough for you.  I’m just a soldier.”

“You were never just a soldier, Heero.”  Relena smiled at him again.  “You’ll never be just anything.”

“But…”

“But what?  I don’t want anyone else but you.  You’re the only person I can talk to.  You’re the only person who makes me feel this way.”  She took his hand and placed it over her heart, letting him feel it’s rapid, erratic beat.  “You’re my best friend.”  She bowed her head.  “All I want is to be with you.”

Heero groaned and closed his eyes.

“You’re making this very hard for me.”

“What am I making hard?”

“I want..things I shouldn’t.”

“You’re human Heero you’re allowed to want things.”

“No, not these things.”

“What if I want to give those things to you?”

Heero’s voice grew hoarse.  “No.”

“Yes.”

He stood and backed up.

She followed him.  There was no way she was going to let him get away.

“What are you afraid of Heero?”

“Hurting you.”

“You’ll never hurt me by loving me.”

His eyes got wide again as the meaning of that sunk in.

“You’re giving me that look again, Heero.”

He bumped up against the other bed and fell down on it.  Relena crawled up his body.  The second her lips touched his, she knew he was a goner.

He growled deep in his throat and his hands came up to grasp her, yanking her to him in a desperate move that convinced her she’d won.

Suddenly she was on her back with Heero on top of her ravaging her mouth, his hands were everywhere.  On her breasts, between her legs and she loved every second of it.  His lips moved across her face and down her neck, she could feel his tongue flicking across her skin and it made her legs writhe.

He reached the edge of her dress.  Heero reared up and ripped it open exposing the peach colored skin of her chest and the lace of her bra.

He stared down at her, his nostrils flaring and hands flexing.  He took at rattled breath in and reached out to gently touch her, smoothing his fingers over one pink nipple.

Relena whimpered.  It felt so good.

“Are you sure, Relena?”

“Yes.  Please, don’t stop.”

Heero leaned pulled the dress off her completely, then he took off all of his clothes.  For a moment he simply stood there beside the bed letting her look at him.  Giving her one more chance to back out.

“Please.” She whispered.

Heero knelt over her, removing her bra and panties, letting himself just look at her for a long time.

“You are so beautiful.”

Relena smiled.

He kissed her again, gently this time and touched her everywhere, learning her body, learning what she liked.  Relena was surprised, she thought he would just do it.  She didn’t expect this gentleness.

Heero worshiped her until she moaned and begged and pleaded for him to do something, anything to ease the ache in her body.

He positioned himself over her and entered her body slowly, letting her adjust to having him inside her.  When he was fully seated inside her, he stopped.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes.”  Relena didn’t try to stop the tears of joy flowing down her face.  “Show me that you love me.”

Heero moved, pulling out, then pushed back in.  Slowly.

Relena groaned.  “Oh my God.”

He did it again.  His body shook. 

He did it again and Relena screamed.

“HEERO!!!  Please!  Oh my God, PLEASE!!!”

He did it again, groaning low and deep.

She bucked against him, trying to make him go faster, anything to ease the almost unbearable buildup.

He held her down and did it again.

“I love you Relena.”  He chanted in her ear.

She was crying now, on the verge of exploding.

Heero plunged into her, hard and fast.  Again and again he dove into her body, driving them both over the precipice into paradise.

*******

Someone was pounding on the door.

Heero woke with a jerk, thrusting that first moment of disorientation from his mind.

Relena lay in the narrow bed snuggled next to him, the blankets in a tangled mess at the foot of the bed.

“Hey, anybody alive in there!”  Duo’s voice barely penetrated the reinforced steel door.

Heero slid out of bed, making sure he didn’t wake Relena and pulled the blankets up to cover her.  Then he grabbed his black spandex shorts and put them on.

“What do you want Duo?”  Heero only opened the door a crack.  He didn’t want anyone to see the bed or Relena in the state they were in.

Duo took in Heero’s messed up hair and lack of shirt with a surprised glance.

“Um, we’ve got a problem buddy.  Both Trowa and Quatre are here.  They saw the assassination on the news and well, you can guess why they came.”

“Does Lady Une know?”

“Yes.  She figured it would be better to let them in on the secret.”

“I agree.”  Heero looked over his shoulder at Relena.  She was still asleep.  “Just a minute.”

“Heero..”

Heero shut the door in his face, but came out two seconds later with his T-shirt on.

“Trowa, Quatre.”  He greeted the other two Gundam pilots with a nod.

“What’s going on, Heero?  Is miss Relena all right?”  Quatre asked.

“She’s fine.”

“Can we see her?”  Trowa’s voice was much like Heero’s, inflectionless.

“Not right now.  She’s sleeping.”

Duo was staring at Heero as he answered their questions.  He suddenly grinned from ear to ear.

“You talked to her didn’t you?”

“Shut up Duo.”

“That’s why your hair is so messy and you weren’t wearing a shirt.”  Duo laughed.

“Duo.  Shut.  Up.”

“Heero?”  Quatre’s voice was shocked.

Heero closed his eyes for a moment, then he met Quatre’s questioning gaze.

“I love her, Quatre.”  He felt that should explain everything.

“We all know that, Heero, but you mean you actually told her?”

This conversation was supposed to be over, but with Trowa staring at him, Quatre asking questions and Duo laughing at him, he knew it wasn’t.

“Yes.”

“What did she say?”

“She said she loves me.”

“And Heero took the plunge!”  Duo chimed in.

Heero glared at him.

“Can we see her?”  Trowa asked again.

Heero realized they wouldn’t be satisfied until they saw that she was all right.

“See who?”

All four young men turned to see Relena standing in the doorway, a blanket wrapped around her.

“Miss Relena!”  Quatre smiled happily.  “You look well.”

Relena smiled at him and Trowa.

“Thank you.  I feel wonderful.”  She gave Heero a look that would have made a nun blush.

Duo elbowed Heero in the arm and winked at him.

“Um, yes.”  Quatre’s face went red.

Trowa just nodded with a satisfied air.

“We’ll be helping track down the people helping Curtis Barton.”  He told Heero.  “Lady Une will know how to reach us.”

“Thank you.”  Heero knew he could count on them.

The three men turned to leave.

“Duo.  Stay.”

Duo swallowed and turned around.  Heero did not look happy.

“Can I trust you to keep your mouth shut?”

“How can you ask me that?”

“Very easily.”

Duo sighed.  “I won’t say anything to anybody.  You have my word.”

“Good.”

Duo’s grin popped back on his face.

“I’m glad for the two of you, though.”

“Duo.”

“Sorry, gotta go.”  He hurried off.

Relena chuckled.

“You know he’s really very sweet.”

“He’s also got a big mouth.”

Heero faced her, feeling the breath stall in his chest.  How could anyone so beautiful and innocent want him?

“You’re giving me that look again Heero.” 

“What look?”

“The one that says you’re having trouble processing the data your senses are giving you.”

Heero actually smiled at that one.

“Thank you.”  Relena added softly.

“For what?”

“For loving me.”

Heero felt the tight feeling in his chest relax for the first time since he woke up.  Everything was all right.

“That makes us even then.”

Relena laughed.  She looked back inside the room.

“I don’t suppose there’s something for me to wear in here?”

“There is.  I’ll show you.”

Relena gave him a sidelong glance.

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

******

Milardo Peacecraft pounded his fists on Lady Une’s desk.

“What do you mean you haven’t caught him yet?  He killed my sister!”

“Mister Peacecraft!  Please sit down.”

“No!  I want Heero Yuy in chains and I want him right now!”

The door to her office opened.  Lady Une looked over Milardo’s shoulder and nodded at the group waiting for permission to come in.

“Close the door.”  She ordered coldly.

“What the hell are they doing here?”  Milardo demanded.

“The same thing as you, looking for answers.”

“They’re his friends.”

“She’s our friend too.”  Quatre said.

“She’s DEAD!”  Milardo yelled.

Trowa glanced at Lady Une, her nod was almost imperceptible.

“No she’s not.”  His even voice penetrated Milardo’s rage faster than anyone anticipated.

“What?  I saw the tapes, he shot her.”

“Yes, he did, but she was wearing a bullet proof vest.”  Duo explained.

“You mean you knew he was going to try this?”

“Knew?”  Duo snorted.  “We planed it that way!  Heero, Relena, myself, Lady Une and a couple of others.”

“Relena?”  Milardo couldn’t believe it.  “She’s alive?”

“Yes.”

“But why?  Why stage her own death?”

“Because there are people who do want her dead, Milardo.”  Lady Une told him.  “and we don’t know who they all are yet?  By killing her we remove their target and gain the advantage.”

Relena’s brother sank into a chair  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“We wanted you to portray an honest reaction.  The fewer people who knew the better.”

“Trowa and I didn’t know until just a few minutes ago.  Duo took us to see Miss Relena.”  Quatre explained.

“Well, he can take me too.”

Duo’s expression turned to one of panic.

“Um, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

Milardo speared him with a glance.

“Why not?”

“Well..um.”

“Relena said something about wanting to wash all the fake blood off.”  Trowa put in.  “She’s most likely still in the shower.”

“I see.  I’ll give her a few minutes then.”  Milardo turned away from Duo, who gave Trowa a thankful look.

“Thank you gentlemen for offering your services to help us.”  Lady Une said to Trowa and Quatre.

“No problem.”  Quatre answered.  “Anything we can do to help.”

They stood and left the room, Duo went with them.

“Guys, I’ll meet you later.  I’ve got to call Heero and warm him about Relena’s brother.”

“Remind him to make the bed.”  Trowa suggested.

“And brush his hair.”  Quatre added.

“I’ll tell him.”  He went into Sally and Wufei’s office closed the door and activated the VidCom unit on the desk.

“Heero, head’s up man, I’m bringing Relena’s brother down in a few minutes.  Uh, you might want to straighten things up a little.”

“Roger that.”

Heero’s face in the VidScreen disappeared and Duo breathed a sigh of relief. 

Now all they had to do was find the real assassin.