Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Zeta Project'. I do not own any of its characters. It's just a fanfiic.

A/N As English isn't my native language, I want to thank Aldebaran8423 for her editing help on this chapter.

This story is my Valentine's Day present for all of you - my Zee/Ro Valentine's Day story for this year.

But if you don't celebrate Valentine's Day, you can still read this story – it's not about the holiday, it's about Zee/Ro relationship.

Enjoy!

The Reason

Chapter One

by Iglika

Ro's point of view

"Ro?" the voice came from the other side of the closed door.

A familiar, deep and soft, warm voice, full of concern, a voice full of understanding and care, a touching voice; a tender and at the same time firm voice; a masculine voice; a real man's voice; his voice…

Zee's voice.

I knew he was standing there, right next to the door, listening for even the slightest sound, which would tell him what was experiencing.

And I tried to stop the tears, I hoped his sharp hearing hadn't detected my crying.

I hadn't lied to him that I wanted to take a shower, it was my normal routine after I had slept the whole morning, waking at lunch time on a peaceful day like today, when we weren't on the run.

But the whole truth was that I needed to hide from him. I needed to be alone, I needed to cry. And the sound of the shower hid my crying.

I couldn't stay in the bathroom forever, though. I had been in here for too long anyway… I was out of the shower already, wrapped in a white bath towel, the shower was off, and I had to leave, but… I still kept crying, biting my lips, clenching my eyelids, pressing my hands to my face…

"Ro? Are you alright? Ro?" His voice was much more worried than it was a little while ago.

I couldn't answer him; he would be able to tell I was crying.

I took a deep breath and went to the sink. The sound of the running water would show him that I hadn't passed out or anything; and most of all it would hide any traces of tears in my voice.

"I'm fine! I'm coming!" I shouted through the sound of the running water.

I hoped the cold water would soothe the skin on my face, the redness of my eyes and calm my breathing…

I arranged my wet short blonde hair just a little bit.

So what, Ro Rowen? Are you ready to be the lively tomboy, who Zee knows?

I unlocked the door. As I thought, Zee was standing right there. This tall guy, with sharp, handsome features, this strong man who could lift rocks and tear steel, was so concerned and worried about me now, that I felt an almost physical pain at troubling him like that.

I wanted to say something nice to him, I wanted to caress his face to show him there's nothing he had to worry about, but I didn't dare. I just smiled passing by him and I made my way toward my room.

"I'm glad you're okay, Ro." I heard his warm, velvet voice behind me.

"Of course I am!" I looked at him over my shoulder, smiling anew; I entered the room in order to dress and I closed the door behind me.

"May I beg you to dress fast; we have to catch the plane." I heard his voice through the door again.

"What plane?!" I shouted back, sincerely astonished.

"The flight to Malibu."

"What for?! We don't need to visit Wade just now. You said we were safe here!"

"Yes, we are," he answered calmy and confidently. "But we have to be on time in Malibu for the Valentine's Day cruise aboard the brand new ship, the "The Night Sky". I already bought the tickets."

"You what?!?"

to be continued…

A/N I didn't mean to divide this story on chapters, I wanted it to be just a one-shot, but maybe lately I just can't write short Zee/Ro stories… I'll post the rest of the story as soon as I can, and I'll post the next chapter of "A Guest for Christmas" too, and then the next chapter of "Labyrinth", just please keep telling me what you think about what you had read so far, please review, pretty please!