She was expecting the room to be empty. It always was. She kept her eyes focused on her shoes as the elevator slowly rose and she steeled her heart preparing for the inevitable disappointment. She would open the door to find his hospital bed abandoned with no one the wiser. Again. She closed her eyes and sighed. This seemed to be their routine now. She would find herself in an awkward predicament, he would swoop in and save her, more times then not, injuring himself in the process, and then he would disappear from the hospital. As soon as she was safe he would simply vanish.
The elevator slid to a jerky stop and chimed the arrival at the fifth floor. Opening her eyes, she sighed again before fixing a pleasant expression on her face as the doors parted to the quiet recovery floor. Smiling politely to the nurses as she passed she made her way to the room at the end of the hall. She paused for a moment at the door, bracing for the inevitable letdown before gently pushing the door open.
Two steps into the room she stopped. There were feet under the covers. Staring at the foot of the bed she could feel the tears begin to well in her eyes. Embarrassment griped her when she realized she was probably in the wrong room and she swallowed a lump in her throat before slowly lifting her gaze farther up the bed.
The legs were definitely long enough to be his. The hands resting on the light blanket were strong and reliable like his. The arms were a mirror image of the one's she'd come to know as the safest place in the world. The torso she knew beneath that gown was sleek and muscled, breathing easily. That perfect chin, the mouth she dreamt of nearly every night, perfect nose, the brown shaggy mane hanging down in front of those eyes. His eyes. His Prussian blue eyes were open and locked with hers.
"Heero."
It came out as a whisper and she couldn't help the tears that spilled onto her cheeks.
"Relena."
She felt her purse slip from her shoulder. As it touched the ground he was at her side, and she found her face in his hands, staring up into those beautiful blue eyes.
"You're still here. You're really still here."
She found she couldn't move as he rested his forehead against hers and breathed what sounded almost like a sigh of relief. She wrapped her arms around his back as he brushed the tears gently from her cheeks.
"I'm not going anywhere."
She believed him.