Secrets and Lullabies
Chapter One: Mac-n-Cheese & Blind Dates
By Oblivious-Bystander
Bursting through the door, running across the silent carpet, she froze against the plain olive walls. Flattening herself into the shadows, she held her weapon up, fully alert, breathing heavily, preparing herself from the battle to come.
"Surrender!" cried a voice from outside the door, full of youth and determination, "You're surrounded!" mimicking the phrase often used by police officers surrounding a building. She was in a room with one escape, and that meant coming face to face with the source of that voice.
"You'll never take me alive!" she cried, whirling around the corner to reveal herself, perfectly aiming for the obvious commander, waiting for a reaction as she showed no sign of fear etched on her face. She lived to die. She wouldn't go down without a fair fight.
A smile broke across his face, before he became serious again, "Fire!" throwing his gun up to align with her chest, a fatal shot sure to come.
"Pow! Pow! Pow!" rung through the air, the gun in his hands jerking back with the impressive force
Falling to the floor dramatically with a cry, jerking her body with each 'Pow', Relena tried to crawl away holding her side, firing her gun behind her wildly not caring if all she hit was a wall. She had her pride and would be damned if she died without hitting something, even if it wasn't exactly living.
A pitter patter of footsteps chased after her and before she knew it, she was gazing up to her attacker, dull black gun only inches from her head. She had run long enough.
Showing no mercy, he fired, "Pow!" a stream of water rocketing out of the barrel.
It dripped down her face slowly which only strengthened the laughter that was already filling the room, she scowled at her son, "I thought we agreed to no face shots?" using her sleeve to remove the evidence.
"I thought we agreed that you'd make me macaroni and cheese?" never lowering his water gun that had been spray painted black to be more realistic. She couldn't remember if it was illegal or not to do that. His messy brown hair and red chubby checks were evidence of hours of preparation for their spy game. She was always the villain.
Smiling, she made her way for the kitchen in defeat. Hoping he would follow and be done with the game and give into his hunger, to her delight she heard the quiet thud of the toy dropping to floor, a swish from the water inside, followed by another stampede of pitter patter footsteps. Now was her chance.
Spinning around with a loud battle cry, she opened fire, squirting him several times in the face, arms, and chest. He didn't react properly, just stood there at the act of the betrayal.
The expression on his face was priceless and she broke into a fit of laughter before picking him up and walking to the kitchen, "Now you can have your mac-n-cheese." Life was always such a game to them.
Passing through her living room on her short walk to the kitchen, she observed her son's, Josh, preventer force, consisting of a wide variation of stuffed animals from dinosaurs to teddy bears. All she could do was smile and thank god that that was all there was to clean up. He usually got more creative and drew scenery on paper to tape to the walls, cute but messy, creative but a pain.
Sitting him down on the red counter top, she rummaged through the hazel nut cabinets for the blue box that her son craved so much and so often for. Upon finding it, she placed it in her sons lap as she filled a pot with water, "So do you want anything in it this time? Last time you put gummy bears in it." She all about gagged at the memory. Her son had odd taste buds and found it a hobby to torment her with it.
Pondering the possibilities, Josh tapped a small finger on his chin, looking around the plain kitchen as if the plaid curtains would give him any ideas. Suddenly, his face lit up before jumping from the counter, stumbling, and running to the kitchen with the box of pasta mix still in his tiny grasp.
Watching him go, she could only dread what he would bring back. Trying to ignore the many noises drifting out of the hallway, she put the pot on the stove, turned the heat on high and sprinkled salt into the water in hopes to speed up the bowling. It was already 7:30 and she didn't want to be up all night.
Josh emerged from the hallway, disappointment on his face, to meet his mother's questioning gaze, "Never mind, I was gonna say M&M's but I ate them last night" She remembered, he had a chocolate craving as if he were a pregnant woman or a depressed woman. Either way, it had been stressful.
Heartbroken at his disappointment to mix chocolate with cheese, Relena turned to the fridge in search of a replacement, "How about…" pushing things aside and opening up drawers, looking for anything bizarre to suggest to her son, "How about…hot dogs?"
She had had that before, and it wasn't bad. Plus, she didn't know if she could stomach anything like skittles and cheesy pasta again, or anything gummy. She specially didn't want to chance chocolate. Some things just didn't mix.
Josh's eyes widened and a smile broke across his face, "good idea! I've never thought of that!"
Holding back a sigh of relief, she glanced at the pot, boiling, "It's time, buddy"
At the words, josh ripped open the top of the box and Relena picked him up to let him pour in the pasta mix, handing him a wooden spoon for him to stir with, "Careful, don't touch the pot"
Groaning, Josh stirred fiercely resulting in splashing water out of the pot, "I knoooow. You tell me that every time"
"Maybe if you didn't touch it when I told you not to, I wouldn't have to" putting him back on the floor to gather the rest of the ingredients and to set the timer, throwing away the blue box after checking the measurements. She had made this a thousand times but always had to make sure.
"I did not!", stomping his foot for being wrong He absolutely hated being wrong.
"Did too!" putting the drainer in the sink. She preferred everything to be ready when it got done cooking.
Refusing to argue in a losing battle, Josh stomped away, slamming his foot louder and with more force with each step he took, his arms up with his elbows by his ears, tense with a childish temper tantrum.
"Quit stomping and behave" throwing him a 'drop-the-attitude' look. She could be his best friend but she had to be a mother too. She liked being about to be both though sometimes it just didn't work out that way.
Before he could throw back anything smart like he usually did, there was a knock at the door, breaking the tension between them that could have been cut with a butter knife. Excitement coursing through him, Josh ran for the door even though he knew he wasn't supposed to. He loved meeting new people and loved seeing people he knew even more. He was very social even if he didn't know what he was talking about.
"Don't open it, Josh! You never open the door without knowing who it is!" motherly instincts flaring
He froze his hand above his head and on the door knob. Thinking, he finally smiled. She could almost see the idea light bulb light up with life.
Screaming at the top of his lungs, Josh tried to solve his problem, "WHO IS IT!"
"Josh Gerard Dorlian!"
Josh backed away from the door sheepishly. It wasn't ever good if she said his whole name, especially with her face as red as it was. But to his rescue, the door slide open and a familiar face peeked inside. It was Hilde, "Is this a bad time?" examining both their features.
As if he hadn't just gotten in trouble, Josh jumped up into the visitor's arms with a cry of joy, "Hilde, you're here, you're here!" acting as if he it had been years instead of two days since he had seen her last.
Crushing him in a bear hug and a swarm of kisses, Hilde couldn't help but smile at her best friend's son of five years-old next Saturday, "I'm here, I'm here!" What could she say? She was there when he was born and had been attached to him ever since.
Telling her all about the game from earlier and his disappointment about not having any candy to eat with his mac-n-cheese, Josh ran off immediately absorbed in a show that came on TV, dodging his many stuffed animals that still needed to be picked up.
Stirring, Relena looked up to Hilde now that she was free from her son, "So what brings you here?" teasingly, Hilde was always welcome and she knew it, often taking advantage of it.
Hilde turned away from the TV that Josh was so absorbed in, a little absorbed herself, and walked into the kitchen that was only disconnected from the living room by having fake tile instead of carpet, "Oh…nothing" obviously aiming to retrieve more attention that what she was getting.
Checking the timer, Relena turned her full attention to Hilde with a raised eyebrow, "How was the blind date that Midi set you up with?"
She hit jackpot and she knew it. Hilde's face broke into a grin and she danced in place as her cheeks became rosy, "Oh, Relena, he was perfect! He was funny and he was cute and he was funny!"
Chuckling to herself, Relena poured the noodles into the drainer when the timer went off, scrapping any out that were stuck to the bottom, "Funny and cute are perfect? Wow you have low standards"
Hilde pulled her short black hair a little, a habit of hers, and walked around the island to sit on a stool, "Oh, but you don't understand! We clicked, Relena! We could talk about almost anything and he was so sweet and flirty and…I don't know. He just felt right. I think he's the one"
"Hilde, you think anyone with a nice face and good sense of humor that can hold a conversation is 'the one'" throwing her fingers up in quotations before pouring the noodles back into the pot and mixing in all the ingredients.
"I do not...Well, okay maybe I do. But he really was great. He was fit but not bulky, not tall but not shorter than me, blue eyes and an adorable smile… OH! Oh my God, Relena, he had a super long brown braid!" stretching her arms out to try to elaborate the actual length of it.
Relena paused in the middle of stirring in the powdered cheese, looking behind her to give her friend a questioning stare, "A braid? But why?"
"He said that he just never cut it and can't seem to part with it. He had some sort of attachment to it but really it didn't look bad at all. He made it look….hot" struggling to finish her sentence, speechless from the memory
Obviously, the guy was good looking and a good guy but usually, Hilde always found a flaw. So far, there wasn't one yet. "So what's his name, or did you forget to ask while you were gawking at him"
Ignoring the comment, Hilde broke into a smile again, even if it was just a name, "Duo Maxwell and he's our age, 25! The only bad thing is that he lives on L2 and he's just visiting but he said he's been considering on moving here on L1. I hope he does"
Well, there's the flaw but it wasn't nearly as bad as they usually were like having big zits, ate with their mouths open, groped her…
Opening the fridge for the package of hot dogs, Relena thought about her last romance and how long ago it seemed even though…
"So what do you think? You wanna meet him tomorrow? I know you're off work so don't try to get out of it" Hilde interrupted her thoughts, which was probably a good thing considering the topic. Sadly enough, she was right. She was off tomorrow. To make it worse, she hadn't gotten around to making plans yet either so she really couldn't get out of meeting him not that he sounded like a bad person or anything.
Ignoring the question all together, secretly hoping she'd forget about it, Relena began chopping up two hot dogs into slivers about half an inch thick and dumping them into the pot of cheesy pasta, stirring them into it wondering if she should have heated them up first.
"Do you?" Hilde pressed. Of course she wouldn't forget.
"I guess so, Hilde, but you know I really don't like going places with you and your new boyfriend's. Me and Josh always end up feeling left out…" wondering if she was wrong in adding Josh into that statement, she concluded she wasn't. She didn't know how he felt but she knew he was always bored in some form.
"Oh that's fine! Midi, Cathy, and some of Duo's friends are coming too. So you'll have at least someone to talk to and if not, we'll be sure to go to the park or something so you and Josh can play"
At the word 'park', Josh showed up in the kitchen expectantly and Hilde asked him if he would mind going somewhere with her and his mommy tomorrow. Of course, with the mention of a park, he had no objection.
Filling up three bowls and pouring a glass of apple juice for Josh and two glasses of coffee, three sugars and crème in both, they went to the living room to eat.
Both Hilde and Josh sat on the floor against the couch completely absorbed into the Disney movie 'Honey We Shrunk Ourselves'. Relena curled up in the corner of the couch with her coffee secured in her lap and a bowl of doggy mac-n-cheese on the arm. She paid attention to the movie off and on but couldn't stay focused as her mind wondered back to her thoughts from earlier, her last romance.
It was really her only romance aside from dating a few people but those never went anywhere.
Her only real romance was Josh's father, someone she could only label a mistake.
Looking down at Josh's profile, she could see so much of herself which pleased her. She didn't know what she would do if he looked a lot like his father. Make him wear a mask all day for fun? Every day for the rest of his life? No, she couldn't do that. His father's mistakes had nothing to do with him. She loved him.
Smiling down at him as he laughed up at the TV, Relena made an oath to never let anything hurt him. An oath she had made many times before.
She didn't believe in violence but she would kill someone without a moment's hesitation if they ever tried to harm a hair on his head.
He was her world and she'd be damned if anyone ever tried to take it away.
Satisfied, Relena turned her attention to the movie. Josh was her life, nobody could take him away, nobody.
First Fanfic! I hope you enjoyed it, if not, my apologies. I'm not the best writer but I try to be. No Heero yet, but don't worry, He's coming. Who's Relena's? Where is he now? What did he do? Who is Duo bringing to tomorrow's play date? Find out in the next chapter! R&R {^. ^}