Chapter 4

9 PM Colony L4

They had taken a cab to Duo's apartment after dodging the heavy security at the hospital. "Thank God for Heero," Rei mumbled to herself as she sat on her bed. The Perfect Soldier had guided her out of harm's way at every turn during their escape, shoving her down corridors that she hadn't even noticed when they'd entered the building. That man really knew how to pay attention to his surroundings. The hospital staff was probably still searching for them, and they were already long gone.

She pulled the letter from her pocket and studied it before finally opening it. "Let's see what you had to say, Duo."

Rei,

I don't have much time left. Someone is in the next room, and I can hear them planning to kill me. I can't leave this bed since both of my legs are broken. I accept my fate; I just pray to God that you'll be safe and well taken care of.

You probably met Heero on your way here, since I left a letter for him, too. He can be difficult, but don't give up on him. He's had a hard time over the last few years. It's not easy for us, you know. We're the discarded heroes of the solar system. Take care of him for me, and don't let him do anything too retarded.

I need you to take Deathscythe Hell back to the Middle East. It's stored with the Zero, in a hangar not too far from here, and it should be a piece of cake to break them out. Track down Quatre and Wufei (and try not to piss off the Wu-man, alright?), and warn them that my murderer is plotting to assassinate all of the Gundam pilots. Have Heero contact Trowa; Quatre should know where Zechs is.

Enclosed are instructions for operating Deathscythe Hell.

Heero will probably try to stop you from taking Deathscythe, but I'm sure you can handle him. Just remember all the moves I taught you for disarming a man, and you'll be fine.

Rei tried her best not to laugh when a very old memory surfaced. She remembered Duo, much taller than her at the time, holding his balls and doing his very best not to collapse to the floor. The Prof and the Doc were laughing in the background, while she just scratched her head, trying to deduce what was so damned funny.

Yeah, laugh it up, I'm know exactly what you're thinking about right now. That's spooky, isn't it? For the record, I couldn't walk straight for two days after that kick to the balls, thank you very much.

Rei couldn't hold it back; she began laughing so hard that it took her several minutes before she could continue reading the letter.

I'm glad I made you laugh. I love you, baby sister. I hope that no matter what I did, you always knew how much I loved you, and how much I hated leaving you whenever I had to complete a mission. I want you to be happy, so don't mourn me for too long.

Love, Duo

She stuffed the letter and the instructions back into the envelope and slipped them into her pocket. When she looked up to study her old room, Heero was standing in the doorway, watching her

"You alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, thanks. I'll be ok."

"Duo left this for you." Heero held out an ID card, and she made a face when she took it.

"Rei Seras. White Hall Colony, L4. Born April 19, AC188. Status, married. What's this?"

"Your brother had the foresight to make us some fake IDs. They'll come in handy, since our appearance at the hospital caused quite a stir. We're on the news, you know. They put out an APB on us shortly after we got back here." He smiled a little when she gaped at him in shock. "What, you didn't think pulling a gun on a nurse would get us arrested?"

"They were expecting us," Rei deduced. She looked down at the ID and rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, I'm married to you," she remarked dryly.

Heero shrugged nonchalantly. "Call it a marriage of convenience. I have the marriage license and everything; we just need to sign it." He pulled it out of his back pocket and handed it to her, and not without a touch of a smile.

Rei snorted when she looked at it. Their marriage had been officiated by Father Maxwell, and that was clearly Duo's handwriting. "Sick fucking sense of humor," she grumbled, pulling out a pen and signing the paper with her false maiden name. "There." She gave him the paper and pen, and let him use her back as a writing table.

"That makes it official. We're married." Heero folded the document back up and carefully placed it in his wallet with all of his other false paperwork.

Rei blushed and gave him a hesitant smile. "No kissing of the bride, of course." She tried not to laugh when his own little smile wavered. "It was a joke, Heero."

A single eyebrow shot into the air. "A joke, as in I can kiss the bride, or were you just being a smartass?"

Rei's blush deepened into a bright red flush. "Oh my God, I didn't mean that," she said quickly, waving her hand in front of her as if she could erase what she'd just said. "I'd kick Duo's ass right now if I could," she finished lamely. She looked at him in a different light for the first time. He really was a beautiful specimen of a man, and she could do worse for a husband, even a fake one. "I, um, think it would be a good idea for us to go to bed, now."

He simply couldn't help himself. "Together or separately?" He asked with false sincerity.

Rei whacked him on the arm. "Fucking smartass, you know damn well what I meant." She pointed down the hallway. "Bed. Now."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, giving her a flippant salute as he made his way out of her room.

3AM

Rei stumbled down the hallway and opened the first door on her left. She inhaled the familiar scent of her brother and climbed into bed with him, snuggling against his chest.

"Another nightmare?" Duo grumbled, pulling her tightly to him.

"Yeah," she agreed sleepily. "Love you, Duo," she yawned before dozing back off.

Relena cuddled against him and circled an arm around his back. "Love you," she yawned.

"Love you too," Heero breathed against her ear. He made a short trail of kisses along her cheek until he reached her mouth, then kissed her with everything that was in him.

Rei snapped awake instantly and shoved her brother off of her. "Duo, what the fuck!" Her eyes widened when she realized what had just happened. "Heero!"

"Relena? What was that for?" His startled expression changed to one of horror when he realized what he had done. "Rei!"

Rei crossed herself. "Sweet Holy Mother! What were you doing!"

"What did you think I was doing?" He yelled at her. "A woman crawls into bed with a man at"—he looked at the alarm clock—"three in the morning, rubs up on him, and you expect a different reaction!"

"It wasn't like that, you fucking jackass! I was sleepwalking!" She yelled right back. "Sometimes when I have a dream, I sleepwalk, and being back in Duo's place probably made me come in here," she said defensively. She untangled herself from the covers and rolled out of the bed, stormed down the hallway and slammed her door behind her, clicking the lock into place.

5:30AM

Rei finally gave up on trying to sleep and crept into the kitchen to make some coffee. She lit a cigarette and laid her head down on the table with a yawn. "It's too damned early to be up when there aren't cows to milk," she whined. It was also too late to climb back into bed, so she decided against getting some more sleep.

The shower was still running, Heero had been in there for over thirty minutes. "Probably taking a cold one," she mused. She poured a cup of coffee, added a heap of cream and sugar, and made herself some toast. She tried to straighten up her bed-head with her fingers, but it was no use. She also tried her best not to think about what had happened. "God, that man can kiss," she mumbled. In hindsight, that kiss made her feel helpless and wanted all at the same time. She pushed down on the butterflies in her stomach. "Don't make me get a flyswatter," she threatened. Rei gulped some of her coffee when she heard the shower turn off. Who would have ever thought that the Perfect Soldier could kiss like that? It made her want to do it again, and there was no more denying the attraction she felt towards him. "Don't even start thinking like that, Hino," she snapped at herself.

"Sorry, I thought you were still in bed." Heero tightened the towel around his waist self-consciously and just stood there, not sure what else he should say.

Rei turned her head, and fought the urge not to drool. Woof. "There's coffee," she managed. She had no qualms about letting her training take over in order to mask any emotion on her face. But she couldn't help but turn her head and check out his half-naked figure while he had his back turned to her. No man should be allowed to look that damned good, she thought. She finished her toast to keep from babbling something stupid, and drank the rest of her coffee. "Move," she ordered, when she went to pour herself another cup.

"Aren't you just a bright ray of sunshine this morning?" He complained.

Feeling more than a little cranky, she bumped him with a hip to jostle him out of the way. "Move it or lose it, Yuy. It's too early, and I want coffee."

"Don't you usually get up this early on a farm?" He said loudly, as he walked down the hallway to put some clothes on.

"Yeah, but the cows don't care if I'm acting like a bitch. They just want to be milked," she snapped right back. She sat down with a normal cup of coffee and nursed it until he returned. "I warned you the other night that I sleepwalk," she said, getting straight to the elephant in the room.

"Yeah, you did," he conceded. Heero poured some coffee and sat down across from her. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry that I yelled at you."

"And I'm sorry that I shoved you."

"What? You didn't want me off of you?" He remarked in an attempt at humor. His eyebrows went up a little when she was obviously biting her tongue to keep from responding. "Sorry, it was a joke."

"I know," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "It's just too early, and my sense of humor is non-existent until eight." She lit a cigarette, and drank some more coffee.

"Those things will kill you." He reached for the pack, and lit one for himself. "I quit about six weeks ago, I don't know why I bothered."

They smoked companionably for several minutes before Rei finally spoke. "We crashing the hangar today?"

"We need to spy it out, first, see what we're dealing with."

Rei ran her fingers through her messy, tangled hair. "How long will that take? A few hours?"

"Possibly weeks," he warned her. He crushed his smoke in the ashtray. He held up a hand to silence her when she started to yell. "Everything depends on how heavily the place is guarded. We can walk around freely as civilians, but we can't just waltz into that hangar. We need to learn the guard changes, access codes, and etcetera. I'm assuming Duo and the Prof taught you how to hack?"

"Of course," she said with a shrug. "I type a lot faster than Duo, too, so speed shouldn't be an issue if there's a chance of getting locked out of the system."

"Good."

"Can I ask you a personal question?" Rei asked hesitantly. She had been curious for hours, now, and simply couldn't hold back any longer.

"Sure, but it doesn't mean I'll answer it." Heero stood up and rifled through the fridge for something to eat.

"Relena… is she Queen Relena?" Rei chewed on her lower lip, wondering how he'd respond.

"Yes. And we dated for a very long time," Heero answered with a sigh. "Please tell me that's all you're going to ask."

Rei shrugged with embarrassment. "Sorry. I just wondered." She put out her cigarette, and suddenly found the ashtray very interesting. "Why aren't you together anymore?"

Heero slammed his coffee cup on the counter. "Look, if I answer you, will you never bring it up ever again?" He snapped.

She looked up in amazement at his outburst; she'd obviously touched a sore spot. "I'm sorry Heero," she said sincerely, "you don't have to answer."

Heero's face softened, and he shook his head. "No, it's ok. I just don't like talking about it. In fact, I thought Duo's sister would already know all about this. Your brother was never one for keeping his mouth shut."

Rei gave a little shrug. "I only knew that you and Relena dated, and that she was madly in love with you. Duo told me once that he had no earthly clue how you could tolerate her for five minutes, let alone all those years."

Heero laughed, but there was little humor in it. "Duo, you're still such a prick," he muttered. "I wanted to get married, to drop off the face of the earth," he continued, "but Relena was too engrossed in politics to simply walk away and disappear with me."

"Selfish bitch." The words left her mouth before she could stop them. "Sorry," she said quickly.

"No, you're right. She was," he agreed bitterly. Heero was astounded at his ability to finally admit this; he had been telling himself for years that it was his fault; it was something that he did wrong. He gave his new wife a little smile. "Thank you." It could have been Duo sitting there, or Trowa, telling him to let go, that Relena was a crazy, obsessive bitch that would never compromise, would never sacrifice for another ever again. She'd told him once that she was done giving up her life for others. She'd served her time as Queen, and while she didn't mind helping the greater good, she was finished giving up her entire life just so everyone else could be happy.

Rei gave him a companionable squeeze on the shoulder. "You're welcome. I'll be waiting whenever you're ready to start the job, Heero."