The Final Storm
Chapter 6
by Scarlet Eve
Heero stared at the hand being offered to him by his employer's wife. What was the fascination with hands among these rich people, Heero wondered to himself. He glanced quickly at James, who was watching him expectantly, so Heero reached out and shook the young wife's hand. Her face changed swiftly from confusion to amusement in a flash, and her light blue eyes danced as she watched him. Heero took his hand away quickly and bowed.
"Wonderful," James said under his breath, more to himself, Heero supposed, then clapped his hands together. "I am quite hungry. Let us move to the dining room." Heero nodded, and chanced another look at the wife, Relena Darlian. She was quite pretty, much to his surprise, as he'd expected someone the same age as Darlian. But she was young, with smooth porcelain skin and golden blonde hair. And her eyes, which reminded Heero of the blue skies out west, were large and childlike. He couldn't help but feel that her innocence was one of the reasons for her constant danger.
She curtsied to him once more and followed behind her husband, and Heero followed her to the dining room. This room, like all the others, was richly furnished and decorated. The table had already been set for three. Heero hung back, waiting to see where the other two would sit, as he rarely ever actually dined with his employers. James took the seat at the head of the table, and Relena stepped around to the other side and sat down. Heero took the empty space, his eyes still shifting around the room, trying to take it all in. He felt very uncomfortable, which was something he hardly felt and disliked greatly. He knew he still must be dirty from traveling, and these two were dressed nicely, not to mention, there were more forks on the table than he deemed unnecessary for a single meal.
Heero sat down and scooted his chair up to the table. A moment later, a door on the other end of the room swung open and the older gentleman, Pagan, entered carrying a silver tray with bowls of soup. Pagan served the lady first, then James, then Heero himself. Heero thought he caught a strange look upon Pagan's face when he looked at him, almost like a distrust. It unsettled Heero a bit, but he took up, thankfully, the only spoon and began to eat. James began to talk about his father's business, some kind of manufacturing company.
"You will be staying home for a while, won't you?" Relena asked him. Heero watched James from the corner of his eye, who only shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm afraid I will need to return once more, but I suppose I could afford a few days here," he replied, and his wife smiled. James patted her hand. "But I will be home before the party. Speaking of which," James turned his attention back to Heero. "We'd like you to attend our party as a guest." Heero raised his eyes skeptically. "Oh it is nothing too elaborate. Just a couple of friends, drinks and dinner. Perhaps a bit of music and dancing," James added. Heero nodded, and returned to his soup.
"You don't speak much, do you?" Relena asked him from across the table. Heero glanced up at her, but before he had a chance to respond, James cut in.
"Darling, you shouldn't be so rude," he said, his tone strongly suggesting that he was scolding a child. Relena cast her eyes down towards her bowl, likewise looking like a scolded child. Heero felt a bit sorry for her.
"My clients do not often engage me in conversation," Heero explained. Relena glanced up at him from under her eyelashes, and gave him a small, grateful smile. But the scowl on James' face that he directed towards his wife did not go unnoticed by Heero. That uneasy feeling he got when he sensed danger dropped to his stomach, and his appetite was quite diminished.
After dinner, James shooed his wife off, who left without a word, and invited Heero to join him in his study once more. Over another glass of bourbon, James explained to Heero about the times that their home had been broken into, once when James was home, and once when he was not, and what all had happened as far as he could discern. Heero listened without speaking, sipping slightly on his drink, and gleaned more from the conversation than James had intended. The man's alcohol tolerance was quite low, and before long, his eyes took on the glassy sheen of the intoxicated. In nearly the same breath, he praised his love for his wife, and yet complained about her willful nature and wild spirit. Heero confirmed on his own that James thought of his wife as a child, and wondered how old she'd been when they were married.
Before long, James was dozing in his chair, and Heero was anxious for a bed to sleep in. Though he'd taken the most luxurious method out to this estate that he could think of, he was still tired from the travel and the inordinate amount of interaction he'd had with this family already. Heero wasn't sure if he should just leave the room, so he rose and wandered around the study, inspecting the collection of books on the shelves and some of the artifacts on the mantle. As he inspected a curious golden monkey statue, the door to the study opened and Pagan stepped inside. Heero watched him glance at James, then to himself.
"Good evening, Mister Yuy. If you would like, I can direct you to your rooms," Pagan said. Heero followed without a word, but with one more glance at the dozing man of the house. There was a thin trail of drool trickling from the corner of his mouth to the bottom of chin, where it dripped onto the lapel of his suit. Heero held back a laugh and followed Pagan from the room. The two headed down the hallway towards the stairs at the front of the house. They climbed, each step bringing a creak from the footfalls. Heero was curious about this, if people were able to sneak into the house without waking anyone on the steps. They were quite loud, despite their relative newness. At the top of the steps, Pagan turned towards the right and gestured to a door.
"That is your room there. Your belongings have already been brought up," Pagan explained, then pointed to a door across the hall. "That room is Miss Relena's. James wanted you nearby in order to hear anything, should someone manage to break into the house again." Pagan fell silent for a moment, and Heero watched him as he seemed to contemplate what to say next. Pagan's face softened as he glanced towards Relena's closed door. "I'm sure Mister James explained to you his expectations?" Pagan asked, and Heero nodded. "Did he tell you anything about the Mistress?"
"Only that she is willful and wild," Heero replied. Pagan chuckled.
"Quite true. Miss Relena rises early with the sun, and usually spends the day as she will. There is not much structure here, for meals and the like, since Mister James is gone so often, and Relena will eat and request tea when she desires it. Tomorrow I will introduce you to the rest of the staff, who will be able to help you keep an eye out for Relena. Her safety is much more important now that she is pregnant. We will talk more in the morning," Pagan said, as Heero tried to stifle a yawn. Pagan pushed open the door to Heero's room. "You should have everything you need," he said, gesturing to the room. "Through that door there is the washroom. Sleep well, Mister Yuy." Heero nodded to him, and Pagan withdrew from the room and closed the door.
Heero unholstered his two guns that had been concealed beneath his shirt, and laid them side by side on the nightstand beside the bed. He kicked off his boots under the bed, and took another quick glance around the room. There more pieces of furniture and other items that Heero would never need to use in his lifetime, and he wondered how anyone found a use for all these things. He wandered to the washroom, expecting nothing more than a bowl and a pitcher of water, but was surprised to find that it was an actual washroom, with a toilet and a tub. Heero leaned over the tub and twisted one of the taps. Water rushed into the tub, hot water, and Heero thought for a moment about taking a scalding hot bath, but the comfortable bed in the other room was calling to him much louder. He turned off the tap, discarded his clothes and climbed into the soft bed.
The creak of the steps dragged Heero from his sleep. For a moment, he was confused, trying to remember where he was. Slowly, his task slowly came back to him, and he shifted off the bed and onto the chilled wood floor. How could anyone break into this house and make it up the steps without waking anyone?
There was a heavy knock on the door. Heero began to walk towards the door wearing only his undergarments, but remembered his manners, such as they were, and pulled on the Levis he'd worn the day before. He opened the door to find Pagan standing on the other side, holding a tray with a bowl and a teapot.
"Good morning, Mr. Yuy. I have brought your breakfast," Pagan said. Heero nodded to him and took the tray.
"Thank you," he said. Pagan looked mildly confused, but said nothing.
"The mistress will be waking up soon, which is why I brought this to you, in case you hadn't already woken," Pagan explained. Heero nodded again and set the tray on the table beside the door. "Miss Relena- she is uh..." Pagan wrung his hands together, and Heero wondered if he was reluctant to speak ill against his employer's wife. "She tends to disregard her own safety. From the letters I have received from her former nursemaid, she has always been that way. She will need help to keep herself out of trouble, since Mister Darlian is gone much more often than he used to."
"I am a glorified nursemaid?" Heero asked, raising an eyebrow. Pagan had no response, except to smile sadly. Heero inhaled and exhaled deeply, calming the itch of nerves along his skin. "I will fill my duties to protect her," he said. Pagan smiled, bowed, and left him. Heero closed the door and turned around. "Heighten the security measures in this house and get the hell out," he mumbled to himself. He glanced in the bowl on the tray that Pagan had brought. It looked like porridge, but there were large pieces of fruit as well. Heero shrugged and ate his breakfast.
-/-\-
A/N: I'll probably just keep posting consistently under I get to the good stuff :-P. I have 12 chapters written already. Thank you to those who have been reading!
Also, evidently, when I TRIED to post chapter 5, it didn't post, or I forgot. Either way, hope you enjoy the double update.
-Scarlet Eve
