[A/N: How the story I uploaded by cut-and-paste in two different places and turned into a repeat of Ch.6 on one site. . . I don't know: An autobiography by me. And thank you, Tatiasha!]

Delicate, Ch.7.

Relena had overcome the chaos of her attack with the utmost finesse. A weeklong recovery with her physical therapist extended, at least three weeks, was the main stipulation set by Heero and Lady Une. The psychologist she spoke to was impressed with her emotional recovery and she was allowed light paperwork within two days. Heero had been in to see her several times and she reassured him often of her confidence and that he needn't worry about her when there were more pressing issues at hand.

He started coming in more. They never were much for words when it was just the two of them. Relena remembered just one day not needing words to communicate with Heero. Even now, with Heero nearby, she asked him to lie next to her on the bed and just be with her. Until he exhaled and moved closer to her, she was almost sure he wouldn't want to be close to her ever again. Lying next to him was the closest thing to home in her heart. She was glad he didn't push her away like he always seemed to in the past, but they had entwined their lives, knit them so close that undoing the knots would take maximum effort and cause the most damage. He held her with such a delicate hand and kissed her brow.

Doctor J told her not to push her physical boundaries, but she tried in any case. There was a chance it was hormones that told her to kiss him first. She breathed in and a switch was flipped. It had been almost a week, surely the stitches would hold.

Her leg came up to rest at his side, and a stabbing pain in her abdomen stopped her. Her stitches did, in fact, hold, but not in the way she expected. Heero stopped abruptly, taking a moment to draw her attention to him. Her breathing began to come in short gasps and his hand touched her cheek. His lips touched her forehead. The question in his eyes drew her focus, and soon her body released the laced tension. Soon she was calm. "Sorry," he whispered. Heero drew her into his arms and held her until her breathing leveled out.

"I'm sorry, too," she said in a hushed tone.

"There is nothing to apologize for." He breathed in her shampoo and sighed. They sat in silence again, and her body settled down. She didn't ask him anything personal, like why Duo had been around more when she'd normally anticipated, which was not what she suspected. She expected his help the first few days, but then he didn't leave for a week. The lack of usual stamina Duo Maxwell exhibited was concerning to her at first, then when she expected her usual distaste of suspicion something happened.

Relena didn't feel a thing.

It was a small notion, one she had never entertained before, and it had never been an issue until recently. Perhaps the hormones she'd been fighting with this past week or so had drained her reserves. Relena decided not to delve too deeply into such a dark place. She opted to try for a more positive outlook, even if she had to fake it.

She made herself ask how Doctor J survived, if he really was on Libra in the Eve Wars. Heero had groaned and rolled onto his back. The harmless and human gesture brought a smile to her face. Relena turned into him and wondered when he became the one who showed his feelings, or when she stopped showing her own. Her hand rested on his chest. He said there was an escape pod involved but Doctor J wasn't aware of the others' survival. If anything, the five men were adept at solitude, considering they hadn't been together since the beginning. They seemed likely to leave each other to die or escape on their own. How lonely, she said. She held him tighter and calmed to his breathing, fighting to keep herself awake.

She wanted Heero to stay here with her forever. They didn't have forever. He could've held Relena all evening. Relena was positive they didn't have that. The last time he held her like that, the Preventers called him away. This felt a lot like that moment.

It was a dark and selfish thought, wanting to bask in the shield he erected for her in this moment. They were an ocean.

And they were drowning.

He wanted her to escape with him. This hospital wouldn't last forever. In a few days she'd be well enough to move to her temporary quarters, and she'd be moved periodically until he neutralized the threat. Under normal circumstances, he'd be able to track them down and make an example of the enemy.

Relena was well enough to tell the ESUN she was in good health and was planning to take a couple of weeks with a lighter workload and all major projects had to be pushed back and some handled by one of her trusted assistants. Even Sylvia Noventa had come to visit, only to stay for a day with an extended invitation to help her with any extraneous paperwork. Relena had agreed to consider her proposal in case her workload seemed too much. Things seemed normal, almost right on track to full recovery.

Except Relena hadn't said anything about her guard detail. With Duo and Trowa making appearances on a regular basis during the week, the situation would have warranted Relena making some insightful remark about being 'handled' in a manner which promoted lack of trust in the police service provided by the Colony in cooperation with the Preventers. Heero knew this. Relena seemed content to speak well of Sylvia's ideas for the next few weeks, and tried to put her feet back into the shoes fit for the Vice Foreign Minister. It was as though her life hadn't been uprooted and she hadn't been sliced into by an anonymous assailant and robbed of the life growing inside her. Relena seemed, for lack of better phrasing, emotionally and mentally ready to return to work. They moved her to a more public hospital over the weekend and her assistant brought her files.

The days following her attack and rescue were frustrating because of her inability to make peace with the painful reality that she could be attacked again. She didn't ask for him, didn't beg for his company, and most assuredly didn't ask for him to comfort her when they spoke. Heero had reassured her that, though the threat was still in hiding, she would be safe where she was. She didn't eat much, and when she did she threw up and cried. Her cycle spiraled and her hormones overcompensated. There was little she could do when not many people visited her. Then two days later she woke up from a mildly-induced sleep and ate, spoke to the psychologist, and began talking to people. She had flipped a switch and returned from a nightmare, and she spoke very well about the attack and related to the staff, reassuring them she was fine.

There was such a small detail, a closely guarded secret, which led Heero to believe there was something terribly wrong with her. Normally when One pilot was involved in her life it was a sedate season. Heero was her bodyguard, he saw the parts of her life that spiraled out of control. He was incidentally the one who saved her from a bullet, the one who held her when she cried. His mere presence preserved her.

Two pilots was company. Three was a cause of concern, four was an incident, and five was unheard of anymore. Five was the Mariemaia Incident, and even then only four were politically aligned. They were still deadly of their own accord, but not since the Eve Wars was there the full support of the most deadly guerilla force in the Colonies. Relena would have definitely mentioned their presence being of which he'd encountered few times. Most recently, it was her passion for stability in her life, where Relena put much of her weight on the Preventers in order to keep a third move from happening in less than six months. It was actually five and twenty days; she was rounding up.

That's the moment Heero knew the move would happen. Relena always was empathetic. She knew how many days it took to move her, and how far she traveled. Her ability to overlook those details was intentional. Relena hadn't seen more than three Gundam pilots in the past two weeks, and Duo had disappeared two nights ago with Quatre in his stead. Things were moving quickly for her, and she was smart enough to notice the pattern.

Relena was a force to be reckoned with when she put her best foot forward. She made the Earth move at her most resilient, and Heero knew when she said 'No,' it was time to make the choice to hold on or let go of a vendetta. Especially when her brother spoke with her one afternoon. Duo was standing guard just inside, using stealth as his umbilicus. Or, he would have been stealthy if he hadn't been chatting with her about Hilde and the business. Duo probed for information to see if she was avoiding the subject of her attackers, or even showing her contempt of the situation and the sneaking around. If Relena had told him to give her information, he would've been prone to talk to Heero and that would set off guilty vibes. She could topple whatever operation they were planning before its begun.

She made no such move.

It was imperative they never be seen in more than groups of two, hence the limited meetings at strange and random times. Heero lined them up perfectly to remove suspicion. Since he was usually in the fray of things, Heero thought for once she'd let him just handle the situation, but then he realized there was an air to her where her peaceful nature once rested. He made a point to see her often, and to make sure she had detail watching her at all times.

Relena noticed right away that Heero was around more often, and so was her brother. She had to juggle her growing fondness of having both of them close and wanting to fight her sense of being pulled away. The option wasn't strong in her mind, fighting. In fact, she was barely struggling with attachment save for Heero. Even her desire to have her brother around was waning; Relena feared Heero was next. The lingering darkness in her heart began to overcome her hope.

Duo had disappeared. Having more than two Gundam pilots was suspicious, and usually followed by disturbing news reports. Trowa had disappeared as well, and it was surprising to see Wufei making his rounds more often. He never said anything to her, but he was present outside her door almost consistently. Wufei was quiet but abiding. He never changed his schedule, or hers, and though he didn't speak out of turn when she spoke, she was not the most favorable person in his opinions of state. He watched her as a command or favor to Heero, Relena wasn't sure. But Wufei was not her friend.

There wasn't an obvious change to her personality that the public could see. Only someone close could've noticed her change, and she was making a point to distance herself. She knew Heero noticed it, knew he saw the signs. Whether or not he'd choose to aide her in healing her was another thing. The change was small, but infinite. She chose not to talk about it after a while, and tapered off from the counselor. It didn't matter to her, because her choice to do this was well-planned. She moved so carefully, made her words so convincing and subtle, that part of her was actually okay.

So when Heero kissed her temple and said he'd be back in a few days, she swallowed hard and nodded. "Wufei and Quatre will be here. Business. Protection."

"I trust you."

"They'll be able to keep you safe." Safe. That word had new meaning this month. It used to mean wherever Heero deemed safe. He had been at her side for years now, making her life less dangerous by being the more dangerous one. Now it felt like he was the only safe person she knew, the only place she could be secure.

Heero balanced on his elbow to hover over her. His thumb caressed her cheek and her hand rested on his.

And he was leaving. They stared at one another for a long minute, blues clashing. Her eyes pleaded for him to stay, an array of emotions crossing from desperation to something that could only be described as a touch of vengeance. Then he saw complete resolution, and trust dominated.

Relena was lying. The was the change. Heero knew it.

He said nothing.

But he leaned in to kiss her. She leaned into him, as much as her stitches would allow, and parted her lips. His tongue delved in to mingle with hers, and her breathing increased. The pounding in her heart. Blood pumping in her ears. Heero parted from her slowly, reluctantly. His sigh was audible to only her, and she clenched her hands in his shirt, wanting him to stay and go and be everything for her. He'd been everything to her for so long, been by her side when she needed him most, that she couldn't imagine life without him. Petty crushes as she had in her youth paled in comparison to the connection she held with him.

"I'll be back in two days." She kissed him on the lips once, twice, eyes glued to his.

"You'd better." He paused and she saw that resolute look she'd seen a few times a year. Her hands released his shirt. The last time she did, it was the first time he told her she was moving. She'd fought to make peace with the connections Lady Une made on a regular basis, but this last year took the cake. Heero looked at her like she was going to change her mind on a whim, as though a part of her was pushed past the point of consequences. She'd started to transform.

"You haven't asked." His accusation didn't leave her confused. She'd expected it just as he expected her to question his methods of execution.

"I don't intend to ask." Eyebrows furrowed, Relena saw the confusion in his eyes. She didn't have a question ready, didn't have a plan. Relena Darlian was beginning a dangerous game. He just hadn't made the connection until today. "You have to leave soon, I can tell. Do whatever it is you're going to do and come back." She kissed him again on the lips and he sat up.

"We'll talk." Relena shifted on the bed and the weight of his stare made her roll her hips some.

"I hope we can do more than talk when you get back." Heero smirked, something she'd only seen a Gundam Pilot do, really; and he removed himself from the bed. She watched him open the door and stare at her, fire igniting in her eyes and lower regions.

Forty-eight hours.