A/N: Oh, you lucky sods, here's another chapter considering I'm a completely unreliable updater. Probably more again soon, as I've now got time on my hands again.

As always, enjoy and review!
-picimadar

Broken
Chapter 10

Dr. Park was not a stupid woman. Her ascension through the ranks of her cohorts and peers to the position of counselor and psychiatrist at a Preventer hospital, one that served the most powerful people on the planet, had been extremely deliberate. Though she enjoyed her profession, ultimately some forces had been more persuasive than her Hypocratic Oath, the swearing in of the ESUN, or even her own seemingly outdated morals; namely, money and Dorothy Catalonia.

Sighing, the doctor rubbed her temples as she recalled their most recent conversation. She was only mildly surprised at the politician's nearly silent rage, shaking hear head recalling how the girl's face had become nearly purple with fury before she calmed down, thanked the doctor for her time and information, and left the conversation.

The doctor knew she was playing with fire. Thus far she had been indirectly responsible for no fewer than five of Dorothy's perfectly planned schemes, the latest including the unfortunate near-death of the Foreign Minister, Relena Peacecraft-Darlian.

Dr. Park sighed again, wondering if she was making tragic mistakes, when a knock sounded at her door, Heero Yuy poking his head in hesitantly. She smiled, waving him in, knowing that he had only just started to reveal his most interesting and highly relevant secrets.

"Back again, I see," she said. "To what do I owe the visit?"

"I'm just here to visit Relena," Heero said, declining her offering him a seat. "I'm not here to stay, I just wanted to ask if you've ever counseled Dorothy Catalonia during your time here."

The doctor smiled, her mouth forming a flat line as she faltered. "I'm afraid I can't tell you that, it would be a breach of doctor-patient confidentiality."

"So that's a yes, then," Heero surmised. "That's all I needed, I think. Someone will come back with a warrant. I just wanted to make sure we weren't wasting our time."

"You honestly suspect Dorothy Catalonia of this?" she asked, trying to sound as disbelieving as possible.

"That's none of your concern. Have a good day, Doctor Park," Heero said, closing the door behind him.

Wufei stood where he'd left him in the hall. "She sounds good for it, I could hear her from here."

Heero shook his head. "She knows something. If Dorothy wasn't feeling like murder before, she will now."

"Crazy bitch," Wufei muttered. "Well, I can subpoena the records, but that'll take time-"

"I can have them out of there by this afternoon," Heero said, shrugging slightly.

Wufei grinned. "Sounds good to me. Come back to our place with Sally and we can collate."

"Sure," Heero said, parting ways.

"Say hello to Relena for me," Wufei called after him.

Heero huffed as he reached her room and, hearing voices behind the door, decided to wait down the hall.

"Don't you dare lie to me," Dorothy's voice seethed, and Heero darted back to the door, practically pressing his ear against it.

"Lie to you about what?" Relena asked, obviously agitated.

"Well," Dorothy said quietly, her tone changing, her heels clicking against the floor, "a little bird told me that you and a certain Ambassador from the Colonies had a… rendezvous de deux, shall we say?" Relena said nothing. "Oh, come on, now. I thought we were friends!"

"There's nothing to tell, Dorothy," Relena said calmly. "We were drunk and definitely not thinking straight. There's nothing else to say."

"Well that's boring," Dorothy said, the bed creaking as she sat on it. "I think he's in love with you."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous," Relena scoffed. "Even if he did, nothing could possibly come of it."

"Why not?" Dorothy said, the innocent tone of her voice only barely masking her hidden anger. "I mean, he could be the father of your baby, right?"

Relena sighed. "It's extremely unlikely, Dorothy. Whatever happened with us is over."

"That's a lie."

"Dorothy, I'm not debating this with you, I'm telling you. I'm too tired for this. I think you need to leave."

"Fine," Dorothy snapped, her heels hitting the floor again as she picked up something from the corner of the room. "We all make mistakes, Relena, but some have far bigger consequences than others."

Heero practically sprinted away from the door, turning with faked nonchalance as Dorothy slammed the door behind her and walked the opposite way down the hall, ignoring him or simply not noticing. Opening the door next to silently, he stepped inside, closing it behind him.

"Heero," Relena breathed, sending a subconscious shiver up his spine. "I didn't think you'd come back."

Heero winced slightly. "I'm not going anywhere. What was that about?" he asked, nodding his head in Dorothy's general direction.

Relena rolled her eyes. "She's upset because I slept with Quatre and she thinks she's in love with him."

"Thinks?" Heero replied, opening the heavy window blinds, the morning sun beaming in.

"She loves him the way she loves me. Anyone who catalyzes her character changing in any way, she becomes obsessed with. Myself, Quatre, Treize, my brother… even you, I'm sure, although you've been much harder to find." She sighed, rubbing her hands against her face. "She's never going to let this go. She can be so… controlling."

"This isn't the first time this has happened?"

"Not even close. Since she was sworn in to the ESUN, Dorothy has tried everything she can to make sure I stay this perfect little princess. Anyone who wanted to date me, any time I wanted to just relax or take a godforsaken vacation she was there, talking me out of it, scaring them off, making it impossible for me to just enjoy anything that wasn't work." She stopped talking briefly, looking up at him. "What are you thinking?"

"Hm?" he asked, approaching her.

"You've got that look you get when you know something I don't. Spit it out." She patted part of the bed, shifting her body slowly so he could sit next to her. She was basically seated, the bed folding so she could both rest and speak to him. "You think she's behind this?"

"It's my best guess right now," Heero said. "Have they debriefed you at all?"

"Sally and Duo were here this morning. They got my testimony but it's essentially useless. I barely remember anything after I left your apartment."

"That's not your fault. It might not ever come back."

"I hope it doesn't, honestly," Relena said, shuddering slightly. "I mean look at me. They wanted to show me the video, but I told them I couldn't… I didn't want to see it." She shuddered again, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Your shoulder is feeling better," Heero noted, and she nodded.

"Sally's got me so medicated I don't think I'd know otherwise." Relena smiled. "I'm glad you're here. Heero,… I wanted to say something."

"Go on."

"I'm sorry for how I talked to you, that night."

"Relena, don't," Heero said, but she held up a hand, pressing her finger to his lips.

"Please, let me. I was angry, and hurt, but that doesn't excuse what I said. I don't want you to leave. I want you here, with me, for as long as I can have you. I love you. I want you to be happy, too."

"Relena…" Heero whispered, bowing his head. "I should be the one apologizing again."

"Wait," Relena said, leaning forward to take ahold of his chin. Turning his head slightly, she gasped. "What happened to you? Oh my goodness…" Her eyes narrowed as she let go of his face. "You fought with Quatre."

Heero shrugged, touching the bruise on the bridge of his nose lightly. "We had something to settle."

"I'm not a prize," Relena retorted. "I can't believe you would hurt him."

"I can't believe you would sleep with him," Heero replied. Relena reached out and slapped him across the face, avoiding his bruise.

"You don't get to judge me. I apologized. What else do you want from me?" Heero didn't react to either the slap or her infuriated tone, angering Relena further. "I've given you everything, anything you wanted, and all I could count on from you is that you would disappear. Somehow I'm the villain because I wanted to know what it could be like with someone else?"

"You could have asked me," Heero said, and Relena scoffed at him.

"That wouldn't make me feel completely pathetic at all." Rolling her eyes, she moved away from him, favoring her ribs. "I don't want to have to ask for someone to be with me. I shouldn't have to ask."

"There's lots of things none of us should have to ask, but we still do," Heero said.

"Oh, like what?"

"Like 'who's the father of your baby', Relena."

Relena stared at him, her flushed face instantly growing paler. "I told you, it's you."

"You don't know that," he answered, moving off the bed. "You want it to be me, but you don't know that."

Relena sobbed, looking away from him. "Well, we can't know until I have more tests done," she said weakly, "so there's no sense worrying about it. I have to see you so hung up over it," she added sarcastically.

"You don't have any idea."

"How can I when you won't even look at me?" Relena yelled, chocking back a sob, tears streaming down her cheeks. Heero looked up at her and sat back down on the bed, wiping the tears away carefully. "You don't love me," she whispered. "You don't even want me, do you?"

"Don't talk like that," Heero soothed.

"Why wouldn't I?" Relena asked, her voice breaking. "I'm disgusting. I'm so pathetic."

"You beat death," Heero said. "You're not pathetic. And you're not disgusting." Relena turned her glassy blue eyes to his as he kissed her, first on the forehead, then on her still lightly bruised cheek, then deeply on the mouth. He smiled, his lips still pressed to hers, as he heard her heart-rate speed up on its monitor. "You're beautiful," he whispered when they parted. "You've gotten through something that would have killed most people, you can get through the rest."

A light knock sounded at the door and Heero kissed her once more and stood up, straightening his jacket.

"I need you," Relena whispered as he opened the door. She watched as he shook his head before stepping out, letting Sally step in behind him.

"Everything okay?" she asked as she stepped over, placing the back of a hand against her forehead.

"Yes? Why?"

"Your monitor's all jumped, I thought…" she paused, looking back toward the door before shooting Relena a wry smile. "I guess you two kissed and made up after all."

Relena blushed. "He's… upset still, but he seems better."

"That's good, but what about you. Are you still angry with him?"

"No. He's ever been through anything like this before. It's not like he has any experience to go by. I wouldn't want to be a parent either, after being through what he has."

"No kidding," Sally agreed. "I know that you're anxious about finding out more, but I really think we should wait a few more weeks. With the trauma that you've been through, amniocentesis can be dangerous, but the good news is that we just need a blood sample to test paternity."

"Right," Relena said. "And that's completely safe?"

"Yes ma'am. I wouldn't offer otherwise. Quatre's already given me a swab, I'm sure I'll see Heero again to pick one up. If I take a sample of your blood, we should know in a couple of days, a week at most."

"A week?" Relena yelped before dropping her head back against her pillow. "You have to be joking."

"Oh, come now, Relena," Sally said as she took the girl's arm, sterilized the skin and inserted a needle, "you're not the only person in this hospital. Besides, if I rushed the results, it wouldn't be nearly as anonymous. If I put them in with all the others, I can simply have them marked father 'a' and 'b'. So, you'll wait the week, like everyone else."

"That's fine," Relena said. "I put myself in this stupid situation either way. This may be the longest week of my life."

Sally withdrew the needle, pressing a bandage to the would and putting the few vials of blood into her breast pocket. "It's funny, Heero said the same thing," she said, securing the bandage.

"About what?" the patient asked, rubbing her arm.

"Waiting for you to wake up," Sally answered, frowning slightly as she sat down on a stool near the bed. "Just before you came out, he broke in here. We'd been trying to get him to see you for days, we thought him talking to you might help preserve your brain… but he wouldn't. We thought he was just being selfish, but when he broke in here and saw you… it broke him. I found him here… he was such a mess, Relena."

She paused, looking at her friend. "He couldn't stop saying how sorry he was. How much he wanted you to wake up. I practically had to sedate him just to get him off the floor."

Relena's tears started again and she wiped them away self-consciously.

"Oh, don't be afraid to cry. I did too, seeing the state he was in. He feels things for you that he has no words for, Relena."

"That doesn't help me if all he does is run away!" Relena said helplessly, pulling the blankets over her face. "I'm so afraid, Sally. I'm so scared he's going to leave again."

"Don't be afraid, Relena. That's no good for your baby. All you can do at this point is wait and see. We're going to find out who did this, and then we're going to find out exactly what kind of man Heero Yuy really is."

Buildings away in the Preventer compound, Heero opened the door to Wufei Chang's office. "Have you-"

"Already done," Wufei answered. "There's nothing here about Dorothy. We're going to have to go deeper."

"I want a guard on Relena's floor," Heero answered. Wufei gave him a questioning look. "Dorothy was there today, grilling her." He paused, sighing. "Long story short, Relena slept with Quatre. Dorothy's pissed about it. Quatre could be… the father of her baby," he gritted out.

"Holy shit," Wufei replied, turning back to his computer. "That complicates things, but it certainly gives her motive. So, you think she found out from Park?"

"She had to. No one else has told her, but she knew when she got to Relena's room this morning what had happened." Heero sat down next to his comrade, opening a laptop.

"So, what do we have to do to break this bitch?" Wufei asked, and Heero smiled slightly.

"You're that confident I'm right?"

"You haven't led us astray yet."