It was getting late.
Relena paced her office, unable to sit calmly behind her desk any longer. Hilde still hadn't called. The car bomb had gone off around 7 a.m. on the colony—or 5 a.m. Relena's time. She'd kept a nervous eye on her phone all day, but the only calls had been work-related. All she had were her news feeds, which got increasingly worse with every update. A bomb in the colony spaceport. Two suspects dead. A third suspect, critically wounded, in Preventer custody.
Ordinarily, she would have gone home early and waited for a call there, where she could be as anxious as she wanted. But she still had two appointments and a dinner engagement to get through, and it would seem suspicious if she canceled. She had no official ties to the colony; to her, it should be just another of those incidents that cropped up from time to time. She would speak out against it, of course, but there was little else she could do without drawing unwanted attention to the colony. She wanted Faith be safe, and that meant that she couldn't give one small colony any unwarranted special treatment.
She stood at the window and watched as rush-hour traffic crawled past on the freeway. The sun hadn't quite started setting, but the daylight was growing tired. Relena didn't know how she was going to manage dinner. She couldn't eat. Not now.
The intercom buzzed. Relena jumped. My 4:15 must be early, she thought. Well, that's fine. She pressed the button on her phone.
"Call on line two," Julia, her secretary, said. Relena's stomach clenched—it was so late. Was it bad news? "It's your husband. Should I tell him you're in a meeting?"
"No," Relena didn't particularly want to talk to her husband—she hadn't seen him in six weeks, but it was still too soon—but he probably had the news she'd been waiting for. "I'll take the call. Send it through, Julia."
Relena straightened her jacket and smoothed her hair while she waited for Julia to transfer the call. It didn't matter. Heero would know how nervous she was—he had an infuriating sixth sense about her emotional state, no matter how collected she tried to appear. The phone rang, and she took the call on her vidphone.
"Hello, Heero."
"Relena."
He looked disheveled, worse than she'd seen him in a long time. His suit was wrinkled and there was a small tear in his jacket. There were circles under his eyes, as if he hadn't been sleeping well, and it looked like he'd lost weight. He also needed a hair cut in the worst way. But his eyes were still that beautiful, deep blue, and his gaze was still sharp with the same intensity that had first attracted her to him when they were just teenagers. Even over the video screen, that look was enough to bring warmth to her cheeks.
"I've been following the incident from this morning," she said, knowing that he needed no preamble. She could tell from her call log that he was on Earth, but she knew from her publicist that he'd been on the colony earlier. The woman had had a screeching fit on the phone over Heero's impromptu press conference that afternoon. Relena had only laughed. Poor Heero. He still couldn't deal with journalists. "What's going on?"
The ghost of a smile lit his face. She frowned.
"I have something for you," he said. It sounded like he was trying for subtlety, but she wasn't in the mood. Julia was buzzing again, doubtless her 4:15 had just walked into the outer office.
"I don't have time for this," she snapped. "You know what I want to hear. Tell me! No codes. No games. I don't care who might be listeni—"
He took her at her word and dragged someone else in front of the camera. Relena gasped. Her daughter grinned.
"Fay," she whispered. "Fay! You're on Earth. You're okay? Nobody hurt you?"
Faith's grin softened into a gentle smile. She looked so much like her father…
"I'm fine, Mom," Faith said. She shot a glance up at Heero. "Let go of my hair. I'm not a puppy, and that isn't a leash."
At least Faith wasn't afraid to stand up for herself. Relena was proud of her; it took a lot to stand up to Heero. He just had that way about him.
"Then stay where I can see you," Heero muttered. "There are too many people here. It's not safe for you to just wander around. I can get my handcuffs out again."
Faith rolled her eyes. "And I can escape again," she replied. "Jeez."
"Fay. Has he hurt you?" Relena asked doubtfully. She didn't honestly think Heero would harm their daughter, but—he'd done stranger things before. Handcuffs? She thought. Really?
"I'm fine," Faith repeated. "He's a nut. It's okay when it's just the two of us, but he goes all overprotective and psycho when we're in public. It's getting old."
Relena bit her lip to hide a smile and knew that Heero saw and understood the gesture. She knew exactly what Faith was talking about—she'd been on the receiving end of that treatment before—and she didn't say a word. Infuriating as Heero could be, his dedicated watchfulness was exactly the kind of protection she wanted for her only child.
"I want to get her someplace safe," Heero said, none-too-gently changing the subject. "I'm assuming you want to see her."
"Of course I want to see her," Relena said, scowling. "How could you possibly think I wouldn't want to see Faith?"
Heero only shrugged. He hadn't been himself around her lately. Six weeks apart probably hadn't helped any.
"I'll be home in fifteen minutes."
He nodded and ended the call without saying goodbye. But that, at least, was typical.
Relena began packing up what she needed to take home. She'd make up an excuse to cancel her appointments, and dinner with Eric could wait until another night. So what if it looked suspicious. This was the kind of thing she paid her PR team to handle.
The screen went black, and all that was left was the graffiti on the projector screen. Dumbass Earth kids, Faith thought. Public phone booths were gross. Public phone booths on Earth, she realized, were especially gross. The wad of dried up chewing gum stuck to the bottom of the screen turned her stomach. Her dad's cell phone wasn't working, though, and Faith's had been stolen. They really didn't have another choice.
Faith caught her dad staring at her, wearing his cold, unreadable expression. Great, she thought. I wonder what I did this time.
"What?" she asked. He fixed her with a stony glare, and she did her best to return it in full.
"How long have you been talking to Relena?" he asked. His voice was deadly calm, but Faith had a feeling that her dad was anything but cool and collected on the inside. Still. She wasn't going to let him intimidate her.
"Take it up with Mom," she replied. And then, because she was curious, she asked, "How did you know?"
He pushed her out of the phone booth without answering. She followed him—because she knew he would drag her if she didn't—but had to stop short when they reached the window.
The space harbor had been built high on a plateau overlooking the city. The sun was just starting to set, and the entire city was bathed in pink light. It was huge, spanning for miles as far as she could see, filled with skyscrapers and parks and cars rushing about on wide ribbons of freeway. Water glittered on the far side of it all. Could that be the ocean? Faith wondered.
It was a lot to take in all at once.
"Just this one city is bigger than an entire colony, isn't it?" she asked. Her dad had noticed she was missing and retraced his steps to find her. He didn't seem angry, though, or even impatient. He'd apparently gotten over his pique.
"Yeah," he replied. He grabbed her shoulders and turned her slightly, pointing out a building near the horizon. "Do you see that house? The villa on the hill by the ocean, with the high walls?"
Faith nodded.
"That's where we're going." He let her go, took a step back. "Let's not keep Relena waiting any longer than we have to."
"Right," Faith agreed. She was eager to see her mom. Their phone conversations were always the same—few and far between, and all too brief. It just wasn't enough.
"Come on," her dad said. "I have to get my car keys out of storage before we can leave."
"Why did you leave your keys in storage?" Faith asked. He shrugged.
"I wasn't going to need them in space," he explained. "It just seemed easier."
Storage was a row of lockers just inside the secured area of the building. Heero fumbled in his duffel bag for the little plastic key, hoping he hadn't somehow lost it. He'd never misplaced one before, but there was a first time for everything.
Impatience made him rush, and anger made him clumsy, and he started to wonder if he really had left the key out in space somewhere. It would be embarrassing to have to call security over to open the locker for him.
How could Relena do that? He thought, his mind only halfway on what he was doing. They'd had an agreement—no contact with Faith until he'd found the terrorists. It wasn't safe, not when their communications would be so easy to trace. It's probably how they found her after all this time.
He stopped fumbling blindly in his bag and started searching properly, reminding himself that he couldn't talk to Relena until he found the key. It was beginning to look like he'd lost it somewhere.
But it was there, down underneath everything else, as small things usually are. He stuck it in the lock and twisted it savagely.
It broke.
It was, he decided, appropriate for the kind of day he'd been having. He peered at the lock carefully, trying to figure out what to do. He couldn't fix the key, but the little latch was almost up. A credit card wouldn't quite fit in the available space—probably to help deter thieves—but he could use his penknife to jimmy the locker open.
Except his penknife wasn't in his jacket pocket. Or his pants pocket. It must have fallen out at some point. Great, he thought. It wasn't just that he'd lost a useful tool; the penknife had been a just-because gift from Relena. He'd had it for years, and the thought that it was probably somewhere on L2 was irritating.
"Something wrong?" Faith asked, peering over his shoulder at the broken locker. Even after their long day, she was a bundle of energy. One that got bored far too easily.
He shrugged. "We'll just go find a security guard. I'm sure they have the tools to take care of this."
He waved at the locker, disgusted. Faith had a look at it and made a face.
"What a crappy setup," she muttered. "It isn't all that secure, either. I bet people break into these all the time. I bet Lexi could break into one of these." Faith took her old stuffed rabbit from its place in his bag. She lifted up the edge of its little bowtie and pulled a small screwdriver out of a hole in the back of its neck. "I'm kind of surprised you never found this."
He'd always wondered why the stuffed animal seemed to have a spine. Thinking back on it, that little screwdriver answered a lot of questions—like how his laptop had mysteriously gone to pieces when he'd left it unattended one afternoon.
"You were two," he said, incredulous. Faith was a mystery, and Heero wasn't used to being surprised. Most people were pretty predictable. He didn't know whether to laugh out loud or throw his hands up and admit defeat. He settled for silence.
"I was smart for my age," she replied flippantly. "You knew that. Or I thought you did, anyway."
She was still smart for her age. It was too bad the smartass attitude came along with it. He hoped that the attitude was just part of being a teen and she'd outgrow it before much longer.
Faith popped the lock open and Heero retrieved his car keys. He stuck what was left of the broken key inside the locker—he didn't feel like turning it in and explaining things to security. When he turned back to Faith, the screwdriver had disappeared, probably back into its old hiding place. He didn't care. It wasn't a big deal, not really. But he wondered what else she had in store for him.
"Let's go," he said, grabbing his bag. There was no point in wasting time wondering what other surprises Faith might have up her sleeves. She was as unpredictable as she'd ever been; she wouldn't be herself without that unknowable aspect.
Relena chewed on her bottom lip as the phone rang. Come on, pick up, she thought. Don't tell me he's already waiting at the restaurant.
Just as she was about to give up, Eric answered. He seemed pleasantly surprised to see her, at least at first. His smile fell when he saw the look on her face.
"Don't tell me you're canceling on me again," he said. Relena grimaced.
"My husband is back on Earth," she explained. "He's spent the last six weeks visiting friends in the colonies, so I'm taking off early to see him."
It wasn't quite a lie. As far as she knew, Heero really had been in space for the last six weeks. If it wasn't for Faith, he'd probably still be there. Their last argument had been devastating. Agreeing to a trial separation had been worse; it brought up too many mixed feelings and insecurities. Relena didn't know if they could resolve things or not, but they couldn't keep ignoring their problems now that Faith was back in the picture. From what she'd seen of her friends' relationships, kids always complicated things. She bit her lip again and realized she'd been quiet too long.
"I really do want to meet with you again, Eric," she said. It was the truth, although she wasn't sure it was a good idea with her personal life in a near-catastrophic state of disorder. "Can we do lunch on Monday?"
He mock-pouted. "Honestly, now, I'm going to have to assume you aren't interested if you keep standing me up like this, Ms. Relena."
Eric was joking and they both knew it. Relena flashed him an apologetic smile and got one in return. She was growing to like Eric a lot—he was handsome, funny, smart, and sophisticated. He knew how to make conversation. He was a good dancing partner and a good politician. And Relena was going to ruin everything if she kept canceling their plans to meet.
"Sorry, Eric," she said. "I'll make it up to you, really. Anything."
"Anything?" Eric asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well. Maybe it's good that you're keeping me on the hook until Monday. I think I'm going to need the weekend to come up with something suitably entertaining, if you know what I mean."
He winked lasciviously and rang off, leaving Relena to wonder what he really did mean. She was married, after all. But there was no telling with some men. She picked up her purse and left; her driver was waiting downstairs.
Faith had been expecting a beater, or maybe a boring family car. An old sedan or an SUV, or, at the very best, a well-kept Corolla or something of that nature. Her dad wasn't a flashy person, not on the outside, and he seemed to like it that way. He wasn't the type to seek attention.
She hadn't expected the machine in front of her, although she supposed she should have. She had seen the car—it was the one her parents took out on special occasions, the one her dad had snuck her out in for drives around the block on nights when she'd been a toddler and couldn't sleep. She couldn't help smiling when she remembered the time he'd sat her on his knees and let her pretend to steer it in the driveway. Her mom had been horrified, though Faith was fairly sure that the car had been in park the whole time.
"What is it?" she asked, not quite able to contain herself; she remembered the car, but not the make or model. She didn't want to seem too impressed. Even if it was the shiniest thing she'd ever seen, it was still just a car.
It was a two-seater, and it was solid black except for the manufacturer's logo and the license plate, a custom affair that read ZERO instead of a string of random characters. There wasn't a ding or a scratch anywhere in the paint. As far as she could tell, it was pretty much perfect. Faith couldn't believe her dad still had it, and in such great shape, too.
"It's a special edition Porsche Carrera," he said. "They only made about five hundred of them. It was a wedding present from your mom. It's a little ostentatious, but she's accustomed to a privileged lifestyle. She always goes overboard when it comes to gifts."
He beeped the doors open and they put their things in the trunk. Faith only had her schoolbag, and she was hit with the realization that she was stuck on Earth without a change of clothes. Ugh. Maybe Mom has something I can borrow, she thought. She was too tired, and too hungry, to worry about that right now.
Her dad closed the trunk and looked at her thoughtfully. Faith was starting to dread that look. It usually meant an uncomfortable question was coming.
"Want to drive?" he asked.
It wasn't what she'd been expecting. She wondered if it was a joke. Her dad's expression hadn't changed, but—from what she'd seen of him—he wasn't a particularly expressive guy. It didn't seem to be an attempt at humor, either, but he was so stoic that it was hard to be sure.
"You're crazy." Faith stared at her dad, but there was nothing to read in his face. "It was just a theory I had before, but now I know for sure. You're insane. There's no other reasonable explanation for this."
No sane person would willingly give his car keys to a fifteen year old. At least, not when the keys were for a classic, limited edition European sports car that had to be worth about a half a million dollars. But, Faith decided, it was probably a bad idea to hurt her dad's feelings. Especially since he might really be crazy, and there was no telling what a crazy person might do when he's upset.
"I don't know how," she finally admitted, when all he did was stare at her. "Duo keeps saying he'll teach me, but there's never any time."
It wasn't like she really needed to drive anyway. Their entire colony was only thirteen miles across. She could walk almost anywhere she wanted to go.
"You have to learn sometime," her dad said. "Your mom never did, and I don't think it was a good decision on her part. We don't have to do this tonight, but you are going to learn."
That made sense. Maybe he wasn't crazy after all. Just—eccentric.
Faith didn't care for the bossiness, but her dad was only trying to do what he thought was right. She suspected there was more to it than what he was saying, too; she could see it in his eyes, just the barest hint of sadness. Given the circumstances, she decided, there was only one thing she could say.
"Okay."
Notes: Hooray! It's finally up. I was hoping it would come out a little more slapstick, but I think this will do. Check out my other story, Behind the Scenes, for a little more about the car. :D
Thanks so much for all of the kind reviews, etc. I've been so bad about answering my messages and keeping up with everything I'm trying to read. Work has been busy lately. I'm so sorry! I'm not ignoring anybody, really!
