A/N: On a roll! Once again, enjoy. This chapter's not too dramatic, but the next few will certainly be clarifying some things... in dramatic ways. Although this is labeled angst, it's mostly because the dramatic aspects are painful rather than entertaining, in my mind. I thought about calling it suspense, but since I still haven't fully drafted the plot, I didn't know how the story would go.
In all honesty, I hadn't planned on letting the baby live this long. Oh, my bleeding heart, this story is so fun and hard to write at the same time.
-picimadar
Broken
Chapter 12
"I was wondering when you would show up," Dorothy said, her high-backed chair still facing away from him as she looked out the window. Eventually she turned around, her cheek resting against her fist. "It's rude to keep a lady waiting."
Heero took a seat across her desk. "Tell me what you know, Dorothy."
She smiled, keeping her head tilted. "You haven't changed at all." She sighed before reaching into one of her desk drawers and producing a laptop. "A lot of information is on this hard drive. I'll fill in the details.
"About four months ago I became aware that you were back in the city, and that Miss Relena was seeing you. Her work life suffered; she cancelled appointments, changed plans… more and more of her workload was falling on other people. Her priorities became… skewed."
"Is that really for you to judge?"
"Yes," Dorothy said sourly. "As her coworker and a representative for this area, I want the minister who is supposed to be coordinating peace between all of us doing her job. She faltered."
"And so you thought you could fix that?" Heero reached, taking the laptop.
"I was approached by someone who appeared to have a similar opinion," Dorothy began. "We agreed that Miss Relena needed to be reminded of her situation. He had a plan, I had the money and resources." She rested her hand back on her palm. "I never thought it would come to this, Heero, or I never would have given him anything."
"He's the one who arranged the attacks on her."
"Yes. I knew there would be an attempt. I didn't know they would be when she was alone in a dark alley or in a hospital. I never knew… that they would try to kill her. I wanted her scared, not dead."
"Why? Why terrorize her?"
"Because she simply works the best under pressure," Dorothy said. "Think to when you met her, when she took hold of Romefeller, or was taken again in the rebellion. She was terrified out of her wits then, and it got us to where we are now."
"I don't know what Une will do with you," Heero said, "but I'm not a Preventer."
"I didn't want her hurt, Heero. We may have an odd relationship, but I will always consider Miss Relena a friend and my greatest ally."
"I believe you. You cooperated, and depending what this tells me," he said, holding up the laptop with one hand, "it could change everything. Do you have a name?"
"His name is Garold Harford," Dorothy said.
"The defense minister for space," Heero said, surprised. He stood up, taking the laptop with him.
"Does it bother you that Relena doesn't know the paternity of her baby?" Dorothy asked. Heero froze briefly not turning back to her. "Because I have to admit, I felt absolutely awful that she nearly died, and that she almost lost that baby. But considering the new information, it's almost more regretful she didn't." Heero continued to walk toward the door. "As I said, Heero, I will always consider Relena my great friend, but in light of recent events, I won't be the one responsible for protecting her anymore."
Heero slammed the office door behind him, continuing along the corridor.
"How'd it go?" Duo asked from where he leaned against a wall.
"It was and wasn't her," Heero answered cryptically. "We shouldn't talk here. We need to get this analyzed as quickly as possible."
"The crew's meeting back at my place again," Duo said. "Best we do it there. We're going to have to go over that security footage too… I couldn't bring myself to watch it last night."
"I didn't get to it either," Heero lied. He hadn't been able to bring himself to let Relena go until the sun had come up and Sally had practically thrown him out of the room.
"Well that's great," Duo muttered. "I swear to god, if this gets any more complicated I'm going to lose my mind."
"I thought you had already," Heero quipped back before walking away. "I'll drive?"
"Sure," Duo shrugged. The two headed back to his suburban home. By the time they walked in the door only Sally and Wufei had yet to arrive, the rest sitting around the family room as before.
The room was practically silent, Hilde serving them all lunch, conversation reduced to greetings and pleasantries.
"Okay, can we get the fucking elephant out of this room, please?" Hilde finally said, slamming down a tray. "You two," she continued, pointing to Quatre and Heero each with one hand, "kiss and make up, or something, because this is ridiculous. No one knew you were even here, and god knows you piss Relena off," she said, turning on Heero, "and you," she continued, turning to Quatre, "you knew better, you flaming idiot. You've both already had it out by now, so can we get past this?"
Heero rolled his eyes, drawing a quick slap upside the head from Hilde. "Don't act like a child." He glared up at her before looking her shoulder at Quatre.
"I'm still pissed," he said, crossing his arms.
"You're allowed to be. Until the bloodwork comes back, or until you decide to stop treating Relena like a victim here, whatever you pick. But eventually you're going to realize that what you've decided to take out on me isn't about me. It's about her."
Duo let out a low whistle. "I need a drink, I swear to god."
"We really don't have time for this. Has anyone watched the surveillance?" Wufei asked, taking his glasses out of his breast pocket and using his laptop to remotely access the television mounted on the wall.
"I don't want to see this," Hilde whispered, and Duo put an arm around her.
The footage was grainy for a few seconds before straightening. Relena was sitting on the edge of her bed, swinging her feet carefully for a few moments before jumping down. She winced, audibly gasping stumbling against the wall and bracing herself against it. Breathing heavily, she straightened and walked to the window, drawing open the blinds.
Standing in the moonlight, she sighed, putting her hands on her barely protruding belly. "What am I going to do with you?" Relena whispered, stroking the area gently. She shook her head slowly. "I don't want you to grow up alone, but I can't give up everything," she whispered again, sniffling. Her back was to the camera, hiding her emotions, but the waver in her voice made Sally cringe. "I can't do it all."
The door opened and she whirled, the intruder stepping in. "No, Minister, you can't," he said, closing the door behind him.
"Get out," Relena said forcefully, and the man laughed. "I said get out!"
"Oh god," Hilde gasped, watching the scene unfold.
He lunged at her and she tried to move away, shrieking with fear as he drew the hidden knife and began to slash at her. Relena blocked several strokes of the blade with her hands, one cutting into her arm, blood dripping down her pale skin. She yelled again, the man trying to cover her mouth. Thinking quickly, Relena rammed him between the legs with her knee.
"Jesus Christ, Lena," Trowa muttered, Duo cheering next to him.
"See, that's my girl."
The man stumbled away and as he did Relena wrenched the knife from his hands before turning and trying to run. She had nearly reached the door, limping painfully, as he ran up behind her. The door opened, the second visitor unseen by the camera.
"Oh, no, oh-!" Quatre said, the others watching in shock as Relena cried out in terror again, turning around, the man running directly into her and the knife.
"Oh, God," Relena heaved, the man slowly falling to the floor. He reached down and wrenched the knife from his chest, the wound gurgling. "Help!" Relena yelled, "Please, somebody help!"
Dorothy stepped into the room and grabbed Relena, pulling her off of the body and helping her to the chair. "Are you okay? Relena. Relena!" Dorothy yelled, finally slapping the hysterical woman. "Stop crying. What did he say to you?"
"Oh my god, oh my god," Relena said as she heaved sobs. "I killed him. I killed him."
"Relena, please. What did he say to you?"
Relena looked up at her. "He told me I couldn't have it all… he's right. By the time I even think about getting back in office, I'll be doing it from hell." Her voice became rough, her throat raw from screaming. "I can't do this anymore. I can't have this baby. I can't do any of this."
"Relena, you're being ridiculous."
"This whole thing is ridiculous!" Relena yelled back before collapsing back into tears.
Dorothy shook her head and walked away as the nurse entered. "You might want to call the Preventers, if someone hasn't already. I'm certainly not going to be the one cleaning that up," she said to the girl, pointing to the body.
Heero walked in moments later.
Wufei stopped the video, the room silent. Hilde wiped tears from her eyes; Sally stared at her hands; Heero and Quatre were both still staring at the screen, mortified.
"How could we let this happen," Trowa breathed.
"It was a complete accident," Sally said, sounding almost defensive.
"No one's going to charge her with anything. This was completely our fault," Wufei said, closing his computer. "What did you get from Dorothy?" he asked Heero expectantly.
Heero continued to stare at the blank television for a few moments before coming to himself and opening the laptop Dorothy had given him. "I haven't gotten to anything on it," he admitted, "there hasn't been time."
"Don't stress over it. What did she say?"
"That Relena works best when she's fearing for her life, and that in the last year Relena's been shirking duty."
"The last six months, you mean," Duo said quietly, and Heero shot him a warning glare.
"So it was Dorothy who did this, then?" Hilde asked.
"Not really," Heero said. "She collaborated with Garold Harford. She gave him the resources and money, I assume, so that it couldn't be traced to either of them. She claims she wanted to scare Relena, not have her murdered."
"And you believe her?" Wufei asked incredulously.
"She had no reason to lie. She would have known just by me showing up there that we had nothing to pin to her." Heero sighed, putting the laptop down. "Lots of receipts and conversations between her and Harford, transfer requests, surveillance… Someone can sort through it," he said, putting the computer down on the table.
"Why don't you do it?" Hilde asked, leaning around Duo to look at Heero.
"I can't," Heero said.
"Well why not?"
"Because if I find anything else, I'll fucking kill him," he said back, his voice dark. The room went silent again.
"I thought you promised her you were done killing people," Sally said quietly.
"That won't mean anything if she's dead," Heero said back, his voice becoming hollow.
"She's not going to die, man. We have the fucker. We can arrest him as soon as we process this," Duo said, picking up the computer. Heero shook his head, standing up. "Dude, where are you going?"
"Back to the hospital," Heero said. "If your agents can't do their job, I will." Leaving the room, he opened the hall closet, pulling out his jacket.
"Heero, can I talk to you?" Duo asked.
"Yeah?" Heero answered back, perplexed.
The two stepped outside, Duo walking alongside Heero. "Look, man, I know this is all pretty fucked up, but you've got to figure out what the fuck you're doing," he said bluntly.
"What are you talking about?"
"The baby, man."
"I don't even know if I'm the father," Heero said, staring at his shoes.
Duo scoffed. "Why is that what matters? Relena loves you. She wants you to do this with her."
Heero shook his head. "She doesn't want to be alone. It's not that she wants me."
Duo snorted. "You are so insecure sometimes, it's fucking insane."
"What are you on about now?" Heero asked, his voice taking an annoyed edge.
"The fact that you instinctively avoid doing anything that could irreparably tie you to another person on this goddamn planet," Duo spat back.
"I didn't want this."
"Then you shouldn't have had sex with her!" Duo yelled back. "Do you have any idea what she's like when you're gone? You think she's going through hell now, how do you think it's going to be when she's alone trying to raise your damn child?" Duo paused as they reached Heero's car. "Look man… we all grew up without fathers. Don't be that guy."
Heero stared him down, Duo shaking his head and walking back toward the house, waving to him over his shoulder. Heero drove back to the hospital in silence, his mind clouded with emotions he could neither banish nor describe.
By the time he got to Relena's new room, he was completely exhausted. Opening her door, he saw her sitting on the edge of her bed, tears streaming silently from her eyes.
"What's wrong?" he asked, sitting next to her.
"I can't do this, Heero," she whispered. "I can't even take care of myself. I can take care of the entire human populace, but I can't protect myself."
"I'll protect you," Heero answered, reaching out to her, but she pulled her hand away.
"You can't, Heero. You can't always be there. You won't always be here," she said almost mournfully. "I just don't know…. I don't know how to be anything but this, Heero. This job is all I've ever done."
Heero just sat quietly, unsure of what to say. Minutes passed before Relena finally reopened her eyes. "I'm sorry. You don't want to hear this. I'm sure you've had a long day. I can't believe they would send you back here. You're not even an agent."
Heero shook his head. "No one sent me," he answered. "I came to make sure you were alright. I didn't... I didn't think you'd want to be alone." Their eyes met briefly before he looked away. "I'll go if I was wrong."
"Don't go, Heero," Relena said, taking hold of his sleeve. "You know I would never ask you to leave."
Heero lay down next to her, cradling her in one arm, reaching over to her bedside table with another. Picking up a novel, he fingered through the pages. "Is it interesting?" he asked, looking down at her.
"I don't know. I don't get to read much, it's been on my shelf all year and I haven't gotten to it."
"We have the time now," Heero said, turning to page one. He read aloud to her, his voice's smooth timbre eventually soothing Relena into a deep sleep. He reached over carefully to put the book down, turned out the light and pulled her closer, closing his own eyes.
