EPILOGUE
If he had not been promoted to special agent in charge of covert operations, Heero might have been able to leave on vacation with Relena as they had planned. But he had, and she left without him while he remained at the office trying to come up with a plan to deal with the report of a missing armada of mobile dolls as well as a fleet of mobile suits that had been secretly manufactured in space in a factory that had been derelict for nearly ten years. The people in charge of keeping an eye on any suspicious activities in space had mysteriously disappeared, but not before spending the last few years in the lap of luxury that some hefty bribes had provided before their benefactor had decided they were a liability. Heero suspected they were space dust by now.
As he climbed into the driver's seat of the convertible sportscar Quatre Winner had left at the airport for his convenience, Heero mused that Relena would be surprised that he got away from the office. She had been briefed on the security threat before she left, and she understood that he had to stay behind. Some day he hoped they did not have to put the government's needs above their own. More and more he was wanting the life his friends had with their wives and children. Instead he had to settle for catching what moments he could get with the woman he loved, especially now that he had been removed from her security detail. Neither of them wanted to be separated, but both knew it was time for him to stop standing in her shadow.
He drove the few miles to the Winner beach compound. It had once consisted of a small beach house, but now there were several bungalows spaced along the swath of beach that was co-owned by the Winner Foundation and the Phoenix Group. There were dozens of what appeared to be locals milling about nearby, but Heero knew they were security agents charged with protecting some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the Earth Sphere United Nation. That included the Vice-foreign minister.
Parking near the bungalow that he usually stayed in when he visited, he grabbed the one suitcase he had packed and went inside to change. Once he was wearing swim shorts and a tee-shirt, he slipped on a pair of flipflops and dropped a pair of sunglasses on his nose. He headed to a large canopy under which he could see Quatre sitting on a large lounge chair with Dorothy curled up against him, her head on his shoulder as she dozed while he sipped from a drink with an umbrella. There was a baby nearby in a basket, and Heero could see that it was starting to stir, so he scooped it up and sat in a chair nearby as he grabbed a baby bottle that was resting in a cooler.
Using the rim of his glass to push up his sunglasses to look at him, Quatre said, "We didn't think you would make it."
Before the baby had a chance to howl, Heero pushed the bottle's nipple into its mouth and its tiny body relaxed as it began to suck. "I got away." They might be annoyed by the truth that he was still working and that was the purpose of his visit.
He nodded in Dorothy's direction. "Up too late last night?" She looked a little haggard, but he decided to keep that to himself.
Dorothy opened one eye to look at him but did not raise her head. "I'm pregnant."
She did not need to explain any more. Heero had been with her during the early days of her last pregnancy. She challenged him to make a comment with that one open eye, and when he didn't, she closed it and smiled contentedly.
Quatre sipped from his drink and then said, "We like children."
Heero looked towards the beach where he saw Jamila building a sandcastle, her face shadowed by her ridiculous beach hat that seemed to be growing with her because he could not imagine Dorothy agreeing to a larger version of the hideous floppy hat. Quasim was carrying a bucket of water from the shoreline, obviously her helper, but he tripped at the last moment and fell into the towers she had made and spilled the bucket of water all over her. Heero snorted with laughter as Jamila screeched, grabbed the bucket and ran to the water to fill it. Quasim knew what was going to happen and tried to run away, but his stubby toddler legs could not outpace his sister and she doused him.
"Seems like you're going to have all manner of chaos in your house," Heero remarked.
Quatre smiled. "We're used to it." He had been watching the antics of his children along with Heero.
Heero saw that she had tackled her little brother and they were both laughing as they rolled around in the sand. "Where's the rest of the Maxwells?" he asked with a glance down at the baby he was holding.
Six month old Lukas Maxwell had been born on Earth, so Heero had seen him first when he was less than a day old, and because he and Relena had stood for him as godparents at his naming ceremony when he was given the middle names of both his grandfathers, Lukas Gerard, he would always have a place in his life. Heero was glad that Hilde was able to work out her family issues with Werner Richter. Her father had resumed his duties as governor of the colony, but he had already announced that at the end of his term in two years, he would not ask the council to consider him for the position again as he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Knowing that Richter was on vacation with his daughter's family, Heero looked around and spotted him further down the beach sitting on a porch facing the ocean under an awning, a woman sitting with him. Heero thought it might be Hilde, but upon raising his sunglasses to see better, he realized it was Angela Hamel.
"How long has that been going on?" he asked Quatre with a nod in their direction.
"They announced last night that they are engaged. You'll have to ask Duo the details, but I know they met at the wedding, saw each other several times at government meetings, and I guess they hit it off. As for the rest of the Maxwell's, they are out in the water."
Heero looked out to the water and saw Duo and Mia, both with their own surfboards paddling out to meet a wave. Continuing to scan the water, he saw Hilde and she was with Triton who was obviously instructing her. He watched as Triton coaxed her onto the board, then looked at Duo and Mia who had both scrambled on theirs just before the wave came upon them. While Duo and Mia seemed to be expert surfers, Hilde did not make it far before she fell off the surfboard.
"Does Jamila surf?" asked Heero. The girl in question had returned to her sandcastle to salvage the mess Quasim had made.
"She was surfing earlier but tired out," Quatre told him.
Duo and Mia planted their boards in the sand, and as Mia went to help Jamila, Duo went into the water to pluck Hilde from the waves. He said something to Triton that made Hilde shove him so hard that he fell in the water and she stomped away from them.
She reached them before the two men, and she was surprised to see Heero holding her child. "I was hoping to use feeding Lukas as an excuse for quitting my lessons for today," she said with a huff. "Otherwise I would have left him with my father. Now I'll have to go out to catch the next wave."
Heero smiled, but he did not give up the baby cuddled comfortably in his arms. "Don't worry. I plan on taking your teacher away for a bit, so I think lessons will be done for the day. Where's Relena? I didn't see her in the bungalow."
"She went to town for something. You know it's Jamila's birthday today."
Heero knew it, and that was why he decided to leave the office without a solution to his problem. He had identified the parties behind the growing army, but he needed a way to infiltrate them. As he was flying to Barbados, he came up with the perfect solution and he was walking straight towards him now.
Duo grabbed a couple of towels and tossed one to Hilde as he wiped himself before reaching out to pat Heero on the shoulder. "Jamila is going to be happy you made it for her party."
"Not as happy as when she gets her gift," remarked Triton.
Dorothy opened her eye to look at them. "For the record, I object."
"Overruled," said Quatre with a snort.
Heero looked at Triton. "Have you been teaching Relena to surf?"
"She's a natural," he said with a grin. "Then again, the waves aren't that high here." He looked at Hilde. "Don't worry, you will get the hang of it. I'll make it my mission to see you ride the waves."
Heero saw that the baby had finished half the bottle, so he took it away and then handed him over to his mother to burp. He would rather not be splattered with the cocktail of mother's milk and stomach juices.
Standing, he said, "Can I have a word with you, Triton?"
The other man shrugged and followed Heero out of hearing distance of the group under the canopy. When he finally stopped, Triton said, "Seems like you have something serious to say."
"It's more or less classified," he told him. "I don't know if Relena told you anything about what is going on."
"Only that someone seems to be planning to make trouble between Earth and the colonies again. There aren't many people that want to see that happen."
"Yes," said Heero with a sigh. "But that small bunch of people have a lot of power and money and they don't like seeing changes that diminish what they have."
"Are you thinking of someone in particular?" asked Triton.
"A couple of arms manufacturers that have been put out of business. There are reports that Julius Mason has been critical of the government. His family supplied parts to the Romefeller Foundation and he has been either unwilling or incapable of finding another use for his family's manufacturing business. In the colony, Franco Romano has seen his fortune dwindling since his mobile suit factories have been shuttered for several years. The two of them have been communicating using corrupt Preventer agents as intermediaries."
Triton raised a brow. "Were you able to catch them?"
"They're gone. I'm sure you know the people we are talking about still have the resources to make someone disappear in space. The damage has been done." Heero went on to explain what had happened and Triton was as concerned as he was that they would have to act to avert a war.
"We can't do anything until we have proof of a conspiracy to overthrow the governments, both here and in the colonies," Heero concluded. "The colonies don't like Earth's overreach and mobilizing the Preventers against a prominent businessman on L3 without any concrete evidence would give them a reason to refuse to allow us to do our work in space. There was vocal criticism of the Preventers after what happened on L2 with the first families. We're starting to look like Earth's strong arm when all we want to do is maintain peace."
"You're telling me this because you want me to do something," concluded Triton with a twisted smile.
Heero would rather someone else give him the assignment because he did not approve of the things Triton had been asked to do even if Triton did not seem to mind. "Franco Romano and his wife have an arranged marriage. Both families brought a lot of money to the table during the war in order to grow their fortunes. He is not interested in women and cares as little about her personal life as she does his. Although they live together, they maintain separate lives."
"Whose life do you want me to insert myself into?" asked Triton blandly. "His or hers?"
Heero could not tell if he cared either way. "I'll leave that up to you."
"I'll direct the circus to that colony and make the determination when I meet them. I'll work them both and see which one is more interested."
Blowing out his breath, Heero said, "I wish I didn't have to ask you to do this."
Triton put his hand on his shoulder. "It's just sex. Look at it this way. I can help keep peace while doing something I enjoy. I've seen the way you look at Relena. You know what I mean."
"It's not just sex with us," Heero told him. "I hope that some day you learn that with a woman you love."
"The day that happens, you'll lose a valuable asset in the field." Triton swaggered away and Heero saw that Relena was walking toward the canopy carrying a round box with a large pink bow followed by Margie Milton carrying a birthday cake.
Heero came to the canopy at the same time as Jamila who was bouncing excitedly as she eyed the box that was shaking as Relena tried to hold it.
"Happy birthday, sweetheart," said Dorothy as she gathered Jamila onto her lap. "This gift is from all of us."
"Not so much your mother," pointed out Quatre which made everyone chuckle when Dorothy shot him a dark look.
Relena leaned down and held out the box to her. Jamila reached for the ribbon and when she pulled on one end to unravel it, the top suddenly flew off and a small furry head popped out of the box. The puppy leaped into Jamila's arms as she cried out with joy. Heero doubted he had ever seen her so happy.
As she hugged the nervous puppy that was licking her face, Relena set aside the box and came to take Heero's hand and leaned in to kiss him. "I'm glad you could make it."
"I would not miss this," he said with a smile.
The puppy settled into Jamila's lap and she held it close as she turned to look at everyone. "Thank you! This is all I wanted for my birthday. Uncle Heero, was this your idea?"
He snorted. "I'm not your uncle." It had been his idea, but he wanted a bigger dog, not the yappy terrier that had been decided upon. They had all argued over breeds through emails and text messages for weeks until Hilde had made a list of pros and cons and after several rounds of voting, this dog had won over his choice. He considered getting a dog for himself, but decided against it because he was away too often and would not have time to care for it.
"You will need to learn to take care of her," Dorothy told Jamila. "She needs to be fed and walked so that she can relieve herself. You should do that now."
"She doesn't need a walk," announced Jamila. "She already peed on me."
As everyone else chuckled indulgently, Dorothy sighed with exasperation and looked at Heero. "Uncle Heero, take Jamila to clean up."
Heero released Relena and held out his hand to her. "Let's go for a swim. We can talk about what you want to name her."
As they walked to the beach, Jamila holding his hand with one hand while encouraging the puppy to follow her, he could hear Dorothy complaining that it was only the beginning. Heero knew she would accept the dog, if only because her daughter loved it. Mia had joined them in their walk, and he did not need to offer any opinion about names because the two girls seemed to have discussed this before and were now trying out the different names they had chosen. Quasim was following them as fast as his short legs would allow, so Heero stopped and waited for him to catch up as Mia and Jamila were deciding between the names Muffin and Button.
Looking back at the canopy, he saw that Relena was watching them. This latest trouble was not going to be the last, and while they were not even thirty years old, he was already starting to feel as though their lives were passing them by. Tonight, he would ask her again to marry him. He did not know what he would do if she refused, again, but he might have to accept that Relena could not commit to marriage.
She suddenly moved away from the others and headed towards him. He was standing in the water up to his ankles as Mia and Jamila splashed each other, Quasim and the dog with water. They were giggling and screeching, and the dog was yapping incessantly as Relena came to him and put her arms around his neck and leaned in to kiss him.
"I saw that look, Heero Yuy."
"What look?"
She kissed him again. "I didn't like being here without you. I cried when I left you behind. I don't want to feel that way again. If your last offer still stands, then I accept."
His last offer had been at Duo's wedding over a year ago. "Seems like there should be an expiration date on a marriage proposal," he grumbled.
"There would be if we didn't sleep together almost every night," she said with a sniff. "Do you want to make it official or not?"
"Can we get married here?" he asked, liking the idea of a beach wedding with just his closest friends.
She seemed startled at first and then she said, "We can do it as soon as we get a license if you want."
"You don't want a fancy wedding in a Sanc Kingdom cathedral?"
"The only thing I need at my wedding is you, silly." They shared a long kiss that ended when he felt tugging at the hem of his shorts, and he broke the kiss to look down at Jamila.
"Can I tell everyone that you are getting married, Uncle Heero?"
"Why not?" he said with a shrug, and then added. "I'm not your uncle."
Jamila ran back toward the canopy where everyone was waiting for her to return so that they could have cake and ice cream. She pulled off her hat and was waving it as she shouted, "Uncle Heero is getting married!"
END
Well, I finally finished. I have the stirrings of another story in my mind, but I don't think I have enough time to work on it quite yet. I'm still teaching, so that makes for a pretty chaotic time these days, what with hybrid and distance learning. I don't want to start a story and then stop like I did with this one when things happening in my own life make it impossible for me to concentrate on writing since it's just a hobby.
I want to thank everyone who read this story, and I appreciate your comments.
