Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.
Author's Note: This one was inspired by the setting and a particular line in Adaon's 1XR oneshot, "Neglected".
Relena pressed two fingers to her temples, trying to relieve the tension even as it threatened to build into a full-blown migraine.
"Vice Foreign Minister?" Her secretary was apologetic in her tone as she handed Relena three more urgent and important messages from the President's office.
The diplomat sigh and nodded. "Try to grab some lunch, Aerin," she said with a small smile. "And drink water."
Aerin bowed lightly and hurried back to her desk. She would follow her employer's instruction but she would be eating that meal at her desk. This morning Relena had already had two meetings and missed one as the crises kept rolling in. She'd been on the phone for hours, and the clock had not yet reached the eleven.
This was the morning from hell.
Aerin looked up and saw Heero coming from several paces off. She tried to wave him down and warn him that it was an importune time, but he ignored her. Persistent, she rushed toward the door, seeking the courage to block his path.
"She's busy," Aerin said frantically.
He strode on, unfaltered, giving her only a passing glance as he swept past her into the office. Aerin followed on his heel, as if pulled along by the current he left in his wake.
Relena stilled him with an abstract gesture and continued to argue another few moments on the phone. "... I appreciate your situation, but my hands are tied on this issue. I'm afraid I'm going to need you to review the options and see if there's any other solution you can present because as things stand I simply cannot move forward." The voice coming through the earpiece had faded to more of an agitated buzzing sound by the time it reached Aerin's ears but she could read the frustration growing in the Vice Foreign Minister's expression. "You know what?" She answered harshly. "I'm going to call you back in one hour and I really hope you have a better answer than that for me. Do we understand each other?" She didn't wait for a response on her final comment before she slammed the phone down in an uncharacteristic display of irritation.
Aerin watched Relena swallow hard as she breathed and centered herself. As she turned to face Heero, Aerin saw an odd glint in her eye. Were her eyes watering?
She's never cried from stress before.
"You're late," Heero said firmly and without emotion.
Of course, Aerin thought. Heero was a common enough face around the office and it was hardly the first time she'd him hurrying her off to another appointment. He knew her schedule better than she did â better than even Aerin did â keeping her apprised of where her pubic, professional, and personal lives converged and conflicted. Aerin wracked her mind about what Relena might be missing that she wasn't already aware of but all she could think of what the 11:30 Relena had already cancelled. She supposed, then, it must be personal. He's in for a disappointment, she grinned.
"No," Relena answered flippantly. "I realize that. I'm just not going to make the meeting at all. The way this day has been, I've already had to cancel one. I'm not going to drive across town to a low priority meeting, just to be called out and whisked back here for one more chapter of the President's drama." She shook her head and looked back up at him.
"You're late," he repeated. Aerin thought it sounded rehearsed, if not robotic.
Relena knit her eyebrows, circling the desk and leaning back against it. "'Late' as in 'I'm not going'? Or have I forgotten something else? Did we have lunch? Because I just can'tâ"
Heero took a deep breath and lifted the plain brown paper bag he had in his hand before her. "You're late," he said once more. This time there was a slight inflection in the words, likely indicating their attachment to the item.
Relena looked at the bag, confused, but she moved forward and took it from him. Looking in his eyes, he reached inside and grasped the box it had obscured, pulling away the nondescript brown paper so she could see what he'd brought her.
Aerin's eyes widened. She turned and rushed to close the door behind them, so only the three stood silently in the office.
Relena's lips parted as the urgent sounds of the telephone beside her faded from her awareness. Her eyes blinked in surprise. "No," she said under her breath. "I can'tâ?"
She turned on her heel and moved to the planner on her desk, flipping through the pages frantically. "I can't," she said, again, then looked back to him in shock. She let out an uneven breath through an empty, unstable smile, trying to whisper something reassuring, but no words actually formed.
Relena swallowed and glanced over at the bathroom, then back at Heero. Without another attempt at speaking, she ducked swiftly into the side room and locked the door behind her.
Aerin heard Heero released a slow long (trembling?) breath. She could see him glance at the clock.
10:58.
They stood still and silent, waiting.
10:59.
Aerin hugged herself in the quiet, unsure what this moment would mean for Relena. It felt as though this whole thing was a surprise. Is it going to change things? If so, what?
11:00.
And what had Heero to do with the whole thing? He was a Preventer and more than a little pushy when it came to the Vice Foreign Minister. Intrusive, even, if she really thought about it. How else was he to be the one to point this out to the already overwhelmed diplomat? He'd always been helpful to her but it seemed a little bit of an overstep for a bodyguard or even a friend.
11:01.
She heard Heero swallow and she could swear she saw his jaw tighten. She didn't blame him. Surely Relena would be done by now? But there was just silence.
11:02.
She only glanced back at the clock this time because he had moved. She watched him walk to the door and turn the knob.
That was far too forward, she thought, but if Relena felt so she would say as much. Aerin would have frowned but she was growing impatient, too. She followed after him, stopping two healthy yards behind.
When the door cracked, she saw Relena's fingers slip around the wooden frame and pull it back from between them. Aerin saw the small white stick held straight down at her hip. Relena's eyes were red and glistening with tears.
She gazed into Heero's eyes for several long, silent moments. He reached out and gripped her shoulder as if to steady her. She dropped her head, letting her hair fall forward to where it obscured her expression. She raised the test with to where she could hold it with both hands.
Aering couldn't see the result from where she stood, but she could hear Relena's voice.
"What are we going to do?" Relena whispered.
Heero brought his second hand up to her chin, lifting her face until she met his eyes. Aerin could swear she could sensed him smile, but it might have been her mind playing tricks on her.
"We're going to raise them."
Relena hiccuped and smiled nervously.
Aerin's smile grew even broader still.
Relena was late, and it was about to be the talk of the town.