The Cottage

Bright lights nearly blinded him, or at least made it impossible to see more than shapes; he could see nothing distinguishing about the men gathered around him. Eyes that at one time had opened wide, darting to try and make out that which was impossible, now rested closed. Time had taught him there was no point in struggling against the restraints, no hope of seeing more than they wanted him to.

This was where they hurt him. Distantly he thought he might have once asked them why, but he had been different then, someone else. He felt the sting of a needle in his arm, though he was unsure whether they were taking blood from him, or injecting something. He knew the answer would come soon enough, in the form of pain.

"He needs to be perfect."

Those words were a constant in his life as he was instructed and trained, each new skill drilled into his young mind. Each new test was expected to be completed, even as his fingers struggled to complete the as yet unfamiliar task. Foreknowledge of what failure would bring made for hesitancy, but a mistake could easily end in worse.

They'd poured knowledge into his mind, and opened his eyes to possibilities they demanded become realities. And all the while, they demanded perfection.

Heero's eyes snapped open the minute he felt a presence at the door to the room. Even in sleep, his mind remained ever vigilant towards his surroundings. He couldn't risk being caught unaware. They'd drilled that out of him at a very young age. Being forced to rest on his stomach didn't help matters, he felt vulnerable in this position.

"I'm sorry," a soft voice apologized from close to the door.

It took Heero's eyes a moment to focus on the face of the woman coming towards him. Early morning light filtered into the room, and shone off pale aqua eyes that watched him from a face framed with long blond hair. Heero regarded the woman for a moment, completely unsure what to make of her. Until yesterday she'd been nothing more than a potential target; that was how he'd been trained to view the world.

She knelt down near the head of the bed, her face coming into a pool of sunlight that was spilling across Heero's shoulder. It caused her hair to glow like gold. Heero felt his left hand, still resting near his face, twitch slightly, and he tore his eyes away from her face. What was it about this woman? He couldn't understand why he felt compelled to run his fingers through those long strands.

"What time is it?" he forced himself to ask, his voice gravelly from sleep.

Relena shifted a little closer to the edge of the mattress, her lips—something he'd never bothered to notice on anyone, beyond being able to read them—turned up in a soft smile. "It's still early," she told him, tucking some of that loose hair behind her right ear. "Sally asked me to check on you, see if you wanted some breakfast..." she said, eyes watching his. She looked directly into him, and he just couldn't understand what about her was so different.

Tearing his eyes away, Heero shifted on the bed, or tried to. He wanted to be up and on his feet, preferably moving away from here. It was not safe for him to remain in one place for long, or to be around people right now. As his body tensed, readying to try and push himself up, Heero's eyes flickered back to her face, and those eyes, so open and inviting, so different from anything he'd looked into before.

Heero bit the inside of his lip, trying to focus. He'd been sure he'd escaped them, he'd used all the skills they'd worked so hard to make second nature to him. But as the apartment had proven, he'd missed something. Heero's eyes shut tightly, remembering the words of punishment he'd heard time and again. 'All things are difficult, before they're easy.' He had learned the truth of those words, he'd had to. Failure wasn't tolerated.

The light touch of a soft hand on his wrist brought Heero out of his dark thoughts. Heero realized he was trying to push himself up on the bed, with a body that had stiffened up overnight. "Just relax," Relena said, and her voice sounded odd to his ears. He looked at her face, and he supposed this must be what concern looked and sounded like.

He'd seen the expression on her face a few times now, but was still unsure if his assumption was correct. They hadn't trained him to know such things, they certainly hadn't shown him any concern. Heero stared at Relena's face, and those shining, open eyes that hid nothing of what she was feeling. He didn't exactly understand the emotions he saw there, but he knew there was no threat in her. And his body relaxed back down on the mattress, making those lips tip up again.

Resting his head against the pillow, Heero shifted slightly, and found his left hand reaching out towards her face. His eyes felt captivated by the expression he found on her features. She had smiled at him once, she hadn't even known him then—still didn't if he was honest—on the sidewalk outside the brownstone. It had been raining when he looked up and met her eyes, finding himself instantly locked in that gaze.

Heero didn't understand why he'd let himself trust her when she'd asked for it. At first he thought it had only been out of desperation, hearing the sound of the oncoming sirens, the clear approach of danger. But each time she'd asked him for trust, whether it was leaving the apartment, or stepping inside the vet clinic, Heero hadn't hesitated to give it.

Blinking, Heero's eyes focused, and he found himself staring at his hand, which was now lightly cupping Relena's right cheek. His thumb brushed along the bottom curve of her lower lip, and the corners of her mouth turned up in a gentle smile as he watched. Heero's eyes left her mouth and found her aqua eyes glittering as they watched him, and that smile grew. He didn't understand it, but a part of Heero realized that expression was meant for him.

Relena's right hand came to rest on the back of his wrist, keeping his hand against her cheek, and those stunning, expressive eyes briefly closed. "I need to leave," he said, and while it was the truth of the situation, Heero was shocked to find it wasn't what he wanted.

Those eyes opened, and they regarded him widely with evident concern, her hand tightening on his wrist, though her hold was still loose enough that he could pull away if he wished. "You're in no shape to be going anywhere," she said, her voice far more firm than those gentle eyes studying him. It brought to mind the orders Sally had given the day before, a tone Heero had felt conditioned to respond to.

Heero tried to push himself up again, this time using his right arm, with his left still held against Relena's cheek. "You're in danger the longer I'm here," he forced out through gritted teeth, as he struggled to push himself up.

"I don't want you to be alone," Relena said with such a note of conviction in her voice that it surprised Heero. He sensed something else in her words too, was it worry? Worry for him?

Shaking his head slowly, Heero didn't want to get the pounding started in his temples again from the other day, he looked at her. "It's all I know," he said firmly. While his every waking moment had been either physically or electronically monitored, by scientists and trainers, Heero had been alone in every way that mattered for as long as he could remember.

Relena's free hand came to rest on the side of his face that he'd lifted from the pillow, and her touch halted his painful attempts to rise. Heero found himself falling back into those stunning eyes. "Anything new is difficult," she told him with a gentle encouraging smile, "but when it's right, it gets easier."

Heero stared at her for a long moment, feeling like the warmth of the sun spilling across his body was nothing to the warmth her smile seemed to spark inside of him. That sensation seemed to radiate from her hand pressed to his cheek, and he felt lost in the light that shone in her eyes. Heero felt himself shiver, unable to understand what this virtual stranger made him feel.

"Trust me," she said softly, her face so close to his that Heero could feel the light touch of her breath against his face.

He stared at her, once again feeling himself wanting to give that trust, though it made absolutely no sense. He'd only ever known to be wary, OZ's training and treatment had seen to that. So why, when this stranger asked for something Heero didn't even know he possessed, did he want to freely give it, time and time again?

Heero felt the softness of her skin against his cheek, the tips of her fingers trailing lightly through the hair at his temple. "Why?" he had to ask, and that single word encompassed so much more than it should have been able to. Certainly more than he meant to express.

Relena's eyes widened a little, but her lips remained turned up in that smile, though Heero thought it had taken on a slightly sad note. "Why trust me? Or..." she asked and trailed off, clearly inviting him to say more.

"Why are you willing to take the risk?" was the first of several questions floating around Heero's head.

"Because it's the right thing to do," Relena told him without hesitation, and her eyes suddenly fluttered from his face, her cheek warming beneath his hand. "And because I care about you," she admitted softly.

Heero blinked slightly, unable to understand why those words struck his core as they did, and he refocused himself on what was important here and now. Pushing himself up a little further off the bed, Heero bit back on a groan that wanted to escape his throat. "You don't even understand the risk," he managed to say instead. Did he even truly understand the risks himself? Heero had been sure he'd left no trail for OZ to follow.

He'd even scoffed that their training, so complete, could be turned against them. But then there was the bomb. Heero's mind turned that over quickly, considering the attack from all angles. How had they known where to send it? That was the critical question Heero needed to answer, and as his mind twisted on that Heero forced himself up into a sitting position.

"You shouldn't be moving," Relena protested, her hand leaving his to try and stop his movements.

It hadn't taken much for Heero's mind to settle on the only possibility that answered all his questions, and the prospect put them in much more danger than Heero had expected. "I need to get out of here," he said firmly, wincing as he was forced to try and fend off Relena's attempts to prevent him from getting up.

"Sally!" Relena called suddenly.

…

"If even half of what he told you is true," Wufei said from where he leaned back against the kitchen island, "who was it sending these letters to him? And why send a bomb?" he asked with a scowl, his left hand propped behind him on the edge of the countertop while his right held his mug of coffee. "If they would search for him at a hospital, why try to kill him in the first place?" he added before taking a sip from his steaming mug.

Sally sat relaxing at the kitchen table, and gave Wufei a look over the rim of her own coffee cup. She took a fortifying sip of the strong black brew before answering him. "You ask these questions like you honestly expect I'd somehow have the answers," she told him dryly.

Wufei's expression darkened as his brows drew together. "Why haven't you demanded them?" he asked, in what Sally felt was a bit of a demand itself.

"It's been a fairly hectic eighteen hours..." Sally reminded him with a pointed look, her lips tipping up when he had the decency to grudgingly nod.

Wufei grunted softly. "We'll need to get them sooner or later," he muttered, taking another sip of his coffee. "I don't like not knowing what I'm in for."

Rolling her eyes, Sally got up from the tabled and walked over to Wufei. "And I clearly love it so much," she told him with light sarcasm as she entered his personal space, and slipped her free hand across his right shoulder.

Wufei eyed her critically from the corner of his eyes, one eyebrow sceptically raised. "Then why do you read those books?" he asked flatly.

She chuckled at his expression, enjoying the scent of coffee on his breath as he spoke. "They're meant to be an escape," she told him, lightly pressing her lips to his. "They weren't meant to prepare me for this." Wufei's head tipped towards hers to return the kiss, though his expression remained sceptical.

"Sally!" Relena's worried voice shattered their quiet moment, as she called from down the hall. The doctor didn't like the sound of her friend's voice one bit, and immediately put aside her coffee mug to go and see what was happening.

"What is it?" Sally asked coming down the hall to the first guest room. She turned the corner before a reply came, and her expression darkened at what she found there. Her patient was sitting up on the edge of the bed, clearly trying to get to his feet, while Relena did all she could to keep him sitting.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded sharply of the young man.

Relena looked back over her right shoulder, her expression quickly switching from worry to one of relief. "He says he needs to leave," she said, her hands not leaving Heero's left shoulder or right wrist.

"You're in danger if I stay," Heero ground out, clearly sore and frustrated.

Sally felt more than saw Wufei come up behind her to stand in the doorway, his steady presence always welcomed at her back. "You aren't going anywhere, as you are right now," Sally said firmly, using that authoritative tone that Heero had responded to so innately the day before.

Heero's head came up sharply, dark eyes meeting Sally's and she didn't like the wild light in those stormy eyes. "They can find me," he growled.

"How?" she asked him simply, folding arms beneath her breasts.

"Tracking device," he said flatly, and Sally would have called it ridiculous had it not been for the last eighteen hours and their conversation in the car.

"Did you know there was one?" Wufei asked, his tone a little dangerous sounding to Sally's ears, but she didn't spare him a glance as he continue to watch Heero.

The young man gave his head a careful shake, his expression showing his frustration and pain. "Only thing that makes sense..." he said intently, his breaths coming sharply through his nose, with his agitation.

Sally finally cast a brief look Wufei's way, and could see his displeasure as he stared down at Heero. "Do you know where it is?" she found herself asked as she looked back at her patient.

Heero gestured towards his left hip. "They put me out once..." he muttered angrily as he looked towards his waist. "Didn't say why, but there were stitches." His head came up then, expression determined. Sally could tell he was ready to bolt, and that was the last thing she was about to let happen.

Turning back towards Wufei, who was still darkly glaring at the young man on the bed, she placed her right hand lightly on his arm. "Wufei, be a dear and get my kit out of the back of my car." His eyes flickered briefly to hers before he nodded his head once, then turned to leave the room. Sally sincerely hoped she'd have the necessary tools to deal with this. She wasn't accustomed to making house calls, least of all for human patients.

Refocusing on her patient, Sally came deeper into the room. "Show me," she ordered, coming to Heero's side. Sally motioned for Relena to move aside and her friend reluctantly released her hold on Heero. The young man shifted as if he was going to push himself to his feet, but Sally dropped a hand on his left shoulder to stop him. "Front? Side? Or back of your hip?" she asked.

"Side," he replied quickly.

"Alright, lay back down, on your stomach," she instructed, and quickly reached to untie the drawstring of his pants as he stiffly shifted to lay back down. Relena moved towards the head of the bed, her hands offering assistance to Heero as he lay back down. Once he was settled, Relena knelt in front of his face. Sally glanced briefly at her friend. It was impossible to miss the concern Relena felt for this young man.

Sally heard the front door of the cottage open as Wufei came back inside, as she took hold of the waistband of Heero's pants and shorts and quickly drew them down. The sunlight spilling in the window illuminated a faint scar on the side of Heero's hip. Sally knelt down beside her patient, right hand reaching out to probe the skin around the scar, to see what she could feel.

Her eyes flickered up to Heero's face, seeing dark eyes watching her, when they weren't darting to Relena's face. "There's definitely something in there," Sally announced to the room as Wufei came back around the corner with her bag in hand. She accepted the bag from Wufei's hand and quickly placed it on the floor beside her.

Moving items around inside, Sally took stock of what she had, and more importantly what she was critically missing. "Damn," Sally said with a sigh, "I don't have any freezing for you this time." She glanced at her patient's face.

"Doesn't matter," Heero ground out, his eyes hard and ready for what was to come.

Sally couldn't suppress her own sigh, but at last she nodded. "Relena," she said, voice all business, "I need you to try and keep his upper half still." This wasn't how she'd wanted to spend her morning, but there was no helping it. Relena hesitantly got up from the floor and looked worriedly to Heero's face. It wasn't until he gave her a quick nod that Relena placed her hands on Heero's left shoulder blade.

"Wufei," Sally said, and glanced down the bed to see her lover already putting himself down on Heero's legs. Wufei offered her a look, not exactly a smile as that wasn't his way, but he offered her his strength and she appreciated that. "I'm going to try and do this as quickly as possible," she promised as she removed a pair of surgical gloves from her bag and worked them onto her hands.

Pulling a bottle of iodine out of her bag, Sally quickly began cleansing the skin. Once that was done, she reached for a sealed scalpel, and a few other tools she might need for extraction. With the blade poised over Heero's hip, Sally cast a glance at each face in the room. "Ready?" she asked them all, and received three very different nods. Drawing a calming breath for herself, Sally focused in on the scar, and with a sure hand made the incision.

…

"I got it," Sally's voice declared over the sound of Heero's pained gasps.

Relena released a shaky relieved breath at those words. She'd tried to keep her eyes fixed on the side of Heero's face, or just flat out closed as she leaned her weight down onto Heero's shoulder. Despite not watching what Sally was doing at Heero's hip, she felt pretty sure she knew the moment Sally withdrew from the wound, if Heero's shudder of relief was any indication.

Glancing towards the doctor then, Relena drew a slow breath. "What do we do now?" she asked, turning her attention away form Heero's bloodied hip and back to his face. Sweat stood out on his skin and his eyes were still tightly closed, but it sounded like he was breathing a little easier.

"I don't think we should break it," Sally said, and Relena could see her from the corner of her eye, her gloved, bloodied hands holding something small between thumb and index finger.

"No..." Heero said, voice tight.

"There's the river out back," Wufei suggested as he eased himself off the back of Heero's legs.

"That'll do," Sally was quick to agree, and she stripped her gloves off her hands, trapping one inside the other where she left the tracking device. "Put it in something that'll float," she said passing the blue bundle to Wufei.

Relena watched as Wufei gave Sally a look that seemed to say 'What do you take me for? An idiot?' But his lips also turned up at the same time in what looked like an indulgent smile, and his free hand brushed subtly across Sally's shoulder as he walked from the room.

"Alright," Sally said briskly as she looked back at her patient, before casting a quick glance at Relena. Reaching for a fresh pair of gloves from her bag, Sally quickly began putting them on. "The worst is over," she assured Heero, "but I'll need to stitch this..."

"It's okay," Heero said, and his eyes opened catching Relena's attention. She realized that statement was meant as much for herself as for Sally.

With a start of surprise, Relena eased her weight off Heero's shoulder and knelt down in front of his face again. On impulse Relena reached out with her right hand and placed it lightly on Heero's left. She smiled when his fingers immediately closed around the tips of hers. He squeezed them gently and Relena found herself looking at his still mostly closed eyes, unable shake the feeling he was trying to comfort her.

Glancing down Heero's body to where Sally carefully worked, Relena winced to see what the doctor was doing, but Heero didn't flinch at all away from the needle piercing his flesh. He just breathed sharply through his nose and held onto Relena's hand, his fingers warm and strong around her own.

Without realizing she was moving, Relena brought her left hand up and swept her fingers through his unruly bangs, moving the dark hair away from his face and those intense eyes. His lids lifted a little and cobalt locked onto aqua as Relena continued to run her fingers through his hair. It made no sense to her that after so short an acquaintance — no matter how unusual it had truly been — she could feel such a strong attachment to this man.

Heero released a sudden breath, and his body relaxed more fully on the bed. Glancing towards Sally, Relena could see that the doctor had finished a neat row of stitches and was now carefully cleaning the blood off of Heero's skin. As Sally reached back into her bag for a dressing for the wound, Relena saw her friend shudder slightly.

"Okay," Sally said, breaking the silence that hung over the room, "I don't know which disturbs me more. The fact that I just performed minor surgery with no freezing, or how well you handled it..."

Relena's fingers brushed lightly against Heero's forehead, and she could feel perspiration there as her thumb smoothed the lines on his skin. His eyes closed at her touch, and she thought he might have breathed a little easier. Relena looked back to her friend just as Sally finished securing the bandage in place, and returned Heero's shorts and pants back around his waist. The doctor finished by drawing the sheets back over Heero's body, up from where they'd been tossed down at the foot of the bed.

"Just rest for a bit," she ordered, as she cleaned up the mess she'd made. "I'll be back in a few minutes with some water and a little food," Sally promised before taking her bag and leaving the room.

Heero squeezed Relena's fingers, drawing her attention back to his face. He was watching her intently, though only his left eye was open, and while it appeared glassy it was no less alert. "You need to leave," he said, deep voice soft but urgent. "Take your friends and go, the river might not fool them..."

Relena looked down at Heero, as her thumb stroked from the bridge of his nose to his hairline. This close to him, Relena could see his one visible pupil dilate as he watched her. She felt a warm sensation stir in her chest as she looked into his eye. Something told her it wasn't just pain that was causing that reaction.

Squeezing his hand, Relena leaned her head a little closer to his, wanting her words to be clearly understood. "I'm not abandoning you," she told him fiercely.

…

Heero stared at Relena, feeling utter confusion at her words and conviction. His heart beat at a run in his chest, so he was certain she must have been able to hear it. This didn't make logical sense. 'Because I care about you.' Relena's earlier words echoed in Heero's head, and made no more sense to him now than they had then.

He looked intently into her eyes, and as he'd seen then, he still found no lie in her expression now. She truly didn't want to leave, and Heero could only attribute that to a lack of understanding for the danger she was in. Pulling his right arm up beside him, Heero forced himself off the pillow and onto his forearm, despite the pain and stiffness in his shoulder. He needed to make her understand.

"They knew the bomb wouldn't kill me," he told her, and saw the confusion immediately shine in her eyes.

"What?" she asked, blinking in surprise, and her hand came away from his face. Heero was shocked to find he missed the contact immediately.

"They don't want me dead," he told her flatly. OZ had invested far too much to simply end him. "They just want me back..." Heero fought to repress a shiver at the thought of returning, and what he'd face for having broken ranks in the first place.

Relena's eyes flickered across his face, her right hand still held by his left, and Heero found the contact grounding. "Do you want to go back?" she asked softly, her tone indicating she couldn't imagine that to be true.

Heero broke eye contact with her then, another shiver passing through him, but not at the thought of OZ. 'Because I care about you...' What did that even mean? And why did it cause his chest to feel so tight just thinking about those words, but more specifically how she'd said them?

Looking down his body for a moment, Heero considered his current position. OZ had sent the bomb to soften him up. No doubt they'd hoped to sweep in either at the apartment, or later at the hospital, and bring him back. They'd done a good job, and despite the training they'd drilled into him, he'd underestimated them. And that knowledge burned deeply inside Heero.

"Heero," Relena spoke his name gently, her hand returning to the side of his face. It was that contact that finally drew Heero's eyes back to her worried face.

'I care about you.' Heero swallowed hard, as he looked into those open and expressive eyes, feeling his heart constrict in his chest again. That bomb had been meant for him, but could easily have ended Relena's life. He hadn't intended to draw anyone into this when he'd stepped inside that vacant apartment. He'd also never worried about collateral damage before now.

"I don't want to risk you..." the words left his mouth, and they felt foreign to his tongue, but he also knew they were the truth. 'I care...about you,' Heero swallowed again, unable to comprehend how such simple words could shake him so much.

Relena's mouth tipped up in a smile, though it strangely didn't appear to be a happy expression to Heero's eyes. "We'll, I'd say right now that isn't your choice to make," she said with a firmness to her voice as she brought her face a little closer to his, pinning him with her gaze.

"They won't stop," Heero insisted, and found his eyes flickering down to her mouth and that rather sad smile that tipped her lips. He didn't understand how her proximity to him could cause his heart to pound in his chest, nor why he suddenly wondered what it would feel like to press his lips to hers. Unsure where that thought had even come from, Heero felt a strange warmth rise into his cheeks.

Her thumb brushed against the heated skin of his cheek, and her smile shifted subtly to one of surprise. "You saved my life," she said, shifting just that much closer to him, "let me help save yours..."

Heero didn't know who finished closing the distance between them, but he felt her lips press lightly against his. The sensation sent a shock through Heero's system, briefly overshadowing the pain from his injuries. He felt her hand clench against his, as her lips pressed more firmly to his, opening against his invitingly. Heero couldn't understand it, hadn't seen the point of such contact when he'd witnessed it during his training, but only knew his body wanted more.

…

Relena shivered, her eyes fluttering open as she pulled back from the short yet intense kiss they'd shared. She felt a strong buzz of electricity course through her body, a wild sensation warming her core from the response she'd felt from Heero. They looked into each other's eyes, their faces only an inch from the other. Relena thought she saw surprise and confusion in Heero's eyes, and she couldn't help but feel like he'd never know what it was to kiss or be kissed.

She didn't know what to say, in that moment of silence that followed, she felt frozen looking into his deep cobalt eyes. Their hands, still clasped together on the bed, felt undeniably right to Relena, even though it didn't make any sense. She told herself, she barely knew this man, although she knew more about him than he did about her. The thought that she'd never even introduced herself to Heero properly flashed through her mind.

It was the sound of Sally coming back down the hall that finally caused Heero's eyes to break contact with hers. Relena watched those open, surprised eyes grow reserved and guarded as he looked towards the door. Turning slightly where she knelt, Relena watched her friend come back into the room carrying a tray in her hands.

Sally placed the tray down on the dresser by the door, before turning to regard the two of them. The look on Sally's face as she met Relena's eyes caused heat to flare in Relena's cheeks. It was a knowing look Sally sent her way, as she gave her head a slight helpless looking shake, before she removed a steaming mug from the tray and passed it into Relena's hand.

Accepting the coffee from her friend, Relena brought the mug to her lips and took a sip. Sally also had a tall glass of water with a straw sticking out of it, which she brought to Heero, and Relena finally released his left hand so he could accept the offered water. He immediately raised himself up a little higher so he could begin to drink.

"Not so fast," Sally admonished her patient, which only caused Heero to look at her with a slight scowl, before stopping with only an inch of water left in the bottom of the glass. Sally took the glass back from Heero with a slight shake of her head. "There's some breakfast there for both of you," the doctor said as she turned back towards the door. "See if you can get him to eat something," she tossed over her shoulder before disappearing down the hall.

Relena put her mug of coffee on the nightstand, and pushed herself to her feet, to see what food Sally had brought into the room for them. She'd barely eaten anything the night before, far too stressed out by the day's events to really want to put anything in her stomach. Relena didn't feel all that much more interested in eating right now, her middle fluttering still from the kiss she'd shared with Heero.

Looking down at the tray, Relena saw two bowls of yogurt and a couple of smaller containers of granola and berries. Adding a little of each to one of the bowls for herself, Relena wondered what Heero would prefer in his. "Do you like anything in your yogurt?" She turned to face him, only to blink in surprise upon seeing Heero holding her coffee mug, having clearly just taken a sip.

He glanced at her over the lip of her mug, and gave his head a slight shake. "No," he said finally, before taking another sip of her drink.

"I don't think that was on your menu," she told him, feeling her lips turn up in a warm smile as she brought the two bowls of yogurt over to the bed.

Heero looked at her through his mess of bangs, and she could still make out in his eyes, the pain he was trying to conceal, as he took another pointed sip from her mug. Relena huffed a quiet laugh as she folded her legs beneath her, gracefully sitting back down on the floor. Putting aside her bowl for the moment, Relena kept Heero's in hand, and watched him while stirring the spoon through the thick yogurt.

She couldn't help wishing for a moment that they'd met under different, more normal, circumstances. Relena wondered what would have happened if they'd met for the first time at a bus stop, or coffee shop. Certainly, Relena had no doubt she'd have noticed Heero, with those striking features and well toned body. But would he have seen her? Would they have ever spoken, if they hadn't been thrown together by chance, and those strange letters?

Relena felt his eyes watching her intently, and she looked up from the well stirred yogurt to see his cobalt eyes staring back at her. "I'd still like some of that," she told him as he tipped the mug to his lips again.

"She should have brought two mugs," Heero said with an unapologetic shrug of his left shoulder.

"You," Sally's voice said rather pointedly, and a little suddenly from behind Relena, "are supposed to be drinking water." Relena turned and saw her friend come back into the room with a refilled glass of water for Heero, which she placed on the nightstand before taking the mug from Heero's hand.

He actually glowered at the doctor as Sally passed the mug back to Relena's waiting hand. Glancing inside the mug, Relena shot Heero a slightly unimpressed look. He'd already downed about two thirds of her first cup of the day. Placing it aside on the floor out of Heero's reach, Relena took up the spoon again, and lifted the bowl a little closer to Heero's face.

"Sally?" Wufei's voice called from the front of the house, and within seconds Relena and Heero were alone again.

Scooping a little of the yogurt onto the spoon, Relena carefully scrapped the back against the edge of the bowl before raising it to Heero's face. He stared at the approaching food, with a raised eyebrow, before she saw his eyes focus in on her face. "I can feed myself," he said, his words not defensive, just a statement of fact.

Relena felt her stomach twist with the sudden and very strong desire to feel his lips on hers again. "But not easily," she managed to say, with a smile she hoped he liked. She felt strangely determined to sit here and feed him a meal, this man who seemed to have known little to no human kindness in his life.

Without warning, Relena brought the spoon that much closer to his face, and actually touched his upper lip with the tip of the yogurt. Heero's head jerked a little, and his tongue darted out from between smooth lips to clean away the mess. Relena felt her body heat to remember the feel of their tongues briefly touching. She was about to touch his lip again, when Heero finally opened his mouth to accept the offered spoon.

Heero pulled the pillow beneath the top part of his chest, shifting slightly on the bed, so he could relax, but still easily eat what Relena brought to his mouth. He accepted the second spoonful without any hesitancy, and Relena's smile grew as she continued to feed him. She watched his face carefully as she worked, seeing what could have been amusement in his eyes, as he carefully accepted each spoonful.

She got about half the bowl into him before she paused for a sip of her coffee. Relena savoured the bitter flavour on her tongue along with the slight burn as it went down, though this cup was fast becoming too cool for her to properly enjoy. When she glanced over the rim and saw Heero's eyes watching her intently, she smiled and carefully brought the mug to his lips.

Heero's eyes never wavered from her own as he carefully took the offered sip of the coffee. As Relena pulled the mug away to place it back on the floor, she saw his lips ghost up into a smile. The expression caused Relena's heart to beat faster in her chest, and she felt her hand tremble slightly as she scooped some more yogurt onto the spoon for him. Perhaps, Relena thought, wishing to have met in more normal circumstances wasn't what she should be doing.