Hearts In Ice
Part 13: Operation Puppy
written by NemKess
(NK: unlike the others, this will be told from both Heero and Relena's pov, alternately. I will specify changes of pov)
Heero looked at his friends feeling discouraged. He had one day left to convince Relena that she couldn't love without him. Up until yesterday, he'd felt sure of success. Everything had gone according to plan. They'd spent time together, reconnected even. Yesterday, though, she'd told him flat out that she had no intention of being with him again. Her exact words? 'I just don't need your brand of torture.' While he could understand her reticence, he wished she would give him a second chance. He knew she still had feelings for him, but she was doing her best not to act on them.
His friends had come to this emergency meeting to help him come up with something that she couldn't withstand. So far, they'd come up with nada.
Suddenly Quatra brightened. "Get her a puppy!" The others, except Trowa, looked at him like he'd lost his mind. He took a defensive stance and grabbed Trowa's hand. "Well, it worked for me. Even Trowa couldn't resist a puppy!" This of course, started an argument with Duo who thought it was an awful idea.
Heero was thoughtful for a moment when he recalled something. During a shopping trip once, they'd seen a mongrel in the pet shop. She'd had to stop and play with it for nearly an hour. Apparently, her parents had always felt that dogs were to messy to have around the house, so she'd never actually been able to have one.
Duo and Quatra stopped arguing when Heero broke out with a grin. "Quatra, a brilliant idea."
They spent the rest of the day looking for one similar to the mutt she'd so adored before.
Relena sighed and stared out into the night sky. Tomorrow he would be gone. Life would return to normal. No more crazy shopping trips, no more quiet Mexican dinners, no more walks in the garden. No, she reminded herself furiously. It's better that he goes.
She struggled to remember the reasons why she wanted him to leave so badly.
For some reason, they just didn't seem as important as before.
The next morning, Heero managed to find Relena in a secluded corner of the garden. He grinned and shifted his burden. A scuffle behind him earned the peeking group a death glare. If they screwed this up just because they wanted to see, he really was going to kill someone. And Duo would be the first to go, since it had been his idea for the group to watch.
He approached her cautiously, hoping the puppy didn't start yapping and give away the surprise.
"Relena?" he asked softly. Deep in thought, she jerked in surprise. She's so beautiful, he thought. He didn't think he could bear it if this didn't work. "I brought you something." He held the box out to her. She took it with a curious look and sat it down to open it. As soon as the ribbon and paper came off, the pup decided it had had enough of being enclosed and burst out of the box. It took one look at it's new owner and began licking her face with a frenzy.
She held the squirmy little bundle away from her face...
And promptly burst into tears. Of all the reactions he had anticipated, this wasn't one of them. Bewildered, he turned to look at the others. Quatra made a hugging gesture. Heero nodded and pulled her into his arms. "Shh. I didn't mean to make you cry." he rubbed soothing circles on her back.
"Why do.. do you.. have to be.. so.. WONDERFUL?!?!" she sobbed into his shoulder.
Relena couldn't hold it anymore. Everything he had done in the last three weeks had been a well aimed dagger to her heart. She couldn't fight it anymore. "Damn you. Damn you. Damn you." she kept saying thru her tears. Five years after her world had ended with a broken and bloody heart, her wounds actually began the healing process.
When the sobs quieted and the tears slowed, Heero lifted her face for a gentle kiss. "I love you. I always have and I always will. Please give me a chance to make up for past failures."
He wiped the tears off her face. There was a smile on her face. "I love you too." she frowned suddenly and poked him in the chest. "If you EVER pull that crap again, I'll hunt you down and kill you."
He grinned at her. "Yes, ma'am."
Relena couldn't keep the smile off her face, nor did she want to. She was happy again. She could finally move on with her life, with Heero beside her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something out of place. A splash of red next to the stone wall. A closer look nearly caused her heart to stop. No, her mind screamed. Heero was looking at her strangely, but she just shoved him to the ground. Dimly, she heard the shot and Heero's cry. Then her world was black.
Heero sat beside the bed holding her hand. His eyes were red from the tears he'd shed over the last two days. he still couldn't believe it. Pierre had been waiting in the garden all night, apparently. Waiting for him. Relena was fighting for her life because her crazy ex-fiancé' had wanted to kill HIM. God has a twisted sense of humor, he thought, absently stroking her hair.
The bullet had gone clean thru, but it had left a lot of damage in it's wake. The doctors had told them that if she did survive, she'd probably be a vegetable for the rest of her life.
His head jerked up when he felt a pressure against his hand. "Relena?" His voice was low. Her eyes fluttered but didn't open. Suddenly, the room was filled with a single long beep. "No! Relena, No you can't do this to me!"
He was thrust roughly out of the way as doctors and nurses flooded the room. A nurse gently led him away. "You must leave now. They need room to work."
Once outside, he ignored the alarmed outcries of the others. He propped his head against the glass window, watching, waiting.
Please God, he prayed. I know I'm not your most devoted servant, but please. Don't take her away from me. Not now."
to be continued..
disclaimer: they don't belong to me. don't sue.
Hearts In ice
Part 14: Concluded
written by NemKess
Heero stood in the cemetery, tears filled eyes on the row of graves. "I love you." The wind picked up and he could've sworn he heard a child's laughter carried on it. He felt a presence behind him and turned to see Duo.
"C'mon, buddy. It's time to go." Heero nodded. With a last glance back, he turned and followed his friend to the car. They were running late as it was. As Duo drove them to their destination, he let his mind drift back to the year before.
* Heero didn't wait to see if the doctors could pull Relena back. He turned and stalked out of the hospital, his mind set on only one thing. There was someone cooling his heels in the local jail that was going to help him relieve his stress.
Within two hours, he had Pierre out of the jail and tied to a tree in the forest. He sat next to a fire, contemplating the gagged man. He was having difficulty deciding on the best method of torture. To get the man nervous, Heero began telling him about some of the things he'd done in the past. Some of the people he had killed. "Of course, I never actually cared whether or not any of those people suffered. But you, You deserve only the best, most painful thing I can think of."
The other man had tears streaming down his face and was trying to scream past the dirty, oily rag his kidnapper had stuffed down his throat.
"There are always old Indian methods. Did you know that they used to smother people in honey, then stake them out in ant beds?" The Frenchman pissed on himself, causing Heero to chuckle. "Of course, there's a type of gas that rots your skin off, but doesn't kill you." The prisoner fainted. Heero stood and dumped a bucket of water over his head. There was a great deal of sputtering and whimpered pathetically. "Can't have you leaving the party. It is in your honor after all." With that, he turned back to the fire and continued on with his narrative. It took a while, mainly because the years had taught him a lot of different ways to kill people.
When he was done, he took his gun out and walked over to the tree. "Of course, you can't really beat the old tried and true, shooting thru the head." With a few swipes of his knife, he freed Pierre. He Held the gun out. "There is one bullet in this gun. You have a choice. Take the chance that you might accidentally get lucky and kill me, or use it on yourself." He turned and started to walk away. As he predicted, the gun fired but no bullet pierced him.
Without bothering with the body, he walked back to his jeep. He had to go see if he was going to need another bullet for himself.*
"Hey, Heero. Snap out of it. They're all waiting for you." The memory faded and he looked up to see Duo holding his door open waving a hand in his face.
"I'm coming." He straightened and followed Duo. He felt nervous, knowing all these people were watching him, but he knew he was exactly where he was supposed to be. He looked up as the strands of an old song Duo had helped pick out. He watched the vision before him, a soft smile on his lips. As Zechs gave him Relena's hand, he couldn't help but think how appropriate the song was. because from this moment on, he would never let go again.
Heero and Relena turned and faced the minister.
The End.
(In case you're wondering, I was playing Shania Twain's From This Moment you know, the one with Bryan White)
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