ttw2

Thicker than Water
two


Can I ask you why you're doing this? Relena asked, peering over at Harlequin, his hand on the gear stick.

He kept his face forward, not looking at her. They were hurtling farther from the mansion, treading the road as if there was a pack of angry hell beasts charging behind them. However, all there was in the rear view mirror was the fading silhouette of the mansion and fields of green, endless green.

___

Hours passed until they stopped. It was around lunch time, and Harlequin knew it. The only reason he'd even stopped was to get his hostage drugged, though. If she could be called that, his hostage. They were on the bordering edge of exiting the country, and a space port was too risky for him to use as an escape from the hemisphere. He had to get to the USA as soon as possible, and the only way to get there was by plane. Thankfully, due to his ability to pull strings, he'd chartered himself a flight on an empty Lear jet scheduled to carry them to the recently built Mississippi International Airport.

It was awkward, the mask, and he hated having to wear it. At some point, he would be forced to remove it. Driving alone was strange enough, but he couldn't allow her to see him. It would spell disaster with a capital S. And the S didn't stand for disaster at all. It stood for...

he muttered, standing outside of the Stingray, the door shut behind him. It wouldn't be easy to pull this one off.

Relena turned her head to watch the landscape from her window as Harlequin pondered. He'd completely forgotten about how he would drug her. If she was still awake, he had no chance of getting them out of the country at all. But it would also be relatively impossible to get it in her. Harlequin paced around to the trunk and opened it with the flick of his agitated wrist. A duffle bag of his and her clothes, a first aid kit, a metal case of hollow tip shells and hand guns. He thankfully spotted a stray bottle of Dasani water in the very back, lodged between the jumper cables and briefcase.

He grabbed it and emptied the powder contents of the tiny red caplet into the water and tightened the cap back onto it. Viciously shaking, trying his best to appear as collected as he hoped he would be, Harlequin's eyes were burning with the sweat accumulated beneath the mask. Even the cool springtime climate wasn't giving him a break. Relena's disgruntled expression pinned him hard when he got back in. He jabbed the bottle towards her and cranked the car up again.

She mumbled something out of his earshot and opened it. Harlequin failed to remember how keen she was. The bottom rim of the plastic cap had already been broken. It had been tampered with. Relena lifted it to her lips and took a whiff of the water before taking a tiny sip, wary that it could be fatal to make a mistake. A slight bitterness like that of iron spread over her tongue when she let the water slip down her throat. Beside her, Harlequin's fingers twitched on the steering wheel. This girl was busting up his confidence, and it was perhaps the first time something like that had happened when he was on strict business. Life altering business.

___

Harlequin's teeth ground together beneath the plastic mask. Relena was still bolt upright.

I should have known that she would have learned about the sleeping drugs, he chided himself, it has happened to her before! She isn't an idiot, just remember that.

She sent a sly look at him, a grin on her lips. You were planning on my untimely dozing off, weren't you?

He stopped the car, shoving them both forward, unable to stop against their own inertia. She rubbed at her neck, where a red line had been left from the abrasive nylon seat belt. Harlequin crossed his arms and let the car idle, then punched in a toggle switch on the dash. A hushed whisper came from the vents. Lukewarm air flowed through them, into Relena's face and over her body, clad only in her gauzy pajamas. If it hadn't been for the mask, she was sure that she could have seen him smirking back at her, his eyes as piercing as twisted metal.

___

Unwillingly, as most of the day had been spent, Relena's eyes flitted up and down. Harlequin hadn't budged all day. Waiting it out, the viper stayed sure and prideful while his prey started to lose interest in sticking it out. She couldn't stay up all night, he knew. It was her first day off from the ESUN's hectic schedule, and she'd woken up early. Her body wouldn't allow her to maintain her hours like she usually had. However, he knew his limits, which were much too far out of her league to even struggle against.

Darkness beyond the Corvette, stars above, Relena soughed her breath and leaned her head against the window, letting her stock character kidnapper win for the moment.

If I'm going to get away, she reasoned, I'll need my rest. No reason...in being foolish.
Harlequin watched her for another few minutes as she slept. He removed his gloves and reached over to tuck her hair behind her ears, grazing his fingertips against her soft skin. He smiled, happy to see her so peaceful. She was his angel, and the world's too, for that matter. Relena curled up and Harlequin finally removed his mask. Cumbersome, troublesome, and filled with its own pungent memories, the mask was discarded to the floorboards.

To be continued...