Silence, the room was immersed with silence. It had been a good while since Relena had exited and the Gundam pilots looked at one another in uncertainty. Duo, as always, was the one to break that peaceful silence.
"Sooo... anyone wanna know how our vacation went?" Trowa looked up at him and rolled his eyes.
"Maxwell, do you seriously think that anyone of us cares?"
"Hey, I know someone has to! Guess what, Wufei almost killed me!"
"I wish he'd finished the job," Heero said. Everyone looked up at once, surprised the solemn pilot had spoken.
"Well," Duo finally uttered. "I'm glad he didn't!"
Suddenly the big doors wooshed open and once again Relena was in the room.
"We're going to the Ottoman base or what remains of it. Please be ready to leave in two hours, we'll be leaving on shuttle B24 gate 12. Thank you for your cooperation." With that she left once more, but not before everyone noticed the anger flaring in her eyes.
****
Relena strode down the hallway, too unhappy to care if she looked professional or not. She was so mad she could scream. She needed sleep, she needed food, she needed a new job. With this thought she smiled and turned to enter her office.
Noin was there, waiting patiently as always. Relena acknowledged her with a slight nod of the head and hurried to her desk. She quickly gathered the many papers that were disarrayed on the mahogany surface. Noin was the first to speak.
"Relena, what's going on?"
"I'll tell you when we're on the shuttle Noin, I'll tell everyone. As of right now, I just need to get packed." Relena looked up. "I advise you do the same. After all," she smiled, "I will need a chaperone."
Noin nodded and with a slight grin in return quickly exited the room. Relena took the silent moment to her advantage and sank down in her seat. She rubbed her fingers over her eyelids in hopes of revitalizing her tired soul. It didn't work, but it felt good. She sighed and looked down at the table. So many reports lay scattered upon the desktop.
She wrapped her arms around herself and rocked slightly, trying to bring some life into her body. A tear fell down her cheek and she angrily brushed it away.
"I'm so damn tired I'm crying." She said.
"Then why are you doing this?" Relena looked up to the voice that had replied and found the question had come from Heero. Her eyes widened ever so slightly and she stood up shakily, keeping one hand on the table for support.
"Heero, I didn't hear you come in..." He walked up to her desk and started sorting through her reports.
"Why are you taking us all to the base?" He looked up and Relena met his stare, nearly drowning in his Prussian blue eyes.
"I'll explain that on the shuttle, right now we need to get ready to leave." With this Heero crossed his arms.
"If we're supposed to be getting ready, then why were you sitting there crying? That's not getting ready."
"I wasn't crying!" She sighed at her short outburst and ran a hand through her hair. "Heero... I...I...Just leave me alone."
If he hadn't been the perfect pilot, his surprise would have shown on his face. However, he was a perfect pilot, and so his countenance continued to portray that same emotionless mask it always did. Inside though, his thoughts were brewing. Never in his life had Relena asked him to leave her alone, no this was something very strange indeed! He studied her for a second and then turned to leave.
"Heero," she called to him. He stopped but didn't turn around. He knew what was coming, she was going to apologize profusely. He thought wrong. "Be on board the shuttle in 2 hours or we'll leave you."
