Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.

Chapter 8

As homecomings go, this was far more subdued then the other times that Relena Peacecraft returned to Earth. White-knuckled, she held on to the arm rests as the shuttle bounced along the runaway, coming to a halt on a private stretch of tarmac.

A black limo waited at the bottom of the flight stairs, to take the three occupants of the shuttle to the Peacecraft mansion. There were no noisy reporters or flashing lights from cameras to greet them as they descended the stairs. As far as the rest of the world was still concerned, Relena Peacecraft was still dead.

Unlike the pink limo she normally rode in, the black vehicle that carried Relena, Duo and Heero passed through the Sanc Kingdom without raising an eyebrow. Soon enough the ride was over as the car slowed to a stop in front of the main entrance to the mansion.

Pagan opened the door to the limo and held onto for support as he watched her emerge.
"Welcome back, Ms. Relena." Pagan whispered as he choked back his tears.

Relena lowered her eyes for a moment and then brought her gaze up to meet his. "Thank you, Pagan. Could you please show us where my brother and the others are waiting?"

With Duo and Heero flanking her sides, Pagan then escorted them through the main door and hall to Zechs' private study. As Pagan opened the huge oak doors, everyone else on the other side stood and turned their gaze toward the doorway. Duo and Heero entered first, followed by Relena. Once they were all inside, Pagan closed the doors and stood guard over the study.

Shocked looks and teary eyes greeted Relena. Noin walked over and hugged her. "Oh, Relena. We're so happy to have you back, safe and sound." Relena wrapped her arms around her sister-in-law, returning the hug. "I'm happy to be back."

Hilde tentatively walked up behind Noin as she held Relena in her embrace. Once Noin was finished with her hug, Hilde stepped forward and grabbed both of Relena's hands. "I couldn't believe it when Duo told me everything. Relena, I've missed you so much."
Relena smiled as tears ran down her face. "I've missed you too, Hilde."

Hilde dropped her hands and Relena stepped further into the room. She wiped away her tears and turned to see Colonel Une, Sally and Catherine all flashed huge smiles in her direction, their eyes misty with unshed tears.

On the other side of the room stood the other three Gundam Pilots. Both Trowa and Wufei nodded towards her, neither one of them would be caught showing their true emotions, while Quatre strolled up to her. His blue eyes shining brightly as he greeted her.

"Once we found out that you could possible be alive, I knew deep down that we would find you and bring you home."
"Thank you, Quatre."

Finally, Relena turned her gaze toward the haggard-looking young man standing behind the desk.

"Hello, Milliardo."
"Hello, Relena." He said as a tunnel of darkness began to envelope him.

Minutes later, with the help of smelling salts, Zechs came out of his swoon.
As he opened his eyes, Noin's face came into focus. "What happened, Noin?"

Sally was kneeling down beside him. "His pulse seems to have returned to normal. Too much excitement and not enough sleep is my guess to the cause of his faint." Turning her eyes toward his, she shot Zechs a questioning look. "How do you expect to live to a ripe old age, if you can't take care of yourself now?"

"I'm fine, no need to worry yourselves. Where's Relena?" Zechs asked, straining his neck, trying to locate his sister.
"I'm right here, Zechs." Her concerned face appeared before him.
"Are you all right?" he asked as he began to finally sit up.
"I'm fine. I'm not the one who passed out."
"No, you didn't." Turning his ice blue eyes in Heero's direction, he continued, "But you have a huge bump on the side of your head. How did that happen?"
A blush rose on her face. "I had a disagreement with a tree."

"What...?" Quatre began.
Duo cut him off. "Don't ask."

Sally turned her attention toward Relena. "That's a nice size bump you got there." Running her hand across Relena's head, she checked the tenderness of her injury. "Hm. I think you need to be looked over, Relena. Not just for the bump, but to see about your health otherwise."

Relena nodded. "If you say so, Sally, but I would like to get it over as soon as possible. Do you mind if we do it now?"
"Not at all." With that Sally lead Relena out of the study, with Noin and Catherine on her heels. Hilde closed the doors after they left. She turned and looked at Duo, but Zechs spoke the words that she was thinking.

"All right, tell me everything."

Heero answered him. "She says she was taken by a new extremist group know as 'die passende Rache'."

A confused look crossed Une's face. "We've never heard of this group before. Do you know where they're based? We need to get the Preventers on the case ASAP."

Duo shook his head. "Nope. We have no idea and neither does Relena. Apparently, they thought that they could gain important information from her on the Preventers and ESUN. She's been on the run from them since they shot and left her for dead on L5-74." Duo took one look around the room and regretted opening his mouth.

Stunned gasp, colorful words and angry glares filled the room.
"Shot?!"
"They tried to kill her!?"
"Injustice!"

'Smooth move, Maxwell' Heero thought as he tried to defuse the situation. "Once they found out the Relena was going to be less than cooperative, they decided to dispose of her. She was lucky enough to survive. However, they now know that they failed in killing her and have been after her for about two months."

"So, she still is being targeted." Trowa stated.
Duo sighed as he placed his hand on Hilde's shoulder. "Yea. We're going to have to keep a close eye on her."

All eyes spun toward the door of the study as it opened and Noin and Sally walked in.
"How is she?"
"Dehydrated, under weight, stressed and exhausted. She has a slight concussion from her fall, but other than that, she's in perfect health." Not knowing the best way to approach the next subject, she decided to leave out the part about the healing gunshot wound. "Doctor's orders are for a night of complete, uninterrupted sleep."

Zechs stood up from the couch. "All right. Everybody will meet back here tomorrow morning. We have a lot of things that need to be discussed."

Une turned toward her agents. "Sally, Wufei, you're with me. We've to get the ball rolling quickly on this one, we can't afford for the embers of this rebellious organization to grow into a raging wildfire." She answered Sally's perplexed look by saying, "We'll bring you up to date on the way to headquarters."

Une began to follow her agents as they left, but paused when she got to the doorway. Turning, Une addressed the other Gundam pilots. "Consider yourselves Preventer agents as of this moment." She closed the door behind her as she left.

Playing hostess, Noin declared. "We've taken the liberty of making up guest rooms for all of you."

As Heero was shown to his room, he kept a mindful eye on Relena's door as he walked by.

****************

She didn't know on how long he planned to stand in the shadows. She laid on her side, with her face toward the window, her back toward him. She didn't know if he thought she was awake or not, but he continued to stare at her, his gaze burning deep into her back. Finally, she gave up the battle and sat up.

Relena saw him retreat further into the darkness when she looked in his direction. "I know you're there, Heero. You might as well come out and sit down, I can't sleep either."

Slowly, he walked forward. The moonlight that streamed in the window illuminated his face. His expressions were unguarded; she could tell that he was worried.

"I'm worried too, Heero. Have I put you all in danger by coming back here? Will I be safe here? I wasn't safe from them the first time, what will keep them from taking me again?"

The bed gave under Heero's weight as he sat down. His blue eyes shone in the moonlight as he said, "I will." He leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on her forehead. "Go to sleep, Relena. I'll be here if you need me." Pushing away from the bed, Heero resumed his silent vigil from the shadows.

Relena laid back down, her back toward him once more as she closed her eyes. A sly smile crept across her face, hidden by the shadows.

****************

The following morning, Relena walked into the dining room for breakfast. Her hair had been pulled back from her face and completely secured with a clip at the base of her neck. Her usual diplomatic attire hung slightly on her body, a telltale sign of the weight that she lost during her ordeal. The funny thing was most of the weight that she had lost had been replaced by semi-toned muscle.

Zechs watched her as she walked into the room and took her normal seat at the end of the enormous table. When he first saw her enter the room, he thought he had seen a ghost. But when she flashed her smile at him while she pulled her chair out from the table, he remembered that only parts of the past eight months were now still a nightmare. His sister was alive and home.

"Good Morning, Milliardo."
"Good Morning, Relena."
"How are you this morning?"
"Fine. Yourself?"
"Fine." Relena picked up her fork and began to push her food around her plate under Zechs' watchful stare. Finally, she gave up, put her fork down and turned her attention in his direction.

"Could you bring me up to date on all of the changes that have taken place within the ESUN during my absence?"
A heavy silence hung between them until Zechs replied, "What are you thinking about, Relena?"
"I want to return to my role as Vice Foreign Minister."

"Are you serious?" Zechs asked with an incredulous look on his face. "The whole entire universe thinks you're dead! How are you going to rejoin the ESUN if you're supposedly dead? And what about that radical group that has been following you?"

Slamming her hands down on the table, she stood up pushing her chair back and threw him a vicious look. "By telling the truth! That's how I plan to get back into the ESUN. I'll tell them about the circumstances surrounding my 'death'. And as for the radical group, I refuse to lie down and let them dictate my life, now that I have it back!"

"Actually, putting her back in the limelight could be used to our advantage."

Relena and Zechs turned towards the sound of the voice and saw their audience. All five Gundam pilots, Hilde, Noin, Sally and Une stood right inside the entrance of the dining room.

Walking further into the room, Colonel Une continued with her reasoning. "We've spent all night researching what little information we have on this newest resistance group and came up with virtually nothing. They want something, look at the extreme lengths they went to for information. If Relena rejoins the ESUN, and re-enters the public eye, we may be able to force their hand."

"NO." Every pair of eyes whipped around to the owner of the outburst. He narrowed his eyes, challenging each and every one of them with his famous 'death' glare.

Only one person dared to answer his challenge. And he wasn't surprised as she turned her enraged violet eyes on him. "NO?! This is the perfect chance to not only save the peace between the Earth and Colonies by bringing these people to justice, but I will also be able to resume my role as Vice Foreign Minister; both of which are important to me. I WILL do this with or without your help." Bowing slightly, Relena marched out of the room.

"Rule Number 1 when dealing with women: Never, ever try to tell them what to do or you're bound to end up sleeping on the couch." Duo chuckled as smacked Heero on the back.
"Hn."

Noin stepped in and helped take control of the situation. "Well, if she is hell bent on doing this, then we need to sit down and plan this thing out." Moving toward the table, everyone with the exception of Heero, sat down and began to prepare for Relena's resurrection.

****************

A black limo pulled up in front of the ESUN Senate building early the following morning. Three people emerged from the vehicle and made their way towards the main entrance. Once inside, they hurried to the elevators, boarding one before the door's shut.

About halfway up, Zechs reached over and hit the emergency stop button. Sighing, he looked at his sister. " Are you sure this is what you want? You don't have to do this you know?"

Pulling off her scarf, floppy hat and sunglasses, Relena stared back at him. "This is something I need to do." Reaching past Zechs, she released the emergency break and the elevator continued to ascend. At the President's floor, Une typed in her pass code, allowing the doors to open. Striding off the elevator, they moved toward the President's private office. Une softly knocked on the door, pushed it opened and looked around the corner.

"Colonel, what an unexpected surprise." The elderly man sitting at the desk began. A smile crossed his face as he continued. "What brings you to my office at this un-Godly hour this morning?" He paused as he brought his coffee cup up to his mouth as Une threw open the door and two figures entered his office.

The coffee cup slipped from his hand and shattered on the desk. He recognized the young woman standing just inside the doorway. Gone were the long blond hair and the soft edges. She seemed older and tougher. 'I'm seeing things.' He thought as he rubbed his eyes.

Relena smiled as she approached him. "No, you're not seeing things Mr. President. Nor am I a ghost."
"If you're not a ghost, then what exactly are you?"
"Why your Vice Foreign Minister, of course."




A/N: Okay, I know it's been a while since I have updated any of my stories. Sorry! But, I am back and my muse is working overtime...which is a good thing! I have one quick question to ask you all: Does anyone know if the President of the ESUN has a name? Or is he just Mr. President? Any info, would be greatly appericated. Well, I have to get back to finishing this story, until then! :o)