Author's Note: After that last chapter being so heavy, I decided to pop out a chapter of something fun. Don't worry angst fans; this will soon turn back to a drama. I just simply needed a chapter away.

Disclaimer: Damn the Man! I don't own Gundam Wing!!!

Chapter 6

He was poised on the diving board, eyes as sharp as a hawk, squinted slightly to avoid contact with the sun. His breaths were even and slow and he was channeling all of his energy into his dive. He focused only on the water before him and took a deep breath. With all the strength he could muster, he bounced hard onto the springboard, allowed his body to fly through the air, stiffened himself into an arrow point and braced for the crash into the water. It was a perfect dive, one many athletes struggled to accomplish; it was a simple task for the Perfect Soldier.

His head popped from under the water and he swam back to the pool stair and pulled himself out of the pool. He stood up, grabbed his towel and shook his sopping wet hair into it. She was watching, hoping that he'd not noticed her observation of him. Actually, it all started as a simple viewing of Quatre's grounds, amazement in the beauty of the mansion, but ended up being an all out Heero drooling session. He'd decided to go for a swim while Relena was innocently admiring a Desert Finch; she'd forgotten all about the bird and turned her attention completely to Heero, who was only clad in thin, black spandex shorts. This was his fifth dive of the morning every one of them being perfect; but as much as Relena enjoyed the showing of Heero's athleticism, flexibility, and stamina (all points safely locked away in her mind for later use in a less public setting) she enjoyed mostly the way the water beaded off his tanned skin. Every droplet rolled down his body starting with his hair and ending somewhere around his ankles. She loved the way the wet spandex clung to his thighs and taut butt, the way his broad chest and shoulders heaved with every breath he took, but most of all she loved the intensity to which he took his dive. If only he would look at her that passionately, maybe if she were a diving board and water she'd get her wish.

With a sigh she leaned her head against her flattened palm and continued to watch the Heero show, knowing that she'd never be a star in it.

"Gods, Relena, he's just a man. It's not like you can't get one." She said shaking her head to clear the lusty thoughts that were creeping into her mind. A laugh from behind her startle her and she turned around. It was Hilde; she was smiling an innocent smile and biting her lip in effort not to laugh heartily at Relena.

"Relena if you stare at him any harder, your eyes are going to pop out of their sockets." Hilde commented. Relena jumped from her position at the window, trying to act as if she'd not been looking at Heero. She turned to Hilde and gave her a diplomatic smile.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Relena said in the most political voice she could muster. Hilde shook her head and clicked her tongue playfully.

"You can't lie worth shit, Relena. I know you were drooling over Heero. You're flushed and breathing heavily and I do believe I detect a hint of lust in your eyes." Hilde walked towards the window where Relena had quickly moved away from and glanced outside. She watched Heero repeat his earlier ritual before his dive and smirked.

"I don't blame you, he is… perfect." Hilde teased. Relena could only respond in a blush that crept from the top of her forehead to somewhere around her toes. A cute laugh was forced from Hilde's lips and she scampered toward a sofa and patted the empty space cueing Relena to come sit.

"I'm supposed to be angry with him." Relena said joining her on the sofa with a sigh.

"But you're not?" Hilde answered more than asked.

"Not at all. I just don't know how to react with him. I don't know what he wants from me, I don't even know what I want from him. I'm just… fucking confused." As soon as the explicative came from her lips she cupped her mouth in modesty. Hilde was just as shocked as Relena at the usually tactful Pacifists speech, and her peppercorn blue eyes were wide in surprise.

"I didn't know you had that in you." Hilde said with a chuckle.

"Neither did I. I hope I didn't offend you, I just don't know what came over me."

"Darling, I curse like a sailor, the f-word is like saying my name for me. So you have nothing to worry about."

"He just makes me so confused, Hilde, and this job, and the fact that people hate me, this is more than a twenty-three year old should have to put up with. I already found more than enough gray hairs and I think I'm starting to develop crow's feet. Crow's feet!!!" Relena was pointing to her eyes encouraging Hilde to look. All Hilde saw was some dark circles and a few frown lines, nothing as unsightly to youth as crow's feet.

"Relena, honey, calm down and tell me everything." Hilde said, taking Relena's pointer finger away from her eye and pulling it down to rest in hers on the sofa. Hilde gripped the small, sweaty hand in hers and squeezed it, trying to put Relena at ease.

"Hilde, there is too much to tell. My relationship with Heero is… complex."

"Couldn't be any more complex than that of me and Duo's or Roddy and Trowa's for that matter."

"At least you know Duo likes you. With Heero it's hard to tell, extremely hard."

"Relena, Heero can barely function without you."

"He's been functioning fine without my help for seven years." Relena said snorting.

"And you without his." Hilde smiled genuinely.

"I know, I know, it's just that I wish I could just talk to him… you see… I don't know." Hilde noticed that Relena's breath was quickening and her hands were shaking flustered.

"Relena, you have to stop talking in jagged sentences. I know talking about Heero makes you nervous, but Gods, you're acting like you've slept with him." Hilde said flippantly with a snort. Upon hearing this, Relena's hand stiffened in Hilde's own appendage causing peppercorn blue eyes to meet powder blue in shock, humility, embarrassment and understanding. The silence was deafening, nothing was heard in the room but the chirping of the ever-present Desert Finch right outside of the window.

"Relena… I…"Relena put a hand up to silence Hilde's forthcoming words.

"We had one night together about five years ago when we were eighteen. I woke up the next morning with a note and a white rose next to my pillow and a breeze coming from my balcony; he was gone." Relena looked away from Hilde and lowered her head in embarrassment. Hilde saw tears start to well up in Relena's eyes and offered a handkerchief that she had grown accustom to carrying around.

"Oh, thank you." Relena said modestly taking the fabric and wiping her eyes.

"Relena, I understand that you're confused, but you must realize that this is what it's like to love a Gundam pilot. True, they aren't worth shit sometimes, but they do love us, in their own ways. Duo and I had a relationship that was based on need and pleasure. After the war, I realized that I didn't want to be needed and so did he so we bid each other Adieu. I was completely miserable for five years and when fate brought us back together on that subway terminal, I knew that I couldn't let this chance slip by me. You're angry with Heero because you think that he doesn't want to be in a deeper relationship with you; the boy has never, ever been good with emotions, so what makes you think that he's going to blurt out how he feels just like that?" Hilde gave Relena a grin.

"I just don't want to feel as if I've been wasting my seven years." Relena said thoughtfully.

" Relena, what's the point of waiting on him to make a move? Darling, if he's who you want, then go to him, take him, and never let him go." Hilde responded with a thoughtful nod towards the window.

"Babe!" the sound of Duo's voice boomed into the room from the door startling both parties.

"What is it Duo, is there something the matter?" Hilde asked, standing and walking over to her out of breath boyfriend.

"I was looking all over for you, I get nervous when you're not around." He said with a chaste kiss to the lips. Relena arched and eyebrow in mock jealousy then smiled.

"I'll excuse myself. Thanks for the talk Hilde." Relena said opening the door.

****

He'd been watching her during his dives. He wasn't able to keep his eyes off of her and tried to focus on her with strict intensity. The memories of the night those many years ago were zipping through his mind and left only thoughts of need and extreme want in their place. He didn't smoke so he decided to exercise. What better way to get rid of sexual tension than to take intense dives into frigid water? Only a few problems, 1) a heated pool, 2) Relena was standing at a second story window bird watching. Needless to say, his dives weren't the best he could do. Now she was gone from that window and he felt a part of his heart sadden at the loss. Maybe she'd be back soon, the bird was still chirping from what he could hear.

He poised himself for another calmer dive, hoping that his little distraction wouldn't return in the middle of his concentration. He stretched lithely on the board, making sure that his joints weren't tight and closed his eyes in concentration. He took in a deep breath of the honeysuckle that grew in abundance around the pool and exhaled a shaky breath. He clenched and unclenched his hands and teeth and popped his strong neck to release some tension. Just when he was about to bounce on the springboard, he heard the sound of the pool gate open and closed. He opened one eye and peaked around, seeing if there was an intruder. No one; it must have been the wind. He braced himself to bounce, and the sound of a twig breaking caused him to stop. He opened both eyes and looked around. Relena.

She was standing in front of him wearing nothing but a smile and a lustful look in her eyes. He felt his whole body tingle and started to step away from the diving board. She put a hand up.

"No, don't mind me, continue to do what you were doing, I just thought I'd take a swim." She said nonchalantly and jumped into the pool. Her head popped out from under the water and her nakedness was once more concealed from his view. He cursed himself for not taking the earlier advantage. But, this was Relena's game and he wanted to see how far she would go.

"Relena, what are you doing?" he asked, getting from the diving board and walking over to the side where she was closest. She swam towards him and propped one arm up on the concrete while he crouched low to talk to her.

"Swimming. It's so hot here in the desert and my skin is taking a serious beating." She said with fake modesty. He lowered one hand to her and she grabbed and encircled the index finger with her tongue.

"Why are you naked?" he asked, a bit choked from the sensation of her tongue around his finger.

"I don't think you can handle the truth," she said in a sexy voice that sent shivers down his spine.

"Relena, it's broad daylight and you're skinny dipping." He said in a more reasonable voice.

"The last time I checked you weren't my father. I'm a grown woman," she said with a huff.

"I can see that," Heero said with a grin.

"You like what you see?" she said paddling away from him then back with a cute flourish.

"Relena, get out of the pool and put some clothes on." He offered her his hand and she took it.

"I think you need to come in and join me," with all the strength she could muster, she pulled Heero into the water with her and swam off before he could get his bearings. His head popped from under the water and he searched frantically for any signs of movement. There was a distant gurgle on the far side of the expansive pool and he started to walk slowly towards it. He was shocked to feel hands around his waist from behind pulling down his spandex shorts. He was even more shocked to see the black shorts floating next to him in the water. He was now as naked as she was. How did she get to be so good at stealth?

She played like this for the next twenty minutes, splashing in one corner to get his attention then quickly swimming towards him. She stole kisses, pinched and slapped his rear, it was an extremely entertaining game and it was making Heero more and more interested. This was the last time she was going to get the best of him. There was the telltale faint splash at one side of the pool, but this time Heero noticed a ripple going towards the eastern side. He faked towards the splash and as soon as he saw the ripple stop in one place he swam fiercely towards it. Relena, shocked at his discovery, started to swim away but was caught by her waist and pushed against the pool wall before she could even think.

"What is this all about?" he asked, his Prussian blue eyes dark with annoyance and tinted with lust.

"Just a little game, Heero, I just thought you could use a little fun. You're so serious sometimes."

"A game? How do you have time to think about a game with the past few days on you've been through?"

"Heero," her hand went up to move soggy chocolate bang from his face, "I don't want to think about that right now." She wrapped her arms around his neck to steady herself and leaned her head into his ear to whisper.

"Let's both not think about the war right now. Just think about me." She wrapped her legs around his waist and rested her head against his shoulder pressing their bodies so tight that water could barely get through.

"Relena… I," he stuttered. She looked into his eyes and lifted a finger up to silence him.

"No sensibilities now, Heero. I love you." she looked into his blue eyes before she kissed him and there was a glint of happiness sparkling in them. She knew that he would probably never say those words back, but actions always spoke louder than words. The kiss that he gave her was all the affirmation that she needed. She was finally apart of the Heero show, maybe even a co-star.

Auth. Notes: Yeah, I know, sappy. But sometimes we all need a little sap.