AN: well…here it is… the final installment in the 'Ordinary' fic arc… I really appreciate all the great feedback you guys gave me for the first 2 parts… I hope this one measures up to your expectations…and hopefully answers some questions… I have a feeling more questions will arise… so I'm thinking of writing a prequel dealing with Rowan's past… lemme know if you're interested… thanx again guys! Enjoy!
Real
By Miaka Mouse ?__)~
The book fluttered to the ground like a dying bird struggling to stay aloft. Relena bent down to retrieve the diary she had knocked off her desk in her need to relieve some stress. She watched the pages flap, catching a phrase from her innermost thoughts here and there.
Tired…trapped…frustrating…sometimes…lonely…I just don't care…
And as the book flipped shut, she realized she had to make a decision.
***********************
Reporters and camera crews were falling all over each other like a litter of kittens fighting for milk. Relena let the curtain behind the stage fall from her fingertips and, taking a deep breath, braced herself against the wall. How many times had she made a speech in this very auditorium? It was a familiar setting, the main reason she had selected it as the place to make her announcement. But what she had to say today was far beyond anything she had ever discussed here before. For a split second she debated backing out, until the voice of her introducer filled the speakers.
She stepped out on stage then, wearing the fake smile that came so naturally now, as camera bulbs flashed and spotlights beamed. There were no note-cards or papers in hand today, no slides or videos to be shown. She felt restless without something to hold.
For a moment, she expected the curtain to swing at the end of the stage to reveal Heero glaring at her from the darkened corner, daring her to speak her mind. But the curtain remained still and she could not feel his eyes on her form. It would be so much easier if he were there to bring out her strength. She looked down at the audience and saw Rowan in the front row, smiling up at her. Her heart swelled at the sight of his crooked grin, encouraging and supporting her. She began to speak then, realizing that she didn't need Heero's challenging glare anymore; not when she had Rowan's encouraging smile.
The words came easily after that, as if she were speaking to her friends and confidants instead a room full of reporters and politicians. Whenever she felt herself hesitate, she would glance down at the seat Rowan occupied next to Quatre and the will to express herself would bloom in her chest like a bud in spring.
She told them of her feelings of helplessness and displacement. That, like the veteran soldiers, she found her role as a peacemaker obsolete. In ten years, her job had gone from preventing violence to negotiating business deals. Members of the audience wiped their eyes as she spoke of the war orphans and disabled veterans who faced new trials, now that peace had become ingrained in their world. And finally, she told them that her position as Foreign Minister was ill-suited to address these new problems.
The blood rushed to her ears and her hands clenched around the edges of the podium. Her gaze came upon Rowan's face once again and, for the first time, she was thankful he was wearing his glasses. The stage lights produced a glare on the lenses so she wouldn't see the expression in his eyes as she stated the final sentence of her speech.
"And that is why I am resigning from my post as Foreign Minister."
*********************************
The trip to her waiting limo was like swimming upstream, but unlike formless water that gives way, the crowd of people demanding answers was full of hard, solid and unyielding bodies. Relena used her arms to paddle through them, stating "No comment" in a firm voice when a reporter happened to make eye contact. The passenger door to her car was in sight, held open by her driver. It was moments like these when she most felt Pagan's missing presence. He would no doubt be fighting against the crowd trying to pull her to safety, unlike this new driver who only extended a hand in her direction to guide her to the waiting vehicle. It had been three years since Pagan had passed on. She supposed that was the point when everything seemed to catch up to her, as if he had been keeping all her doubts at bay just by his presence. From then on, the feelings of emptiness crept up like a growing shadow, until she could no longer feel the light or the warmth of the sun.
The door slammed shut beside her as she settled in to her seat, anxious to remove herself from the scene. Before the driver could sit down, the door on the other side of Relena clicked open. She started at the flood of light that seemed to glare at her, and she leaned forward to drive back the unwanted person. She hadn't expected them to attack from the other side. They'd never done it before. It seemed they hadn't done it now either, for the man thrusting his head through the door was not a reporter; a point he had adamantly stated the first time they had met.
"Rowan? What are you--?"
"Come on!" He interrupted her, extending a hand. "Let's get out of here!"
"But—I, oh what the hell…" She squashed any hesitation rising within her and moved to get out of the car. There was something in his voice that left no room for argument. The tone tickled the back of her mind, trying to dredge up something important. The driver, who had finally got himself inside the car, looked back at her worriedly.
"Miss Relena…" his voice wavered.
"Just go! Drive as fast as you can. I'll see you at the house." She called, leaning her head back to look at him, before finally climbing out of the car. They ran across the street, and seeing that they were safely around the corner, the driver sped away, leaving the desperate reporters chasing after the empty limo. Relena laughed aloud at the sight, relief flooding her as she leaned against the cement wall of the building. Catching her breath, she turned to her companion, who was smiling that crooked smile of his. "So, where to now?"
"Wherever you want, Relena. It's your life." She couldn't stop the smile that overtook her face, or her arms from embracing the man who had just spoken those perfect words.
"I could kiss you right now," she pulled back to look at him. The smile slipped and she brought her hand to his face. "You're wearing sunglasses again." He stepped back from her embrace and looked up to the sky, his hand rising to his forehead to shade it from the sun.
"It's really sunny today." She nodded, letting it pass for now.
"It's hot too." She commented, unbuttoning her suit jacket. "I hate wearing these things in the summer." Shrugging it off, she eyed his double-breasted blazer and silk tie. "Aren't you hot?" He regarded her for a minute before unbuttoning his own jacket and loosening his tie. There was something about the way he moved that caught her eye. The efficiency with which he seemed to do things niggled that spot in the back of her mind again. Her musings were interrupted by the pleasant jingle of an ice cream truck rounding the next block. The sound wasn't as familiar as she would have liked it to be; she couldn't even hum the tune. Rowan, who had noticed that she'd suddenly gone quiet, was watching her, waiting for her to speak. When she realized it, she immediately commented," the ice cream man, can you hear him?"
"Do you want to get some ice cream?" he asked seriously. She smiled, her eyes laughing as she clasped his arm and led him to the truck now surrounded by giggling children.
"What flavor do you like?" He hesitated at her question before answering with a lukewarm,
"Vanilla." She gave him a disbelieving look, but turned back to the vendor to order a cone of vanilla along with her own choice of strawberry.
"I saw you sitting with Quatre in the front row," she commented as they waited for the man to finish preparing their desserts.
"Yeah, he had to go back to work," Rowan smirked, seemingly amused by the idea.
"And you didn't?" She asked, becoming increasingly confused with his expression as his smile widened.
"No." He was content to leave his reply at that, and looked to be rather pleased with himself at that. Relena had begun to pick up on his subtle expressions each time she came in contact with him, but this one kept her mind occupied even as she accepted her ice cream from Rowan. She never even noticed that he'd paid for them, a fact that would have had her protesting if she'd realized it. She took a thoughtful lick at the creamy confection, all the while mulling over his cryptic replies. Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she exclaimed,
"You sold it to him!" She looked up and smiled, pleased with both herself and him. "Your company. Congratulations!" She paused, "I think?" Her brow furrowed for a moment, but smoothed itself out again as she observed him shaking his head in amusement. "What will you do now?"
"You first. What are your plans?" He took a bite out of the white mound atop his cone.
"Me? I—" she stuttered, before finally organizing her thoughts back to coherency. "Would it be terribly flaky of me to say I don't know?"
"If it is, then I'm as flaky as you are." She laughed whole-heartedly at his reply, trying to imagine this strong and mysterious man as a flake. He watched her, the same heartwarming smile, which had given her so much strength, gracing his features. Her laughter subsided as she took in his expression, reveling in the gentle curve of his mouth. "You're dripping."
"Huh?" Relena responded, oh-so-intelligently, startled at the sudden opening of his lips as they formed those words.
"You're ice cream is dripping." He certainly did enjoy pointing out these little things, as if he found human imperfection so very droll. She rushed to lick at the sides of her cone, feeling a mixture of foolishness and lightheartedness. It really felt wonderful to be imperfect. And that she should be feeling so, in this park surrounded by towering skyscrapers and paved roads, made it all the more meaningful.
Rowan dodged a drooping tree branch as Relena made her way through the man-made haven. They could still hear the children laughing and the ice cream man jingling that merry tune, but it seemed a far-away sound now. A soft breeze played with their hair and rustled the leaves around them. Relena smiled up at Rowan absorbing this aura of tranquility and the man who seemed to embody it.
"Hey!" Relena was startled out of her reverie by a man grabbing her arm. He looked like the typical blue-collar worker, dressed in a faded denim jacket and worn leather boots. His face was gaunt and peppered with stubble. "Aren't you the Foreign Minister?" He squinted at her, almost glaring. His grip was firm on her arm and Rowan looked ready to jump on him. She turned to give Rowan a reassuring look before replying to the middle aged man in front of her.
"Not anymore." The man's brow furrowed at her words and his mouth twisted into a sneer. His gnarled hand tightened around her.
"I heard your speech alright. You think you can just up and leave, forget about all your responsibilities. You think peace is just gonna keep itself? You've got another thing coming." She searched his face, confused by his irritated tone.
"What do you mean?"
"I'll show you." His hand reached into the inside of his threadbare jacket and before Relena could blink, she was pushed to the ground, landing on the thick grass with a soft thud. She turned onto her side, one hand propping her up as she watched Rowan struggle with the other man. The man was protesting loudly and waving his arms around to evade Rowan's hold. Suddenly, a wayward fist landed on Rowan's face knocking his sunglasses off. Relena watched them sail smoothly to the ground, staring at them wide-eyes as they landed. She couldn't rip her eyes from the sight of them.
Suddenly, a denim clad body landed on top of them, shaking her out of her daze. Rowan pinned the man's arms behind him and pressed his knee into the middle of his back. The man continued his protests.
"I wasn't gonna do anything!" Rowan pulled the loosened tie out from around his collar and tied the man's wrists expertly. Relena watched him with rapt interest, taking in his disheveled state. She had never thought it was possible for him to look anything other than immaculate, but there he was, hair hanging over his eyes, shirt half open from where the buttons had popped off during the struggle. She watched as he reached into his trouser pocket to retrieve his cell phone and flipped it open with his teeth as he still subdued the laborer.
"It's me. Send two cars over ASAP. One to escort a perp to the authorities, and one for me." He paused, listening. "I know you don't work for me anymore. Count this as a favor," he continued. He shut the phone and finally turned his head to look at her. "Somebody should be coming in a few minutes."
But Relena couldn't reply. Not after finally seeing his eyes. The sight was almost blinding in its intensity, both visually and emotionally. His gaze pierced into hers, emotions displaying themselves openly in the bright blue orbs that were his eyes. How could this strong and mysterious man be the same dark and dangerous boy from her past? And there lay her answer. For what was his strength if not the maturation of his danger? His mystery but a tempering of that darkness? Blue flames flickered against gusts of silver as he watched her reaction expectantly, knowing exactly what words would be out of her mouth next. She didn't disappoint him.
"Heero…"
"I'm not Heero."
**********************
Relena's eyes opened lazily as she stirred from her uncomfortable position on the couch. Her head shot up suddenly as she remembered Rowan, causing a shooting pain in her sore neck. A result of falling asleep in such an awkward place. She was in her den, curled against the arm of the sofa. Was it all a dream? Did she really resign? Or was it all just a cruel vision her subconscious had teased her with? Did she really talk to Rowan as candidly as she remembered? She'd seen his eyes, finally. And they'd reminded her of Heero…and then…
"I'm not Heero. Not anymore. I never really was actually."
How she hoped it was real! Those hours of conversation couldn't have been just in her head, could they? She pulled herself up and hobbled toward the door, her lower leg tingling slightly with pins and needles. He was standing at the front door, the glass door propped open with his graceful frame as he spoke softly into his mobile phone. His body was turned slightly away from her, head tilted up to look at the night sky. The low rumbling of his voice flowed to her ears.
"I know how disappointed you are that you won't be able to use my company to pit against Quatre's, but it was about time I got out of it. Weren't you the one who told me I was getting obsessed with work?" She could hear the amusement in his voice and sighed softly at the sound of it. His posture straightened, and she knew he'd heard her. "I have to go now. Listen, I'm sure there are a lot of companies out there that need to hire an engineering contractor. I'll send you some contact info." He turned to look at her, warmth exuding from his fiery eyes. It was strange how open his face seemed now that his glasses weren't obstructing the view.
"How did he take it?"
"Pretty well. Maxwell was always about making things as difficult as possible. I think he just likes to see how I'll react." He smiled ruefully as he said this, both amused and slightly annoyed at that feature in his friend, as if he believed that Duo could never be anything but what he was.
She touched his face softly and he looked down at her in puzzlement. Her fingers traced his jaw line and she smiled up to answer the question in his eyes.
"I thought it was all a dream."
"I'm real." He whispered. His hand rose to cover hers, his thumb stroking the back of her hand. "Are you?"
And framed by the open door and the starlit night beyond, she answered the best way she could. With her mouth firmly planted on his.
The End.
Special Thanx To:
Cat: I'm glad u liked the second part…I hope to go more in depth with who Rowan is in a prequel… did this chapter answer enough for you? Or do u want more?
Wicked cool: Your wish is granted! Heero has made an appearance..sort of.. J
Serendipity: your enthusiasm is flattering… now that u kno who rowan is you can really die happy…yes?
Raine: ::glomps:: thanx so much for ur review… looks like u can hold back on the tomatoes and dorothy J I'm glad u liked
And to the anonymous reviewer: thanx for reading!