Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or Borrowed Hearts.

Chapter Six

A few days later, Heero returned home after a long and exhausting day. He went to his study and threw his briefcase onto his desk. He loosened his tie and sat down. Closing his eyes, Heero was grateful that Duo and Trowa were taking Quatre out for dinner. He didn't think he could pretend to be a perfect husband and father tonight. He was about to drift off to sleep when a laugh made him open his weary eyes. He saw Ebony ran into the room with Evan not far behind.

Ebony jumped onto Heero's desk, her tailing whipping back and forth until it knocked over a container of pens. Evan tried to catch the cat, but she jumped away again. This time she landed on an end table and again knocking over a pile of papers. Evan skidded to a stop when the cat decided to climb up the bookcase. All the while Heero sat there staring at them. He then stared at the mess on the floor and something inside him snapped. He didn't even notice Relena coming in.

"What do you think you're doing?!" he shouted. He stood up and pointed at the mess. "Look at what you've done!"

Evan's smile faded as he looked up at Heero. His bottom lip started to tremble. His wide eyes looked distinctly teary. Evan let out a wail and ran from the room.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" Relena exclaimed, marching up to Heero. "You have no right to yell at my son!"

"Your son is in serious need of discipline!" Heero barked back. He didn't even think about what he was saying, not with the fury that was filling up in him.

Relena couldn't believe it. He yelled at her. With her eyes blazing with anger and loathing, she took a deep breath before she replied. "He is my son, and I will discipline him my way. If you can't handle that, then we're through."

Her words suddenly pierced through Heero's cloud of rage. He watched her silently pull off the wedding ring and slam it down on the desk. He stared after her as she marched away from. Heero glanced back at the ring, and then it clicked in his mind. He had lost complete control of himself. Heero groaned aloud and sat back down. He could hear her words echoing in his mind.

'We're through...we're through...we're through...'

He dropped his head into his head and groaned again. He felt his heart tighten once more at her words. "What's wrong with me?" he whispered to himself. He looked up and stared at the ring again. Guilt and regret were swarming through him, and he didn't like it one bit. "I need some air."

Heero got up and started to walk out when he glanced at the ring again. He picked it up and shoved it into his pocket. Picking up his coat, he headed out. A few hours later he ended back at his house, cold, tired, and feeling even worse. He knew what he had to do.

****

Back at Relena's house, she was tucking Evan into bed, still angry with Heero for shouting at her son. Evan was upset, too because they had to leave Heero's house. He knew that they had to stay there if he was going to get a dad. Now everything had gone wrong. Evan had to fix this.

"Mommy, I didn't mean to make a mess. I was just playing with Ebony. I'm sorry I made Mr. Yuy mad," Evan apologized, looking and feeling very contrite.

"It's okay, sweetie. It wasn't your fault," assured Relena.

"But we had to leave," he added.

Relena smiled and gave him a kiss. "Don't worry about it." Then the doorbell rang suddenly. "Go to sleep." She gave him another kiss and went out to answer the door. She opened it and saw Heero standing on her front porch. She tried to close it quickly, but Heero stuck his foot in to block it.

"Relena, wait. I came here to apologize," he said quickly. "Please."

"Not to me. To Evan," Relena demanded. She let him in after he nodded. She led the way to Evan's room. "Evan, honey. Mr. Yuy is here to say sorry. Will you let him?"

Evan nodded, and Heero walked. He looked around, feeling rather uncomfortable in a little boy's room, before he sat down next to Evan.

"Evan, I am very sorry that I yelled at you. I had a bad day, and I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?" Heero pleaded.

"Well..."

"What do I have to do to get you to forgive me?" asked Heero. He tried to look as willing as possible.

Evan looked up slowly and asked, "Can I have a puppy?"

Heero smiled at his wistful tone. "Sure, but you have to ask Ebony first. She doesn't really like dogs. So you forgive me?"

Evan nodded again and grinned. "Does this mean we can come back?"

Both of them glanced at Relena who was leaning against the doorframe. Relena could help but smile at their hopeful face. "Yes, it does."

Evan jumped out of bed with joy and rushed off to get dressed. Relena and Heero went to wait in the living room. "I should apologize to you, too," Heero declared after an awkward silence. "I lost my head, and that doesn't usually happen. It shouldn't have happened at all at this point. This deal is far too important to company for me to risk it by angering you. I'm sorry."

Relena just smiled again. "It's okay, Heero. I guess I can't expect you to be like a snowman all the time."

Heero blinked. "A snowman? Is that how you see me?"

Relena suddenly felt uneasy and started rearranging the picture frames on a nearby table. She kept her eyes down when she answered him. "Well, that is the general opinion among us employees."

"But now you have the benefit of seeing behind closed doors," reminded Heero. For some strange reason, he didn't like Relena thinking of him as a cold, indifferent man.

"Yes." She turned and glanced up and down at him. Feeling a bit brave all of a sudden, she grinned at him. Relena could see that he didn't know what to make of her smile. "You're definitely more man than snowman if you can lose control like the rest of us."

Heero felt relief wash over him. He didn't understand why he felt relieved that Relena thought more of him, but he was all the same. He looked around and saw paintings hanging all over the walls. "Did you paint these?" He moved over to one to look at it more closely when she nodded. "They're good. Very good. Did you ever think about doing this professionally?"

Relena gazed out the window and wrapped her arms around her as the memories came back. It had started to snow softly again. "I wanted to go abroad to study in Pairs when I was in college, but I met Evan's father, Terry, and well, I got pregnant. Things had to change."

"Mind if I ask where he is?" Heero questioned quietly.

Relena shook her head. "When I told him I was pregnant, he left. Now that I look back it, I kind of knew that would happen. He was that kind of man, you know. Anyway, a few months before Evan was born, Terry was killed in a car accident. I was told it was a drunk driver."

"I'm sorry." Heero didn't know what else to say.

She shook her head again. "Don't be. It doesn't matter now. I'll make sure that Evan will have everything he needs."

Heero was about to say that Evan still needed a father, but he closed his mouth, remembering he had no right to say so. Then Evan rushed in all dressed, exclaiming, "Let's go home."

His words struck a chord in Relena's heart. Evan looked so excited to go back to Heero's house. She glanced at the man to gauge his reaction. She was surprised to see a tender, contented smile on his face. 'Why does he look glad to see us come back? Shouldn't he look relieved instead? I mean I know he needs us to pretend to be his family, but still why look so happy?'

Evan was impatient to leave. He tugged on Heero's hand. "Come on. Let's go," he begged.

"Do you need to pack again?" Heero asked, shaking Relena out of her reverie. She said no and went to her room to retrieve the bags that were still there.

Fifteen minutes later they arrived back at Heero's house, and Relena and Evan settled in again. Thankfully Quatre wasn't back yet, so they were safe.

"Goodnight, Mommy," Evan said later on. He yawned and pulled the covers over him.

"Goodnight, dear," Relena replied. She turned off the light and gently shut the door. She went downstairs to the kitchen where Heero was brewing some tea.

He was filling the cups when she walked in. "Everything all right?" he asked, handing her one steaming cup.

Relena took a sip before answering. "Yeah." Silence descended on them. They stood there, drinking their tea until she spoke up again. "You know, you were lucky tonight. It was a good thing that the others took Quatre out for a night on the town." She picked up her mug and walked out to the living room. Heero followed, settling down on the sofa. Tucking her legs under her, Relena sat down on the floor in front of the sofa. "What do you think they're doing right now?" she asked.

Heero groaned and laid down the couch, his head near hers. "With Duo, anything is possible."

Relena turned around at his worried tone and stared at him. "You don't think anything will happen, do you?"

Heero shook his head. "Trowa's with them. He'll make sure things go right." Feeling very mischievous suddenly, he turned to face her and propped his head up on his hand. "Trowa is much saner than Duo most of the time. Of course, he does have his own moments if he drinks too much. I remember when Duo threw Wufei a bachelor party, Trowa wasn't exactly his refined self," Heero declared and smirked at her.

"Really? I can't imagine him being anything but his normal self," she said.

"Oh, yeah. Trowa can really party," he added, seeing how she believed him.

Relena was about to reply when she noticed the playful glint in his eyes. She could see the laughter dancing in them. "Are you teasing me?" she asked, her hand curling around the floor pillow next to her.

Heero shrugged and said, "Maybe." His smile grew wider.

Relena took that as a yes, stood up, and smacked him with the pillow, not caring that she was hitting her employer.

"Hey!" Heero got up to block the next hit with his arm. He made a grab for the pillow, but Relena laughed and danced away before he could grab it. "No one hits me and gets away with it," he warned.

"Oh, and what are you going to do about it?" Relena teased him. She was near the fireplace and waved the pillow in front of her, ignoring the dangerous look in his eyes.

Heero growled and lunged for her. Relena quickly dashed in front of the sofa, narrowly dodging him. "Missed me," she laughed.

He lunged again, but this time Relena backed up and forgot that the sofa was behind her. She dropped the pillow and down she went. Heero grabbed her before she fell back, but he, too, tripped, and together they landed on the sofa with Relena on top of him.

"Gotcha!" he exclaimed. Relena scrambled to get off of him, but Heero held on to her. "Oh, no, you're not going anywhere until I get my revenge." Relena tried hard not to blush; however, it wasn't easy with her laying on top of him and his arm around her waist. Heero laid there content to watch her face grow redder. Then a devilish thought came to him. "Relena..."

Relena grew stiff at his quiet voice, her face against his shoulder. 'Now what?'

"Are you ticklish?" he asked, a smile forming on his face. He heard her soft gasp, and she tried to pull away again, but Heero started tickling her sides.

Soon laughter was bubbling out of her. "No, stop!" she cried over her laughing. Still, Heero held on as she squirmed to escape his fingers.

Heero became fully aware of her wiggling on top of him. He could smell her fragrance and feel the heat from her body. Desire suddenly rocked him, and he stopped tickling her. His hands settled back on her waist.

Completely forgetting that she was laying on him, Relena tried to catch her breath. When she could talk, she pulled up and said, "That was not..." She stopped when she saw Heero staring at her with those intense eyes. She noticed that they had darken to a deeper blue. Her lips suddenly felt dry, and her tongue swept out to moisten them.

Heero's gaze immediately dropped down to her lips, and his breathing sped up. His hand came up and touched her hair. 'So soft,' he thought as he felt the golden strands. He looked up again at her wide eyes. "So beautiful," he whispered. He slowly brought her head down.

Relena couldn't stop herself as all thoughts flew out of her head at his words. Her eyes gradually closed, and she felt his warm lips just barely graze her own. She sighed and leaned in a little closer.

Heero brushed her lips again as his eyes closed, too. He was about to deepen the kiss when suddenly he heard the front door opened, and his eyes snapped opened.

Relena had heard the door, too, and she pulled away as quickly as she could. She stood up and moved aside. She couldn't believed what just happened. Heero sat up and tried not to look at her. He couldn't believed what happened either. No one said a word. After all what could they say? They both jumped a little when Quatre walked in.

"Hello," he greeted them. He stopped when he noticed their troubled looks. "I'm sorry. Did I interrupt something?"

"No!" they both exclaimed.

Quatre was taken back at their forceful tone. Relena saw that despite the embarrassment she was feeling. "I mean, we were...uh...just talking. Did you have a good time?" she asked, settling back into her role. Heero didn't say anything.

"Yes, I did," he replied, noting Heero's silence.

"Well, why don't you two talk some more? I think I'll go to bed," Relena declared. "Goodnight." She quickly left the room and went upstairs.

"Is everything all right?" Quatre questioned. He sat down next to Heero who was still being very quiet.

Heero forced himself to reply. "Of course. So what did you like our city? I hope they didn't do anything too crazed," Heero said, settling back into his role, too.

Quatre went on to tell Heero everything he had did with Duo and Trowa. All the while he noticed Heero's dark expression. 'I wonder what happened,' he thought to himself.

Upstairs in her bathroom, Relena splashed cold water on her face and tried to calm down. She looked at herself in the mirror and groaned. Her face was still flushed, and her eyes were still glowing. "What were you thinking, girl?" she said to her reflection. "You kissed him. You actually kissed your boss." Relena sighed miserably. "And you liked it, too."

'What am I going to do?' she thought, closing her eyes and shaking her head.