I Will Protect You: part 2

I Will Protect You

Chapter two

Relena descended the stairs carrying a small suit case, a servant walking behind her carrying another two, she looked down at Trowa and Dorothy and smiled sadly.

"Sorry I took so long, are we ready to go?" she said when she reached the bottom. Trowa nodded and picked up one small shoulder bag of belongings he had brought.

"Of course Miss Relena, did you get everything you wanted?" Dorothy asked, her two very large suit cases beside her.

"Yes, thank you Dorothy" she answered, fingering the small torn photograph in her pocket, and stepped down from the last step and stood beside them.

"Then lets go" Trowa said and picked up one of Dorothy's suit cases, Relena nodded and they all went out to Dorothy's golden limousine.

~at the cabin~

Relena stepped out of the limousine and looked up at the cabin. It had been two days since Quatre left and they had assumed the sooner she got out of her house the better.

She sighed sadly, it was getting harder and harder for her to stay in control of her emotions. At the mention of his name she would tear up and it got harder and harder to suppress them, and every time she would try, Trowa telling her it was okay to cry would always hover around in her mind and she would tear up all over again. Because of this she had decided to leave all the pictures that reminded her of him at home; she put her hand in her pocket and felt the photograph, but she couldn't leave this one.

"Miss Relena?" Dorothy called from the front door, Relena looked up at her and smiled.

"Yes Dorothy?" she asked .

"Could you please come up here and unlock the door for me?" Dorothy asked patiently, Relena faked a smile.

"Oh sure, sorry, I was just thinking about how beautiful this place is" she lied, then hurried up the rock steps to the front porch. Dorothy gave her a look, accusing her of lying, but let it drop.

Trowa came up the steps carrying one of Relena's small suit cases and one of Dorothy's big ones, he came up beside them and waited for them to unlock and open the door.

Relena opened the door and stepped aside to let them in, Trowa walked past her carrying his load and Relena instantly disapproved. "Trowa, you shouldn't be carrying all that at once! Here, let me help you" she said and reached for her suit case. Trowa turned to the side, swinging her suit case out of her reach.

"I'm fine" he said, trying to glare at her, she put on a sad face.

"But I wanna help you" she almost whined, again ignoring the nauseous feeling that suddenly came over her. Trowa's glare softened a bit but he still held both suit cases out of her reach.

"No" and he turned and walked down the hall towards the main room. Relena stood in the door way a few more seconds, a sudden dizziness washing over her, she clutched the door frame for support and managed to hold herself up.

"Are you alright Miss Relena?" Dorothy asked, Relena looked up at her and immediately attempted to look as though she could stand on her own. She failed miserably, reaching out for the door frame she realized she had pushed herself to far from it in her attempt to stand. She would have fallen, but Dorothy reacted fast and jumped forward, catching her before she hit the floor. She looked down at Relena with an almost bored look as she feinted for the third time in the last three days and began to call for Trowa.

Her eyes fluttered open slowly and she focused on the two faces above her, her eyes widened and she threw herself forward, leaning her head over the side, she proceeded to throw up her breakfast and lunch. Dorothy jumped back, letting go of the trash can she had been holding onto to escape getting any on her and Trowa looked slightly amused as he thought about how happy he was that he was on the other side of the couch.

He held the wet cloth he had been using to wet her face out to her and she excepted it with an embarrassed thank you. She cleaned herself up then moved to stand, but two sets of hands forcefully pushed her back down onto the couch. "Hey, what the…" she looked up to see both Trowa and Dorothy glaring at her, she knew exactly what they we're thinking but she decided to play it dumb.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked in an irritated voice, crossing her arms to look annoyed even though inside she was scared. Scared they'd find out and leave her alone, scared of what they would think of her, she tried hard to cover up her fear but it was slowly over taking her.

"This is the third time Relena" Trowa started "and I know for a fact that it's not stress" he said accusingly. Relena tried to push away her fear but it didn't work, a look of knowing suddenly crossed across Dorothy's face before she covered it up, Relena saw it and seemed to sink deeper into the couch.

Dorothy looked down at Relena, then up at Trowa, sensing she was looking at him, he looked up and met her gaze. "Trowa, could I please have some time alone with Miss Relena?" she asked, he nodded and left the room, leaving Dorothy and Relena alone.

When the door to the kitchen closed behind Trowa, Dorothy turned around and glared at the person sitting on the couch. "Miss Relena you're not-"

"Pregnant" Relena finished for her, Dorothy gulped and nodded, a worried look washing over her face. "Yes" Relena said quietly looking down at her hands folded on one knee, "I am."

"What… since when? How far along are you?" Dorothy asked.

"About three months" she answered.

"Why didn't you tell us!?" Dorothy demanded, furious that Relena didn't trust her enough to tell her something as serious as this. Relena turned her head away so that Dorothy wouldn't see the tears in her eyes. I'm not going to cry! She told herself, I'm not going to cry damnit, not infront of Dorothy. She managed to hold back her tears and turned around to face Dorothy with a look of desperate determination on her face.

"Miss Relena, why didn't you tell me?" she asked more softly this time, her anger gone and replaced by sympathy.

"I didn't know how" Relena answered slowly. Dorothy tried to smile comfortingly, but Relena had turned her head away again.

"Miss Relena," she asked as she sat down on the couch beside her, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine Dorothy" Relena answered, but didn't turn to look at her.

"You should tell Trowa" Dorothy suggested, leaning back into the couch, "he wants to help but he can't if he doesn't know what the problem is" Relena turned around and glared at Dorothy.

"What do you mean problem!" she snapped, anger evident in her voice.

"I didn't mean it that way Miss Relena" Dorothy said calmly, closed her eyes, and sighed. Relena looked down at her hands and sighed also, not only am I becoming a cry baby but I'm snappy too she thought angrily, then turned apologetic.

"I'm sorry Dorothy, I know you didn't mean it to sound that way" she said then looked up at Dorothy to see what she would say.

"It's alright Miss Relena, I'll go now and tell Trowa you wanna talk to him" she said getting up. Relena's eyes widened, tell Trowa.

"No wait!" she said desperately, reaching out a hand in Dorothy's direction. Dorothy turned around and looked at her

"Is there something wrong Miss Relena?" she asked. Relena opened her mouth to speak but stopped, it would be easier to tell him now she reasoned the longer I wait the harder it'll be to tell him and he's gonna find out sooner or later.

"Never mind Dorothy, it's nothing" she said reluctantly and sat back.

"Okay then," Dorothy turned and went into the kitchen. Relena closed her eyes and began thinking about the best way to break the news to Trowa.

Dorothy stepped through the kitchen door to find Trowa leaning against the opposite wall, she smiled, trying to imagine what his reaction would be, then frowned slightly when she figured he'd probably take it like he took everything else. Only one way to find out she thought and walked up to him.

Trowa opened his eyes when he heard the kitchen door open, but when he saw it was just Dorothy he closed them again. She walked forward and stood infront of him, he could sense how close she was, almost touching him, to close he thought.

"What do you want?" he asked in a passive, yet slightly annoyed tone, cracking his eyes open just enough to look at her.

"Miss Relena would like to speak with you" she said and smiled, "she has something rather important to say" and then she turned around and left the kitchen by the opposite door. Trowa uncrossed his arms and walked towards the door, opened it, and stepped into the room, closing the door behind him.

Relena looked up when she heard the door open and felt relief mixed with fear when she saw it was Trowa, any longer and she was sure she would have backed down and came up with some lame excuse for her supposed illness. "Hello Trowa" she greeted with a nervous smile although she covered it up, why am I so nervous? Trowa's a nice guy, he shouldn't care in the least except maybe be more worried than before about me.

"Dorothy said you had something important to tell me." Trowa stated, leaning against the wall beside the door and looking at her. Relena looked around, her nervousness somewhat returning suddenly making her feel caged in.

"I guess you could say that. Um… can we talk out side, I'm a little uncomfortable in here?" she asked. He nodded and they headed out a side door and down another small hallway which also led to their rooms, and out onto the back porch. Relena sat down on the swing (a/n: you know, that bench like thing that swings back and forth, I couldn't think of any other name but swing) and looked out acrossed a wide creek to see lush green trees and grass.

"It's so peaceful out here, I wish I could stay here forever" she said and closed her eyes, listening to the sound of the running water.

Trowa sat down beside Relena almost to slowly, and then turned halfway so that he could see her. "You had something to tell me" he said again, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. Relena sighed, it's now or never she thought and then took a deep breathe, regaining some of her courage that seemed to have been lost due to the weeks unnerving events.

"I'm pregnant" she said clearly, looking him straight in the eye, which wasn't easy since his head was half turned away from her. For a minute she thought that somehow he hadn't heard her and was about to repeat herself when he turned completely around and looked her straight in the eye, much like she had been trying to do.

She gasped, his eyes were so deep, like Heero's only his held more pain, more secrets, why hadn't she noticed before; and deep within those supposedly emotionless eyes there was a question, a question to many things that had happened in his life that he would never receive the answer to, and he was asking her this question. Why? Tears came to her eyes and she couldn't tell if it was the pregnancy or her own emotions that brought them but she knew they were there but didn't have a thought to suppress them.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" he asked. I t was a simple question with a simple answer, all she had to do was repeat what she had told Dorothy, that would be good enough, he wouldn't ask anymore questions and she would leave it at that. But for some reason she felt he deserved more, she didn't think he had done anymore than Dorothy or Quatre in the time he had been there, but she felt he deserved more than such a meaningless lie.

"I just…I was…afraid" she said softly, closing her eyes, she couldn't stand the intensity of his anymore, the only time she had seen emotion that strong was the night Heero had proposed to her. She couldn't, she wanted to run, run anywhere, just away from his eyes, the pain, the suffering, the sadness, she couldn't stand it. Yet she couldn't run, something in her made her stay, not because she felt she owed him something, but because she had this feeling, she didn't know what it was, but it was genuine, a knowing that he was important to her's and her soon to be child's future.

A hand touched her face and gently wiped away a tear that had managed to escape, she opened her eyes to find deep green ones so close, the emotion still there but now it held an almost gentle glow. She was paralyzed, she couldn't move, couldn't turn away, all she could do was stare into those deep forest green eyes, she opened her mouth to say something but was silenced by his finger on her lips.

"There's no reason to be afraid, I won't leave as long as you need me" he said and then backed away and closed his eyes. Relena was snapped out of her trance when he sat back and closed his eyes, hiding them form her view, she mentally shook her head, trying to clear it of strange feelings she shouldn't be feeling.

Dorothy silently fumed on the other side of the sliding glass door, well silently enough, every few minutes she'd mutter a word or two and then fall silent again. He can't like her! She screamed at herself while watching the scene that was playing out before her. Trowa leaned over and wiped a tear away from Relena's eye, and much to Dorothy's anger, lingered there a little longer than needed. She couldn't hear the words but she could see them clearly enough and she didn't much like what she saw, for a minute she thought they would kiss by the way they were looking at each other and was more than relieved when Trowa pulled back.

She was practically jumping for joy to say the least, he doesn't like her, he doesn't like her she chanted over and over in her mind, trying to convince herself of what she was saying. She stopped, I used to think Relena had been immature when I heard about her chasing Heero when she was younger, but look at me, she mused quietly I'm eighteen and completely obsessed over some guy I barely know.

She looked towards the two people sitting on the bench swing and smiled, but it faded quickly and her jealously returned.

Relena glanced up at Trowa as he stood and offered her his hand, she looked down at it, and then up into to his eyes. "It's starting to get cold, we should get back inside, we can't have you getting sick in your condition" he said, a small smile playing on his lips. Relena lifted an eyebrow in confusion, why is he smiling? She thought, she'd never seen Trowa smile and wondered what had been worthy enough for him to smile at? She brushed her thoughts aside and took his hand, a smile coming to her lips aswell.

He pulled her gently to her feet and held her hand a little longer than he should have in her opinion, but assumed it was just to make sure she got her balance. But when he put his arm around her waist and started to guide her to the sliding glass door, she began to feel uneasy.

Dorothy was on the other side of the door, Relena mentally cringed at the look she was trying to smother, pure rage, why was she so mad, the she remembered something. She gasped loudly Dorothy likes Trowa!!! she screamed in her mind and unconsciously pulled away from Trowa, he looked down at her then stepped forward and opened the sliding glass door.

He gestured with his hand for her to go in first and she stepped past him and full into the glaring Dorothy, who quickly covered it up with a tight smile. This made Relena mad, she didn't know why, she had concealed her anger and frustration many times, and she figured this should be one of those times. "Hello Miss Relena, did you tell him your little secret?" she asked with honeyed sweetness, although her eyes flashed. Relena lost what little control over her emotions she had, and slapped Dorothy as hard as she could, her head jerked to the side, Trowa stood behind her, wide eyed. Relena smiled proudly on the inside I surprised him, she thought but her eyes stayed fixed on Dorothy who was now trying not to glare at her. She leaned forward so her nose was almost touching the platinum blonde's, "Don't be a hypocrite Dorothy" she said low, almost threateningly, then stood up straight again, and then, as if to mock her, she grabbed Trowa's hand and led him out of the hall.

Dorothy stood in the hall way, her hand involuntarily held her now sore cheek, her eyes welled up with tears and she cursed herself for getting so emotional. She turned and ran into the room she had chosen for herself, slammed the door, and threw herself on the bed. Remembering how Trowa had just stood off to the side, making no attempt to stop Relena, and when she had dragged him down the hall he even had a somewhat grateful look on his face. She immediately made up her mind that she hated him and began to beat her pillow in frustration.

Relena let go of Trowa's hand, and began to cry, he looked at her confused, not knowing what was wrong with her. He reached out a hand and lightly touched her shoulder but she shrugged it off gently, and turned away from him, "Relena, what's wrong?" he asked concerned.

She turned around and looked at him, "I shouldn't have slapped her, I had no right to" she said angry at herself, stupid mood swings she scolded inwardly. Then wondered if she should blame the mood swings that come with pregnancy or the actual fact that that was something she had been wanting to for a long, long time.

"She had it coming" Trowa assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder comfortingly, she shrugged it off again, but this time smiled slightly and asked him to join her for a quick tv diner and an old western movie. He nodded and they headed to the kitchen to fix their meal.

Quatre, with his suit case packed, stood infront of a small car, he was about to get in when a heavy hand fell on his shoulder.

"Leaving again Master Quatre?" Rasheed asked.

Quatre nodded "I promised Heero I would help protect Relena," he said, Rasheed removed his hand and nodded approvingly.

"There'll be no more minor distractions, Master Quatre" he said, "goodbye" and he stepped back to allow Quatre some space.

Quatre smiled gratefully, everyone was so nice and understanding. "Thank you Rasheed, I'll come back soon, goodbye." He threw his suit case into the passenger side and got into the drivers seat, waved and, with one last goodbye, sped away from the mansion and towards the airport.