Chapter 7: Heat
Only a week before Christmas, a heat wave hit. The snow sufficiently melted and the mushy ground dried within only three days.
"Relena?!" Milliardo exclaimed as a blur of pink and denim swished past him. The figure skidded to a stop and rolled back to the tall man. Relena stood straight in white roller-blades, blue-jean shorts, and a pale pink t-shirt, posed and smiling cutely, hair bound into a long, bouncy ponytail. On her back was a small darker pink backpack, a brown teddy bear peeking out of the top as if to say hello.
"I'm taking the day off!" she smiled jauntily at him.
He looked at her and rolled his eyes. "Do you have to wear those things in the house?"
"Yes," she leaned up and kissed his cheek goodbye before grinning to Noin who stood back, smiling at the younger girl.
Relena raced down the hallway and found herself hurtling toward two young men just coming round the corner. Her feet flying out from under her as she tried to stop, she found herself falling into the arms of one of the two figures. Looking up at her savior, she was mildly disappointed to see cheerfully laughing blue-violet eyes, but smiled anyway.
"Hey, watch it there, princess," Duo grinned, setting her back on her feet. "Where are you going this fine winter day?" Heero, beside him, looked quizzically at her outfit.
"Out," Relena placed a white cap flirtatiously on her head, pulling a blonde ponytail through the back. "I'm taking the day off!"
Her exuberance was catching and Duo grinned back at her. Heero just felt left out of the whole affair, so he leaned against the wall and watched, wondering vaguely what his mother would think.
"Not taking anyone?" Duo observed curiously.
Relena's bright eyes dimmed a moment as she looked down, but then she shrugged and smiled. "I didn't figure anybody'd really want to come. And I kinda want to do my own thing today. Too many people just get in the way."
Duo frowned. "But . . . you do need at least one bodyguard."
"And who better than your own husband?" They turned to find Heero's mother with Dr. J in the doorway to her room. What was frightening was that both of them were in bathrobes and looked very . . . refreshed. Heero blinked, Dr. J waved to him cheerfully, and Heero's mother smiled to Relena.
"If he can take a little time off, I wouldn't mind," the Prime Minister smiled sweetly, sounding not so unhappy about it as might be expected from her earlier claim of craving solitude.
After a few minutes, Duo had satisfactorily gotten Heero to change and borrow Duo's dark blue roller-blades. Heero appeared in jeans and a loose navy button-up shirt, manipulating the skates as if he'd grown up on them. Relena only nodded her approval and rolled out the door, not waiting to see if he'd follow.
Heero followed behind the Prime Minister a foot or two, lost in his own thoughts as they reached the street, gliding along the sidewalk. Why had he done that in the wrapping room the other day? Why had his mother come to visit?
He shuddered at the next thought. Why were his mother and Dr. J sleeping together?
"Oof!" Heero slammed into Relena's back as she stopped and knocked into the intersection. Grabbing a pole on the corner to steady himself, his arm shot out and he jerked her back before a black corvette could hit her.
Then, finding blue eyes glaring into his own, he faced the furious girl with more than a little sheepishness to hide. "I thought you were supposed to protect me! Not shove me into the street!" she yelled at him, and he blinked down at her, attempting not to smirk at how cute she was.
"Sorry. Guess I'm out of it today."
"Why?" she looked at him quizzically. She hadn't seen him in so long . . . she had forgotten how beautiful he was, and was painfully reminded at this close proximity as the people around them started across with the "Walk" sign.
"Just things," he nudged her and she realized that they were going to miss their chance to get across, so they headed over. Relena led him to a small, out-of-the-way restaurant she had stumbled across a while back. She would sometimes come for lunch when she had time, and the owner knew her by now.
"AH! Ma petite belle!" a small French man came toward her and kissed both her laughing cheeks. "You're earlier than usual, but at least you beat the rush!" he held her arms and smiled.
"I'm taking the day off, Andre," she grinned back at him, then remembered, "and this is Heero." She gestured to Heero, who nodded at Andre.
"You promised you would tell me when you started dating!" he admonished. Relena opened her mouth to correct him, but Andre bustled them along to a small table in a corner before she could utter a word. He handed Heero a menu and asked if Relena wanted her usual, before going to tell the chef that she was there.
"You're popular," Heero noted before scanning the menu. Relena chuckled.
"Popular enough, I guess." They ate and left with the hearty well-wishes of Andre. Relena then led Heero to the beach. It was a nice day, the air almost chilled, and the water was shockingly chilly. There were very few people out at this time of the year.
Heero watched as Relena took off her roller blades and then he followed suit, walking a few steps behind her down to the sand, where she pulled a tightly rolled up towel from her small backpack, knocking her bear out as well.
Bending, she picked it up and dusted it off carefully before placing it back into her pack. Heero watched her quizzically for a moment, then glanced a little ways away where two women were chatting on their blankets, a child playing in the sand nearby.
Turning back, Heero felt his face go hot at the sight of Relena pulling her shirt over her head. After a moment, he realized that she had a bikini on underneath, but his cheeks still refused to cool as she pushed the shorts down and off, placing them in her backpack on the towel, because her bikini was . . . small.
"I'm gonna swim a little," she told him, looking at the water, and started walking down the sand as Heero watched her dumbly. Shaking himself, he sat on the towel and occupied himself with watching the child's sand castle for a while, then looked about curiously for entertainment, noting Relena's sleek wet head bobbing as she stroked vigorously through the waves. Glancing down, he saw her pack and noticed it sitting beside him for the first time. Curious, he shot the oblivious swimmer a fast glance before opening it and swiftly rifling through. After a moment, he pulled out a small blue velvet book, glancing up quickly before opening it to the middle.
He's still gone, Heero read, his curiosity peaking, He's never coming back, I know it. He never cared and I'm all alone... so very alone. Nobody understands, not really. I thought he would, but I was fooling myself. I'm an idiot. Oh, I just want to die. . . Heero. I can't believe I still care for him. Why can't I just die and be done with these stupid feelings? Am I wrong for loving a man I barely know?
Heero flushed, glancing out at where Relena was still oblivious of the invasion of her privacy on the beach. Closing the book, he slipped it back into the bag and put it like before.
Did she still love him? Maybe her feelings had changed . . . Heero shook his head. No, he didn't care. He wouldn't care. Nodding resolutely, he started as Relena suddenly threw herself on the towel beside him.
"Ah, it's cold out here," she shivered, rubbing the goosebumps that had sprung up on her arms in the cool air. Heero started again as she reached across him to grab another towel from her pack, knocking the blue velvet book out in the process. Blushing, she reached for it, but Heero politely picked it up and placed it back in the bag for her. Relena gave him a quick smile of thanks before rubbing herself with the towel.
"Cold?" he asked, and rubbed her arms, surprising her, but the surprise turned to pleasure as he proceeded to massage the tense muscles of her neck and shoulders. When she was properly limp, Relena turned her head to give him an appreciative smile, but he glanced up at the same time, and their gazes caught. Heero's hands on her shoulders stopped, but neither noticed, and his mind flashed back to the diary: Am I wrong for loving a man I barely know? Heero was confused as they sat, looking at each other, his hands resting on her slender shoulders.
"Um," their gaze was broken by a little girl – the same owner of the sand castle – who was sticking a sand-encrusted finger into her mouth and looking at them curiously. "Um," she paused and breathed loudly, indicating a stuffy nose, "are you going to have sex? My mommy says you look like you're about to have sex, and," she paused to breathe again, and moved the finger into her nose, "I've never seen anybody have sex before, so can I watch?" The little girl looked expectantly at them – completely serious – and Heero snapped his hands from Relena's shoulders with unnecessary swiftness.
"Uh," for once the political Miss Darlian-Peacecraft was at a loss for words. "N-no," was all she could get out in the horrified stupor that had covered the pair.
"Your mother shouldn't make assumptions about people she doesn't know," Heero added, his voice scathing, standing with the best glare Relena had ever seen him wield. Under it, the child's eyes grew to enormous proportions and the gritty index-finger fell from her nose, as one of the women chatting on her blanket rose, having just seen them.
"What are you doing to my daughter?" the woman asked, picking up the little girl and glaring up at Heero.
She stopped.
"Madame," he spoke tersely, "I believe in the future it would be best to mind your own business when concerning others – especially with talkative children around." The woman flushed deeply, her eyes widening, and Relena knew she really had said that, but Heero turned from the woman and offered a hand to help the young woman up, which she took. "Relena," he picked up their articles and handed her bag to her, "I think we should go."
"Yeah," she whispered, following him, and didn't look back.
