Feels Like Home
By Shikata ga nai
~*~
One year, five months, and twenty-two days after Heero Yuy walked out of her life, Relena Darlian, once a Peacecraft, former queen of the Earth Sphere, sat on the couch in her living room, wrapped in a blanket. She had been reading, but the book now lay forgotten on the cushion next to her. She was staring out of the bay window at the hedge that obscured the driveway. Autumn was just settling in, and the leaves were turning orange, red, and purple. They looked even more vibrant than usual, because the sky was the dreariest grey possible. It was raining twice as hard as it had on the day Heero left, and thunder rumbled in the distance.
She studied the colours of the hedge, letting her mind drift aimlessly around creation, trying to keep it from settling on work, because she was taking a week off and needed to unwind.
When the doorbell rang, piercing the silence, she jumped in surprise and nearly fell off of the couch, and then hurried to answer it herself--Pagan had today and tomorrow off.
As startled as she'd been when the doorbell rang, somehow she wasn't surprised at all when she opened the door and saw who was there. Maybe it was because he was never far from her mind, no matter how much or how hard she worked at other things.
He stood on her sheltered front step with a familiar canvas backpack dangling loosely from one hand. He was soaked to the skin from the rain that poured down just two feet behind him, and his sodden, perpetually messy brown hair dripped into his eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept for days.
She opened the door wide and said, "Come in, Heero," pulling him inside and shutting the door behind him.
He looked around slowly, blinking rainwater out of his eyes, and then turned to her and looked her up and down, taking in her ripped jeans, thick socks, fleece sweatshirt, and careless ponytail before settling on her face. He opened his mouth for the first time. "Relena, I--" But she didn't get to hear the rest, because he suddenly passed out from exhaustion.
She caught Heero before he hit the ground, and this time she knew she wouldn't drop him.
**********