Note: I don't own Gundam Wing or its characters.
For those who have a feeling that Relena calling indicates the ending of this fic, you are wrong.
There was no logic to this, none that Quatre could think of as he picked up the phone from the phone. The person on the other end of the phone couldn't be his Relena, no she was gone, disappeared, without a trace. It couldn't be her that just greeted Quatre in such a carefree manner as if they were good old friends.
"Re…Relena?" he repeated as he put the phone to his ear.
"Yeah, has it really been that long since you've hear from me?" teased Relena making it sound as if it hadn't been five months since they spoke, more like five minutes ago.
"Five months is a pretty long time for not hearing from a friend," replied Quatre nervously as all the many questions he had been thinking of asking her the first opportunity he would get were all fleeting from his brain, leaving it completely blank. His complete focus was on the fact that he was speaking with a good friend of his that had been spirited away from him so many months ago.
"Five months?" she echoed as though it had never occurred to her. "Has it really been that long? It hasn't felt like five months, and you still remember my voice, amazing. I'm impressed Quatre."
Her tone is different, noted Quatre as he took notice that her voice was no longer forced, exasperated, or sarcastic. No, it was more genuine and just good natured, like she was more relaxed. It must be from not having all that stress on her shoulders everyday. Also, from not having to be paranoid while her life is put into danger 24 hours a day, 7 days of the week whether she would be sleeping, eating, or just walking. Must be nice.
"Actually no, I didn't recognize your voice, it was what you said. Anyone else would have just said, "Hello". You know, since they actually call once in a while," Quatre told her honestly as he sat on the bed. His tone becoming more lighthearted as he got into a playful mood. It felt like the worries and cares of his colony and other colonies were being relieved from his brain for a few moments so he could enjoy himself.
"Now, don't go getting your boxers all in a bunch. I just didn't know you wanted to speak with me," assured Relena.
"Of course I would want to speak with you. Hell, I bet you anything Hilde or Duo or even Heero would love to speak with you!" smiled Quatre.
"I doubt Heero would want to just talk with me, more like interrogate and track me," Relena stated in a tone that plainly stated that she didn't wish to speak of Heero with Quatre.
"Relena, where the he…" Quatre began to question.
"Quatre, if we are going to converse on the phone together than I request that you do not ask me where I am, why I ran away, or what I have been doing. Okay?" requested Relena sensing what her friend wanted to ask her. She knew that this was a lot to ask of her "partner in crime" but she didn't wish to discuss any of that with her friend.
"May I ask just one thing before I agree?" inquired the representative. "It's not about where you are."
"I suppose," sighed Relena.
"Is Heero part of the reason that you ran away?" Quatre asked. There was a moment of strange, unnerving silence between the two, almost to the point where Quatre thought that Relena had hung up on him. "Relena?"
"I'm still here. I guess in the beginning I would have said "yes, Heero's one of the reasons that I ran away", but than I would be lying. Heero just kind of gave that first shove out the door, like helped encourage me to take that first step out the door," answered Relena. "Does that satisfy you for now?"
"Quite," confirmed Quatre laying down upon the bed staring up at the ceiling with a slight smile forming on his lips. So, it wasn't really Heero that made her leave. I was right the whole time. Go me!
"Moving onto some more pleasant topics of discussion. How are you?"
"Tired, lonely, and I'm possibly on the brink of insanity," chuckled Quatre as he thought about it for a second. The job was wearing on him. "In fact, just yesterday I found that I had gray hair now!" Relena burst out laughing hysterically. "I'm serious, I actually freaked out when I saw that. Am I truly becoming an old man?"
"Nah, you're only 19 years old, not even old enough to legally drink alcohol in the former United States of America," assured Relena between her laughs. "Perhaps you should dye your hair blond so your gray hairs don't show up on your pictures, like this picture on "Universal Magazine". They did a horrible job on capturing your more strict side, if you have one that is."
"Hey!"
"I'm only joking Quatre, jeez," giggled Relena.
"Relena."
"Yeah."
"I have a question for you," Quatre informed her as he thought of what Lynn told him earlier that evening.
"Shoot."
"Did Lynn tell you that I wanted to speak with you?" asked Quatre. Another moment of silence came and went by but not for a long while.
"Yeah. I've been trying to call her home number all night, but I didn't get an answer from her, so I tried her cell phone. I actually didn't get to speak with her until a few moments ago. She told me that you and her had a nice conversation about me, why I didn't know you care, and well, she told me of your desire to talk with me. So, I decided to call you," confirmed Relena. "Though Draca, Sage, and Salimar have also told me that Trowa, Heero, and Ms. Noventa were asking questions about me as well. Why?"
"Heero's still looking for you, and he feels that your friends are the key to finding you," replied Quatre. "We only helped out because we were there. I take it, that you now know that Sylvia is Heero's girlfriend." There was the voice of uncertainty outlining Quatre's voice.
"Actually, I've known that Heero had a girlfriend," Relena nodded her voice starting to choke. "Actually, I think I was the first one to find out, except for maybe Hilde and Duo, they probably knew long before I did."
Quatre could sense that this was a subject that was upsetting Relena greatly. He just didn't know if it was because Heero had a girlfriend or something else, but he assumed that it was because of Heero, her long-time, school girl crush, had a girlfriend. Still, assumptions led to mistakes, or so he was told.
"Are you okay with this?" he cautiously inquired, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable and hang up on him.
"Course, after all, he should be happy with someone just like everyone else, even if that girl isn't me, as I know you were probably thinking, right?" She didn't wait for an answer for she already knew it. "It's not Ms. Noventa's and Mr. Yuy's relationship that bothers me," she stated.
Mr. Yuy? She's always referred to Heero by his first name, Quatre thought as he noted the change in reference to his comrade's mention.
"What bothers me is the fact that he didn't even mention this relationship to me. I mean I thought he and I were friends at least, and that he would tell me such things, like friends would. Instead he kept it secret from me and…" ranted Relena as she began to babble without realizing it.
"Made you his second priority?" offered Quatre.
"Couldn't trust me with the truth," corrected the former Vice Foreign Minister somberly. "You weren't there Quatre, but what would happen was he would take off on the weekends, at night, to go on a date with Ms. Noventa, leaving Duo as my bodyguard, not that I'm complaining. Still, he could have told me instead of keeping it from me!"
"It's alright Relena, calm down," urged Quatre in a soothing voice. He understood the feelings of betrayal though he just didn't let it effect him or his actions, the kind of betrayal he felt that Relena had suffered was the worst kind; one from the inside. Betrayals from friends were always tough to forgive and forget, possibly even harder if that person was your infatuation for the longest time.
On the other line Quatre could hear Relena breathing in slowly and breathing out even slower, she was calm now and could speak without her emotions getting the best of her again. "I need to be going Quatre, I shall call you tomorrow perhaps," claimed Relena in a quietly voice.
"Understood, but Relena, could we possibly meet sometime? Face to face; in person?" questioned Quatre rather hopefully, allowing his hopes to soar above the clouds and beyond.
"Maybe in the future Quatre, if you don't tell anyone about these phone calls, but for now, I want to just keep it as phone call conversations. Okay?" approved Relena.
It wasn't a complete turndown to Quatre, in fact it brought even more hope to him. The thought of seeing Relena sometime in the future brought a foolish grin to the young representative's face. "That is fine by me Relena. I won't tell anyone," promised Quatre.
"Bye Quatre," smiled Relena.
"Good night Relena," Quatre told her before hanging up. His conclusion statement was actually meant to find out if Relena would give him some kind of clue as to where she was, but it didn't. She's definitely smarter than the average Vice Foreign Minister, commented Quatre sitting up on the bed to change into a fresh pair of boxers.
*****
Meanwhile, all the way in China Wufei and Sally were detonating the explosives in a former military warehouse when Wufei was informed that he had received an anonymous e-mail. "What the…" he muttered debating to open the e-mail and possibly get a virus or open it and read up on something useless.
"What is it Wufei?" asked Sally sitting back down in the jeep and about ready to go to their next target. She was amazed that there were even Mobile Suite warehouses and factories were still operating even after the war has been done with for so long. People needed to learn not to be so paranoid all the time.
"I have an anonymous e-mail with no subject," the Chinese teen told his partner.
"Mmmh…you better open it, it maybe an e-mail with some information on another military base storing scrapes of mobile suites," sighed Sally. "Anyways, our computer is virus protected."
Nodding Wufei opened the e-mail, expecting the worst of the worst to appear on the screen. Nothing extremely dangerous happened, all that appeared on the screen was a typed letter addressed to Wufei. This surprised the Chinese preventer because he didn't have any real friends in the universe and the entire Long Clan had been killed except for himself, so he had no idea who could be e-mailing him.
Dear Mr. Chang
It is to my understanding that you still have association with a Mr. Heero Yuy. This is my reason for mailing you this letter of sorts.
I wish for you to negotiate with Mr. Yuy in discontinuing his search for me, Ms. Relena Darlian, for I do not wish to be found by him or anyone else on the preventer forces. These are my wishes and I would like them to be respected. Relay this message to Mr. Yuy if you are able to. If you do not wish to take this task than do not send Mr. Yuy this message and we shall leave this as it is.
Much appreciated.
Relena Darlian-Peacecraft
"From Relena?! We need to tell Heero of this Wufei, he's still looking for her after all!" cried Sally, losing her professional composure. She actually wants Heero to stop looking for her?! Was making her dreams come true truly that terrible to her? wondered Sally.
I'll inform him as soon as we report into Une," Wufei stated as he sat back. "Let's get to our next target first and then set up camp."
"Agreed."