Safety 6
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Relena fell back onto one of the beds. The room had light purple walls and curtains, and two plum-colored beds. She stared up at the ceiling confused, and frustrated. Duo gave his best sympathetic smile, but Relena couldn't return it.
"I wouldn't feel too bad," said Duo, jumping onto the second bed, "After all, we are dealing with Heero." He started searching through the small dresser next to his bed. "Way I see it, there's not much you can do to offend him. Once you actually do offend him, it's kinda a good thing, because then you know what he feels. It's not you tha- Hey! Free cocoa! What some?"
Relena had to laugh. He had big eyes like a little kid. "Sure, Duo."
"See, that's better." He got out a coffee maker and two little packets of cocoa mix. "Cocoa makes everyone happy. There's some tea too, but I never really liked the stuff. It doesn't have any flavor." He plugged in the coffee maker and filled it with water. "Now what was I saying…oh yeah, it's not you that Heero is mad at anyway. You can't blame him for being mad. I'd be mad too if dozens of people were trying to kill my girlfriend. Besides that, that Vert guy is really annoying him. Giving you that necklace and everything after he was so sure that he's the bad guy."
"I know, but still,"
"Yeah, you're stressed out too. That's understandable." The coffeemaker started beeping. "When is that ball?"
"In about a week."
"You should be excited about that. Did you know that everyone is going? Even Wufei!" He handed Relena a cup. "Let's see. I'm taking Hilde, Wufei is taking Sally, Quatre is taking Dorothy, though I'm not sure if that's a good idea, Trowa is taking Catherine, and that leaves…" They both smiled.
"I guess." She said, turning red.
"I'm sure he'll take you."
"But when am I going to get a dress and shoes and-" Duo put a finger on her lips.
"Relax. These things will work themselves out." He put his finger down and sipped some cocoa. "What you need to focus on is your job and make sure that you and Heero are happy. Otherwise you'll never marry him."
Relena jumped up. "What does that mean?!"
Duo laughed. "Well, if this doesn't work Zechs would never let you marry Heero. You did know that he's looking at this as a trial run of marriage, right?"
"Of course he isn't! It's not like that… it's just… well maybe..."
"Well, Noin warned Heero that Zechs would probably see this like that when he volunteered to let you live with him."
"He volunteered?" She exclaimed, surprised.
Duo nearly choked on his coco. "Shit. I wasn't supposed to tell you that." he sighed. "Oh well, now you know. He volunteered to help protect you and after we talked about your house, he said you could stay with him. It wasn't just a normal protector job. He felt guilty that you got hit that day. I think he still does."
"Why should he feel guilty?" Duo sat and considered whether or not to tell her.
"Well," he sighed, "I always said he should tell you. He's been watching you ever since the incident with Marriemaia. He hides from you though because, for some reason or another, he didn't want you to know about it. He's been to every one of your speeches; until that day, so he must feel that it's his fault."
"I never knew any of this. I didn't think that he…"
"Well, now you know and if you give him so much as a hint that I told you about that, he'll kill me, but I need you to stay with him while I go get you a new laptop. I think the other one was kind of trashed." He got up and put the cups on the dresser.
"All right."
They walked to the other room.
"Heero," Duo said after he swung the door open, "I'm going to get Relena a new lap top so she can work on her speech for the ball, alright?" Heero turned to argue, but Duo was gone before he could say anything. He looked at Relena, who was standing quietly in the doorway with her hands folded in front of her. The sunlight hit her hair and made it shine golden and her dress hung perfectly on every curve of her body. He looked at her in the beautiful sunlight and then turned back to the window swiftly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Once Duo got outside he turned on his cell phone and pushed auto-dial for the preventers.
"Hey there!" Duo said into the cell phone as he walked casually down the street.
"What is it Duo?" Noin asked.
"Well, there was another attack. It was at Heero's apartment."
"What happened?"
"Well, it was a bomb. The whole room is gone. I don't think anyone else was hurt. Relena got her arm scratched up pretty bad and I left to get bandages. Heero watched her in an alley at the time and I guess he met that purple-hair guy again."
"Oh God…"
"Yeah, then we got to this hotel down the street and there was a letter there for Relena. It had a note saying his name was Vert and some other stuff, plus it had this blue crystal necklace in it too."
"Duo." Noin said sternly. "I need you to get Heero and Relena. We need to have a meeting immediately."
"No can do." Duo said calmly.
"What?" Noin exclaimed surprised.
Duo smiled to himself. "Well, I think the most important thing is to give Heero and Relena some time. I want them to be getting along perfectly if they're going to see Zechs."
"I guess I can't argue with you." Noin sighed. "I'll let you decide then. Call me when you're ready."
"Thanks, Noin. See ya." He clicked down the phone and went in search of a new laptop.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Heero." Relena walked slowly and stood next to him by the window, "I'm sorry about your home."
"I can always stay somewhere else. How's your arm?"
"It should be ok. My leg has healed too."
He looked back out the window and didn't say anything. Relena made a fist. There was a lot she wanted to say, but she couldn't. She held it and was content with just a sigh.
"Relena." Heero started, making her jump to attention from her own thoughts, "On the plane, what were you dreaming about?" Relena froze in shock that he asked.
"It was nothing." She said shyly. He turned and looked at her with caring eyes.
"Dreams can tell you a lot sometimes." he said.
"It was…a woman…" She looked out the window, trying to recall the dream, "She was running with this baby and she hid it in a bush. Then this man came and…killed her."
Heero watched her for a second. "Can I see that necklace Vert gave you again?" Relena pulled it out of her pocket and handed it to him. He studied it and handed it back to her.
"Why did you want to see it?" She asked, putting it back into her pocket.
"Just wanted to check something. Make sure you show that to Zechs as soon as possible." He walked over and sat on the bed. "So, are you ready for the party?" Relena sat on the second bed.
"I had about half of my speech on my laptop, but I have most in it memorized."
"Do you want to go with anyone?" He asked intentionally not looking at her.
"Well, most people do bring dates to this kind of dance, so…" Heero laughed a bit to himself and lay back on his bed.
"Then you have two choices. Zechs got a prince he found acceptable or, for safety proposes, a bodyguard." Relena was a little dismayed. She was, of course, hoping Heero would take her.
"I guess I'll take the bodyguard." She said softly to her feet. Heero looked at her with a sweet kind of smirk.
"I'll be sure to find a nice suit." Relena looked up, but Heero was looking out the window again.
"You mean…" She asked hopefully. Heero didn't answer. He just looked out the window contently.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Duo walked slowly around the crowded shopping center, more people watching then shopping. He sat down on a bench out of the way and just watched the people who walked by. There was a couple holding hands, two friends laughing back and forth, and a young mother carrying her sleeping little girl home. "It's so peaceful." He thought to himself, "Sometimes I forget. Even with all these attacks against poor Relena, the peace she loves so much is everywhere." He watched a little boy struggling to keep up with his older brother. "That jerk. The poor kid's gonna fall." He watched the kid run staggering, until he fell flat on his face. His brother, who had ignored him until then, ran back and picked up his crying sibling.
"It's OK," he said hugging the crying child. "You're fine, see? What happened?" The little boy wiped his face with his sleeve.
"You were too fast." he said in between sniffs. His brother looked angry for a second and then smiled nicely.
"You're right, I'm sorry." He let his brother go. "Tell you what. How 'bout we fix that fall with some ice cream?" The little boy's face lit up.
"YEAH!!!" He said loud and happy and they left, going slower then they were before.
"Hum." Duo though to himself, "I guess all people are like that aren't they? We all ignore something as long as we can, till something bad happens. After that, it's a treasure." He stood up. "Even Heero, he spends all this effort avoiding her until she's in trouble and then he goes and treats her like how he should of in the first place." He got a laptop for Relena and got some lunch. He was lost in thought at his own little table in a restaurant, until he finally he realized that someone was sitting in front of him.
"Trowa!" Duo said, looking up from his French fries.
"I'm surprised you noticed." Trowa said coolly. Duo tried to figure out if it was a joke or not, but gave up.
"Whatcha doin' here?" Duo asked, looking at the bag next to him.
"Not much. I just thought of something to help Relena a bit."
"It wasn't a laptop was it? 'Cause I just got her one, so…" Trowa almost half smiled to himself.
"No." He reached into the bag, briefly pulled something out long enough for Duo to see and stashed it back.
"That's so great!" Duo said excited. "But, what about-?"
"I got her these. We'll figure out later. I'll give them to her the day before, if she doesn't have any other ones by then." Trowa said kind of proud of himself.
Duo smiled. "Maybe things are getting better after all.".
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Trowa left his packages in his car and went with Duo to see how Relena and Heero were doing. They heard Heero shouting something at Relena and swung open the door.
"Fine!" He yelled, in between laughing, "I promise!" Duo and Trowa's jaw dropped as Heero was at the mercy of Relena's tickling spree. Relena suddenly looked up and saw the shocked Trowa and Duo. She let Heero go and stood up.
"Heero was…he was…LAUGHING?" Duo asked, his jaw hanging. "How'd you do that, Relena?" Relena smiled, feeling like she accomplished something.
"Little trick Dr. J taught me." She looked back at Heero. "I guess he left one weakness."
"What did you make him promise?" Trowa asked trying not to laugh. Relena turned a little red.
"That I wouldn't dance with Dorothy." Heero answered for her. Duo and Trowa couldn't control it and started laughing. Heero and Relena watched, embarrassed.
"I think you two will be fine." Duo said catching his breath. "We better go see Noin now."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
