An Understanding Love
Wow, this took longer than what I anticipated. Sorry about that. I've gotten lazy over the summer, again, but I'm trying to get back on track. Alright let's pray that I'll have the next chapter up by August 5th or 6th.
Being Relena's bodyguard meant that Duo protected her from anything he felt may endanger her, escort her from place to place, keep watch over her room, report into his superiors, and, of course, get to know his charge when she was being difficult and complaisant. Unfortunately, she was being a bit more difficult than what Duo had suspected she would be. After all, she would have been dead, blown up due to the bomb, if it hadn't been for David.
Duo had never questioned why his superior Preventer had been present in that building at the time, but he was grateful for the coincidence.
Heading to the nearest payphone to call Heero, Duo glanced over at Relena who was sitting with her arms folded and legs crossed, meaning she wasn't liking this plan of action. Certain that she wasn't going to follow him, Duo pulled out the slip of paper that had Heero's cell phone number on it.
She's going to kill me when she finds out who's actually going to take care of her, Duo sighed, glancing nervously at his charge once again. She was still sitting there, under the impression that Duo was going to be staying with her, wherever she was going. Here goes nothing.
Picking up the phone, Duo swept his phone card and dialed the number. The phone rang once before it was picked up.
"Davidson," Heero's voice grunted.
"Heero?" Duo inquired, checking the number on the paper to what he had dialed.
"Hn, yes Duo, now when are you two going to land?" Heero asked while in the background there were sounds of an argument going on.
"Oh right!" Momentarily taken off guard by Heero answering the phone with 'Davidson' rather than 'Yuy', Duo composed himself and checked his ticket. "We'll be landing at 8:25 pm. I'll try to make sure she's not too jet lagged."
"Good, she'll need her sleep."
Not really interested in what Heero meant by that statement, Duo instead asked, "Heero, what's up with the name Miles Davidson? What was the purpose of you changing your name?"
There was a bit of silence from the perfect soldier's end. "That's none of your business. See you tomorrow night."
"Yeah, we got to gain sometime this way," grinned Duo before he heard the dial tone. "Bastard hung up on me!" He couldn't believe it; Heero had hung up on him! It wasn't uncommon but after eight years Duo thought that his buddy would've gained more social manners.
With a shake of his head, Duo hung up the phone and returned to Relena's side, slipping the piece paper with Heero's number into his back pocket. Leaning into his seat, Duo waited for Relena to start talking like she normally did.
Duo had come to the conclusion that Relena had some unknown fear of dead silence and would have a need for constant talking. However, he was beginning to think he was mistaken as Relena continued to just silently sit beside him with that displeased pout on her features.
"Argh! I can't take this anymore, come on Relena, talk to me or yell at me. Just say something; anything!" implored Duo with a sigh. Still she refused to say a single word and sat there unfazed. "I know you want to talk about this so come on. Are you upset that it's me who's taking you instead of David? Are you upset with Lady Une about this entire thing? Come on, say something."
Finally Duo got a reaction; Relena turned her head to him slightly with a questioning expression on her face. Raising a hand up to brush back some hair behind her ear, Relena pulled off a small headphone.
"Did you say something?" she asked sweetly as loud, jazz music blasted through the earpiece.
For a moment Duo gapped in shock. "You mean…were you listening to that this entire time?" He pointed at the earpiece that hung limply to the armrest.
"I needed to listen to something a bit more relaxing for this trip. Do you know how long this flight to the LA International Airport is?" she explained calmly, a bit too calmly for Duo's liking as he knew what women could be like when mad. One way was that they could be very explosive and rather expressive, which was the way Duo preferred because didn't mean he had to sit through the wrath for long. Another, popular, method to act when mad was to be strangely calm which held a more volcanic reaction where the compressed anger gathered until the woman could take it no more.
That was all that Duo had experienced so far in his life, if there were any other ways women dealt with anger, he didn't want to know them. He had two major women in his life to contend with, Relena and Hilde, or three women if anyone included Lady Une. More than enough women, in Duo's opinion, for him to feel the women's wrath from.
"I see…" Duo nodded, waiting for Relena to start slowly expressing her feelings on being put under some mystery person's care and under a new identity.
Counting the seconds, Duo silently prayed that his charge would open up soon as he stared up at the ceiling, fighting off the exhaustion that came after a long day with an adrenaline rush.
Fifty-eight, fifty-nine, sixty…Damn, come on girl, Duo thought. Sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty-
"Why is she doing this to me? We've lasted this long and I have only a few months left, what could possibly happen to me within that time? Why is she putting me into this kind of situation?" Relena finally spoke up in a grumble.
"This has gotten out of control Relena and we need every available person to be tracking this guy down without you being in danger," Duo explained. "Besides, in case you have forgotten, that bomb today was in your office and you could have been killed."
Relena put her elbow on the armrest and rested her chin on her fist. "That's not right, you would've taken the front of the blow while I was around the corner normally because you would have been the one to open the door and check for bombs before I would be permitted to enter. At least that's what would have happened if I hadn't insisted that you just take the day off."
"Either way your life is in danger if you stay in the public's eye, so we're sending you to someone who can take care of you," Duo reasoned.
The politician just shook her head. "What's to say that this stalker person won't find me, wherever we're going?" she challenged.
Duo had been waiting for this one but he just hadn't planned out his response as well as he believed he could've. "Doubtful since only Lady Une, David, and I will know exactly where you are and Lady Une is supposed to be receiving reports…weekly, I think," explained Duo. "No one outside the three of us, not even you, will know exactly where you are or how to reach you."
"How am I supposed to get any work done?" Relena sighed, folding her arms again and leaning her head onto Duo's shoulder, she was just as tired as he was.
"If you want I can speak to this person and have a post box set up for you where this person can pick up your work, take it to you, and then send it back to your secretary," suggested Duo, consciously trying not to say 'Heero'.
Opening her mouth to say something, Relena was prevented by the PA announcing first class passengers for their flight. Almost instantly they announced passengers from rows 78 to 60 to board, which was where the Preventer and politician were seated.
"That's us," Duo muttered, getting up and grabbing Relena's carry-on. Thankfully they called our row. I don't want her to ask about Heero.
Following her bodyguard's motion, Relena got up as well and pulled out her passport and ticket from her coats' inside pocket. She remained completely oblivious to her surroundings even though there was something nearby making constant clicking sound, like from a camera.
Handing her passport and ticket to the man, he did a quick glance at the passport then her face as the ticket was scanned. "Enjoy your flight," he told her, handing back her ticket and passport.
"Thank you," nodded Relena as she took her papers and was escorted by Duo to the plane.
They were in the last seats in the back, Duo with the aisle seat and Relena with the window seat. Buckled in her seat and her bag stored underneath the seat in front of her, Relena leaned her head against the window with a sigh.
"Who is this mystery person?" she mumbled.
"Mmh?" her companion returned, having not heard what she had said.
Straightening up, Relena repeated herself, "Who is this mystery person?"
"We have no clue as to who is stalking you, princess," Duo answered, eyeing a female flight attendant in a skirt.
Rolling her eyes, Relena pulled on Duo's ear to regain his full attention and she was rewarded with it. "Hey, ow!"
"You know that I wasn't talking about the stalker, now tell me who this mystery person we're off to meet is," commanded Relena in a firm tone that usually would get any information she wanted out of people.
Shrugging out of Relena's hold on his ear, Duo fought off the temptation to stiffen; stiffening would only prove that it was in fact Heero because the subject of the ex-Preventer was a sensitive one. Relena didn't talk about him or make any mention of him, so when Duo would hint at the man he would stiffen.
"It isn't Heero, is it?" she guessed with a warning tone lacing the edges of her words.
Not wanting to give it away with any of his typical tell-tale signs, Duo just stared straight ahead and shook his head. She doubted him, he could just feel it in how she stared out the window. Sneaking a glance, Duo saw that she wore an expression of a person who was exasperated, angered, but resigned to her fate; it pained Duo to see her so, especially when she had hit the head of the nail.
Lie! Think of a lie, you fool, Duo commanded as he unconsciously reached into his pocket and pulled out Heero's number. Looking down at the paper, Duo folded over the number and kept the name 'Miles Davidson' visible. This is convincible!
"Actually," he began, holding the piece of paper in front of Relena, "this guy is who we're going to see."
Curious, Relena glanced at the slip of paper. "Miles Davidson? Who is he?" she asked, staring questioningly at the paper.
"The guy we're meeting."
"I know that but who exactly is he? Is he a Preventer? Government agent? Bodyguard? What does he do? Where is he from? Is he a private investigator? Does he have family?" Relena clarified.
Slipping the paper back into his pocket, Duo sighed, "Lady Une didn't give me any information about this guy expect a contact number and name. Beyond that I'm as much in the dark about him as you are." A complete lie, but convincing enough.
"I suppose so, I mean this is meant to be a secret plan sort of and my location is meant to remain a secret as well, even from me." Pulling out her ticket, Relena added, "Although my ticket plainly states what airport we're going to and in what town."
"But that may not be the town you'll be staying at," Duo pointed out. "Now, let's try to get some sleep, you'll need it. Or better yet, don't get any sleep at all and just play solitaire the entire time, again."
Relena hit her bodyguard with the plane pillow. "You promised never to mention that flight ever again! I couldn't sleep," she insisted with a pout.
"Thanks for the pillow," grinned Duo, adjusting himself to a more comfortable position with two pillows under his head.
Realizing she had lost her pillow for good, Relena turned her head out the window. "Jerk."
"Night princess."
It was nearing seven thirty at night and Heero knew he had to leave for the airport. Grabbing the keys to his pick-up truck and his jean jacket, Heero made his way to the door as quietly as he could.
He began to open the door when he heard some stirring up the stairs. Waiting until the stirring stopped, Heero stood at the door ready to duck outside and make a dash for it, or even hide in the pantry. He wanted to make it out of the house with as little attention as possible.
Comforted with the fact that the stirring had stopped and everything was once again as silent as possible in the ever growing evening. He had to quit his planting early in order to make ready for Relena's arrival.
Going out the door, closing it quietly behind him, Heero made his way across the front porch and down the stairs to his mud covered truck. Who would have ever thought that Heero, the man with many talents, would be reduced down to a dirt doused, pick-up truck? Especially when he could have had a motorcycle or a classic car?
In his truck, Heero gave himself a once over in the rearview mirror. No dirt on his face, hair still untamable, and no noticeable markings of a long day in the corn fields. Good, he didn't need to give away too much of his lifestyle to Relena when she landed with Duo…
"Relena…" he groaned, turning on the ignition and shifting the car into drive. He had tried to keep thoughts of Relena as far from his mind as possible for the last eight years, however it had proved to be useless except during the plowing, planting, and picking seasons. Well, thoughts of Relena had occurred to him several times while going through the corn fields during the picking season, it was hard not to imagine her among the tall stalks. Or to hallucinate her there once in a while.
"Damn it," he muttered, pulling out into the road. "This is going to be hell."
With that said, Heero took off toward the closest airport to pick up his charge.
Thank you to: Hououza, CrimsonDragon010, gundamgirl818, RedLion2, Morrighan of Crimson and Sable, heaven'sgirl, The hero of time 2005, Nebbie, Rin Amaru, Ulitheal, DogDemonK9, Katie Yuy, and darkfairy88. Thank you all, and thank you so much for the compliments on the plot. I'm hoping that I don't end up disappointing you guys.