Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters associated with aforementioned show. Simple.

A.N.: Because I'm feeling nice and know that you all have been waiting for so long, I'll leave the A.N. for the end. I suggest you read it however, good info in there. And lucky for you, this is a long chapter.

Once So Long Ago

Chapter 9: Pillow Talk

By Crystal Delphina

"I have to go lay down."

For the past 5 minutes, Relena had been bombarded by questions stemmed from her worried and curious friends and family members.

Her mind was already swirling when she had suddenly regained consciousness, sitting up straight from the couch. She had looked around at the eleven astonished faces at her sudden awakening, and was instantly overwhelmed. So overwhelmed in fact, that she nearly fainted for the third time that day.

She noticed the swarm of people split as they moved to either surround her, or rush upon Heero who had also woken up. Well actually, the doctor, Trowa, and Wufei remained near the back wall of the living room, while everyone else deserted them.

Relena sent an uneasy glance towards Heero as Millardo already began giving her a speech on how worried he had been. Heero didn't look back though, too concerned with sending glares at Quatre and Duo, and growling at Sally while she tried to see if he was in fact medically okay. Catherine wisely choose to stay out of direct range from his limbs but still began to interrogate him, which he replied with an annoyed silence.

Finally Relena couldn't take it any more, and jumped up from the couch. With her declaration of retiring to her room, she left her friend to do what they wanted. She knew Heero would have no problems on his own, so had now qualms leaving him to his own devices.

Upon entering her room, she flung herself onto the bed and promptly buried her face in the pillow. It did not help to stop the confusion and disbelief in her head.

Images from a forgotten childhood swirled within her mind. None of it made sense though. Until just 30 minutes ago, all she had ever known was a happy childhood with the Darlians. Suddenly, she could recall a time when her and Heero were playing in Odin Lowe's living room together. Or the time when he had hit her harder then expected and had nearly cried in worry over her.

Crying and Heero were two words that should never, ever, be in the same sentence together. However, it had happened. She suddenly could see Odin Lowe within her mind with clarity, when all she had ever known of the man was what Heero had told her about him. And his memory about the mysterious older man had been sparse with little detail in the beginning as it was.

Battle tactics and hand to hand combat techniques she could now implement with perfection. She remembered every step of incapacitating a person with minimal effort. She knew the layouts for many of the old Oz and Alliance bases that Odin had showed her. She knew how to navigate through them without being caught; that is if they still existed, which was unlikely, during this time of peace. She had never once learned them, much less used them during her adult life, yet at one time, they had been pounded into her brain.

How the hell did I miss Une when I fired at her back then? she thought with slight amusement in referral when she had threatened the older woman at that party back when she was 15.

She was caught off guard, so wrapped up in her thoughts, when an arm encircled her waist, pulling her against a hard body. She relaxed immediately when she realized it could only be Heero. Her assumption was only further confirmed when she received a gentle kiss to the back of her neck.

They sat in silence for a bit, only the occasional shifting of position making any type of noise in the room. Eventually her head had moved to lie on his other outstretched arm so she was further pillowed against him.

"I'm sorry." His mumbled words seemed to fill the room after the static silence.

"What for?" Relena replied, her voice hushed.

"For pulling the gun on you."

Relena could not help but give a small bark of laughter. A very rare noise coming from the usually reserved young woman.

"You're joking right? This was not the first time it has happened. And besides, we were not ourselves. Well we were, but... Well you know what I mean."

"That's not all." She patiently waited as he paused. "I'm sorry for leaving you. For giving up and not fighting for you." When he hugged her gently, she suddenly felt the need to pull away and hit him again.

Although her memories had sorted out after recovering them, there was still the matter of having to deal with the now complex problem of having newly acquired them. In a sense, she needed time to separate the memories of the little girl back then, and who she was now, and fit them into one person. To simplify it, she reverted slightly to that little girl who was still upset at Heero for leaving her. [1]

He had abandoned me. He hadn't even tried to save me. For all he had known at that time, I could have been taken away by the enemy and all he did was watch me go. The little girl thought, saddened that her comrade had left her back then.

That is not true at all though. Her adult rationale was slowly gaining back control. That childhood reaction was not correct... He did not have a choice. We were both drugged. He couldn't have done anything even if he had wanted to. The little girl within Relena slowly understood and accepted the answer.

"That's alright. I know you had no choice."

"But I gave up. I shouldn't have just given up. Odin taught us to always stick together. You knew that, you even told me. We are never supposed to leave our comrades. And I was supposed to protect you. Odin made me swear before he left to protect you, and I just let you go." By now, he had buried his face into the back of her neck and hair, his voice soft and filled with regret as he spoke.

This is not like Heero. Relena thought, somewhat worried at his current state of misplaced guilt. This was not the cold and emotionless Heero she had come to love. This was like the Heero she had grown up with; the child filled with doubts and insecurities that he only revealed to her in the darkness of night and when Odin wasn't home. That's it!

Just as she had reverted back to the childhood memories and emotions temporarily in her reactions, he must have been doing the same thing. It wasn't Heero talking right now, but in fact, it was the old Heero speaking to her with such remorse.

With her new discovery, she managed to turn in his embrace to face him. His eyes were closed, and his boy was rigid and tense against her own. She slowly reached a hand up to brush a tendril of hair away from his forehead. It stubbornly fell back into its previous position, as she expected it would.

"Heero, listen to me. You did all you could. And you were doing what was best for me. You have more then upheld your promise to Odin. I am still safe and alive all thanks to you. I have no doubts in your capabilities in protecting me."

She was somewhat startled to see an ice blue when he opened his eyes compared to the much darker hue his eyes usually possessed. After a moment of though, they became the steely Prussian blue, happening so quickly she wondered if they ever had changed color.

"Hn," was the only response she received, and she then knew that Heero was back to normal.

She began to untangle herself from him, and tried to rise from the bed. Tried was the key word however, because he promptly pulled her back down beside him.

"Where are you going?"

"It's only two in the afternoon. I can't possibly stay in bed all day."

"You're tired. Lay back down." Although she had never actually expressed feelings of fatigue, she was in fact somewhat drained of energy after the day's ordeals.

"But-" she began to protest and rise again.

"Would you rather face the inquires of those downstairs?" he said simply, halting all of her attempts to leave with his words. He had a very good point after all. When he felt no further resistance from her, he closed his eyes, and began to doze.

"What's it like?"

"Huh?" he asked, opening his eyes only partially to look over at her.

"To have all of these memories again?"

It was odd really. All of a sudden, the memories he had of Odin training him were infused with an extra person. Now instead of all those nights when he had sat talking to himself (which had confused him to no end originally) he had in fact been talking to a girl.

He recalled a childhood with many more happy times now because of his partner back then. Granted he had always been solemn, but now there were more smiles amongst his frowns. He had lost a lot of his happiness when he had lost his memories, and that only helped his transformation into the emotionless soldier. Would I have been able to do the things I had done during the war if I had had those previous memories with Relena combined with the memories I had created of her during the war?

Relena assumed he didn't intend on answering when he had been silent for so long, or that he had actually gone to sleep in avoidance of her question.

"It's like being part of a dream," he finally replied. [2]

"A dream?" Her head was cradled against his neck making it difficult to look to see his face, which was slightly above her own. Not to mention that her back was pressed against his chest again.

"A dream," was all he said in confirmation, not going into further detail.

"Remember that time when we were at the park and that boy pushed me off of the slide? You automatically tackled him and then we both started hitting him." Relena gave a slight giggle, although she did feel slightly sorry for the poor boy looking back on it.

"Yes. Odin made us do 100 pushups. He was furious." He gave a small chuckle.

"Harsh for a pair of six year olds," Relena retorted.

"He made me do 50 more though as soon as you got sent to your room," Heero said, sobering the mood.

"Was he really that rough on you?" Relena moved her hand down to grasp his that was lying across her side.

"Yes. Nevertheless, it was necessary. He said there were appropriate times to use force and time not to. He made me stronger, with his discipline. It was needed for my training and to ensure the success of the mission and your survival." He emphasized his final point by entwining their fingers together.

"I was always so jealously when you and Odin went off and when he showed you more advanced techniques. I guess I just never knew how tough he was on you. You never once complained. Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Because I knew it would make you upset." She was about to deny such a claim when she decided he was most likely right. She probably would have demanded Odin go easier on him or make herself work harder to even out the playing field.

Once more, they both closed their eyes, thinking that it was finally time for that nap that they had originally intended to take.

"I think she loved him," Relena said unexpectedly after a few minutes.

"Excuse me?" Heero asked, completely confused as to whom she was referring to. Not to mention, confused as to why the girl could not keep quiet for more then five minutes.

"Rose. I think she loved Odin." Relena explained.

"Hn."

"I remember her coming over all the time. And I remember thinking that her and Odin acted like parents of other children I saw, so I thought that maybe we were a small family."

"Hn," Heero grunted, obviously still trying to sleep through his girlfriend's babbling.

"I remember waking up one time in the middle of the night. I was so afraid of the dark, and Rose came in when I began to cry. She gave me a nightlight and then kissed me goodnight. I then looked up and saw Odin in the doorway. They loved both of us you know? Odin and Rose would have done anything for us. They even looked as if they our biological parents too. She had that long blond hair and her eyes were that dark blue, almost as dark as yours. And Odin had that dark brown hair, though his was curlier. He had those brown eyes too."

"Hn."

"I saw them kiss once too. I went into the living room one night and saw them on the couch. He told her they could not fall in love though. She was always so sad after that. She would smile and act like things were normal, but her eyes always held that sorrow."

"Hn."

"Heero Yuy, are you listening to me?!" Relena finally shouted, sitting up straight from the bed. His eyes snapped open, and he glared at her in annoyance of her leaving his side.

"Yes I was."

"I'm sure..." she replied with a roll of her eyes. She moved to hit him with her pillow when suddenly she was pinned beneath him on the bed.

"You said how we closely resembled a real family, how she loved him, how he wouldn't allow it, and how she was sad," he informed her, gazing at her intently as he listed off her points, and proving to her his listening skills.

"Fine fine, you proved your point. Now let me up," she said, slightly squirming beneath his body.

"No."

"No?"

"You always said that I show too much mercy towards my opponent. I believe you are stuck princess until I say okay," he replied with a triumphant smirk.

His smirk was replaced with a frown when he felt her twist beneath him and manage to create enough force to flip him onto his back with her now pinning him.

"And I also always said, you underestimate me darling." He growled and glared up at her large smile.

"You may have remembered your training, darling," he sneered. "but you haven't practiced for 10 years, not to mention I know much more then you. I wouldn't suggest a spar, or I might just actually hurt you."

"I already know you would never hurt me. Besides, it's so much more fun messing with the great Heero Yuy's ego."

At that declaration, his hands twisted from her grasp and pushed her backwards. However, she grabbed both of his wrists again and managed to flip him over herself with their combined momentum. What happened to have slipped her mind however was the fact that they had run out of room on the bed. He landed on the floor with a hard thud.

"Oh my gosh. Heero are you alright?" she asked, worried and feeling guilty. She moved towards the edge of the bed to peer over and take a closer look. She began laughing though when she saw him glaring up at her from the floor, still sprawled upon his back.

"That's it. I've had enough." He sprang up and tackled her back down onto the bed. He began tickling her though so she had no time to retaliate.

"I give up. I'm sorry, please...please stop Heero," she managed between laughter fits.

"Fine." He stopped, ending with a small kiss to her lips and then fell down beside her. Maybe now they could finally go to sleep.

*~*~*

"What the hell are they doing up there?" Duo asked, puzzled as to what the source of the loud thump on the ceiling meant.

"We probably do not want to know," Dorothy answered mildly.

"And what exactly are you implying?" Zechs snapped. It was bad enough Yuy was up there with his baby sister. But those noises were almost enough to get him to barge into their room.

For the past hour, the other houseguests had been lounging in various locations of the house, hoping the couple upstairs would come back down eventually.

"Nothing Mr. Millardo. I was just commenting. Don't mind me," Dorothy replied with a slight snicker. She continued flipping through her magazine.

"When do you think they'll come down?" Sally asked, looking up from her laptop. She had been researching any medical records released on memory erasing for the last hour. So far, she had not turned up any results.

"Let them be. Miss Relena and Heero need to talk first before we talk to them," Quatre said, walking in with tea from the kitchen.

"As usual, Quatre is right," Duo muttered, sending another glance towards the still vacant staircase.

*~*~*

"Heero?"

"Hn."

"Do you remember Rose's last name?" With a large sigh, Heero opened his eyes.

"Do you ever sleep?" he muttered.

"Do you remember Rose's last name or not?" Relena said, obviously ignoring his last question.

"McGovern or something," he replied. After a moment of thought though he corrected his prior statement with, "McGroven. It was McGroven."

With his answer, Relena jumped up from the bed and headed towards his duffel bag. She began rummaging through it, a now wide-awake Heero glaring at the back of her head.

"Do you mind telling me what the hell you are doing?" he asked, eyeing the way she was messing up his neatly folded clothing.

"Where's your laptop?" she asked, while still shoving articles of clothing aside.

"It's already set up on the desk Relena," he replied calmly. She dropped the shirt she had been holding to turn and give him an embarrassed smile.

"Whoops." She looked over to see that in fact the laptop Heero carried everywhere was sitting in plain site. She sprang from her crouched position on the floor to the seat in front of the small computer. Heero, finally giving up all hope of slumber for the afternoon, got up and went to lean over her.

"What are you doing?"

"We lived on colony L1B3348 right?"

"Yes. Why?" Instead of replying, Relena typed in the colony number. "Are you ever going to answer my questions?" Heero asked, becoming increasingly frustrated and losing any type of patience with the vice foreign minister.

"I'm seeing if Rose still lives there. Really Heero, you must be quicker in the uptake." Heero resisted the urge to knock her out and drag her to the bed. Instead, he settled for glaring at her, while she pointedly ignored him.

"She moved a few years after we did. However, it says she moved to this colony. Talk about coincidence," Relena said, reading off of the screen.

"Hn. Sounds as if the good doctor has just had everything planned down to the last detail," Heero said, referring to the now increasing suspicious Dr. J. It was eerie that J's actions seemed planned from the very start.

"Come on, let's get going then." Relena got up from the computer, grabbed a nearby jacket, and was out the door in the time-span of a few seconds. And all Heero could do was stare at the address on the screen, and then the open doorway. He rushed after her, throwing a jacket on in the process, and followed the sound of her footsteps making their way down the stairs.

*~*~*

"Here they come," Hilde said as she heard the approaching tread of feet down the staircase. Everyone waited, and looked expectantly towards the doorway that led into the front hallway.

"We have to go."

"I'm taking the car."

"And...there...they go...," was all Hilde could come up with as the two people ran past the doorway and out the front door.

"This is just getting annoying," Catherine said, walking back towards the library.

*~*~*

Twenty minutes later, Heero and Relena stood uncertainly outside of a house door.

"Should we knock?" Relena asked uncertainly.

"Isn't that why we came here?"

"Fine." Relena reached forward and gave a few sharp taps against the wood with her hand. A few seconds passed before a woman appeared in the doorway.

"Can I help you?"

[1] Okay, I had some trouble with this one because I know what I am trying to get across here but I fear, you (the reader), will not. In a sense, Heero and Relena have the little children personality they knew before they lost their memories, and then they have the personality after that point of losing their memories. Therefore, when you put both together, one with memories that then stop, and then one with memories that start without full background information, you end up with a temporary split personality disorder.

[2] In no way shape or form was this meant to mimic Cowboy Bebop...

A.N.: Alright, few things first. I actually sat down and wrote the rest of this story after going over it a few times and realizing I really did need to finish it for not only my sanity but apparently yours also. I absolutely loved all of the e-mails and reviews I received. So yes, Chapter 10 and the epilogue are in fact complete; I just need to type them up and edit them. So I should have this story finished by the end of April. It really helps though when I have the reviews though...haha. In addition to this, I just wanted to remind those of you with accounts on ff.net that if you review, it will alert you as to when I update by marking the review history green. So now, we have a cheap way of checking up on our authors without having to buy that support service stuff.

I have some items of interest on my profile right now. If you are interested in reinstating NC-17 stories, please check my first Note. If you are interested in Beta-reader services, please roll down to Note 2. Once again, this is all on my profile. Okay so if you have read all of this I am highly impressed. Until next time readers.

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I thought I would start this new kind of contest thing of whose review I thought was most insightful or just all around creative and clever. Since I just announced this, there are not very many to pick from that are not very different from the others, but I will try my best. Come on guys; let's get creative here.

Favorite Review from Chapter 8: I'd say this one would have to go to the anonymous reviewers SJ and celticfairy just because of how many letters they both put (O_o craziness really...). On the other hand, I thought KnighteWolfe's was very nice. Thanks everyone else that gave me the encouragement. ^_^