It's My Life
Okay, as promised, here's Lena's side of 'For Rel' and 'Get Rel'.
"Why did you do that!" Relena scolded Draca, on the plane.
"I'm sorry Lena, I thought that was what you wanted," Draca apologized, bowing her head in shame and shrinking in her seat.
Relena slapped her palm to her forehead and shook her head in dismay. "Why did you send the message to Wufei Chang? Of all the Preventers to send it to, why Wufei?"
"His was the only e-mail address I could get out of Shun-li since Heero's was classified apparently and Duo's was canceled," explained Draca. "Besides, I thought you wanted these people to leave you alone."
"I do it's just…I wish you would have said something to me first rather than quickly e-mail him on the way to the airport," sighed Relena, calming down. "Oh well, nothing we can do about it now. We'll just have to hope that they'll leave us be and that we'll never have to see Heero, Sylvia, or the other Preventers again."
Draca fidgeted with her ring that Sage had given her for her birthday last year. "Well, perhaps you should start preparing a back-up plan in case things do take a turn for the worst."
Relena leaned back in her seat and put a finger to her chin, she hadn't really thought about a plan B as she believed to have everything under control. That was until Heero had suddenly come back into her life, twice!
"You're right, I need a plan B, but where would I go and who would I stay with to hide myself?" she inquired.
Lynn leaned forward on the other side of Sage, who was next to Draca, and spoke over the drummer's snoring. "Well, what about your cousin, Francis Shelly?"
"Frankie?" Relena asked in disbelief but as she began to consider the option the more appealing it became. "You know what, that might not be such a bad idea. The only problem is, her friends don't know me beyond my name really. Well…and what Frankie tells them about me."
"You had met a few of them right?" Adam interjected, opening his eyes.
Relena turned to him with a thoughtful expression. "Yeah I have. During the war while I was still looking for information about my family history, my grandfather, Marquis Weridge, told me of my cousin, Frankie. I had invited her and a few of her friends to the Sanc Kingdom before I even took up an active political role."
"There you go, so you have made some allies," Lynn pointed out. "Which friends did she take with her?"
"There was her friend Jackson Lampe, Josephina (Joey) and Salem Alley, Shun-li of course, and Jason Collins," listed Relena. "Really nice people and Jackson has been really helpful in England. He's such a sweetie."
Draca grinned, when Relena liked a guy she would describe him as being a sweetie. That was how she described Heero Yuy when she told Draca about him; "He's this sort of indifferent guy but deep down I know that he's a sweetie."
Some sweetie, Draca snorted, recalling her interrogation session with Heero and Sylvia. The guy knew nothing about Relena, he was too caught up with how he had seen her at the age of fifteen.
"Okay, so what do I do about the college part and who would I go as? I can't go as Frankie or someone random," explained Relena ruefully as she sat back and tilted her head upwards.
Lynn leaned across Sage and suggested, "What about any of Frankie's relatives, other than you? Couldn't you go as a relative staying with Frankie's family while you go to college?"
Relena mused over the suggestion for a few moments. "That would work but what about the college part, I don't even know if Frankie's going to college or not and…"
"How about we wait until we're back in Italy and are able to get in touch with Frankie before continuing to plan this entire 'back-up plan'?" Sage mumbled, adjusting in his seat that was tilted back only the slightest as he didn't want to disturb the person sleeping behind him.
The rest of the group concurred and began to fall asleep one by one until Relena was the only one still awake, writing in her spiral to finish the lyrics of her song. But nothing seemed to be coming to her, word-wise, and she didn't know why. It was like she had suddenly lost any of the inspiration that she had gotten earlier that evening.
"Lena, go to sleep, you need sleep like the rest of us," Adam grumbled, rolling onto his side and turning off the overhead light. Taking Relena's spiral, Adam put it away into the group's only carry-on.
Smiling, Relena fell against the seat and stared off into the darkness in Adam's direction.
"Adam?" she whispered.
"Mmh?"
"How well do you think we know each other?" she questioned.
There was a moment of silence. "Probably better than most people in our position should or would know each other. After all, you and I have been openly honest with each other in the past and even now. We've never had anything to hide from each other."
"Do you think, if things were different, that I would be in love with you rather than someone like Heero?" Relena inquired in a soft voice that Adam almost thought his sleepy brain had conjured the entire thing.
He shrugged, "Most likely. If I weren't a homosexual and if we weren't separated during the war, we probably would be very much in love with each other. But life has dealt us our cards and we must deal with them, even if they're crappy cards."
"You know, you two could have waited until we got home for this little heart-to-heart discussion," mumbled Draca, adjusting in her seat. "These seats suck."
Curling her face into the seat, Relena tried not to laugh. It figures that the moment she wanted to have a serious talk with Adam that someone would interrupt then make a random comment.
"Night Adam."
"Night Lena."
"Night Little John," Draca groaned.
The next day, having returned to Verona, Italy the 'For Rel' band members returned to the Noventa mansion and to their studies. During the most appropriate time distance would allow her, Relena called up Frankie.
Pacing up and down the room she shared with Lynn and Draca, Relena twirled the cord around her finger as she waited for someone to pick up the phone.
"Come on, come on, come on. Come on Frankie, I know you're there so answer the phone," Relena grumbled, falling onto her bed and staring up at the ceiling.
"Hello?"
Relena bolted up on her bed. "Hi, is Frankie there?"
"Speaking," replied the person on the other side of the phone.
"Great! Hey, it's Relena…"
Suddenly Frankie's deadpan voice made a 180 degree turn and was enthusiastic and peppy. "Oh hey, what's up? How are things going with the band? When do we get the next CD? Joey and Jason are bordering on obsession with that first CD of yours, and they're demanding a sequel disc."
In the background, Relena heard someone shout, "Damn right!"
"We're working on the next CD still. I still have to finish my song and Lynn still has her song to…polish up before we record it," Relena explained, a smile spreading from ear to ear on her face as Lynn and Draca entered the room. "We'll have you guys a CD by the time I come."
"You're coming here?" Frankie inquired, going through her memories to figure out if she knew that Relena was coming to Wisconsin or not. "When did we decide that you were coming here, because I seriously don't recall that conversation…?"
"We're having it right now," Relena interjected, grinning as her two roommates eavesdropped on the conversation.
There was a momentary pause on Frankie's end. "So, when do you plan to come over and I'm going to assumed that you're coming for some other reason than to have a family reunion."
Again, Relena found herself twirling the telephone cord. "Well, I'm not even certain that I'll be joining you in Wisconsin or not, you see it goes like this; I've been crossing paths with Heero and other Preventers recently and Draca suggested that I have a back-up plan in case I need a quick escape. So, Lynn suggested that I talk with you about the possibility of…"
"You want us to hide you out in our small town if things go sour in Italy? Awesome! We'd love to help you out!" declared Frankie as other voices joined hers.
Relena raised an eyebrow and looked down at her phone with a puzzled look. "Frankie," she began, "do you have me on speaker phone?"
"Yeah, sorry about that but the others wanted to hear all about the CD and your new plan," Frankie replied.
"What identity will you use?" asked someone in the background.
"Jason, let her finish her explanation," scolded a softer, female voice.
Trying to keep from laughing, Relena explained her plan to take on the identity of one of Frankie's relatives that wasn't her. There was a moment of silence as everyone tried to think of who Relena could impersonate.
"What about your cousin Robin, Frankie?" suggested Jason.
"Robin?" Relena echoed. "Is Robin a guy or girl?"
Frankie answered that her cousin Robin Shelly was sweet guy about their age who was almost the opposite of Frankie. Where Frankie was raised more as a boy, Robin was raised by mostly-perhaps only-female influence.
"Is he a crossdresser?" Relena teased.
"No, though I think he would be if he knew that his mother would massacre him if he did so," laughed Frankie. "I mean, if you decide to pretend to be Robin it might be a bit simple. Plus, Robin looks almost identical to me-amazing huh?-and if we get caught in a jam we can always switch roles so that you pretend to be me while I pretend to be Robin."
Lying back down on her bed, Relena mulled over the prospect of playing a possible duel role and doing some crossdressing. It was going to be a challenge but it seemed that it might be fun.
"Sounds like fun. That'll be a perfect back-up plan that we can refine if it ever comes down to me having to come to Wisconsin, okay?" approved Relena.
"Great, you'll give us a call if that time should ever come, right? I mean, we'll send someone over to get you so that you're not traveling alone," Robin promised.
"Yeah, I'll give you a call," agreed Relena. "Talk to you later, Frankie."
"Definitely!" concurred Frankie optimistically. "Peace out Lena."
"Bye." Hanging up the phone, Relena looked over at her roommates who stared at her anxiously over the tops of their text books which they had been pretending to study from. "Plan B is all set up."
It had been a few days after the fundraiser and Relena was beginning to think that she had escaped the Preventer's sights for good. There hadn't been any contact from any of the Preventers and no one had stopped by yet, so she seemed to be in the clear.
"Perhaps Sage can put in a fill there or something," suggested Draca as the group discussed the arrangement and notes for Lynn's song. The piano part was already written as well as the electric guitar part, so Relena took the time to write her music.
"No, this is meant to be a more ballad like song, not some sort of hard rock song with lots of drums," Lynn explained, biting her lower lip. She really didn't know what the song needed but it was missing something. "Salimar, can you play your part with us for a moment?"
Setting aside her pencil, Relena went over to the keyboard and waited for the count off.
"One…two…one, two, three, four," Sage counted, hitting beats two and four with the bass drum, and one and three with the high ride.
They played the song without the lyrics and it was starting to sound good, until…
"See, it's that chord right there! That damned chord just never sounds right. It's either you or I who has to play a different note, or Re…Salimar has to change a note or two in the chord," Adam pointed out.
Seeing that this was only going to lead to an argument, Relena glanced down at her watch and saw that it was time for tea. "Why don't we stop here for today and pick it up again tomorrow. I mean then this way Lynn can work out the kinks of the song, like that chord."
"I agree," Sage announced, standing up from behind the drum set. "We're all tired and us going at each others' throats over a chord isn't going to get us anywhere. So, let's call it day and come back to this tomorrow."
"Alright," grumbled Lynn and Adam, putting down their guitars on the stands and shutting off the amps.
"Well we got one thing accomplished," Draca declared, looking over Relena's spiral and staff pad. "Salimar almost has her song completely done and it's shaping up to be a very good song. Now, am I supposed to be the one singing the Japanese part and you doing the English?"
Turning off the keyboard and amp, Relena shrugged. "Sort of, it's actually a mixture of all three of us girls singing it. We each get a chance to shine in the song, but yeah; I get to sing the English part."
"Sweet!" Adam cheered, nudging Relena up the stairs as the band exited the basement one by one. "This is going to be one hell of a CD!"
Approaching the tea room the band paused for a second as they heard a familiar voice speaking with their landlord. Exchanging looks, Draca shrugged and continued into the room as the band found Sylvia Noventa sitting with her mother, having tea.
"Mother…!" Sylvia scolded.
"Afternoon Miss Noventa!" interjected Draca from the doorway.
"Good afternoon boys and girls," returned the mansion owner as she turned her head to group.
Sylvia followed her mother's gaze to find the 'For Rel' band in the doorway. In Relena's opinion, Sylvia's reaction was a perfect mixture of exasperation and annoyance when she saw who they were.
"Sylvia, I would like to introduce you to…" began Mrs. Noventa politely, recalling her manners as hostess.
"We all have met Mother, more than once I may add," hissed Sylvia as her voice began to ooze with spite while she glared at Draca.
Relena discreetly threw a questioning glance at Draca but her friend didn't acknowledge it. Apparently Draca must have said something at the fundraiser that had offended either Sylvia or Heero, causing the Vice Foreign Minister to be angered with the black-haired girl.
"I see…" nodded Mrs. Noventa, sensing the tension that was forming in the air. "Well, how did practice go?" Her pleasant voice and attitude had returned to contradict the tense atmosphere.
"It went well, Salimar almost has her song done, finally!" announced Adam as he pulled Relena into a headlock.
"Hey, Adam, let go of me!" she screamed while the others ignored them.
Mrs. Noventa clapped her hands in delight. She was always the band's first audience and reviewer, granted she was sometimes too nice to truly give an objective review. "Wonderful! You must have my daughter be the first to hear it!"
Relena frowned for a moment, she didn't really want Sylvia to hear their music first.
"It's okay Mother, I have heard all of their songs," claimed Sylvia, much to Relena's relief.
"Nah dudette, you heard the songs from our first CD," corrected Adam, causing Relena to hit him. He just had to go and say that when they had just been spared of having to perform for the Vice Foreign Minister.
"Yeah, and we're almost done writing the second CD!" Lynn added in and Relena wished she was in reaching distance of her friend to hit her as well.
Mrs. Noventa interjected, "Yes, it is a lovely CD and I get the first copy."
Standing up, much to everyone's utter amazement, Sylvia accused, "Mother, how can you house these people who have information on Ms. Relena Darlain and refuse to tell neither me nor Heero!"
Briefly, the band exchanged glances but it was Sage who spoke up first while Mrs. Noventa looked on with a confused expression. "Whoa Sylvia," he said in an attempt to calm her, "let's not go around making hasty accusations. Someone or some people might get hurt by them."
"Who's Heero?" Mrs. Noventa wondered aloud.
Apparently, Sylvia hadn't heard her mother, but unfortunately for her, Draca had so naturally she approached Mrs. Noventa.
"Accusations! It's the truth Sage, and you know it!" exclaimed Sylvia as the rest of the band just watched silently.
Actually, no it's not, Relena corrected, your mother didn't even know that any of them knew me. So of course she wasn't going to tell you or Heero. And apparently she didn't even know about Heero.
All of a sudden, in a moment of random spontaneous words, Mrs. Noventa announced, "My little girl is getting married!"
Everyone in the room veered their heads to the elder woman, each and every one of their faces held the same blank expression. Engaged? Married? Sylvia? To whom? When was this? Where was the ring?
"Congratulations on your engagement honey!" cheered the woman, standing up and giving her daughter a hug.
"M…Mother…I'm not…" Sylvia tried to protest.
"Though I wish you had me meet this man first before going and getting engaged behind my back," continued Mrs. Noventa, not hearing a word her daughter was saying.
"But I'm not…" Sylvia tried again.
"You must tell me all about me!" urged the older Noventa.
Relena rolled her eyes, there was a lot or little to say about Heero, depending on how much he cared to share and how many adjectives a person could use to describe the perfect soldier.
"We'll leave you two to do that," suggested Draca, returning to the band. The band scrambled out of the room and went up to their rooms, much to Relena's relief for she didn't want to be present as Sylvia waxed poetically about Heero Yuy.
"You okay?" Lynn inquired, placing a hand on Relena's shoulder.
"I'll be fine, thank you. Looks like I might have to use that plan B."
Thank you to: Morrighan of Crimson and Sable, Ulitheal, Lynn-Minmay, and DogDemonK9. You four are some of the most devoted reviewers I have ever encountered. Thank you so much, it's people like you four that I keep updating for.