Limited
By Devotions Vania S. Orenda
Chapter 1
Relena walked down the park with her head down. She had just attended what she considers, the most boring meeting she's ever been to. She sat down on one of the benches facing the big pond, watching the sun as it set down for another peaceful evening.
"Beautiful isn't it?" A voice said from behind her.
"Yes, Duo, It is." She said quietly.
Duo sat down beside her looking ahead at the sun.
"Still thinking about Heero?" Duo asked with a sad voice.
"Not as much as before, but yes, I still am." Relena said, still keeping a straight face.
"I found out where he is." Duo said, trying not to make too much noise.
"Did you find out why he's been gone for three years?"
"Yes, I did."
"Are you planning on telling me?" Relena said, a smile playing on her face.
"He's with Sally. He's been there for two and a half years." Duo answered, a small smile tugging on his lips.
"Why is he there?"
"He's dying." He said, his face growing serious once more.
"Oh…" she said, not really paying that much attention to him.
"…"
"He's what?" Relena shouted, standing up from her place on the bench. Finally realizing what Duo had just said.
"He's dying. He didn't want anyone to know." Duo said, disappointment evident in his tone.
"He can't be dying. He's the perfect soldier, the one who's survived war, self-detonation, stabs, gun shots. He set his own broken leg. He can't be dying."
"He is. He was captured during one of his missions. The bastards who caught him…used him and beat him for pleasure…and…and after, they injected a lethal poison in him so that he wouldn't live to tell where their base was. Unfortunately for them, Heero is stronger than any one you can ever expect to meet, and was able to escape any more torture. He went to Sally and he was given some medicine but the medicine wasn't enough. It only gave him a few more years to live."
"H-how long does he have left?" Relena said as she wiped a tear that escaped her eyes.
"Sally says he has at least two more years left. But he has to stay on a wheel chair; he's too weak to stand up on his own."
"Isn't there anything else that can be done?"
"Yes, there is. Sally needs a few more thousand dollars for the research."
"How much?"
"$50,000. Quatre gave $25,000, but that was all he was able to give due to the collapse of the economy. So now we only need the other $25,000. Sally also said that she needs more people to help with the research for an antidote."
" That's a few? Bring me to Sally. I'll do anything I can to help."
"Follow me."
And with that, they left the park, towards a small house in the suburbs.
The trip to their destination was quiet. Relena wouldn't look at anyone who passed by. Duo drove the car and kept his eyes on the road and his mouth shut. Relena was thankful for the silence.
When the two arrived at a small white one-story house located in the suburbs, Duo parked the car in the garage.
"Why here? I thought they would be in a building or in a secluded spot." Relena asked confusedly.
"Heero wanted to try something new." Duo said with a smirk.
Just then, a boy with chocolate brown hair about five years old ran out of the house and gave Duo a welcoming hug.
"Daddy! Daddy! You're back!" the boy shouted as he jumped.
"Hey Alex, this is Auntie Relena." Duo said, directing the boy's attention to the honey blonde girl.
"Hey, isn't that the girl that Uncle Heero kept asking about when we found him?" Alex asked.
"You know what? I think you're right." Duo said, almost laughing.
"And doesn't Uncle Heero have lots of pictures of her in his bedroom?" the boy asked again.
"Yup! He does have a lot of pictures of her, doesn't he?" Duo said with a big smile pasted on his face. "Now, why don't you run back inside and tell the others that we're here."
Alex ran back in the house with more speed.
"What was that all about? I never knew Hilde was ever pregnant."
"Alex was adopted; Hilde wanted a child but didn't want to go into labor." Duo stated as they both started walking towards the door.
"Oh. And what about what he said about Heero?"
"What did who he say about me?" A voice called from behind them.
Both Relena and Duo turned around to find Heero on an electric wheel chair.
"Heero! Hey, buddy! How's it going?" Duo said, a little faster than he wanted.
"Um… Hi Heero… Nice to see you again." Relena said shyly.
"Relena, Duo." Heero acknowledged.
The three entered the house and was greeted with a note that said: "We're in the backyard, grilling steak." Duo's eyes widened at this and ran straight for the backyard with out another word. Relena and Heero followed slowly.
"So, what did who say about me?" Heero suddenly asked.
"Um… You don't want to know."
"If I didn't want to know, then I wouldn't have asked."
"Alex said that you… keep talking about me and… you have lots of pictures of me."
Heero tensed and looked at everything around but Relena. Relena just looked at her shoes like it was made of gold. The two finally reached the backyard and entered, desperate to end the awkward silence between them.
Relena finally lifted her head only to find Sally, Hilde, Alex, Wufei, Trowa, Catherine, Quatre and Midii in swimming attire. Some swimming in the pool, some bathing in the sun and others grilling and eating.
"Where's Duo?" Relena asked as soon as she figured out he was no where to be seen.
"Right here Princess!" A voice shouted from a small shed.
She turned to see Duo wearing blue swimming trunks. She never knew that he had such a nice physique, she couldn't help but stare at his abs until he stretched his hand to her with what seemed to be a pink bikini enclosed in it.
"It's yours. You left it at Hilde's apartment and she gave it to me to give it back to you. I kept forgetting to bring it." Duo said as Relena received the suit. "You can dress in the dressing shed I just came from."
"Okay, thanks." Relena said as she entered the said room. Heero followed suit to change into his swimming trunks.
"Need help?" Relena offered then blushed when she realized that she had just offered to help Heero change.
"Uh…No thanks… I can change on my own…" Heero said, picking his words carefully.
They both retreated to different stalls to change. When Relena got out, she was met with a very pleasant sight of Heero in black trunks that left nothing to the imagination.
"Shall we go?" were the words that brought her out of her reverie.
She only nodded and followed behind Heero.
Outside, Duo was already swimming in the pool together with Alex, Trowa, Catherine and Wufei.
Trowa and Wufei were relaxing in one corner of the pool. While Duo and Catherine were playing with Alex and trying to teach him how to swim. Quatre was grilling the steak while Hilde and Sally sunbathed on the beach chairs.
"What do you want to do?" Heero asked.
Relena looked longingly at the shimmering pool but considered the fact that she might hurt Heero's feelings since he was seated permanently.
"Um, maybe I'll just relax with Sally and Hilde. Catch up a bit."
"Okay, I'm going in the pool. The pool has a thermostat and if I know Wufei, he would have set it on hot. So it's going to be like staying in a Jacuzzi." Heero said while rolling off in the direction of the pool."
Relena sat to the left oh Hilde hesitantly.
"Can he swim in his condition?" Relena asked, eyes focused on Heero.
"He may be on a wheel chair but his legs can still move. Just not strong enough to stand up and walk." Sally said, her attention on the said man as well.
"But shouldn't it be harder to use his legs in the water? I mean, the water does put some restraints on your bodies movements, doesn't it?" Relena asked as Heero climbed out of his wheel chair with a little help from Wufei.
"Well, technically. But he can still use his arms to swim." Sally replied.
"Um, Sally? I want to discuss his medical finance. I may be able to help." Relena whispered in to Sally's ear, leaning behind Hilde.
"So Duo told you about that? Well, why don't we go in the house for that? I brought a few files about his medical finance." Sally said while getting up from her comfy seat.
"Sure thing." Relena replied, heading back into the house.
The two girls entered the house and sat down at the dinner table, parallel to each other.
"So, how much are we talking about?" Relena asked.
"A lot. $25,000 for the research equipment. We are also in desperate need for other researchers. It would make things go faster." Sally said while peering into a manila folder.
"I can give the money and hire a research staff. Is that all he needs?"
"We also need someone to watch over him for a month. It doesn't necessarily have to be a nurse. As long as the person knows the basics of medical care and can clean the house."
"Why do we need someone to take care of Heero?"
"Because none of us are available. Wufei has a mission in L1. Duo and Hilde have to look for a school that is willing enough to take Alex as a student. Let me tell you, Alex is a tough responsibility for his age. Catherine and Quatre, as you know, are engaged and have to plan out their wedding. And Midii is pregnant at the moment and will be experiencing morning sickness and Trowa has to watch over her. And, of course, I have the research going for me." Sally said with out once taking a breath of air.
"I'll do it then. I don't mind cleaning up behind Heero. Heero isn't a very big responsibility, so I think I can handle him." Relena offered.
"He wouldn't agree. He will probably say something like 'You have a job to do and I can't let you drop out of it just to watch over me.'"
"Then I'll just say that I'm on vacation and choose to spend it with a friend." Relena said confidently.
"Suit yourself." Sally said. "That's all we need for now."
"Okay, now let's go back out there and have us some fun."
Both stood up from their seats and headed back out. The duo was greeted by the ever cheerful grin of Duo Maxwell.
"Hey Relena? Let's jump into the pools. Show the gang what you learned from the swimming lessons you took on your spare time." Duo was as cheerful as ever, jumping in excitement.
"You had swimming lessons?" Sally was a little more surprised than she intended.
"Yeah, um, I was getting bored just staying in the house with nothing better to do than watch some television." Relena said, seemingly to be ashamed.
"Then get into the pool and show us what you've got!" Sally exclaimed, all the while pushing Relena at the back towards the pool.
"Okay, okay. I'll do it… On one condition. Duo, you have to jump as well." Relena said with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
"Deal!" Duo said, not paying much attention to the look Relena was playing out.
Duo grabbed Relena's hand and pulled her towards the pool. He stopped right before the diving board.
"What jump shall you be doing?" Relena asked.
"Stop stalling and jump already." Duo said and pushed her encouragingly.
Relena made her way up the ladder. When she reached the diving board, she looked down and thought that the board was at least ten feet high, but she wasn't all that sure.
"How deep is that pool?" Relena asked the people below her.
"Deep enough." Heero shouted since Duo really didn't know.
Relena nodded and moved back and ran forward. She threw herself into the air and curled herself into a ball and did three summersaults in the air before straightening her body to prepare for the water impact.
"Woohoo! Way to go, Relena!" Duo hooted.
"That was…perfect!" Wufei said, astonished that a woman could actually do that perfectly.
When Relena resurfaced, she swam to the edge of the pool and looked at the diving board that was now above her. Amazed that she was actually able to make a perfect dive, she was oblivious to the person heading towards her. When she finally snapped out of her reverie and realized that Heero was in front of her, she leveled her head so that she could see that face of the man she adored.
"Congratulations, that was the best dive I've ever seen you make." Heero said quietly.
"Th-thanks." Relena was flattered enough to make her cheeks grow a light pink color.
"Where'd you learn how to dive like that?" Asked the somewhat amazed Alex.
"I took some swimming lessons. And I tried very hard to perfect my dives."
"Can you tech me how? No one wants to teach me." Alex said with a sad face.
"Say no. He's just like Duo. You'll regret it if you say yes." Heero whispered into Relena's ear.
"I don't think he's that hard to handle." Relena whispered back to Heero.
Heero gave her a warning look that seemed to say 'Don't say I didn't warn you'. Relena just sighed and looked back at Alex.
"Maybe another time, Alex. I still have a lot to learn, myself." Relena said to Alex then looked towards Heero. "Satisfied?"
"I'll show you one of Trowa's home videos later of Duo and Hilde trying to teach him how to swim, and then you'll thank me." Heero said before moving away from her.
"Look out below!" Duo shouted from the diving board.
"Baka! Get down from there! You'll hurt someone! And maybe even hurt yourself" Heero shouted.
"Shut up, Hee-chan!" And with that, Duo jumped from his place and made a quick cannonball dive that was not as graceful as Relena's but a dive none the less.
"Go, Daddy!" Shouted Alex as he dog paddled his way to Duo side.
"Food's ready!" Quatre set three plates of steak on the picnic table and went back in to get the plates and glasses.
"Do you need any help?" Cathy asked Quatre when he came back out with two trays full of breakables.
"Thanks, Cathy." He said, handing Cathy a tray with the plates while he kept the one with the glasses and a pitcher full of lemonade.
"FOOD!" Duo said, running past everyone like a gust of wind.
"Duo! Your trunks!" Hilde said pointing to the naked man standing out in the open for anyone to see.
"Aaahhh!" Duo made a quick dash for the bathroom before anyone could say anything else.
"I told him not to jump." Heero said in a somewhat cool monotone before he approached the table.
Duo emerged from the shed wearing beach shorts. He took his seat in between Hilde and Relena.
"So, Relena. What's your plan?" Quatre asked while sitting down beside Relena on her left.
"Um, well. I am…uh…planning to take a little vacation from work. Milliardo is going to take over for the mean time. And I was sort of planning to spend my vacation with a certain someone who left me hanging a few years back." She said looking intently at Heero when she said the last sentence.
Guilt crawled up Heero's spine as well as fear. "What did you say?" He asked Relena nervously.
"Can I stay with you for my vacation, Heero? You know, catch up a bit." Relena said and took a sip from her glass of lemonade before licking her pink lips.
"Um…" Heero looked at his friends for an answer.
"Sure, Princess. Anything you want." Duo said after seeing the desperation on Heero's face.
Heero glared at Duo then looked at Relena to see what her reaction might be.
"I'm sorry, Duo. But I would rather hear it come from Heero's lips." Relena didn't blink once and kept her eyes glued to the seemingly emotionless ex-pilot.
"S-sure, Relena. I guess you could, um, stay with…here." Heero said, sweat forming on his forehead.
"Are you sure you don't mind?" Relena stood up from her seat and walked over to Heero's side of the table.
Smooth hands rested on Heero's shoulders, causing the skin on both the hands and the shoulders to burn.
"I'm…sure…" Heero said and gulped the knot that stuck in his throat.
"Thank you." She said and walked back into the house after saying "I have to make a phone call. Excuse me for a while."
"Good luck, Hee-chan." Duo said more cheerfully than Heero likes.
"Don't call me that." Heero said between his teeth.
"I'll go prepare the guest bedroom. Which room do you want her to stay in, Heero?" Quatre said, politely standing up from his own seat at the end of the table.
"Then one in front if my own would be fine." Heero said, staring at nothing in particular.
"I'm going to go inside and rest a little. I'll eat later." Heero said and entered the house like he was a robot.
When he entered, he found Relena sitting on the kitchen bar with hear ear on the phone. Although he could only hear one side of the conversation, he knew who she was talking to and about what.
"Please, I really need this vacation…Only for a month…With Heero…The war's over so stop acting as if you two are still enemies…Pagan will be there to tell you what else was on my to-do list…Noin?...Yeah, she's there…Everyday…Sure, you could ask her for help…Maybe you could even ask her out on a date…Hahahaha…Okay, thanks…I asked Pagan already if he could bring my clothes over…I love you, too. Bye." Then Relena hung up.
"So you're going to stay for a month? I might as well give you a tour of the house." Heero said and caught her hand.
Relena blushed vividly before giving Heero a nod of acceptance. Heero rolled his wheel chair around the house, telling Relena which room is which until he reached his own room. He didn't show her what was inside his room. Maybe it was because he had pictures of her that he wanted to keep a secret.
"This is my room and no one is allowed to enter with out my permission." Were his exact words before he showed her where she will be sleeping.
"This is your room. I hope you find it comfy." He said before opening the door to reveal a nice powder pink room with a lavender colored canopy bed. The floor was covered with a striped pink and blue carpet.
"Oh my…" Relena whispered to herself with a sense of disbelief washing over her.
"Who designed this room?" Relena asked. Curiosity always seemed to strike at the weirdest times.
"Hilde. She was the one who decorated most of the rooms. Trowa and Quatre decorated the rest. Except for mine. I decorated my own room." Heero said. "Are you hungry? We haven't eaten yet."
"Yeah, I wasn't able to eat breakfast so I could get to work on time.".
The pair headed back outside to the yard. The others had finished eating and was now swimming in the pool. Heero found a covered plat that he assumed was the food they left for him to eat. He served Relena before himself.
Relena only had a little amount of food on her plate, about one thirds of her plate was full, but she doubted that she could finish everything on her plate. She hadn't been eating a lot lately and she had gotten use to the small amount of food she had been taking in. She stared at her untouched food thinking of how delicious it would be but then end up being thrown in the trash.
"Is something wrong?" Heero asked after seeing the hesitant look Relena was displaying.
"No, no. Nothing's wrong. I just don't think I can finish all this food." Relena gestured to the plate in front of her.
"That's not even half a plate of food." Heero pointed out.
"I know but it still is a lot."
"Suit yourself. But Quatre will be disappointed and think that you didn't like the food he cooked himself."
"I hate it when you're being logical." Relena said before picking up a spoon and scooping up the food in front of her.
In the pool, Duo and Trowa were watching the two people at the table.
"Do you think he'll open up to her this time?" Trowa asked.
"He has to. He's going to be spending a whole month with her."
"Let's just hope he's a little gentler." Trowa said before swimming off to join the others.
A few minutes later, Relena had finished half of her food and Heero had finished his second plate already.
"Um, I think I'll go swim. It's pretty hot today." Relena said, wishing to escape the awkward silence.
"Uh, sure. I'm going to sit this one out." He replied then rolled near one of the beach chairs that sat a good five feet away from the pool.
Relena made her way to the pool then dove in head first. When she resurfaced, she was greeted by the ever optimistic Quatre Raberba Winner.
"Are you enjoying it so far?" He questioned.
"Yeah. Surprisingly, Heero is being a bit friendlier than I'm used to. What happened when I was gone?" Relena said, stealing a glance at the ex-gundam pilot.
"He met the reality behind the war." Quatre said. "He learned that socializing is a necessity in being human. Unlike Duos, of course, Heero still has a few people skills to work on."
"I know what you mean. I sort of like the change but I have to admit that I'm going to miss his old side."
"Yeah, just yesterday, he was actually able to get all the girls attention just by talking about a movie he watched when he was bored the other night. Everyone was supposed to retire but somehow he was able to keep them up till one am. Even Hilde found him more amusing than…me." Duo interrupted.
"What! Are you sure that was Heero?" Relena said in mock disbelief.
"I'm not sure. Maybe he was drunk or maybe the medicine was just getting to his head." Duo said while trying, and failing, to stifle a laugh.
"Duo, wee have to bring Alex home. He has to take his medicine and we have to help him finish his science project." Hilde shouted as she helped her foster son out of the pool.
"Be right there babe." Duo shouted back before bidding good-bye to everyone and heading into the bath shed to change.
"So you're going to watch over Heero while we're gone, huh?" Quatre asked, eager to start another conversation.
"I wouldn't call it that, I prefer supervise." Relena said then laughed before continuing. "Yup, he's going to be in my car. Or is it the other way around?"
"He's pretty hard to handle, you know." Quatre said with a great deal of concerns showing in both his voice and his expression.
"I know. Even if he has become a little more open than I can recall, I'm sure that we will still have our share of arguments. But I'm sure I can handle most of the things he throws at me." Relena said, trying once again to put up her diplomatic smile.
"That's something you wouldn't really want to happen. Heero's been having some mood swings lately and we think it's because of the new medicine but the medicine is too good for him to give up on so we persuaded him into continuing to take it. His mood swings are can get ugly. He even hit Sally once. But it wasn't really that hard and it only resulted into a bruise." Quatre said.
"Why? What happened?" Relena asked, all of a sudden worried.
"Sally was trying to get Heero to take his medicine but Sally was still to develop a sweeter tasting medicine rather than the medicine he once had." Quatre said sadly. "It earned Heero his own bruise on the cheek from Wufei."
"Oh." Relena said, trying hard not to show the worry and sadness but she knew that she was failing miserably.
"And I trust that he won't give you any problems." Quatre said.
"And why is that?" Relena asked in reply.
"Because he-"
"Bombs away!" Duo shouted as he did a cannon ball into the pool causing a big wave that reached Heero's convenient spot away from the water.
"Maxwell!" Heero shouted then rolled over to the pool, close to where Duo had landed and pushed off his chair as he dove into the pool.
"AAAAAHHHH!" Duo shouted as he swam to the other side of the pool to get away from the undeniable torture that Yuy was going to give him.
Duo, having the upper had of being able to use his legs completely, was able to escape from Heero. As for Heero, he just stayed still in the pool.
"Um, Heero? Are you okay?" Relena asked cautiously as she approached him.
Blink.
"Heero?"
Blink.
"Heero, Say something."
Blink. Blink.
"Heero?" Relena was now in front of him and was now waving her hand in front of his face.
Blink.
Then it dawned on her. Heero couldn't stand and yet he was at full length. Her eyes adverted to his legs and widened at what she saw.
