Rain on the Roses
Chapter 7: Sunshine and Shadows
By: Starlight – x1

Relena stood, eyes sparkling as she took in the view before her. She shifted Eddie on her hip and took in a deep breath of salty ocean air. The waves that rushed up the sandy shore teased her with their white froth, tempting her to abandon sandals and dignity and splash through them like a child.

"Oh, Quatre, it's beautiful." Relena turned and saw the satisfied smile on his face as he observed her delight.

"Welcome to the press-free zone, otherwise known as Paradise." Quatre swept his arm, indicating the beach before them. "This is all private land. We won't be disturbed by uninvited company."

"It's wonderful." Relena handed her son over to Quatre while she succumbed to temptation and removed her shoes.

Quatre watched as she ran down to the beach and danced with the incoming waves. Eddie shifted in his arms and then pointed a chubby finger at her. "Mama."

"Yep, that's your mother all right." Quatre agreed. "More herself then she's been for a long time." He added, mostly to himself. There was life in Relena's eyes again. Slowly he made his way down to join her.

"It's wonderful." Relena said again when Quatre had neared where she was. She took her son back and danced with him, causing the little boy to giggle with delight. Finally she stopped, facing the ocean. "Look at that Eddie, that's the sea." She kissed the side of his head. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"Mama." Eddie reached for some of her hair and tugged.

"Ouch. No, Eddie, don't pull Mama's hair." Relena reached for her son's fist but found Quatre was already easing her hair from her son's grip.

"What am I going to do with you?" Relena asked as she pulled her hair out of her son's reach. Eddie responded by grinning at her.

"Come and see the condo." Quatre had retrieved Relena's shoes and now held out his hand invitingly.

"Sure." Relena took his hand and they headed off the beach. They stopped at the stairs leading up from the sand and Quatre took Eddie so Relena could slip her sandals back on.

As they neared the condo Trowa came around the side of the building speaking into his cell phone. "Uh huh. Okay. Bye." He shut his cell phone with a snap and slid it back into his jacket pocket.

"Everything okay?" Quatre asked.

"Yeah. That was Wufei. They're sending another Preventer agent. He just wanted to let me know before the agent got here."

"Oh." Quatre's forehead wrinkled as he thought. "I informed Zechs that the Maguanac Corps was taking care of security. Rashid is extremely particular. Ah, well." He smiled, his good humor in evidence. "One more won't be a problem."

"Of course not." Relena hugged his arm with her own. "I'm just happy to be here." There was a peaceful look on her face.

"Trowa." Eddie leaned over, stretching his arms out to his mother's bodyguard. The quiet man responded by taking the little boy. At little over a year old, Eddie's communicative skills had grown although most of what he said was still unintelligible.

"So, you ready to see the condo?" Quatre asked.

"Yes." Relena smiled as she watched Trowa and her little boy. They all headed inside.

00000

Trowa stood outside on the beach staring out at the ocean. He loved early morning when the crisp smell of the new day hadn't vanished. The sound of a car pulling up distracted him and he headed around the condo to meet the new arrival. Probably the extra Preventer agent.

In the driveway a rather plain Honda Civic was parked next to Quatre's SUV. Trowa watched as the driver emerged from the car. Middie pulled off her sunglasses and smiled. "Middie Barton reporting for duty." She gave a mock salute.

"Middie!" Trowa took a step towards her. She dropped the act and ran toward him, almost leaping into his arms and kissing him soundly.

"Hi hon." She murmured after the kiss. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." Trowa couldn't hold her close enough. His surprise and pleasure at seeing her again seeped into his voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Lady Une called it an 'unofficial vacation'." Middie sighed. "I really missed you." She said again.

Trowa chuckled. "You're okay?"

Middie nodded. "Kind of." The details of her assignments often had to stay confidential. Trowa's question was a way for her to let him know if everything had gone well without betraying confidences.

"Oh." Trowa was silent for a moment. "Should we expect trouble soon?"

Middie bit her bottom lip. "I don't know." She answered finally.

"Okay." Trowa released her while keeping one arm around her shoulders. "Let's see if anyone's up.' They headed inside.

Relena was in the kitchen. The young politician yawned widely as she plopped Eddie into a highchair and headed for the fridge.

Eddie banged on his tray. "Mama."

"Hold your horses, I'm getting your breakfast." Relena said. She exited the fridge with a carton of eggs and some butter. "How bout some scrambled eggs?"

"You know, that sounds great. I'm starved." Middie spoke up.

Relena turned to face them, nearly dropping the carton of eggs. "Middie!"

Trowa had grabbed the eggs and set them on the counter. He gave Relena a small smile. "She surprised me too."

"Come over here and let me give you a hug." Relena ordered.

Middie complied. "Sorry I startled you." Her eyes twinkled, belying her words

"Just be grateful Trowa kept me from dropping the eggs." Relena smiled back. "Oh, good morning Quatre."

Her boyfriend shuffled into the kitchen "Morning." He yawned widely and made his way towards the coffee pot.

Middie shook her head. "He's not a morning person is he?"

"Nope." Relena smiled. "I totally understand. If not for the fact that Eddie is most certainly a morning person I would want to sleep in too."

Quatre finished preparing his coffee and turned. "Hello Middie. You must be the other Preventer agent."

"Other Preventer agent?" Middie lifted one eyebrow.

"I guess that did sound rather bad." Quatre pulled out a chair and sat down at the table.

"Well, kinda." Relena agreed. She pulled a frying pan out of a cupboard. "Anybody else want some scrambled eggs? Besides Eddie and Mids." She glanced at Trowa and Quatre, eyebrows raised in question. Both nodded.

"Mama, mama, mama." Eddie began pounding on his tray.

"Easy there big boy." Middie ruffled Eddie's hair as Trowa pulled out a box of Cheerios and scattered some of the cereal on Eddie's tray. "There, is that better?"

Eddie ignored her, his entire attention focused on small o's dotting his tray as he shoved them into his mouth.

Quatre chuckled as he watched the little boy. "He doesn't let anything get between him and his food." He stood and looked over at Relena. "You need some help?"

"Could you get the plates out?" Relena poured her egg mixture into the pan.

"My, I don't think I've ever seen the two of you so relaxed." Middie watched Quatre pull some plates out of a cupboard and set them on the counter.

The two looked at each other and Relena shrugged. "We're on vacation and I've got my sweet, albeit, demanding son with me. What can I say?"

"It's always nice to be out of the public eye." Quatre scooped some forks out of a drawer. "Not so much to worry about." He set the forks on the table. "Besides, getting to spend some alone time with my girl is always relaxing for me."

Relena blushed slightly and turned the burner off before she scooped the eggs onto the plates.

"Wow, you can make her blush." Middie turned to Quatre. "Whatever you're doing in your alone time must be right on track."

"Middie!" Relena's cheeks flushed even brighter.

Middie grinned but then caught her husband's gaze. He just looked at her and her face flushed brighter then Relena's. Quatre chuckled. "Trowa, you must be perfect. You don't even have to say anything."

"I know." Trowa gave a satisfied smile while Middie hid her face in her hands.

"It's too early in the morning for this." Relena had regained her composure and set the plates on the table. "Let's eat."

0000

Preventer Headquarters was busy as usual. Noin found herself making slow progress with the two cups of coffee she carried. After several near accidents she managed to make it back to Zechs' office. She stared for a moment at the closed door and then considered the full cups in her hands before recruiting a passing agent to open the door for her. "Thanks." She smiled at the young woman before she entered the room, shutting the door behind her with her foot.

Zechs was seated, drumming his fingers absently on his desk, his gaze faraway as he thought. Noin came up beside him and set a cup on one of the clear spaces on his desk. "No luck yet?" She asked softly.

"Not really." Zechs picked up the coffee. "About the only thing Middie found out before she had to withdraw was that Group Vengeance didn't have anything to do with Heero's death."

"So it was an accident." Noin sat down and crossed her legs. "That's almost a relief."

"Yeah." Zechs looked distant again for a moment. "Here's what's puzzling." He set his coffee down and picked up several sheets of paper. "We know Group Vengeance was responsible for these incidents." He handed a paper to Noin who looked at it and nodded. "Look at this." He handed her another paper. "That's a list of current incidents they've been responsible for."

Noin looked at both papers for a moment, her forehead wrinkled in concentration. "I see what you mean."

Zechs sat back in his chair. "Their activities from little over a year ago were just terrorist attacks. They seemed to have no rhyme or reason for their actions. But now they carry out their attacks with almost surgical precision. There's generally only one person targeted. Any innocents about are left alone."

"Most of the people attacked used to be in military service during the war between Earth and the Colonies." Noin set the papers back on Zechs' desk.

Zechs nodded. "And if you look into their military records you find all of them were involved in some incident or another that was not a clean cut military operation while they were in positions of authority. Most of the occurrences were given cursory investigations and then written off as an unfortunate side effect of war."

"Oh." Noin bit her bottom lip. "So you think they're perpetrating vigilante justice?"

"That would be my guess. I would venture to say that within the last year Group Vengeance got a new leader and a new goal."

00000

Relena sat on the floor, her head resting on the inside of Quatre's right leg while he slowly finger combed her hair. "I've been thinking." Relena began drowsily.

"Yes?" Quatre continued his ministrations eliciting a contented sigh from Relena.

"I've been considering withdrawing from the political arena."

"I can't say I'd object."

"I didn't think you would." Relena turned her head enough so she could look back at him as she continued speaking. "I don't really like the idea of being so busy I can't spend time with my son unless I take a two week vacation. But there are so many people who depend on me and I don't want to let them down."

Quatre was silent for a moment. "Let me tell you something someone once told me. You're not so important that the world will fall apart unless you're there to hold it together. You have an important job and you do it well, just don't feel like you're the only one who can do it."

"I know." Relena shifted so she could face him more comfortably.

Quatre leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Listen sweetheart, whatever you decide to do, I'll back you one-hundred percent, you know that. Whether that means you step down from being Vice Foreign Minister, or you stop traveling so much until Eddie's older, or whatever. Just, you do what's going to make you happiest. Don't do something you'll look back and regret later on."

"Wow, so profound."

"A lesson I learned, courtesy of two of my sisters."

"Thank you." Relena reached up and grabbed one of his hands. "You seem to know the perfect thing to say to me at just the right time."

"I try." Quatre smiled at her. He patted the cushion beside him. "Why don't you sit here for a while?"

He didn't have to ask twice. Relena cuddled next to him sighing with contentment. "I wish we could stay like this forever." She murmured sleepily.

Quatre slid one arm around her to draw her closer. "Me too." He turned her face toward his and kissed her.

0000

Relena rang the doorbell and waited patiently. She heard the sound of hurried footsteps and Duo flung the door open. "Hey Relena," He greeted her with a quick hug before she had time to say anything. "Come on in. Hilde's in the living room." He turned. "Sorry, but I got dinner on the stove…"

"That's okay…" Relena began but he was already gone. She chuckled as she shut the door behind her and headed to see Hilde.

"Oh my goodness, Relena!" Hilde's welcome greeted Relena as she appeared at the doorway to the living room. "Don't tell me. You had a marvelous time."

"Marvelous doesn't even begin to describe it. It was heavenly." Relena smiled, sitting down with her friend.

"You got a tan!" Hilde ran one finger over Relena's arm. "I'm so jealous. All I got to do was sit around with my feet up waiting for the swelling to go down. Baking outside in the sun hasn't even been an option."

"I brought something that might make up for that." Relena held up a bag. "How have you been feeling?"

"Bloated. I swear, I've gotten bigger in less time with this pregnancy then I did with Leann." Hilde lifted one bare foot in demonstration. Her normally trim ankle was swollen. "Duo's relegated me to this chair until the swelling goes down "

"Which must be why he's making dinner tonight." Relena smiled.

"Uh-huh. He spoils me something terrible. Can't say I mind though." Hilde giggled.

Leann wandered into the room. "Hi Aunt Relena."

"Hi Leann." Relena crouched down to the little girl's height.

"My mommy's gonna have a baby." Leann informed her seriously.

"Is she?"

"Uh-huh. Sometimes she lets me feel the baby." Leann looked around the room. "Where's Eddie?"

"I left him at home with Pagen." Relena smiled. "I just stopped by to leave something."

"Presents?" Leann perked up.

"Yeah, presents." Relena stood up. "I have to go because your Uncle Trowa's waiting out in the car."

"Uncle Trowa's here?" Leann hopped around. "I wanna see him."

Hilde looked as if she was going to stand. Relena stopped her. "Don't worry. I'll run her out and back inside quick as a wink."

"Babe, don't you dare get up!" Duo's voice drifted in from the kitchen.

"Yes Sweetie." Hilde hollered back and settled into her chair again. "He does spoil me but he also gets kinda bossy at times."

"You're glad he is. Admit it Hilde."

"Yeah," Hilde lowered her voice down to a whisper. "Just don't ever tell him that. He'd get unbearable."

Duo looked around the corner and Hilde waved him off. "I'm sitting, I'm sitting. Now go back to whatever you're doing before it burns."

"I'm past the critical stage." Duo shook his head. "It's not gonna burn." He looked at Relena. "You leaving now?"

"Yeah." Relena nodded. "But first Leann wants to see Trowa. So I'm going to run her out and right back in."

"Sure I can't persuade you to stay for supper?"

"Sorry." Relena shook her head regretfully.

"Well all right then." Duo sighed and disappeared around the corner again.

"Come on Leann." Relena held her hand out to the little girl. Leann took her hand and they both walked outside to the car where Trowa waited. He opened his door as he saw them approach.

"Somebody wanted to say hi." Relena smiled.

"Hi Uncle Trowa." Leann gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Hi honey." Trowa ruffled the little girl's hair.

"Why didn't you come inside?" Leann asked.

"Because Aunt Relena said she just wanted to make a quick stop."

"You should've come inside with her."

"I'm sorry, next time I will." Trowa promised.

"All right honey." Relena took Leann's hand again. "Let's go." She led the little girl back to the house and then gave her a hug . "Run back to your mom." She watched Leann disappear toward the living room. "Leann alert!" She spoke loudly enough so Hilde would hear her. She listened for Hilde's response before she shut the door and headed back to the car.

00000

It was a small party of four. Two men and two women sat around a table chatting.

"If I could complement you Senator, on your speech. Wonderful." One of the men lifted his wine glass toward the other in a congratulatory manner.

The senator nodded in silent acknowledgement of his friend's approval.

"The press says he has a silver tongue." One of the women said lightly.

"Now Elaine." The senator shook his head at his wife.

"It's true enough. I've read that in print myself." The second man agreed.

The senator gave a slightly embarrassed laugh and looked out the window, unaware he was being watched.

A shadowy figure gazed through a scope at the party before focusing on the senator. It was amazing how easily the world could fit into a pair of crosshairs. He watched as the senator picked up his wine glass in what appeared to be preparation for a toast. Just focus and eliminate. The senator brought the glass to his lips. A finger squeezed the trigger. Red spilled.