Well, here we go again! This time it's Relena's turn..
As always: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Chapter 2

It was midnight before Relena Dorlain pulled up to her large elaborate mansion in the pink limousine she had received as a birthday gift from her father when she was twelve. She was tired and could barely keep her pale blue eyes open and her light brown hair was mussed from her twirling it, a nervous habit of hers. The "open discussion" had ended after the allotted hour, but the discussion had gone on for over three hours privately after the media had left. Most of the participants had left after one extra hour; it had been her and Stevens exchanging arguments, and occasionally insults, for the last two hours.

She slowly strolled along the side of her house, past the garden and the fountain in the front yard, to the side door, and entered, all the while thinking of the long, hot bath she was going to make for herself. She was exhausted, and frustrated, and wanted nothing but an hour or more of calm relaxation.

Her hopes of a bath were dashed as she entered her house and saw her videophone answering machine blinking furiously, alerting her that the mailbox was full. She blinked in surprise, and then sighed.

She had been so intent on getting into her bath that she had forgotten that she had decided to contact the gundam pilots to try to understand how they felt about the discussion. And since she was sure at least one of the messages was from Quatre Raberba Winner, she realized she was going to have to reschedule her bath.

She wondered who the other messages were from, and came to the conclusion that some of them must be from the other gundam pilots. She dimly hoped that Heero had called, but squashed that hope immediately. He called once a year, and had been perfectly okay with the fact that she had dated someone last year. He didn't want me then, and he won't want me know, she thought as she sighed once again.

More likely the messages were from people at her office, suggesting opinions of how to defeat Stevens. There might be one or two from her friends, giving her pats on her back for trying and the like.

She played the first message. She had been right, Quatre flashed onto the screen. She started to skip to the next, thinking it would be an apology or reassurance, but the look on Quatre's face caught her attention.

She expected him to be worried about her. Concern for her well being was supposed to be flowing out of his blue eyes. He was supposed to look perfect, smile warmly and tell her everything was going to be fine, just like he always did. But today the worry in his eyes was meant for someone else. His hair was in disarray, the way it always got from running his hand through it many times over when he was working hard at solving a problem, and he was frowning. This fact worried her more then anything else; Quatre was never without a smile.

"I don't want you to get involved," Quatre said calmly, his voice not matching any other part of him, running his hand through his hair again. "This is meant for the five of us. It was silly to just run away. We'll deal with it, and I'll get back to you with a course of action, okay?"

And with only those few words the message was over.

Relena sat stunned at the table in front of the videophone. The other messages played started to play, friends with reassuring words that did nothing to reassure her and coworkers trying to get her to use their arguments so they could be recognized, just as she had expected. She nearly completed the tape when she decided to listen to Quatre's message again, but before she reached for the controls, Duo Maxwell's face appeared on screen.

Duo looked just as he had during the war. His hair was always in a waist length braid, and his blue eyes usually looked like they belonged to a six year old, which was how he usually acted. Today, though, you could tell he was twenty-one.

"Hey Rel! Long time no see eh? Well, I guess one week isn't really long, but you know what I mean. Anyways, Quatre's right, I agree with him! And don't worry about us 'kay? We're all grown up, if you know what I mean, and we can take care of ourselves mostly. Just, uh, keep smiling!"

Cryptic, Relena thought, though Duo's conclusion to his message had gotten her to smile. What does he mean, 'Quatre's right'? What is Quatre right about? And why would I be worrying?

The message was short, but it only confused her even more. Duo was always cheerful, and though he had seemed cheery enough in the message, there was the underlying worry that made him seem peculiar.

The next messages just added to the din in her head.

"Quatre's right, Relena," was all Trowa Barton, former gundam pilot and now clown in a travelling circus, said. But he said it with conviction. Since Trowa was rarely one to show emotion, the confidence he felt must have been very strong, Relena reasoned.

"Though it may be wrong and unjust to ask more of us, Relena, Quatre's right. Stop trying to help."

So now Wufei Chang of the Preventers, former gundam pilot, was agreeing with Quatre. And starting one of his lectures, she thought cynically. She skipped to the next message before Wufei could continue. Nearly all of the gundam pilots were agreeing to this mysterious course of action that Quatre had chosen. And Relena wanted to know what it was, but the anticipation for the promised information from Quatre was nothing compared to the anticipation for the last gundam pilot's response. She could have cared less what his answer was as long as she was able to see him. Fortunately, his message was next.

"Relena," Heero acknowledged her. "I … I agree with Quatre." His eyes were focused someplace to the side of the camera. He opened his mouth as if to say something else, and then closed it again. He looked calm, not worried as Duo and Quatre had been, though not as firm in the statement as Wufei and Trowa had been.

"I guess I'll be seeing you soon," he said as he leaned back in his chair, looked directly at the camera and smiled briefly. He just looked at the screen for a moment, leaving her breathless, and then leaned forward and switched the videophone off.

Relena exhaled slowly as the answering machine explained the end of the tape to her in a mechanical and annoying voice. Well, she thought, I guess I'd find every voice annoying after listening to his. His voice had been more intense than the last time they had spoken, which is appropriate for the subject, I guess, and it had been full of emotion. The way in which he had told her he would see her soon had hit her heart like a bullet.

She just closed her eyes and imagined what it would be like to see him in person again. She imagined him kissing her again, like he had once before. It was after the rebellion but before he had quit. She had been in his and Duo's office at the Preventers' HQ, speaking to Duo. Duo had received a page and had left the room before she could blink. Heero had walked in just as she was walking out, and they collided. After a couple seconds of just standing there, pressed chest to chest, Heero had leaned down and kissed her.

Just as her mental re-enactment had finished, her videophone rang. She first flushed with embarrassment, and then realized no one was around to notice her momentary slip into her imagination.

She looked at the clock as she stifled a yawn. This better be Quatre explaining things, or else I'll fall asleep before I learn what the hell is going on.

She answered, and Quatre faced her through the videophone.

"Everything is going to change. I'm sorry for everything."

There you go! enjoy. I think from now on I'll put half about Heero, and half about Relena in the chapters. But today was solely Relena because I realized I needed some background about her in before the plot really starts.

Thanks for Reading! Please Review!