Hey Guys. So sorry that I haven't posted for a long time. I have had some major life changes. New Jobs, so forth, but here is some more of the story you've been waiting for. As always, I don't own the source material Gundam Wing, just the original characters. Enjoy.

Chapter 3

Beep beep beep! A beep on the monitor in front of Mit brought him out of his deep concentration of the files in front of him. He hit the activation switch and the pilot appeared.

"Yes?" Mit answered.

"Sir, we're receiving an encrypted message from L4."

"Patch it through."

"This is Sunfire. Use encryption code Black Thunder."

"This is Ice. Authentication White Lightning." Mit replied with his required counter-signal.

The screen cleared and Heero's face appeared.

"Heero, what are you doing on L4? I thought you were still on Earth running down leads." Mit questioned.

"I'm working on some info I got. Have you gone over the personnel files yet?"

"Yeah, I was on the last one."

"Anything jump out at you yet?" Heero asked.

"Nothing major. Most of the agents are pretty clean. All but two have no reprimands in their jackets."

"What do you have on the two?"

Mit pulled up his notes he had made and read off from them.

"Mikel Harper and Tom Arguile. Partners for two years. Both have accommodations for bravery. They received reprimands on two occasions for willfully disobeying a superior officer 1 month ago. The reports that would contain that information are missing. I think this might be the reason I'm being transferred to L4 to take over."

"What else?" Heero asked, noting the skepticism in Mit's eyes.

"Well, I was looking at the last commander's file, and some things caught my eye. He was reprimanded for gross misconduct by an officer, assault, and even sexual assault amongst other incidents. How he stayed there until now, you got me. The last incident occurred 11 months ago, and he still kept his position. It worries me is all."

"Understood. I'll talk to Quatre first chance I get."

"Anything for me, boss?" Mit asked, smiling as he fell back on an old nickname he called Heero when he was Mit's team leader.

"Not at this time."

"Heero, I just wanted to say… I'm sorry. It was my fault for not spotting that damn sniper. Camo kit or not, it was my job to spot him, and I didn't until it was too late. If only I had been a half a second quicker…"

Heero cut him off.

"I don't blame you. Besides, the inquiry cleared you. I have to go. Sunfire out."

Mit turned off the viewer and sighed. 'Why am I getting off so easily?' Mit wondered.

Heero signed off of the com unit and turned. Relena was looking at him intriguingly.

"What?"

"What was Mit talking about? Me getting shot was not his fault. Why didn't you tell him I don't blame him?"

"It's complicated." Heero said unemotionally.

"Well then, the simple thing to do is uncomplicate it," she said with a hard look at Heero.

Before Heero could respond to Relena, Corinne, Relena's nurse, came in with Quatre behind her.

"Heero, turn the news on," Quatre said.

Corinne went to Relena to check her bandages as Heero turned the TV on.

"…Sources within Preventer haven't confirmed the cause of death, but have confirmed that John McNamara, the assassin that murdered the Vice Foreign Minister two weeks ago, has been found dead in his cell. Speculation is that he committed suicide, but the information is sketchy at this time. In other news…"

Heero's heart jumped in his throat and he felt a twinge of fear and regret since he hadn't had a chance to talk to Relena before the newscast told her everything. It was at that moment that Quatre realized that Heero hadn't talked to her yet.

"Heero, I'm sorry. I thought…"

"It's ok, Quatre. The newscaster just happened to beat him to it," Relena responded.

Though there was calmness in her voice, there was fire in her eyes as she looked at Heero.

"If you both would give us a few moments," Relena requested.

Quatre and Corinne nodded and left silently. When the door closed, Heero expected an onslaught of anger and frustration. He hoped for that, because he knew how to deal with that. What he got was worse; much worse. Her eyes held just subtle evidence of tears.

"I'm dead. I really am dead."

"Only until we find and stop these people that did this. After that, you can choose to come back. Or…"

"Or what?"

"Or you can start a new life somewhere else." Heero answered simply.

Heero walked to the bed and gently sat down. He reached for Relena's hand and softly took it in his own. After she had awoken on the shuttle, all Heero and she had talked about was what happened, except the fact that she was dead, at least on paper. They had skirted around how they felt, but hadn't really talked about it.

"Heero, I know why you kept this from me. Though I am a little frustrated, at the same time, I understand," Relena said as she grasped Heero's hand. "But let's try to not keep anymore secrets from each other, ok?"

"Ok. I promise." Heero replied with a rare smile. "If it means anything, I was going to tell you as soon as I was done with Mit."

"I know," Relena said as she leaned her head onto Heero's shoulder.

Heero drew her closer, careful not to hurt her.

"I... I love you, Heero," Relena said softly.

Heero stiffened for a fraction of a second, then relaxed and hugged Relena closer. He remembered what Duo said, and it was then that he felt the wall that held his deepest feelings and emotions crumble. He knew at that moment that Relena was the only thing that mattered to him. That and catching the bastards that shot her.

"And I love you," Heero replied and placed a soft kiss on the top of Relena's head.

Then he did something that caught both of them by surprise. Almost as if some unknown force was controlling him, he lightly grasped Relena's chin and placed a soft, but firm kiss on her lips. She returned it eagerly and they remained that way, lips locked, for an unknown amount of time. From the hallway, Quatre and Corinne watched, trying to be as quiet as possible.

"They finally admitted their feelings," Quatre said with a small smile.

"Come on, little brother. Let's give them some time to themselves," Corinne said with a smile and a playful shove.

"I'm going, I'm going." Quatre said with a soft chuckle.

As they walked away from the door, Corinne glanced back and a slight look of envy brushed over her face. She envied them because the man she had fallen in love with had died in the war; or so she thought.