Hereafter

CHAPTER 9

March Madness Prompt #1

A Princess and Her Protector

"A picture for the paper, princess?"

Heero let go of Relena's hand long enough for her to turn and smile at the young boy holding an old camera. He was about eleven or twelve years old and staring at her with wide-eyed amazement. Heero didn't blame him. Relena was radiant. She wore a white dress with a voluminous flowing skirt that billowed in the breeze, her long hair glinting gold in the sunlight.

"The Sanq Kingdom hasn't existed for quite some time," she told the boy. "I am the Vice Foreign Minister now. But you can take my picture." Heero made to back away, but Relena reached her hand back for his. "Can you photograph us together?" she asked the boy.

"Who is he?" the boy asked, holding up the camera.

"My protector," Relena said, looking over her shoulder at Heero as the camera flashed, her fingers resting lightly in his outstretched hand. "And my boyfriend."

That photograph appeared in every paper across Earth and in the Colonies.

Heero didn't care for the attention, but he didn't pay it much mind either. He had asked Relena to be his girlfriend and he knew that meant standing next to her and being gawked at from time to time. People habitually asked him his real name, especially people who had been enamored of the real Heero Yuy, but he ignored them. They knew he was a Gundam Pilot and that Relena Peacecraft—or Relena Darlian as she insisted being called whenever she was given the choice—was his girlfriend.

They gave no interviews. Because of their reticence with the press, some said the photograph was a hoax. Others said there was no way to dismiss the affection in Relena's eyes as she looked at Heero. It didn't matter. The weeks following his release from the hospital after the Mariemaia incident were some of the happiest Heero had known.

There was just one problem.

He didn't know what to do with Relena. She always wanted to see him. He always wanted to kiss her. Beyond that, he did not know what was proper or expected. He did not have any idea how they were supposed to spend time together. He did not know if he was supposed to kiss her whenever he wanted or wait for her to indicate that she wanted to. Most times he saw her, she wanted to, so after a while, he stopped worrying about it.

But that gave way to another problem. What if he wanted to do more than kiss her?

The thought left him hot under the collar, but the more he kissed her the more he thought about it. As weeks stretched into months, it became an all-consuming contemplation.

One day, under a bright blue sky, they sat kissing on a bench in a secluded garden, their faces completely obscured from public view by rose bushes and white birch trees. Heero was finding it hard to stop touching Relena when they kissed now. His fingers were on her neck, threading through her hair, cupping her face so he could turn her mouth toward his. Kissing her was electrifying, dizzying and terrifying all at once. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her. And yet he still wanted more.

"Heero," she breathed as he released her long enough to gasp for air. Her eyes were liquid pools, brimming with something he recognized instinctively though he could not name it. It made him want to… He felt his face heating.

"Heero," she said again, this time grasping at the inside edge of his coat, as if needing the support to stay sitting up right. "I think…" She swallowed. "I want…" She did not finish her sentence. A rosy blush creeped across her cheeks.

He kissed her again, hungrier this time, more insistent than he'd been before—more than he'd ever been. His tongue sought the inside of her mouth. His heart was hammering in his chest. Their thighs were pressed together on the bench. He let one hand land on her knee. He was almost comically respectful and had not touched her body below the shoulders before now, unless it was a hand on the small of her back. She arched into his kiss and he knew then that she was thinking the same thing.

But…

He was at a loss for what to do next. The instinct felt natural enough. But the garden was not a location suitable for more than stealing kisses. Besides which, she had to go back to work. He should give this some thought. Were there preparations to consider? Should he plan something or let her lead? Where could they go to be together privately?

His brain seemed to tick to a stop.

Relena leaned back, smiling at him bemusedly. She looked into his eyes and seemed to see the desire warring with uncertainty. She touched his chest with the flat of her hand. It sent a thrill through him to be touched like that.

"Will you meet me for lunch tomorrow?" she asked him. "On the hill behind the building?"

He knew exactly where she meant. He would be able to see her presentation to the ESUN from there. "Yes," he said.

She smiled. "Good," she said. "We'll get lunch. And then… well, then we'll see where the night takes us."

He lifted her hand and kissed the inside of her palm. He looked into her eyes while he did it. "I wish it was tomorrow already," she told him regretfully as she stood. "But I have to get back now. I will see you tomorrow for lunch?"

Lunch never came.

Wufei pointed toward a truck parked on the far side of the street. Heero could see Duo in his Preventer's jacket. But he could also see the entrance to the garden where he had made Relena a promise. Something inside him seized up.