Chapter Six: Forget Me Not

I've been awaiting for you

And you've been awaiting for me

Tell me that you'll always be true

And you'll be the only one for me

Forget me not

My dear, my darling

Forget me not, my love

– The Civil Wars, "Forget Me Not"

Monday morning came far too soon for Relena. After everything that happened during Saturday night's gala, she could've used an extra day to wallow in bed. But that wouldn't have set a healthy example for Ellie, and she had work to do.

There was always work. Relena found herself working through most weekends, and while that was nothing new, she'd been taking even more work home lately to distract herself from… things. It helped, somewhat.

But as she set about her morning tasks around the house, an all-too-familiar panic set in; Relena dreaded bumping into a certain Preventer commander, who just so happened to be her estranged husband.

The other night had sent her reeling. Even now, just remembering the way Heero had looked at her sent a shiver down her spine… and not in a good way. She had never seen him look so desperate, not to mention unhealthy. By her estimation, he had to have dropped ten, maybe even fifteen pounds, and he was a slender man to begin with. His eyes were wide and wild as a wounded animal's. Seeing her husband of over a decade look that way had left her badly shaken. Relena had been so anxious, she'd nearly asked Trowa to stay the night after he escorted her home. But even though she could have put him up in one of her guest rooms, she knew how that would look. And Relena didn't want to have to explain to Ellie why one of her father's friends was staying over, while her father was nowhere to be seen.

Guilt gnawed at Relena's insides. She had told Ellie that her father was away for work, the first time she'd really lied to her ten-year-old. Sure, she and Heero had let Ellie believe in Santa Claus and other fantastical things when she was little, and did their best to guard her from unpleasant realities as much as possible, but Relena had never lied to her about something so major. She didn't plan to make a habit of it, but was at a loss over how to tell Ellie what was actually happening.

Relena knew she wouldn't be able to keep the truth from her precocious child much longer, though, especially if Heero had anything to do with it. Thus Relena was hoping to continue avoiding him for the time being. Even though she knew, eventually, they would have to put aside their differences long enough to discuss Ellie… Relena was dreading that conversation as much as her next encounter with him.

But if she chickened out and stayed home for the day, how would that look? Then Heero would win. At the very least, he'd know just how much he affected her, and Relena couldn't have that.

So she'd risen extra early that morning, spent a little more time than usual on her hair and makeup, and selected her most flattering suit dress for a much-needed boost of confidence. No matter what, she was not going to appear defeated. And in her line of work, appearances were everything.

It was still early when Relena arrived at the Foreign Affairs building, part of the sprawling ESUN complex located in the heart of downtown Brussels. After she scanned her keycard to enter the towering glass building and rode the elevator up to her floor, Relena was pleased to see she had beaten her punctual assistant to their set of offices.

Bypassing her assistant's desk, Relena unlocked the door to her private office, counting herself lucky. Offices could be so stuffy, but hers was a spacious suite with modern, all-white furniture selected by a feng shui expert she'd hired. The room also boasted an impressive view of the cityscape.

Relena shrugged out of her coat and draped it over a hook near the door, then sauntered over to her desk, plopped down her work tote and started up her computer. The machine hummed to life and in a matter of minutes, Relena was diving into her latest batch of emails. It was hours before she bothered looking up, only when her intercom sounded, shattering the peaceful silence.

Her assistant, Jules, was on the line. "Relena? You have a visitor."

Relena immediately tensed, the hair on the back of her neck standing to attention. She pressed a shaky finger down on the intercom button. "Who is it?"

"Dr. Paul Montogmery?" Jules sounded unsure, but Relena was instantly relieved.

"Please, send him right in."

Relena sat up a little straighter in her chair and laced her fingers in front of her as the doctor stepped into her office. He wore a tweed suit, his usual glasses, and a broad smile. Relena couldn't help but smile in return.

"Dr. Montgomery," she greeted him, rising to her feet with her hand outstretched. "So nice to see you again."

"Likewise." He pressed her hand in his, his smile widening. "Although, please, call me Paul."

Relena flushed, forgetting her own rule about foregoing titles. Then again, she'd also forgotten all about their meeting, after the hasty exit she'd made from the gala the other night. But then they'd failed to confirm an exact time, with Paul merely saying he would stop by at some point.

And there he was.

Relena sat back down in her chair, motioning for Paul to take a seat on the opposite side of her desk. "Can I get you anything? Coffee? Tea?"

"Me?" Paul chuckled. Relena's face flamed. "Sorry… it's an old joke," he quickly assured her. "And a terrible one at that."

"I see." Relena was struggling to maintain her composure, and wondered if her new acquaintance could tell.

"I would love a cup of tea, actually, if you don't mind," Paul said.

"Of course." Relena leapt from her seat, grateful to have something to occupy herself with in this man's presence. For some reason he unnerved her, although she couldn't pinpoint why. She'd worked with countless professional men over the years, many of whom were equally handsome, distinguished, and had kind smiles for days…

Okay, so not that many men who showed up in her office were quite like Paul. But still.

Relena breezed through her doorway, pausing before her assistant's desk. "Jules? Would you mind fixing a cup of tea for our guest?" So Relena wasn't exactly keeping herself busy this way, but it would have been odd to fetch Paul's tea for him when she had an assistant ready to do so.

"Sure!" Jules angled her head in Paul's direction. "What kind would you like? We have herbal, green, black…"

"Black would be lovely," he said crisply. "With cream and sugar, if you have it."

"Absolutely!" Jules giggled, apparently charmed by Paul's accent. The young woman sprinted off to her task and Relena returned to her desk, grateful for her cheerful assistant. Now, if only she could keep herself calm for the duration of this meeting...

She managed to survive a few minutes of chitchat while Jules prepared Paul's tea. After handing Paul a cup and saucer, Jules shut the office door, sending Relena's nerves skyrocketing. Why? Why was she so nervous? Paul was perfectly nice, but he wasn't alarmingly handsome or particularly striking. And yet, as he sat smiling at her, Relena found herself transfixed by the friendly sparkle in his eyes.

Maybe it was his eyes… so light and full of life. Even though Relena knew that Paul did difficult work for a living, he didn't appear to have a care in the world. Perhaps that was why she found him so appealing.

Perhaps she'd spent so long stumbling around in the darkness, even the least bit of light was electrifying.

But Paul hadn't come there to dazzle Relena; he'd come to talk business. And so Relena shifted back into professional mode, asking Paul to elaborate on his work with Healing Hearts. He indulged her, then told her all about the orphanage he wanted to start in the colonies. Relena listened intently, and she couldn't help but admire someone so passionate about his life's work. She had to wonder what drove him, when even the most charitable people she encountered always seemed to have some kind of angle. But with Paul's slightly rumpled appearance, making him look boyish despite the subtle grays streaking his sandy hair, Relena had to wonder if he even took a dime for his livelihood. From what she could tell, the man was completely selfless.

Okay. So she couldn't help but be a little dazzled by him.

Relena realized too late, as she sat listening to Paul speaking so eloquently, that her cheek had sunken into her palm. When she caught herself, she attempted to straighten her posture as casually as possible. Ugh. Did she have to be so obvious? She was worse than a school girl with a crush.

Which was a crazy thought, coming from someone who'd married her high school crush. Could she really have these kinds of feelings for another man, so soon? Was she ready?

Before she could let her mind drift and further assess her feelings, Paul was asking her out.

"I hate to keep you from your busy work day," he was saying. "Would you be interested in continuing our conversation over dinner, perhaps later this week?"

Relena was flabbergasted. "I, ah… yes." She cleared her throat as primly as possible. "That would be… lovely."

She was going to start sounding like a Brit before she knew it. The thought nearly made her giggle.

Paul beamed at her. "Wonderful. Would you mind if I took down your number?" He had his mobile at the ready. Relena smiled and took his phone from him, swiftly punching in her number, then handed over her phone for him to do the same.

She felt a strange buzzing sensation creeping up her neck throughout the exchange. It didn't go away until long after Paul had left her office.

When she was sure no one would see her, she sighed and sank her head onto her desk. "Relenaaa," she groaned. "What are you doing?"

A/N: What is she doing, indeed? Hmm...

Happy Sunday funday, fam! Yes, I decided we'd be on the Sunday schedule this week... you don't mind, do you? Thank you again for all of your positive feedback so far! I'm doing my best to respond to each and every one of your reviews because I appreciate your input so much!

So I have good news and bad news for you... The good news is, I mostly know where this story is going! YAY! The bad news? It's probably gonna take us a while to get there... so sit tight! I'll do my best to continue updating regularly, though. I've been working on this story almost daily and am several chapters ahead at this point, but will continue to update either weekly or biweekly because I tend to edit as I go... Some of the stuff I'm writing in the present ends up altering some details early on in the story; because I started working on this a while ago, I have to reread a lot to make sure I keep all of those tiny details consistent. Make sense? Okay, cool :P

In other news... Civil Wars is next on my list to be completed. I have a lot of ideas for that story, still, but I may have to get this AU version out of my system first. What's really fun, at least for me, is that while the worlds and characters of these two stories are very similar, these two stories will have completely different endings. Weeeeee! I'm so excited to unveil everything and share it all with you!

As for Red Moon Rise, for those of you who have been asking... that's next on my list after CW. Promise! ;) We still have a part three to complete in that trilogy, so yeah... it's definitely gonna happen. I wish I had a better idea of when, because I will be doing NaNoWriMo next month and working on another novel project. My goal for now is to get as much of this fic done before as possible before I dive into NaNo!

Anyway, sorry for the looooong update and not so long chapter... I may just have to post a bonus update tomorrow, if I can get my act together. If you're reading this, I hope you're enjoying where this is going! Drop me a note and let me know :D

Happy Sunday, everyone! I hope you have a great week.

Love love love,

- RFP