Chapter Thirteen: Come On Back

We carved a story in these boards

Watching life go back and forth

You take it all for granted, then you leave

And then it takes a while to realize what you need

If never you find what you're looking for

Come on back to the front porch

Say my name through the screen door

Come on back to the front porch

Whatever you've done, it doesn't matter

'Cause darling we're all a little splintered and battered

But the light is on, what you waiting for?

Come on back, come on back...

– Joy Williams (formerly of The Civil Wars), "Front Porch"

Heero maneuvered his black SUV up the long stone driveway, coming up to the darkened house. Relena didn't appear to be home, unless she was sleeping. Heero paused to look over their property before pulling his car into the garage.

If Relena were in anything but a deep sleep, she would probably hear him. Heero half-expected to receive an angry call or text at any moment.

But he wasn't going to let that stop him. He'd already stayed away for far too long. And she could change all the locks and codes, if she wanted– which she had, starting with the front gate, but Heero figured out the new sequence in a matter of seconds. He quickly discovered the garage door's code had been changed as well. As well as the lock to the side door, which led into the mud room. It didn't matter; Heero had plenty of ways to get into their house. Some of which Relena didn't even know about. He had to be prepared for any and every scenario, after all.

Heero quickly picked the lock on the side door, making a mental note to fix it later. He wasn't about to leave any part of the house compromised. He'd been meaning to install a keypad on this door, anyway, but Relena had complained that they had too many of those already. She'd wanted one door where all she needed was a key, so Heero had indulged her.

Well, he was done indulging her.

A quick sweep of the house revealed that Relena was not, in fact, home. Heero could only assume she had gone to pick up Ellie. Which was just as well; he was content to wait.

He was going to see his daughter, on his terms.

He had tried being reasonable, but Relena wasn't willing to give a single inch. And even though he had come there fully intending to check on her after her outburst, the more Heero walked around their dark, empty house, the more irritated he became.

She had kicked him out. His own wife. After refusing to hear him out. If the situation had been reversed…

He wasn't going to go there now. He needed to keep his mind occupied while he waited for the inevitable confrontation.

Heero decided to pass the time in his study. After missing three days of work, he had plenty to catch up on, and he could access his office server remotely. While he was at it, he might as well compile some books and other materials to bring to the office that he hadn't had a chance to retrieve before Relena gave him the boot.

As he pushed open the oak door and entered the familiar surroundings for the first time in weeks… Heero's emotions began to screw with him. Reminders of the life he shared with Relena, with Ellie, were everywhere, in the form of photographs, framed and hanging on walls, balanced on his bookshelves, covering his desk… That had all been Relena's doing – she loved to decorate – but Heero had allowed it, because even in his private study, he enjoyed having visual tokens of the love he shared with the woman he'd spent half his life with, and of the life they'd built.

Now, he wanted to tear it all down. His heart began to hammer as he looked around. There were photos of Ellie through the years, at all different ages; from the day of her birth to her first day of school, her first ballet recital, her first lost tooth... Tears clouded his eyes, and Heero sank into his leather desk chair. There, he was accosted with a picture from one day he'd rather not think about. Their wedding day.

It had been a rough day for Heero. He'd spent the whole day on edge, waiting for disaster to strike. He couldn't help it; the event was practically begging for an assassination attempt, with Relena as the perfect target. It really didn't help knowing that all of the best soldiers he knew were part of the wedding party. Heero had felt like a sitting duck all day, and couldn't relax for the life of him. And his discomfort was obvious in every photograph from that day, with his scowl front and center.

The fact that he had been visibly miserable throughout their entire wedding ceremony, and even during the reception afterward, probably should have been a red flag for Relena. But, oh no. She had lovingly created a wedding album, and framed all of her favorite photos, anyway. Of course, she looked radiant in every single one. She was about four months pregnant with Ellie by then, but the dress she'd chosen hid it well. He'd never seen her more beautiful; that was, until recently. Hell, she was the kind of woman who became more and more beautiful by the day.

These thoughts were not productive, Heero realized.

He turned the wedding photo around and started up his computer. This was one reason he'd never kept personal photos at work– too much of a distraction. That, and he didn't want anyone who walked into his office to have anything on him, even if most people knew who his wife was. Then again, he didn't have any photos in his new apartment, either; but that was only because he hadn't had a chance to take any with him. He decided he was going to take all of the ones featuring Ellie, and leave the rest.

Because at this point, Heero didn't hold out much hope that he and Relena were going to be able to reconcile. All he was there to do was to try, one last time, to get her to see his side. And to work out a way for him to see Ellie on a regular basis, without having to hire a suit to negotiate on his behalf.

But if it came to that, so be it. Heero decided, then and there, that he was not leaving the house until he and Relena reached some kind of agreement, even if all they could agree on was to hire counsel.

She could try to throw him out again, but she wouldn't get far. Last time, his guilt and shame had overwhelmed him. But now… now that he'd had plenty of time to think everything through, he was convinced he was innocent.

And he was going to make sure Relena knew it.

If Heero knew what Relena was doing, he would be furious.

Not only had she had dinner with another man that could probably be construed as a date, but she had taken a cab to the restaurant and back. That was a non-negotiable "no" in the rule book of Heero Yuy.

But Relena had her reasons. Namely, she didn't want to get their longtime driver, Reginald, involved in their personal drama. He didn't need to know why she was meeting someone other than Heero at one of Brussels' chicest restaurants.

Also, Relena didn't want to throw up in her lovely town car. Although that hadn't been part of her reasoning when calling a cab for her return ride home, it was an unexpected bonus.

She felt like some trashy celebrity on a reality show she never asked to star in; she was absolutely sick, and there was more to it than whatever ailment was currently terrorizing her stomach.

After gathering what little remained of her dignity, enough to pay the driver and exit the cab, Relena stumbled up to the front gate and punched in the security code. She would then have to schlep all the way up the icy driveway in her heels, all in the name of security. Relena might have been sick and tired, but she wasn't stupid enough to start giving out codes to strangers.

It took her several minutes to make it to the front door, and she had to stop once to vomit in the bushes. But finally, blessedly, she reached the door, and entered in yet another unique code. The door beeped and whirred and granted her entry.

Thank God. She was home in one piece. And given that night's turn of events, she might not have been so lucky.

Oh, if Heero knew, she would never hear the end of it...

Relena locked the door behind her and removed her coat, hanging it on the nearest coat hook. And then something stopped her cold. The sound of movement.

Someone was in the house.

Relena went completely still and listened. The sound was coming from somewhere down the hallway to her left. She stood for a moment, straining to hear, but the sounds stopped and started again at odd increments. Almost like… No, she was too far away to tell what it was. She would have to get closer.

Her heart pounded wildly as she crept forward. She would need some kind of weapon… Of course. The handgun in her purse, that Heero insisted she carry at all times. She'd wanted to leave it locked up safely in her bedroom, but was glad now to have it at the ready. She had mace, too, but the gun would be better. She needed to have every advantage here.

Relena pulled the gun from her purse as silently as she could, gripping it in her hands the way she had been taught by… well, she wasn't going to focus on the bastard right now. The first thing she planned to do, after taking care of this intruder and calling the police, was going to be calling and yelling at him for assuring her, time and again, that their security system was impenetrable.

Another lie to add to his growing collection of falsehoods…

Relena took several careful steps forward, noting, as she entered the hallway, that the door leading from the garage to the mud room had been broken into. So, the perp had cracked the code to the garage first. And the front gate, unless the person had scaled the massive walls surrounding their property. Which was doable, but foolish, as the move would have triggered several alarms. Why hadn't any of them gone off? Relena would have gotten alerts on her phone and wouldn't have come home, if that were the case. The plan was to either go straight to ESUN or Preventers, or to her brother's house, in a state of emergency. But, now…

A sliver of light shone up ahead, beneath the door of the last room at the end of the hallway.

Heero's study.

As Relena crept closer, the sound she heard was unmistakable: the clacking of a keyboard. Someone was in there, typing away.

So someone had broken in to steal data? Well, it was more than plausible, given both her and Heero's line of work. And more than likely, if a criminal wanted to get something on Heero, then they wanted something on her, too, and would dispose of her without hesitation.

Relena cocked her weapon, preparing herself for the worst.

At last, she reached the end of the hallway. She took a deep breath for courage, then kicked the door open, aiming her gun straight ahead of her.

"FREEZE!"

She was greeted with the deep rumble of a chuckle, and an all too familiar shock of dark hair. Relena's eyes bulged, and her mouth fell open.

Sitting at the desk with an air of amusement and nonchalance was none other than Heero Yuy.

A/N: Happy FRIYAY, loves! Thank you once again to all of the stellar readers and reviewers. You guys make my life. It's been such a joy to write and share this story with you. There is still much more to come, but as today marks Day 1 of NaNoWriMo, I may disappear for a bit to work on my latest novel project. Don't worry; I still have several chapters of this drafted, so I'll continue to update as much as I can.

The next couple of chapters have been my favorite to write so far. I hope you'll love them. I'm editing as I go, so I'll do my best to get those out to you over the next few days. Now... off to noveling! I hope you have an excellent Friday, wherever you are!

Big squishy hugs!

- RFP