Chapter Twenty-Four: Birds of a Feather

Where she walks, no flowers bloom

He's the one I see right through

She's the absinthe on my lips

The splinter in my fingertips

But who could do without you?

Who could do without you?

- The Civil Wars, "Birds of a Feather"

Heero checked his phone again. It had only been thirty minutes.

Thirty minutes since Relena left the house without a word of where she was going, or when she'd be back. And all Heero could do was sit around at home and wait and worry, since he wasn't able to go with her; not with their ten-year-old daughter sound asleep in her room.

He understood why Relena was upset, and why she needed some time alone to sort out her thoughts, but he hated the feeling of helplessness roiling in his gut. Not to mention guilt…he was anguished, knowing that she was traumatized, knowing that it was all his fault. Well, that remained to be seen, but he couldn't help but feel responsible for everything.

If only he could get some answers, so that life could go back to normal. But until then, there was little he could do in the meantime. Except for getting drunk, but Heero knew that wasn't going to really help matters. Even if getting sloshed would provide some temporary relief, it wouldn't be worth the argument that would surely arise once Relena got home. And anyway, did he really want to be the guy who sat around and drank away his sorrows, while his kid was in the house?

Heero sighed and splayed his fingers through his hair, then stood up from his desk chair. He'd thought he might be able to get some work done while Relena was out, but he was too distracted by his wayward thoughts. Thoughts all filled with her.

He ambled out of his study, his mouth watering as he thought of the well-stocked liquor cabinet in the nearby dining room. Relena always kept it full of expensive libations for dinner parties and other special occasions, but Heero was determined to forget all about the choice bourbons, gins, and other quality booze lining the shelves. Instead, he pivoted to the right and strode purposefully toward the basement stairs. He took them two at a time until he reached their home gym.

He approached his favorite weight machine and prepared to get to work, needing to keep his mind and body occupied. But even after several reps, Heero's thoughts still plagued him. All he could think about were all the times he and Relena had worked out in there together...

His chest clenched as he replaced the weights and stood up from the machine. Relena was out there somewhere, driving around in the dark, alone, and he couldn't go to her. He needed to make sure she was safe.

He reached into his pocket and retrieved his phone, knowing full well she wouldn't want him to call, but… he could do the next best thing.

Heero punched in the familiar number, pressed the phone to his ear, and waited.

Relena had been mistaken.

She thought she'd gotten to the point where she couldn't shed another tear for her disintegrating marriage, but she'd proven herself wrong. Again.

She'd been crying and driving aimlessly around the outskirts of Brussels for the better part of an hour, listening to the saddest playlist her satellite radio station could provide her, when her car's console lit up with an incoming call.

"Call from… Trowa Barton."

Relena stopped sobbing long enough to sigh. "What now?"

"Call from… Trowa Barton."

"All right, fine," Relena groaned. "Accept call."

"What are you doing so close to the spaceport?" Trowa asked without preamble. "Going somewhere?"

"Tracking my location, are you?" Relena rolled her eyes even though her friend and bodyguard could not see the gesture.

"Just doing my job."

"Well, trust if I were planning to leave the area, you'd have known about it."

"You've been known to make the odd unscheduled trip."

"What is this really about, Trowa?" Relena cut in, her impatience mounting by the second. "I'm in no mood to chit-chat."

"You think that's why I'm calling? I'm merely ensuring you're not kidnapped, or dead."

"Ha-ha."

"Your security is no laughing matter."

"You sound just like my ex."

"So he's your ex again?"

"It seems you did call just to chat," Relena snapped. "And I told you, I'm not in the mood." She had half a mind to hang up right then and there, but something made her stay on the line, against her better judgment. When Trowa didn't immediately respond with a witty retort, she sighed. "I'm sorry. You know it's not you I'm upset with."

"I know. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. But for the record, he's the reason I'm calling."

"Why?"

"He asked me to check on you."

"Of course he did," Relena huffed. "He knew I wouldn't answer if he called."

"Are you so sure you wouldn't?"

"I'm not entirely sure of anything any more," she admitted. "So where are you?"

To her surprise, Trowa chuckled. "You'll never guess."

"No, and since I don't have the privilege of tracking your every move, I honestly have no idea."

Trowa paused before making the revelation. "At Heero's place, believe it or not."

Relena sputtered a cough. "What? Why? Are you doing him another favor?"

"Duo," Trowa explained. "He invited me over to catch up."

"Oh… I forgot he was staying with Heero." Relena pursed her lips. "Mind if I join you?"

"I don't mind at all. It's your ex who may have an issue with it," Trowa said. "But I'm sure Duo will be happy to see you."

"And you," Relena teased.

"I already know he's happy to see me," Trowa added wryly.

"Don't ever change, Barton." Relena shook her head, smiling for the first time in what felt like days. "I'll be right over. I assume there's wine."

"Only whiskey, I'm afraid."

"I'll order something, then. What's the address?"

"You mean you don't know?" Trowa asked. "Never mind. Of course you don't."

"Of course not," Relena snipped. "This is Heero we're talking about."

"Right…"

After Trowa provided the address, Relena disconnected the call and entered Heero's address into her navigation system. This was an unexpected turn of events, but a welcome one. After the night she'd had, she could use some quality time with old friends- mutual friends of hers and Heero's, who perhaps could help her make some sense out of the mess they've made.

Or, at the very least, help her forget for a while.

But Relena underestimated her ability to do just that.

Once she pulled up to the dark, dilapidated-looking apartment building in a side of town Heero would never stoop to take her to, it was all Relena could do to hold on to what remained of her composure. Of course she hadn't expected Heero to go out and rent himself some luxurious penthouse suite, but she'd have hoped he would have landed somewhere halfway decent, at least. But no, even after all these years, Heero still didn't hold himself in high regard, and his choice of living space only proved it.

Relena exited her vehicle on high alert, clutching her keys between her knuckles, easing her grip when she saw Trowa approaching her in the dimly-lit parking lot. He'd told her on the phone earlier that he would meet her outside - it wasn't safe for her to wander alone - and he hadn't been kidding.

"The wine and desserts you ordered arrived just before you did," Trowa informed her as he led her to the brick building's entrance. "But I must warn you, Duo's already polished off half the pastries."

"I anticipated that, which is why I ordered so many," Relena said with a smile, looping her arm through Trowa's.

Inside Heero's apartment, Relena was greeted with a massive bear hug from Duo, and then she took her own little tour of the small, modest space. She was partially relieved to see it wasn't as ramshackle as she feared, although it was still nothing to write home about. But it was clean and tidy, and had a few pieces of furniture, at least.

Relena perched on the garish orange couch next to Trowa while Duo sprawled out on the floor next to the coffee table, devoting himself to the box of pastries Relena had ordered from a downtown patisserie that catered to the late-night crowd.

"So," Duo said between mouthfuls, "not to pry open doors, but may I ask what brings you here this time of night? I thought you and Heero were patching things up…"

Relena sighed and turned her attention to the wine bottle she had yet to open. "Can I answer that later, after a few glasses of this?"

"Sure thing," Duo said breezily, continuing to chomp away at his treat. "We can get this guy to spill his guts about his love life instead."

"You can try," Trowa said, nonchalantly sipping his whiskey.

"Come onnnn, I'm a boring old married fart," Duo whined. "Indulge me."

Relena smiled and poured herself a generous glass of chardonnay. "Do tell, Trowa. I could use the distraction."

Trowa shrugged. "There's nothing to tell."

"Yeah, right, Casanova," Duo teased.

"More like Don Juan," Relena said.

"More like 'none of your business,'" said Trowa, his eyes gleaming.

"Come on man, just tell us who you've been seeing lately and we'll shut up," Duo prodded.

"Ooh, you have been seeing someone?" Relena turned to face Trowa. "Now I'm intrigued. Who is it?"

"No one," Trowa said tersely.

"Male or female?" Duo smirked. "Or non-binary?"

Trowa rolled his eyes. "I'm still not answering."

"Fine," Duo sighed, twisting back around to face Relena. "If he won't talk, you've gotta tell me, Lena…what's going on with you and Heero, huh?" His brows knit together. "He won't tell me shit and it's driving me crazy."

Relena twisted the stem of her glass in her fingers. "What has he told you?"

"Not much, other than you're separated, which is obvious anyway. Who else knows?"

"Just the two of you, my brother and Noin. Well, Une and Sally, too," Relena admitted. "So that means Wufei too, probably."

"And Quatre," Trowa said. Relena glared at him.

"You told Quatre?"

Trowa shook his head once. "He figured it out on his own. He's very intuitive, you know."

"Great," Relena sighed. "So, everyone in our immediate circle knows, but that's it. I hope. If this gets out…" She let her voice trail off and took a long, slow sip of her wine, letting the fruity effervescence dance on her tongue.

"It won't," Trowa said.

"Yeah, we'll kill anyone who leaks," Duo added, waggling his brows.

Relena leaned over and punched his shoulder playfully. "Why thank you, Lord of Death."

"God of Death," he corrected her. He reached for the rectangular-shaped bottle of amber liquid on the table and topped off his glass. "Now, if you don't mind my asking, why is Heero over at your place while you're here?"

Relena refreshed her own glass before answering. "We had another fight."

Before she knew what was happening, the whole sordid story tumbled out. Relena did her best to skim over the details, and left Raquel's name out of it, but otherwise everything she and Heero had discussed that night was out in the open.

For a moment after Relena finished telling the story and wiping away a fresh bout of tears, neither Duo nor Trowa spoke a word. Trowa's face was impassive while Duo looked shell-shocked.

"Shit." Duo ran a hand through his long hair. "I knew it was bad, but I didn't know it was that bad."

"Yeah." Relena sniffled.

"I'm sorry, Princess." Duo took her hand in his and squeezed tightly. "You want me to beat his ass into oblivion?"

Relena laughed drily. "No...but you can tell me whether you believe him or not. Is what he's saying even plausible?"

"What, that a girl could take advantage of a guy in his sleep?" Duo broke into a lopsided grin. "Speaking from personal experience, a woman can help herself to a guy's - ahem - member while he's sleeping. It's happened to me a few times."

Relena gasped. "How awful!"

Duo laughed. "I mean, it was with my wife, so…"

"Maybe he was drugged," Trowa interjected.

"We discussed that. Heero said he would know if he had been. He was 'blackout drunk,' in his words," Relena said.

"Well, you wanna know if it's possible? The answer is, yes it's possible," Duo said candidly.

"But wouldn't that have woken him up?" Relena asked, leaning forward in her seat.

"Well, yeah! Wakes me up every time."

"See? He says he can't remember anything. This whole thing is suspicious." Relena reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "I don't know what to think, or what to do about any of this."

"Maybe you should ask the other woman," Trowa murmured. "There are always two sides to every story."

Relena's head began to pound. "I hate that idea, but you're right. I should talk to her, get her side."

"This girl's a Preventer, right?" Duo rubbed his chin. "We'll track her down, and-"

Relena blinked at him. "When did I say anything about the Preventers?"

"Well, this obviously happened on a mission," he replied.

"Arabia, from the timing of it," Trowa added.

Relena gaped at the both of them. "Promise me you two will not go digging into this! And anyway, I already know who she is."

"Who?" Duo pressed. Trowa threw him a dark look. "What? You know we'll figure it out sooner or later, since we work with her. And if she really is pregnant…"

Relena sighed and turned back to Trowa, only to see that his face was ashen. "Trowa? Are you feeling all right?"

"Can't hold his liquor," Duo teased.

Trowa stood and quickly gathered up his things. "Sorry, I've got to go."

He swept out of the apartment without another word.

A/N: Well, well, well! It's been a minute. How are you, fam? I've missed this community so much, although I have been somewhat active on GW Discord servers here and there over the past several months, and even have a couple of my own, so drop me a line if you want details! And of course, please let me know what you think about this turn of events! I promise you, despite the craziness of this year, I haven't forgotten about this story or lost my love for these characters. I hope wherever you are, you are staying safe and healthy and sane in these trying times. I'll do my best to help with the latter :)

Thank you to my bud Kuroi Uma for poking me to update this story! Most of us writers need a little nudge here and there, and it is always appreciated. I'm glad this story seems to resonate with many of you and hope you will stick around for the eventual conclusion. Thank you for reading and reviewing!

Hugs & Heero!

- RFP