April 8, A.C. 210

Early afternoon

ESUN Government Center, Brussels, Belgium

Heero's text arrived while Relena was in the middle of a board meeting that was already doing little to capture her full attention. And so when her mobile flashed with the incoming message, her eyes immediately darted to where she'd placed it to the right of her meeting notes. She saw only that she had a notification, so she swiped on her locked screen and deftly typed in her PIN code, not caring whether her colleagues noticed.

At the sight of the unknown phone number, Relena's hackles went up. But even before she opened the message, she had a distinct feeling who it was.

Relena, it's Heero. Please call when you can.

A rush of emotions came at her all at once. Relena couldn't decide whether it was a good feeling or not. Flustered, she closed the message without replying, setting her mobile back down, then tried to distract herself by shuffling through her notes.

But her attention had already strayed from the topic at hand - publishing a request for proposals to find potential builders to construct a state-of-the-art climate control system for the new Mars housing units - and was dangerously close to veering completely off-course for the remainder of the meeting.

What could Heero want? Had he gotten her messages? If so, had he only just gotten them - too busy to return them in a more timely fashion - or had he spent a few days brooding before deigning to respond? Relena decided the latter was likely, knowing Heero as she did. But it remained to be seen whether he was being contrite, or whether he was still angry with her. She had a feeling the latter was true in that case as well. His message was certainly terse enough.

Relena took a sip of her hours-old coffee, her mouth turning down at the stale bitterness that soaked her tongue. Then again, she had plenty of other reasons to be filled with a bitter taste. She was torn between calling Heero back right away and letting him have it, or ignoring him for a few days, as he had her, letting him continue to sit and stew, and do a little stewing of her own.

She knew deep down, though, that would not be the healthy response. And since Heero was contacting her from a new phone number, something had likely happened to keep him from responding right away from the one that she knew. Furthermore, after the vivid dream she'd had of Heero that morning, part of her wanted to at least hear him out - a very strong, very curious part of her.

After the meeting ended, Relena all but dashed back to her office, nearly forgetting everything but her mobile in the boardroom. Once seated at her desk, her office door closed and locked, Relena took a deep, calming breath, and reopened the text.

Relena, it's Heero. Please call when you can.

Rather than tapping on the number to dial, Relena spent a few minutes dissecting the brief message word for word.

Relena. He'd started right in with her name, which he didn't need to, since he also identified himself right away with, it's Heero. But then skipping a standard greeting was textbook Heero; he never bothered with a "hi" or "hello," on the phone or in person. He was more likely to use "hey," but not in text message form. Relena was sure that would have looked odd coming from him, anyway.

Please call when you can. The "please" was interesting; it was not a word that appeared often in Heero's lexicon. It made him seem almost… desperate. Which was as alarming as it was reassuring, and made Relena feel a bit smug. It certainly took the edge off the rest of his message. Telling her to just "call" would have come off as bossy.

With some amusement, Relena couldn't help but wonder if Heero had labored over what to text her as much as she was analyzing the final result. She tried to picture him nonchalantly dashing off a quick message to her, whatever first came to mind, then nearly burst out laughing at the image. Even at his most relaxed, she doubted Heero had ever been nonchalant a day in his life. She was sure her next picture of him was far more accurate: ruminating over the past few days, sleepless, anxious. She doubt he'd eaten a proper meal or slept in an actual bed or done anything to take care of himself since their unfortunate parting. Her heart swelled with a combination of concern and pity. She should do the right thing and end his misery, even if he had caused her plenty of her own.

But that was love sometimes, wasn't it? As heady and satisfying and sublime as it could be at its very best, at its worst it was dark and twisty and possessive. Devouring and all-consuming. Then again, that wasn't always a bad thing, she thought, especially when it came to passion; and theirs was simply off the charts. Although she knew she'd harbored a somewhat unhealthy preoccupation with Heero at times, the bottom line was, it was complicated. Perhaps loving someone like Quatre would be less so, and far more predictable and comfortable. Part of Relena craved that safe, simple life.

The only problem was, she didn't love him, and she knew it. And it would be difficult, if not impossible, to go into a marriage with that truth staring her in the face, arranged or no.

Loving Heero had left her lonely and bereft those times he wasn't around, or they just couldn't see eye to eye on their futures, when Relena wanted them to have a future, singular. In her lowest moments, she sank into the deepest, darkest parts of herself. But when they were at their best, he left her breathless. He'd been the only man who had ever sent her reeling, emotionally and otherwise.

So what was she doing now? Delaying the inevitable, Relena realized. She knew she couldn't avoid a confrontation with Heero forever, any more than she could avoid making the choice that awaited her. Or had she chosen, already?

As Relena's fingers drifted over her touchscreen, her heart already knew the answer.

He'd asked for her to call, but she wasn't quite ready to hear his voice, battling the fears that continued to rage inside her as she tried to compose her thoughts. But since he'd chosen to text her after she'd actually called him and left a voice message the other day, she decided his new message warranted a similar response.

How tempting it was to send a trite, Yes? Or an even breezier, What's up? But Relena didn't really have it in her to be nonchalant, either. They were who they were, and she knew Heero would see right through her.

She decided to keep it simple, and honest.

At work. What would you like to discuss?

It was a little overly formal, perhaps, but it would do the trick. At least it wasn't rude, although she supposed he could interpret it that way…

She was only slightly surprised that his answer came through right away.

Are you in Brussels?

Is he?! Relena's heart began to hammer in her chest. She took in a deep inhale before typing a simple, Yes, tempted to add, Where are you? But she refrained, expecting she'd have an answer soon enough.

Heero did not disappoint with his rapid-fire response.

Can we meet?

Relena's heart responded before her brain could even register what was happening, taking off in a wild canter, leaving her head spinning. She chided herself to calm down. Perhaps Heero wasn't even in Brussels at the moment; he could still be somewhere else in Europe, or even farther away. He had been in Sanc just days before. Perhaps he was hoping to arrange a meeting at a later date, not necessarily then and there.

Relena's eyes skimmed the message once more. No, there was definitely an urgency to his words, especially since he was replying so quickly. She wouldn't have been surprised to learn he was in her very building, or perhaps at the Preventers headquarters, mere blocks away.

Where? She asked next. His answer would, of course, determine how close he was.

How about that café you like.

Relena felt herself flush, knowing instantly which one he meant. She'd first happened upon it years ago, conveniently nestled between their two workplaces. She liked the rustic, unassuming brick-walled interior almost as much as she liked the coffee.

Ok, she typed, what time?

Half hour?

Relena thought for a moment. Half an hour would give her enough time to send off a few work emails and freshen up before making the short walk to the café. Anxious as she was to see Heero, she didn't want to appear overly eager, hoping to gain the upper hand if she could. Then again, she also didn't want to delay too long and second guess whether they should even be doing this in the first place…

Ok, she typed before she could change her mind.

And then came his near-instant reply. See you then.

Relena had to focus to slow her breathing again, refusing to get all worked up over a simple meeting. And anyway, hadn't they just seen each other, mere days ago? And just the other week they'd been tangled up together in her hotel bed…

The thought was enough to send her into shivers. Okay, so Relena could admit, simply meeting up with Heero was rarely as innocuous an occasion she was trying to make it to be. She was going to have to steel herself for this encounter, if she had any hope of leaving it unscathed.

Twenty minutes later, Relena was rushing from her building to the nearby café. She tried to take a more leisurely pace, but she couldn't seem to stop her feet from surging ahead, as if she had little control over them. Anyway, it was a place she had been to thousands of times - many with Heero accompanying her - so delaying her arrival wouldn't have made any sense. She approached the familiar awning, and despite the early April sunshine, a familiar chill coursed through her.

Relena paused at the entrance, idly wondering if she was doing the right thing, before she shook her head and pushed the stained glass door open. Warm air and the inviting aroma of coffee and freshly baked pastries enveloped her, welcoming her inside as she stepped through the door.

She spotted him almost immediately, occupying their usual table, toward the back. His head was lowered, his eyes on his phone. But as soon as the bell over the door chimed, announcing Relena's arrival, Heero's head snapped up, and his eyes seized hers from across the room.

Slowly, Relena stumbled toward him as if in a daze, silently praying she wouldn't bump into any tables she passed or trip over her own feet on her way. Heero held her gaze the entire time, and the short walk felt like an eternity. When she finally reached their table, Heero stood, somewhat formally, she thought, half-expecting him to reach out his hand to shake hers in greeting. Instead, he simply moved to the side of the table where she stood, pulled out her chair and gestured for her to take a seat. So she did.

For a long moment, they just sat looking at one another. Heero looked a bit wary, she thought, no doubt as anxious as she was. Other than that, he was his usual, impossibly handsome self, something Relena couldn't help but be aware of- painfully so. But she couldn't let herself get distracted by that now; they had things to discuss. Her mouth dropped open, some sort of opening line poised on her lips, but at the last second she snapped her mouth shut, deciding to let him speak first. For once.

"Thank you for meeting me," Heero said at last, his words coming out in a low rumble. In the low-lighting of the café, his blue eyes were as dark as the night sky.

"Of course," Relena said quietly. "I figured we ought to meet, after… everything that's happened." Heero nodded, and he didn't look as if he was about to say anything else, so Relena forged ahead, hoping to keep the tone light and breezy. For now. "What brings you to Brussels? Work?"

"Sort of…" Heero glanced about them briefly before continuing, which Relena knew was a force of habit, given his covert vocation. "I had to get a new phone."

"Ah." That explained the new number, mostly. "How come?"

"I lost my last one." Heero reached up and raked a hand through his dark shock of hair, a quirk that Relena found endearing, still. Unfortunately, it only made her want to reach up and do the same, reveling in the silky texture of his strands between her fingers… "In Sanc," Heero added, his lips twitching slightly.

"Oh." Relena frowned, wondering if their argument from the other day had thrown Heero into an uncharacteristic state of forgetfulness. "That's not like you," she observed.

"Yeah." Heero shifted in his seat, his eyes still fixed on hers. "I haven't exactly been myself these past few days."

Relena bristled at that, unsure whether she should take that as an affront, as if she were to blame for sending him into a tizzy. She knew she shouldered some of the responsibility for how things had gone down, but so did he. Then Heero tipped his head to the side and gave her a half-smile, and she realized he was teasing.

"Well…" Relena offered up a slight smile of her own. "There has been a lot going on…"

"I'll say," Heero muttered. "Anyway, I came to see you on your birthday."

Relena's heart leapt. "You did? Where?"

"Sanc. You'd already left…"

"Oh… Right." She'd left with Quatre on the morning of her birthday, and they'd traveled back to Brussels together. She thought of Heero going back to the castle to find her, and her face colored with a fresh blush. She was about to ask him what he had come there to say, given how they'd left things, when a waitress approached their table.

"What would you like?" the young woman asked them in thickly-accented English. She looked to Relena first, who hadn't even glanced at the menu. Not that she had to.

"Ah, I'll have a coffee, please," she said, then looked back up at Heero. He nodded at the waitress.

"I'll have the same."

"Anything to eat?" the woman asked in return.

Relena shrugged, ready to decline, but then she looked at Heero again. His face was impassive, but there were dark circles under his eyes; knowing him, he probably hadn't had a decent meal in days. And anyway, it was going on two o'clock and she had yet to have lunch herself.

"I'll have the ham and swiss on a croissant, please." Relena ordered it knowing it was one of Heero's favorites. His eyes sparked at her from across the table.

"Make that two. Thanks," he said to the waitress. The woman nodded at both of them.

"Pomme frites?"

"Yes, please," Relena and Heero said in unison. His lips twitched upwards, and she felt herself flush. They'd long shared an affinity for the Belgian fries, and would share an order when they ate out together.

"Just one order, please," Relena added. Heero nodded in agreement, and the waitress darted off, leaving them alone again.

Now was the perfect time to ask Heero exactly what he wanted to talk about, although she could hazard a guess; still, she wanted to hear him say it, unprompted. So Relena laced her fingers together and held them primly in her lap, waiting for him to speak once more.

Heero watched Relena intently, grasping for the right words to say. She was looking at him expectantly, and he didn't want to risk saying the wrong thing and hurting her. Lately, it seemed he was incapable of doing anything else…

He gathered some courage when he noticed that her ring finger was bare. He couldn't help but be curious as to what she'd done with her engagement ring, wondering if she had given it back to Quatre or simply left it at home. At any rate, he hoped it meant that she wasn't going through with this wedding, at least not any time soon. And if it was still on, he needed to try to talk her out of it, as calmly and pragmatically as possible. He was all too aware that this moment could be his only chance.

"Relena... I'm sorry." The words tumbled out before Heero could calculate anything more intelligible to say.

"You are?" Relena's eyebrows rose along with her voice.

"Yeah." Heero lowered his eyes, hoping he could continue to sound articulate despite his frayed nerves. But, then, lack of sleep and proper care would do that to a person…

"I… overreacted about… this whole thing with Quatre." That was the closest Heero would come to referring to the engagement out loud. Part of him was still angry, but he was trying to heed Dorothy's advice, of all things; the last thing he wanted to do was come across as an ass.

Relena's brows were still arched, as if she didn't quite believe what she was hearing. "Well, I can understand why you were upset," she said calmly. Heero's own voice lifted in surprise.

"You do?"

"Sure." Relena shrugged one shoulder, as if they were talking about a far less touchy subject. "It was… unexpected, to say the least." Heero watched as she reached up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Despite her calm demeanor, he noticed her fingers twitching.

Heero nodded, his own nerves abating somewhat. "Yeah, well, I should have known it was what you wanted. It's my fault for not asking you sooner."

Relena's eyes widened. "Did you really plan to ask me, eventually?"

Heero didn't know how to answer that, exactly. Would he have gone on forever, keeping their relationship exactly as it was, if she hadn't mentioned marriage? Or would he have eventually come to the conclusion that he needed to ask her to spend the rest of her life with him, if that was really what she wanted?

Heero felt shamed that he hadn't thought to ask her, long ago. At the very least, he should have challenged their pointless "agreement." Who would have thought that a simple, flexible arrangement would prove anything but, leaving both of them more frustrated and hurt than they would have been if they had just embarked on a normal relationship? Whatever "normal" was, for two people in their peculiar positions. But Heero imagined it wouldn't have been all that different from what they'd already enjoyed, just with the added commitment.

It couldn't be that hard, he reasoned. So why had he been so afraid?

Watching her eyes, which seemed to be searching his, gave Heero the only answer he knew to be true. He knew it in his soul.

"Yes," he said. He had no idea what the weight of a simple "yes" could be, but then he wasn't the one asking the question. Instead, he watched Relena for her reaction. Her eyes widened again, but then she appeared to school her features.

"I see," she said coolly, looking down at her hands. Heero couldn't help but feel disappointed at her response. He'd hoped his admission would make her happy, but realized it was probably too little, too late. It was just as he'd expected, when he'd feared the worse - he'd already had his chance, and he'd blown it.

Heero furrowed his brows, racking his brain for something else to say; something that would set Relena at ease, and potentially redeem him in her eyes. But was there anything he could say to sway her, or was her mind already made up?

"Relena…"

No sooner had he started than their waitress arrived with a tray of beverages. Heero waited as she set down two steaming mugs of black coffee before them, along with a pitcher of cream. Relena didn't say anything, staring down at her lap, so Heero made a point to thank the woman for the both of them. She smiled in return, and told them their food would be out shortly.

Relena lifted her head then, her eyes following the waitress's retreating back. "Oh, I forgot to ask her for-"

Heero followed her gaze back to the table, where a glass container of sugar and various artificial sweeteners sat between them. He knew immediately what she wanted, and reached into the interior pocket of his Preventers jacket.

"This?" Heero set down a few packets of the organic stevia Relena always used. Her eyes went round as saucers, darting from the packets and back up to his face.

"You just… had those on you?"

"Yeah." Heero shrugged his shoulders, not seeing what the big deal was. He'd grabbed some the last time they'd gotten coffee together, knowing Relena had trouble finding it in her travels, especially if she was going to the colonies. He told her that, thinking it was a logical thing to do; he didn't see anything odd about the gesture.

He didn't expect to see her eyes well up.

"Oh, Heero…" Relena raised a hand to her face, placing her palm over her mouth, as tears freed themselves from the corners of her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Heero frowned and leaned forward, grasping her free hand in both of his. He didn't know what he'd done to upset her just now, but he'd be damned if he didn't try to fix it. He couldn't have her sitting there crying like this; not again.

Relena took a moment to compose herself, reaching for a napkin to dab at her eyes. "I'm sorry, Heero," she whispered, her mouth twisting downward. "I can't do this right now."

Anxiety fluttered in his chest. "Okay…" he started, hoping he could stall, and get her to agree to stay. Or at least continue their conversation elsewhere. They couldn't just leave things like this…

"Could we maybe discuss this somewhere more private?" Relena raised damp eyes up to meet his, and Heero felt an instant rush of relief.

"Of course," he said quickly. "How about your office. Or mine?"

Relena grimaced. "No… I don't want to talk about this at work." She frowned, her brows knitting together. Heero didn't know of any other place that could be deemed private enough, unless they went to her house, or perhaps a hotel room. But he didn't want to suggest either, at the risk of Relena taking it the wrong way… Not that he would mind resolving their issues and falling into bed together in one fell swoop, but he knew he would have to work harder than that to set Relena's mind at ease. And he wanted to prove to her that he wanted a real relationship with her, not just sex, tempting as bedding her was - and would always be - to him.

Relena seemed to come to the same conclusion. "Let's just meet up at my place later. After work," she clarified. "Unfortunately I have too much to do before this conference coming up later this week… Otherwise I'd love to skip out early." She sighed, and just like that, their charged conversation had devolved into small talk about work.

Heero nodded, remembering what Dorothy had told him about this conference - that Quatre would be meeting Relena there. It made the situation at hand all the more dire; at the very least, Heero owed it to Relena to tell her exactly what he felt for her before she left. Maybe it wouldn't be enough to convince her to end her engagement right away, but he wasn't about to give up without a fight.

Or, in this case, an impassioned discussion.

"We can take our food to go, if you want…" Heero could see their waitress emerging from the kitchen just then, carrying another tray in their direction.

"Oh no, that's okay." Relena waved a hand. "Let's stay and eat, and just… catch up for a bit. And anyway, I'm starving."

Heero smiled at that. He was, too, and he much preferred to share the meal with Relena than take his food back to the Preventers building and eat alone. Normally he wouldn't mind, but he figured he'd been alone enough.

He knew what he wanted now. And he didn't ever want to let go.

They ended their meal and Heero insisted on paying, despite Relena's protests. He also offered to escort her back to her office, which she agreed to after a brief hesitation.

"All right. If you insist," she said, her blue eyes flitting up to his as they stood from their table and exited the restaurant together. Heero held out his arm for her, as he usually did, and was pleased when Relena accepted, looping her arm through his.

They passed the short walk to the ESUN building in silence, any tension between them seemingly dissipated. As Heero scanned the sidewalks for any potential threats, he felt himself start to relax. For the moment, things felt normal between them; normal as they'd ever been.

Heero also found himself stealing glances of Relena as they walked, admiring her profile, from the girlish bangs that framed her face, making her look far younger than her thirty years, to the dark, curled lashes that peeked out over beautiful eyes, down to her pert nose and full lips. Lips that he'd had the benefit of kissing, more times than she should have ever allowed him. More than he'd ever deserved.

He was determined to earn his place by her side, if she would have him. He didn't know what it would take to get back in her good graces; he only knew he had to try.

They reached the ESUN building and Relena loosed her arm from his, at the same time giving him an easy smile. "I can take it from here," she said, tipping her head toward the entrance. "Our security is top-notch, you know."

Heero scoffed mockingly. "I don't know about that…"

"Well, nothing could probably ever meet the sky-high Heero Yuy standards, but we try," Relena teased, giving his chest a playful poke. Heero wanted to grab her hand and hold it to his heart. He wanted to pull her close and kiss her more deeply and passionately than he ever had, but knew now was not the time or place. They'd get there, eventually. He hoped.

His hopes were bolstered anew when Relena took advantage of their closeness instead. Standing up on her tiptoes, she pressed both of her hands to his chest and brushed a kiss to his cheek. This was not the standard European parting gesture, and was somehow more intimate than the full-on kiss Dorothy had stolen from him earlier.

Heero swore he felt flames bursting in his chest as Relena's soft lips caressed his skin, sending his heart rate into overdrive, and his thoughts tumbling over all of the places those lips had been, where he wanted them to go, and where he wanted to kiss her. More than anything, he wanted to lay her down and taste her, drink her in until all there was left to do was drown. He would drown in her, gladly, time and again.

Relena broke her contact with a shy smile Heero hadn't seen her wear in a long time… probably not since they were teenagers, and still virgins. It gave him the sense that they were starting over, in a way. He could only hope that they were.

Because if Relena was going to give him the chance to do things over again, he was going to take it.

"See you tonight," she said, her voice and eyes bright as she turned on her heel and bounded up the steps leading to the building's entrance.

Heero stood for a moment, watching her stride through the glass doors, his heart and mind already light years ahead of him, soaring on the promise of "tonight."

A/N: Thank you to everyone who's been keeping up with this story and continuing to give it love despite the long wait between updates! Once upon a time I thought this would be a short little fic, but you know what they say about best laid plans :P And anyway, I've been having too much fun to just end it abruptly... I hope you have been, too!

As much fun as it's been to write this one, I do see the end in sight... pretty soon, anyway. If you are following my story Red Moon Rise, then you already know that I'm also trying to write a novel right now, so I don't expect to be able to update all of my current fics as often as I'd like. But today I was inspired to add some words to this story, and I really hope you like them :D I miss sharing all the fluff, which I believe the world needs more of, desperately! But I need to try to make writing fluff my living, so I will be getting back to novel writing, post-haste :P

Please let me know what you think of this chapter! I always love to hear from you!

Hugs & Heero!

- RFP