The Bounty
Part 3: A Pair
Relena slowly became aware of great heat, and strong wind. Groggily, Relena opened her eyes, blinking several times to clear the fog from her eyes. Her head was pounding and she felt dizzy and sick. Finally, Relena realized that she was sitting against a hand railing, and her hands were bound behind her and through the handrail with a set of handcuffs. She could hear metal clink against metal when she moved. She realized she was still wearing her clothes from the day before, except with the addition of one of her floppy sun hats on her head, keeping the sun off her face.
And to her greater annoyance, the yacht was speeding along through the water, bouncing up gently against the waves.
"Let me go!" Relena shouted. She heard a familiar chuckle behind her. Relena twisted around and tried to see from underneath the floppy hat. She could see someone standing at the steering wheel.
"You're finally awake!" the person called.
"Heero Yuy! You let me go this instant!" Relena shouted at him. Another chuckle. The boat's speed decreased and she could hear the soles of his shoes clicking against the decking. Heero walked around and knelt down in front of her. He lifted the brim of her hat up and looked into her eyes.
"It's already past noon," he said, a smile tugging at one corner of his mouth. Relena sneered at him.
"What is this all about?" she demanded. Heero scooted back a little and moved into a squat, his forearms resting against his knees.
"I may have told you a few lies, Miss Peacecraft-Darlian," Heero said. Relena's face fell. She knew she hadn't told him her maiden name. "I don't work for Winner mining."
"I figured that much out already," Relena said in a haughty tone from her teenage years.
"I'm a bounty hunter," he went on, ignoring her attitude, "and I was commissioned to come find you and bring you back to New York." Relena pursed her lips together, her anger and annoyance growing inside of her.
"Who?" She asked. "Who sent you?" Heero shrugged as he rose. Relena lifted her face up to follow him.
"Some guy named Zechs. I just assumed he was some old boyfriend or something." Relena snorted with laughter.
"That's my brother, Milliardo!" Relena cried through her laughter. "Zechs is his, as one might call it, street name." Heero raised an eyebrow at her as she continued to laugh.
"Well I supposed that makes sense," Heero said nonchalantly. He began to walk away from her.
"Hey wait! Let me go!" she cried after him.
"Not until I can trust you to not jump off the side of the boat and try to swim for it," Heero replied, increasing the speed of the boat back up. Relena heaved a heavy sigh and let her chin sink down to her breast.
"Can I at least eat something?" Relena called to him. No response came for a few moments, but he soon stepped in front of her once again, carrying toast with jam that he must have found in her small pantry. "How am I supposed to eat?" she asked indignantly. Heero quirked an eyebrow and lifted the toast to her mouth. "Really?"
"I still don't trust you to not jump ship, but I suppose I could let one arm go," Heero said. He set the small plate to the side and pulled a small key from the pocket of his shorts. He unlocked one wrist from its restraint. Relena took that chance to deliver a slap across Heero's face. The sharp smack of skin against skin echoed in her mind for a moment. Heero's head jerked to the side, and he touched his cheek with his fingertips. Instead of retaliating, he simply put the plate into her free hand and rose.
"I suppose I deserved that," he said mildly.
"You suppose?" Relena asked, taking a bite of the toast. "You set me up, didn't you?" she asked. Heero let out a low chuckle.
"Sort of," Heero said. "Duo is an old classmate from the police academy. When I told him I'd compromised my mission, he helped me figure out a plan to get back on track." Relena took a slow bite of her toast. Compromised his mission?
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"You're not typically supposed to sleep with your target," Heero replied. Relena blinked. "A lot of good bounty hunters have gone astray from falling for their target."
"But not you, right?" Relena asked, sarcasm rimming the edges of her words. Truth be told, she was feeling a little hurt. She had allowed herself to think happy thoughts about the probability of something happening with Heero. She felt a strange connection with him, though it could be because he already knew everything about her, and he was out to find her anyway. She'd played right into his hands, and now she felt like a fool. Relena averted her eyes away from him, allowing her emotions to take over her face. Heero reached up to her face and touched her lightly.
"This is the other reason I don't like to take on female targets. Not only is there a chance of falling for them, there is an even bigger chance of hurting them, like I've hurt you," Heero said. Relena had to force down the lump in her throat at her words. At least she knew he wasn't completely heartless. Relena thought about this for a few moments, as Heero's touch lingered against her skin. So she would end up back in New York; Milliardo was probably going to try and get her to change her ways and settle down with another stifling marriage. He was just like their parents. Heero withdrew his hand from her cheek, but continued to look at her.
"So I guess begging you not to take me back won't do any good?" she asked with a sad smile on her face. Heero nodded.
"I have to finish the job," Heero said. "Although, once I pass you off to your brother, you are no longer under my protection, so you'll be free to do what you want, if your brother let's you, anyway." Heero rose up to a standing position.
"Will you take these handcuffs off?" Relena asked sweetly.
"Are you going to jump ship?" Relena hesitated with her response, and she knew she lost this time. Heero smiled and shook his head. "Sorry." He walked away. Relena heaved a sigh and lowered her head again. At least he had the courtesy to put the hat on her head so her face wouldn't resemble a lobster.
Heero walked back to the controls of the ship and increased the speed once again. There wasn't much food in the stores, so he knew they'd have to stop. They would need fuel as well. Heero sighed to himself as he looked over at the back of Relena's head, covered in the hat he'd found in her closet, tilted to the side on her shoulder. He didn't really want to leave her there, but he couldn't trust her yet to not try and get away. However, she didn't react as violently as he thought she would when he explained his intentions. She did slap him but that wasn't a big deal. Perhaps if she resigned herself to her fate, then they could have a pleasant trip up the coast. He still wanted to talk to her about all her crimes, as he found it greatly interesting that behind that pretty face was the cunning mind, almost as cunning as someone from the mob. Heero briefly entertained the idea that the Peacecrafts and Winners were rival mobs in New York. It sure seemed like it sometimes, anyway.
Relena spent a few hours staring off at the ocean. She wondered what time he possibly could have left the marina, since they were already coming up on the coast of Florida. They'd have to stop eventually for fuel and supplies. She hadn't prepared the yacht for a long trip.
Sure enough, the coastline rose up in front of them. "Where are we stopping?" Relena called.
"Miami," Heero replied. Relena nodded. She'd stopped there before continuing onto the Bahamas. The sun was on it's way down to the western horizon by the time they pulled in. Relena wondered if Heero Yuy ever needed to sleep or got tired, since as far as she could calculate, he'd most likely been awake for almost 48 hours by now. Relena was getting restless. During the trip, he had let her get up to stretch her legs and go to the bathroom, but he stayed by her side and kept her away from the sides of the boat. Relena wasn't sure if she would actually jump the boat. She was a strong swimmer, sure, but why run for it when she could ride on her own yacht all the way back to New York with an attractive bounty hunter. Maybe she could even try to seduce him again.
Heero navigated The Sailing Dove into the marina and paid for a pass for the night. Finally, he returned to Relena and announced to her that they would leave and go eat somewhere, someplace with wifi, preferably, and then stock up on supplies and fuel for the return trip. Relena consented and promised to be good. He released her from her bonds and they left the yacht together. They managed to find a small cafe that boasted a free wifi connection, so they settled down at an outside table that was covered by an awning. They both had brought their laptops with them, and proceeded to take care of business. Relena granted access to her site for a few more people, and updated herself on her stocks and sent an email to Dorothy explaining what was happening, and that she would be back in New York. She knew Dorothy would find the whole situation hilarious, and she didn't want to deprive her friend of a good laugh.
Heero was sending an email to Zechs to inform him about their return to New York, then replied to a few inquiry emails about business. He edited his automatic signature on his email to have the line "Male Targets Only" in bold and large letters. Never again would be he put himself in this situation. Relena was sitting there, across from him, looking beautiful in the fading light, and he was having constant conflicts with himself about taking her back to her brother. Deep down, he would much rather have stayed in the Bahamas with her, enjoying the sun and the ocean and the drinks. But he had a mediocre life to return to in New York, he reminded himself sarcastically. Heero hoped that Relena would have caught the slight hint he'd dropped, about how she'd be free to do what she wanted once Heero passed her off to her brother. Maybe come visit him sometimes...
Heero mentally slapped himself. It was proving to be more and more difficult to keep those thoughts of Relena from his mind. Heero sat back in his chair and took a sip of the beer he'd ordered and watched Relena. She was sitting in the chair with her leg crossed over the other, one elbow resting on the table with her fingers absently tapping against her jaw, while the other hand typed on the computer. The expression in her eyes caught his attention the most, a look of deep concentration, which caused a small wrinkle between her eyebrows to form. He couldn't help but smile at the thought of the amount of time she must spend with that calculating look on her face.
Relena glanced up from her laptop and noticed that Heero was staring at her from across the table. A smile tugged at her lips, but she quickly shifted her gaze back down to the screen.
"Here you go," a voice caught their attention. A young waitress stood beside the table, holding their plates of food. Simultaneously, Heero and Relena removed their laptops from the small table and placed them back in their bags, so that the waitress could set down the plates. With a twirl of her skirt, the waitress walked off and back inside the cafe.
"Relena?" Heero said after his first bite of food. She glanced up at him, eyebrows raised in expectancy. "When did you commit your first financial crime?" he asked. Relena laughed out loud, having not expected such a question. She tapped her chin with her finger.
"I suppose it was in high school as a freshman," she said. "Our school of course, expressly forbade gambling, but so many of those prep school kids caught the bug from their parents, and were always looking for a way to wile away their money. I had a pretty extensive gambling ring going on until I got caught," she said, ending her story with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Impressive. And up until then I suppose no one suspected you?" Heero asked.
"Mostly. Someone got nervous and ratted on me when the administration found out. After that, they watched my every move. I got tired of it after a while and left."
"When you ran away to Chicago?" Heero prompted.
"Mhm. And I met John Darlian," she said, her gaze drifted off to the distance.
"What happened there? You were only seventeen," Heero asked, his voice low. Relena didn't respond right away. She appeared to be lost in thought. Heero looked down at his plate and picked at his food.
Relena felt the familiar twinges of regret of past mistakes. She bounced her foot nervously, aware that Heero was staring at her, waiting for an answer. The decision to spill the story to someone for the first time or to continue to keep it locked away was nagging at her. She heaved a sigh.
"It's not exactly a period of my life I am proud of, that's for sure," she began.
Relena sat in a small coffee shop she'd found after she arrived in Chicago. As she dug around in her purse, she found that she didn't have a whole lot of money with her, and there was no way she was going to be able to afford a night at one of the fabulous hotels in the area. Sighing in irritation, she took another drink of her coffee, which was slowly going cold. She been sitting there for several hours, thinking, trying to figure out what to do. She knew that her decision to run away from home was a bit irrational and spontaneous, but the stifling attitude everyone in her life had towards her was suffocating the life right out of her. She needed to breathe, she needed to be herself, and this was the only way.
Finally, Relena finished her cold coffee and left the coffee shop. The streets and sidewalks were getting busier, as it was nearing five o'clock and many people were beginning to leave work. Feeling hopeless and lost, Relena began to wander the streets, wondering what she was going to do with herself. Her ambling eventually brought her to a park, where she found an empty bench and sat down.
Against her wishes, her throat closed up and her chin began to tremble. She pressed her hands into her eyes to try and stop the onslaught of tears that were threatening to spill.
"Don't you dare cry, Relena Peacecraft," she mumbled to herself, but the tears came anyway. Soon, the salty tears were dripping off her cheeks and landing on her legs, causing little dark spots to appear on the fabric of her jeans. Her chest heaved and her shoulders shook. As she cried, she hadn't noticed that an older man had stopped in front of her and was looking down at her, looking at her with concern in his clear blue eyes.
"What is a pretty girl like you crying in the middle of a park?" he asked. Relena snapped her head up and saw him standing there, wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. The hair on his head was not completely gray, but a salt and pepper look of gray and his original brown. He was tall, though slightly stooped in the shoulders, and had a ruggedly handsome face for an older man.
Relena quickly wiped her face with her sleeve and looked back at him.
"I'm not doing anything," she stated rather lamely, feeling at a loss for words. The man smiled and sat down on the bench beside her, setting his briefcase down on the ground under the bench.
"Now that's a lie if I've ever heard one. Come, what is troubling you?" he asked. Relena, feeling desperate for companionship, though knowing it was probably stupid to let her heart out to a total stranger, began to talk, beginning from her midnight flight from her parents' home.
"That is quite the story," he said when she'd finished. He gently patted her shoulder and looked at her with such sympathy that Relena nearly began to cry all over again. "Now, now, there's no reason for that," he said. "My name is John Darlian. Here is my card." He produced a small white business card from his coat pocket and handed it over. "In case you ever need anything."
"From the famous Darlian family?" Relena asked, astonished. He nodded his head slightly in response. "My family hates your family!" she cried out, then clapped her hands over her mouth. "Sorry." John chuckled slightly.
"That's what happened when you become a success, I suppose," he said. Relena shook her head, turning her body towards him on the bench.
"No, it's not that! I'm from the Peacecraft family in New York! My ancestors were so mad when your family wouldn't let themselves be bought out by ours, and they've harbored that grudge forever!" she said.
"You are a Peacecraft?" John asked, a gleam in his eyes that Relena wasn't able to interpret in that moment. "You wouldn't be the current heiress, Relena?" Relena nodded vigorously, feeling now a part of the world she'd attempted to leave behind, yet it remained the life she felt comfortable in. "That makes this all much different." John fell silent for a moment, then met her eyes once again. "Would you like to have dinner with me, Miss Relena Peacecraft? I can't let a well respected family's daughter wander the streets of Chicago by herself. The city can be dangerous sometimes."
"I'd love to," Relena said. John rose and offered his arm to her, and she took it willingly.
"We married a few months after I turned eighteen so that my parents wouldn't have to give their consent. Back then, I was just a delusional teenager just looking for a way to stay off the street. John's true nature revealed itself soon after our marriage," Relena explained. Heero had been staring at her, completely enthralled by her story.
"And you got out of it when he died under 'suspicious causes,'" Heero said, remembering the different articles about that situation he'd read during the preliminary research about Relena. The girl across the table shifted her gaze away from his. Heero narrowed his eyes. "What were those suspicious causes?" he asked. Relena crossed her arms over her chest and refused to answer that question.
"If I tell you, and you get called to testify against me, which is possible considering my brother is behind this, I don't want you to know," Relena said forcefully. Heero nodded once, accepting these terms.
"I won't ask again," he said.
The two fell into a slightly awkward silence. They finished what remained of their meal and left after paying the check. They spent the better part of the evening picking up supplies for the yacht and more fuel. When they finally returned to The Sailing Dove, the worked together in silence to put away the supplies and to prep the yacht for the next day of travel. During their tasks, Relena noticed that Heero was more silent than usual, and she worried he might have changed his opinion about her, considering her teenage silliness. He seemed to look at her with a different expression in his eyes. It made her sad.
Before going to bed, Relena turned to look at Heero, who was fixing up the bed for himself on a couch. She was tempted to ask him to spend the night with her, as she knew she'd be plagued by dreams of the past, but she steeled herself against that desire.
"Will you promise me something, Heero?" she asked him instead. Heero glanced up at her. "When we get back to New York, will you keep in touch with me?" she asked. Heero gave her a single nod. Satisfied enough for now, Relena smiled and turned away from him and stepped into the bedroom, shutting the door behind her.