Heero fell unconscious in the shuttle with Relena's hand gripped tightly.
Somewhere I Belong
Chapter 17
Relena x Heero
By: Miguela
Heero slowly came to his senses and the first thing he noticed was he could smell disinfectants that were common with hospitals. He groaned as he opened his eyes slowly. He was in the Preventers' hospital again and shook his head.
Why can't I keep from being injured? he thought bitterly as he looked around the room to find it empty. There were several IVs in his arms, which he didn't feel safe removing at the moment as his hands still shook, and the steady beep of the heart rate monitor next to him was starting to drive him crazy. He noticed also that a blanket had been draped over the couch. She was here, he thought as he looked at the couch and saw that it looked as though it had been slept on. Relena needs to start concentrating on her job if she wants to be president.
He heard the lock click and Relena entered the room, her hair tousled and her eyes bleary and sleep-deprived as she carried a laptop and a mug of coffee. As soon as her eyes met Heero's, she dropped her mug of coffee in surprise and yelped as it burned her toes. Heero smiled slightly as she hopped over to a chair and examined her burned toes.
"Why is it that you keep surprising me?" Relena demanded as she set down the laptop and pulled off her socks and pitched them to the couch to examine her toes. "It never fails."
"Yeah, sorry," he said to her gently as he looked at her toes, which were starting to blister from the coffee burns. "Let me see your toes, Relena." Relena placed her feet on the side of Heero's bed and Heero grabbed the cloth that was on his end table and wrapped it around Relena's burned toes. "There you are," he said to her gently, "Maybe you should just take it easy for today; you look like you haven't slept in weeks."
Relena sighed quietly as she nodded, "I know," she mumbled as she rubbed the cloth on her blistered toes, "I was just worried." Her eyes were downcast and Heero couldn't figure out what was making her upset.
"How long have I been asleep?" he asked her gently as he moved closer to her so he could rub her feet comfortingly.
"I don't know," Relena said vaguely, "About three days now, I've lost track of the days."
Heero looked at her in surprise, "Relena, are you sure you're okay?" he asked her gently.
She shook her head, "So much has happened," she muttered as she ran her fingers through her hair, "I don't know where to start even."
"How about we start where I left off?" he suggested gently, "What's all been happening? Come and sit with me and tell me all about it." He moved so Relena could climb up onto the bed with him. If this relationship is going to work, communication needs to go both ways, Heero thought to himself, If she has a concern, or something bothering her, I want to know about it. He sat up slowly.
Relena placed her head on his shoulder gently as she brought her knees to her chest. "Well, once we got back to L2, we were notified that the ESUN council has decided to run on a completely democratic system where no one person has complete authority. This will keep the whole system balanced between earth and the colonies so no disputes could come up." Heero wrapped an arm around Relena's waist gently, rubbing her thigh as she relaxed in his embrace. "When Halen Chambers found out that he was running a campaign for nothing, he kind of freaked out. He attacked his staff and killed two Preventers and then took his own life. We haven't gotten the autopsy report yet to find out why he freaked out so badly."
Heero nodded to her comments and when she was done, he kissed her forehead, "So, how do you feel about not being president of the ESUN?" he asked her gently.
"Relieved," she said honestly, "I was under so much pressure from this and I realized that there are more important things right now for me. My bit in Politics is finished for now."
Heero looked at her in concern, "What do you mean?" he asked her gently, "I thought seeing a peaceful world was your dream?"
"My dream has already become reality, though it wasn't my doing," she said to him and smiled, "It's all your doing."
She didn't elaborate and Heero didn't ask. He lay back on the pillows and pulled Relena with him. He was careful of his various wounds and made sure that Relena didn't accidentally touch them. "What will you do now?" he asked her gently as he ran his fingers through her hair, "I'm sure that you'll not want to be idle."
"Well, I was thinking about getting a house out on L1," she said casually, "Maybe have a certain ex-Gundam pilot move in, I'm not really sure."
Heero cocked his head to the side and considered her, "Are you inviting or demanding?" he asked her softly as he placed his chin on top of her head.
"I'm always inviting," she replied with a smile and Heero proceeded to tickle her for the comment.
"Who would've thought that Relena Darlian had a sick mind?" he asked her with a smirk, "So long as I have complete control in the kitchen, I'll move in with you. The only thing I ask is that I can keep my job at the Preventers."
"You can do whatever your heart fancies," Relena replied with a smile, "I learned that you have to give someone some space, even when you do love them, or else you'll suffocate them."
"That sounds like pretty good advice to me," he said to her as he rubbed her thigh. "God, how I've missed you, Relena," he whispered to her gently as he closed his eyes.
"I missed you too, Heero," she said to him as she started to play with his fly-away hair. "What do you think about going house shopping once Sally clears you? I've had my eye on a few places, though they're not the greatest looking."
"We can fix them up," Heero said simply as he started to put little braids in Relena's hair. "Are your toes feeling better?"
Relena looked down at her toes and shrugged, "They'll be okay," she said to him as she looked back at him playfully, "It would probably make them better if you kissed them."
She stuck her tongue out at him as he winced, "No, I don't think kissing your smelly feet is on my list of things to do," he said to her teasingly.
Relena smiled as she turned so that she was facing him, "Maybe we should change the bandages on your shoulder and that," she suggested as he sat up slowly and checked for himself. They had stitched his side closed easily though his shoulder and leg, being much more damaged than his side, were still bleeding a little even though he had been lying in bed for three days.
"Maybe we should," he said to her as he started to pick at the bandages on his shoulder to take a look for himself but Relena pulled his hand away carefully.
"Leave it be this time," she said to him gently, "I'll go and get Sally, and if you're good, I'll bring you back your MP3 player."
"Relena, I need my laptop," he said to her, "I have to research that colony."
She shook her head, "You're on strict bed rest, you're lucky that I'm going to get you the MP3 player," she said to him firmly as she stood, "You gave us all one heck of a scare when you stopped breathing on the shuttle. I don't want you getting stressed again over this."
"Relena, please, I have to know," he said to her as he started to pull the blankets so he could try to reach the laptop that was at the foot of the bed. "Please Relena, I have to know more about that man, it's been driving me crazy."
Relena gave him a puzzled look, "What man? Is it that man that you and Duo were talking about on the shuttle, the one you called your father?" she asked him. She took his shoulders gently and made sure that he would remain in bed.
"He told me that his name was Yannick Kodora," Heero said to her, "He said that he was my father so I want to know more about him."
Relena sighed as she handed him the laptop, "Make it quick," she said to him, "The battery isn't going to last very long on that, so hurry before it dies."
Heero smiled slightly at her, "Thanks," he said to her as he set the laptop down on the bedside table and started to type. He searched every database of every colony that had ever been in existence as he searched for any trace of his family name.
He finally found Yannick Kodora, who had been a brilliant scientist back on earth. Before he had married in AC 173, he moved to the colonies to pursue a lead on a career in mind control. He had studied under another scientist who was only known as Doctor J to the world—Heero winced as he saw the name—and had become very successful in the art of manipulating people's thoughts and using them against them. In the years leading up to the death of the colonist leader Heero Yuy, Yannick had performed several unsuccessful experiments on trying to control the minds of creatures. Some of the birds he was trying to control leaked out into the public and Yannick's experiments were terminated for the time being as he moved back to Japan for personal reasons.
Yannick married in the AC 173 to Lily Botan of Nagasaki, Japan. Yannick and his wife moved from Nagasaki to Colony L1 in AC 177, two years after Heero Yuy had been assassinated. Yannick then started to pursue his scientific interest with increased zest as he took on a partner with the Barton Foundation so he would get the funding he needed for his experiments. What Yannick had proposed was to strip people of their free will and be able to control people like convicts and soldiers. He was denounced from the scientific community in AC 179, around the same time that his wife got sick, and he was forced to into hiding in order to continue his research.
There wasn't any mention of Yannick until three years after he had gone in to hiding, and it had announced that his wife and son had been killed in the cross fire between the Alliance and rebels on their home colony. Yannick was still missing, presumed dead at the time. There wasn't any more mention of Yannick Kodora or Lee Kodora on any record there after.
Heero sighed as he closed the laptop screen down and lay back in bed. Now I know, he thought bitterly, I have no idea what possessed him to try and manipulate people though. Why would you want to bring hatred upon yourself like that? "It makes no sense," he muttered aloud, and Relena looked at him quizzically as she put ice on her toes.
"Did you find your answers, Lee?" she asked him gently as she set the ice aside and came to his bed side. "Did you find out if he was your father or not?"
"I found a colony record which outlined his life for a short span," Heero explained to her, "Though I don't like what it says." He opened the laptop again and showed Relena the article, which she read silently and frowned.
"We don't have the luxury of picking our relatives," Relena said to him as she closed the laptop and pulled the table away from the bedside. "It doesn't mention him trying it out on anyone though."
"No, but he had the intention to," Heero said to her bitterly, "Yannick Kodora was obsessed with controlling people, makes me wonder what type of man he actually was."
Relena nodded silently, "Maybe one day you'll have the chance to find out," she said to him gently, "Lee, it doesn't matter what bad things your parents did, all that matters is what you are doing with your life, right? You can't beat yourself up over a mistake that your father made."
"No, but the mistake beat me up pretty good," Heero muttered sarcastically.
Relena smiled slightly as she kissed him, "You're still my Gundam Pilot," she said to him gently as she sat beside him, "That won't change."
Heero smiled at her slightly as he wrapped an arm around her waist gently. "So, I had an epiphany earlier," he said to Relena casually as he lay in bed with Relena beside him, "And I've got a few things I would like to discuss with you, Miss Darlian."
Relena giggled gently as his tone got formal with her. "And what would that be, Mr. Kodora?" she asked him gently as she leaned against his good shoulder gently.
"I would like to try another relationship with you," he said to her quietly, "Since the immediate threat of the Black Wolves is over and you're out of politics and I'm going to get out of this hospital sometime in the next week, I want to show you how much you mean to me." He was now embarrassed since he was discussing his feelings openly and honestly with Relena. He looked down at his feet as a light blush crept over his cheeks—he prayed that Duo wouldn't come barging in yet. "While I was in that colony, the only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that you were waiting for me back home. On every mission, the strongest driving force for me to complete them is the fact that you are waiting for me to return."
He took a peek at her face and found that she wasn't laughing at him; rather she was listening intently to his confession and letting him speak. When he didn't continue, she took his hand gently between both of hers and held it tightly. "Lee, I didn't know that you felt so strongly," she said to him gently. "Though I wasn't joking when I said I would move to L1."
He was startled by her words. "Really?" he asked her gently as he stroked her knuckles with his thumb. "You really want to give this another shot?"
"Of course," she said to him with a smile. "I promise to not be as inhospitable as I was before; if you have a problem or a concern or if you just want to talk, my door is always open." She hugged him awkwardly with one arm and then seemed hesitant. "Though if you don't want to take me back because of what I said, I won't blame you," she said quietly.
He moved his and out of her grip and took her chin in his strong hands and carefully tilted her head up to look up at him. "Relena, I'm not going to be as insensitive to your feelings as I was before," he said to her gently. "I know that we all get frustrated and overworked from time to time. Maybe we'll get a pet this time around to relieve some stress in our lives, how does that sound?" He smiled at her gently as he pecked her lips timidly.
She stiffened in his grip but he wasn't sure if it was because of surprise or disgust. The stiffness didn't last long as he pulled away from her and she chased after him as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He smiled at her warmly as he hugged her gently. "I love you," Relena whispered, "And I definitely want to give this another try."
His smile widened, "As do I," he said with a smile.
The door crashed open and Relena and Heero jerked towards the shocked stares coming from the doorway. Quatre and Duo stared at the two of them in awe and then Duo's stunned face melted into a wide grin. "I knew it!" he yelled happily as he skipped into the room. "Should have known you two wouldn't wait too long to get back together."
Heero scowled though it didn't reach his eyes, which were still twinkling in joy from Relena's acceptance of him. "Who invited you in here anyway?" he asked and Duo snorted.
"I don't need an invite," he said simply as he sat down at the foot of the bed and Quatre went over to stand near Relena.
"I'm so happy you two are back together," Quatre said to Relena with a smile, "Though I agree with Duo; it was pretty obvious that you two were going to "kiss and make up"." He winked at Heero, "When's the wedding?"
"Wedding?" Duo demanded excitedly and Heero could see he wasn't going to weasel out of this conversation anytime soon. "Really? You proposed?!"
"No Duo, I didn't," Heero said flatly but Duo was now talking to Relena excitedly about planning a double wedding with him and Hilde and he groaned. "Duo, I didn't propose!" he said to his overzealous friend, "We're going to try having a relationship first before I propose."
Relena was giggling again as Duo and Quatre were now making wedding plans on their behalf. Heero sighed and gave up trying to tell them otherwise. He lay back in bed and pulled Relena to lay her head on his chest. "There's no arguing," she said to him with a smile, "I guess we'll have to get married some day."
"Can it not be tomorrow?" he asked her hopefully and she nodded with a smile.
"Let's try to get through living together first," she suggested as she pulled a blanket up around them. "All right you two," she said to Duo and Quatre with a smile, "How about you two make wedding plans somewhere other than here? Lee has to get some rest and so do you two."
Quatre agreed and he gently steered Duo back towards his own room so that they could continue the scheme to get Heero and Relena together permanently. Heero sighed in relief as he nuzzled into Relena's hair. "Thanks," he whispered to her tiredly, "I really appreciate that."
"You're welcome," she said to him gently, "Do you want me to let you sleep?"
"How about you just stay here with me?" he suggested as he wrapped his strong arms around her securely. "I just want to be sure that this is real and that when I wake up again, I didn't just dream the whole thing."
She smiled at him gently, "Sure," she said to him with a smile, pecked his cheek, and the two of them settled into the hospital bed as best they could to get some sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
**Author's Note**
Sorry it's taken so long! I've got my own personal story that I'm working on besides this one and this one kind of took a back burner for a while. One more chapter and (depending on what kind of reviews I get *nod nod, wink wink, say no more*) I will be starting a sequel to this story.