Waiting

Buenos Aires, Argentina

November 2nd, AC 198

There had never been time to think. During the war there was the mission and there was survival. The two constants that kept Heero occupied and gave him purpose throughout most of the war. Even when all hope seemed lost and he drifted from battlefield to battlefield, the instinct to survive was more than enough to keep him going. He wasn't prepared for this.

He hadn't been trained for peace.

He was always chasing the next war. So there he was, sitting with the lights off in an empty condo procured by the Preventers South America branch, on a Wednesday night, back in Buenos Aires after 7 months, where below him, countless people were going about living their lives, meeting up with friends, having dinner, grabbing drinks, all the while he sat in the dark, staring through his high power binoculars at the perimeter of an office building, watching for patterns, looking for weaknesses.

There was a part of him that didn't want to be there. There was a part of him that felt regret for leaving Brussels, leaving Relena. He hated the feeling, it was unnerving, and utterly new to him. But he had learned from group that this was a good thing. Learning to feel again was the first step towards healing a damaged soul.

But he also felt a sense of contentment. He felt comfortable sitting by himself, in an unknown place, hiding from the world, thinking and planning; the skills that a life of struggle had ingrained into his very person. This is what he knew. This was what he was good at.

Uniformed security, possibly armed, 2, front gate. 45 minute rotations. Heero scribbled in a notebook in front of him. He had been keeping a log of guard movements, deliveries, and notable personnel. It wasn't quite like calculating the angle of fire to maximize his buster rifles damage radius but it was still, on some level tactical problem-solving that he craved.

The lights turned on as he heard the door crack open behind him. His nose immediately filled with the smell of cigarettes and pizza. Duo was back. Heero didn't turn around to look at his partner. He tried to ignore the distraction and focus on his observations.

"Meat lovers with extra cheese," Duo said with delight. "Come and get it."

Heero didn't respond. He wasn't hungry, or he was a little pissed that Duo had broken him out of his flow.

Duo didn't seem to notice Heero's annoyance. He took a slice of pizza out of the box, caught the cheese in his mouth, and he grabbed a beer out of the fridge. Holding the pizza in his mouth, he grabbed with his temporarily freed hand a fold out chair and shook it violently until it sprang to form. He stand down and casually stared out the window in the general direction that Heero was looking.

"How we looking?" Duo asked with a mouth full of pizza and beer.

"All of the ground level entrances are secured, there's no way in," Heero said, without averting his gaze from his binoculars. "We might have to reconsider the rooftop plan."

"They'll see us coming a mile away," Duo said.

"Not if we zip-line from an adjacent building," Heero said.

Duo sighed as he sat his weight into his little lawn chair. "I was hoping to avoid that option."

"Suck it up," Heero said. "Mine is in my leg."

Duo winced as he put his ice cold beer against his shoulder, the place where not a week about Heero had jammed in a blade. The concept of straining the wound as they zipped across two skyscrapers was not appealing to say the least. They were trained to tolerate incredible amounts of pain, it was part of the anti-torture training program on the very likely chance that they were captured by OZ. But they were both a little out of practice. As much as they hated to admit it, peace had softened them.

Duo chugged in his beer and got up to get another one. "Want a beer?"

"No," Heero answered.

"More for me," Duo said softly as he cracked open another one.

Heero trusted Duo to hold it together, at least for the duration of the mission, but he was beginning to understand his partner's particular brand of post-war dysfunction. Heero's was his inability to sleep consistently. Duo's was his drinking.

"Oh hey, picked this up at the corner store. It's finally out," Duo said.

A weight dropped into Heero's lap. It felt like a stack of papers. He finally averted his attention from his binoculars. There it was, what he had been anticipating and dreading ever since the interview, this month's issue of Vogue with Relena on the cover.

Two days earlier

Their lips danced upon one another's, a gentleness and warmth so far removed from either of their experiences, that just the simple act of making out in a car in a manner unremarkable in any sense to their peers and younger, in that moment, became a transcendental experience. Perhaps being deprived of such intimacy, made the sensations all the more intense. Every little detail registered in their mind as something momentous, the way she played with his shirt collar, the way his fingers weaved into her silky golden locks.

Relena felt a sense of safety with him. She could feel his strength, even in his gentleness, as his arm hung around her as his fingers tugged at the ends of her hair. There was a way in which his every motion was specifically designed the protect her and make her comfortable, the adjustment of his leg so that she could lean in closer, the way his free hand stroked her thighs, respectfully yet oh so sensually, keeping his own hunger for her at bay. She treasured the sentiment even if she was a bit annoyed at the result. She desperately longed to experience his hunger.

Heero was in awe of her, her beauty, her grace, but most of all her tenderness towards him. Evil thoughts, instincts of a former life, came rushing back, tenderness forebodes disaster, gentleness is weakness. He fought back those voices. He was getting better at it. And while the sense of loss, the loss of a self, the slow disintegration of an identity carved out of hardness and toil, was unnerving, her presence comforted him immensely. She gave him hope that there was more to this life than what he had been given.

Heero winced slightly.

Relena noticed.

"I swear to god, I'm going to kill Une," Relena whispered as they broke their kiss.

"To be fair, it was Duo who did it," Heero said.

"I'll kill him too," Relena said as her fingers traced the dark purple patch on his chin.

"It's fine, Relena," Heero said as he took her hand, directed it away from his bruise, and placed it on his chest. "I got him pretty good too."

"Boys are so weird," Relena said with a look of exasperation.

It was the way she looked at him that struck him with a sense of awe every time since the first time. He remembered her then, as he looked upon her now. She had grown up so much. She a woman now, an undeniable beauty, the jewel of the world. He still didn't understand what she saw in him. But her lips, her caresses, her affection, made him feel, for the first time in his life, lucky.

"God, I'm going to miss you," Relena said as she leaned and threw her arms around him. "Do you really have to go?"

He wondered that question himself. He had been to the Antarctic, the depths of space, fought in every imaginable battlefield, to the depths of hell and back, yet this is the first time he's ever felt hesitation. Perhaps the lie was beginning to break down, the lie that had served him so well during the war, the lie that his life had no value and was meant to be sacrificed. For the first time, he did have something to lose. And he didn't want to lose her.

"Yes, it's important," Heero finally said, steadying himself.

"Fine, just don't do anything stupid," Relena said.

"Define stupid."

"Heero! I'm serious," Relena said as she created some distance between them. She looked deep into his eyes with a look that said I'm not fucking around.

"It's not dangerous, I assure you," Heero said softly.

"You're not dangerous, and regular people's not dangerous are not the same," Relena remarked.

"Just think of this as any other work trip," Heero said.

"You know you don't have to prove anything to me, right?" Relena said as she cupped his face with her hands.

He knew she meant well. She was gentle with him to a fault. And yet, he couldn't stop trying to prove himself to her. For what else could he offer her? She could give him everything, she was trying to. It was all that he could do to just trying to keep up and be deserving of her generosity.

"I know," he lied.

"You've done enough, you've ended a war, you saved the earth, what more could a girl ask for?" Relena started to well up but she never stopped smiling.

"Money, status, a job that I could actually explain to other people," Heero replied.

"You sound like my mother," Relena muttered.

"She knows?" Heero asked.

"She knows everything," Relena said as she looked up at him with an expression of mundane defeat.

"You know I agree with her." Heero was smart enough to guess what Relena's mother's thought of him.

"Stop that," Relena said sharply. "I won't have you thinking like that anymore."

"Sorry, old habit," Heero said.

"Going to have to train that out of you somehow," Relena said as her voice drifted into a whisper as she leaned into kiss him again.

She teased him by biting his lower lip, her tongue played with his. Somehow, Heero thought of himself the more experienced in the ways of carnal pleasure but apparently he did not know her well enough. He was perfectly transfixed by her, he was putty in her hands.

"It's going to have to wait, I have to go," Heero said.

"Two more minutes," Relena whined.

"Relena…"

Relena carefully lifted her thighs as Heero opened the car door. Slowly, achingly, they detached themselves from each other's embrace. Neither of them really wanted to leave but they had lives to get back. It seemed odd, that this most intense rush of emotion they shared, that which made them feel the most alive, didn't actually fit into anywhere.

"Alright, just be safe." Relena slid into the passenger's seat." Please. And…"

"Hmm?" Heero looked back at her.

"I love you."

Heero leaned into the car and kissed Relena one last time. He left her reluctantly, closing the door, and rushing for the stairwell. Relena lingered in Heero's rental car for a few minutes longer basking in the afterglow of their time together. The sun was just about to rise, and she could see the cars starting to pull into the once sparsely occupied parking lot. She hopped out of the car and made her way back to her black limousine (she had retired the pink one as was a magnet for the press).

Relena closed the door and let out an exasperated yet elated sigh.

"I trust that things went well with Mr. Yuy," Pagan said from the front seat.

"I'm still mad at you," Relena said unenthusiastically as she stared out the window.

"Miss Relena, I hope you can understand that I was only doing my duty," Pagan said.

"Your duty is to me, not my mother," Relena replied with a hint of a pout.

"Very well, Miss Relena," Pagan replied empathetically.

He had been her caretaker for long enough to know when Relena was misplacing her frustration. Pagan felt no need to push the issue any further.

"Where to, Miss Relena?" Pagan asked.

"To the office, I have a few things to do before I go back to Vustgaarde," Relena said.

It was a brief trip from the Brussels airport back to her office downtown. Relena was exhausted. The last few days had been a roller coaster ride and she was still in the middle of processing it all. But she couldn't afford to slow down. Even if there was a brief moment of respite after midterms, she still had a job, and she undoubtedly made that job more complicated by her actions over the weekend.

Pagan dropped her off at the main entrance to the Extraplanetary Affairs building in the underground parking complex. She smiled at the security guard and scanned her badge before she making her way to the elevator. Upon arriving on the fifth floor, she was ambushed by Augusta, who had been waiting for her in the waiting area next to the elevators for some time, judging by the annoyed look on her face. Relena quickly checked her phone and quickly realized that she had intentionally turned it off last night and had forgotten to turn it back on.

Augusta looked like she was about to kill her. Relena hardened her resolve and walked towards her office, not ignoring her publicist but not entirely acknowledging her either.

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be?" Augusta said as she jumped up from her chair and began to follow Relena.

"Yep," Relena said resolutely.

"You went on clubbing on a Sunday night?!" Augusta asked accusingly.

"Sunday is still technically the weekend," Relena replied.

"And you didn't think to tell me in advance?!" Augusta asked.

"It was a spur of the moment thing," Relena said. "I didn't think I needed your permission?"

"And you didn't take your security with you?!"

"Did anyone get any pictures?" Relena asked as she stopped and spun around to look at Augusta.

"No, thank god," Augusta said.

"Then there's no problem," Relena said with a smile and continued towards her office.

"That's not the point," Augusta said. "You got lucky, you won't always be."

"Really? Because I'm feeling like my luck has been pretty good lately," Relena said smugly.

Augusta rushed past Relena and blocked her path. "Stop being cute. This is serious. You just gave an interview and yes, it is currently playing very well but that can change and it can change fast. You can't be seen as a wild out of control party girl! You're the former Queen of the World! You represent the Sanc Kingdom and the Peacecraft dynasty! You work for the World Government!"

Relena simply stared back at Augusta with a slightly amused look on her face. "I think you just admitted that you think I'm cute."

"What's gotten into you today?" Augusta asked, suddenly softening her tone.

Relena found that she couldn't immediately answer that one. She was ordinarily so quick witted. She always had a response, usually something flippantly clever if she had nothing substantive in mind. But it seemed that she had been caught off guard. Perhaps something was different about her that day.

"Just had a good weekend," Relena said affecting an airy happy tone, it was half convincing.

Relena sidestepped her way around Augusta and continued towards her office. It took a second for it to dawn on Augusta. She spun around and quickly caught up with Relena.

"Oh my god…" Augusta said with genuine shock in her voice. "What happened? Seriously, what happened?"

"Nothing" Relena said simply.

"Was it motorcycle guy?" Augusta asked. "You saw him again, didn't you?"

They had just reached Relena's office when Augusta asked the question. Through the glass, Relena could see the silhouette of a large man sitting in her chair. It was Egert waiting for her. She simultaneously felt a sense of relief and a sense of dread. She wanted a way out of this conversation and knew that Egert wouldn't give a crap about her personal life. But at the same time, she wasn't really in the mood for another lecture about public decorum and the virtues of public service.

"The boss is here, gotta go," Relena said, as she decided that the former was better than the latter, as she opened the door to her office and slid in.

"You can' run, but you can't hide," Augusta said looking slightly annoyed.

Relena strode into her office with as much confidence and verve as she could muster. If she was in for a scolding, she wanted to face it head on.

"You're in my seat," Relena said firmly but politely as she dropped her coat onto the couch opposite her desk.

Egert spun around in her chair. "What are you wearing?"

Relena looked down at herself. She had forgotten that she had dressed up (or rather dressed down) to go see Heero. She was wearing a dress shirt, and navy blue jeans, with knee high boots. She wanted to look cute for Heero. He liked it, as far as she could tell at least.

"Relax, boss," Relena said. "I'm not staying. I just came here to check a few things off my list."

"Did you get a chance to take a look at the files?" Egert asked as he spun one of Relena's pens in between his fingers.

Relena gave him an unamused look. "I was busy this weekend."

"Oh sure yes," Egert said in a surprisingly cheerful voice. "I think I heard something about it. Something about some interview with a fashion magazine? I don't know."

"You came to my office to lecture me?" Relena asked sounding slightly annoyed.

"What would it matter? You don't listen anyway," Egert said. "I tell you not to be too loud and then you go ahead and give an interview with one of the world's most renowned publications."

"I'm surprised you have such a high opinion of Vogue," Relena snapped back.

"Naomi and the girls love it," Egert admitted. "Apparently you were great on the interview."

Relena couldn't help but smile. Naomi was Egert's wife and a marvelous woman. Neither Egert or Naomi were aristocrats but were well respected in political circles. After the death of her father, when the aristocracy shut their doors on Mareen, it was Egert and Naomi had been a comfort to her mother as her mother had been for her. Naomi had always been on Relena's side. And she was so proud to know that she represented herself well in the eyes in Naomi's eyes.

"They're going ask for signed copies when the issue comes out, you know this," Egert said as he pointed her pen at her.

"I'll be happy to," Relena said.

"Alright," Egert said tapping the pen against her desk. "I can see this isn't going anywhere."

"That's it?" Relena was shocked. "I thought I was in for a very long tirade about the nobility and dignity of public service?"

"I find that you can't give the speech too often," Egert said as he stood up slowly. "It diminishes its effect."

He struck an imposing figure, something that was well hidden due to his tendency to slouch when he sat down. There was in way in which he moved that signalled that he was neither amused or surprised by Relena's recent antics. He wasn't infuriated with her actions the way Augusta was, at least that would have given her a sense of control. No, Egert merely seemed tired of it. As if he had seen it all before, and as if he knew something that she didn't. Suddenly, Relena felt just a little less brave.

"Do better," he said simply as he shuffled his way towards the door. "Oh, and call your mother."

"What?" Relena inadvertently let out before she looked down at her phone.

Right. She had turned it off overnight.

Heero and Duo had arrived Ezezia International Airport on the same day, although on different flights. They both had been provided fake diplomatic documentation by the Preventers that allowed them to get through the security checkpoints without any trouble. Heero was particularly in need of them as his face was in the regional police force's database for when Hugo, his old partner, ratted him out for the diamond theft nearly a year ago.

Hope was waiting for Heero at the pick up location. She was wearing her usual, nondescript business attire with a pair of aviator sunglasses that lent her an air of confidence that Heero desperately thought she needed. She leaned against her Mercedes, with her arms crossed, as he approached. For a second there, she almost had Heero convinced that she wasn't absolutely terrified of him. Heero could see that Duo was already sitting in the back seat. Without saying a word, Hope popped the back trunk for Heero so that he could drop off his bag. Heero got into the front passenger seat and gave Duo a quick nod through the rear view mirror.

"Hey," Heero said.

"Hey," Duo replied.

"You guys are a little fucked up, aren't ya?" Hope said as she dropped into the driver's seat.

"Well, you can't stay mad at every person that stabs you with a knife," Duo said with a smirk. "You'd have no friends left."

"You guys need to get out more," Hope said as she turned on the car and slowly pulled the vehicle away from the curb.

The drive from the airport to the Preventers regional headquarters in Barracas took the better part of two hours. Traffic and Hope's unfamiliarity with the roads added some extra time to trip. The Preventers were a semi-autonomous agency that had various stations all across the globe and in the colonies, as such their relationship with the various territorial governments was often strained. Often seen as outsiders, or perhaps a proxy for the World Government, many territorial and municipal governments were reluctant to associate themselves with the Preventers. As a consequence of this, the Preventers in Argentina worked out of a abandoned factory from the 21st century, refurbished and repurposed to run an intelligence agency operation in the After Colony era, a far cry from The Valknut.

Despite its lack of support from local officials and the outdated facility, the small team of local Preventer agents seemed, upon first inspection by Hope, to be competent and motivated. The men and women at their respective terminals that occupied the main open area of what was once the factory floor barely noticed as Hope, Heero, and Duo were escorted in by Roman Argüello, the second in command of the station, as they made their way through towards the executive office on the second floor.

The medical staff however were far less enthused about the prospects of a high stakes operation being carried out by physically compromised operatives. Hope, Roman, and Luis Solá, the station chief, stood around in cramped office as the doctor examined Heero's injuries while Duo waited his turn in the hallway.

"I don't understand why you would bring us damaged men," Luis turned to ask Hope. "And only two of them. Is this Une's idea of a joke?"

"They're more than capable, I assure you," Hope said.

"I would advise against letting any operative take part in a field operation on painkillers," the doctor commented while still examining Heero's still rather fresh stab wound.

"I'm not on any painkillers," Heero said.

The doctor looked up at him with a shocked expression. Luis turned and looked at him suspiciously.

"You're walking on that leg without any painkillers?" Roman asked sounding rather astonished.

Heero simply nodded.

"Can you run?" Roman asked.

"I believe so," Heero answered.

Luis turned to interrogate Hope once again. "Seriously, who the fuck are these guys?"

It turned out that Relena's mother was going to be in Brussels tomorrow and wanted to have dinner. True to form, she didn't ask whether Relena was available or if it was convenient for her daughter. Instead, as always, Relena worked her schedule around her mother.

She had planned to spend the rest of her week in Vustgaarde, recovering from the wild weekend of publicity and partying. She hadn't drank that heavily in a long time. And while school was off for the next week, she had more than enough to do and worry about.

Fifty various little things ran through her mind as she tried to make sense and prioritize everything. School was on the backburner, but not for too long. She had to review the documents that Egert had dumped on her on Saturday. She had to think about how she wanted to implement the new ideas for the Mars Terraformation Project, which would necessitate a meeting with the project manager, and possibly Noin. She was still in the middle of a public relations fight with the Aristocracy. All the way, things with Heero weren't exactly settled either.

Relena went to her townhouse to drop off her work stuff and grab some gym clothes before heading to the university. She needed to unwind and to work off all of the alcohol and food she had indulged in for the last few days.

Walking into the university's athletics center in her matching pink yoga pants and sports bra, with her hair pulled into a ponytail, she felt good. Relena had always been fastidious about exercise and healthy eating as she was always busy to the brink of collapse. And without a strict dietary regimen along with an exercise program, she would've fallen apart a long time ago. Relena did yoga in the mornings three days a week and had an hour and a half with a personal trainer every week.

The gym was rather busy for this time of day. Perhaps, everyone else had the same idea that Relena did. She made her way past the free weights and towards the treadmills.

There she was taken a little off guard when she spotted Tatyana running, almost sprinting, with perfect form on one of the treadmills. With everything that had happened over the weekend, Relena had almost forgotten the inciting incident. She remembered locking eyes with Tatyana before taking off after Heero when he ran out of Winner House.

"Hey," Relena said timidly, not exactly sure how to approach the situation.

Tatyana didn't respond. Relena thought it a little rude until she realized that Tatyana had earbuds in. Relena repositioned herself in front of Tatyana and waved. Immediately, Tatyana's expression lit up.

"Oh hey!" Tatyana said as she stopped her treadmill.

She got off, grabbed her water bottle, and took a big gulp from it. Suddenly Relena felt something she had never experienced before, insecurity about her own body.

"Big weekend, watched your Vogue interview," Tatyana said. "You were great!"

"Oh thank you," Relena said nervously. "It means a lot. I had no idea what I was doing."

Relena couldn't help staring at Tatyana now. It was as if she was seeing her friend for the first time. She was tall and beautiful, with a striking angular face, and mesmerizing green eyes. Her jet black hair was pulled into a ponytail much like her own, but somehow Tatyana just looked more ferocious than she did. Her black workout shorts and sports bra, revealed her toned legs, and chiseled abs. Her thin layer of sweat only made her look even more formidable. Suddenly, Relena felt very much like a gym bunny whereas Tatyana was a true athlete.

"Nonsense Relena," Tatyana said with a warm smile. "I'm sure you're going to look fantastic."

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Relena said, trying to maintain eye contact.

"Sure," Tatyana said as she grabbed her towel from her gym bag and began to wiper herself off.

"I'm just wondering how you know Heero so well?" Relena asked.

Tatyana suddenly stopped as her smile slowly faded. "Well, I guess this conversation had to happen eventually."

"What do you mean?" Relena asked.

"You know, it took you awhile," Tatyana said,sounding slightly defensive. "Though I might've gotten an angry text from you the day after."

"Angry, why would I be angry?" Relena asked.

"You know what Matilda told me?" Tatyana said. "That I couldn't talk to him, that he was yours."

"Mine?" Relena asked, confused. "He's a person, I don't own him."

"That's not how you act, Relena."

"Excuse me?" Relena said, sounding a little defensive herself. "When have I ever acted like I own Heero?"

"What are you doing right now?" Tatyana asked.

"What, what do you mean?" Relena asked back.

"Why would we even be having this conversation you didn't feel, somehow, entitled to him?"

"I don't–I'm not–" Relena fumbled over her words.

"You're defending your territory," Tatyana said frankly. "I get that. Girls tend to get territorial about the guys they like. But don't act like you don't know what you're doing."

"I… I just wanted to know how you knew him, I didn't mean to…"

Relena was at a loss for words. This was a new sensation for her. In public, she was a renowned orator, perhaps the best of a generation, but in private, in a moment such as this, where she was unpracticed in the arts of personal negotiation, she floundered.

"He's a soldier, so was I," Tatyana said disinterestedly. "We have… things in common…"

"Do you… do you like him?" Relena asked, as if afraid of the answer.

Perhaps it was the directness of the question, but for the first time during this conversation, Tatyana looked a little uneasy.

"So what if I did?" Tatyana asked nervously. "Am I not allowed to?"

"No, that's not at all what I was saying—"

"Good, because you don't… you don't just get to claim him like that," Tatyana said in a manner both sympathetic yet defensive. "He's a good man…"

"I know that," Relena said as her voice trembled silently.

"I hope you do," Tatyana said softly. "I hope that you understand how lucky you are… the way he looks at you…"

Relena and Tatyana stared at each other for a while. Neither of them wanted to say something they would regret. They both knew how dumb it was to have a fight about something like this. Tatyana didn't want to get into a public argument with her friend and incidentally, the most powerful girl in school, and the world. And Relena didn't want to get into an argument about something she should really have talked to Heero about first. So as uncomfortable as it was, both girls came to their sense and said no more.

Tatyana simply picked up her water bottle and her gym bag. "See ya 'round, Relena."

While the Vice-Foreign Minister remained tight lipped about the man on the motorcycle, she did admit that romance and dating weren't out of the question for her. Despite having been busy during the post-war years and mostly avoiding the social circles outside a couple of Christmas parties and Armistice celebrations, several prominent bachelors have expressed interest in courting her. Men like...

A slap to the back of his head broke his concentration. Suddenly, he was back in that dark empty condo, overlooking downtown Buenos Aires, with the man who had recently stabbed him in the leg. A sense of dissonance overtook him as he suddenly realized how far from Relena he was at that very moment and for the first time he questioned the mission. But more importantly, he questioned his own resolve.

"Don't read the article," Duo said sternly. "Don't read the article! Just look at the pictures!"

Duo grabbed another beer out of the fridge and sat down in his fold out chair on the other side of the room from Heero. He was right and Heero knew that. Heero understood that there was certain way that Relena had to present herself in public. There was a certain way that the writers had to write about her. Still, it didn't help his sense of inferiority. There was a warmth and an intimacy to their last encounter. But this, the Vogue article, was a plain reminder of how far apart they really were and how undeserving he would look on her arm at a public event.

"Look at the pictures, look at how pretty she is. Remember how lucky you are," Duo said with a slight slur. He had been drinking all night, it was bound to hit him eventually. "Every man in the world wants her… She wants you… Don't fuck things up like I did."

She looked absolutely stunning in the photos. But all it did was make him miss her all the more. He missed the gentleness of her touch, the affection in her eyes when she looked at him. Things that used to scare him, that still did. But yet, he still missed them.

But he knew what Duo meant. And Heero did sympathize with him. Had he stayed and took up Une on her offer right after the end of Mariemaia's Insurrection, he and Relena may have turned out the way Duo and Hilde did. They were both broken men with women whose hearts were too big for them.

It's been three years since that encounter on the beach, since she handed him that invitation.

He didn't want to kill her anymore.