Course Correction

The sound of her gagging and weeping drove him to the brink of his sanity. But he was unable to do anything about it. He was to keep watch. Those were his orders, plain and simple. He tried to cover his ears with his hands but it didn't help. I knew what was happening. And occasionally, he could hear her shriek as one of the rebel commandos hit her.

It would be a decision he would come to regret for the rest of his life but in that moment, his morbid curiosity got the better of him. He looked. He turned around and peaked through the crack in the door.

She was being used on both ends. The young rebel commander, the one that had always been so kind to Heero, her mouth, the fat one, from behind. He could see the flood of tears rolling down her cheeks. They were merciless with her.

And then came the worst part. She saw him, she saw him peaking through the crack in the door. Their eyes connected.

He should've just killed her. He should've just driven that damn bayonet through her to save her from this!

"I'm sorry!"

Heero woke up suddenly and violently. He was covered in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. His head spinning. He felt as though he was being suffocated.

"Heero, what's wrong?!"

He turned around in a jolt, almost hitting Relena. Oh God, I woke her up. With none of his usual coordination and precision, he fell out of the bed and crawled towards the wall, instinctively trying to create space between himself and Relena.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I couldn't stop them! I didn't know what to do!" Heero breathlessly panted, as if explaining himself for a distant memory. Faded but never truly gone.

Without any hesitation, Relena rushed out of bed and took his hand into hers. Slowly but surely she gave him gentle but firm little squeezes trying to get him to calm down.

"It's okay, it's okay," Relena said softly.

Heero looked up at her. Her angelic presence, with only the moonlight illuminating her face, he felt himself slowly but surely calming down. She then slowly wrapped her arms around him, placing her forehead to his. Entangling her legs between his, she slowly closed the gap between their naked bodies. Somehow, she knew he needed to feel her touch.

"It's okay, I got you, I got you, you're safe," Relena whispered.

Heeeo finally relaxed and as the adrenaline drained from his veins, collapsed into her.

"I'm covered in sweat," Heero murmured, suddenly feeling exhausted.

"It doesn't matter," Relena said as she laid gentle kisses into his hair.

They sat there in silence, in the dead of night for a while longer.

It didn't seem to matter how much he drank the night before, the soft buzz of his cellphone rattling against his nightstand always seemed to wake him up. His hand instinctively snatched the device from the table. All the while his body and his mind were still playing catch up with that one appendage never seemed to sleep.

"Mills," he gurgled. His face, still plastered to the sheets.

"Hey, it's Shana. We picked up two guys with a truck full of guns."

"A whole truck?" His sarcasm cut through his slurred words.

"They're asking for you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, by name." He noted the smallest hint of satisfaction in her voice.

"Well tell them to fuck off," Wilson said with a hint of satisfaction in his voice. "It's my day off."

"They are insisting, and they won't say anything else. I think they may be connected."

His eyes widened as his mind tried to focus and will himself out of his drunken stupor. He sat up, his head spun. He focused on his breathing, stabilizing himself with his free arm. Someone asked for him by name. That could only mean one thing.

Wilson Mills was a man without much going on in his life. He was an average policeman before the war, he was an average soldier during, and he was an average Preventer after. And that sense of average had been slowly slipping over the years. If it wasn't for his benefactor, he might have already drunk himself into the grave. As yet, he might still have a few good years left. But who's counting?

He managed to drag himself out of bed, rinse the smell of vomit and booze off just enough to throw on a fresh change of clothes, and drag himself down to the police station. He stumbled into the lobby looking just enough of a lawman that no one noticed his entry. Except Shana. Shana was waiting for him.

She didn't say anything but the way she leaned against the front desk, with her hand against her hip and the slightest hint of a smile let him know exactly what she was thinking.

"Hey come on, give me a break," Wilson said.

She grabbed the files off of the desk and started towards the door in the back. Wilson forced himself to smile at the secretary at the front desk as he followed Shana. They made their way through a sterile hallway, illuminated by that greenish fluorescent lighting that was purposefully designed to make one feel uneasy. Wilson immediately felt it in his stomach. Shana opened one of the doors to the observation room. He found himself staring at two unfamiliar faces.

"Who are they?" Wilson asked.

"I was hoping you could tell me," Shana said as she looked at him, studying his face.

Wilson took a deep breath.

"Alright, I need 5 minutes alone in there," Wilson said. "Cameras off."

Shana shot him that all too familiar incredulous look.

"Come on, Shana, give me a break. It's my day off."

"Are we going to talk about it?"

Heero busied himself with the clean up of the kitchen, focusing intently on putting the trays and pans into the sink, running the sink for a few seconds, and wiping his hands, before picking up the two plates of food and heading towards the dining area where Relena was seated. He placed a plate of fruits, yoghurt, and some toast in front of Relena before sitting down in the chair across from her. He was avoiding her gaze. A mixture of shame and anxiety filled him and he was sure Relena could sense it too, try as he might to mask it.

"There's nothing to talk about, I had a bad dream. I'm fine." Heero said as he poured her some coffee.

Relena hesitated. Her first instinct was to press the issue further. She knew that he would try to brush it off. His first instinct was to bottle it up, pretend like nothing happened. She supposed that had served him well up to that point in his life.

"How often do you have them?" Relena asked gently as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Never."

That pissed her off.

That's not hiding, that's a lie.

"Heero, I've seen you do this before," Relena said. "You wake up in the middle of the night, shivering in a cold sweat. You drag yourself into the bathroom and splash some water in your face. Don't lie to me."

Heero sighed. He didn't often do that.

"I have trouble sleeping sometimes, it's not a big deal," Heero said as he pulled up some potential security candidates on his laptop next to him and swung it around to present to Relena. "I need you to review the candidates for your new security detail. Let me know what you think. I've already vetted them, they're clean."

"Don't change the subject."

Heero closed the laptop lid.

"Relena," he said as gently as he could. "Someone tried to take you away from me. They tried to kill you. I don't know what I would do if they succeeded. So yes, that eats away at me. It keeps me up. So please, review the files."

"Who the fuck are you guys?" Wilson Mills asked. "And how did you get my name?"

Wilson paced around the cramped interrogation room staring at the two young men in front of him, trying to remember if he had met these guys before. He had arrested hundreds of people in his time and he always thought there was a decent chance that he would meet his end by one of them eventually. But he was good with faces, if not with names, and despite his alcohol riddled brain, he couldn't place them.

"We need to talk to The Merchant," one of them said.

Ahh, now it makes sense.

"Who? I don't know what you're talking about," it was a canned response.

The two men also knew it was. He humoured Wilson and merely shot him a knowing look and a slight grin. Wilson paced around the room as if trying to summon an ounce of courage. He wasn't used to doing that.

"Fine," Wilson said. "You can talk to him. I still need to know who you are."

"We were told, if we need to get in contact with The Merchant, we have to go through you," the other one said.

Their general demeanour and slovenly dress belied these two young men's discipline. Wilson had evidently underestimated them. They weren't just a couple of ordinary gun runners. A couple of street thugs would not know the name of The Merchant, let alone dare ask for a sit down. Even so, what a reckless chance they took getting booked by the police just to get in contact.

Wilson stopped pacing and sat down on the empty chair in front of him.

"You don't want to tell me who you are? Fine." Wilson said, in a more accommodating tone this time. "You boys seem to know what you're about so I'll let it go. What's your business? And keep it mind, even if the cameras and mics are off, you're still in a police interrogation room."

One of them looked around quickly before leaning in and whispering in a hushed voice, "we tried to kill Relena Peacecraft."

Brussels Metropolitan Police Headquarters

Other than the faint howling of the cold February wind and the even fainter whaling of police sirens in the distance, the city was eerily quiet for a Monday morning. She supposed that's what it should sound like given that the city had been under lockdown for a week. Life was returning slowly. What a tumultuous way to rein in A.C. 199.

She sat in the conference room of the Metropolitan Police Station, absently staring out the window as Police Commissioner, Regis van der Moolen and the Head of Counterterrorism, Tenam Dumont, rattled off their daily report.

"It's been one week without further incident. We have lowered the alert level to yellow, reduced the patrols to half strength, and lifted the curfew," Tenam said. "We've been getting complaints about the constant sirens."

"Yet, in all that time, with all those resources," Ingrid said absently, "you've found nothing."

Both men looked at each other silently.

"No," Tenam finally answered.

"Sigh, I hope you like collecting traffic tickets, Major," Ingrid said, finally snapping out of her daze. "Because I don't know you're going to be able to justify your budget for next year."

"Those damn Preventers," Tenam whispered.

"I wouldn't go around pointing fingers, I dislike them as much as the next guy but it's not a good look to shift blame," Ingrid said as she returned her attention to the tablet in front of her.

"They nabbed our prime suspect before we could get to him!" Tenam exclaimed in frustration.

"What?" Ingrid snapped to attention. "What are you talking about?"

St. Andrew's Church, Brussels

Tanya pulled the collar of her jacket up to her cheeks as a frigid gust of air blew by just as she stepped out of the church. Heero followed a few moments later. Tanya smiled at Heero as she watched him tuck his scarf into his leather jacket. His sullen expression belied how handsome he was with the February wind blowing through his lush brown hair. She took out a cigarette and a lighter out of her jacket pocket.

Placing the cigarette on her lips, she tried to light it but the wind was being uncooperative. Heero shielded it with his hands and she finally got it lit. She took a quick drag and exhaled, creating a stream of smoke that followed in the wind into the sky.

She offered him a drag but he simply shook his head.

"That went well," Tanya said nervously.

"I think I was more of a distraction than a help," Heero replied.

"I guess the word's out now," Tanya said. "You can't blame them for being curious."

Heero stared absently into the distance.

"This was a mistake, I shouldn't have come back," Heero said.

He was about to leave before she grabbed him by the arm. "Why did you?"

Heero stopped and let out a deep breath. "I haven't been sleeping well. I've been having this recurring dream that I've been having since I was a kid. It's becoming more frequent. I've got to get this under control."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I know it's tough," Tanya said. "I still have nightmares about the war too."

Tanya was about to ask about his dream before she noticed a small crowd coming down the street. It took a few moments before she realized who they were.

"Shit, we gotta get out of here," Tanya said. "Come on, I'll give you a ride."

Tanya tossed her cigarette and grabbed Heero by the arm and dragged him towards her car parked across the street. They both quickly got in and pulled away just as the crowd of paparazzi got to them. Some of them didn't give up easily and began to chase after them on foot. Reacting quickly, Tanya pulled into an alleyway and began to weave through the sidestreets and hidden paths behind the major buildings. It took a few minutes but she finally lost them.

Ten minutes later, they were in another part of the city. Tanya and Heero got out of the car and approached the door of an old building. Tanya took a quick peak around before pulling out a pair of keys and letting them both in. It was an empty dive bar. Tanya walked by the tables with their chairs stacked up on them and made her way to the bar.

"You want anything," Tanya asked as she began to pour herself a glass of bourbon.

"No, thank you," Heero said as he took a seat at the bar.

"Suit yourself," Tanya said.

"You own this place?" Heero asked.

Tanya shook her head with a grimace as she downed the drink.

"I work here," Tanya said. "How many soldiers do you know that own anything?"

Heero felt a little embarrassed. He had been spending so much time with Relena and her kind lately that he had forgotten what it was like to be a soldier after the war. Very few soldiers had anything to go back to after the war and most people were in Tanya's position, not his.

Tanya could tell that she had made Heero feel uncomfortable. "So how does it feel to be Relena's boyfriend, officially, unofficially?"

"There's a lot of pressure," Heero said.

"I can imagine," Tanya said. "All of that attention, who needs it."

"I feel like I'm walking on eggshells," Heero said. "One wrong move and it can all fall apart."

"You'll get through it," Tanya said.

"What if I don't?" Heero asked. "What if I fuck it up?"

"Then you don't," Tanya shrugged. "It's not the end of the world. We're passed that, remember?"

Heero cracked a hint of a smile.

"Have you told her about your dreams?" Tanya asked.

"The one where I stand guard while my commanding officer and his buddy rapes a girl?" Heero said. "No. I haven't told her."

Tanya took another sip of her bourbon. She didn't realize that's what his dreams were about. She didn't really know what to say. She also had some post-traumatic stress symptoms. They all did. That's why they went to group. But she didn't realize until then, just how long he had been fighting. How much more he had gone through than the rest of them.

"I don't want this to be her problem," Heero whispered.

"Relena's strong, she can handle it," Tanya said softly. "If not… You'll find someone else."

Heero looked up at her. Tanya stared back. It was almost as he was asking, do you really believe that? She did her best to answer, yes.

His phone beeped. He took it out of his jacket pocket and checked it.

"I gotta go," Heero said. "Thanks for the exfil."

"Yeah, no problem."

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brussels

"I find it outrageous that she would intervene so brazenly in these negotiations that have been meticulously crafted over the course of several months. Having had no prior involvement, she insinuated herself into a very delicate process and in turn cost the government billions!"

"Ungrateful bitch."

Relena closed the video player on her computer. She assumed that Ainsley would have enough gratitude to tone it down after Heero had saved her life. But whatever appreciation that she might have felt was obviously subsumed by her political ambition. Ultimately, Relena wasn't surprised when she read the headline about Vice-Finance Minister Lambasts Foreign Ministry Interference in Debt Negotiations. After all, what was Ainsley to do after returning to Earth empty handed?

Relena tried to put it out of her mind and return to her work. She was buried under a mountain of reports and requests that she had to sign off on, especially after the week of lockdown. She was already exhausted but despite it all, it was much more preferable to the endless meetings and interviews that had been her life for the previous week.

Just as her focus began to return to her, Dorothy burst into her office, waving a tablet wildly.

"Did you see?"

Relena looked up.

"Yes, I saw," Relena said with a deflated sigh. "Who cares?"

"Who cares?!" Dorothy asked incredulously. "Why are you being so calm…"

"Because that's who she is," Relena said. "You think I didn't expect this when we got back?"

"Wow," Dorothy said as her tone shifted. She slowly sat down on the couch in front of Relena's desk. "I guess I figured you would just be more protective of Heero."

"He's a big boy," Relena said. "I don't think he cares what people say."

"I'm sure your bond is very strong," Dorothy said as her voice returned to her normal ostentatious self. "But it's not a good look for the newly crowned boyfriend of the Vice-Foreign Minister to be getting into the car with another woman."

Relena's eyes darted up from her file.

"What are you talking about?"

"The… tabloid photos of Heero and Tatyana," Dorothy stuttered. "What are you talking about?"

"The Ainsley interview!"

The Valknut, Preventers Headquarters

Heero arrived at The Valknut and checked in. He quickly ran up the stairs and went to Une's office only to be informed by her secretary that she had in fact just left to go see the President at the Presidential Palace. It wasn't in his nature to get annoyed by such minor inconveniences. Afterall, missing someone or being late was not the end of the world. Or at least it wasn't in his current situation. But that kind of thing got people killed in battle. And that alone made him want to punch something.

But he suppressed the urge, reminding himself in what he had learned in the veteran's group that morning. About how to let the little things slide.

"Hey buddy!"

Just as he felt his annoyance faded, that voice made it jump just a little.

"Why do you always gotta one up me?" Duo said as he slapped Heero on the shoulder. "I have this awesome epic fight with a terrorist assassin and the next thing I know, you take down a dozen of them the next day! Now everyone's talking about you. Fucking typical."

"Try doing that with a camera crew around next time," Heero said.

"Show off."

"How are things around here? It seems like the police have given up the man hunt," Heero said.

"Oh you know, busy busy, everyone's trying to help in whatever way they can but as you can see," Duo said with a shrug. "Too many cooks in the kitchen."

"Any chatter from SIGINT about the attempt on Relena's life?" Heero asked.

"Hey, I've been keeping an open ear but there's a lot of shit going on right now," Duo answered.

Hn.

"You want a coffee?" Duo asked.

"I can't, I have to go catch up with Une," Heero said.

"Alright, suit yourself."

Just as Heero was about to leave, he was reminded of the dinner just prior to the assassination attempt.

"That reminds me, I feel like I should tell you," Heero said. "We ran into Hilde at G-17868."

Duo paused for a moment as if steadying himself.

"Oh, how is she?" Duo asked.

"She was good. She helped me neutralize one of the gunmen," Heero said.

"Wow, well good for her. It's about time right?"

There was a moment of silence between them.

"You okay?" Heero asked.

"Yeah, totally," Duo said, emphatically. Convincingly. "I'm fine. I'm proud of her even."

They paused again.

"Did you tell her about Hope?" Duo finally asked the question that was actually on his mind all along.

"No, I didn't," Heero said. "But I did let it slip to Relena right before."

"What?!"

"Sorry."

"Is this going to be a problem?" Duo asked.

"Relax, I'll handle it." Heero assured him.

Deep space, between L3 and L5

The food reconstitution unit beeped just as Trowa floated nearby. He knew how long it took, down to the second now, and he was very hungry.

He had done the math. The L3 colonies were the furthest distance from Earth and given that was the furthest of the possible destinations, he had to prepare for a long journey. At the current cruising speed of the transport he was tailing, it wouldn't reach Earth for at least another month and a half. Given the speed and make of the transport, he estimated that there were at least eight Serpents aboard.

There was around two weeks worth of food for a crew of about six or seven and an expected passenger load of four. With rationing he could make that last easily. What he couldn't make last so easily was the supply of oxygen. The little luxury shuttle that he had commandeered was not designed for this kind of long term interplanetary travel. Trowa had turned down the heat and stuck himself inside of a space suit to save on power. Showering and personal hygiene wasn't much of a concern given that he was the only one aboard. He also reduced the oxygen levels and wore a breather most of the time. Luckily, there were some antigrav serums in the med-bay of the shuttle to counteract the effects of long term space travel. Although, not exactly enough to get him through all the way to Earth.

The smell of the lobster livened up his senses. Too bad he would be out of the good stuff soon.

Trowa forced himself into a routine as a way of conserving the vessel's limited resources. He slept 16 hours. He confined himself to the cockpit except for an hour of exercise a day and the two meals that he took. He had set alarms to alert him whenever the transport made any deviations in its course. This tended to mean that he didn't sleep through the full 16 hours continuously as the vessel he was tracking made several minor corrections over the course of a day, most of which were of no consequence. But there was no such thing as being too safe out here.

This time, the course correction wasn't in the middle of the night. And it wasn't minor. He dropped his fork still half loaded with lobster and butter, a mess that he would have to clean up later, to take manual control over the shuttle to adjust speed and course along with the transport ahead of him.

He watched intently on his long range sensors as another blip appeared. It matched the speed of the transport and pulled up next to it. Trowa increased speed once again, trying to pull within visual range of the transport vessel. As the two blips on the sensors transitioned into real objects he could see out of the window, he noted the large bulbous shape of the second vessel. It was even larger than the transport. That was a tanker. The transport was evidently taking on more fuel.

And that only meant one thing. It wasn't headed for L5. It was headed for Earth.

Presidential Palace, Brussels

Une had arrived at the Presidential Palace just as it was getting busy. She never understood why President Hoch insisted on seeing her in the middle of the day when he had several other meetings lined up. Perhaps, it was to punish her for all of the headaches she had caused him in recent months. She steadied her nerves as she began to push her way through the crowded hallways of the palace, trying to be aggressive yet not disrupting the flow of traffic. There was a certain decorum that needed to be maintained but she found that if she were just the right amount of assertiveness, she could actually finish her business there without being stuck at the palace for the entire day.

"So much for working together."

Ingrid emerged out of the crowd. Dressed in her signature navy blue blazer, with matching heels, it was easy to pick her out of the mass of greys and taupes.

"What are you talking about?" Une said with a sigh. These interactions with Ingrid were getting tiresome and it was beginning to show in her voice.

"Stop playing dumb," Ingrid said. "I know you have the gun runner."

Une forced a smile. Resigned yet ultimately defiant.

"Fine, we'll do it the hard way."

Une was expecting more. But with that simple parting shot, Ingrid simply disappeared again into the crowd. No doubt this was only the beginning of another round of bureaucratic jousting. But that was a problem for later.

"What was that?" Heero's voice grabbed her attention.

"Nothing." Une shook her head slightly to refocus herself. "How's the princess?"

"She's fine, this isn't her first assassination attempt ," Heero said with a hint of pride in his voice.

"Cute," Une said. "Well try to keep her inside until you've set up the new detail. My career can't survive another assassination."

"I just received some news from Trowa," Heero said as his voice deepened. "He's reporting that the transport has taken on fuel from a tanker mid-flight in deep space. It's not heading for L5."

"Earth?" Une asked.

"We're out of options," Heero confirmed.

Mae Hong Son, Thailand

At this distance, it was just another satellite or perhaps a comet that had strayed into the atmosphere. Tristan sat by the pool, as he watched the twinkle of light dart around in the distance. Vincent may have been a mercurial and oftentimes unstable personality, but he flew like no one he's ever seen before. Tristan had been trained by and fought alongside OZ's best pilots but he had never seen a machine or a pilot maneuver the way that thing did.

"How's the leg?"

Tristan snapped out of his daze. He looked up at Kerestina. Sunhat, large sunglasses, a revealing black one-piece bikini, holding a drink and a couple of cigars in hand.

"The painkillers help," Tristan said.

"I brought you something," Kerestina said as she put her drink down on the table next to an empty lounge chair next to Tristan's and held out a cigar for him.

"Cigars?"

"I bought a bottle of bourbon but that can wait until you're not off the drugs," Kerestina said.

Tristan took the cigar and placed it on his lips. Kerestina took out a lighter, lit it up, and helped Tristan.

"Thanks."

"You did good," Kerestina said.

"I fucked up," Tristan replied.

"Yeah, you did," Kerestina replied with a warm smile.

Tristan almost let out a chuckle.

"So, why did you?"

Tristan took a deep breath. "He said my name."

"Who?" Kerestina's attention was piqued.

"The Preventer, guy with the long hair," Tristan said as he gestured tossing a phantom braid of hair over his shoulder.

"He said your name?" Kerestina asked again. "How did he know that?"

"I don't know," Tristan said. "He said he works with my sister."

Royal Windsor Hotel, Brussels

Heero arrived back at the hotel late in the evening. He had been running around the city all day. After dropping Relena off at the Foreign Ministry in the morning, he had gone to a veteran's group meeting which nearly turned into a debacle. Later, he received an urgent message from Trowa about the transport. After spending the rest of the afternoon tracking down Une to inform her of the situation, he had spent the rest of the afternoon confirming with Trowa. Deep space communication was not always the most reliable.

By the evening, he had arranged for a Preventer agent to pick up Relena and drive her back to the hotel so he could pick up some groceries. They had been cooped up inside the hotel because of the lockdown and surviving getting room service for so long, he thought it would be nice if he cooked something that night.

When he arrived back at the hotel, he found Relena sitting on the couch in her in the living room. She seemed oddly quiet. He wondered if she was still working. He dropped off the grocery bags on the island on the kitchen.

Finally, Relena turned to look at him.

"I saw you on TV today."