Hi people, are any of you wondering how I can get so many story ideas and work on all of them at the same time? Cause I sure am. This is the first of four story ideas I've gotten lately and have decided to send to the public. If you like this, look out for:

Acoustic #3 (Well, that is out, but I don't know if many people know that's there since most of my stuff is in the lemon section eh heh heh But that's not bad, is it?)

Suntan Lotion

I Wanna Be Bad

Carpe Diem (Yes, as I said before, that will come out, it's just very long and tedious to type.)

And don't worry, chapters of 'And Never Let Her Go', my 'So We Meet Again' sequel, are coming out as well. Boy, I'm really gonna be busy. *Muse: You mean I'M going to be busy. Me: SHUT UP! I do all the typing and shit! * Damn muse.

And on one last note, this is PG-13 and I'm actually willing you to flame me on this one, because I know it's bad. But what can you do when you have inspiration, especially when it comes from Cityhigh's song 'What Would You Do'? Yes, this story is based on and includes the song 'What Would You Do' by Cityhigh and gives Relena a whole new past. I don't own the song or Gundam Wing, but I would be really happy if I did. Now read and bring on the flames.

Learning to Love Again

By: Haruka Kou

Duo sat in the airport terminal, waiting impatiently. He was here for one thing and one thing only. And he was wishing that thing would hurry up. Why did planes always seem to run late? Was this some kind of unwritten law he wasn't aware of? If it was, he thought it should have an end put to it. Even if it was only three days since he received the letter, it felt like three years and he was anxious to see its sender again. He was tired of bouncing of the ceiling and not being able to tell anyone why. He reread the letter for the third time

Duo,

I'm finally coming home. Can you meet me at the airport Saturday; 1:45 at gate 187? I'll explain everything when I get there.

Heero.

Short, simple, and to the point, just like Heero. Duo still couldn't believe that after five years, Heero was coming home. He thought he'd never see Heero again when he disappeared after Marimeia. And it had hurt, too. Hurt to think that all the time they spent together during the war, fighting and non, had meant nothing to him. That they had been friends, it was all a bunch of fake shit. But now Heero was coming home and all those thoughts had been thrown in the garbage can. Because Heero had reached out to Duo and only Duo. He knew this because everyone had looked at him like they were worried about his sanity when he asked if anyone had heard from Heero lately. Oh, was he going to have fun when he showed up with Heero. He'd show them that he wasn't just being the labeled annoying idiot, bringing Heero up for the hell of it. He always had reasons; it just seemed that no one understood them. (AN: All right, I'm ranting, sorry. I'll get to the point and stop going on about how misunderstood Duo is. And if you're wondering, I was not implying a yaoi between Heero and Duo, that's just another way of showing Duo has other sides than hyper.) He'd have to start forcing that issue, starting with Heero's arrival. 'That is, if the damn plane ever comes in.' Duo thought bitterly. He reread the letter again, as if he wasn't sure the words were ever there.

However, he didn't get to finish before a pair of hands clamped over his eyes. He whirled around.

"Heero! Hey buddy, it's great to see ya!" Duo leapt over the seat, wrapping Heero in big hug, which, surprisingly, Heero returned full force.

"It's good to see you too, Duo." Duo pulled back and studied Heero's features.

"You haven't changed a bit. What the hell you been doin' with yourself, man? We coulda used you here."

"I've been living in a lower area of L1. I wasn't allowed any contact."

"Okay, you're not making sense and people are staring. Let's walk."

"Fine with me. Can we get something to eat while I explain? Airplane food tastes disgusting."

"Sure. Let's get you some REAL food."

Once seated in an airport café with a basket of fries and cokes between them, conversation started again.

"Umm, I missed this. The colonies couldn't get carbonation or the perfect combination of sogginess and saltiness to save their lives." (YUM! Fries soaked in oil to make them perfectly soft and covered in salt. Oh, YUM!)

"Yeah, this is good, but I'm not interested in food."

"Not interested in food? I guess that braid is the only thing the same."

"Funny. But I'm serious. I wanna know what kept you away from us so long.  No contact? That makes you sound like a spy or something."

"Oh no, not even close. I was, uh, this is kinda embarrassing, but I, I spent time in a mental hospital."

"You? No way!"

"Yes, me. I was so emotionally disturbed about how I'd lived that I had to get away and get a fresh start. They wouldn't allow me contact to any friend who could remind me of what I'd done until I had forgiven myself and become stable again."

"So, basically, you were to unstable to be reminded of your past or you wouldn't get over it, or you might've donesomething stupid."

"Yeah. It took almost two years to get better, and the next three to get a steady job to pay the therapy bills. Then I was allowed to come back home."

"Wow. Well, I have to things to say. One, congratulations on going from a mental case to a semi-normal human being, and two, I'm glad to have you back. This calls for a celebration."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Like parties much?"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Duo, are you sure this is okay?"

"Sure! Larry won't mind, and if he does, too bad, cause he owes me a favor."

"If you say so."

After leaving the airport, Duo had brought Heero home to become what he called 'club material'. This had brought on the reunion, which was filled with dropped jaws and brief explanations, with promises for more detailed ones later. Then the hour-long process of getting ready begun. It had taken longer than Duo had originally thought, since Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei had insisted that no welcome home party would take place without them. This brought them to the house where a friend of Duo's was throwing a party.

[Boys and girls wanna hear a true story?
Saturday night, was at this real fine party
They had the liquor overflowin' the cup
About five or six stripers tryin ta work for a buck.]

"This was a great idea!" Quatre yelled over the music.

"Yeah, the colonies can't throw parties like this!" Heero added, taking another sip of his drink.

"I don't know about you, but I'm checking out these stripers! Uh, don't tell Hilde I said that." Duo said.

"Oh, you two finally got together?" Heero asked.

"Engaged." He showed his hand. "Wedding's in 2 weeks."

"Well then, let's think of this as a bachelor party as well!" Heero raised his glass.

"Here's to that!" Duo cried.

"Hey Duo," Trowa caught Duo's attention. "Here comes one of your stripers.

Everyone turned in the direction Trowa was looking and the collective jaw dropping began. A tall blond walked towards them, clad in all black. Her hair was pulled up to frame her exotically made-up face and fall onto her shoulders, left bare by the leather, cleavage and stomach showing halter. All that covered her black string bikini was a black shear fringed shawl, like what you would wear over a bathing suit, which tied over one hip. A black lacy garter rested on her mid-thigh, where a considerable amount of money was tucked. She continued to move towards them, black lace up army boots making her seem taller than she was. Her hips swayed to the music as she walked forward, her hands coming up to the clasps that held her shirt on. It fell forward into her hands, which automatically began twirling the top above her head and sent flying through the air before beginning on the shawl.

The top skidded to halt next to Heero's chair and all eyes immediately moved to him. The girl stood in front of Heero, twirling the shawl in her fingers. Heero stared like he was hypnotized as she bent down over him to pick up the top, her shapely bronze breasts trailing over his crotch and the shawl tickling his leg. The sensation caused him to gasp in shock and pleasure. She giggled flirtatiously.

"Oops, dropped this."

She picked up the top and rose slowly, giving Heero a perfect view of her breasts. But her over-made up face was what really caught Heero's attention.

"Relena!?"

"He...Heero!?"

Heero wasted no time in dragging Relena out the door, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei following close behind.

[And I
Took one girl outside with me
Her name was Lena (It's really Loni.)
She went to Jr. High with me
I said
"Why you up in there dancin' for cash?
I guess a whole lot's changed since I seen you last."
She said
 
"What would you do if your son was at home
Cryin all alone on the bedroom floor cause he's hungry
And the only way ta feed him is ta
Sleep wit a man for a little bit a money
And his daddy's gone
Somewhere smokin' rock now
In and outta lockdown
I ain't got a job now
So for you this is just a good time
But for me this is what I call life."]

Heero stopped short. A lot had changed since he left. Relena wasn't the Vice Foreign Minister anymore and she had a son? When had this happened? How did she go from a respected young woman to a prostitute trying to support her son, standing in her panties in front of him shivering? This thought caused a heat to flow through his cheeks and he knew he was blushing. He was staring at her and he wasn't even her boyfriend or anything. He removed his coat and put it around her. She looked at it like it was a foreign object, but the look in Heero's eyes kept her from saying anything. Heero was mad. This wasn't the way she should be living. He took a deep breath and spoke

[I said
"Girl, you ain't the only one wit a baby
That's no excuse to be livin' all crazy."
And then she looked me right straight in the eye
And said
"Everyday I wake up
Hopin' to die"
She said
"I know about pain cause
Me and my sister ran away so my daddy couldn't rape us
Before I was a teenager
I'da been through more shit you can't even relate ta

What would you do if your son was at home
Cryin all alone on the bedroom floor cause he's hungry
And the only way ta feed him is ta
Sleep wit a man for a little bit a money
And his daddy's gone
Somewhere smokin' rock now
In and outta lockdown
I ain't got a job now
So for you this just a good time
But for me this is what I call life."]

And then Relena ran off down the street, leaving a very confused Heero behind her.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I'm still not sure I get what you're saying."

It was nearly two hours after the run-in with Relena and everyone had returned to Duo and Hilde's apartment. They had been spending the last hour trying to explain to Heero what had happened to Relena.

"Heero, you aren't dense!" Hilde cried." She was raped, plain and simple. It was about a month after you left. She showed up on our doorstep in the middle of the night, a bloody mess, bruised, clothes torn, saying she was raped. We cleaned her up and took her to the doctor's in the morning. Luckily, she didn't get any STDs, but she got pregnant. That's when she lost her job. When you're a pregnant sixteen-year-old, any respect adults had for you is gone pretty fast. Now she has a four-year-old son, Reeve, and she's doing all she can to support him."

"I understand that. What I don't understand is why she'd become a striper instead of a normal job."

"Heero, she was pulled out of school at fifteen! She doesn't have the education for a normal job or the money to go back to school!"

"I know that! I mean, couldn't work in a store or restaurant or something like that? Next time I see her, I'm gonna tell her."

["Hold up."
"What would you do?"
"Get up on my feet and let go of every excuse."
"What would you do?"
"Cause I wouldn't want my baby to go through what I went through."
"Come on, what would you do?"
"Get up on my feet and stop makin' tired excuses."
"What would you do?"
"Girl, I know if my mother can do it, baby you can do it."
 
"What would you do if your son was at home
Cryin all alone on the bedroom floor cause he's hungry
And the only way ta feed him is ta
Sleep wit a man for a little bit a money
And his daddy's gone
Somewhere smokin' rock now
In and outta lockdown
I ain't got a job now
So for you this is just a good time
But for me this is what I call life."
 
"Oh, don't feed me this [What would you do if your son was at home
Cryin all alone on the bedroom floor cause he's hungry
And the only way ta feed him is ta
Sleep wit a man for a little bit a money
And his daddy's gone
Somewhere smokin' rock now
In and outta lockdown
I ain't got a job now
So for you this is just a good time
But for me this is what I call life.] shit. This is the third time I've heard it and it's getting old."

"Shit, is it? Not to her. And I wanna know, what would you do Heero?
[What would you do if your son was at home
Cryin all alone on the bedroom floor cause he's hungry
And the only way ta feed him is ta
Sleep wit a man for a little bit a money
And his daddy's gone
Somewhere smokin' rock now
In and outta lockdown
I ain't got a job now
So for you this just a good time
But for me this is what I call life"]

"What would I do? First off, because of my training, I can get a good job. So I would leave my son with a good friend or a babysitter while I was at work. But I'd still spend as much time with him as possible. And second, if I were sleeping with anyone, it wouldn't be any man. Does that answer you?"

"You...you smart ass! You have an answer for everything, don't you? Maybe you could fix Relena's problems?" Hilde raised her hand to hit Heero, but a voice from the bedroom door stopped her.

"Aunt Hilde? Who's that? What's going on?"

Hilde whirled around to face the little boy standing in the door. His light blond hair was tousled and hung in his warm brown eyes. But what registered in Heero's mind was the brown teddy with the red ribbon around his neck that the boy held in his arm.

"Oh, Reeve honey, what are you doing up?" Hilde asked.

"I couldn't sleep. I want mommy. Where is she?"

"She's working, honey. She'll be back soon."

"Can I stay up and wait for her?"

"I don't know if that's a good idea"

"What isn't a good idea?"

"Mommy!"

Relena raised her arms just in time to catch the speeding four-year-old. The bear hit the floor as Reeve threw his arms around his mother's neck. Heero picked up the bear and looked at it closely.

"Reeve, what are you doing up?"

"I had a bad dream and couldn't go back to sleep. I'm glad you're home, mommy."

"Me too, sweetie. We'll go home now."

"Oh, no you don't Relena." Hilde interrupted. "It's later than you normally come home and I'm not letting you walk all the way by yourself. You can spend the night here."

"Wait a minute, Hilde. Remember that Heero has to stay here too. He just got in and hasn't had time to search for an apartment. That's what we're doing tomorrow. So unless they don't mind sharing a room" Duo trailed.

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind, she's used to sleeping around." Wufei muttered just loud enough to be heard.

"What was that Wufei? If you're going to start on me and my lifestyle, someone is going to get hurt." Relena raised a hand, with Heero caught.

"Relena, stop. Your son is in the room. If you want, I'll take you home and away from Wufei's honor/injustice/weak onna comments that we're all so tired of." Heero shot Wufei a dirty look.

"That's a good idea." Duo interjected, and tossed a set of keys to Heero. "Take the dark blue BMW in the parking lot." Heero caught the keys in one hand, which still happened to be holding the teddy bear. Reeve noticed this immediately and tugged on Heero's shirt.

"Mister? Hey, can I have my bear back?"

"Huh? Oh, sure. Here you go." Heero gave the bear one last longing look, which Reeve also noticed.

"Why are you looking at my bear like that?"

"I gave that bear to your mom for her 16th birthday."

"Oh, so you're Heero. Mommy said that bear was special because an old school crush gave it to her."

This statement caught Heero's attention and he looked at Relena with surprise, who blushed crimson.  She avoided the subject by turning to Reeve.

"It's time to go now, Reeve. Get your things. Oh, Hilde, can I have a shirt or something so I can give Heero his jacket back?"

"Keep it."

"Are you sure Heero? You don't have..."

"It's fine. Just keep it. You wanna go now?"

"I'll get Reeve."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The ride was tense and silent and tense after Reeve fell asleep in the back seat, aside from Relena's occasional directions. Heero finally got tired of avoiding the subject and spoke his mind.

"You kept it."

"Huh? Kept what?"

"The bear. You kept it."

Relena muttered something about four-year-olds and big mouths before answering. "Yes. It's special to me. Oh, turn left here."

"Don't avoid the subject, Relena. I don't want tension or secrets between us. We're a little old for that."

"I don't either, but it's so hard. I haven't seen you in what, five years and suddenly I'm about to climb in your lap. It was the first time in a long time I was actually embarrassed."

"I know this will sound rude, but you should be. There are other ways to support your son, like working in a restaurant or a store or something."

"I wish it were that easy. This town has no respect for me anymore. Not since I got pregnant with Reeve."

"And of course, you don't have the money to move. Why won't anyone, say you brother, help you?"

"Milliardo disowned me the day he found out I was pregnant. He said it was my fault because I didn't bring a guard with me. And I can't ask the others, they've worked hard to get what they have and it would be wrong of me to be living off them. That leaves me with what I'm doing now."

"You know any one of us would help you if you asked. Don't ruin your life."

"My life was ruined the day I was born."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? You sound like I used to."

"You aren't the only one with a horrible past, Heero, I've suffered too. Turn in here, this is it."

As soon as the car stopped, Relena hopped out and pulled Reeve from the back seat. She slammed the car door and ran for the entrance of the run-down apartment building. That was when Heero noticed the part or the neighborhood he was in. He hadn't noticed that he had driven into the worst part of town because he was concentrating on Relena.

'No wonder Hilde didn't want her to walk home alone. Oh Relena, what have you done to yourself?'

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

TBC Okay, that's it for Chapter 1. Now that you've read it, send all flames to Heero_obbsessie@hotmail.com Chapter 2 and however many chapters I decide to do will come depending on responsenot that I deserve any on this oneI've gone too far. Or at least that's my opinion, send me yours.

Bonus salus to sayonara! (Good health and good-bye!)
Haruka Kou