The night was calm and peaceful, soothing his icy soul with warm air and a soft blanket of tranquility.Somewhere, a cricket chirped, a nightingale's sweet song filling the air with an insubstantial melody, and the whistle of a caressing breeze tickled his eardrums, reminding him of musical reeds singing near the river's edge.

He wished he were as internally harmonious as his exterior environment, but his reflections and musings always left him with an inner conflict which drained him emotionally and filled his mind with unpleasant thoughts.And yet, it was strangely fitting, this situation he found himself contemplating, for his life had always been filled with tragedy and danger, his heart forever plagued by some heartache or another.Now his heart ached for her, the little cherub he had cherished and fought for, the little girl he had seen taken away from him, the younger sister he had never really known.

Smiling a bit sadly, he closed his eyes as he allowed his head to lull back against the bark of the large oak behind him.He had been coming here frequently since he had been told . . . by Duo of all people.It had been nearly two weeks since the discovery, two weeks since he had spoken to her last, two weeks of torturing himself over what to do about the whole scenario and no answers were forthcoming.Maybe he'd be better off just telling her everything.Maybe he should have tried that before sending Heero away.

Silk threads danced across his eyelids, cheeks, and nose as a gust of wind blew his hair into his face, cooling his skin and quieting the deeply suppressed fear gnawing at his stomach.He was so afraid that telling her would again send her away from him.He was afraid of losing her when he had just found her again.He suddenly felt moisture upon his cheeks.

"Milliardo?"

His eyes snapped open, ice blue meeting the sky blue eyes of the girl who had dominated his thoughts for most of his life.Her sweet voice filled the empty air between them, the soft uttering of his name holding a note of question and hope.It was the first time she had spoken to him in two weeks, and he felt as if he were going deaf from the sound of her voice, going blind from the picture of saddened beauty she presented, and dying from just the pleasure of her presence at long last.

"Relena . . .," was all he could think to say.Her name, rolling off his tongue, leaving the sweet taste of relief in its wake.

Her mouth tilted in a lopsided smile creating a decidedly melancholy expression on her sweet face.Her arms, pale and bare, were wrapped around her waist, and he couldn't help but notice her tummy was poking out slightly, only noticable to those who saw her everyday.She wore a long dark green (though it looked almost black in the dark) sundress that flared about her ankles.She looked cold and sad and alone, standing there before him, the darkness of night making her seem paler than usual, her hair a shiny gold halo about her head.A sad, lonely angel was what she was, come to comfort him when it was her who should receive comfort from him.

"May I sit down?I'm feeling a bit dizzy . . ."She was nervous, he could tell.Her bottom lip was swollen from being chewed upon, and her arms, crossed as they were, shook with suppressed agitation.

Concern rising within him, Milliardo stood quickly to help her sit down in the space directly next to him before seating himself once more, his stomach tied in knots.

"Feeling better?"He couldn't help but ask it, breaking the silence that had fallen between them like the leaves of autumn.

Feeling her nod rather than seeing it, Milliardo relaxed a little, staring out into the moonlit garden that surrounded them.Before the 'announcement', he and Relena had frequented the small garden to just talk, getting to know each other, making up for lost time.He had missed that in the weeks they had spent avoiding each other, and in an effort to find some connection with her once more, he had not disrupted the cycle though she was no longer by his side when he visited the well-worn paths and green vegetation.It had filled him with an emptiness, being in a place she so enjoyed without being able to share histhoughts with her, but now, she was present, he wouldn't avoid her anymore.

"I'm sorry," Relena breathed, unwilling to destroy the stillness weighing heavily upon them.

He glanced at her out the corner of his eyes, a question on his lips as her face looked up at him.

"I'm sorry for not telling you sooner.I know you're disappointed in me, but please believe me when I say I didn't plan this.All I know is that Heero came to me and things happened . . . I don't think either of us even realized what we were doing before it was too late to turn back.To tell you the truth, I don't think I would change anything that happened that night, and I'm not sorry I'm keeping this baby."Her eyes challenged him to gainsay her decision while still managing to look apologetic.

"I would never ask you to give him up, and I'm not disappointed in you.How could I be?You are everything I could have ever hoped you'd become and more."

"Then why have you been avoiding me?"

He heaved a great sigh and turned his body to face her, his shoulder against the solid trunk of that great oak.It had probably seen many dramatic heart-to-hearts through the centuries, as well as, many wars, bloodshed, tearful goodbyes, and happy reunions.This reconciliation would be just another milestone in the ancient tree's life, and yet it would be something infinitely more significant in two little humans' lives.Funny, how such thoughts entered his mind at the moment.

"I didn't know what to say . . . That is, I knew what I wanted to say, I just didn't know how to express myself, and I guess I was hurt that you told Hilde and Lucrezia before you told me.I just felt betrayed by fate . . . not you.This is so hard to explain."

She smiled encouragingly at him as she turned her body as well, facing him, "Try.I promise I'll listen well and won't laugh if you stick your foot in your mouth."

Taking her hands in his, he watched as she settled herself, sitting Indian style like he was, their knees almost touching, "You probably don't remember this, but before the Cinq Kingdom fell, when its fall was eminent, our father gave me the task of watching over you.I think he knew he wasn't going to make it, and he wanted to make certain we would survive.He knew that if I had a focus -- you -- I'd fight to succeed no matter the odds.

"When they attacked, it was night, I don't remember exactly what time it was, but I immediately ran to fetch you.You cried as I carried you to the underground tunnels, and you were still crying when I finally made it past the border."He smiled wistfully before continuing, "After a few weeks of wandering around homeless and hungry, I realized it was impossible for me to give you the life you deserved, and I gave you up to the Darlians.I knew they would take care of you well and teach you as you would have been taught had you been raised by our parents.When it came time for us to separate, you were so distressed it took 15 minutes just to pry you from my leg."

She giggled a bit, but somehow it was tinged with an underlying bitterness, "Was I really that bad?"

Milliardo nodded slightly, getting a faraway look in his eyes as his lips frowned, "I can still remember you screaming at me, begging me not to leave you.I had never told you that our parents were probably dead, but I think you had figured it out somehow on your own.I could see the fear in your eyes.That look and those screams have haunted me everyday since then.

"When I had initially approached the Darlians, I made them vow to do whatever it took to make you forget about me and the Cinq Kingdom.I wanted you to be happy, and I didn't think you could be with those memories weighing on your mind.I also asked that I be allowed to visit you -- though you were never meant to actually see me -- and requested they update me on how you were doing every month or so.

"After I felt you were taken care of, I enrolled myself in Victoria Academy, and became Zechs Merquise."

A pair of arms, encircled him as Relena reached out to hug him, raising up on her knees, "I love you," she murmured into his ear before pulling back so that he could see her tear-streaked face and she could see his confused one.

"I love you too."

She giggled again, but this time it was a joyful sound laced with true amusement, "I know silly.I think I understand now . . . You will always see me as that little girl, won't you?"

"Does that bother you?"He was only mildly surprised she wasn't upset by the revelation.

"No."And that was that.

A comfortable silence fell upon them once more as they both retreated to their own inner musings, their hands still joined, a physical manifestation of their sibling bond.

"I was never disappointed in you.I was angry and hurt that my vision of you as that little girl who so needed me was crushed.When Duo blurted that you were pregnant . . . I finally realized that you were a woman who didn't need an overprotective brother anymore . . . if you had ever needed me at all."His eyes stared into space, seemingly directed at her yet unseeing.

Relena freed one of her hands to touch his cheek, forcing his eyes to look at her and see her, "I will always need you, brother.You're all I have left."

At those softly spoken words, it seemed as if a dam, which had held back his emotions where she was concerned throughout the years, had broken allowing a tidal wave of relief to sting his eyes and burn his face with its force.Tears coursed down his cheeks, and he suddenly knew that it had all been worth it.All the pain, the anguish he had felt with every step he took, putting more distance between them, had inadvertently led him to this place at this time so that they could be together once more, in peace.

Relena smiled through her own tears as he moved to embrace her, when a memory from a past long forgotten came to the fore of her mind.

"Oh Milli.Boys shouldn't cry."She patted his back sympathetically, relishing the watery laughter that bubbled from his throat.He was remembering too.

"It's always ok to cry Rele.Remember that, ok?"

"Ok," she answered in the smallest, cutest little girl voice she could muster, and suddenly they were laughing in each other's arms, their worries suspended for the moment as they rejoiced in the reestablishment of a connection that had been lost after years of separation.

For the next hour, the brother and sister pair traded stories of their lives, catching up on recent as well as past events.The gap between them was finally being filled, and both felt the stress of the past few weeks draining out of them with each word spoken and each shared emotion.They would have probably stayed there all night, talking, laughing, and crying, getting to know each other better than they ever could only relying on other people's accounts, but Lucrezia interrupted them.

"Zechs?Relena?I've been looking everywhere for you two!"The dark-haired woman ran up to them, a carefully placed mask of the professional soldier molding her features.Zechs Merquise saw through it immediately.

"Is there a problem?"He asked, an identical mask closing off any sign of concern or worry from showing on his face or in his eyes, as he reached down to help his sister to her feet.Relena just glanced from one to the other, knowing something was wrong.

Noin nodded, "Quatre and the others are here.It seems they have some important news regarding --"She broke off and moved her eyes imperceptibly towards Relena.Zechs caught the hint, made apologies to his sister, and nearly ran into the house.

Relena watched after him as Noin took her arm gently to lead her away in the other direction.

"We'll need to tell her," Quatre sighed heavily, not liking this situation one tiny bit.

"I can't ruin her hopes.She can't have this kind of stress now,"Zechs tried to reason, using the baby as an excuse to keep Relena with him.He had just found her, they had just found their sibling connection once more, and now he was going to be forced to give her up again.Why was fate so cruel to them?

"Stress is better than being dead," Wufei put in, and despite how morbid that view was, Zechs couldn't exactly argue with him.

"Well, everything seems to be agreed upon.Now all we have to do is go get her and tell all.Who would like to do the honors?"Duo looked around the room and grinned humorlessly.Everyone looked so down in the dumps.Quatre was slouching in an arm chair, his blonde head bowed in deep thought.Behind him, Wufei leaned against the wall, directly between two large windows, his eyes closed and arms crossed.Meanwhile, Trowa mirrored Wufei on the other side of the room though his eyes were open, the normal blank expression on his face.Zechs looked like he had just lost his entire world.Was he the only one actually willing to go fetch Relena?

"Oh fine, I'll go get her since all of you are too bashful to sneak into a sleeping gal's room hehe."

No one stopped him as he made his way out of the sound proof lounge to the darkened hall.Everyone had gone to bed by now, Lucrezia included since she had an early day -- he checked his watch -- today.Relena had been asleep for nearly three hours.It was almost 1 am.

Creeping up the stairs without a sound, Duo reflected on the future.It didn't look very promising, but he supposed the fact that he had gotten clearance from Hilde ahead of time was a plus.Quatre, of course, would be staying with Dorothy since they would need someone on the inside for the time being and other reasons.He wasn't worried about Trowa since the circus clown had obviously taken his promise to Heero seriously and had no rampaging jealous significant others to worry about.Wufei was the only one who worried him.

The Chinese man had made it perfectly clear that he did not like the plan, he did not like the odds of the plan going off without a hitch, and he did not like Relena.Ok, he never said he didn't like Relena, but Duo wasn't very keen on finding out how they would take to each other.Relena and Wufei both had very strong personalities, and he wasn't going to bet his money that those personalities would mix well in this instance.

In other words, he had a really bad feeling about this.

Entering Relena's bedroom, Duo stealthily approached the bed to awaken its occupant.His hand lowered with the intention of shaking her shoulder gently, but before his fingers were even near her skin, Relena's eyes shot open and stared at him with such fear it made his heart freeze in his chest.

"It's ok Relena.It's me."He gave a sigh of relief when recognition blossomed in her eyes.

"Duo?"

He smiled jovially at the blonde as she sat up, rubbing her eyes with a shaky hand while the other immediately cupped her stomach.

"That's me!We need you downstairs, if you don't mind."

She nodded slightly, her hair falling across her face, shielding her expression from his view.She was still shaking.He wondered what had scared her so badly, but he wasn't about to ask.Nightmares were the least of their worries.

"Don't move," he mouthed silently, sensing a movement behind him.Did these guys ever quit?

*Click*

Guess not.

Looking into blue eyes made navy by the sparse light of the room, Duo smiled at Relena as if to say everything would be ok as long as she left it to him.Then, with nary a warning, his gun was in his hand, the trigger pulled nearly simultaneously as he stretched out an arm in the direction of the would-be assassin, a killing shot.

The thud of a body hitting the ground reached their ears.

With a disdainful expression, Duo allowed the smile to drop as Relena stared back with a look of horror in her eyes, "And that's why we need you downstairs."

"So . . . you guys think it would be best if I went into hiding?"Relena summed up wearily, her head falling back limply to stare up at the vaulted ceiling of the underground conference room she had been lead to an hour ago.

"Basically."

The five men watched her intently as she raised her head to look at them all, a resigned expression on her face.

"What about my job as Vice Foreign Minister?"

Zechs narrowed his eyes at her, knowing she was going to try to find a reason she needed to stay, "I will take over until the threat has passed or the baby's born, whichever comes first."

Relena's eyes took on a calculating look, and the men knew they had better be ready for whatever she threw at them.

"You're not telling me something, and I want to know what it is.You've made this 'ERIS' organization seem rudimentary at best, large numbers without sufficient ammo to back them.They seem to want me dead for all the assassins they've been sending per day, and you fear for my life since you five can't protect me 24/7 the way things stand right now.What would hiding solve?What are their motives?"

No one spoke up to answer her until Quatre sighed rather reluctantly, "Do you mind if I show her?"The question was directed at Zechs who nodded slowly.Relena, who had watched the exchange, felt the nausea that signified her morning sickness twist her stomach into knots of nervousness.

Brandishing a few sheets of paper, Quatre approached her only to kneel at her feet, handing her the papers while explaining, "I received these over a secure channel.Only Heero was allowed to use it, and he was only to access it in the most dire of circumstances."

With a lump in her throat, Relena perused the message slowly, her face getting paler with every word.

"In a nutshell, we don't know who runs ERIS, don't know why they're after you, and don't know who's supplying them.All we really know is that their numbers are larger than we can ever hope to cope with, the majority of the members are either orphans forced to fight or career soldiers who lost their jobs when the war ended and peace took over, and they have a rather expansive following in the Circle."Duo leaned back in his chair after his brief explanation.

"And most of the people working in the mansion are also working for them," Trowa added quietly.

Quatre took hold of a small hand as Relena finished reading Heero's transmission, "We all think it would be safest for you to get as far away from the mansion -- from your enemies -- as soon as possible.I have a small house nestled in a little patch of woods somewhere in Europe that would be perfect for four people trying to hide from civilization."

Relena looked at him, startled, "Four?"

"You, me, Barton, and Maxwell," Wufei bit out, letting her know exactly how much he liked this idea.

At the blonde girl's vaguely perplexed look, Duo grinned, "What?You didn't think we were going to let you go alone, did you?"

"B -- but what about Hilde?And Trowa's job?And Wufei . . . "

Zechs took over from there, "Duo has already talked it over with Hilde, Trowa has taken leave from the circus, and this is Wufei's current assignment.Quatre will watch the Circle for any signs of outright hostility while keeping correspondance with you and helping Lucrezia and I weed out agents within Preventer ranks and the house servants."

Relena's mind was working at the speed of light, searching for a reason that would convince them to throw out this insane plan, and she knew saying she didn't want to go would never work.She had covered their reasons for possibly not following through with this, but she still had one trump card up her sleeve.

"What about the baby?"

"What about it?"Relena shot a reproving glare at Wufei for referring to her child as 'it', but didn't say anything.

"I'll need to see a doctor at least once a month, just to make sure the baby is healthy.In fact, my first appointment is later today.If no one is supposed to know where I am, how in the world will I get the medical attention I may need?"

Of course, they had thought of this.They had thought of everything.

Quatre smiled pleasantly, squeezing the hand he held, "You have a choice:On my monthly visits to see how you guys are getting along, I can bring Sally Po with me so that she can examine you, or you can find a doctor local to the area and visit him under an alias and wearing a disguise."

Relena groaned and buried her face in her hands.It looked like they were dead set on this plan of theirs, and nothing she could say would get her out of it.Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.She could look at it as a vacation.Yes, a nice, long vacation.That's all it was.

"Fine.You've convinced me.When do we leave?"

"In two weeks, and Relena, DO NOT tell anyone.The only people who know are the people in this room, Lady Une, Noin, and Sally.The less people who know is less risk of a leak," Zechs said emphatically, standing.

Sighing rather wearily, Relena stood as well along with Quatre when a strange look overshadowed her face.

"Relena?Hey, you don't look so good . . ." Duo said in concern as Relena rudely pushedQuatre away and ran for the door.

Zechs looked at his watch and shook his head wryly while the Gundam pilots looked on confused and concerned (except for Wufei who just looked indifferent).

"It's about 2am."When that explanation didn't clear away the befuddled expressions, he elaborated, "Her morning sickness attacks every night at about 2am."

Understanding dawned then dread as realization crashed down on the hapless Duo, Trowa, and Wufei.

Relena was pregnant, which meant they would be living with a pregnant woman for the next few months or however long it took to bring down ERIS.

They were going to experience the 'joys' of pregnancy second hand.

Oh boy.