CHAPTER IV- A Chance Encounter

"And you are making sure she doesn't have ANY strawberries?" Relena asked nervously as Hilde smiled back with equal nervousness.

"Absolutely."

"Oh, and Hilde, there's something I forgot to mention."

"What, Relena?" Hilde probed cautiously.

"It's just that Sidra is really intrigued by cooking, but she always manages to have kitchen disasters. I suggest you keep her away form any form of home appliance, for it can only end badly."

Hilde's smile was REALLY forced now, "Okay, thanks Relena."

The important diplomat sighed stretched her neck, "It's a shame Sidra's always out or asleep when I call."

Hilde fiddled carefully with a knob under the consul of the the video screen, out of Relena's view, "Relena, we seem to be breaking up, I'll call you later."

Relena's face was creased into a frown as the screen fuzzed with bursts of static, "Okay, Hilde, I'll see you-"

The blue-haired woman quickly severed the connection. Sighing she got up and called down the stairs to where Duo sat watching a football game, "Oh Duo-hon, we have a slight problem..."

Sunlight on skin. Warm, clean sheets. Such luxury. Heero sighed cheerfully and buried his face deeper in the bedclothes, absorbing the delicious scents of soap, bleach, and....burning bacon?

"Rise and shine!" came a piping voice, and Heero tried to place where he had heard it before.

Oh yeah. The kid.

Wearily, he opened one eye. Hey, he had been up late cleaning. He was tired. There she was, beaming so hard her face looked like it would break from the strain. He let out a half growl half sigh and pushed himself up.

Sidra shoved the plate in his hands and Heero looked upon the burnt dish nervously. Had he forgotten to wash a plate?

"Well?" she demanded, "Aren't you going to eat it?"

Apprehension shocked through the soldier and he looked up at his beautiful, spotless kitchen, and he promptly let out a groan. Food was splattered everywhere, and the microwave was making a curious hissing sound.

"Uncle Heero?"

"Okay," he muttered, probing the rubbery mix of black and yellow and red curiously, "I'm eating it."

She danced around, overjoyed.

"No, we are NOT going to play here anymore, Sidra," Heero demanded, "We are going OUT."

The little girl had planted her feet in the middle of the room, eyes full of hurt and despair, "But I like it here."

"You wrecked my kitchen. I have to go buy a new microwave," Heero pointed out heartlessly.

She sniffled, and tears welled up in those eyes of hers, eyes just like her mother's, "I wrecked it?" she ran to him and hugged his legs, "I'm sorry! Mommy said the same thing!"

Heero sighed. So the little devil had done it before.

He knelt down. This is your only daughter, Heero. This is your only week in your life to be with her, "Sidra, it's not your fault. We just need to go buy new appliances. Will you do that? Will you do me that favor?"

She smiled slightly too quickly, "Of course, Uncle Heero!"

But he forgot about her feigned sadness when she embraced him lovingly.

"What do you mean, take a day off?" Relena demanded.

The noble man sighed as he looked at the Foreign Minister, "Senator Hawthrone fell down a set of stairs and broke his leg. We're giving him a day off to rest before we resume. There's no point to hold the meeting if the chief representative of the lunar colonies is not there."

She smiled at him, the same kind of smile that her daughter was flashing at Heero at the exact same time, "I suppose I had better take the day off then!"

She practically skipped out of the building and back to her hotel, where she changed into more casual clothes. She would do some shopping, maybe get her hair trimmed....

And she was blissfully unaware that her child and her ex-lover were currently exploring the exact same city, searching desperately for a kitchen appliance store.

"What about this one?" Sidra asked carefully, pushing her unruly hair out of her eyes as she pointed to the microwave on display. Heero had taken great care to brush the girl's hair before they had left, but somewhere between his apartment and the road, the dark brown hair had reverted to its naturally disorderly state. Just like his.

He was also experiencing incredible stomach cramps, but, having been trained to endure immense amounts of pain, he decided he could ignore it. Besides, seeing Sidra's ecstatic face as he consumed her 'breakfast' had been worth it. He hoped.

"No, Sidra, I am NOT buying a yellow microwave."

She reached up for the brochure besides the product, "But it also comes in red, green, orange, pink, and purple if you don't like lellow."

"Yellow, not 'lellow.'"

She giggled, "LE-LLOW!"

"Yellow," he demanded, "Say it properly, or no one will understand you."

She gave him a blank look, "But you did, so people obviously do."

She turned and left the conversation with her normal grace. She strolled the store liked she owned it, even though she couldn't look over any of the counters. Heero reminded himself what a gift she was, and relaxed his tense frustration as being out-thought by a six-year old.

"Did you know my mommy, Uncle Heero?" she asked when he had caught up with her.

Now how had she picked up that interesting tidbit of information?

Relena was strolling idly through a mall near her hotel when a familiar yell snuck into her hearing.

"LE-LLOW!"

Was that Sidra's voice? No it couldn't? Could it? She turned followed the sound to a white store, where kitchen devices were put up on display.

No, it couldn't be.... but she recognized the child motioning to a yellow microwave with instinctive maternal knowing. That, and the fact only one other person in the universe could have that kind of ridiculous hair.

And, ironically, that one other person was standing right next to her daughter.

She did a double take. Yes, that was most certainly Heero Yuy.

And her mind spiraled back suddenly to the time when she and Heero Yuy had been more than friends.

(A/N: Flashback chapter comes next, and we get our first reencounter. Will Heero survive?)