CHAPTER II- Reunited

Relena screamed.

"Don't move, the shooting hasn't ended yet," a gruff voice commanded from somewhere above her.

She froze. Could it be?

"Heero?" she tried to twist and see his face.

"Stay down!"

Shots continued to ring out above the melee as the crowd screamed and panicked in their attempts to disperse. Finally, the firing ended as the Preventers overtook the lighting boxes.

Still cautious in case of another attack, Heero wrapped his arms around Relena's waist and rolled off stage and into the curtains.

"Is she okay?" Trowa asked as Heero and Relena untangled from each other. He had his gun drawn and his feet were poised in a battle stance.

Heero stood up and then helped pull her back to her feet. He did his best to ignore her.

"She's fine. How quickly can we get her to the docking port?"

Trowa rose a hand in warning and put his finger to his ear he listened closely and then looked up , "Ariel Yuy has already left the building, and the assassins have been apprehended. She'll probably feel cornered and desperate to finish her job. You know that Ariel has influence in every business on L1. Where ever Relena appears, Ariel will have people to finish the job."

Relena narrowed her eyes, very composed for someone who had just been shot at and had lost a husband, "So, I'm stuck here?"

"Major Po suggests we find somewhere to lay low at until they interrogate the assassins and get grounds to detain Ariel Yuy."

"So, where are we going?" Relena asked, brushing off her dress and trying to retain an appearance of neatness.

"My place," Heero growled, his eyes warning his friend to say a word against it, "We'll take everyone we need to protect the first lady. Last time Ariel tried to spy on me, I had her henchmen arrested. She won't go looking for me."

Trowa picked up his transmitter and spoke rapidly into it. He looked back up to Heero and Relena, "The plan has been approved. Let's get you out of her, Relena."

The first lady looked over to Heero and then to Trowa. She bit her lip and nodded.

What was she getting herself into?

Wufei Chang was not a patient man. So, as he paced in front of the man dressed in black, his frustration could be seen in the way he pounded his feet on the floor.

He did not recognize the apprehended assassin that was chained to the chair, but Relena would have. She would have because this man had also been responsible for the death of a man named Peygan, her close friend and butler.

"Who hired you?" Wufei finally spat. His eyes burned with internal fire, his accent thick and heavy with anger.

Wufei touched the katana at his belt, "The tattoo on your left shoulder implies you are part of the Scarab Clan. They are high profile assassins. They know exactly who they work for, or they don't take the job."

"Maybe I do know who they were, but they never actually told me."

Wufei grabbed the man by the collar, "Don't you dare be evasive with me, man! Have you no honor? Have you no pride?"

"I have both of those things," the assassin said calmly, "Which is why I cannot disclose any names."

Wufei let go and stepped back, "You will regret that later, my enemy, you will regret that later."

He turned on his heel and left as a plan began to form in his mind.

Heero unlocked the door carefully, letting Trowa and Relena in with marked caution. It was already past curfew for the colony because the three had spent the past hours taking the most convoluted route back to his home to sway anyone, media and assassins alike, from following them.

Heero paused to remove his shoes, and Relena followed suit, well used to adjusting to the customs of different areas. It took Trowa slightly longer to notice what the others were doing before he too kicked off his footwear.

Heero muttered a curse and stumbled up the stairs to Tyrone's room. The boy was sitting up in his futon, balling up the blankets nervously, "Tyrone, what is it?"

"Where were you?"

"Gomen, I had work to do."

"Work?"

"Yes. I brought two people to stay with us. You mustn't mention to anyone that they're here, do you understand?"

"Yes, Heero."

"What's wrong?"

"I had the dream again…that Doctor J was still alive and that I was…I was…"

Relena had followed Heero to the room and slid the door open a little farther so she could see. She was still wearing her dress, torn and mussed as it was, and her hair had escaped its styling. Blood had splattered her from when President Wayridge had been shot, and Heero was speckled as well.

But in the artificial moonlight, she was radiant.

Tyrone's mother had been blonde as well. She had dark eyes, however, and was plumper, but Tyrone had forgotten that. All he remembered about his mother was that she was female and loving.

Everything else didn't matter.

So, when he looked past Heero to the radiant creature that was watching them, it was not surprising that his eyes widened, "Motyuer?"*

Heero jerked his head up in surprise, and Relena creased her brow and asked in Japanese, "What did you say?"

Relena's Japanese had a very faint accent that made it sound very pretty, but she could not speak quickly in the language, so it took Tyrone a moment to get used to the different rhythm, "Are you my mother?"

His face was desperate, so Relena allowed herself into the room and sat on by the futon beside Heero, her eyes capturing Tyrones' with their force and magnificence, "No, I'm not. I'm just a friend."

He smiled at her and reached out for her hand. She took it. He leaned against Heero sleepily, "You're beautiful."

Relena gave him one of her radiant smiles that made your breath catch, "Thank you."

Heero never imagined that he would be jealous of an eight-year old. When the boy drifted off into slumber once again, the two stood up.

They were nervous around each other, not knowing what to expect.

"You can have my futon tonight. I'll buy you a real one tomorrow," he said in Japanese, but he could have said it in English, or Russian,** and they would have understood each other. They did not need words to express themselves to each other.

"Where will you sleep?" she blushed as she said this, but in the darkness, Heero didn't notice.

"I will use a sleeping bag, and Trowa will have the couch."

"I see. I'm sorry for disrupting your life like this again." Relena said gently.

He lifted a hand to touch her, but pulled it away. It was too soon.

"You will never disrupt my life, Relena," he whispered, and then led Relena to his room and gave her a shirt and a pair of boxers. They were silent, but then, they had never actually needed words before.

"Good night," he said softly, and exited the room.

The first lady of the ESUN changed in the darkness, washed her face in the nearby bathroom, and lowered herself onto the thin mattress. She was enveloped in the spicy, musky scent of her lover. She was wearing his clothes, sleeping on the sheets upon which he slept, and he was not with her. She pulled the pillow to her chest and hugged it as if would ease the emptiness in her heart.

Tomorrow she would take a long bath and try and wash off the confusion that had captured her soul.

*Motyuer=Mother in Russian

**I'm assuming that Russian is the official language of the Sanc Kingdom. Seeing as the Sanc Kingdom is located in Eastern Europe, I'm pretending that it used to be a Russian provinence, which would explain why it doesn't exist in current times.