Heero still couldn't figure out why he stayed on the earth or why he even took a job with the Preventers. He knew that having that job he would one day have to face them again. He was sitting at his desk busy typing away on the computer trying to finish up a report on a local hostage situation in which the armed man was shot and killed in order to save the hostages. He took notice someone was standing in the doorway watching him. Heero didn't even bother to look at his visitor he knew who it was. 

"That sure is one hell of a familiar sight. Oh by the way you left this behind that night." 

Heero herd a loud clank on his desk. He glanced over to see the grappling tool that he used that night. Not even looking over at HIM Heero went right back to work on the report. 

"Quite a fancy little device there." Duo made his way into Heero's office and decided to take a seat near the desk. "Tried it out myself. We could have used something like that a few years ago." Duo sighed when he got the old familiar response, nothing but silence. "Heero, we really need to talk."

Heero stopped typing so he could reach down with his right hand to open the top draw of his desk. He reached in and pulled out his gun and placed it on the desk facing Duo. He then continued typing never once looking at Duo. It was a warning that he was not in the mood to strike up a conversation with him.

"Fine I understand." Duo stood up and started to leave. "There is one thing that you should know. You have no damn right to be mad at her Heero. It's not like she was cheating on you." then he left.

He knew what Duo just said was true and it took him a week to figure that out. He did have no right to be mad at Relena. He never told her how he felt. He never told her that he was leaving and would be back one day. How could he have expected her to have known? He never gave her a reason to wait for him. He should have known that she could have fallen in love with someone else. And he knew that he still loved her and he had only himself to blame for loosing that love. Himself and Duo. Duo the only person that he told how he felt about her. Duo the man that promised that he would look out for her while he was gone. His ex best friend who betrayed him. There was a knock at the door that broke his concentration. He looked up at the doorway and a small smirk crossed his face. "Zechs." Zechs walked into Heero's office closing the door behind him. 

Relena sat in her office staring out the window. Tonight was her nineteenth birthday party. Something that she wasn't looking forward to. She still couldn't believe what happened that night Heero came to her room. 'Of all the days or nights that you could have come back to me it had to be that night. I didn't want you to find out that way' she thought. The look that was in his eyes that night haunted her every thought. There was a mixture of hurt, shock, and anger in his eyes. 'Why am I hurting that you saw us together? Why should I care? You never loved me. But why were you even there that night Heero? What were you up to?' 

"Miss Relena."

Relena looked away from the window "Lacrezia! When did you get here?"

Noin smiled. "Millardo wanted to be here for your party tonight. Relena, you really need to come out and see how your terraforming project is going. Mars is very beautiful."

Relena made her way over to Noin and hugged her "I have been meaning to get away for awhile and I miss the both of you so much. Where is Millardo?" 

"He went over to Preventer Headquarters."

Relena motioned for them to both sit down at a small couch in the office. "Why?"

"He just wanted to check on the security for you party."

There was a knock on the door followed by a familiar voice.

"Come in Duo." Relana smiled as she seen him walk into the room. 

Duo looked over at Relena's guest " Hello Miss Noin." 

Relena took notice that Duo looked over worked. "Are you ok Duo?"

Duo made his way over to a chair nearby and plopped down.. "Relena, I spoke to Heero today."

Relena looked at him with shock "You did. What did he say?" 

Duo waved his hand "Oh the usual. Nothing but silence followed by a death threat."

Relana stared at her hands "Duo what are we going to do?"

"What's going on?" Noin asked in concern.

"Nothing!" both Relena and Duo managed to get out at the same time. Both of their faces flushed.

Later that night the ballroom of the Darlian mansion was filled with people. Relena was wearing a sparkling silver dress that stopped just above the knees with spaghetti straps and a open back. Her hair was done up in a French twist with a few strands of hair curled around her face. She walked over to a table with familiar faces. "Hello everyone." 

"Hello Relena you look very lovely tonight." said Quatre.

Trowa nodded his head "Quite some party." 

"Yes I was dreading this night. I knew it would be packed with people. I'm starting to feel claustrophobic." Relena giggled. Which made Quatre an Trowa smile.

"So where is Wufei and Duo?" asked Quatre.

"Wufei and Sally are on duty tonight they are somewhere around here. And Duo.."

"I'm right here." Duo said as he snaked his arms around Relena's waist and pulled her against him and planted a kiss on her neck. "Hi Quatre, Trowa." They both showed some shock on their faced at what he did to Relena, but they both smiled. 

Wufei and Sally made their way over the group. They were both in Preventer uniforms.  "Hay Maxwell. Didn't I tell you that one day he would be back and that you should leave his woman alone." Wufei crossed his arms and smirked. Sally smacked Wufei on the back. Duo felt his eye twitch at the sound of Wufei's voice. 

Every day, form the day the Wufei first found out about him and Relena, he would tease Duo saying that when Heero found out about them he would inflicting very painful torture on him before he would be kind enough to just kill him. . If Wufei ever knew the truth then he would never shut up.

"What are you talking about now?" Duo looked over at Wufei to see that he was pointing somewhere. Duo and everyone at the table turned to see what he was pointing at. There stood Heero in his uniform. He had just escorted Lady Une into the ballroom Duo could feel Relena stiffen his his arms. All watched as Zechs made his way over to greet Lady Une. He then turned and started to talk to Heero. Heero would nod at a few things that Zechs said and in return Heero would exchange a few words. Relena broke the embrace with Duo.

"I'll be back. Stay here Duo." Duo nodded at her as she made her way over to her brother and Heero. Zechs smiled as she approached and took her hand. She then managed to look at Heero their eyes meeting.  "Hello Heero."

Heero felt his heart beat faster when he saw her coming toward them. God she looks so beautiful. He had seen Duo and Relena standing together his arms wrapped around her. She looked so happy in his arms. "Relena." he said in his emotionless voice.

Relena was shocked that he even said anything to her so she decided to push him to talk to her. "Heero would you care to stay and enjoy the party. Everyone is here and would like to see you."

"I have a assignment that I have to leave for." Heero said in the same cold voice He then nodded at Zechs who did the same in return "Goodbye Relena." he then turned and left the party. 

Zechs watched Relana as she watched Heero leave the ballroom. She looked so sad and hurt. "What's wrong Relana I thought for sure that you would be happy to see him."

Relena buried her face in his chest trying to fight back the tears "It's a long story that I don't want to discuss." She pulled away from him. "I have guests to get back to." she then walked back over to Duo and hugged him. She was flooded with questions from Duo wanting to know what Heero said to her. 

A very confused Zechs was staring at the whole scene between the two of them. He took notice that Noin had made her way over to him. "How long has that been going on?"

She shrugged her shoulders "My guess is as good as yours."

Heero watched them from a corner of the room. Zechs had asked him earlier that day if he could secretly keep a eye out for Relena that night. And like always he agreed to protect her. He didn't leave his spot as the party progressed. His eyes were always scanning the crowed and always coming back to rest on Relena. He watched as Duo let her out to the dance floor for a slow dance. Duo held her close to him he was whispering things in her ear and Relena would laugh at whatever he said.  Her smile brightened her face making her look even more radiant. Heero imagined that he was in Duo's place. It should have been him. If he didn't screw up so damn bad. He hadn't even taken notice that the dance had ended and Duo made his way over to the table where Quatre and Trowa sat. Relena made her way over to the table where Zechs and Noin sat. Heero was finally snapped back into reality when there was a scream that echoed threw out the ballroom followed by gunshots. People started to panic and run everywhere looking for cover. Heero's eyes scanned to floor for Relena. He finally found her at the table with Zechs who had just flipped the table on the side and pushed Relena down. 

Zechs looked over at the corner of the room where he knew Heero was supposed to be. He saw Heero leap down from where he was hiding and start to make his way out into the crowed. 

Heero made his around the hectic ballroom counting the men to see what his odds were going to be.  He counted at least eight gunmen Looking around the room he saw that Quatre and Trowa had flipped a table over as well. He then glanced over at Duo who had pulled a gun out and stood up to take aim. 'Stupid son of a bitch.' Heero thought as he ran over to where Duo was and pushed him down after Duo had got a shot off and got the attention of three gunmen in the room  

Duo looked up to see who pushed him down only to see Heero standing there firing back at them. He grabbed him and pulled him down to the floor next to him. "What are you trying to do get yourself killed Heero!" he shouted at him. 

Heero smirked at him. 

"Your crazy you know that!"  Duo yelled,  "Why in the hell did you push me down?"

"Relena would be sad if you got hurt, or even got killed because of your stupidity." 

"You think that she would be any happier if you died!" Duo snapped back.

Heero glanced back over to where Zechs, Noin and Relena were. "Stay down Duo." He then made his way over to their table.

Duo watched Heero work his way over to the table where Relena was. He felt something on his hands that was wet and sticky. Duo glanced down at his hands and saw blood on them. "Heero."

"Where in the hell have you been Yuy." Zechs yelled as he got close enough to them. Relena looked over at Heero their eyes locking for a second. She could have sworn that there was relief in his eyes. "Get her the hell out of here and wait at the location that we planned." Heero nodded and grabbed Relena by the wrist pulling her against his body.

"Don't let go of my hand Relena.,î he whispered into her ear. She could feel his heart racing against her hand that managed to land on his chest. She nodded her head then they made a break for it. Heero hadn't even taken three steps when he felt two shots hit him in left shoulder. He felt a wave of pain shoot threw his shoulder he dropped his gun out of his right hand to grab onto his shoulder and let go of Relena's hand.

"Heero!" Relena screamed.

Duo herd Relena scream out Heero's name and turned to check on them. "Quatre! Trowa! We need a distraction for Heero to get Relena out of here." both of them nodded at Duo and started to open fire on the gunmen. .

Heero took notice of the break that Quatre, Trowa and Duo gave them. He reached down for his gun only to find it in Relena's hand. He snatched it from her and grabbed her forcefully by the wrist. He kicked in a near by door and took off with her down the hall. The screaming and gunshots from the ballroom could still be herd from down the long hallway. Zechs had shown Heero a passageway in the old blueprints on the house earlier that day. There was a underground bunker that was built under the house. Heero was to take her there and wait until Une or Zechs came to get them after it was safe to bring her back out. Earlier that day he had checked out the bunker to make sure that it would be safe. Once they reached were the passageway was he stopped and pushed as hard as he could to get the wall to swing open. He moved to let Relena in first. She had a total look of shock on her face. She had never known that the passage way was even there. She moved forward and they made their way down the dark passage way.

Once they reached the room there was a light already on. There room had layers of dust on everything. There were a few chairs a chest and a bed. Only one lamp lit up the room giving just enough light to see. Relena stood in the middle of the room and rubbed her hands on her bare arms it was quite chilly in the room. Heero sat down in one of the chairs that was close the lamp and placed his gun on the table. It hurt like hell to move his left arm. He used his right hand to start to remove his his uniform jacket. He knew that he had to take a look at the gunshot wounds. He started to slip it off his his left shoulder, the pain that followed was unbearable and he let out a small cry.

Relena stopped staring at her surroundings when she herd Heero. She started to make her way over to him when he looked at her and shot her a look that made her stop in her tracks. He clearly didn't want her help. She watched as he struggled to get the jacket off. That is when she decided not to take any crap from him. She was going to help him even if he didn't want it. She walked over to him and bent down to rest on her knees between his legs. "Let me help."

"I don't need it." he snapped at her.

She didn't accept his reply. She reached up and took the sleeve on his right side and pulled it off of his arm. She didn't look at him. If she would have she would have seen the fire in his eyes start to burn out. "Lean forward." He did as she asked and she slid the jacket from behind him. She then looked at him before she pulled it off of his left arm. He nodded at her and she tried gently to pull if off. His face stiffed up she could tell that he was trying to fight the urge to show how much pain he was really in. Once the jacket was off she seen that the white t-shirt that he was wearing under the jacket was soaked with blood where he had been shoot. Heero set to work on checking his wounds. "How many times were you shot?" Heero didn't answer her. He had his eyes closed and seemed to have passed out. Relena placed a hand on his cheek "Heero." His eyes shot open. He glared at her sending shivers up her spine. 

Heero used his right hand and ripped his shirt down the middle. "I need to get a good look at my shoulder. I need your help getting this off." 

Relena nodded and helped him to remove his shirt. She felt her body starting to burn as she brushed her hands and fingers against his chest while working his shirt off. She stood up to move it from behind his back. Her heart started to beat faster and faster. She has always wanted to see Heero like this and more. She felt her cheeks turn hot from thinking about him that way especially when she was involved with Duo. She tried to hide her flushed face from him.

Heero breathed in her sent when she leaned forward to pull his shirt out from behind him. He followed her spine down her small back. Watching the way that her muscles moved. He so badly wanted to reach out, to touch her. She then backed away from him. That is when he took notice she was blushing. 

When Relena pulled away from Heero she was able to get a good look at his wounds. From the looks of it he was shot at least three times. One was just a graze on the arm and wasn't bleeding anymore. The two on his chest and shoulder didn't look like they would stop bleeding anytime soon. The one on his shoulder was by far the worse. "Heero how bad is it."

"Not that bad."

"Heero Yuy for once in your life could you at least be honest with me!" That's when he started to laugh. A look a shock and hurt crossed her face. Never in her life would she have ever expected to get that sort of reaction out of him. Let alone for him to be laughing at her. She started to feel tears build up in her eyes. 

When he seen the look on her face he quickly cupped her face in his right hand and gently pulled her toward him. Their faces only inches apart. "Relena I'm sorry I wasn't laughing at you. It's just that....(He sighed) you want me to be honest fine. It's not good. I'm...." he trailed off and let his hand slid down from her face. 

Relena seen that the spark in his eyes was gone. They seemed empty all life starting to drain from them. She took his hand in hers. He held her hand tightly. "Heero tell me how bad it is please! How can I help you?" she pleaded with him. His closed his eyes and his hand slackened his hold on hers. She knew that he had lost consciousness. She gently shook him to try to wake him. "Heero wake up please. Heero I need to know what to do." She couldn't wake him there was only one thing that she could think of. Relena raised her hand and slapped Heero across the face with all the might that she could put behind it. He quickly opened his eyes. 

"What the hell do you think that youíre doing?" he snapped at her.

"I couldn't wake you Heero it was the only thing that I could think of. I need you to tell me what to do to help you." He seemed to have drifted off again. "Heero!"

"I'm just thinking." he looked up at her wanting to take in her beauty. He knew that he was loosing to much blood. It was getting harder and harder to keep his mind focused. His sight was becoming blurry and he was becoming more and more tired by the minute. He watched her walk and grab a chair on the other side of the table and push it in front of Heero so she could sit down. She again asked how she could help. "We need to stop the bleeding."

"What?" 

Heero took her left hand in his right and placed it on his chest where his wound was. "Put as much pressure here that you can." She nodded her head and placed both hands on his chest and pushed. He knew that it was probably to late but it would keep her busy at the time. And he started to feel some sort of comfort with the fact of knowing that if he took his last breath of air she would be here with him. And he made himself promise that he would tell her the truth as to why he went to her room that night when he knew that his time was definitely near. 

She started to feel nauseous when she felt his blood start to poor threw her fingers. It seemed as thought the wound was never going to stop bleeding no matter how long or hard she pressed on it. That is when a feeling of dread started wash threw her. She knew he was loosing to much blood. There was no way that he could live through this unless they got help. But she knew that no matter what Heero wouldn't take the risk of her getting hurt just save his life. She knew that here in this room Heero was going to die.

He knew that Duo would take good care of her. They did seem to be very happy together but for now he wanted to be as close to her as possible when he died. Heero leaned forward and rested his head on her shoulder. He actions surprised both himself and Relena. He knew that she understood. He could tell that she knew that he was getting tired. 

Relena pulled her hands away from his chest and pulled him tighter into her arms. She knew that he wanted to be near her and she wanted to comfort him. She soon took notice that she was rocking him gently and running her fingers threw his hair. She didn't care about the blood that was on her hands of the fact that her dress was now completely ruined. She was so happy to be able to hold him like this. She just wished that it wasn't under these circumstances. What seemed like ages she looked down at his face to see him resting. His face was so calm like all the pain vanished. Maybe it was because she was with him and holding him that he was at peace or maybe he was waiting for his time to leave this world. She closed her eyes and held him closer to her. 

Relena woke up a short time later. 'How could I have fallen asleep' she mentally shouted at herself. She glanced down at Heero. He had broken out in a sweat and was rambling. She cold make out a few words from time to time, but what she heard next hurt her. "Duo........you knew....... Relena........ why........ Duo I love her...... please look after her....... I love you, Relena."

He was silent once more. Relena broke down in tears. She had tried to be strong for herself and for him. She understood now why he came that night and why he hit Duo. He loved her. She had always dreamed of him one day saying those words to her and here he was dying. She just wished that he could have been awake to say it to her. She tightened the embrace she had on him. It was very uncomfortable sitting in the chair for as long as she has but she was not going to let him go. She gently kissed his forehead.

"I love you to Heero. I will always love you no matter who I am with." She again closed her eyes never wanting to let him go.