The rest of the week the conference flew by quickly. Heero did his best to avoid all eye contact with Relena or Michael. From time to time he would steal a quick glimpse of her, only to see that she was watching him. Heero believed that he had impressed the L1 colony delegate and maybe something could defiantly be worked out with them.

After the final meeting was called to a close Heero was eager to get the hell off of the planet again. He quickly headed back to his hotel room. Once reaching his room he looked over his bags that he packed early that morning. He smiled when he saw that Duo was fast asleep on his bed. He walked over and grabbed his shoulder shaking him. 

"Duo get up."

Duo opened his eyes and rubbed them. "What time is it?"

"After two. My flight leaves soon."

Duo climbed out of bed and walked toward the bathroom. "Heero you better wait for me?"

Heero walked toward the door and stopped. "I'll be down in the lobby."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heero sat his bags down and sat in a chair facing the elevators waiting for Duo. They both had decided to leave around the same time so they could say their goodbyes. Duo finally arrived a short time later dragging his bags behind him.

"Heero you sure that you want to leave. Isn't that big ball tonight for the delegates?" 

Heero was going threw his one of his bags making sure that he didn't leave anything. "Yes, and I have a long flight. I just want to get away from all of this. And I'm going to have endless questions when I get back, from the colony counsel and from Chris."

"Chris?" Duo looked over at him. 

Heero looked up from the bag. "I never mentioned him?" Duo just stared at him. "Chris is a lot like you but nosier and he never seems to run out of questions. The man never shuts up unless he's eating. I've even heard that he talks in his sleep. But he's a good friend. And I can rely on him." Heero started to rummage through his bag again.

"It's good to know that you didn't shut yourself out up there. I think that I'll just have to make a trip out there one of these days and meet your new friend." Duo was smirking thinking about Heero's friend and all that they could discuss about Heero. "He must have some very interesting stories about you."

Heero looked back up from the bag. "If you ever get out there I would advise you now not believe everything Chris says."

Duo was amused. "So he's a liar then?"

Heero shook his head. "No, he's a over exaggerator at times. Especially when it comes to things that involve me."

Duo watched as Heero's face went blank. He was lost in thought. "Looking for this." Duo held the key to the hotel room between his fingers and was waving it. Heero snatched it from his hand and Duo started to snicker. "I can't believe that you actually misplaced something."

Heero stood up and gave Duo a small glare. "I'll be back." He then walked over to front desk to turn the key in. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Duo."

Duo turned to see Relena standing behind him. He offered her a smile. "Relena."

"Are the two of you leaving?" She had her arms crossed and seemed nervous.

Duo glanced over at Heero to see that he was still busy. "Yah, Heero's flight takes off soon, and I didn't want to stick around without him. Besides I need to get back to work before Hilde kills me."

Relena smiled then she hugged Duo. "I'm worried Duo. I said something to Heero that I regret now. I can't get the thought out of my head that he must hate me."

Duo tightened his embrace and pulled back to look into her eyes. "Relena, if Heero hates you then the war never ended. Besides I know he doesn't hate you so get that thought out of your mind." 

Heero had turned his key in and had made sure that there were no extra charges on his hotel stay. He turned to walk back to Duo when he saw that he was hugging Relena and talking to her. He froze there and remembered the last time that he saw them like that. 

Relena buried her face into Duo's chest. "Thank you Duo. I don't know what I would do if I still didn't have you as a friend to talk to. I'm also glad that you and Heero were able to get past your differences."

"Relena I will always be a call away you know that."

They both herd someone clear their throat and the both turned to see Heero standing next to them. Both Duo and Relena pushed away from each other. 

Duo smiled at Heero "I was just about to tell Relena about me and Hilde." 

Heero bent down and picked up his bags. "The rides here Duo."

"All right I'll be there in a minute." Duo watched as Heero walked away from them.

Relena crossed her arms as she watched Heero. "See what I mean."

Duo looked at her. "Relena you can believe me when I said that Heero doesn't hate you. He can't hate you because he loves you." Relena looked at Duo. "He loves you Relena. He loves you enough to know that you are happy and that is all that he wants for you, even if itís not with him. He's staying away from you because he doesn't want to hurt you anymore."

Relena walked over and sat down in a chair nearby. Duo crouched down beside her and took her hand in his. He sensed that she didn't want to discuss it anymore so he changed the subject. He could see that she was hiding back the tears that were forming in her eyes "Hay I have some good news. Hilde and I are going to get married."

She looked at him and smiled. "Oh Duo, I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks. I'm glad that youíre happy yourself. You deserve every ounce of happiness that comes your way.î Duo looked out the large windows to check on Heero. "Relena I really hate to run but Heero looks like he is ready to leave me here."

She reached out and placed a hand on his cheek. "I understand. We'll have time to talk later. Tell Heero goodbye for me and the two of you have a safe trip."

Duo nodded. "I will." He grabbed his bags and looked at her one last time before walking away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Duo threw his bags in the trunk of the car and opened the door to stare at Heero who had his arms crossed and his eyes closed. "Heero." He reached in the car and shook him. "Heero." Heero looked up at him. "Relena believes that with the way that you have been acting around her the past few days that you hate her. I told her otherwise but I think that she would believe if the words came from your mouth."

Heero glanced back over toward the lobby. "I don't have time Duo my flight leaves in a half hour."

Duo climbed into the car and sat down. "Don't leave her like this Heero. At least say goodbye to her."

Heero looked at Duo, his eyes were filled with so much intensity that seemed to say Do it Heero or you are going to blow any possibility for you again. Heero looked back at the lobby and stepped out of the car. He saw the smile on Duo's face as he started to walk back into the Hotel. She was still sitting in the same chair that she had sat down in while talking to Duo. Heero slowly made his way over to her and sat down in the chair next to her. 

Relena glanced over to see who sat next to her. She was totally shocked to see Heero staring at her. "Heero."

"Duo told me that you are upset with me." He watched as she tried to hide the fact that she was drying her eyes from the tears that she let slip by. "I didn't mean to hurt you. It seems as though everything that I do always winds up hurting you."

"No Heero, it was I that hurt myself this time. You were only acting on....your emotions." She watched as a small smile crossed his face.

"I'm happy for you Relena. But I....."

"I understand you have your flight to catch." She stood up followed by Heero. "Take care of yourself Heero." She started to walk away from him when he suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist.

"Don't act like that around me Relena."

"What are you talking about?" She had seen something in his eyes that she never saw before. Something that made her knees weak.

"Youíre throwing you mask in front of me hoping that I will believe youíre happy." 

She yanked her hand out of his grasp. "I am happy!" she snapped at him.

"If you're so happy, then why were you all worked up over the fact that you thought that I hated you few minutes ago? I saw your tears. Don't you dare treat me like someone who doesn't know you and would believe you little act. If youíre so happy with him then why should you care about my feelings for you?" She took a step back from him. 

"Because I care for you Heero. And the thought of not having you in my life is still hurting me." She again tried to walk away from him. This time when he grabbed her wrist he pulled her against his body. She felt her heart skip a beat when she saw the look in his eyes. The look that he wanted her, needed her. She could feel his heart racing just as fast as hers. Heero quickly kissed he,r shocking her with his actions. 

It was a short, but very sweet kiss, but he pushed away from her just as quickly as he claimed her lips with his own. They stood staring at each other not paying attention to the fact that they drew an audience. And amongst the audience stood a man with pure thoughts of hatred running through his mind for the man standing by his Relena.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have. I have to go Relena." Heero quickly started to walk away from her.

"Heero! Please don't walk away from me."

He stopped and looked back at her. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me." He then left the building getting into the car that was waiting for him. 

And Relena watched as Heero left her life again for a third time.