Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Caged Doves ❯ A Cold Nest and A Warm Heart ( Chapter 6 )

Hiya! I'm back with another chapter! ::Yay! Two chapters in two weeks!:: I hope you all like it. ^_~

 

Standard Disclaimers Apply: I don't own Gundam Wing or it's characters. I just abuse them a little and send them back a little worse for wear. I am making absolutely NOTHING off of this, so please don't sue me; dirt and dustbunnies don't go far. Trust me.

 

Caged Doves-Chapter 6: A Cold Nest and A Warm Heart

 

 

Loni licked at lips suddenly gone dry. `I couldn't have been this wrong about Heero, could I?' But, staring down the barrel of Heero's 9mm to stare into steady blue eyes, suddenly she wasn't so sure.

 

Heero motioned ever so slightly away from the door with his gun. Loni took the hint, stepping further into the room and away from the door, her only way of escape. She watched as Heero moved to the door, stepping sideways to keep her in his sights, and shut it with a sickening thud of finality.

 

Heero visibly relaxed then, lowering his gun and leaning lightly against the door. Loni didn't know what to think. She licked her lips again.

“So…you're not gonna shoot me, Mr. Yuy?”

 

Heero looked up at her with something akin to shock. Then he looked down at the gun he was still holding and swore. “Dammit!” He holstered the piece quickly. “I'm not about to shoot you, Miss Loni. I just needed to get you up here so I could talk to you.”

 

Loni arched an eyebrow. “The kitchen wouldn't have sufficed?”

 

Heero gave her a wry look before glancing out the window at Fayet's car. “No, I'm afraid not. I don't know if I've been bugged and this was the only room in the house that I knew for certain that we could talk plainly.”

 

That got both brows raised and the starts of a grin. “You did the security here personally. You knew Miss `Lena's room was bug-proof. I knew it!” She smiled brightly. “So I wasn't wrong about you! So what's really going on?”

 

Heero knew he could talk candidly with Loni and that she could take the truth without hysterics. It was one of the reasons he had approved of her application with the purchase of the house. He decided to lay it all out for her.

“Relena was kidnapped this morning from in front of Preventers' Headquarters. Only, the kidnapper claims he didn't take her forcibly, and that, in fact, she asked to be taken away. So I must ask you, Miss Loni; Has Relena been talking about leaving or quitting her job recently?”

 

Heero watched as Loni absorbed the information quickly and then pondered the question before answering.

“No. She hasn't said anything about leaving or quitting or even taking so much as a vacation. Matter of fact, Miss `Lena was rather distressed that Mr. Carrington kept trying to get her to take some time off and go away with him for a few days. Not that she doesn't need to take a vacation. Gods know she works her herself into the ground, but something about that man makes me uneasy. I've actually been rather relieved that she hasn't gone away with him.”

 

“And how long has he been trying to get her to `go away with him'?” Heero asked, trying hard to keep his voice calm.

 

Loni thought about that a moment and then narrowed her eyes at Heero. “About a year and half, I think. Right about the time Miss `Lena finally gave up any hope of you coming back. Which reminds me, why are you here? Why isn't Mr. Maxwell here looking into her kidnapping?” She crossed her arms waiting for an answer.

 

“Duo has his own problems right now. Relena's my responsibility.”

 

“That didn't seem to stop you from pushing her off on him for the last two years! What? Did you figure he could look after while you went who knows where and now that there's trouble you can just waltz right back into her life and save the day? What's next? You gonna break her heart again too?”

 

Heero had opened his mouth to say something but shut it again as he visibly paled at Loni's last words. He struggled for a moment before managing, “I thought I was doing her a favor.”

 

“A favor!” Loni virtually exploded. “Well, don't you go doin' her no more favors! You hear me, Heero Yuy? The last one nearly destroyed her. The next one will probably kill her!”

 

Heero shook his head, multi-colored locks flying with the sudden movement. “No. She wouldn't die from a broken heart. She's stronger than that. She wouldn't die while she's got a job to do. Relena lives for her people.”

 

Loni shook her head sadly. “Miss Peacecraft would go on living and working herself to death, but Relena would shrivel up and die.” Loni sat down on the edge of Relena's bed and looked up at Heero. “She loved you, Mr. Yuy, with everything in her heart. She was just waiting for you to get over the war and warm up. She kept saying you were `shell-shocked'. And when you left,” she looked at her hands clasped in her lap, “something inside her just snapped.”

 

That didn't sound like the Relena he had watched on the news a week later, giving an impassioned speech on the need for public understanding and sympathy for the war veterans of the world.

“I seen her on the news not long after that. For someone so broken, she seemed just as fierce as ever. Maybe more so.”

 

“Yes…and that was the first night she laid down and cried herself to sleep too.”

 

Heero's brows knit together. “But, I kept up with her on the news. Anytime I had any question about her or her safety, I got a full report from the Preventers' mainframe. The only thing her fit-rep said was that she was more bold and decisive after I left.” He took another breath and then continued a bit quieter. “I always felt I had to protect her. From anything or anyone that posed a threat to her. Including myself.”

A small part of the floor became suddenly intriguing to Heero. “I was never taught how to feel or care for someone. I was raised as a soldier and trained as an assassin. Feelings were a liability. Letting someone know who you were was just stupid. And letting them live was a failure. Failure meant death…or worse.” Heero shuddered at the memory of Dr. J and his `training methods'.

“When I finally realized that I should protect her instead of kill her, I thought it was because she was the best hope the galaxy had for peace. After we found that peace, I continued to protect her. One day I realized that there wasn't likely to be anything currently more jeopardizing to her…than me.

“While I had been protecting her, I had been holding her up, and in the process, holding her back. I had been there, in the background usually, for her to lean on for years. But I began to wonder if that was such a good thing for her. She acted like she didn't want to do anything or go anywhere without me. And as a politician I knew she would have to be able to stand on her own two feet. So I decided to leave.

“A very important mission came up on the docket and I was perfect for it. But Une thought Duo would be better suited for it. She didn't want me to give up my position as Relena's bodyguard. But the more I thought about it the more I knew it was best for me to go and Duo to stay. Duo and Hilde were getting very close and Relena needed me gone.

“So the night Duo was supposed to leave I showed up at his place…and knocked him cold. I taped him to a chair and waited for him to come around. When he did, I told him that I was going, he was staying, and that if Relena was the least bit hurt when I returned I would make his punishment slow, painful and brutal. Then I left.

“And I don't think that I was wrong in doing so. We've all aged, gotten wiser, learned more of who we really are. Duo's finally settling down. Relena learned how to stand on her own. And I…” Heero trailed off, just then realizing what kind of crescendo he had built up to. “I've learned how to be me. Not the Perfect Soldier; me.”

 

Loni studied him a few moments while he seemed lost in his own words. “You've changed quite a bit, Mr. Yuy.” Heero looked at her, suddenly coming back to himself, the truth of that statement evident in his eyes. “Wherever you've been, I think it's done you some good.”

 

Heero nodded once. “Yes. Yes it did. I can't say where I've been, but let's just say that…I finally found somewhere I could stretch my wings, maybe breathe a little.”

 

“Well, at least one of you seems to have gotten your head on straight.” Heero's jaw set at a hard edge again and Loni knew they were back to business. “So, tell me what I can do to help, Mr. Yuy.”

 

“First, I need to keep up my cover. That means I have to get some of Relena's clothes for her. Second, I need you to tell Duo everything that I told you about the situation. I know I haven't said much, but Duo will find it pertinent. And lastly, if Relena, Carrington or I call, carry on the farce that Relena went willingly, but report the conversations to Duo. If anyone else calls, Relena isn't available and you're to take a message. Understand?”

 

Loni nodded solemnly. “I understand. Let's get some of Miss `Lena's stuff then, shall we?” Loni stood and walked over to the wardrobe, pulling a suitcase off the top, putting it on the bed, and opening it. Then she started quickly picking through Relena's clothes, putting a selection in the case. When she had it fairly well stuffed, she closed it and handed it to Heero, saying, “Here's nearly a week's worth of clothes. This is her normal traveling case so it has a small assortment of personal hygiene effects in it too. Hope it'll do.”

 

Heero took the case, nodding. “Thanks. It should be fine.”

 

He started for the door but Loni stopped him short by saying, “Mr. Yuy?” He looked back at her, expectantly. “I always thought your leavin' wasn't right, but I also thought you'd be back. Now that you've returned and I can see the differences in you, it makes me think that I was right about you and Miss `Lena. When I first met you and Miss `Lena, I thought you two were perfect for each other but you were too stubborn to see it. Then I realized that you were too old for your time and too caught up in your roles. It was like watching a couple of caged doves; Beautiful to watch, coexisting in the same small cage, but not having enough room to stretch or even breathe without bumping into one another. Maybe now that you've been able to stretch and breathe you can give Miss `Lena a taste of that freedom?” Heero looked at her a moment before nodding and walking out the door, leaving Loni to sigh and pray that the gods finally balance the scales for these two poor souls.