Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ I Will Protect You ❯ Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own GW so don't sue me, I'm doing this purely for your entertainment.

I Will Protect You

Chapter one

Relena sat up, rubbing her eyes that were now puffy and red, one last tear rolled down her cheek but she quickly whipped it away and got up to go to the kitchen. She glanced up at a clock as she walked passed, and stopped in surprised. "Its midnight" she whispered, "I wonder if Quatre and Trowa are still here?"

She continued walking until she came to the kitchen, and suddenly she got the urge for ice cream and peanut butter. She came out of the kitchen with a large bowl of ice cream with peanut butter and sprinkles over it and a cherry on top.

Something moving on the couch caught her attention and she glanced over to find Trowa. "Trowa, what are you doing down here? I thought you two left" Trowa looked up at her apologetically, then down at the book in his hand.

"I was reading" he said and then swung his legs off the couch so that he was sitting instead of laying down.

"Oh, sorry if I disturbed you?" Relena said and started to walk away.

"You didn't" Trowa said quietly, though hasty. Relena stopped and looked over her shoulder at him, a sudden dizzy spell hit, not wanting to take a chance of it getting worse, she turned completely around.

"May I sit beside you?" she asked. Trowa looked up at her surprised.

"It's your world" she smiled, although it didn't reach her eyes, and moved to sit beside him.

She made herself comfortable then took a bite of her ice cream, she felt as if some one was watching her and looked up at Trowa who was staring at her, disgusted at what she was eating.

"So why are you up this late?" she asked trying to get his attention away from her odd snack.

"I couldn't sleep" he said with a shrug.

"Oh, me neither, how come you couldn't sleep?"

Trowa looked over at her, absently thinking that she talked to much, and replied.

"I'm always awake at this time" Relena sighed and leaned back, putting the bowl of ice cream on her lap.

"I just can't sleep" she said and glanced over at Trowa who nodded knowingly.

"You think about him" he stated, her eyes swelled up with tears but she managed to hold them back.

"Yes" she choked out and then closed her eyes so the tears wouldn't fall.

"He loved you" he said.

Relena's mouth twisted in emotional pain, "I know."

"He asked us to protect you" Trowa said sadly, remembering the pain in Heero's eyes. A tear escaped before Relena could hold it back, and it streaked it's way down her cheek, she reached up a hand to wipe it away, but Trowa stopped her. "It's alright to cry" he said placing her hand back down on her lap, a few more tears made their way down her cheeks and she closed her eyes again.

Trowa not knowing any other way to comfort her, but uncomfortable just watching, put an arm around her shoulder and gently pulled her head to rest on his shoulder. She looked up at him surprised, but then she turned her face back down to his shoulder and continued to cry.

Watching her reminded him of Catherine, she had comforted and been there for him, and her care had brought him back to humanity. Now, sitting here with Relena crying on his shoulder, he felt something, a need to protect her, not just because Heero had asked, but because he wanted to, he wanted to protect her like he had wanted to protect Catherine.

He suddenly had the feeling some one was watching him and hastily looked around. He saw Quatre standing in the door way and sighed, Relena felt it and looked up, quickly wiping the tears away.

"Quatre, hello, I'm sorry did I wake you?" she asked, startled.

Quatre smiled sweetly at her, "No, I just came down here to talk to Trowa" He replied.

"Oh, okay…well then, I'll leave you two to talk" she got up reluctantly, a tear fell from her eye and she mumbled under her breath "to many memories," Trowa heard this, knowing exactly what she meant, and spoke up.

"You can sleep in my room?" he suggested. Relena arched an eyebrow and Quatre glared.

"Where will you be sleeping?" she asked, only a little suspiciously.

He shrugged, "here." Quatre stopped glaring and smiled slightly.

"Are you sure?" Relena asked "Cause I can-" she was cut off as Trowa nodded, "Thank you" she tilted her head to the side and smiled sweetly at him, then at Quatre, and then back to him. "Well goodnight Trowa, goodnight Quatre" she said and then turned to leave with her bowl of ice cream.

After Quatre was sure that she was gone he turned to Trowa, "what was that about?" he asked. Trowa shrugged and propped his feet back on the couch, Quatre came over and sat down in a chair across from him.

"Uh, so, when's the funeral?" Quatre asked after a few minutes of silence, Trowa looked up at him from his book.

"What did you come down here for?" he asked bluntly. Quatre looked startled, but then sighed and Trowa closed his book.

"I couldn't sleep, I heard Relena come out of her room and decided I'd see what she was doing" he replied. Trowa raised an eyebrow, Quatre saw this and smiled, "I think I'm attracted to her Trowa" he said, Trowa raised both eyebrows, then looked sympathetically at Quatre.

"This isn't the best times" Quatre shook his head in agreement.

"No, it's not" and he sighed again.

Relena walked into one of the guest rooms, the one she guessed was Trowa's because the light wasn't on, and closed the door behind her. She walked over to the bed and laid down, thinking about tomorrow, she had to cancel the wedding, and she would be announcing her leave that she had planed on taking when she got ready to start a family. She wondered who they'd put in her place, but then decided that she wouldn't stop working, she would just work at home, no meetings, no speeches, just paper work. Thinking that she'd sort all this out in the morning she drifted off to a some what peaceful sleep.

~*the next morning*~

Relena sat up and stretched "what a strange dream" she mumbled, then looked around the room. Realization hit as she realized she wasn't in her own room, "It wasn't a dream" she whispered sadly, tears brimmed her eyes ready to fall. "He's really dead," and she started to cry softly, burying her face in her hands. A few minutes later she wiped her tears away, sniffled, and got up to change. Putting on a sleeveless light green button up shirt and a white short skirt she left to go down to tell Trowa and Quatre what she had come up with last night.

"Hello Miss Relena" Dorothy greeted at the door, "did you sleep well" she asked in some what of a mocking voice, was that jealousy that she heard?

Relena pushed her thoughts aside and sighed, absently wondering how Dorothy had known that she was in Trowa's room. "As well as I could" she replied, a sad look coming to her eyes.

Dorothy looked at her and her face softened a bit, "you have my deepest sympathy Miss Relena."

Relena forced herself to smile, "Thank you Dorothy" and they walked down the rest of the hall in silence.

On her way to the kitchen Relena's eyes involuntarily wondered to the couch, she was surprised and accidentally giggled out loud. Trowa was laying on the couch asleep, a book over his face and his left arm draped over the book, his right arm hung off the couch and his feet hung over the end.

Dorothy looked over at the couched and her confused looked melted into a loving smile, along with her suspicion of why Relena had been in Trowa's room. Relena looked over at her and a smile formed on her lips too as she leaned in close to her ear, "wake him up" she whispered.

Dorothy's face grew red "m-me! I couldn't -I can't-" she stuttered.

"Oh, go on" Relena said pushing her towards Trowa, then she turned and ran onto the kitchen giggling.

"But…" she protested, but there was no one there to protest to. Dorothy shrugged and placed a confident smile on her lips. "Might as well" she whispered under her breath and walked the rest of the way to the couch.

Relena stood in the door way watching Dorothy, momentarily forgetting all her problems, and smiled widely as the girl closed the rest of the distance between her and sleeping beauty on the couch.

Dorothy sat on the couch beside Trowa and reached out a hand to tap him on the shoulder; but she snapped her hand back quickly when he moaned and turned his head towards her, knocking the book off his face.

Dorothy reached her hand back out to touch his hair, to her surprise, it was soft, by the way it always stuck out she figured it would be stiff. She smiled softly. Quatre had been right all those years ago, she was a sweet girl at heart, she just didn't want to show it then. She sighed as he turned again and figured it was time to wake him up; she taped him on the side of his face and his eyes fluttered open and focused on her's. His eyes widened and he sat up abruptly and scooted away from her, giving her a wary glance he stood up from the couch and started to walk away.

"Good morning Trowa" she said with a fake smile, she had been disappointed at his reaction but then again what had she expected.

He looked at her sideways "good morning" and then he walked towards his room, most likely to change his clothes.

Relena sighed sadly from the kitchen door and turned away to find herself something to eat when she gasped loudly, startled by the person sitting silently at the table. "Quatre, I didn't know you were-"

Quatre cut her off by raising his hand, "I came in for some coffee" He said with a smile. "Now, wanna tell me what was so interesting?" he asked with a laugh in his voice.

"Just Dorothy" Relena replied pulling out a chair and sitting down, Quatre pushed a cup of coffee in her direction but she set it aside. He raised an eyebrow but brushed it off and asked.

"What was she doing?"

Relena shrugged, "I just asked her to wake Trowa up"

Quatre looked curious, "why was that so exciting?" she smiled and leaned across the table closer to Quatre.

"Don't tell her I told you, but I think Dorothy's attracted to Trowa" Quatre's eyes widened slightly.

"How do you figure?" he asked.

"When I told her to wake him up she blushed and what I just saw out there gives me good reason" she told him and then sat back down. "Remember, don't tell anyone, I don't want to embarrass Dorothy, and if I'm wrong… well just don't tell anyone"

Quatre smiled, "don't worry Miss Relena." Relena smiled and shook her head.

"Just call me Relena" she said.

"But…" Relena cut him off.

"Please Quatre, as a friend" he smiled and nodded. Relena smiled too, then got up and made herself some warm tea before sitting back down; Quatre looked at her strangely and then eyed the cup of coffee beside her.

"Don't feel like coffee?" he asked.

"Hn?" she looked over at him confused then down at the cup of coffee he had offered her. "Oh" she smiled "nah, I don't feel like coffee this morning." They sat in silence, Quatre staring at Relena wondering what was up, and Relena staring at her cup praying to God he didn't suspect anything.

Finally Quatre spoke up, "your taking all this rather well" Relena looked up at him surprised then back down at her cup.

"What do you mean?" she asked, hoping he didn't mean what she thought he meant.

"Heero's death," he stated as though it should have been obvious. Relena sighed with relief inside, but on the outside, tears automatically sprung to her eyes at the mention of his name.

"Well he wouldn't want me feeling sorry for myself" she said sadly "I need to be strong" Quatre was about to say something when Trowa walked in.

Gesturing with a flick of his head Trowa signaled that he wanted to talk to him, Quatre nodded and looked back at Relena. "Please excuse me " he said standing up.

"Of course" she said smiling, and Quatre followed Trowa out of the room.

She sniffled and suppressed the unshed tears, not giving them a chance to fall. Why…why? She asked herself, then pushed all thought from her mind and focused on drinking her tea.

Trowa led Quatre towards the hangar, "Trowa, what did you want to tell me?" he asked.

Trowa turned to look at him, "They found the cockpit." he replied.

Quatre looked at him seriously, "Is it in tact?" Trowa nodded, "okay thanks, I'll go check it out, could you go keep an eye on Relena for me?" he asked.

Trowa raised an eyebrow, "think she's gonna commit suicide or something?" he asked.

Quatre sighed, "I don't know, I just think she's to calm, I mean who knows what's going through her head, it's better safe than sorry right?" he said, covering up his worry with a small smile.

Trowa shrugged, "Maybe she was expecting it" he stated and then turned around and left, leaving Quatre to ponder what his friend had just said.

Quatre promised himself he'd asked Trowa about it later and turned to go and check out zero's cockpit. He climbed inside and visions haunted his mind's eye as he remembered the time he had sat in this very seat and tried to kill Trowa and Heero. Tears sprung to his eyes, but he quickly suppressed them and cleared his mind, he couldn't have distractions right now, he had to know! More like he wanted to know. Zero had shown Heero something to make him pick him and Trowa as Relena's protectors over his best friend Duo, what was it? He prayed this would work.

He activated the zero system, and closed his eyes as the inside of the cockpit glowed yellow, clearing his mind for his question, he opened his eyes and stared at the screen. Zero, please show me what you showed Heero before he died? He thought and suddenly he doubled over in the pilot seat as a tremendous head ache over took him, he clenched his teeth together, forcing himself not to cry out. He didn't remember this when he had been in zero? Suddenly the visions came, and Quatre learned the reasons why Heero had picked him and Trowa, but just as quickly they went and all Quatre's questions had been answered. He knew why Relena had said she had to be strong, he knew why she was trying to be calm, he knew why she wouldn't drink the coffee, and most importantly he knew why Trowa had been asked to protect her. Quatre envied Trowa, but it wasn't his fault, he sighed defeated and turned to leave the hangar, heading to his room.

Relena looked up and quickly wiped away the tears that had some how resurfaced when she heard the door to the kitchen open. She stared into the deep emotionless green eyes of Trowa Barton and smiled sweetly, gesturing with her hand for him to sit down. He complied, giving her the slightest nod, "where's Quatre?" she asked.

Trowa looked at her, "he had something he wanted to look at" he stated quietly. Relena sighed, she wanted to tell them her idea but she wanted to tell them both, she had to wait until Quatre got done, she sighed again.

She glanced up as she felt his eyes on her and gave him a small smile before looking back at her still full glass of now lukewarm tea. Why did he have to die? She questioned silently he survived worse situations, why couldn't he live through this one damn it! She sighed again, and her eyes filled with tears. I guess I'm just destined to be alone, she jumped when the chair beside her was pulled out. She jerked her head towards the new occupant of the room, a solitary tear flying from her eye, she blinked a few times to suppress them and make her vision less blurry so that she could make out the person now sitting beside her.

"Dorothy" she greeted, forcing another smile, Dorothy looked at her and smiled back, then frowned slightly as the door to the kitchen opened and Quatre walked in. Relena turned her head and her smile widened as she saw him, "Quatre, good now we're all here!" she said happily, ignoring the nauseous feeling that suddenly came over her.

"Is there something you want to tell us miss Relena?" Dorothy asked, Relena nodded.

"I have something to say also" Quatre said, looking at Relena. She swallowed uncomfortably, his eyes held so much untold emotion. She resisted the urge to turn her head away and said almost mechanically.

"You first" Quatre smiled and turned away to look at Trowa and Dorothy apologetically.

"I just received a call from Rasheed, there's been an emergency, so I'll be leaving right away" he said, a guilty look on his face. Relena stood up and walked over to Quatre and gave him a hug, "you're welcomed to come back Quatre" she said, Quatre hugged her back.

When he moved to break the embrace, Relena's hands tightened as if trying to keep her balance and then she suddenly went limp in his arms. Quatre looked up at Trowa panicked, "she's passed out" he said, worry making itself evident on his face. Trowa stood up from the table and helped Quatre take Relena from the kitchen and lay her down on the couch; Dorothy followed.

Quatre felt Relena's head checking for some kind of a fever, "Normal," he said quietly, then checked her pulse "a little fast but normal," he sighed, then looked at Trowa who was looking at him. "Probably stress" he suggested, Trowa nodded in agreement, although Quatre swore he had a look that accused him of knowing that that wasn't why she'd past out. Quatre shook it off, telling himself that he was seeing things, why would Trowa suspect that he knew anything.

Trowa looked at Quatre suspiciously, he had the feeling that he was hiding something, after thinking about it he brushed it off, this was Quatre, if he had any idea what was wrong with Relena he would surely have told them right? He found himself doubting how well he knew his friend but brushed that aside as well. "I need some water" Trowa said softly.

Quatre looked to Dorothy who was standing beside him, "Could you please?" he asked, Dorothy nodded and ran into the kitchen, coming back a few minutes later with a glass of water.

She handed it to Trowa who dipped his fingers in it and flicked the cold liquid on Relena's face. She stirred and slowly opened her eyes "Trowa?" she whispered weakly as she focused on his face. She sat up on her elbows and looked to her side to see Quatre and Dorothy, she shifted her weight and ran a hand threw her hair. "What happened?" she asked looking at their worried expressions, with the exception of Trowa who just, looked blank.

"You fainted Relena," Quatre said, "mind telling us why?"

Relena looked scared for a fraction of a second before covering it up with a confused look, "Why would I know" she asked.

Quatre shrugged "Just thought I'd ask" he said "it's most likely just stress, I suggest you take a rest. "

She put a fake smile on her face. "You know" she replied "how strange, I was just thinking about taking a rest, there's this secluded cabin up in the forest."

Quatre smiled his sweet innocent smile, "That sounds like a perfect place to take a rest" he said.

"Miss Relena, a limousine has arrived and is waiting out front for Mr. Winner" a house maid informed her. Relena looked over at her.

"Thank you Sheryl" she said with a smile, the middle aged woman smiled back, bowed her head, and then went back to what ever she had been doing before.

Quatre looked down at Relena, who was still sitting on the couch, and smiled, "I guess it's time for me to go" he said.

Relena looked sad and reached up to hug him again, "Remember Quatre, you can come back and visit anytime" she said and moved away to stand up. Her action was stopped by two hands on her shoulders, she turned to see Trowa just before he pushed her back onto the couch.

"You're not going anywhere" he said quietly but firmly.

Relena pouted, "But…" she started but he cut her off with a glared.

Quatre's smile faltered but he managed to hold it in place, he put a hand on Relena's shoulder when Trowa removed his hands, confident that she would stay in her place. She looked up at him and smiled a small apologetic smile, "It's best that you sit for awhile Relena" he said patting her on the shoulder," she looked down at her hands.

"I guess your right" she said defeated "but I wanted to escort you to your car" Quatre smiled and dropped his hand from her shoulder.

"Dorothy can escort me, that is, if she wants to" he said looking at Dorothy, she sighed.

"If Miss Relena does not mind" she said looking at Relena. She waved her hand carelessly in the air.

"I don't mind Dorothy" she said, then looked at Quatre, "I hope to see you again soon." she said "but until then, farewell."

He smiled also, "Farewell Relena, Trowa, my friends I do so hope to see you soon as well." he turned and, with Dorothy by his side, walked down the hallway that led to the two large main doors.

Relena watched them until they went out the front doors and then turned to look at Trowa, "I need to inform a few people of what's going on" she stated, Trowa nodded his head in agreement and helped her up from the couch.

Quatre turned to Dorothy as soon as the large door behind them closed. "Good bye Quatre" she said curtly and then turned to go back inside. Quatre reached out and grabbed her upper-arm before she could leave and she turned around in annoyance to glare at him. She opened her mouth to speak but Quatre stopped her by speaking first.

"You don't have a chance" he said, Dorothy's eyes narrowed and she frowned confused at him.

"What are you talking about?" she hissed.

Quatre looked at her almost apologetically, "Trowa, you don't have a chance with him."

Dorothy snarled "What do you know" and wretched her arm free of his grip.

"I just know, trust me on this" he said sadly, Dorothy looked him in the eye, and her glare disappeared.

"Quatre, I know you love Miss Relena, come back as soon as this whole emergency thing is cleared up okay." she smiled at him.

He smiled back, "I'll come back as soon as I can" he said, "but try not to annoy Trowa to much" and Dorothy glared at him defiantly.

"I don't care what you say, I'm not giving up!"

Quatre smiled, "I didn't think you would, I'll see ya soon Dorothy" he said and got in the limousine.

"Goodbye Quatre" and she went back into the mansion.