Mission Accepted: On the Road, 2
Relative disclaimers apply.

"Are you decent yet?" Relena hesitantly asked from behind the door of "her" bathroom.

Heero grinned and flung a towel over his damp hair.

"Yep."

"Okay, I'm coming into 'our' bathroom now...there...and..."

He watched the door as it opened slowly.

Wonder how she'll look?

His jaw dropped as she entered the room.

"Relena."

His breath caught in his throat.

The jeans were indeed a little too big, and the T-shirt brushed her upper thighs, but everything else looked as though it fit just fine...including his jacket, which she had stopped walking to put on.

She looked like a little girl playing dress-up...or a young woman wearing her beloved's clothing. Either way, she looked adorable. And sexy...and innocent...and casual...and completely, utterly beautiful.

Yep. She looked just fine.

He felt the need to clutch his heart.

What am I doing, dragging you along with us like this?

She blushed under his scrutiny.

"Do I pass muster?"

He swallowed and nodded.

"You'll do."

She made a face at him.

"Oh gee. Thanks. You got a belt in any of those bags, mister?"

His face went blank.

"Sorry."

She couldn't believe this.

"A tie? An extra shopping bag? Something that I can use to help keep these pants up?"

He turned, threw the towel on the bed, walked over to the bags, rummaged through them, and held a roll of masking tape up and out to her.

She sagged.

"Heero Yuy...I swear..."

He shrugged.

She'd be a good mother. Oh geeze, what am I thinking?!

She gave up, and heaved a long, dramatic sigh.

"You are impossible. Fine. Give me that tape and turn around. Better yet, I'll do this in the bathroom."

He blinked rapidly.

"But there's not enough room in there for an operation like that."

She tossed her head haughtily.

"What do you men know about such things? Hmph!"

She wheeled on a sneakered heel and flounced into the bathroom, firmly shutting the door behind her.

Before I do something about how sexy he looks with his hair damp....

He sat down, got comfortable, and exhaled.

This is going to be very interesting.

The previous day's events flashed before his eyes. The building...the fleeing...

He blushed.

...and the kissing.

Dammit, what had he been thinking? He'd crossed the line. He was supposed to have kept a safe distance between them. To watch over her from the shadows.

It was too late now.

"Heero?"

He turned to look at her and his self-recriminations faded away. What mattered now was taking Booth's down, getting Relena's and Quatre's families' properties back to them and making the future a safer place to live in.

"Let's go, Heero. They should be waiting for us."

He nodded.

A future that I can protect for her.

He and Relena met Trowa, Quatre and Wufei in the lobby.

Duo was arguing with the proprietor.

"What do you mean, you want more? We gave you more than this place is worth!"

"You kids think I'm stupid? I know they were looking for you. You ruined my reputation! No one's gonna want to come here now! I should freaking sue you!"

"With what?!"

"Smartass! You give me five hundred right now or I'm calling the police!"

"You think we're stupid? There's a booze store right down the road."

"You little piece of crap, I'm going to tell everyone that Relena Peacecraft, Dorlian, whatever the hell she calls herself, spent the night here."

"Who's gonna believe you?"

"Everyone's gonna believe me, if you don't give me that five hundred!"

Relena heaved a sigh.

Wufei cleared his throat.

"Slept well?" he asked Heero.

Heero gave him a look that could have curled his hair, had it had the power to.

Trowa looked away and in an unnecessarily loud voice mentioned that it looked as though it was going to be a nice day.

Wufei restrained a laugh.

Quatre caught Relena's eye and quirked an eyebrow.

She nodded, then bowed her head.

Heero looked from one to the other. What was going on there?

"Go ahead and tell them!" Duo challenged the man. "If anything, you'll get five hundred calls wanting proof."

"You little - you better give me that money -"

"Or else what?" Duo said with a touch of danger in his voice.

Trowa grimaced.

Wufei shook his head slowly.

"Don't do it," Quatre requested.

"I'm not going to do anything," Duo said, and placed a palm on the dusty counter. "Or else what?" he repeated.

"That's enough," Relena suddenly said irritably, and stepped up to the counter.

Trowa winced.

Quatre sighed.

Heero scowled.

Duo grinned.

She's up to something!

He slipped the hand off the counter and into a pocket.

The proprietor grinned at her. Miss Relena had money. Maybe Miss Relena could finance him for life, if he appealed to her properly.

"You have to understand, it'll take at least that much to re—"

"Please give me a piece of paper and a pen," she commanded.

He hurried to do so. He would have jumped out of a moving car or jumped off a cliff, if she commanded him to do either (or both) of those things as well.

She wrote seven numbers down without any punctuation marks - a telephone number.

"Call this number two hours after we've left - not before, I'll need time to verify it and the instructions for retrieval that you'll receive."

She gave the man the piece of paper. He put it in a pocket as though it were lottery winnings.

"And keep this quiet. You do understand."

He nodded quickly. Oh, he did, he did!

She turned to wink at Duo, then headed towards the front entrance.

"Come along, boys."

The "boys" exchanged various looks, but said nothing as they followed her.

The proprietor didn't notice them leaving. He was too busy counting imaginary bundles of money.

As a stretch black limousine with mirrored windows pulled into the driveway, Quatre punched Duo's arm to keep The Braided One from laughing.

That only resulted in Duo snorting laughter behind a palm.

"That was good, Miss Relena. Oh, that was good."

"What are you blathering about?" Wufei demanded, although he had an idea already.

"Wait," Quatre said, and opened a door for Relena, who curtsied and then got into the limousine.

He leaned in close.

"Did he say it?" he mouthed.

She nodded.

He leaned back and stood upright.

"Then there is a lot that needs to be discussed," he mouthed.

He looked at the others, who were getting into the limo.

"Everyone in yet? There's more that we have to do."

Duo got in, sat down and then couldn't restrain himself any longer. He doubled over laughing.

"It's not that funny," Trowa muttered as he got comfortable.

Heero merely rolled his eyes.

Wufei exhaled.

"If she did what I think she did, we should be concerned about reprisals."

"There won't be any reprisals," Heero said quietly.

Relena nodded and watched Quatre get comfortable next to her.

"No," she agreed.

"It's a closed account right?" Duo managed to say.

"No," she said, and he abruptly stopped laughing.

She smiled.

"It's open. He'll be asked to withdraw the minimum amount, but there's not enough in there for him to do that. So he'll ask to speak to a human representative, who will ask him how he wants to withdraw the minimum amount. He'll make a suggestion. The representative will tell him that the money cannot be withdrawn in bills less than twenty, and he'll get quite upset because there's less than twenty in there. The representative will interrupt him to say that the entire conversation is being recorded, would he like to speak to a manager for further assistance? And then—"

Duo burst out laughing again. Quatre chuckled, then laughed out loud. Wufei nodded approvingly. Trowa simply smiled.

Heero gave her a soft smile, then looked away.

Relena bowed her head.

He approves...

Quatre cleared his throat.

"L-Let's go. We have to get this lady home. And like I said, there's work that we have to do."

The limousine headed towards the streets.

That seemed to be a cue for the "boys" to discuss what they needed to do next.

Smiling to herself, Relena raised her head to brush a lock of hair over an ear.

It was then that she noticed that one of her earrings was missing.

Her hand froze.

Heero?

She felt his eyes on her. But if she turned to look at him, she was sure that he would suddenly be looking elsewhere.

What she wasn't sure of, though, was what she needed to do next.

But she was very sleepy suddenly. She could think about her next move later.

Her head drooped. Her eyes closed.

Heero...

The limousine driver stopped for another red light and looked in the rearview mirror once again.

We've lost them.

He hadn't said anything to any of the young people, but two black sedans had been keeping up with the limousine since it had reached the first red light.

They must think we're stupid.

He was deliberately taking an unusual route to Miss Relena's home. There were twists and turns and already-busy intersections galore, but the sedans had stayed behind the limousine, even though it hadn't been easy - the driver had seen both sedans suffer through some unique manuverings and both had scratches and dents as a result of it.

Whoever was driving the sedans were apparently so intent on their mission that they hadn't noticed that a leather-clad man on a motorcycle was behind them.

It was the sight of this man, behind the pickup truck behind the limousine, that now caused the driver to smile.

This particular man was a Magnanac, sent by Quatre's "home base" to make sure that he made it back in one piece. And to report on whoever had been tailing the limousine. No doubt, the license numbers had already been checked out by the appropriate authorities. The sedans and their drivers would be taken into custody at any moment, wherever they were.

The man pointed downwards, towards a booted foot.

The driver nodded. Either one or both of the sedans had gotten a flat tire or few. Probably both, since neither of them was visible now.

But we still have to be very careful. Whoever's behind this aggravation's not going to give up just because we're on to the scheme.

He stole a glance at the young people. Miss Relena's head was resting on Master Quatre's shoulder and he was asking the others where they should meet next.

Misters Duo, Wufei and Trowa were contributing suggestions and meeting times.

Mister Heero - for some unknown reason the driver nearly referred to him as Master Heero - was alternately making quiet suggestions and looking out of the nearest window.

He doesn't fool me. He doesn't want to be caught looking at her.

The driver returned his attention to the road. But he was thinking about the entire situation.

There's no going back now. For any of us - the bad guy, us, and those two.

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