Mission Accepted: Relena Comes
Relative disclaimers apply.

Forewarning: In this chapter I have taken some liberties with words Heero and Relena exchanged in both the (translated) manga and the (Cartoon Network presented) tv show.

A candle's small flame pierced darkness. It revealed Duo, Heero, Trowa and Quatre sitting in a rough circle around the 12-inch-high white stick candle in a saucer on a concrete floor.

"You think she'll come?" Duo asked no one in particular.

Trowa nodded.

"She'll come."

Quatre nodded.

"Yes. Because she's always willing to fight for peace."

And she's no fool.

Duo sighed dramatically.

"But will she believe it?"

"She will." Quatre glanced at the still-doubting Duo. "She's learned not to take anything for granted. She..."

He looked at Heero for help, but Heero didn't even blink.

Quatre sighed.

"She'll come."

They fell quiet, each of them lost in his own thoughts.

Heero scowled.

Don't keep us waiting, Relena.

All of them knew how she looked now, at least in print and on screen. But how did she look when she was separated from her new life?

Heero closed his eyes.

"Relena..." he said on a breath.

The others looked away, uncomfortable. Heero didn't know that he'd said her name that way. None of them were willing to tell him that he had. They liked living, and besides, it was a sign that he needed to be left alone.

Heero could see her.

She was wearing a shapeless dull gray cloak. Only her eyes, full of determination and hope, were visible as she moved through streets and people towards the "contact point."

Heero hated to see her alone and unprotected, even though he'd been the one to insist that she come alone. Hopefully she wouldn't be recognized, or distracted.

Hopefully...

She stopped at an intersection, her attention drawn to a greengrocer's diagonally across the street from where she was.

Heero winced.

Don't stop. Don't give anyone a reason to follow you.

A few tense seconds later, to his relief, she exhaled and walked on.

Heero exhaled and opened his eyes.

"She's coming. She won't...huh?"

Duo placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezed, then removed the hand.

"It's okay, man. This is us you're with. We know that you always seem to know where she is."

He grinned deviously.

"Makes it easier to find her when she's missing."

Heero gave him a cold and murderous glare.

Trowa winced.

"Duo..." Quatre said reproachfully, then sighed.

Duo, long used to such reactions to his admittedly strange sense of humor, shrugged.

"Just tryin' to lighten the mood."

Heero closed his eyes again.

You're wrong, Duo. I just know that she's alive and well. That's all I want to know...

"Heero." Trowa quietly cut into his thoughts.

"Hmmm?" Heero opened his eyes and looked at him.

"If she comes...when she gets here, what will we tell her?"

"Everything that we can."

"That's not an answer," Trowa scolded him.

"The more she knows, the more of a risk she is," Heero said a bit testily.

Trowa exhaled.

"So why do you want her here?"

Heero half-closed his eyes and looked at the candle's flame.

"Because she needs to know what's going on."

Duo sighed.

"She'll want to tag along, you do realize that."

Heero raised his head and nodded.

"We'll do what we can to convince her to leave. But if she insists on staying, we won't..."

"Favor her?" Duo suggested.

"Right."

Duo groaned.

"We won't be able to move around with her around. People will recognize her."

Heero restrained a small smile.

Quatre shook his head.

"I'm sure she's taken that into consideration."

I was sure when she called me.

Duo looked at Heero.

"She has connections..."

Heero narrowed his eyes.

"...she can get us into places," Duo finished.

Quatre winced.

"She's...she's tried to leave that life behind her. But she will never..."

"She'll never have to get a real job," Duo sneered.

"Duo!" Quatre gasped.

"She works hard enough," Heero said quietly, not to defend her but to make a point.

Duo grimaced.

"Yeeeahh...I'm not being fair to her. And we owe her a lot."

"This is how we're paying her back. Isn't it, Heero?" Trowa asked.

Heero hesitated, then nodded.

Trowa sighed.

You think you owe her your life. Is watching over her your way of paying her back? Or did you place your life in her hands because you're too weak to ask her to kill you? Why are you talking about what a risk she is? You'll never be able to kill her. What have you allowed her to do to you? Heero. Are you trying to deny that you may be in love with her?

"Hope she brought food!" Duo chirped, in another attempt to lighten the mood.

Again, he failed.

Trowa glared at him.

"Why didn't you? There are plenty of stores around here."

Quatre sighed.

"Let's not—"

Three light and rapid knocks on a door made all of them jump.

"She's here," Duo said excitedly, and bounced to his feet. "Come on, clown-boy. Let's make sure that it's her. Quatre, you and Heero—"

Heero wasn't there.

Trowa shook his head slowly.

Quatre shrugged.

"You know him."

Heero took a deep breath, exhaled, then turned a knob.

A door creaked open, revealing the sight of Relena shrugging out of the cloak.

His heart skipped a few beats. He swallowed.

"Relena?" he whispered.

Peace was an ongoing, sometimes strenuous process; she had permanent worry-lines in her forehead and tiredness in her eyes. She moved more slowly, too, as though she carried her efforts to maintain peace on her back and shoulders.

Heero scowled.

What kind of world did we have you step into?

But she was still beautiful, more so because of her quest. Her looks only removed a few bumps on the path that she walked. She would still be who and what she was if she were less than attractive.

She casually flung the cloak over her shoulder and gazed at him.

Beautiful. Even more so than in my dreams...

Their eyes locked and for a few seconds they remembered their one dance at Saint Gabriel's...then they both looked away.

She smiled teasingly at him from under her eyelashes.

Where did he learn how to dance, anyhow? Surely Doctor J didn't teach give him those kind of lessons. Or did he? Maybe I'll never know.

"It's me. Old, battered and beleaguered, but me."

He smiled fondly at her from under his eyelashes.

"You're not old."

There really hadn't been anything special about that dance. But something had been exchanged between them. From that moment on, he had found it even harder to kill her...and she had found it even harder to stay away.

Are you still going to kill me?

Yes.

I didn't want to die without any answers.

Huh?

But it's different now. I know how you feel when you fight. That's because I'm on your side now.

What? On my side?

And I know that you have a good heart.

Hmph.

If you promise me that I'm your last victim, go ahead and kill me.

Relena...

I'm too close. I know too much. I'll never reveal what I know, but I'm still too much of a risk.

Relena, I...

Promise me, Heero. Come back and kill me someday.

Sure.

That had been then. He had completed his mission...but she was still alive.

Of course I let her live. She's needed.

He exhaled.

She grinned at him. Her eyes twinkled.

"See? I haven't been such a bad influence after all, have I?"

He didn't want to get into that.

"Come on. They're waiting for us."

The circle around the candle had grown a little. Relena sat between Heero and Duo, at their insistence.

She hadn't asked why. But she was both comfortable and unhappy with the arrangement.

Heero had crossed his legs and casually placed his hands between his body and his legs, but they were shaking despite the calm and determined expression in his eyes.

"Well," Duo said, "Where should we begin?"

Heero dragged his eyes away from Relena's neatly folded hands, which rested on her lap.

"Before we begin," he said slowly and irritably, as though the world had done him a great wrong, "Relena, you need to understand something."

She sighed.

Heero wasn't himself. She could hear it in his voice and feel it in the vibes coming off his body in waves. He was uncomfortable with her being here, and being next to him. But why?

Maybe my coming here was a mistake. But I was invited.

"Let me guess," she said sarcastically. "You don't want me to tell anyone about this."

He blinked rapidly. He hadn't expected her to sound that way.

Quatre sighed.

"Miss Relena, we need you to understand that we're only going to give you some important information."

She glared at him.

You don't want me to accompany you. I'm too much of a risk.

"This is why you ended our conversation so quickly, isn't it? That 'something' that came up...it was a message from these guys, wasn't it? Tell me!"

Heero winced. He never could stand to see her upset.

"Relena..."

She shook her head.

"No. Really. I understand. Please, continue."

Heero tensed up.

She left her life to come here and...

Surprising everyone, including herself, he suddenly reached out and patted her hand, then removed his own hand as though her skin had burned him.

"Be strong," he said as casually as he could manage.

She caught her breath, then nodded.

He's only showing his usual concern about me. So why is my heart beating so fast?

"Please, Quatre...continue."

He hesitated, then nodded.

"You know about Booth's, of course. And why your family and mine have been helping to fund it."

She nodded.

"Yes. For the past few years they've been restoring select buildings that were harmed or destroyed in the war, and both of our families had specific buildings that they wanted to have restored."

I'm not special to him. I once thought that I might be. He doesn't protect just anyone. But his kind heart, the one I praised him for keeping...he doesn't...it doesn't influence him as much as I thought it did.

"Right."

Quatre sighed, then resumed talking.

"And we both found out that some of the money's being diverted to things that neither of us had been able to find..."

Relena looked at Heero, who appeared to be focused on what Quatre was saying.

He looked at her and raised his eyebrows.

She shook her head and looked away.

He doesn't want my death to be his fault. But why me, Heero? You were supposed to kill me. You promised to kill me. Why, Heero. Why?

Quatre gestured to Heero, Duo and Trowa in turn.

"...They had their own suspicions. Heero and Duo went to the old Romefeller Building to investigate the door in the stage that Heero had found while scanning the building from a computer in a secret location. They found that Trowa was at the building as well."

Trowa exhaled.

"Heero found a certain blueprint amongst some fake ones."

Heero nodded.

Relena nodded.

I knew that there was something suspicious about Booth's. No one can legally restore a building at the speed that they do.

"So...Booth's really is up to no good."

Duo nodded.

"I contacted Quatre because Heero and I had found out a few interesting things about Booth's. We wanted to know if he knew what we did."

Quatre frowned and shook his head.

"I had no idea. And it turns out that my family owns Booth's."

"What?" Relena asked before she could help herself.

How can that be? But in an organization as vast as the Winners', who can keep track of every single thing at every single second?

Quatre nodded.

Hear me out, Miss Relena. You'll understand soon.

"It's not listed in our books. My family still holds a lot of companies, though, and apparently someone or someones decided to combine a few of them under one name. But it's in name only. The name Booth's is neither licensed nor registered as a corporation."

"There's a legal layer preventing the curious from asking questions," Heero said.

Quatre nodded.

"I had the company investigated. I have certain...privileges. Still, I had to be very discreet."

Relena shook her head slowly.

I knew it!

"You're saying that...Booth's is...illegal? And what tipped you two off, Duo?"

He frowned.

"They might be. And think of their logo."

She blinked rapidly.

"The logo..."

She liked Booth's old-fashioned logo. It seemed to convey a sense of tradition and exacting standards. It made you want to feel confident in Booth's abilities. It made you want to trust them.

Her eyes widened suddenly.

"The logo."

Quatre blushed and bowed his head.

"Yes."

Her eyes narrowed.

"How dare they! They want you to find out about them. It's a challenge."

Heero nodded.

"The blueprint had 'Walker' scribbled on it. We need to—"

Understanding dawned on Relena.

"That's why you invited me here," she said coldly. "You think that I can get you guys into that building with no problems, since my family happens to own it."

"Miss Relena—" a distraught Quatre began.

"That's not it—I mean, that's not all of it—" A chastened Duo couldn't finish his thought.

"That's Queen Relena to all of you," she snapped. "Or would you prefer the rich and clueless 'Relena Peacecraft'?"

She was on her feet before they could react.

"You could have told me all of this in that letter."

Two strong hands gripped her shoulders.

"Heero—"

"Relena."

The candlelight revealed his calm face and his eyes revealed his conflicting emotions.

She briefly wondered how she looked to him.

Does my well-being mean that much to you?

"Let me go!"

"Shhhh. Listen to me."

"I've heard all that I need to. Do you really want me to know more?" she asked sarcastically.

His eyes revealed a mixture of irritation and understanding.

Good! Now let me go! she silently flung at him.

He didn't.

"Relena, we didn't want you to come with us. But—"

"Why won't you let me go?" she demanded and pleaded at the same time.

"Keep your voice down," he quietly ordered her, and to her surprise her anger left her.

"Heero..."

"You're more of a risk if we let you go back."

Her anger returned, along with her earlier hurt and confusion.

"Why don't you kill me, then? Just aim your gun at me and pull the trigger. What are you waiting for?"

His eyes narrowed.

She glared at him.

"What's stopping you?"

He sighed, stepped back and dropped his hands.

"You're needed."

By whom? she wanted to yell.

"I'm no more human than you are," she snapped. "Than any of you are. And before you remind me that I'm a risk let me remind you that you put me in this position."

"I know."

He stepped away from her and waited for her to continue.

She folded her arms across her chest.

"I hate you. I wish I'd never met you," she spat.

The others gasped.

"Damn you," she hissed.

"Damn you," he said quietly.

The others tensed up and waited for the fight to begin.

She exhaled. There was no fight here. But this wasn't a stalemate, either.

All the time in the world wouldn't be enough for us to resolve our differences. He knows that too.

She showed him her back, exhaled again, then whirled back around to face him.

"So....when are we leaving?"

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