Disclaimer: Yawn...yes, the usual stuff.
Author's Notes: A new genre for me, a new story for you that's (hopefully) decent. It came into my head and to get it out, I had to start writing it. I have in no way abandoned any of my other stories, in particular "To Dance Beneath..." You have my word of honor on that.
Dedication: To my friends who keep me sane and happy.
****
Any Lucky Penny
by Kristen Elizabeth
****
"Heero!"
Her voice always had the power to make him stop in his tracks. No matter what he was doing or where he was going, when Relena Peacecraft called out his name in the special way only she could, Heero Yuy was quite willing to drop everything for whatever it was she wanted.
Unfortunately, he had never been able to let her see that. On that particular day, when he heard her, he didn't even bother to turn around, although he did stop in the middle of the lavish hallway that connected her private office to the rest of the mansion that housed, amongst other things, the Preventer headquarters.
"What?" Heero asked, his back facing her.
He could feel her moving out of her office's doorframe, heading towards him. "Heero," she began again. "Did you get a chance to look at..."
"Yeah," he cut her off. "I got it."
Relena walked around in front of him, forcing his complete attention. "Well...what do you think?"
Heero blinked. The truth was, he had no idea what she was talking about anymore. The lips from which her words poured forth were full, the color of berries. They were distracting. He scowled suddenly. "Mrs. President," he began, using her new, full title. "I don't think that..."
"Oh, come on, Heero. It'll only be a couple of hours. The school merely wants me to come in and talk to the students, to introduce their chapter on the History of the Colonies. This was in the works way before the election. I don't see why I should back out now, just because..."
Suddenly, he had a clear memory of Duo Maxwell's security outline for her trip to a local junior high school. "It's not in an ideal area."
"That's exactly why I have to go, Heero. The kids who go there don't have much to get them motivated. If I can get even one of them excited about their history class..."
Relena continued talking, but Heero could only focus on her face as she spoke. Her eyes sparkled with excitement and enthusiasm; her cheeks were flushed with the slightest tint of pink. And those lips...he would have gone through another war for the chance to crush his mouth to those lips.
The worst part was, the chance was his to take. It always had been. He had just never had the gumption. The balls, as Duo would have put it. Heero swallowed a lump of self-disgust that was stuck in the back of his throat. Even now, he knew how she would react if he were to suddenly kiss her. She had made her interest in him very clear, from the day they had met. And while her tactics had matured over the years into the warm friendship that she showed him now, having learned a lesson he hadn't meant to teach after years of his cold shoulder, he didn't have to be as emotionally sensitive as Quatre Winner to sense that she still loved him.
Regret was the worst thing to choke on, Heero had learned. One day, he vowed, he would get rid of it. He would find a way to let her know, let her see, let her feel beyond a shadow of doubt just how he much he loved her in return.
But today was not going to be that day. Today he was her bodyguard, her silent friend, her admirer from a safe distance. As it stood, that was the only role her life he felt comfortable taking.
"We'll find a way to keep you safe while you're there," he said when she stopped talking.
"I trust you." Relena reached out to touch his cheek. As if she expected him to pull away, as he had almost every other time she had reached for him, she stopped just before her fingers made contact. "Thank you, Heero."
He hadn't meant for it to happen, but somehow when his head dipped to acknowledge her words, her fingers brushed against his skin. Like she had invoked electric sparks, his whole body burned for her in that instant. Just as quickly as the moment had come about, Heero backed away from her. "It's my job."
Relena let her hand fall back to her side. Her smile was genuine, but sad. "I know. But I still appreciate everything you do for me."
"I don't do anything that..."
"Anything that any one of us wouldn't do for you in a heartbeat, Princess." Duo Maxwell appeared around the corner just then, his hands tucked into the pockets of his Preventer uniform as he sauntered up to them. He grinned at the President of the ESUN. "Morning."
"Good morning, Duo." Relena's smile grew brighter. "Heero and I were just discussing the trip to the junior high this afternoon."
Duo extracted one hand to gesture with as he spoke. "All taken care of, Princess. The limo'll pick you up at one-thirty and we've got two Preventer cars to flank it on either side. There's a team down at the school right now setting up metal detectors and scouting things out."
"Thank you so much." Relena rose up on her toes to kiss his cheek. Although the gesture was simply Relena being Relena, and meant probably nothing more, jealousy bubbled up in Heero's chest. It was a hot, acidic emotion, but one that he was fairly familiar with. Every diplomat who escorted her to a party, every political figure who danced with her at formal functions, every Preventer who got a smile in the hallways or a handshake of thanks....Heero resented every single of them. And were he not vastly different from the fifteen year old boy who had crashed on Earth, he might have been tempted to take care of some of the more insistent men in Relena's life.
Right then, Duo fell into that category, despite the fact that he had done nothing to initiate the innocent kiss. There was still pleasure on his features, and as Relena turned to start back for her office, Heero watched Duo's eye line slip down to her well-shaped bottom, displayed modestly, but still displayed in her long, fitted dress-suit skirt.
He snapped his fingers in the braided man's face. "Quit looking."
"Why?" Duo folded his arms. "You're not."
This made Heero pause for a moment. Unable to think of a reply that wouldn't leave his heart open for everyone to see, he immediately changed the subject. "I'll take point today."
"Can't you just say 'I'll be in the limo with her today'?" Duo shook his head, more than amused. "Sheesh...we're escorting her to a public relations stunt, not carrying out a covert operation."
Heero stepped up to his sometimes friend and gave him the patented Stare of Death, as the other man had so aptly named it. "It's not a stunt of any kind. She's helping these kids because she's Relena. No ulterior motives. Got it?"
"Yeah. I know." Duo stared right back, meeting the unspoken challenge. "So...you're in the limo. I'll be at the school, waiting to help her out of it when she arrives."
He had backed into that one. "Fine. You just watch her like a hawk, Maxwell."
"I always do," Duo said a few seconds after Heero stormed off in opposite direction from Relena's office.
****
The empty leather seat that stretched between them felt more like miles than two feet. Relena sat on the far right, her hands neatly folded in her lap, ankles crossed just as parochial school had taught her. On the left, Heero sat like a typical guy, his arms folded over his uniform as he stared out the window.
Relena glanced over at him. "Penny for your thoughts."
He lifted one shoulder. "You'd be paying too much."
"I could just ask you what's on your mind, I suppose." She smiled and gestured to his head of thick, messy locks the color of dark wood. "What's going on in there?"
"Security plan," he said, a sharp edge to the words.
"Oh." Relena tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "I won't bother you then."
The valiantly hidden hurt in her voice was more than enough to finally tear his attention away from the landscape that flew by outside. "You're not bothering me." He silently cursed himself. "I mean...it's your limo. You can talk whenever you want."
"I just...I like talking to you," she replied letting her eyes meet his again.
He couldn't stop the question, "Why?"
"I don't need a specific reason, Heero. We've known each other for what...five years now?"
"Six."
"And in all that time, you still haven't figured out that I..." She stopped, pressing her fingers lightly against her lips.
A long moment passed. "I've never been blind."
"But your hands are tied?" Heero broke the heavy stare, dropping his gaze down to his lap. Relena brushed away a single tear that threatened to spill down her cheek and smiled again. "It's all right, you know." His head lifted. "I'm not going anywhere. And I'm a very patient person."
He studied her face for another minute. Her beautiful, honest face. The innocence and sincerity, not to mention the love that he saw was nearly his undoing. He had to quickly look away. "Don't rely on me, Relena."
"You don't get to decide that for me, I'm afraid." She rested her head against the plush seat. "And you owe me a penny."
Heero snuck another glance at her a moment later. Her eyes were closed in a few seconds of blissful sleep that she was allowed in between her crammed schedule. His throat closed up for the umpteenth time that day. He could watch her sleep forever.
He could just watch her. As far as he was concerned, it was all he could do.
****
Heero got out of the limo first, purely to steal the opportunity of helping Relena out of it away from Duo. There was all sorts of commotion around them; it wasn't every day that the President of the ESUN visited this neighborhood. One hand rested on his hip and the semi-automatic that hung from it; his other hand reached back into the car for hers.
Behind him, he could hear Duo snort as he moved to help the other Preventers in controlling the crowd. With a hidden, triumphant smile, Heero waited for the warm touch of her fingers on his.
It never came. There was only pain, blossoming from the center of his chest and radiating out. The entire world became very dark, although he could hear her voice loud and clear, calling to him, but failing to pull him back into her world.
"Heero!!"
****
His eyes opened and instantly shut again when white-hot light crashed into his brain. Finally, when he felt that he could stand it, Heero opened them once again.
There was only white around him. Coming from no particular source, it seemed to bear down upon him in a way that wasn't pleasant or uncomfortable. He put a hand to his chest. The pain was gone. But even more odd...he was all alone.
"Where am I?" Heero asked. His voice did not echo, rather it didn't seem to go anywhere.
"You're in the Midway."
He spun around only to confront the image of a nightmare that still haunted him from time to time. "You...you're dead."
The little girl who had died through his own carelessness so many years earlier looked up at him with wide eyes. "I know. But then..." She tilted her head to one side, blonde curls falling over her little shoulder. "So are you."
****
To Be Continued
Author's Notes: A new genre for me, a new story for you that's (hopefully) decent. It came into my head and to get it out, I had to start writing it. I have in no way abandoned any of my other stories, in particular "To Dance Beneath..." You have my word of honor on that.
Dedication: To my friends who keep me sane and happy.
****
Any Lucky Penny
by Kristen Elizabeth
****
"Heero!"
Her voice always had the power to make him stop in his tracks. No matter what he was doing or where he was going, when Relena Peacecraft called out his name in the special way only she could, Heero Yuy was quite willing to drop everything for whatever it was she wanted.
Unfortunately, he had never been able to let her see that. On that particular day, when he heard her, he didn't even bother to turn around, although he did stop in the middle of the lavish hallway that connected her private office to the rest of the mansion that housed, amongst other things, the Preventer headquarters.
"What?" Heero asked, his back facing her.
He could feel her moving out of her office's doorframe, heading towards him. "Heero," she began again. "Did you get a chance to look at..."
"Yeah," he cut her off. "I got it."
Relena walked around in front of him, forcing his complete attention. "Well...what do you think?"
Heero blinked. The truth was, he had no idea what she was talking about anymore. The lips from which her words poured forth were full, the color of berries. They were distracting. He scowled suddenly. "Mrs. President," he began, using her new, full title. "I don't think that..."
"Oh, come on, Heero. It'll only be a couple of hours. The school merely wants me to come in and talk to the students, to introduce their chapter on the History of the Colonies. This was in the works way before the election. I don't see why I should back out now, just because..."
Suddenly, he had a clear memory of Duo Maxwell's security outline for her trip to a local junior high school. "It's not in an ideal area."
"That's exactly why I have to go, Heero. The kids who go there don't have much to get them motivated. If I can get even one of them excited about their history class..."
Relena continued talking, but Heero could only focus on her face as she spoke. Her eyes sparkled with excitement and enthusiasm; her cheeks were flushed with the slightest tint of pink. And those lips...he would have gone through another war for the chance to crush his mouth to those lips.
The worst part was, the chance was his to take. It always had been. He had just never had the gumption. The balls, as Duo would have put it. Heero swallowed a lump of self-disgust that was stuck in the back of his throat. Even now, he knew how she would react if he were to suddenly kiss her. She had made her interest in him very clear, from the day they had met. And while her tactics had matured over the years into the warm friendship that she showed him now, having learned a lesson he hadn't meant to teach after years of his cold shoulder, he didn't have to be as emotionally sensitive as Quatre Winner to sense that she still loved him.
Regret was the worst thing to choke on, Heero had learned. One day, he vowed, he would get rid of it. He would find a way to let her know, let her see, let her feel beyond a shadow of doubt just how he much he loved her in return.
But today was not going to be that day. Today he was her bodyguard, her silent friend, her admirer from a safe distance. As it stood, that was the only role her life he felt comfortable taking.
"We'll find a way to keep you safe while you're there," he said when she stopped talking.
"I trust you." Relena reached out to touch his cheek. As if she expected him to pull away, as he had almost every other time she had reached for him, she stopped just before her fingers made contact. "Thank you, Heero."
He hadn't meant for it to happen, but somehow when his head dipped to acknowledge her words, her fingers brushed against his skin. Like she had invoked electric sparks, his whole body burned for her in that instant. Just as quickly as the moment had come about, Heero backed away from her. "It's my job."
Relena let her hand fall back to her side. Her smile was genuine, but sad. "I know. But I still appreciate everything you do for me."
"I don't do anything that..."
"Anything that any one of us wouldn't do for you in a heartbeat, Princess." Duo Maxwell appeared around the corner just then, his hands tucked into the pockets of his Preventer uniform as he sauntered up to them. He grinned at the President of the ESUN. "Morning."
"Good morning, Duo." Relena's smile grew brighter. "Heero and I were just discussing the trip to the junior high this afternoon."
Duo extracted one hand to gesture with as he spoke. "All taken care of, Princess. The limo'll pick you up at one-thirty and we've got two Preventer cars to flank it on either side. There's a team down at the school right now setting up metal detectors and scouting things out."
"Thank you so much." Relena rose up on her toes to kiss his cheek. Although the gesture was simply Relena being Relena, and meant probably nothing more, jealousy bubbled up in Heero's chest. It was a hot, acidic emotion, but one that he was fairly familiar with. Every diplomat who escorted her to a party, every political figure who danced with her at formal functions, every Preventer who got a smile in the hallways or a handshake of thanks....Heero resented every single of them. And were he not vastly different from the fifteen year old boy who had crashed on Earth, he might have been tempted to take care of some of the more insistent men in Relena's life.
Right then, Duo fell into that category, despite the fact that he had done nothing to initiate the innocent kiss. There was still pleasure on his features, and as Relena turned to start back for her office, Heero watched Duo's eye line slip down to her well-shaped bottom, displayed modestly, but still displayed in her long, fitted dress-suit skirt.
He snapped his fingers in the braided man's face. "Quit looking."
"Why?" Duo folded his arms. "You're not."
This made Heero pause for a moment. Unable to think of a reply that wouldn't leave his heart open for everyone to see, he immediately changed the subject. "I'll take point today."
"Can't you just say 'I'll be in the limo with her today'?" Duo shook his head, more than amused. "Sheesh...we're escorting her to a public relations stunt, not carrying out a covert operation."
Heero stepped up to his sometimes friend and gave him the patented Stare of Death, as the other man had so aptly named it. "It's not a stunt of any kind. She's helping these kids because she's Relena. No ulterior motives. Got it?"
"Yeah. I know." Duo stared right back, meeting the unspoken challenge. "So...you're in the limo. I'll be at the school, waiting to help her out of it when she arrives."
He had backed into that one. "Fine. You just watch her like a hawk, Maxwell."
"I always do," Duo said a few seconds after Heero stormed off in opposite direction from Relena's office.
****
The empty leather seat that stretched between them felt more like miles than two feet. Relena sat on the far right, her hands neatly folded in her lap, ankles crossed just as parochial school had taught her. On the left, Heero sat like a typical guy, his arms folded over his uniform as he stared out the window.
Relena glanced over at him. "Penny for your thoughts."
He lifted one shoulder. "You'd be paying too much."
"I could just ask you what's on your mind, I suppose." She smiled and gestured to his head of thick, messy locks the color of dark wood. "What's going on in there?"
"Security plan," he said, a sharp edge to the words.
"Oh." Relena tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "I won't bother you then."
The valiantly hidden hurt in her voice was more than enough to finally tear his attention away from the landscape that flew by outside. "You're not bothering me." He silently cursed himself. "I mean...it's your limo. You can talk whenever you want."
"I just...I like talking to you," she replied letting her eyes meet his again.
He couldn't stop the question, "Why?"
"I don't need a specific reason, Heero. We've known each other for what...five years now?"
"Six."
"And in all that time, you still haven't figured out that I..." She stopped, pressing her fingers lightly against her lips.
A long moment passed. "I've never been blind."
"But your hands are tied?" Heero broke the heavy stare, dropping his gaze down to his lap. Relena brushed away a single tear that threatened to spill down her cheek and smiled again. "It's all right, you know." His head lifted. "I'm not going anywhere. And I'm a very patient person."
He studied her face for another minute. Her beautiful, honest face. The innocence and sincerity, not to mention the love that he saw was nearly his undoing. He had to quickly look away. "Don't rely on me, Relena."
"You don't get to decide that for me, I'm afraid." She rested her head against the plush seat. "And you owe me a penny."
Heero snuck another glance at her a moment later. Her eyes were closed in a few seconds of blissful sleep that she was allowed in between her crammed schedule. His throat closed up for the umpteenth time that day. He could watch her sleep forever.
He could just watch her. As far as he was concerned, it was all he could do.
****
Heero got out of the limo first, purely to steal the opportunity of helping Relena out of it away from Duo. There was all sorts of commotion around them; it wasn't every day that the President of the ESUN visited this neighborhood. One hand rested on his hip and the semi-automatic that hung from it; his other hand reached back into the car for hers.
Behind him, he could hear Duo snort as he moved to help the other Preventers in controlling the crowd. With a hidden, triumphant smile, Heero waited for the warm touch of her fingers on his.
It never came. There was only pain, blossoming from the center of his chest and radiating out. The entire world became very dark, although he could hear her voice loud and clear, calling to him, but failing to pull him back into her world.
"Heero!!"
****
His eyes opened and instantly shut again when white-hot light crashed into his brain. Finally, when he felt that he could stand it, Heero opened them once again.
There was only white around him. Coming from no particular source, it seemed to bear down upon him in a way that wasn't pleasant or uncomfortable. He put a hand to his chest. The pain was gone. But even more odd...he was all alone.
"Where am I?" Heero asked. His voice did not echo, rather it didn't seem to go anywhere.
"You're in the Midway."
He spun around only to confront the image of a nightmare that still haunted him from time to time. "You...you're dead."
The little girl who had died through his own carelessness so many years earlier looked up at him with wide eyes. "I know. But then..." She tilted her head to one side, blonde curls falling over her little shoulder. "So are you."
****
To Be Continued