Chapter Text
L2 Colony, X2376 Sector
BOOM! The eighth floor apartment shook and lights flickered. Relena could see a slight sprinkling of dust in the halo of the fluorescent lights overhead. She grabbed her tablet computer with both hands - folding it to her chest as she glanced around.
‘It’s the worst in the evenings,’ she thought to herself.
Relena and her husband lived in what was considered an average apartment; a fairly typical one-bedroom configuration - as, apparently, there wasn’t a lot of variation in housing layouts on the Space Colonies. This one did have an extra room - that she currently sat in; Mr. and Mrs. Yuy used it for different things.
Heero’s gaming console, wireless headset and controller lay on a nearby table; the folded LED screen mounted to the wall was a modular design, so the space could be used for other things, as well.
Relena sat on the couch opposite the screen; she loved the comfort of the foam that seemed to be used in all the furniture on the colonies – lightweight and easy to vacuum-pack into smaller spaces. But, during the summer months, the material would trap body heat and cause her to sweat.
Like now.
‘If only the air conditioning would stay on…’
Pictures rattled on the nearside wall before she felt the tremors course through the metal flooring and shake the furniture beneath her. Pictures she’d insisted on, even though Heero had told her most people didn’t bother with them on the Colonies anymore.
"Why can’t I find picture frames?" She looked at Heero as she plunked down in her seat at the kitchen table. He stood over the sink. Her husband looked completely comfortable in a plain t-shirt and jeans as he poured the contents of a pot into a colander. She watched him use tongs instead of a pasta fork to apportion the spaghetti into stone china bowls.
Relena smiled and felt a warm wave of emotion flow through her chest at the sight of her husband making her dinner. She sighed. "I went to five different—"
"What purpose do they serve?" Heero set a bowl of steaming noodles and sauce in front of her.
‘Another one of his concoctions, no doubt…’ she thought to herself, but said aloud: “Thank you. It smells great.” She picked up a fork and stirred the contents of the bowl.
"I didn’t make yours as spicy this time."
"Thanks. I don’t know how you eat that much red pepper at once."
Her husband shrugged.
"But, anyway, I thought it would be nice - to have some picture frames...to put on the walls." Relena twirled her fork into the bowl of noodles. "With pictures of our lives. Precious memories…"
Heero shrugged. "They’re on our phones, computers – stored on cloud devices."
She tried to take a bite, but the pasta was too hot. “Well, yes, but—" Relena paused as her husband sat down across from her and took a fork and knife to his bowl of spaghetti. After watching him make several cuts, he held up a fork with a mess of substantially shorter noodles balanced on the end of it.
Heero looked at her, his dark blue eyes bright despite a long day at work. "L2, like L1, isn’t a stable gravity point. Every month, the Colony Gravitational Operations Division performs stationkeeping. Picture frames on walls would have to be pulled down every month when the colony repositions."
"Oh."
It hadn’t stopped her. Relena had found frames at an antique shop; replaced the glass fronts with plastic and applied heavy duty magnets to keep them anchored to the walls. And so, this little ‘living room’ space had a touch of home. Pictures of her mother, father, Pagan…And a couple of the recently titled "Mr. and Mrs. Yuy" from their small, but elegant wedding.
Relena beamed up at her newly-titled ‘husband’ in his tuxedo; he wore a silvery cravat, per the Sanq Kingdom custom, and a vest beneath the jacket for a very traditional look. He stole her breath away and made her wish they had time for a honeymoon together on a beach somewhere. "I almost don’t want to take this off…" She felt the world spin and the urge to kiss him rose up from her chest.
Heero arched an eyebrow. "Your dress?"
Relena rested her forehead against his chest for a moment; her hands smoothing slowly up to his shoulders and then back down. She lifted her head and met his gaze. She felt a band constrict around her ribs. "Your tux."
A dangerous look crossed his features, and she felt his arms tighten around her. Heero pulled his bride close as he brought his mouth down on hers….
Another jolt! The lights flickered and went off. She glanced at the ring on her finger, and closed her eyes. "How much longer…."
The couple had held a private ceremony on Earth before chartering space on a shuttle with enough room to bring a few suitcases’ worth of Relena’s things. After several discussions and a lot of consideration, they had chosen to live off of Heero’s salary in the Preventers, even though the former ESUN Minister was old enough to manage the trust her father had established in her name sometime before his death. Relena chose to leave the money, her home, and a good number of her personal effects in her mother’s care, in the hopes of living a normal life on the Colonies – with her husband.
BOOOOOM! Relena jumped and caught her breath.
Her husband who was currently very late getting home. Although it was easy to tell why he’d been delayed. Relena took a deep breath and sighed. She heard a whirrrr and a sharp clang! The lights sparked, glitched, and then held. She hoped they would stay on…
But, she had been hoping that same hope for almost three weeks, now. With no end in sight as to how long this situation would last.
"I doubt any of this is a good sign." Relena shook her head and glanced at her government-issued ‘Communication Device’ – to be used for essential services, only, during the sector’s "Mobility Restriction Period." It used a near field communication type of signal, due to the public emergency - to keep residents connected to services deemed essential for public safety.
She selected the ‘Food Delivery’ option, picked the only Chinese food restaurant still operating, and chose a few things off the menu for their dinner.
Relena glanced at her cellphone. The connection icon still showed no bars for cell service. But, the wi-fi signal lit up and connected. She launched the encrypted messaging app she and her husband used to communicate, but had received no messages.
"Heero…" She whispered and toyed with her wedding band. "Please be safe." She closed her eyes and hugged her tablet, again.
"Come home, soon."
Relena felt something tickle her ear, then her neck. Warmth on her skin… Something like silk moved across her forehead.
A breath. A voice.
Familiar.
Loved.
She smiled and willed her eyes to open. Sure enough, dark blue eyes peered at her from barely a breath away. "You’re home," she said and reached for him. The skin of his jaw felt rough against her fingertips; the hard set to his mouth wavered when she slid her hand over his cheek. He tilted his head just a fraction - as if he was leaning into her touch.
Heero pressed his eyes closed. “Relena….”
Her heart woke up from its lethargy, too, as his lips touched hers. A soft, languid kiss...His hand stroked the top of her head even as she gripped his neck and tried to pull him closer. She could smell the faint scent of motor oil; a hint of sweat with the thin blend of stir fried vegetables from the dinner she’d ordered.
Her husband broke the kiss. He knelt on the floor beside the couch she’d been using as a bed.
Relena sighed. "How late is it?" Her voice rasped with the remnants of sleep.
"Late."
She sat up. He moved and sat next to her on the couch. Relena grasped his hand. "How bad is it?"
"It’s…" He shook his head. "Not good."
"Did you-"
"I ate what was left of dinner," he said and nodded. Her husband glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "You need to go to bed."
She leaned her head on his shoulder. "You need to come with me."
A slight tug of his lips. "I will."
"You look…" She lifted her head and leaned over to try to get him to look her in the eye. He shifted his gaze to the floor.
"It’s been a long day." He rubbed the fingers of his right hand up and back, over his forehead. "Tomorrow will be worse."
"There goes your dream job of writing greeting cards."
Heero closed his eyes.
"That bad?"
He sighed and sat back against the couch cushions. He released her hand and brought both palms up to press against his cheekbones. "I want you to leave."
Relena shot to her feet. "Excuse me?" Her heart lurched and she felt ice water fill her veins.
"Tomorrow." The hands came down, but he still wouldn’t meet her gaze. His shoulders rounded, he stared in the direction of the floor. "I put in a priority request...based on your station." Heero closed his eyes and winced.
"My station?" She moved one hand to his chin, and finally got him to look up at her. "As a Preventer’s wife, you mean?"
Heero shook his head.
"You didn’t." She took a step back. Something heavy sat on her chest. He was sending her away? But...
"You either move to another sector, Relena. Or you need to go home." His voice sounded flat, tired. Beyond tired...
"Either way, we have to be up early - so we can pack your things. I’ll take you to the shuttle sta-"
Wait. Did he say- "HOME?" She grabbed his shoulders and resisted the urge to shake him. "This-this is my home! Heero, how could you do this without consulting me?” Her heart hammered. She felt cold and hot all over. “Without asking-"
"It’s dangerous, Relena." His eyebrows pinched together in a sharp frown and he glared up at her.
"I don’t understand!" She released him and stood up. Weeks of frustration and fear ratcheted a step closer to panic. Her hands shook. "It was a simple comet-"
"Asteroid."
"Whatever it’s called. It wasn’t even!" She pushed on his shoulder as if he controlled the piece of metal and ice that had damaged the Colony. "It was a piece of one! That broke off! That kind of thing has to happen all the-"
Heero closed his eyes and shook his head. He brought one hand up to scrub across his face.
"Time." She took in his defeated posture, the strain and fatigue on his face…
“Heero...” Relena pulled him into a loose embrace; his forehead against her abdomen, she stroked his temple, and combed fingers through his hair, curving pieces over and around his ear. It was a gesture he’d confessed, once, that he found soothing. She took a deep breath and another.
Her husband moved his head like he was trying to nestle closer into her embrace. She felt some of the tension melt from her shoulders at the gesture.
‘I don’t want to leave you.’
A soft hum...It sharpened and pitched to the anxious rattling of metal and glass! She felt Heero tense and pull away.
"What is it you’re not telling me?"
"You need to go. Tomorrow." He looked up at her and his mouth tightened into a terrible attempt at a smile. "Go...visit your mother." He stood up, and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "You’ve been wanting-"
"And what?" She moved to face him. Both hands on his chest, she blocked him from exiting the room. "Leave you behind?"
Heero blinked but his expression didn’t change.
Her stomach churned. "For how long?"
"A few weeks." He spoke to her left shoulder.
"No, that’s a lie!” She felt blood rush to her head; her neck and face felt hot. “It’s already been a few weeks - and the quakes and the communications-"
"You’re not authorized." Heero met her gaze; his blue eyes sparked in the fluorescent lighting. "I can’t…" His lips thinned as he pressed them together. "Just...trust me. I promised you-" He grasped both her hands in his.
"We promised each other."
"I promised YOU, Relena. That I would always protect you."
Anger dissipated and she just felt like sagging to the floor. His first promise. But the promise they’d made a few months ago... That’s the one she wanted.
“I take you, Relena, to be my wife from this day forward, to join with you and share all that is to come, and I promise to be faithful to you until death parts us."
He took a deep breath. "I need you to go." Heero released her hands and moved towards the door.
"Then I’ll go to another sector. You can come with-"
"I have a mission." He paused in the doorway. "Duo and I leave tomorrow. As soon as I see you to safety."
"I see." She closed her eyes and took a shaky breath. Her stomach pitched and she had to fight back a cold, heavy wave of emotion. It threatened to suffocate her. "How...how long will you be gone?"
"Shouldn’t be more than a few days." That flat tone, again. The one she heard all too often during the war, but not since...he came back - at Christmas.
"Then you’ll come?"
Heero nodded.
Relena moved towards him and wrapped her arms around his rib cage from behind. His warmth - just being near him felt so comforting. “I want to...I wish I could do...something."
Her husband pulled from her grasp, turned and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Depending on what we find…"
"On your mission?"
"Yeah."
She lifted her head. "What can you tell me?"
Heero shook his head.
"I hate this."
Heero wrapped his other arm around his wife and just held her. "The only thing I can tell you, about any of this, and Relena, you know you can’t-"
"I would never. You know that." She placed her hand on his cheek and met his gaze.
"It appears...more and more, it seems like…" He sucked in a deep breath. "An act of sabotage."
She felt the floor tilt beneath her even as her husband tightened his embrace. "Oh, God."
"Please, Relena." She felt his lips move against her forehead. "Go home."