Later that already late night.....

It was more like pre-dawn by the time Relena Darlian was waving a grateful farewell to her kingdom's handsome "knights and warriors." It would be a rather humorous scene of them leaving---Duo and Sally had both imbibed a bit too much of the Sanc Palace's ample supply of cooking sherry to celebrate their victory and wash their steak sandwiches down.

The way the princess cooks 'em into cowhide---it's a good thing Trowa had managed to wrestle and pan and spatula from the girl or we'd be eatin' charcoal meat!

So, as it was, true knight in shining armor Trowa Barton, and a rather anxious to greet the new morning Quatre Winner, had to nearly carry the pair out the front door to some waiting limousines Quatre R. Winner had supplied.

Relena watches them all go, smiling as she spots 'kind gentleman' Wufei Chang trailing behind the whole gang in irritation, until Sally Po, intoxicated as she was, grabs his grudgingly protesting self by the scruff of his neck and yanks him into the limo. The car door is slammed shut by Quatre, who turns to wave up at Relena and then he gives a long meaningful stare at the building to another certain occupant, long sealed within the safe confines of her closed drapery, palace bedroom window...

"They certainly are a pleasant group of fine, young men." Relena comments, as Quatre Winner finally lets his gaze go. He woke up from this daze after Duo started beeping the carhorn, sitting near the front seat, much to the contempt of the Maguanac Corp limo driver inside.

So Quatre hops into the vehicle and it speeds away into the peaceful countryside's distance.

"They are that, Princess." Pagan was still hard at work sweeping up the ceiling's cracked paint dust and spackle that had been showered down the room by the terrorists' unfeeling gunfire.

"Oh! Pagan, you're not still cleaning!" Relena turns her fanciful expression into that stern, serious one. She had already told her faithful old servant that he was to stop working and go take a rest at once, after the day's tumultuous events.

The dear, sweet man deserved at least that.

"Go to bed at once. That is an order from your Princess." Relena evokes her royal powers, directing a finger pointing towards the old servant's room, out the parlor door.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Pagan says respectfully, though the look on his tired, old face was full of hesitation and uncertainty to leave the young girl he believed under his dutiful charge, alone with.....

Relena's strict gaze in Pagan's eyes follow his to land on the cause of his worry. Heero Yuy's silent silhouette was foreboding in the dark, far corner of the room.

Heero had a new mission in life and he was not about to let her out of his sight for one minute, especially not tonight.

Oh....

Relena smiles a soft, knowing smile as she whispers a response to Pagan's unasked query.

"I'll be fine, Pagan. I've never felt more safe before in my entire life. Please don't worry on my behalf." Relena whispers sincerely, motioning for the manservant to leave and get some well deserved rest at long last.

And so he does. Pagan nods, believing in his monarch's judgement as he goes to the double doors, giving a respectful headbow and disappearing down the empty corridors of the Sanc Palace, leaving innocent Relena Darlian alone with Heero Yuy, just as she wanted.

She meets his eyes---his cold as ice eyes, that, to the observant viewer, softened ever so slightly as they connect with Relena's trembling blue ones.

"Heero...."

It's all she says as she takes one tentative step towards his inanimate form that had remained leaning against the far wall behind the tall, ornate China cabinet all this time, as if he was no more than a statue in the palace silenting observing....

There was so much she wanted to say and yet...Relena stares into Heero's blank eyes as she pauses elegantly in her step, standing perfectly still before him. She begins to tremble all over.

"Let's get you to bed, Relena." Heero finally says---more like orders. It was not an option for her to decide whether or not she was ready to retire or not. Heero, as her bodyguard, was now the one making all the decisions that affected her health, safety, and well-being from here on in.

Relena wasn't too sure if she liked that, but----

What does it matter? Heero's here with me!

She smiles as he coldly strides past her, opening the door and ushering her out as if she was a stranger.

Fine.

Relena closes her eyes, and follows. The smile never leaves her face as she walks towards the marble staircase.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mars

"Zechs! Calm down. All the reports said that Sanc is safe now. You heard yourself---the hostages have all been freed. The news says the palace is no longer in any danger."

Sometimes Lucrezia Noin-Peacecraft wondered if her husband ever paid any attention to her at all beyond at night. And even that was becoming rather too infrequent as of late. Zechs' mind was in too much turmoil over his sweet little sister now throwing her hat into the public eye's arena. It made him anxious, even more than usual.

"Zechs?"

Noin now wished she never allowed her insomnia cursed partner to switch the radio in their room on during the hours of the night, when he was supposed to be sleeping soundly.

But her husband had a worrisome nature and stubborn streak combined. Beneath all that beautiful length of platinum blonde hair, his mind that thought too much never quite let go of his tormented responsibilities. She thought this as she chased him, in her bare feet, down their makeshift home's makeshift hallway of the filled as yet, with crates and boxes of supplies, that were a necessity on this new Colony, just now starting to take shape as a world---as their home.

But right now, the look in his crazed eyes, the insane way he was acting---rampaging through their small abode in his shorts, Noin was certain that Zechs'---no, Milliardo's---true home, was still on Earth.

With his kingdom and his family---Miss Relena.

"I don't give a damn what time it is! Get me Sanc's secure line 101, NOW!" By the time Noin catches up to her long-legged love, he was already seated at their enviro-room's communication desk, speaking (more like barking) to the Mars' operator to the Earth's communication line rather curtly.

Sighing, Noin turns on the lights that he didn't even bother to switch on in his rushed anxiety to discover the fate of his forsaken kingdom and that of his only little sister...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After her evening's ablutions, Relena changes into her nightdress inside her luxurious walk-in wardrobe bathroom. She pauses at the large mirror over the sink long enough to look herself in the eye.

It's been quite a night, hasn't it, Relena?

She asks herself with that airy, affected attitude of pleasantry that she, as a politician and public speaker, generally acquired as a winning personality. But somewhere deep inside, buried beneath the outer cloak of that strong, responsible woman, was still a little girl. The one who would pretend to have a stiff upper lip, although her insides were really trembling. The little girl who could so easily be brought to tears----

Tears of both fear and sadness---and also of happiness....

Relena wipes away the one forbidden tear threatening to come down her cheek. She smoothes her hair back after running the brush stroke through it one more time.

I'll skip one hundred and do only fifty for tonight. There! I wonder why though.....

Relena begins to ask herself as she wriggles her nightwrap off, walking out of the bathroom she'd been dawdling in for quite a while now, in just her filmy nightgown.

....Why didn't Heero answer me when I bade him 'good night' at my bedroom door?

Relena shrugs the question to herself off as she collapses onto her bed. She was so tired that she felt she could sleep forev---

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

When the vidphone suddenly begins chirping, Relena, (if she hadn't been a pacifist), could swear at it or throw something for it to be quiet and let her rest, for heaven's sake!

Leave me be!

She throws her fluffy pillows and silken sheets and covers over her fatigued head in protest.

BEEP BEEP

"Sanc Kingdom Palace here."

Heero's deadpan voice awakens Relena from her already only half-sleeping state. She slowly opens her eyes against the dark mattress, soaking in the nearness of his voice to her bed that she had just thrown her tired body on and buried herself in like a ferret furrowing a hole to hibernate for the winter, as if no one else was there...

"HEERO YUY?! What are you doing in Sanc!?"

Obviously the first reports on the news didn't go into full detail of exactly who was involved in the pacifist kingdom's rescue mission. The familiar face of Heero Yuy was not exactly the one Milliardo Peacecraft expected to see on the other end of his precious little sister's PRIVATE BEDROOM vid-phone line.

"Milliardo...?" Relena reacts to her big brother's voice before she quite thinks it all out. She, in a hurry, sits up and throws off all the sheets and covers entangled about her burrowed body. Relena, ready to race to the vid-screen to tell her dear brother that she and the kingdom were both safe and fine, and that she wished she could be in one of his big brother bear hugs right now and---

"RELENA!!!! WHY ARE YOU DRESSED LIKE THAT AND WHY IS HEERO YUY IN YOUR BEDROOM?!!??!?!"

The 'bear' in Zechs was more baring his fangs and claws, than prepared to give a warm hug. Zechs blew a fuse when his angry eyes behold the scene of little sister Relena in a rather revealing nightdress, all flustered, harried, with her hair all askew---

With one short, little punk Heero Yuy right in her bedroom at arm's reach....

But Heero doesn't even flinch. His eyes only narrow at the pale blonde man's about to explode face on the screen.

"RELENA!!! Answer your older brother NOW!!!" Zechs reiterates.

Heero merely stands up from the desk he was seated at, and turns to the girl, trembling in fear of her elder brother's wrath at the crumpled and disheveled pile of bedclothes on the mattress.

"Relena. It's your brother." Heero says simply, their eyes meeting.

Suddenly, Relena isn't scared anymore. Suddenly, she has the courage to answer the angry questions with nothing but the sincerity and innocent truths of her heart.

"Thank you, Heero." Relena politely answers, elegantly poised as possible, she slowly unravels herself from the bedsheets, taking her time walking to the desk, the whole way, making Zechs wait before she deems to answer his barked out demand.

She takes a deep breath as she sits down.

"Hello, Milliardo. How are you this evening?" Relena nonchalantly speaks with a forced smile at her overbearing sibling.

"Relena! Why is Heero---?!" Zechs begins to demand again, but Relena coquettishly cuts him off.

"---I'm doing just fine, big brother. Thank you SO MUCH for asking right off." She could hold her own in a debate as Zechs' spazzing mouth was humbled and a dumbfounded look crosses his pale blue eyes.

"Relena, I---" A bit calmer now, the tamed and shamed man tries to get a word in edgewise.

No luck.

"The kingdom is safe and secure once again, thanks to a very special and talented team of Preventers." Relena smiles her most patronizing, yet still lovely smile at her struck quiet, blustery brother.

"Considering my political future in the public eye, Mr. Yuy has kindly volunteered to stay on as my personal bodyguard to ensure my safety in the future and I have accepted, gratefully." Relena states as if she was making an important political speech---more like a declaration, in her lacy pink nightdress.

"I already feel so much more protected knowing that Heero will be watching out for my safety and well-being as my personal bodyguard from now on. Knowing how he saved the world, and this kingdom, so many times, like tonight, I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather rely on than him. Don't you agree, big brother?" Relena unabashedly compliments Heero and dares to humble Zechs, all in the same well-chosen breath.

Noin almost chuckles as her lion-maned husband is forced into a corner in which he hasn't much room for recourse---by his little sister no less, because it was all true. Every word she spoke about Heero and his protection was the absolute truth.

Zechs would just have to grit his teeth and bear it.

For now, I suppose...

Zechs stares deeply into Relena's clear blue eyes. Even across the communication screens spanning a vast distance, Zechs could see the same conviction in his sister's eye---that same stubborn jaw, jutting out, that she had as a tiny, disobedient child. That same inner strength she had come to show him---and the entire world---as a determined young woman who could change it.

Grunt, sigh...

"All right, Relena. It's worked for you so far. You and your 'Heero.' If that's what you want to do, Relena, I've learned, over time, there's no holding you back once you've made up your mind. I guess whatever it takes, as long as you're safe."

Zechs finally, grudgingly, capitulates, closing his angry eyes and opening resigned ones to meet her now sparkling ones directed at him.

"Thank you, big brother. Don't worry. I'll be fine." Relena smiles from ear to ear now. Her white, white teeth were gleaming, so pleased was she, that she looked like she was about to kiss the vid-screen.

But Zechs was safe a planet away from his over-cuddly younger sister. However---

"Sister Noin! Give my worry wart of a brother a big kiss everytime he broods about me, okay? I've had a terrible two days, so I'm off to get some sleep now. Through all of this, I was just thinking....I just wanted to say....I love you, Milliardo. I'll talk to you again soon, all right? Sleep well---I will! And I'll see both of you very soon. Remember, till then----Smooch!"

Relena makes the cutest little "smoochy" face at her big brother on viewscreen as she hits the power button off, severing their connection. Zechs' smile at her sweet innocence is tainted a bit at the end though when he spies Heero's dark shadow skulking behind his delicate, nightgowned, pure sister Relena, in the far corner of the room, just beyond her messy bed.

"I swear, if Heero even touches my cute little sister, I'll....." Zechs begins to threaten the empty air, even as the last shot of Relena's happy face goes dark and blank again on his communicator screen.

SMOOCH!

Noin lands a smashing kiss on Zechs' surprised lips, landing it hard, strong and deep until she was sitting on his lap.

"Noin! Why did you just do that?" Zechs manages to say as their lips finally part from the embrace. His arms were somewhere, along the way, finding themselves around her little waist.

Noin smiles that wicked small smile of hers that was for her husband alone. Her deep blue eyes sparkle at him in the darkness as she commands the lights to dim.

"Because Miss Relena instructed me to, didn't she?" Noin chuckles, caressing Zechs' muscular chest. After all, this was the least she could do for the man she loved---to take his mind off his troubles.

"Yes, but...." Zechs trails off. His anxious mind goes back to Relena.

"And Zechs, of everyone in the world, Miss Relena always knows the right thing to do. I truly trust in her....and so should you." She pokes at his chest playfully, yet meaningfully, laying her head against its strength as he easily lifts her to return to their room.

"Yeah, trust...." The doubt in his faded, ice blue eyes was almost nonexistent now....almost...

"Relena, yes....Heero, no...."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

But Zechs didn't really have to worry about that certain subject tonight. Relena indeed had bid her heroic Heero the sweetest of goodnights as he, unconcernedly, takes a seat back at the desk she had just alighted from.

After expending a sigh of breath, Relena ponders.

Big brothers are such worried creatures! Hmph!

Heero, unfazed by either girl or big brother's scary face, and even scarier voice, accompanied by many an unspoken threat, turns his full attention on the computer screen. Heero mechanically begins typing as if he did not care even in the slightest for the nightgowned lady climbing into the bed.

That's fine with me, Heero. You ARE here, so I'm not really alone, am I?

"I said 'Good night,' Heero." Relena repeats her adieu again, going with the premise that her new bodyguard wasn't really ignoring---no, he simply didn't hear her the first time.

Silence. Save for the clickety clack of ninety words a minute on the keys.

"....And 'thank you', Heero. Thank you for coming back. Thank you for being here for me." Relena says, in a tone even softer, sweetly, kindly staring at the back of his head.

She just about gives up when he doesn't even turn around, as if he were deaf and dumb to her, so she shrugs her fatigued shoulders and shimmies down to her pillow, tucking the rumpled sheets around her, but now with one extra sigh.

"You're welcome, but it's my job now. Good night, Relena."

Heero's monotone voice drawls out. He was never one for societal niceties, however....

It was all going to be part of the job and Relena could sleep easier at nights, just knowing that he was near---very near.

She finally falls into a well-deserved sleep, with a smile on her pleasantly dreaming face.

And Heero was there, still at the computer terminal, wide awake, ready for any sudden danger. His eyes and ears were open to any sound, or movement in the now still and peaceful Peacecraft palace.

His driven, singular concern for the safety of the influential nation's fateful ruler and leader. Every once in a while, Heero Yuy's calculating gaze moves up from his numerical computer keys, just to make sure there were no threats, no dangers, from any enemies who may be in the shadows. Every window was secured and every door locked tightly shut---for this was Heero's new, unendying mission. His stalwart duty, his new destiny----

A destiny it seems I am unable to escape.

Heero's mind is allowed this one stray thought as he silently strides over to her bedside sometime in the quiet and still early hours of the morning. His cold as ice eyes mechanically scan the silent noiseless area---until they rest upon her lovely, peaceful slumbering face.

She was so calming to his chaotic soul, that the ice in his chest begins to slowly melt----as the warm sun continues to rise high into the northern sky....