BOOM!! The walls crumbled around her. Relena cowered, her hands flying up to shield her head. Not again! Why? Why can't we just live in peace? She felt someone grab her wrist.

"Relena... Come on!" She looked up. Her aquamarine eyes were assaulted by a deep Prussian blue glare. Heero, she stared at him, confused. Where did he come from?

"Move!!" he shouted at her.

She numbly let herself be led out of the quickly collapsing building. He took her to a nearby warehouse, where a trapdoor led them underground.

Once safely hidden in the clandestine basement, Heero began to check Relena for injuries.

"Relena, are you hurt? Relena! Snap out of it!", he growled, as he shook her shoulder firmly. The look of shock slowly melted as she blinked rapidly. Her eyes focused on Heero's face, but the image was quickly blurred again by her brimming tears.

Have no fear when your tears are fallin'
I will hear your spirit callin'
And I swear that I'll be there come what may
'Cause even if we can't be together
We'll be friends now and forever
And I swear that I'll be there come what may
When the night is dark and stormy
You won't have to reach out for me
I will come to you
Oh I will come to you

"Heero? Why? Why does this keep happening? Why can't people be happy with peace?" The tears rolled down her cheeks like little pearls and she collapsed into his arms. He held her head to his chest, as she had once held his.

We all need somebody we can turn to
Someone who'll always understand
So if you feel that our soul is dyin'
And you need the strength to keep tryin'
I'll reach out and take your hand

When you have no light to guide you
And no one to walk to walk beside you
I will come to you
Oh I will come to you
When the night is dark and stormy
You won't have to reach out for me
I will come to you
Oh I will come to you

******************************

Relena woke up in a cold cement walled room that smelled musty. She shivered and looked around. Her muscles and mind ached as she tried to remember what she was doing here. She turned as she picked up the sound of rapid clicking. Heero was typing away at his laptop. Heero, she thought as she recollected the past day. It was a routine delegation meeting. She had never expected that anything would happen.

"You're dead." The deep voice broke her thoughts.

"What?" she said, confused. Not this again. Heero I thought you were over all that, she sighed in her mind.

"They think you're dead."

"Why?"

"Apparently, the tracker you were wearing fell off and is still buried in the rubble. They automatically assumed you were still attached to it." Relena's eyes widened. She opened her mouth to say something, but Heero spoke before she had the chance. "The excavation of the building is going to take at least a week, if not more."

"Who did this? Who out there still desires the end of peace? Why don't they just get the point?" She said her voice bubbling with anger and frustration. "We have to call the Preventers. Let them know I'm still alive."

"Relena, the ALOC Organization is still out there. Their mission was to kill you. I think the best thing to do is let them think they have succeeded. At least until the excavation is completed."

"What's that going to accomplish?"

"ALOC thinks that peace is an unnatural state. They feel that the only thing keeping this world peaceful is you. They want to prove that to the world. They want to show the people that this peace they have attained is false and transient. So they decided to assassinate you, to see what happens to this world. Which is exactly what we're going to do."

*********************************

"Stupid hat!"

"Stop fidgeting."

"This hat will not stay on my head." Relena said, struggling with the fisherman's hat Heero had brought her.

"That's because you keep messing with it." Heero said without turning his head. His emotionless monotone voice displayed none of the irritation in his words.

"Well, I'm only messing with it so it won't fall off!" Relena explained, defensively. Heero stopped walking. Relena stopped too, if only to see what he was going to do. He pulled her behind a building and took off the hat. She stared at his face, questioningly. He ran his fingers through her soft honey hair, gathered it together, twisted it and tucked it firmly underneath the hat, which now fit quite snugly. Heero took Relena's arm as they continued walking.

"Thanks," she mumbled. He had bought her this disguise so no one would recognize her. She was surprised when all the clothes actually fit her. She wondered how he knew her size. He's the Perfect Soldier, that's how. It's his job to observe and remember every detail, she reasoned. Don't flatter yourself. They finally stopped at a dingy nightclub. The Rusty Bucket.

"We're going in here?" she asked, disgusted. Heero gave no reply. He went in. Relena hesitated, and unwillingly followed him in. It was only 5pm so the place was empty except for a few of the janitorial staff and a big burly man with a six o'clock shadow, who looked like the manager.

"Excuse me, sir." Heero approached him. "I'm in town for the week and I need some work and a place to stay. Can I get that here?" The guy looked at him, a bit surprised at his straightforwardness.

"Sure...we could use another bouncer." His eyes spotted Relena. "We could use another waitress too, especially one who looks like her." He smirked as his hand traveled up to touch her face. Relena cringed slightly, but Heero caught the hand firmly in midair before any of those grimy fingernails could make contact with her soft, smooth cheek.

"She's underage." Heero said giving him the Death Glare.

"OK...no problem," he said with a nervous laugh. "I'll show you to your room. There's a bathroom attached. You should probably go to the diner across the street for your meals. The only thing we serve here is alcohol."

"Hn," was all Heero had to say.

"Here we go...room 2D." The manager said, as he opened the door. "It's got a double bed and everything." He smirked. No response. The manager cleared his throat. "Ok well, the club opens at 10pm. I'll expect you downstairs by 9:45." With that he closed the door and left. Heero turned to Relena who was looking around the room in disbelief. She then caught sight of Heero looking at her and wiped the disgust off her face.

"We're only here for a week, right?" she smiled, weakly. Heero turned and pulled out his laptop. Relena sighed. Why do I even try to talk to him? Well, might as well get cleaned up. She walked into the bathroom. Heero heard her yelp and automatically grabbed for his gun. Relena quickly walked back out. He regarded her with a questioning look on his face. "Cockroaches." She said, shakily. "I think I'm going to take a nap." She cautiously approached the bed. She tested it slowly, first with her hands, then with her body. Satisfied, she leaned back in her pillow and sighed as she fell asleep.

*****************************

Relena woke up an hour later to find herself alone in the room. She grew panicked. Then she noticed Heero's laptop sitting on the desk. He's coming back. She slowly got out of bed and approached the computer. I always wondered what he was doing on this thing. She opened it slowly and turned it on. ENTER PASSWORD: "Password? Hmm... oh I know!" G-u-n-d-a-m...Invalid password. Hmm, how 'bout...? W-i-n-g-g-u-n-d-a-m, nope, W-I-N-G-Z-E-R-O, "Argh, I give up!" Which was fortunate, because Heero was on his way up. She heard his approaching footsteps and quickly shut down the computer and closed it. She climbed back into bed and had just pulled up the covers as Heero walked in. She looked up at him.

"You're awake," he observed. "Good...you must be hungry. Let's get something to eat."

Relena hadn't realized it before, what, with all the trauma she'd been through, plus the crude manager and nest of cockroaches. She was starving. She was about to reply, but her stomach replied for her with a deep growl. Relena reddened and climbed out of bed...again. She approached the bathroom, cautiously. Without looking, she reached in and flicked the light on.

"Alright you cockroaches," she announced. "I'm comin' in and I better not see any of you scurrying around. Got it?" She turned and gave Heero a brave smile before venturing in. Heero raised his

eyebrows, slightly.

**********************************

The bathroom ordeal was finally over, but they were far from leaving the room.

"You mean, I have to wear this stupid hat again? I look like Gilligan from that antiquated TV show." She stopped herself as she realized she was whining again. "OK, OK, but I can't do this on my own.

You have to help me again."

"Turn around." She turned and he ran his fingers through her again. He secretly enjoyed this. Her hair was so soft and silky; he loved the way it felt on his fingers. He leaned his head forward, ever so slightly, to inhale the fragrance of her hair. He quickly caught himself, and tucked her hair into the hat as he had done before.

"OK! Let's go! I'm starving!" She exclaimed, as she dragged Heero out the door by the arm.

*****************************************