Innocent Suspicion
by
Captain Anonymous

Relena paced back and forth in her old room, still mulling over the words she had heard from her mother.

The more she thought about it, the more it seemed build inside of her, burning in anger.
Just how could she do this to father? Who was this was this man? Was he a kind man, or was he just a pale representation of the man her father had once been.

Heero sat at the desk, finishing some work on his laptop. It appeared that he was ignoring
Relena, but in actuality, he listened to every word that she said.
“I just still can’t believe it.”

Heero didn’t look up at her, “If this is bothering you so much, perhaps you should go back downstairs and talk about this with her.”
Relena stopped pacing and walked over to Heero, “I wish I could do just that, but I just don’t know what to say to my mother. I really want her to be happy, but I just don’t know.”
She reflected for a moment.
“Maybe I’m just being unreasonable.”

She stood behind her husband. “Heero, have you heard of a man named Count Townsend?”

Heero stopped typing, “Yeah.”
Relena said, slightly surprised, “Do you?”
Heero closed the laptop, “Yeah, if it is the same guy. I met him during the war, right after I came back to Earth.”
Heero closed his eyes, “It was before we came to the Cinq Kingdom. I was with Quatre then. One of his patrols found us, we didn’t have any means to fight against them, so surrendered.”

Relena listened to his words, still lost in sea of confused and angry thoughts. “You were captured?”

Heero nodded, “Yeah. He really didn’t treat us like we were regular prisoners. He was holding us, he was supposed to turn us over to the Romafeller forces.”
The Romafeller burned for a moment in her mind. “Do you mean he was a member of Romafeller?”

Just the thought of Romafeller made her feel uneasy. They had carried out so many horrible things, they were just as bad as OZ had been. They had been the ones that attacked the Cinq Kingdom. Romafeller was all but dead now, it's members scattered, but still the very thought of the actions they took during the war still did not sit well with her.

Heero went on, “The nation he was working for, they were caught in Romafeller’s control policies. He didn’t seem like he was a formal member himself, one of those who were forced by them into it.”
Still, the fact that he was with Romafeller stayed in Relena’s mind. “What kind of man was he?”
Heero remembered that long night. “He was a kind man, I don’t think he was cut out for the work he was doing. That kindness he had during the war, it was his weakness. He allowed us to escape, he was being far too kind, and far too generous with us. He was a lousy soldier. But now in the time of peace, it’s probably more of an asset then it was on the battlefield. I really don’t think he’s a man you should be particularly worried about.”
Heero stood up from his chair, and looked towards the window. “I heard that he was a Preventer, he was with Trowa and Quatre for a while. They might know some more about him. I’ll try and contact them about it.”
Relena still let it burn in her mind, she wanted to know more, “Heero, what do you think I should do?”
Heero looked at Relena, “You should probably try and meet him, it would be the best thing. You can find out for yourself. We have time to do it before he have to return to space, and it would likely be better for you to do it now rather then wait.”

She thought about what Heero said, but she couldn’t help but the thoughts in her mind of just how upset she was.
Perhaps she was wrong.
Was this really so bad?
But then her thoughts drifted back to her father, all those times before the war, when her father was still alive.
She didn’t trust this man, this stranger. Maybe his intentions were good, or maybe he had his own agenda. The fact that he was associated with Romafeller did not help matters.
She didn’t like herself feeling this was, so suspicious, so unforgiving.
Her memories of her father, the love for her mother, they more then enough to cloud her judgment.
Her mother was one of the few ties she carried to that time before the war.
She didn’t want to see her mother hurt.
She would have to find out just what kind of person this man was.
She would make sure herself. She wasn’t going to let anyone harm her mother.

“Then I’ll do just that, we should make arrangements to meet with this man.” Relena said coming to a resolution, “I'd better to go talk with my mother again and apologize for my behavior before.”
Relena turned to the door, “You really don’t have to stay here, no one will mind if you have a look around the rest of the house.”
Heero sat back the desk chair, “I’ll pass. I’d probably only get in the way anyway.”
Relena smiled, for a moment forgetting about what her mother said, “Suit yourself.”
She turned as she left, “Thank you, Heero.”

-------------

Johnnie reached back behind the desk, and traced the wires back to the video phone.
He studied the set up, trying to determine which one of the wires he needed.
“This one.” He said softly to himself, as he traced it back to connect in the back of the monitor.
Johnnie held the wire in one hand, and reached for the small device that he had brought in his coat pocket with the other.
He looked at the device, it didn’t even seem like it had enough parts to work. Hell, he might not even be setting it up correctly.
The device was one of the last things he could thank Ralph Kurt for. He wasn’t even sure why he had kept it this long, but finally it would come in handy.
Hopefully it would work.
Of course, by the time Marlene would come back, he would have to remove the router device and replace the original setup.
He tightened the wires, and sat back in the desk chair.
He felt a strain of guilt inside of him, he knew he probably shouldn’t be using it.
He knew he should be able to trust Midii, but still, it just seemed like everything else.
With his finger, he hit the power switch on the monitor.
He was amazed and impressed with himself that it turned on.
With one hand, Johnnie typed in the number, and took a deep breathe.
As the connection went through, he tapped his finger on the desk, coming close to the disconnect button.

Midii walked into the room, closing the door behind her as she rushed to the monitor.
“Just a minute, Just a minute.”
Midii hit the button, it seemed odd. No one typically ever called this time of day.
She looked at the image staring at her, looking back into the familiar blue eyes.
“Johnnie?” she asked, knowing full it was him.
He didn’t look well. His eyes gave away his pain. Nights spent crying, not enough sleep, far too much time agonizing and suffering.

He was clearly sick.

He didn’t seem well.

“Hi Midii,” his voice was tired, soft.

Midii said, “I wasn’t expecting you to call. Are you all right?”

Johnnie lowered his eyes, “I’m fine, sorry that I’ve been gone for so long. I didn’t mean for it to happen this way.”
Midii said, “It’s okay.” It really didn’t feel all right.
Johnnie said, “I wanted to come home, a few times I tried, but I just don’t know the way.”
“Don’t know the way?” Midii asked, not expecting any sort of answer.
Johnnie took a deep breathe, “I’m sure that you’ve talked to Lady by now, she’s told you about what happened.”
Midii said, “I know. She told me.”
Johnnie shook his head, “I wanted to end it, you know? I thought that if I did, everything would start to feel better.”

Midii leaned forward, “But what happened?”

Johnnie said, “I just couldn’t do it.”
Midii said, “I see.”
Johnnie went on, “I thought about it, but when I was with her, I just bring myself to do it. I wanted her to bleed, to pay what she did to us, to you, to me, to father....But I just couldn’t.”
Midii wanted to touch the screen, to reassure him, but he seemed so distant from her.
“If I did, I wasn’t going to be any better she was. I just knew that if I did Midii, I couldn’t, I just couldn’t do it.”
“It’s okay. It doesn’t have to be this way.” Midii felt she was close, she didn’t want him to suffer. Maybe she could find him, past all the pain, guilt and remorse.
“I didn’t want to have your eyes look at me like Catherine’s.”
A chill went through Midii’s body.
“I don’t want that feeling anymore. I just can’t get rid of it.”
Midii said softly, “I know how you feel. I felt the same way for a long time. I know it hurts. I know that you want to get rid of those feelings, I was the same way too. I wanted to be someone like that, someone empty, without the pain.”
Johnnie looked at his sister, as she closed her blue eyes.
Midii said, “I met someone like that. Someone who had buried away their emotions. It took a long time for me to understand. Its okay for you to be hurt, to feel that way.”

Johnnie looked away from his sister, there was a bitterness in his voice, “I know, but I just want it all to end. I almost don’t care how it happens. I just want those eyes to be staring at me to disappear. I just want to get rid of this pain. I don’t care if it leaves me empty inside, I just don’t to be hurt anymore, and I don’t want to have to hurt anyone else. I want to be able to come home, so we can all be a family again, like it was before the war, and for everything to all right again. It seems like everything I do, every day it seems to slip farther and farther away.”

Midii looked at her brother, she knew how he felt. Years before, she had taken the same path herself. She wanted to help him, but the words, they just didn’t seem to be there. She wanted to make him understand.

She watched as he fell silent, as he laid his head against the desk, breaking down and crying.
She heard his last words as something garbled, something that sounded like he was saying he was sorry, that he loved her.

“Johnnie wait....”
The screen faded in front of Midii. He finger neared the reconnect switch, she touched the button, but the number never appeared as though it had never registered.
She felt as though he was so far away from her.
She knew that he still cared, but he seemed so far away.

Johnnie looked at the blank screen, where his sister’s face had been.
The dark glass of the monitor stared back at him, offering him no answers.
He lifted his fist and in a thoughtless motion, he shattered the screen in front of him.

------

Count Townsend sat alone in the dark wood panel study. The room was almost silent, the strongest sound came from the antique clock, counting away the endless minutes.
In his hand, he held a glass of brandy, and beside him was the half bottle that he had filled the glass with. Beside that bottle, was similar bottle, that sat empty.
Near him was the phone, which silently.
There else for him to do but to wait, as long as he would need to haunt the halls of the house in Fairfax, waiting for her call.
There had been many times where he had waited in vain, but he was sure that this time, she would call.
Townsend took a sip of brandy, and slowly closed his eyes.

------

Ralph opened the unlocked door, and took off his coat, tossing it onto the back of the chair as he walked inside.
He slipped off his shoes, and stretched his feet out over the carpeting.
Everything seemed quiet, he scanned the living room, and his eyes found Chris sitting by the window.
Ralph walked slowly towards her, not making a sound.
Chris looked up at him, sensing his presence.
“You’re home early,” she said softly.
“I had some time to use up, I figured that I would come home and surpass you.”
Ralph sat down beside her on the couch and looked outside through the frost covered glass.
“So, are you enjoying your time off?”
Chris closed her eyes, “It’s been fine. I’ll be off until Mrs. Relena comes back from the Earth.”
Ralph let his tense muscles relax as he laid back on the couch. “When is she supposed to be coming back to space?”
Chris swept the hair away from her face, “I’m not sure. Probably for about a week. But I really don’t mind the time off.”
Ralph moved his hand, to her side, “Maybe you should gone with her.”
Chris smiled, “I’m much happier here.”
Ralph smiled, and looked outside as the snow fell.
Chris said softly, “It’s scheduled to snow for the two days. Looks like it will be the last snow of the season.”
Ralph looked at the falling snow, the way it fell to the ground. “You know Chris, the snow looks different in the colonies then it does on Earth. I don’t know why seems that way.”
“I noticed that too,” Chris agreed, “I really don’t what it is, but just something seems different somehow.”
Chris slid closer to him.

Ralph said, looking out, lost in the endless shower of white snow flakes, “Maybe, its that on the Earth it seemed more alive, a force of nature. Rather then a controlled weather pattern. It seems just far more peaceful here.”

Chris moved her leg over Ralph’s body, straddling him. Ralph smiled, and looked into her eyes. He felt her hands touch his neck, as she put them around him.
She still was extra cautious not to touch his shoulder.
He could see the smile come to her face, as he rubbed his hands along her thighs.
Ralph gently kissed her, the way her warm lips felt, it sent a shock through his body.
Chris laid her head down on his chest, and closed her eyes.
They sat together as the snow continued to fall.


To be continued.......

Next: Sylvia and Mitchell visit the grave of Sylvia’s grandfather......