Relena tore her gaze from the outside world and looked over at Duo. "Where are we going?"
"I'm.... uh, kidnapping you."
Relena raised an eyebrow. "I thought I was already kidnapped."
"Well then I'm re-kidnapping you.... er, rescuing. Yeah, that's it! I'm rescuing you. You know, your knight in shining armor."
Relena laughed, but then leaned back and studied him. His mischievous grin, laughing eyes, and yard-long braid were the antithesis of all basic qualities of fairy tale knights. Though his build and the way he occasionally set his jaw seemed to give him an almost heroic air.
She didn't realize she was staring, until her object of interest asked with a grin, "See something you like?"
Relena quickly glanced away, her face burning. The car descended into silence as Duo turned his full attention back to driving, and Relena settled on watching the passing scenery.
The motel room Relena entered immediately nauseated her. Large roaches and rats scurried into the shadows cast by the dim lights. The smell of urine and mold combined to form a very unpleasant, yet interesting scent. Duo walked past her and flopped down on to one of the beds. A cloud of dust rose from the thin comforter when his back hit it, and he coughed softly.
Relena crept out of the doorway and gingerly sat on the other bed. "Why are we here again?"
"Because I can't afford the Ritz, and they wouldn't expect us to stop somewhere this shabby."
Relena snorted. "This is beyond shabby. This is-"
"Far better than some of the places I've slept." Duo suddenly sounded very exhausted. "Tell you what, 'Lena. When we stop tomorrow, you pick out the hotel. Now go to sleep."
Relena nodded and pulled back the blankets on her bed. Several pink, slightly wriggling creatures were revealed. Relena gave a small, startled cry and jumped back.
Duo, who had been drifting on the edge of sleep, woke and scrambled to his feet. "What? What's wrong?"
Relena calmed down, then laughed. "Just pinkies. Sorry, didn't mean to wake you. I just wasn't expecting baby mice in my bed."
Duo shook his head and sat back down. "Okay, so there are a bunch of baby mice in your bed and you're not shrieking? I thought you'd be one of those scared of rodents and bugs girls."
A puzzled look settled on her face. "Why? I certainly don't scream at every little shadow. Hell, I don't even scream when people pull guns on me and threaten to kill me."
"True. Waaaaait, one minute here. Did you just say 'hell'? Miss Perfect Queen of the World said 'hell'. I'm stunned."
"Miss Perfect? Where'd you get that? And I'm not the queen of anything anymore."
"A little thing everybody was calling you for awhile. And you still have to be the queen of something, you can't drop out of royalty that fast."
"Wanna bet? Fine then, if I'm still a queen, what am I queen of?"
Duo opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut again with an audible click. A few minutes later, he was still pondering, but then his eyes lit up, and he exclaimed, "I know! Queen of...." He paused, glancing at Relena. "You're supposed to be in suspense. Totally quiet that one can hear a pin drop."
"No one can hear a pin drop when you talk."
Duo pouted. "That was mean."
"I know, sorry. So, I'm in suspense. What am I queen of?"
"More suspense than that!"
Relena sighed heavily. "Fine." She clapped her hands together and batted her eyelashes. "Oh, Duoooooo! My heart is going to stop if you don't tell meeee! I'm going to dieeeee!" She grabbed his shoulders. "The suspense is killing meeeee!" She released him. "Happy now?"
Duo was somewhat shocked by the over-acting, but he shook himself and nodded. "That was a bit much though, don't you think?"
"Some people are never happy."
"You are the Queen of the Assassins!"
Stunned silence, then, "That's it?"
"Isn't it enough?"
"I don't know. I just thought that you were thinking for such a long time that something grander could have come out of that."
"Well, nothing did. But hey, this still doesn't answer my question!"
Relena blinked. "What question?"
"The one about the mice?" He gestured to the bed. "Why aren't you afraid of them?"
"Didn't we go through this already?"
"No. Not enough anyway."
"Oh."
Silence.
"Well?"
"Oh, yeah, I had a snake when I was little."
Duo's eyes widened. "Really? You don't seem the type."
"What about you? Did you have any pets as a kid?"
"I still am a kid!" His grin stretched from ear to ear. "But not really. I mean, back at the church there were a few strays that came by every few hours for a scrap of food and an ear scratching. There was this one monster of a dog. Big great Dane/ Rottie mix or something. He was huge. Came to... about my shoulders."
Relena giggled next to him. "Now you're telling tall tales."
"Yeah, the dog was tall. Nearly ran me over a few times, and I had to climb up a hill both ways. But I was short then. Give me a break. The dog did come up to my shoulders."
"Okay, I believe you. Continue."
Duo mock-bowed. "Yes, your Majesty. But that dog was probably the most frequent guest at the church. Other than Sister Helen's cat." Duo's grin had transformed into a bittersweet, almost sad smile. "A bright orange cat with dark stripes and only three legs. But boy could he run. Oh, yeah, and he only had half an ear. Guess he lost it in a scuffle with a dog or something. " He blinked out of his trip down memory lane and chuckled. "Sorry to bore you."
Relena shook her head quickly. "You didn't bore me. Your life growing up had to have been hundreds of times more exciting than mine. Mine was so routine. Get up, go to school, be flattered up one side and down the other, come home, eat, sleep, do it over again. Occasionally, there was a party- no, there were no 'parties', they were 'social events.' Social event here, there, and everywhere. I'm still doing those. That's all I do, in fact. You-" She broke off when Duo's head dropped down on to her shoulder and giggled when she saw that he was "snoring" because he had fallen "asleep."
The braided man's eyes opened, and he yawned. "Gee, 'Lena, your life was boring. I slept through most of it."
Relena playfully shoved him. "That's what I was trying to tell you."
Duo smirked and slid on to the floor. "You can have the bed."
Relena gave him a grateful smile. "I'm glad you're willing to sleep on the floor."
"Yep, that's what I am, the guy who always sleeps on the floor."
Relena laughed. "Good night, Duo."
"Night, 'Lena!"