A/N: I know this one has probably been done a million times over but I
wanted my shot of saying how it would be done. So for whoever is reading
this in the ff.net universe I know it's not original! I would also like to
note, that I have no idea when Quatre's birthday is, so I just made up a
date. If anyone knows, tell me and I'll change it. Okay, on to the story.
It was simply hilarious. Duo and Quatre were having trouble breathing and even Trowa and WuFei had managed to laugh out loud several times. Duo's braid whipped around as he swung his head between the T.V and the battle to end all battles.
Quatre's overly large T.V was on what would have once been known as the "Discovery Channel" but was now known as "Ecological History Channel." Today there was a special on the African lion. The British T.V announcer informed them about the current events happening on the screen.
"It seems two males have spotted the same female. We're about to see how vicious male lions can be when they want a females attention."
Duo held his side and croaked with laughter. "Oh Quatre I think I'm going to die!" He screeched.
Far off screen Zechs and Heero were staring each other down. They were near the head Quatres antique dining room table. Sitting in the head seat was a seven month pregnant Relena. "Now boys." She started.
"Quiet!" Both of them hissed.
"Oh look, they're circling each other now. I do believe they're ready to go in for the kill!" The announcer said with the slightest hint of delight.
Zechs and Heero took one step towards each other, each gauging the others reaction. "Stand down Zechs," Heero growled.
On the screen one of the lions let out a mighty roar.
"Not on your life," Zechs hissed.
The other lion challenged him with a roar of his own.
"Well look at that they've sprung!" The announcer shouted. On the screens the lions were viciously biting and clawing at each other.
"I know what's best for her!" Zechs screamed.
"No I do!"
"I'm older than you I know more things!"
"No you don't!"
"I'm her brother!"
"Yeah? Well I'm her husband and the father of the baby!" Heero shouted.
"Touché," WuFei grinned.
"It seems the younger lion has won this brawl. But there will certainly be further encounters. Mating season has only just begun."
Zechs scowled and backed away. "All right! Who betted Zechs would win that one? I want some money!" Duo said, smiling brightly.
"We didn't bet on that one Duo. We were too busy laughing." Quatre said, still grinning.
"Damn.I wanted some extra dough."
"Simply classic," Trowa said, a rather foreign smile on his face.
"Who would have thought Zechs and Heero would have been reduced to bickering children?" WuFei said, looking over at Heero with a mixture of disgust and amusement.
"Women can do that do ya," Duo said slyly, winking and WuFei who had a brief flash of Sally's face in his mind and frowned. "Indeed," he muttered under his breath.
"Oh! I keep forgetting! Do you know what it's going to be yet Relena?" Quatre called out.
Relena smiled pleasantly. "A boy."
"A mini-Heero!" Duo sang.
"I should hope not," Heero scoffed.
Quatre chuckled. "What are you going to name him?"
The bright look disappeared off of Relenas face and Heero grew even more menacing. They glanced at each other and Relena said evenly, "we haven't decided yet."
Duo smiled knowingly. "Disagreeing are you?" He asked.
"To put it lightly." Heero said.
"Give it up Heero. She's going to use the "I'm carrying the baby I get to name the baby" leverage on ya and you're not going to be able to fight back. That's how Hilde was anyway."
WuFei smiled. "Oh is that how she won that little battle?"
Duo snorted. "We'll see how you are when Sally is pregnant."
WuFei stiffened and Duo smirked. "Bah, children are a nusicence."
"What do you bet you're the next one to become a father?"
WuFei stood up. "Maxwell I am going to."
"Come on guys!" Quatre stood between Duo and WuFei. "Since you all came here to help me gather items for auction why don't we start on that?"
"What exactly is this auction for anyway?" Duo asked.
"It's the Winner family's' annual auction. The money goes to a children's' hospital fund."
Duo nodded glad the stuff he brought was going to be sold for something good. Each pilot (and Relena and Zechs) had brought something to be sold at the auction. Heero had brought an old riffle had "just lying around." Relena gave Quatre an antique tea set. Zechs all too eagerly gave up a portrait of his father. Duo had brought three boxes of DVDS, a rare find nowadays and a wrench he swore was from pre-colonial times. Quatre wasn't planning on giving the latter in. Trowa had given in one of his various circus uniforms because it was all he had been able to think of to give. WuFei had given in a rather decorative katana that he never really used or cared about. And now it was Quatres turn.
He had rifled through his mansion for weeks. He had collected every little odd and end he could think of. But he still had one more room to do.it was for this purpose that he had really called his friends thought none of them knew it. They thought Quatre just need their things and maybe for them to place a few bids at the auction. But Quatre needed them for this moment.
"So you said we have to go through one more room of yours, then bring this stuff to the auction place, stick around until bidding time, bid, come back and party right?" Duo asked.
"That's right," Quatre brightened up. With all of them here, it would be easy to go in there. "Which room are we going in Q-Man?" Duo asked.
Quatre took a deep breath. It was hard even to say it. "My fathers," he managed to get out.
Trowa looked up at him immediately. "Ah," Duo said. "Well, lets do it!"
Quatre gave a weak smile. He hadn't been in his father's quarters before his father died. Every time he would reach for the knob he'd almost break down again. It would be better to confront the shadows with his friends.
Relena made a move to get up and Heero and Zechs were near her so fast it was frightening. "It's best that you don't get up Relena," Zechs said.
"Yes, Relena just stay here and relax. We'll be back soon," Heero added.
"I came here to help," Relena said crossly.
"Well, buy something at the auction. You can help that way," Zechs suggested.
"But."
"You're staying," Heero said in an end of discussion tone. Relena scowled and tried to stand up. "Relena!" Heero growled.
"I want to move closer to the T.V. damnit!" Relena snarled. "You should have said so!" Heero said and he offered his hand to her. Relena looked at his hand for a second debating whether she should obey or not. In the end she took his hand and even let him lead her to the couch all the while muttering: "three more months, just three more months."
Zechs looked at Heero approvingly and Quatre called to Relena "Don't worry! We'll be quick!" as they left. "You guys should really lay off her. She's gonna go insane, you're going to have to commit her and the baby's going to be all alone with Heero!" Duo said.
"She." Heero and Zechs said at the same time.
"She what? She doesn't know how to take care of her own body? I highly doubt that. Yeah, I know you're worried about her and the baby's heath and everything but you're going to make her go off the deep end. Plus you could get hit in the head with a cheese grater."
WuFei smirked. "You speak from experience Maxwell?"
"No shit. I care about Hilde and Brooke. I cared when Hilde was pregnant. I used to stay up all night just looking at her. Making sure she didn't die in the middle of the night or anything. I was insane. I followed Hilde everywhere. I did everything for her. I never let her move. Then I guess one day Hilde snapped. She was trying to make dinner but I didn't want her to have to work hard so I tried to make her sit down. She wouldn't. So I went on the "you need to take care of the baby and yourself" spiel and she just lost it. She grabbed the thing nearest her, which happened to be a cheese grater and just started hitting me with it all the while telling me how I'd been driving her positively insane and to lay off. So, I stopped playing mother hen. Did most of the strenuous things but gave her, her space and we were fine."
Heero smiled. "She threw the remote at me," he said.
Duo and Quatre laughed. "Did she hit you?" asked Duo.
Heero smiled, the slightest hint of red in his cheeks. "Dead between the eyes."
Duo howled. "I can just picture it! I'll bet you had a big black and blue!"
"For a damn week," Heero said sheepishly. "I didn't even know she was pregnant then. I wasn't expecting it either. She had just finished throwing up, so I expect she wasn't feeling very well."
"Were you mad? I mean, the Perfect Soldier missing an enemy attack? Whose heard of such a thing?" Duo asked, grinning.
"No, I didn't get mad. She could have cut off my arm and I wouldn't have been mad."
"Or cut off your."
"We're here!" Quatre announced. Everyone stopped in the presence of two large ornate doors. Quatre swallowed. So many times had he approached these doors to be chased away by his father's final words and the remnants of his own insanity, even if it was Zero System induced.
'Everyone's behind me,' he told himself. 'There's no reason to be afraid. See, you can't even hear anything. It's just a room, just a room, like the thousand other rooms in this house.' He moved his hand toward the handle, no internal noise, nothing. He took a deep breath, the cold handle under his finger. Twist.
The heavy door creaked open for the first time in a long time. Dusty sunlight streamed in from the overly large window by the late Mr. Winner's desk. Quatre took a step in and smiled. Nothing except pleasant memories assaulted him. Memories of sitting with his father in this very room and Mr. Winner telling Quatre about the beautiful Earth.
He had been right to bring his friends with him. It was like being back in the good side of the war again. The unity he and the other pilots had had while fighting. And this was just another battle.
He went over to the desk and ran his fingers over the cool wood. He turned back to them. "We should sort through his books, see if there is anything worth selling. I know there are some nice things in his bedroom but I want to take care of this room first." His friends nodded, assured that Quatre was fine and went to work on a rather tall bookshelf.
"Okay, how are we going to get up there?" Duo asked.
Trowa smiled. "Easy, if Zechs will lend me his shoulders."
"You're going to step on my shoulders?" Zechs asked, trying not to sound alarmed.
"Well, I'm probably the lightest, and do you really trust Duo up there?"
Zechs nodded. "And you're the tallest," Trowa affirmed. "Not to mention that I have a history of acrobatics." Zechs nodded once more, resigning himself to the facts.
"Okay," Trowa said, stepping back. "Brace yourself. I'm going to throw down all the books. So everybody better be ready to catch them." Zechs took a deep breath and tensed up. "Ready."
Trowa made a light jump into the air without his usual complicated spins and landed on Zechs shoulders. He grabbed every book in sight and sent them downward. WuFei and Heero zoomed around the room collecting every book silently and without the slightest hint of trouble. Quatre was still looking at the desk and Duo stood to the side, his arms crossed, kind of upset that they didn't want him to help.
Soon all of the books were on the floor and everyone sat around the pile, sorting through them. "War and Peace? What the hell kind of title is that?" Duo said, looking sternly at an old book. "Oh that's really old! Some ancient literature collectors are going to the auction put it in the Take pile." Quatre said. The Take pile stood in the shadow of the massive Not Take pile, which had an odd assortment of everything from engineering to real estate.
Quatre had taken to talking softly to himself, a habit he picked up from Relena when they had once had to file paper work together. "Lettuce Delicacies? No. How to Fix Your Ships' Transmission? Nope. Grogmires Better Paintings? No. Hmmm.what's this?" He looked at a blue book without a title. He opened it and his eyes opened wide. This was his father's diary. His hands itched to turn the page. But wasn't that an invasion of privacy? Even if he was dead.
He sighed. He wouldn't open it any further. He got up to put it on his father's desk when something fluttered down from the book. He bent down to examine it. It was a picture. A picture of a woman. She looked so familiar. Like someone he saw everyday but couldn't name.
He looked on the back. In scrawling letters Quatre read: Catherine Raberba Winner, June 32nd, A. C. 179. Quatre inhaled sharply. Was this one of his older sisters? A sister he didn't know about? A sister who had died? No.there was no way.no way.
"Quatre?" Trowa had noticed that Quatre had paused in his sorting. Quatre jerked his head from the picture and stared at Trowa, as though he had never seen him before. "What does this mean?" Quatre stated loudly. "What does this woman mean?"
By now everyone was watching Quatre. "Yo, Quatre, what did ya find?" Duo asked.
It was at this point that Quatre lost his inhibitions at opening his father's diary. He practically wrenched it open and flipped through the pages waiting for something to call to him. And something did. Something screamed to him. An awful sort of scream, like that of a banshee.
December 22nd, A. C. 180.Quatre paused on this page. This was his birthday. The writing was different here. It was sharper, not as neat. The entry went as follows:
Oh dear God I do not even know why I am writing. I can barely breathe. The bottom has fallen out from my world. Catherine has died. I knew it would happen.she knew it as well and yet she continued on when we could have stopped it. Oh God, she's gone, she's really gone. I cannot cry, I believe I am beyond tears. And still, I must move on. If not for my sake, then at least for Quatre's. Yes, Quatre is the child Catherine died to give life to. He is so beautiful. He looks just like her. Oh Lord I was she was hear to raise him with me! I miss her so much! And Quatre! Poor Quatre, never to have a mothers love. I can't write anymore, it hurts too much.
Quatre dropped the book to the floor. The pages didn't change; they just sat there, mocking him. He looked up at his friends, their eyes burning holes in him. "Quatre?" Trowa asked again.
Quatre bolted from his sitting position and raced to the bathroom. He didn't know until he got there, whether he would vomit or cry.
~*~
Okay, that's Part 1. Please tell me what you think.
It was simply hilarious. Duo and Quatre were having trouble breathing and even Trowa and WuFei had managed to laugh out loud several times. Duo's braid whipped around as he swung his head between the T.V and the battle to end all battles.
Quatre's overly large T.V was on what would have once been known as the "Discovery Channel" but was now known as "Ecological History Channel." Today there was a special on the African lion. The British T.V announcer informed them about the current events happening on the screen.
"It seems two males have spotted the same female. We're about to see how vicious male lions can be when they want a females attention."
Duo held his side and croaked with laughter. "Oh Quatre I think I'm going to die!" He screeched.
Far off screen Zechs and Heero were staring each other down. They were near the head Quatres antique dining room table. Sitting in the head seat was a seven month pregnant Relena. "Now boys." She started.
"Quiet!" Both of them hissed.
"Oh look, they're circling each other now. I do believe they're ready to go in for the kill!" The announcer said with the slightest hint of delight.
Zechs and Heero took one step towards each other, each gauging the others reaction. "Stand down Zechs," Heero growled.
On the screen one of the lions let out a mighty roar.
"Not on your life," Zechs hissed.
The other lion challenged him with a roar of his own.
"Well look at that they've sprung!" The announcer shouted. On the screens the lions were viciously biting and clawing at each other.
"I know what's best for her!" Zechs screamed.
"No I do!"
"I'm older than you I know more things!"
"No you don't!"
"I'm her brother!"
"Yeah? Well I'm her husband and the father of the baby!" Heero shouted.
"Touché," WuFei grinned.
"It seems the younger lion has won this brawl. But there will certainly be further encounters. Mating season has only just begun."
Zechs scowled and backed away. "All right! Who betted Zechs would win that one? I want some money!" Duo said, smiling brightly.
"We didn't bet on that one Duo. We were too busy laughing." Quatre said, still grinning.
"Damn.I wanted some extra dough."
"Simply classic," Trowa said, a rather foreign smile on his face.
"Who would have thought Zechs and Heero would have been reduced to bickering children?" WuFei said, looking over at Heero with a mixture of disgust and amusement.
"Women can do that do ya," Duo said slyly, winking and WuFei who had a brief flash of Sally's face in his mind and frowned. "Indeed," he muttered under his breath.
"Oh! I keep forgetting! Do you know what it's going to be yet Relena?" Quatre called out.
Relena smiled pleasantly. "A boy."
"A mini-Heero!" Duo sang.
"I should hope not," Heero scoffed.
Quatre chuckled. "What are you going to name him?"
The bright look disappeared off of Relenas face and Heero grew even more menacing. They glanced at each other and Relena said evenly, "we haven't decided yet."
Duo smiled knowingly. "Disagreeing are you?" He asked.
"To put it lightly." Heero said.
"Give it up Heero. She's going to use the "I'm carrying the baby I get to name the baby" leverage on ya and you're not going to be able to fight back. That's how Hilde was anyway."
WuFei smiled. "Oh is that how she won that little battle?"
Duo snorted. "We'll see how you are when Sally is pregnant."
WuFei stiffened and Duo smirked. "Bah, children are a nusicence."
"What do you bet you're the next one to become a father?"
WuFei stood up. "Maxwell I am going to."
"Come on guys!" Quatre stood between Duo and WuFei. "Since you all came here to help me gather items for auction why don't we start on that?"
"What exactly is this auction for anyway?" Duo asked.
"It's the Winner family's' annual auction. The money goes to a children's' hospital fund."
Duo nodded glad the stuff he brought was going to be sold for something good. Each pilot (and Relena and Zechs) had brought something to be sold at the auction. Heero had brought an old riffle had "just lying around." Relena gave Quatre an antique tea set. Zechs all too eagerly gave up a portrait of his father. Duo had brought three boxes of DVDS, a rare find nowadays and a wrench he swore was from pre-colonial times. Quatre wasn't planning on giving the latter in. Trowa had given in one of his various circus uniforms because it was all he had been able to think of to give. WuFei had given in a rather decorative katana that he never really used or cared about. And now it was Quatres turn.
He had rifled through his mansion for weeks. He had collected every little odd and end he could think of. But he still had one more room to do.it was for this purpose that he had really called his friends thought none of them knew it. They thought Quatre just need their things and maybe for them to place a few bids at the auction. But Quatre needed them for this moment.
"So you said we have to go through one more room of yours, then bring this stuff to the auction place, stick around until bidding time, bid, come back and party right?" Duo asked.
"That's right," Quatre brightened up. With all of them here, it would be easy to go in there. "Which room are we going in Q-Man?" Duo asked.
Quatre took a deep breath. It was hard even to say it. "My fathers," he managed to get out.
Trowa looked up at him immediately. "Ah," Duo said. "Well, lets do it!"
Quatre gave a weak smile. He hadn't been in his father's quarters before his father died. Every time he would reach for the knob he'd almost break down again. It would be better to confront the shadows with his friends.
Relena made a move to get up and Heero and Zechs were near her so fast it was frightening. "It's best that you don't get up Relena," Zechs said.
"Yes, Relena just stay here and relax. We'll be back soon," Heero added.
"I came here to help," Relena said crossly.
"Well, buy something at the auction. You can help that way," Zechs suggested.
"But."
"You're staying," Heero said in an end of discussion tone. Relena scowled and tried to stand up. "Relena!" Heero growled.
"I want to move closer to the T.V. damnit!" Relena snarled. "You should have said so!" Heero said and he offered his hand to her. Relena looked at his hand for a second debating whether she should obey or not. In the end she took his hand and even let him lead her to the couch all the while muttering: "three more months, just three more months."
Zechs looked at Heero approvingly and Quatre called to Relena "Don't worry! We'll be quick!" as they left. "You guys should really lay off her. She's gonna go insane, you're going to have to commit her and the baby's going to be all alone with Heero!" Duo said.
"She." Heero and Zechs said at the same time.
"She what? She doesn't know how to take care of her own body? I highly doubt that. Yeah, I know you're worried about her and the baby's heath and everything but you're going to make her go off the deep end. Plus you could get hit in the head with a cheese grater."
WuFei smirked. "You speak from experience Maxwell?"
"No shit. I care about Hilde and Brooke. I cared when Hilde was pregnant. I used to stay up all night just looking at her. Making sure she didn't die in the middle of the night or anything. I was insane. I followed Hilde everywhere. I did everything for her. I never let her move. Then I guess one day Hilde snapped. She was trying to make dinner but I didn't want her to have to work hard so I tried to make her sit down. She wouldn't. So I went on the "you need to take care of the baby and yourself" spiel and she just lost it. She grabbed the thing nearest her, which happened to be a cheese grater and just started hitting me with it all the while telling me how I'd been driving her positively insane and to lay off. So, I stopped playing mother hen. Did most of the strenuous things but gave her, her space and we were fine."
Heero smiled. "She threw the remote at me," he said.
Duo and Quatre laughed. "Did she hit you?" asked Duo.
Heero smiled, the slightest hint of red in his cheeks. "Dead between the eyes."
Duo howled. "I can just picture it! I'll bet you had a big black and blue!"
"For a damn week," Heero said sheepishly. "I didn't even know she was pregnant then. I wasn't expecting it either. She had just finished throwing up, so I expect she wasn't feeling very well."
"Were you mad? I mean, the Perfect Soldier missing an enemy attack? Whose heard of such a thing?" Duo asked, grinning.
"No, I didn't get mad. She could have cut off my arm and I wouldn't have been mad."
"Or cut off your."
"We're here!" Quatre announced. Everyone stopped in the presence of two large ornate doors. Quatre swallowed. So many times had he approached these doors to be chased away by his father's final words and the remnants of his own insanity, even if it was Zero System induced.
'Everyone's behind me,' he told himself. 'There's no reason to be afraid. See, you can't even hear anything. It's just a room, just a room, like the thousand other rooms in this house.' He moved his hand toward the handle, no internal noise, nothing. He took a deep breath, the cold handle under his finger. Twist.
The heavy door creaked open for the first time in a long time. Dusty sunlight streamed in from the overly large window by the late Mr. Winner's desk. Quatre took a step in and smiled. Nothing except pleasant memories assaulted him. Memories of sitting with his father in this very room and Mr. Winner telling Quatre about the beautiful Earth.
He had been right to bring his friends with him. It was like being back in the good side of the war again. The unity he and the other pilots had had while fighting. And this was just another battle.
He went over to the desk and ran his fingers over the cool wood. He turned back to them. "We should sort through his books, see if there is anything worth selling. I know there are some nice things in his bedroom but I want to take care of this room first." His friends nodded, assured that Quatre was fine and went to work on a rather tall bookshelf.
"Okay, how are we going to get up there?" Duo asked.
Trowa smiled. "Easy, if Zechs will lend me his shoulders."
"You're going to step on my shoulders?" Zechs asked, trying not to sound alarmed.
"Well, I'm probably the lightest, and do you really trust Duo up there?"
Zechs nodded. "And you're the tallest," Trowa affirmed. "Not to mention that I have a history of acrobatics." Zechs nodded once more, resigning himself to the facts.
"Okay," Trowa said, stepping back. "Brace yourself. I'm going to throw down all the books. So everybody better be ready to catch them." Zechs took a deep breath and tensed up. "Ready."
Trowa made a light jump into the air without his usual complicated spins and landed on Zechs shoulders. He grabbed every book in sight and sent them downward. WuFei and Heero zoomed around the room collecting every book silently and without the slightest hint of trouble. Quatre was still looking at the desk and Duo stood to the side, his arms crossed, kind of upset that they didn't want him to help.
Soon all of the books were on the floor and everyone sat around the pile, sorting through them. "War and Peace? What the hell kind of title is that?" Duo said, looking sternly at an old book. "Oh that's really old! Some ancient literature collectors are going to the auction put it in the Take pile." Quatre said. The Take pile stood in the shadow of the massive Not Take pile, which had an odd assortment of everything from engineering to real estate.
Quatre had taken to talking softly to himself, a habit he picked up from Relena when they had once had to file paper work together. "Lettuce Delicacies? No. How to Fix Your Ships' Transmission? Nope. Grogmires Better Paintings? No. Hmmm.what's this?" He looked at a blue book without a title. He opened it and his eyes opened wide. This was his father's diary. His hands itched to turn the page. But wasn't that an invasion of privacy? Even if he was dead.
He sighed. He wouldn't open it any further. He got up to put it on his father's desk when something fluttered down from the book. He bent down to examine it. It was a picture. A picture of a woman. She looked so familiar. Like someone he saw everyday but couldn't name.
He looked on the back. In scrawling letters Quatre read: Catherine Raberba Winner, June 32nd, A. C. 179. Quatre inhaled sharply. Was this one of his older sisters? A sister he didn't know about? A sister who had died? No.there was no way.no way.
"Quatre?" Trowa had noticed that Quatre had paused in his sorting. Quatre jerked his head from the picture and stared at Trowa, as though he had never seen him before. "What does this mean?" Quatre stated loudly. "What does this woman mean?"
By now everyone was watching Quatre. "Yo, Quatre, what did ya find?" Duo asked.
It was at this point that Quatre lost his inhibitions at opening his father's diary. He practically wrenched it open and flipped through the pages waiting for something to call to him. And something did. Something screamed to him. An awful sort of scream, like that of a banshee.
December 22nd, A. C. 180.Quatre paused on this page. This was his birthday. The writing was different here. It was sharper, not as neat. The entry went as follows:
Oh dear God I do not even know why I am writing. I can barely breathe. The bottom has fallen out from my world. Catherine has died. I knew it would happen.she knew it as well and yet she continued on when we could have stopped it. Oh God, she's gone, she's really gone. I cannot cry, I believe I am beyond tears. And still, I must move on. If not for my sake, then at least for Quatre's. Yes, Quatre is the child Catherine died to give life to. He is so beautiful. He looks just like her. Oh Lord I was she was hear to raise him with me! I miss her so much! And Quatre! Poor Quatre, never to have a mothers love. I can't write anymore, it hurts too much.
Quatre dropped the book to the floor. The pages didn't change; they just sat there, mocking him. He looked up at his friends, their eyes burning holes in him. "Quatre?" Trowa asked again.
Quatre bolted from his sitting position and raced to the bathroom. He didn't know until he got there, whether he would vomit or cry.
~*~
Okay, that's Part 1. Please tell me what you think.