REVISED

I have always wondered how Quatre and Dorothy knew each other well enough to detect whom they were fighting during the end of Gundam Wing, and how they could become a couple after the series. So I made a fic to answer it. I'm going along the lines that Dorothy and Quatre are the same age. ;-)

When I Knew You

By Moony

After Colony 186

Dermail Manor

"Are you sure the two will get along? I don't want your son filling my granddaughter's head with silly ideas of peace now. but she won't talk to me, she won't talk to her maids, she wont' speak a word to anyone since her parents were killed! I don't know what to do with that child!" The Duke explained to the senior Mr. Winner over a vid-com.

"If anyone can soften her heart it would be my son. He has the heart of his mother," Mr. Winner explained. The Duke nodded.

"Anything is worth a try. I have to train her, and it would be pretty difficult if she wasn't speaking."

"As much as I know I will disagree with the training you'll be putting her through, no child should ever loose their parents," Mr. Winner Said. "I'll send Quatre here for as long as you need him." Dermel nodded.

Six year old Quatre Winner entered the playroom of a little girl he had never met. He saw her sitting in a chair looking down at her hands. She had pretty blond hair a little past her shoulders. She looked up at him with sad blue/purple eyes.

"Hi," Quatre whispered and edged closer. "I'm Quatre. My daddy sent me to stay here and be your friend." the little girl turned her head away from him. "What's your name?" Quatre continued to approached slowly. He saw a tear roll down the little girl's cheek. "My daddy told me your mommy and daddy died." the girl looked up at him for a second, surprised, then nodded. "I don't have a mommy either." the girl's eyebrows rose in amazement.

"You don't have a mommy?" she asked in a raspy whisper.

"Hunt uh" Quatre said and shook his head. "I was born from a test tube because my daddy says it was too dangerous for a mommy to have a baby in space."

"Oh," the little girl said. "My mommy and daddy went away on a space ship, and grandpa says they won't comeback ever."

"What's your name?" Quatre asked.

"Dorothy," the little blond said.

"Do you want to play make believe, Dorothy?" Quatre asked.

"Yeah! Let's play house!" Dorothy cried. Quatre made a disguised face.

"No, not house! Let's play cowboys and Indians!" Quatre cried. he shaped his hand into a finger gun. "Bang, Bang!" Dorothy grasped her chest and gave a light cry and fell onto the ground.

"You shot me!" she yelled.

"Wait, wait! Let's start a gain. I'm the cowboy and you're the Indian."

"Okay," Dorothy said as she got up. "Let me go hide first."

Quatre and Dorothy played for a while then a maid came in with some milk and cookies for them. The two of them ate and giggled about the curious things children giggle about. The maid smiled at the two, glad her little mistress was finally smiling and talking again, and that was the beginning of Quatre Winner's and Dorothy Catalonia's friendship.

After Colony 193

L4 Colony

Quatre and Dorothy met as much as their parents would allow, sending letters and vid-com constantly, and in that time they made a bond that no friendship could ever match. They were best friends...

"Hello Dorothy," Quatre said as Duke Dermail passed into Mr. Winner's office.

"Hello Quatre," Dorothy replied. "It seems my grandfather wants to argue with your father again."

"Yes, I would think they would be sick of it now, but at least we can see each other," Quatre sighed. "Would you like to go and get something to drink?"

"Sure," Dorothy replied.

"Rashid, We'll be going to get a drink," Quatre informed his body guard. His bodyguard stood and began walking beside Quatre. Dorothy looked up at the tall man and smiled slightly. He remained stern and looked back to the hall. Dorothy grinned then put her arm around Quatre's arm, testing the bodyguard. He looked at her then smiled, disappointing Dorothy.

The two sat in silence at the coffee shop. Rashid was sitting at a table over reading the paper and drinking something. Their relationship had become rather stiff lately. Though Quatre constantly dismissed Duke Dermail's lessons, Dorothy had come to find truth in them, which had begun to form a gap in their friendship.

"My grand father says a war is going to start soon between the colonies and Earth," Dorothy told Quatre with a smiled.

"Yes, my father fears the day," Quatre replied appalled at Dorothy's obvious pleasure.

"And what will you be doing to defend the Colonies?" Dorothy asked smugly, mocking her friend. Quatre looked at her for a moment, hurt and almost sure she knew about his Gundam training that was taking place. It was another thing he, regretfully, couldn't tell her, but then her grandfather's ways would have evened seemed all the more right, and Quatre couldn't take the chance of affirming the horrid OZ ideal.

"My family is pacifistic. I will not go against what they believe," Quatre replied simply, though he knew that wouldn't be enough for Dorothy.

"And what do you believe, Quatre?" Dorothy asked.

"I believe all this fighting is pointless and that we shouldn't," Quatre said.

"How could you say something like that?" Dorothy asked her grin becoming more and more atrocious. "Fighting is the ultimate form of art that could be imagined. Without it warriors have nothing to live for!"

"If there was peace then there would be no warriors living to have nothing to live for," Quatre retorted.

"But this world is full of war, Quatre. Pretending it's not there or that there's one simple answer out there that will solve it all. How will those warriors cope with peace? How will our worlds cope without war? It's human nature. War gives us meaning"

"We'll have to change if we ever want to stop the killing, and change is the nature of the universe" Quatre replied.

"But that's just it, Quatre, the Earth doesn't want to stop the killing, and perhaps the universe has something else in mind. Peace doesn't exactly fit in with the chaos theory, "Dorothy replied.

"Yes, I know, and soon everyone even those who don't want to fight will have to," Quatre sighed gravely.

"What do you have to worry about, Quatre?" Sarcasm dripping from every word. "Your father has complete control of these colony," she gestured to the visible area. "And has many alliances with those on Earth, my grandfather for example. He will not let anything happen to your family. I, on the other hand will probably be expected to fight somehow. My family is completely anti-pacifist. My cousin, Treize Kushrenata is the leader of OZ, the most elite-fighting group this universe has ever seen. War runs in our blood. It's a shame you will never know how that can fuel your existance" Quatre merely sighed and shook his head. Everything he had feared for Dorothy had come to pass, despite all his efforts.

"Maybe someday someone will rise up and lead the Earth and Colonies to peace," he offered.

"Maybe you," Dorothy whispered making steady eye contact with Quatre. "But then we'd be enemies and that would be a pity..."

"Yes," Quatre agreed quietly. "A pity."

"I don't want to be your enemy, Quatre. Perhaps hoping for one easy answer to all the world's problem is the ultimate enemy."

"Maybe, Dorothy, but you're my best friend too," Quatre reached across the table and took her hand. "Lets make a deal never to be enemies okay?"

The teasing light in Dorothy's eyes quickly disappeared. She slowly moved her hand from under Quatre's and turned away. Both of them knew that it would be a promise neither could keep.