I know its been done a million times before, but I wanted to add my own twist on the 'arranged marriage' thing. I DON'T know a THING about Arabian wedding customs, so if I make a boo-boo, I'm terribly sorry, and please correct it in a review. Enjoy this! I've enjoyed writing it so far!

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is copyright its respective owners. This fic wasn't intended to infringe on those rights, and it's certainly not written for a profit. Also, the idea for Angels Inc (explained in detail later) isn't my idea. I changed the name of the company, but the details about what the company does was in a book I read…so that's not a stroke of my genius either, unfortunately. Why don't we get to the good stuff now?

Least Expected Things

The sound of a shattering teacup sent Quatre Raberba Winner's startled secretary running into the room. Her boss, normally so coolly in control of everything, was dialing a number so hard that the secretary was surprised he hadn't broken the phone yet. He impatiently waved her away as the phone rang, a crease forming in between his eyebrows.

"I need to speak to Iria Winner," he snapped. His secretary had never seen him so furious before. She listened as Iria picked up the phone.

"This better not be some sick joke that you and my other sisters have cooked up to get me married," he growled into the receiver, paying his secretary no mind.

"What are you talking about?" Iria replied, startled at her brother's tone.

"I realize that you are upset over the rumors that the tabloid started, but I assure you that my sexual preferences run toward women. There was no need to go this far."

Iria blinked, completely confused. "I'll be down there in two minutes, Quatre." She blinked again when the other line was abruptly cut. What was going on?

By the time Iria Winner walked into her younger brother's office, Quatre had somewhat composed himself. He was sitting in his chair, situated slightly forward so that he could rest his chin on his laced fingers. His mind was far away, lost in inner turmoil over family pride and his own strict code of honor. His normally bright aquamarine blue eyes were clouded, and a frown had thinned out his lips. He looked up as she quietly closed the door.

"I have never been so disgustingly accused of something as I was today. You have some explaining to do, little brother, and that explanation had better include an apology," she said as she settled down in an overstuffed chair. The office was sparingly decorated, and it was a clearly masculine room. Little Quatre-ish objects were here and there, giving away the fact that he was there more often than not. Perhaps, she thought wryly as she studied the room and waited for her brother's response, the right woman would draw him away from this decorated prison cell.

"I do owe you an apology, and I am sorry," Quatre said finally as he rose from his chair to gracefully walk to the windows. "I had assumed that the document on the desk was a twisted prank…a scheme to get me married so that this family would have an heir and you would all finally see me settled down. However, I've made some calls and found that the document is perfectly legal." Still frowning, he turned back to her, silhouetted against the window. "And completely binding."

Iria picked up the document, scanning it. Quatre watched, icily calm, as her eyes widened. She looked up at him, startled.

"This is…I mean, Father wouldn't have been so rash…there was no need to…"

"As I've said, it's completely binding." He turned again to the spectacular view from his office windows, but Iria could tell he wasn't really absorbing the beauty before his eyes. "If this contract is not honored, and I have not married this girl in two months and at least impregnated her by my twenty-first birthday…"

"Then the company will be split between its leading competitors in gross production and that will be the end of Winner Enterprises," Iria muttered, tossing the document down.

"Oh, no…please read further…or at least look at the signatures on the bottom. Maybe you'll see, just as I've come to see, what a fool I actually am."

Iria glanced down at the signatures and her eyes went impossibly wide. "But-but…I…that's impossible."

"No, it's quite possible unfortunately. I've been duped by the man that I have considered a second father."

Iria's eyes fell back on the scribbled signature. Her fingers traced over it as she ran her other hand through her hair. The signature read Rasid Kurama…Captain and second-in-command of the Maganac.

*~*

"Quatre! How good it is to hear from you!" Commander Saudha-ul seemed pleasantly surprised to hear from the young man before him. Quatre managed a ghost of a smile for the chubby but cheerful commander of the Maganac corps.

"It's good to speak to you, Commander," Quatre replied politely. "I've been trying to reach Rasid for a few hours. Do you know how I can reach him?"

The older man smiled heartily. "You know Rasid and his men," he replied. "They're not happy if they're tied down to one place too long."

Quatre nodded, sighing. He'd been afraid to hear that. It meant Rasid and the other Maganac were in the desert again. They were a group of nomadic soldiers, and whenever they could they headed back out into the desolate sand to satisfy their urge to roam.

"But I'm fairly certain I can patch you through," the Commander was continuing. Quatre looked up sharply.

"That would be a great help, Commander," he said, leaning forward. After a few minutes, the older man had come through and Rasid Kurama's face appeared on the screen.

"Quatre-sama!" the tall bearded man said, his eyes glowing at the sight of the young man he considered a son. "Is everything all right?"

"You could say that, Rasid. But I need to talk to you about an agreement that you made with my father."

Rasid's eyes darkened, but he nodded. "Of course, Quatre-sama."

"The…the kidnapping was a set-up, wasn't it?" the younger man managed. Rasid sighed.

"Yes. Your father arranged it with me. He said you needed to be taught some decency. And you did," he added quietly, remembering the contempt in the eyes of the thirteen-year-old Quatre.

"I'm grateful that you arranged that meeting. What I can't understand is why you never told me about this one." Quatre held up the document, and Rasid nodded his recognition.

"At the time it seemed a good idea. But when I met you for the first time, when you were thirteen, I doubted your character. I wanted to break it off then, but you grew into a fine young man and proved to me that you had the strength of character worthy of heading your family. I was just as surprised as you when Judas betrayed us. I owe you my life. For that, I will break the contract if that is what you desire."

Quatre lowered his eyes. "It goes deeper than that now, Rasid. This is a matter of family pride." He lifted his head to look Rasid in the eyes again. "This is about honoring my father's last wish."

Rasid viewed the young man with renewed respect. "Quatre-sama," he breathed.

"Where can I reach her, Rasid?"

The older man smiled and gave Quatre the number.

"Don't be surprised," he added with a chuckle as Quatre jotted it down, "if you don't get through on the first try."

*~*

Angel Tsuiraku Kurama picked up a phone with her left hand and threw her signature on a paper with the right. After only two years she was rivaling the top producer in the universe. In a few more, she hoped to top Winner Enterprises as the leading producer on Earth and in space. No matter that the materials they produced were nowhere near related. It had become Angel's personal quest to beat out that company as CEO of her own. Angels Inc, her company, was amazingly successful. She smiled to herself proudly as she thought about it. She hung up one phone as she finished that thought, only to pick up another.

"Hey, Ace," came a cheerful voice on the other end of the phone. His thick English brogue instantly soothed her.

"Louie," she replied warmly, settling back to speak with her old friend. He'd always been her 'father' of sorts, though she knew no one would ever replace her real father.

"Have you got a minute, luv?" he asked. Angel's smile grew as she imagined the older man, leaning against a counter in his restaurant, a smile on his face as Liz flicked water at him.

"For you? Of course, Lou."

"Luv, I miss you. You've been so busy lately that we haven't seen much of you, and I know your father is away. So I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with us, luv? I've closed down the shop for the day and Liz and I are slaving away over the stove."

"Dinner at O'Malley's? Of course. What time should I be there?" she asked, making a mental note to have her secretary clear her schedule.

"Great!" She could practically hear Louie's smile. "See you at six then."

Angel hung up the phone after a couple of warm good-byes. She paused a minute, then paged her secretary.

"Lyn, sweetie, could you please clear my schedule? I've got a very special dinner date this evening."

She could hear Lyn's little noise of approval. "I see. So, who is he?"

Angel laughed. "Well, he's short, but he's attractive. He's got a mustache and twinkling eyes and a great smile. He's English."

She heard Lyn's little sigh of appreciation and beamed. "He's 49 and married, too. I'm heading to O'Malley's."

"Oh, you're talking about Louie! Geez, you had me all excited…"

Angel laughed merrily. "Sorry, Lyn."

Lyn sighed and shook her head. She knew her boss wasn't sorry at all.

*~* Two days later *~*

Quatre stretched and walked over to the small closet in his office. He kept one or two changes of clothes in there in case he got stuck at work. Undaunted by the fact that he was in his place of business, he walked into the tiny adjoining bathroom and took a shower. He hummed, towel-dried his hair, and even managed to shave before he settled back behind his desk to start another day of business. At the top of the pile were the wedding plans that Rasid and several of Quatre's own sisters were drawing up. He knew that his bride-to-be had not been informed of the wedding yet. He wondered how Rasid would break it to her…

"Quatre-sama, you asked us to draw up the names of the companies that are competing with you for highest gross production," one of his employees stated, placing the new file on his desk. Quatre nodded and picked it up. At the top of the list was Angels Inc. A slight frown crossed his face and he looked up at his employee.

"Angels Inc?" he asked.

"Angels Inc is the leading producer in baby products. It's a chain of maternity and parenting stores."

Quatre made a face, thinking of all the How-to Parent books. "I see. I've never heard of the company before."

"It's still a very young company, only two years old in fact."

"All right…well, thank you." He smiled and waved the man off, then read further into the company. So this would be the company to get most of Winner Enterprises if I backed out of this contract.

I've worked too hard to let some baby store control 70% of the resource satellites in space.

Far too hard.

I'm the one who put this company back together! Who put this family back together!

So…I've got to…marry this girl.

Oh, Allah, please let her be like Rasid…

Then he shook his head and refused to think about it any further. He had to get back to work. There was nothing else he could do.

*~*

Lost in the desert, staring at a sky so chalk full of stars that he wondered why anyone would want to leave this serene place, Rasid Kurama worried over just how he was going to break the news to his daughter.