Author: Tira Yuy

Edited by: Scarlot Diablo and Bryony

Genres: Comedy, Romance, and Sap-Fluff

~~~~~~~~~~Chapter four~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well, we'd better hurry," Relena said squeezzing the boy's hand.

Heading for the stairwell she hoped the dog would not try running her

over again.

"Daddy is nice," the boy at her side blurted out.

With a smile Relena nodded, "I'm sure he is." Deciding to probe Trev

for information so long as he was being talkative she asked, "Do you

think your mother will be happy to have a new cat?"

"Mom?"Trev said jumping down each step. "I don't know if she'll ever

find out."

The comment not being any of the responses she had been expecting

Relena then said, "Are you planning on sneaking him in and not

letting your mother know?"

Trev shook his head and just kept jumping down the steps, the action

caused a loud booming sound that echoed. "I don't I know where

Daddy's home is and if Mom will be there."

Letting go of Trev's hand Relena just stood on the step above him and

blinked. 'Why wouldn't the mom be there? How come he doesn't even

know where the home is?' and similar questions ran through Relena's

mind.

Then a simple, and rather sad, explanation came to her. "Oh, Trev..."

What should she say now that she knew? Should she say anything at

all? They were strangers and maybe the father would not like her

nosing into family matters.

But her heart was aching for the children and their plight of a

broken home would not let her remain silent.

Walking down the steps until she was ahead of Trev she turned around

to face him. Putting a hand on each of his shoulders Relena bent down

and studied his face.

It was heart shaped framed with raven black hair that was in need of

a cut five months ago. Despite the fact that the child was thin his

face still had his baby fat cheeks, it made the dimple in his chin

more noticeable.

'He can't be older then five, can he understand what's going on?' she

wondered. "You... You do understand that what is going on between

your mother and father isn't your fault?"

"Huh?" Trev asked.

"Have your parents explained that their divorce-" Relena stopped in

midsentence, maybe he did not know what that word meant. "That their

separation has nothing to do with you or your sister. You see,

sometimes after being together for many years adults find that they

just can't get along in the same house any more. And that's when-"

ROOOWF!

The dog's bark echoed just as loud as Trev's jumping had.

"It's them!" Trev said excitedly. "Come on, if he hurts Ally Ona will

never forgive me."

Moving quickly to keep from getting run over by the excited boy

Relena was plastered against the wall before quickly following Trev

farther down the steps.

-----

"She's really pretty, and nice, and..." Ona ran out of nice things

about Relena to point out to Trowa. 'Think!' The eight-year-old

ordered her mind. "She dresses nice."

"Looks aren't every thing," Trowa said still holding Ona's hand.

Ona briefly thought about telling him how mother said a woman's good

looks could get you everywhere in life. But she decided to keep

talking about Miss Relena. "How do you know her?"

"Who?" Trowa asked back.

"Miss Relena, you said her name without being introduced to her."

"She's on the news all the time."

Deciding that having him think of all of Relena's best traits would

be better then her talking about them, Ona asked another

question, "Have you ever met her?"

They walked on in silence before Trowa replied, "A long time ago we

spoke over a loud speacker in Antartica."

"What did you say to each other?" Ona inquired now with some

curiosity. She had never spoken to someone who knew someone else who

had been on TV. 'And he said Miss Relena was on lots of times,' she

thought in awe as that information sank in.

She was not aware this time that it took Trowa a long while before

replying. "She wanted to know about a shared... friend."

"And?"Ona could not believe the man she was hoping would somehow

become her daddy was friends with someone who was a star. As time

passed Relena became more and more like a TV star in her mind.

"She said that a fight he was having with her brother was pointless,

she read a letter to him that she thought was important." He stopped

again. "She makes people think," he said at last.

"Do you... admire her?"

Trowa nodded.

"Are you infatuated with her?"

"What?!" he exclaimed and stopped in his tracks.

'That got his attention' Ona thought wondering if she had jumped the

gun a bit too soon. Whether she had or not she was going to take her

chances. "Infatuated, that's like love only when you're not ready to

settle down." she informed Trowa. "Do you sorta like Miss Relena?"

Trowa went so long with out any response that she did not think he

would say anything.

"I think Miss Relena does her job very well," he finally

responded. "Do you always ask so many questions?"

Ona thought about it for a minute. "When I'm not being quiet."

"Then how about being quiet?"

Ona sighed, "Okay."

-----

RAWOOF!! RAWOOF, RAAAAWOOF! The barking got more intense as Relena

and Trev got closer to the bottom of the stairs.

'Cold, cold, cold!' Relena thought as she ran, the first few steps

had been covered with some carpet but the rest were bare cement and

freezing to her feet. Hoping to hurry up and get things over with she

ran faster, getting ahead of Trev she was the first to reach the

bottom.

As fast as she was going she was not able to stop in time, thinking

she was going to collide with a dog and the door Relena closed her

eyes.

"Eeep," she squeaked.

Instead of crashing she felt herself falling forward.

"What the-" an angry man yelled before Relena felt some one catch her

by her shoulders.

Opening her eyes Relena stared at the frowning man from the lobby.

Looking even madder than when he had been yelling about Trowa's

running off without paying him.

Straightening up Relena let out a breath.

The dog brushed past her and walked over to some trash cans, then

lifting his leg, took a leak. The dog looking quite happy now walked

back over to Relena.

"This isn't the right dog!" the waiter griped in a huff as though it

was her fault.

Looking over at the dog Relena noted that the waiter was right, this

mutt was brown and short-haired, and judging by his last actions very

well potty trained.

Trev came up behind her just then. "Hey, this isn't the dog that was

chasing the cat."

"You!" The waiter shouted in outrage, "You little brat thought you

could ruin my floors and skip out on paying for your meal?!"

As she watch the man reach to grab Trev, Relena reacted with out

thinking. Smacking the rugh hand of the old crank she stepped in

front of Trev to shield him.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" she demanded to know.

Rubbing his hand where it was going pink from her smack he muttered

some profanities before answering. "I was only going to teach him a

lesson he'd never forget."

Relena glared at him. "Well that's a job for his father not you," she

informed him.

"He's no better," he said, complaining in a whine instead of a shout.

With a sigh, Relena tried to explain Trowa's actions based on what

she had overheard Trowa say in the hall. "He had to leave to get the

kids who had been chasing after the dog because they wanted to rescue

a cat."

"Hmmf, he still shouldn't have skipped on paying his bill."

"Possibly, but he had two children to keep out of trouble and was

going to come back."

"I'd say their chasing after a dog was trouble."

As much as Relena agreed with him on the last note she wished he

would stop his griping. "If you have his bill I'll be happy to pay it

for him."

"Three breakfast specials, two glasses of milk, and one cup of tea

comes to thirdy-seven dollars and fifty-four cents after taxes."

Relena nodded her head "Fine, if you'll kindly follow me we'll go get

your money."

As the two adults went up the staircase, Trev wondered where Ally was

and if Ona had found her yet.

Feeling something push against him, almost knocking him over, Trev

looked down at the dog. "Come on boy." Petting the dog on his head

Trev led him back in and up the steps.

-----

Walking down the halls, Trowa pondered Ona's questions in his

mind. 'Are you infatuated with her?' ran threw his mind along with

his answer, 'I think Miss Relena does her job very well.'

It was true enough, he held Relena Dorlian in very high regard, and

thought she handled her hard tasks the best she could. 'Which happens

to be better than most people could,' he thought as he recalled the

difficulty Relena had ran into with her attempts to have all mobile-

suits destroyed and outlawing the building of new mobile-suits.

Feeling Ona's small hand in his, he now pondered another

question, 'What made her ask that?'

He could feel Ona's pale green eyes watching him and he glanced down.

She just smiled at him and then looked away.

'If I didn't know better I would say she's hiding a guilty look,' he

thought as she watched the carpet beneath their feet with close

attention.

'What IS she up to?' He did not think she was much older then seven,

but still that was old enough to be in, or causing, a lot of trouble.

'Maybe she knows something you're not willing to admit,' a part of

Trowa's mind taunted him.

Stifling a humph, Trowa argued back, 'What could this little girl who

has known me for about forty minutes possibly know about me?'

'It takes only a second for a girl to know if a man likes another

girl.' This time it was Catherine's voice that played through his

thoughts. She had said that a couple of weeks ago when he had made a

comment about Duo's flirting with one of the other girls at the

circus.

Cathy said that Duo was just joking around, that she knew he was not

really interested in Gail.

'Well, what about guys? Can't they tell if a girl likes him, even if

she's hiding it?' he had inquired, hinting at his already knowing

Cathy was hiding a little crush on Duo.

Smiling, she said it depended on how good the girl was at hiding her

feelings.

'Could Ona see something you're not good at hiding?' the taunting

voice asked.

Trowa looked down at Ona, she was now looking down the hall with a

day dreaming smile on her face. 'No, she thinks I'm her Dad and was

just wondering about me. This is probably a good time to set her

straight on that.'

"Ona."

"Huh?"

"Hmmm... What do you remember about your dad?"

Ona stopped in her tracks; she had just decided what kind of flowers

were going to be in the wedding when Trowa had asked the question.

'Don't panic,' she ordered herself as she looked up at Trowa. 'If I

do this right I can still get good parents.'

"What do you mean, Daddy?" Ona asked putting an emphasis on the "y."

"You said before that you didn't think I... er your father would

really come, so why do you think I'm him?"

Biting her lower lip, Ona wondered which tactic would work better;

being all confused and asking why he was asking such a question, or

using the method of pity, by sobbing out how mean her real father was

and that is how she knew he could not be him, but because of his

kindness she had hoped he was Trev's father.

"Ona, do you really think I'm your father?"

'Guilt trip it is,' Ona thought. "No-"

"Then why haven't you said any thing?" Trowa's response interrupted

Ona's speech, taking her thunder away.

"Because..." Ona looked into Trowa's eyes so that he would see when

she filled her eyes up with tears. Trowa's green eyes stared back,

they were unreadable, but somehow Ona just knew he would never try to

play her for a fool, like she was getting ready to do to him.

'He's not like mother's boyfriends whom I had to lie to just so I

wouldn't get hit. He's nice, that's why I want him to keep us.'

Looking down at the floor, Ona was not sure what to say. "I thought

you were at first, right before I had hugged you. But then you were

being..." Ona shrugged. "Too nice to be my father, and you look

nothing like Trev's father."

"You and Trev are half siblings?"

Nodding, Ona scrunched up her face with disgust. "We both look like

our mother onlyTrev has his father's eyes and I have hers." She

said "hers" like it was the worst thing in the world.

Trowa did not say anything for a long moment, "Trev needs to be told

the truth."

This was her chance, she could make her plea right now and point out

all the reasons why Trowa should marry Relena and keep her and Trev,

maybe she could even convince him to let Ally be in the wedding.

All set to throw herself at the mercy of Trowa's soft side, Ona

looked up.

Her pale green eyes locked with Trowa's dark green, but she could not

do it.

"Yes sir."

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

"Here is your thirty-seven dollars and fifty-four cents," Relena said

handing the grouchy waiter his money. "Now, please go to the manager

and tell him there is no reason to continue with the hunt for Mr.

er..." It hit Relena just then that she did not know the name of the

kid's father.

The man had a voice that she would swear she had heard before, but

she could not place a name with it.

"Fine," the waiter said walking away from Relena's door. "By the way,

has anyone told you that you look a little bit like Miss Relena

Dorlian?"

Blinking, Relena kept from laughing in the man's face. "No, I've

never heard anyone say that before."

"Oh, must be the bad lighting," he said before leaving by way of the

well-lit hall.

Going into her room Relena started laughing, she just could not help

it, the look of bewilderment on the man's face as she told him no was

priceless. Holding her side Relena just kept on laughing until there

were tears running down her face.

"Are you okay?" a scared voice asked from her elbow.

Trying to get control of herself, Relena looked down into the face of

Trev. He had one arm wrapped around the brown dog. Both boy and dog

had their heads cocked to the right side and were staring at her with

chocolate-brown eyes full of concern. The sight was sweet, but Relena

felt the giggles building up inside of her.

With another eruption of laughter Relena fell onto her bed. 'I must

have gone crazy,' she thought as she tried with no success to stop

her laughter. The more she tried to stop the harder she laughed.

As the bed shook with Trev jumping onto it beside her, she looked

over at him,Trev flopped around like a fish out of water and was

laughing too.

The dog, that had followed him all the way up the steps and into the

room, sat on the floor. Covering his eyes with a paw he let out a

groan.

Relena laughed harder.