Disclaimer: the Gundam Wing characters do not, lamentably, belong to me….

Note: many thanks to everyone who was kind enough to review the last chapter.

Warnings: Ahem. Maybe…..

Chapter 9:

'Cat? Is there something you need to tell me?' Trowa's face was very sober as Duo whisked back into the shop, the long braid swinging jauntily behind him.

Quatre fiddled with a lock of hair, trying to make sense of all of this. Heero had said he wouldn't arrive until evening; how had he managed to arrive several hours early? He'd probably hijacked the shuttle and installed warp speed or something.

'Um. I think it might be my friend Heero. I don't know how he got here so soon, but it sounds like him.'

The green eyes studying him sharpened. 'Heero? Your friend who's the IT workaholic? You didn't say he also happened to be drop dead gorgeous.'

'Well, some people might think he is,' Quatre told him hastily. 'Not me.' Trowa's expression lightened, just a little. 'Honestly, we're just friends. After all, it's not fair that you're the only one who's allowed to have a very attractive best friend. I could be very jealous of Duo if I wanted.'

'You don't have to be; there's never been anything like that between us.' The tall man smiled. 'I don't usually believe in sleeping with the hired help. They start to get ideas above their station, and take liberties.'

'What about me?'

'There's an exception to every rule, isn't there?' Trowa nuzzled his mouth, very gently. 'If you want to take liberties, I could put up with that.'

'That's good,' Quatre wound both arms around the taller man's neck. 'I really, really want to take all sorts of liberties with you as soon as possible. Just let me talk to Heero first. I promise, it won't take long, but he's flown all the way from L4 to see me.'

'Why?'

Yes, that was a fair enough question. 'I've told you some of it. I had a row with my sister Iria last night; Heero knows I'm hopeless at confrontations, and I left him a text last night saying just how upset I was. He was worried about me.' He shrugged slightly. 'I never thought he'd fly all the way here just to see me.'

'He sounds like a very good friend,' Trowa said quietly.

Quatre nodded. Heero certainly was. And Quatre had been so caught up with WEI lately that he hadn't been making much effort to keep in touch. God, he was pathetic; he couldn't even remember the last time he'd had a proper conversation with his best friend.

'And it must have been a hell of a row if you were that upset about it.' The other man's voice was very gentle. Up close, those amazing green eyes had a ring of pure, clear gold around the iris. Very beautiful.

'It was. My family is …. rather complicated. I'm the only son, so I'm expected to take over running our business, whether I like it or not.'

'I'm guessing you don't like?'

'Something like that,' Quatre said ruefully. 'Actually, I wouldn't mind the actual work part; it's just that I'll be expected to behave with due decorum at all times, as befits a young man with a responsible position.' He shrugged, hearing Iria's words rattle around his head; he could quote them verbatim at this stage. 'It's the way things are on L4. There are so many things one isn't allowed to do.'

'No running off to nightclubs?'

'No spending the day in bookshops and sneaking into the stockroom to make out with the boss.' Quatre took a deep breath, surprised that Heero hadn't already stormed in and dragged him home. Duo must be doing a very effective job of distracting him. 'I'd better go and talk to Heero.'

'OK. You can invite him to stay for dinner, if he likes, but he has to go after that.'

'Really?'

'Well, he's come all this way, you can't expect him to leave after ten minutes. He can stay and have dinner, but he really, really has to leave us alone at some point.' He grinned. 'I'll ask Duo to eat with us as well, he should manage to keep your friend occupied. Now, come on.'

The man sprawled all over one of the beanbags and flirting with Duo wasn't Heero Yuy. Gorgeous, yes; with stunning blue eyes, currently running all over Duo, but he was considerably taller than Heero, and with long, pale blond hair.

'Zechs! What are you doing here?'

'What happened to you?' Zechs was suddenly on his feet, the dilettante pose shed in one second. 'Who the fuck did this to you?'

'Oh.' Quatre swallowed, lifting one hand self-consciously to his face. He'd actually managed to forget what he looked like. 'I met some…not very nice people last night. Trowa saved me, and brought me home with him. I'm fine now. Zechs, what are you doing here?'

'Heero just called me an hour ago; there's a problem at the Sanque shuttle port; all flights are being diverted so he won't arrive until tomorrow. He asked me to drop by and check on you.' He gave Duo his most charming smile and the long-haired man beamed back. 'And may I say I'm very happy I did?'

No! This was getting far, far too complicated. He didn't need Relena's brother, of all people, intruding into his lovely little fantasy, and getting involved with Trowa's friend, and causing all sorts of mischief.

'Zechs?' Trowa stepped forward and gave the other man a brief handshake, glancing between both blonds curiously. 'How do you two know each other?'

'You know Zechs?' Quatre resisted a sudden urge to clutch his head in his hands and just scream. This …. couldn't be happening.

'Such a small world, isn't it?' Zechs interposed smoothly, bestowing another admiring smile upon Duo. 'Fortunately for me. Trowa, I see that I've been sadly remiss in not visiting your shop before now. And Quatre, I do quite see why you're in no hurry to leave.'

'Yes, well, never mind that,' Quatre flustered, painfully crimson. 'Zechs, can I talk to you, please? Trowa, would you mind if we went up to the roof for a minute?'

Climbing the two flights of stairs allowed Zechs to transform from besotted Duo-admiration to total pissed-offedness. 'What the hell is going on, Winner? Heero is frantic about all this, and I'm wasting a perfectly good Sunday afternoon running around after you.'

'He doesn't need to worry about me!' Quatre tossed his head impatiently. In some ways, Heero's protectiveness was warming, but it currently happened to be very annoying. All he wanted was a little time alone with Trowa, and reality kept intruding. Most annoying. 'I'm fine.'

'You're delusional if you think you're anywhere near fine, Winner,' Zechs said bluntly. He gave Trowa's garden furniture a disdainful glance and threw himself into one of the plastic chairs. 'Your sister's out of her mind with worry, and Rashid and the other Maguanacs are practically foaming at the mouth to start searching for their precious Master Quatre, except that you've ordered them not to.'

'I called them!' Quatre protested. 'I told them I was all right. How do you know all this anyway?'

'I was at your hotel, earlier this morning. Relena wanted me to give you a message. You need to call them, Quatre. Seriously.' Zechs gave him a disdainful glance. 'Now, about my sister, have you any intention of going ahead with this ridiculous marriage?'

'She doesn't want to marry me.'

'That isn't what I asked.' Zechs' eyes could go from smiling, sunlit blue to arctic coldness in one second flat. He'd forgotten that. 'For the record, I have no intention of letting my little sister go through with it.'

'I don't want it either.' Quatre felt a sudden, warm surge of relief. He hadn't wanted it, for one second, and if Relena's older brother forbade it, there was nothing even Iria could do.

Zechs nodded. 'Good. You're the one who's going to have to call it off. 'Lena is over eighteen, so I can't technically stop her. She doesn't want to marry you, but she has all sorts of ridiculous notions of sacrificing herself for the people of Sanque and how it's her duty and other preposterous claptrap.'

Quatre nodded. 'Iria thinks I need to do something like that. She's scared that if there's a scandal about me being gay, your government will use it as an excuse to back out of signing a treaty with L4.'

'Oh, please,' Zechs snorted loudly. 'Sanque needs this more than you do. We're not going to back out, even if you hold a press conference in drag, and screw Trowa in front of the cameras.'

'Really? Iria said that there was no other option.'

'Quatre, maybe you should stop thinking so much about what Iria tells you and try to figure something out by yourself for once. She wants to marry you off and she thinks she's found a perfect way to do it.' He tossed his head, all that pale hair spilling down his back. 'Frankly, if you're gullible enough to go along with it, that's your problem, but you're not dragging my sister into it.'

'I know. Honestly, it's not like I want to get married either, but Iria was really convincing and Relena seemed happy enough.'

'Relena came home last night and cried for two hours,' Zechs said bluntly. 'Ruin your own life, if you don't have the courage to stand up to your sister for once, but 'Lena is not going to be a part of this nonsense. Is that understood?'

'Yes,' Quatre said miserably. Zechs had pretty much summed up his whole miserable life in a couple of well-chosen words. He'd never had the courage actually to stand up to Iria; yes, he'd sneaked around and managed to keep a few small rebellions under her radar, but he'd never flat-out refused to do anything.

She was going to be so furious. She'd talk about how upset Father would be, and the rest of the family, and wonder where she'd gone wrong in his upbringing. She might even cry and say it had to have all been her fault. She might bring up their mother.

Zechs nodded. 'See that you do. Relena is not getting sucked into your travesty of a life and that's final.'

'I'll talk to Iria, I promise. Zechs, I'm sorry. I never meant for 'Lena to get involved. At first, Iria thought we could just pretend to be a couple. She thought it would look good if I was dating someone from Sanque, and then it all just snowballed from there.'

'That's not my problem. Or my sister's.'

'It isn't, no. You're perfectly right.' Quatre took a deep breath; it was now or never, really. He'd thought Zechs was a friend, up until a couple of months ago, when the other man had suddenly cut off any contact between them. Even if Zechs was currently furious with him, at least he was there. There was maybe a small chance that he could find out what had gone wrong. 'I'm terribly sorry for whatever I did to offend you. It was totally unintentional, and I'd love to make amends, if you'll just tell me what I did that was so awful.'

Zechs tossed his hair back in a shimmering swathe of light. 'Do you actually need to ask? You're unbelievable, Quatre. You really are. You're supposed to be an intelligent person; I'm sure you could work it out if you were interested, which you obviously aren't.'

'I am asking you now.' Steeling himself, Quatre forced his gaze up from the scarred, knotted wood of the table top, and met Zechs' eyes. 'If I don't know what I did wrong, how can I fix it?'

'Because you've already made it more than obvious that you don't care,' Zechs said bluntly. 'And empty apologies aren't going to make any difference at this stage. Not when you claim not even to know what you're apologising for.'

'I can't exactly solve a problem if I don't know what it is, can I?' Quatre asked. 'All I can do is to say I'm sorry.'

Zechs shrugged, his expression lightening by a tiny fraction. 'It's a little late for that now, Winner. If you're remotely interested, why don't you sit down and talk to your sister for once, instead of taking in everything she spoon-feeds you as gospel truth?'

'All right.' He had no idea what Zechs was really talking about; life, suddenly, had become far too complicated. All he wanted was to be alone with Trowa for a while, and the world was intent on thrusting reality into that little fantasy.

Now what exactly is going on with Barton?' Zechs asked, in an uncanny echo of his thoughts. 'What the hell were you thinking, going off like that alone?' He shifted in his seat, stretching out his long legs. 'And why couldn't you have picked up someone with a proper roof garden? And comfortable furniture?'

'I don't care about that!' Quatre flashed. 'I really like him, and he's been wonderful to me.'

'I'm sure he has,' Zechs said snidely. 'For God's sake, Winner, who in their right minds isn't going to help one of the richest men in the universe? The man probably thinks he's got a meal ticket for life, away from his crappy little shop.'

'It's not a crappy little shop. It's wonderful and he's not looking for anything from me. He doesn't even know who I am.'

'Oh, please. How can he not know who you are? You probably have the most recognisable surname ever.'

'He thinks I'm here on holiday. I haven't actually told him my name. Well, he knows it's Quatre, but I've told him most people call me Cat.'

'No, they don't.'

'They do now.'

'Let me get this straight,' Zechs said slowly, a wholly evil grin spreading over his face. 'Trowa – and the lovely Duo – think you're some random tourist. And Duo says you've been helping in the shop.' Zechs sat upright, steepling his fingers together, and looking at Quatre over them. 'You picked this man up in a club last night, he saved your ass and took you home with him, and since then, you've apparently moved in with him and work in his shop. Is that correct? And he doesn't have the faintest idea who you actually are? Sorry, Quatre, Cat, but you've gone far, far beyond delusional into stark raving lunacy.'

'It isn't like that,' Quatre protested hotly, flushing. 'I know it all sounds a little crazy, but I really like him. And you have no idea how wonderful it is to be treated like a normal person for once, instead of being Quatre Raberba Winner.'

'But you are Quatre Raberba Winner. Playing house with a man you hardly know doesn't change any of whole thing is utterly insane. Heero was right to be worried about you.'

'I'm actually feeling more sane at the moment than I have for years.' Quarte leaned forward, propping his chin on one hand. 'Zechs, I had fun today. I did things I've never done in my entire life; normal things like buying fresh bread at a bakery and holding someone's hand in the street. I talked to people who were actually interested in me, and what I thought about things. People who looked at me and didn't see the heir to Winner Enterprises, but some guy called Cat and they still wanted to spend time with me. And I realised that I don't much like being Quatre Raberba Winner. I like being Cat.'

'Sure you do. Except that Cat doesn't actually exist, except in your imagination, and he's also a pathological liar. When are you planning to tell Trowa the truth?'

'Tonight. I feel terrible that I've been lying to him, but it didn't really matter in the club; I never thought I'd see him again, and then he was so nice to me last night and I was still in shock a little bit after what had happened, and then I haven't really had time this morning.'

'Right.' Zechs' grin broadened. 'How interesting, that you happened to bump into Trowa Barton. Karma does seem to exist after all.'

Quatre blinked. 'What is that supposed to mean?'

'You'll find out. You do know Heero thinks he set up the whole thing to get closer to you?'

'I know. He's already told me, and I did think about it. I'm not stupid, Zechs. I'm perfectly used to people doing all sorts of things to get my attention. And it wasn't like that. For one thing, he couldn't possibly have had time to organise it all, and he's not that sort of person. I know that.'

'You don't know him,' Zechs said flatly. 'Heero thinks he's practically abducted you and you're suffering from some sort of Stockholm Syndrome.'

'Well, he hasn't and I'm not. Zechs, I really like him. And you know him; do you really think he'd do something like that? How do you know each other anyway?'

Zechs shrugged. 'I don't exactly know him. We have a mutual acquaintance, and we both belong to a local conservation group. I've met him a couple of times; that's all.'

'So what happens next? A quick fling before you go back to being the good little Winner heir? You do know that's all you can have with him?'

Quatre nodded miserably. 'I don't know what to do. He's amazing but…I don't know, Zechs. Maybe he won't want to have anything to do with me once he knows who I am, that I haven't been honest with him.'

'So don't tell him,' Zechs suggested immediately. 'Screw his brains out tonight, kiss him goodbye in the morning, and keep it as a nice little fantasy interlude.'

'I can't do that. It wouldn't fair. At least I owe him a little honesty, after what he did for me.'

'Don't be stupid. If you feel you owe him something, buy him a proper patio set. Quatre, the media would just love a scoop like this. Do you really want to be splashed all over the weekend papers when he sells his story to some journalist?'

'He wouldn't do that.'

'You don't know that! You don't know anything about him.' Zechs ran his fingers through his perfect, perfect hair, every strand falling perfectly back into place. 'If you want to live out your little fantasy about being a normal person, fine. Stay here tonight and make popcorn and wash dishes and do whatever it is you don't get to do in your deprived life, but you'll be a fool if you tell him anything. Do I even need to remind you that this whole mess started because your last boyfriend is currently in the process of blackmailing you?'

He took a long look and Quatre's face and sighed.

'Quatre, this is the real world. I'm sorry, but it's not some Hollywood fairytale. Give yourself this one night and go back to your real life in the morning. OK?' He reached out and touched Quatre's cheek, the bruised one. 'This can't work. You know that. Rashid might call you 'Master Quatre' but if you don't go back home damn soon, he's going to come and find you. And Heero gets here tomorrow morning. Do you really want your Trowa to meet them?'

'No,' Quatre whispered sadly. He was right; every single word he'd said was perfectly true.

'Good. You don't live in this world. You know that. Now, one last question. Do you happen to know if the divine Duo is currently single?'

'I'm not sure. But he seemed very impressed by you.'

Zechs looked smug. 'Good. In that case, you'd better go back downstairs and play at being a shop assistant, because I'm taking him out for the evening. And you can tell Trowa that he might be calling in sick tomorrow, all going well.' He stood up; golden and radiant and utterly sure of himself.

'You see? Life is so much simpler when one doesn't have to pretend to be someone else all the time. You should think about that.'

Then he was gone.

Quatre took a succession of deep breaths, the way Heero had taught, trying to make some sense of his whirling thoughts.

He didn't need Zechs getting involved with Trowa's best friend. He didn't need Zechs getting involved with any of this, and producing all those enigmatic statements about karma. He'd probably been making it all up.

Hopefully.