Revelations
By Isis
Chapter 37

She never gave a concession. Dorothy Catalonia absolutely refused to bow out of a dying match. Even in check with no exit to save herself, she would force his hand to make the final moves.

Quatre hated when he won almost as much as when he lost.

Instead of calling the game when she was obviously outmaneuvered, she would calmly play on until he went through the subsequent turns and finally got the game to end with an official checkmate. It was bad enough that their matches were typically close to hour-long stand offs, but she had to have the certain mark of who won and who lost.

Typical.

But it still made him smile. Two in a row today. She was probably perturbed. Of course, he did have the advantage since it wasn't one thirty in the morning here.

Somewhere in the rearrangements to his schedule, he had freed himself up quite well. It was getting to the point that if he was around the office all week, he actually got caught up. And, considering he had little else but work to do, his overtime hours were random. One problem at a time. Which he was beginning to get used to, thankfully.

So, sometime in the past month, he had come back from lunch one afternoon to find that there was actually nothing that needed his attention. Instead of going home and inventing something to fill the, still awkward, time with, he had done the usual. He called Dorothy, and even admitted that he was bored.

And, also as usual, she had the perfect way to correct the problem. Online chess. With the interactive board and the "private room" that the game provided, she had challenged him to a duel… of cartoon drawn chess pieces.

That first match had been an eye opener. From the start he had expected the straight down the throat, take no prisoners, command tactics that he had seen in Dorothy before. And he wasn't disappointed. But she could pull a rearrangement faster than he could follow sometimes. Cunning and sneaky, she plotted tactics, not moves.

She never played the same twice. Just when you thought her offense was going to open itself up in the middle by sheer use of force, she would suddenly move defensive and cut you off. Dorothy could be bloodthirsty with her men for three quarters of the game and then decide that your pieces weren't worth taking anymore, and shy away from confrontation, drawing you out instead.

But Quatre was patient. Any of the couple times that he'd tried to take the first initiative and strike at her full force, she would dance away and easily slit his king's throat. She'd goad him on during those matches; the little message line under their board was usually anything but pleasant chitchat while the games went on.

Sticking to his own methodical play had faired far better for him. A three step pyramid typically. Defend, advance, attack. While she weeded her pieces out fighting through his defensive lines, he would pick off any piece that got carelessly away from the others and then dart back to safety again. Which really annoyed her, much to his amusement. Advancement took time, especially if she was sticking to attack formations, but sometimes that meant she came to him.

His attacks were always swift and mostly merciful. If he couldn't have her in a solid check in three moves or less, he didn't attempt it. She was too good at squirming away from him. He'd learned that early on too.

As Quatre now moved his queen to checkmate her king, he mentally ticked off one more in his win column. Fifteen to eleven. Not a bad lead on her, especially after being down seven to three.

The little message line at the end of the screen showed up again. Fine. Fine. Goodnight.

With a chuckle Quatre nodded to himself and quickly wrote her back. I'm sure you'll get even. Goodnight, Dorothy. I hope I didn't keep you up too long. I'll see you tomorrow.

Don't remind me. Always a pleasure, Master Winner, slowly appeared next. The little notice popped up that she had left the room and was offline.

Leaning back in his office chair with a smile he studied the board one last time and figured that she'd let him off easy today. She must have been sleepy; there were a few key moves that she missed.

Ah well. Maybe he would have to challenge her to a face-to-face match this weekend. Somehow he figured that would make a difference.

Yeah, he probably wouldn't be able to concentrate at all. She would sit, leaned back in the chair, probably cross her legs, prop her chin up with her elbow. And give away none of her intentions until it was already too late.

He wondered if she'd ever played poker. Probably. With a shake of his head he figured she'd probably played strip poker before too.

And won, much to everyone's disap—he stopped himself.

Dorothy was actually anything but tired. Annoyed was the more appropriate term. She didn't even bother getting agitated at losing a chess match to Quatre these days. It was a wonderfully fun little diversion to life.

It was the rest of life that seemed to thoroughly enjoy biting her in the butt these days.

She was once again at the chateau collecting the necessary items before she met Quatre at Miss Relena's this weekend to go through the order of their fundraiser. Her "partner," as she had come to call him, would be going ahead of her and meeting with Heero earlier in the day about the security restraints.

For some reason he had offered to do that part alone and assured her he didn't need any help this early in the setup. Dorothy figured he was just being a coward and didn't want to let her and Heero have the words they were destined to have about the whole mess. Always the peacekeeper.

Well, she was sure she would get her chance. Agent Yuy owed her half his ass as it was anyway. Of course he didn't know that, but still, the man could at least have the decency to be grateful for un-requested favors.

Most of a month ago now, Relena had come under physical attack during one of her standard interview shows. The group responsible was apparently attempting a kidnapping for some worthless cause or other. She didn't allow herself to eavesdrop that much Preventers information these days. She and the others had had their hands full in attempting to salvage the situation.

Relena had come out of it with only a bruise on her cheek and the entire Sphere turning out in support of her. …Along with the tape of the abduction attempt that had been foiled by her team and, most notably, Heero himself. The show's tape had gotten out to the Associated Press faster than anyone could stop it, and the Sphere had been shown not only the grand heroics of Agent Yuy, but also his seemingly tender side towards the Vice Minister. Well, as tender as he ever got.

And the wrath of bloodthirsty gossip hounds had brought the entire Sphere to a crawl. Everyone wanted to know who this handsome, amazing agent was that had rescued her, and who had even "cuddled" her into a hug afterwards.

A picture that now served as Dorothy's laptop wallpaper for her obvious amusement.

However, the others were anything but amused. The amount of recognition over who Heero really was broke open. And when Relena finally returned to the public, she had boldly announced her social involvement with Agent Yuy as well as her professional one.

They were official. To the whole danged Unified Nation from public television, they were official.

If that wasn't a mess, she didn't know what was.

But that was also a nicely interesting little distraction. After all, those were the games she enjoyed most, and she had gotten to play the devoted defender once again. Besides, teasing Miss Relena had definite advantages when she could no longer deny anything. The woman had gained a true love life, and it was Dorothy's duty to make sure that the busy Vice Minister never forgot it.

No, no, the real trouble now was her own… personal connections.

Good a term as any, she supposed. After sulking in her own misery for a while, and secretly wondering how to ship Quatre a package of live crayfish for his helpfully observant insights, she had raised her chin and decided that maybe she should do something about it.

Figuring her looks were as good as they were going to get, she decided she may as well not press her luck on keeping the same level of effectiveness she could gain now with the male populous. She had the bank records to make most men, even around here, look away in embarrassment, and she had a titling property and an inheritable title that she could pass on to her future son, should her husband not have his own.

In short, Dorothy Catalonia, Lady of Chateau de la Brume Gris was ripe for the picking. And she had finally thrown in her name for inclusion in the hat known as available.

And had found it wanting.

It wasn't exactly hard. Every woman over fifty around here had a grandson or great nephew, or whatever that they were more than willing to stuff into their manners and toss at her doorstep like the morning paper. After all, whether she was an "insufferable little ingrate" was immaterial as long as the deeds could be signed over and she wasn't one to keep her maiden name.

She was beginning to find that dating was way too much work for the supposed reward.

She'd started small. Invited for tea one afternoon with the Marchioness Wayridge again, she had been placed in front of a number of ladies, all of whom were trying to marry off one or another of their families—the executioners.

Eventually she had been cornered by the Lady Dobrent, who reminded Dorothy of her son, Mitch, who she had known from school. And she had politely inquired as to his health and happenings, and to whether or not the man in question had ever gotten past the nervous stuttering.

Apparently not. Dorothy had decided that it was very hard to have a conversation with someone when you heard them trying to say the same reply three times before you got it. Mitch was nice though. She gave him credit for that. Others… weren't so much.

Roberto Welsh was definitely not. "Insufferable" was invented in anticipation for this man. She'd been stretching it with someone nine years her senior anyway. Quatre would still accuse her of grave robbing if she'd bothered to mention any of this to him. Which of course, she didn't.

That was a whole other issue.

Catherine had, however, burst her sides laughing her pretty little head off when she'd told her about the evening.

After a glass of wine, a necessity, and her salad, Dorothy had had it with the chauvinistic, sex crazed, attempt of a man. The slimy creep got a full five-minute word lashing from her before she rose from her seat and stared him down.

Instead of being abashed, or at the very least unable to give her a look-over, which he did anyway, he had the audacity to say that she couldn't leave now, since he'd already have to pay for her entree.

So, on her way out she had ordered another opened bottle of wine and four dessert courses for the table from their waiter, running up the bill out of pure spite.

And she had come back, checked the time difference and called Catherine because it was her turn to initiate "Thursday phone night," mixed herself a nice Irish coffee, and sat down at her computer and invited Quatre to a chess match because she couldn't bring herself to work.

Screw it all. She would still be rich by the time she got desperately lonely and actually wanted one of the pathetic leftovers. That was just going to have to be enough for them.

Flipping up her appointment book in her phone, she looked through her schedule for tomorrow and the next couple days while she was staying with Relena. With a little snort she picked up her stylus and moved to Wednesday when she was scheduled to be back home again, and tapped in, buy cat.

Quatre happily exited the taxi and made his way up to the siding glass doors of Preventers Headquarters in the early afternoon, local time. Walking through front security he gave his name to the receptionist as Agent Winner and she nodded him on in, giving him directions to find Heero's office.

Coming out on the thirteenth floor he followed the hallway to the end and curiously peeked into the corner office. The, now absolutely famous, Agent Yuy sat at the desk busily tapping away at the keyboard, the same bad typing form his friend always had showing in the strokes.

Strokes that Quatre easily recognized were probably due to the young man learning the front console of a mobile suit before he learned the computer keyboard. Trowa had the same tendency if he was in a hurry.

With an easy smile Quatre turned into the office and approached the desk, taking an appraising look out the walls of glass of the corner office. The Capital Government building stood across the street, its older facade of stone was shorter than this thirteenth floor, and they looked down at the building protectively.

Appropriate, he mused.

Heero didn't look up at his entrance yet, and so he contented himself with the view and then a quick glance around the barren office. Also appropriate. The corner of the glass walls had a little plant on a stand that was looking a little yellow. The opposite wall held a single framed certificate on the white sheetrock. And that was the extent of it.

"Quatre," Heero finally mumbled a greeting, still not turning away from his work.

"Hello, Heero," he returned. "Take your time, I have nowhere else to be."

"Hn."

Setting his laptop case down on one of the chairs in front of the desk, he walked over to the corner and took a good look at the Government Building of the ESUN. Then he glanced down at the plant again before finding the little thing odd. Had to have been something from Relena. Heero didn't seem like the botany type.

Picking up the little pot, he glanced at it and then the yellowing leaves before rooting a finger around the potting soil a little. Ah, the poor little thing was root bound in that small of a container.

Quatre heard the typing slow to a stop and turned to look back at Heero, who was giving a mildly curious look between him and the plant. "It's outgrown the pot. You should really replant it in something larger," he helpfully informed him before setting the thing back down on the stand.

His friend blinked at him a second and then seemed to take in the information before turning back to his screen. "Understood."

He chuckled at him and stepped back towards his desk. Heero was never exactly talkative, but he had come a long way since he'd been here with Miss Relena. Now, with their relationship out in public—literally—Quatre wasn't sure if the man would revert back to the shadows once again.

Apparently not. And Quatre could only be happy for the two. They were both so good for each other he wished them all the best possible. The abduction scare a while ago wasn't something that Quatre would ever want to happen to them, but the response had been more positive than not. They had come through everything else; this didn't surprise him in the least.

A set of footsteps in the hallway stopped at the door as a knock sounded. Heero looked up and Quatre turned to regard the entrant—and froze.

As did the man in the doorway.

The atmosphere turned solid in the little office as he stared at the tall, sandy haired man. A shocked second passed through the room before the other blinked. "Mr. Winner."

"Mr. Varnhem," Quatre stated before quickly correcting himself with a look over the uniform the man was now wrapped in. "Excuse me, Officer Varnhem," he tried a shallow smile.

Andrew also added a smirk to his features as he stood in the doorway to the office, gray slacks and a light beige button down marked with the crest of a badge on his left breast pocket.

Quickly counting the time since he'd last seen the young man, he could only figure that Andrew had completed two months in officer's training, foregoing any other stay in training and had received his badge already.

It wasn't easy, but Quatre would probably say it was expected from someone with his background.

"I hope I'm not interrupting, Agent Yuy?" he went on, finally turning to the man who was still seated behind his desk.

"Come in," was the only reply.

Andrew did as instructed and quickly stepped to the other side of the desk and handed over a folder and data pad, which Heero was obviously expecting. "Nice to see you again, Mr. Winner," he mentioned, turning again but not making for the door yet.

"You too," he nodded. "And congratulations," he added as friendly as possible.

"Thank you," the other smiled and nodded in parting.

Quatre followed the man's back with his eyes until he disappeared out the door and back down the hallway. The air still hung heavy and his back was still stiff with the reaction of seeing him here. Andrew hadn't ventured the obvious "what are you doing here" question. Perhaps he knew already.

He noticed, but didn't pay much attention as Heero walked around the desk and then over to close the door. "I didn't know you were familiar with the Romafeller families."

It was a mild accusation, but from Heero that meant mostly curiosity. "I'm not," he corrected softly before finally looking back to his friend who was eyeing him oddly. "But Dorothy's ex I am familiar with," he softly admitted, figuring he could trust Heero easily enough behind closed doors.

He was aware just how bitter that sounded only after the other's expression turned confused. "Ex what?"

Good question. Ex-friend, boyfriend, love interest, arranged marriage? Crud, he wished he knew what to call it. "I don't know," he finally mumbled, turning away from the steady gaze of the other former pilot.

"Varnhem and his partner are now part of my team," Heero steered the conversation on.

What were the chances of that? "Byron Solvana?" he asked and got a nod in return. "I didn't figure Byron was too far behind," he added to himself mostly. "They are apparently almost inseparable."

"Hn," came the agreement. "Une has them scheduled with us until after the fundraiser."

He looked up again, things clicking into his head. Une and Dorothy both would know the meaning of having those two in Preventers uniforms. One, if not both, probably wanted this set up the way it was.

Heero stepped back closer and gave him an expectant look, the smallest touch of concern at the edges. It wasn't the first time Quatre had caught that look from his friend, but it was definitely more openly displayed after these past years. "Problem?"

He broke a smile again at the show of concern out of this particular man. "No," he answered. His problems with Andrew were personal, and nothing that needed to be brought into the mission.

But he knew Heero didn't believe him as he turned and walked back to his desk. "They both knew Dorothy?" he asked.

"The three grew up together. They went to school together, including being on the fencing team," he abbreviated, knowing Heero would appreciate that piece of information.

Apparently he did, given his expression. "I wondered why they seemed familiar."

"Kindred spirits," he agreed. From what he knew, it probably hadn't taken much for Heero to get the feeling he'd been around those tactics before. His friend had gotten a course in Dorothy's physical, as well as mental, fighting styles. And there were definite similarities.

"That's what I'm afraid of."

Quatre looked over, ready to quickly defend Dorothy's motives, but realized that Heero had only said it to get a reaction. He laughed instead with a nod. Stepping back to his case he opened it to pull out the information he'd gained for the trip.

If nothing else, they probably would not be happy to find out that Quatre officially outranked them.

He was learning Dorothy's sadistic side.

Heero had warned him that the front gates were guarded, but that those on duty would let him through. Quatre hadn't realized why until the taxi stopped half a block down where the little crowd ended. Collected in front of the residence were media reporters and obvious supporters of Relena's campaign.

He had known that immediately after her abduction attempt people had come in droves to show their support and love for the peace-minded politician. He hadn't been aware that a few leftovers were still around.

Deciding that on foot was as good as any he left the cab, collected his luggage and politely excused himself up towards the front gates. What he hadn't anticipated was anyone actually recognizing him.

Thankfully, he'd made it to the walk-in gate and the security had already opened it to let him through before the media crowd picked up on it. "Quatre Raberba Winner!"

He turned to look back through the fence, knowing his cover was blown, and hoping that this didn't cause Miss Relena any trouble in the news tonight.

"Better get going, Sir," the guard prodded him along.

"Thank you," he mumbled instead and turned to walk up the driveway towards the estate.

A few voices shouted after him, wanting to know why he was here and how he was related to Miss Relena's recent episode. He wasn't, but he supposed they were asking basically anyone that might know something. He was already fairly well quoted as being a notable supporter of her and the Minister. No one should take that as a surprise.

Two quick honks sounded behind him as a car pulled through the crowd up to the gate. A rather suspicious looking gold coupe.

So, Dorothy had driven herself up here. And she was early. Turning, he quickly did a scan of the area, helping to ensure that none of the overzealous crowd decided to make a run past security as the gates opened for the car. No one tried though, and it seemed they were rather used to getting out of the way.

Once the car passed the gates and they closed behind her, Dorothy drove up to him, her window still down from having confirmed herself with security. "Master Winner! Need a lift?" she smiled.

Glancing up the short distance to the house he chuckled at her. "No thanks, I think I can walk."

"Suit yourself," she shrugged and drove on.

By the time she had the car parked in front of the doors and had pulled her luggage from the back seat and gotten out, he was already beside her. Without waiting for his offer to help her, she quickly added a couple bags to his arm and then pulled her purse and jacket out to carry herself.

Her sunglasses were still on, her hair uncharacteristically without a headband for the moment as the length swirled around with the chilly breeze this afternoon. She wore a checkered skirt that passed her knees with knee-high boots, exposing exactly two inches of skin only through the slits in the sides of the skirt. A sweater set complimented the brown of the ensemble in a very flattering manner.

She finally emerged with everything and she bumped the door closed with her hip. The wind however chose to be unaccommodating and tossed a lock of her hair inside as she did, catching her. With a scowl, she opened it again and removed her hair before shutting it harder this time.

Quatre really tried to keep from laughing but failed miserably.

"Oh, shut up," she grumbled at him.

"Sorry," he mumbled as she passed around him and the car towards the front doors. It was so good to see her again.

Dorothy had stayed with Relena a couple times before, so she took it upon herself to introduce him around to the couple people that worked with the house. Most of the security paid them little attention and made themselves scarce as the two waited for the lady of the house to come home.

It was an impressive place. Nearly the whole house was wired and bugged to prevent any intruders, but even knowing that Quatre was hard pressed to find the telltale signs of it. His and Dorothy's security clearances were enough that they could talk and work within these walls in relative privacy though. At least their bedrooms wouldn't be under surveillance.

They sat in the East sitting room of the estate, one of the few rooms on the main floor that wasn't monitored, and kept themselves company. But the unpleasant kept poking into his thoughts, and he figured here and now would be the best place to mention it.

"I spoke to Heero earlier. The security details seemed to be better than he had expected," he started.

"You all worry too much," Dorothy brushed it off from her seat on the couch beside him. She was the only person he knew that habitually took the middle seat of a sofa.

"After all of this, I think her security has a right to be a little apprehensive." She only hummed at it, but nodded to herself as she gazed out the window, looking a little distant. From the corner of his eye he watched her, wondering if she already knew and just hadn't told him. "Dorothy, did you know that Andrew and Byron are with her team now?"

The woman started like she'd been shot, so he assumed that meant no. "What?"

He nodded at her reaction. "I was a little surprised when Andrew walked into Heero's office today in full uniform. Both of them transferred under his command a couple weeks ago right after graduation."

Dorothy collected her expression again but turned away to the window once more. "I hadn't heard," was her only reply.

That seemed very odd, but he couldn't tell why. "They're scheduled to stay until after the fundraiser."

It was slow in coming but Quatre watched as she nodded. "Commander Une has use for them then. Heero's a safe corridor to test them out through. She asked me if I thought they were both genuine, and I said I believed it. I suppose I should have mentioned that putting everyone together might not be the best thing to do."

"Why's that?"

Finally she turned back to him, her eyes unguarded with a little worry. "Curiosity killed the cat."

For the first time since Mars, Quatre had been presented with Dorothy and Relena together. And even then the two were mostly busy and wrapped up with their work. The two prominent women bickered a bit, but it was mostly in good-natured jabs.

Poor Relena was taking a number of verbal punches over her new love development, but she was blocking just as quickly. Quatre had tried very hard to keep the two on task over the guest list, but after a while even Relena started ignoring his interruptions into their giggling little conversations.

And after a while, he had given up and joined them, finding that neither seemed to mind when he shifted alliance back and forth between the two depending on the various topics. Why was he always the voice of reason?

The three had turned in fairly early though, which was fine with him considering he'd left at two in the morning, his time, to get here. Foregoing even attempting to work on anything he'd brought with him, he tucked himself into bed and was almost asleep by the time the knock sounded on his door.

Loud quick wraps that had him on his feet and alert in a heartbeat.

Sighing at himself, Quatre calmed himself and clicked on the bedside lamp before padding to the door and opening it. Dorothy stood outside with a smile on her face, dressed in the standard tank top and sleep pants he was used to seeing her in by now. "Scoot over, we're invading," she chuckled, poking him in the stomach as she walked into the room with or without his approval.

Relena appeared behind her, her smile far more apologetic than her accomplice's. "This is all her fault," she mumbled to him as she followed into the room.

"Way to pass the buck, Madam Vice Minister," Dorothy snipped before walking over and flopping down to sit on his bed.

Relena shrugged. "Well, we brought cookies," she reasoned back to him.

Quatre hadn't moved from his position at the door, the handle still in hand as he watched the two women. Miss Relena was clad likewise in a peach satin pajama set, her hair back in a braid much like Dorothy's was.

"Yeah, she thought you needed a bribe," Dorothy chuckled. "Typical politician."

"Hey!" she snapped.

The two argued over the finer points of Relena's position against bribes, and Quatre mutely took a casual glance down both ends of the hallway outside. No one was around to seem surprised at the intrusion of the girls.

By the time he turned back, confused over the point of their visit, Relena was holding the package of cookies in her hands over her mouth as she tried not to giggle, and Dorothy was standing again staring oddly at his bed. "Did we wake you?"

"No, I wasn't asleep… yet," he added pointedly.

Dorothy turned to look at him around Relena and raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you actually have a side of the bed?"

He blinked at her oddly before shifting to look down at the bed. One side was still neatly tucked in. Even the extra pillow under the comforter was untouched. Only his side was ruffled and the covers thrown back from where he'd flung himself from it a couple minutes ago. What was odd about that? "Doesn't everyone?"

The two girls exchanged a strange look and then nodded vigorously. "Well of course," Relena started. "Mine's just usually this half," she motioned both hands to take the center area of the bed.

"And mine's about here," Dorothy added, motioning diagonally across the whole thing. Both broke into giggles again like schoolgirls.

Cursing his decision to do Heero this favor for the twentieth time today, he rolled his eyes as the two made fun of his sleep arrangements for lack of anything else. "Is there a point to this visit, ladies?" he finally got them to quiet again.

"Oh, Dorothy, we should go, he looks tired," Relena tried, smiling helpfully.

"Don't be dull," she chided him. Turning back to her accomplice, she walked towards him. "Besides, he's fun when he's tired." Dorothy sauntered up, took the door out of his grasp and shut it. Sealing them all in together before circling around and pushing him back towards the bed.

"You realize that the entire security team knows you're in here, right?" he cautioned. He knew exactly how well he'd fair in a personal fight against Heero, and Quatre was beginning to like his life.

Stopping himself against her attempt to prod him from behind, he caught her hands and mildly forced her to run into his back. After a disgusted little squeak, he actually felt her shrug. "So? We're a group of teenagers. How kinky do they think we are?" she stated.

Quatre paled and lost his grip on her hands at the implication before turning to give her a horrified look.

She only rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, seriously. You'd have to show a hormone before anyone thought that of you," she sighed.

He thankfully stopped himself before he said anything to actually confirm any of his hormones when he heard snickering and finally laughter. Both turned to find Relena seated at the foot of the bed with her head bowed in her hands, laughing for all she was worth at them.

"Oh, great, see what you started? Now she's going to have the giggles for hours," Dorothy tried, but cracked into chuckles halfway through as well.

This was going to be a long night.

"You know, a lot of these aren't really written for mixed company," Relena frowned at the pages of the magazine she was laid over.

She took up the bottom of the bed in the middle. A stack of magazines, a half-eaten package of cookies and her own mug took up the space above her. Dorothy had the far side of the bed, her cup still in hand as she nursed her hot chocolate. Quatre had "his" side of the bed and laid on his back staring hopelessly up at the ceiling, his cup set on the side table along with the original, empty cookie package.

"I could leave if you need me to," he tried again, knowing he'd get the same unanimous no.

"No."

"Fine," he mumbled. He was still playing the part of the unfortunate male trapped by the little sirens, but truthfully this was fun. Embarrassing, and more than a little disturbing, but still mostly fun.

The girls had decided to have a normal night off and act their ages apparently, but two just wasn't enough of a crowd, for whatever reason, and so they were including him. He'd only stated that if they started doing hair, make-up or pillow fights he was going to go stay at Heero's.

He still honestly hoped that this didn't get back to his friend. Finding out from your security detail that your girlfriend had spent half the night in another man's room, with or without another woman present, probably wasn't exactly going to sit well.

"Name your most hidden secret," Relena read from the stupid little dare sheet in one of the collected magazines they were scouring for games. "If it was my most hidden secret, why would I tell someone?" she added.

"Dumb," Dorothy agreed. "Seriously, why do you subscribe to these things?" she asked.

Relena crinkled her nose at the idea as Dorothy started to root through them. "I don't. They send me free issues if I have an interview with them."

"Girl's Interview?" she read. "How stately of you."

"Hey, never avoid the press," the other snipped.

"Why are you holding a bear?" she asked, scanning the picture on the front cover.

Relena reached up and snatched the magazine back, tucking it security under the pile of others. "The photographer thought it was cute," she mumbled. Moving on she looked through the list before flipping the page. "Describe the first time you knew someone had a crush on you," she read before promptly bursting into giggles.

"Someone has a story," Dorothy observed.

Shaking her head, Relena sobered again. "Alright, this is funny by now," she began, stealing another cookie from the package. "There was a boy in my class, Nicholas, before the war started and the school closed. Well, I never even thought about him until Heero brings him up one time when we were all home and Ry's ransacking my house looking for proof that Heero was at my school. And—"

"Wait," they both cut in before she got any farther. Quatre rolled over onto his side to face towards the two girls. "Which school?"

"My original school. St. Gabriel's," she blinked.

He exchanged a look with Dorothy who shrugged at him and they looked back down at her.

"Oh, you don't know that," she mumbled. "Well, OK. He was at my original school for cover because I found him washed up on the beach and didn't realize that he was a pilot, or anything for that matter at that point. So that's sort of where we met," she explained in a rush.

Once again Quatre exchanged a confused look while Dorothy raised an eyebrow. "Did you just say washed up on the beach?"

There was a long drawn out sigh before she slowly went into the details of the story of the couple's first meeting and the time Heero spent at her school. …Along with the subsequent threat on her life that came with that.

"…And now you're dating this man?" Dorothy clarified, completely at a loss as much as he was. "Because we all know what type of award winning personality he has," she grumbled, before dropping her head to hit the pillow next to his elbow that was propping up his head beside her.

"Oh, it was a long time ago," Relena muttered bitterly.

"You know," Dorothy popped her head up and looked at him, "all this time I thought we were bad."

Quatre blinked a second and then broke a laugh at the whole thing. "That's alright. Have you heard how Duo and Hilde got together?"

"Something about pulling a gun on him, right?" she frowned at the memories.

"What?" Relena squeaked. "I thought she tried to recruit him on Colony?"

"She did," he nodded. "And when he slipped out with one of their space Leos she went after him, shot him down—although he doesn't admit to it—and then literally pointed a gun at him during her interrogation."

"Probably his usual turn on," Dorothy threw up a hand and waved it off.

"Dorothy!" the other two chided.

"Oh, joke," she mumbled.

"Anyway," Relena refocused. "The story I was trying to get to was that after Heero joined my team we were home to visit mother, and Ry and Alli found my old yearbook with a picture of the two of us together—"

"Because you obviously spent a lot of time around the guy trying to kill you," Dorothy interrupted again, not getting over that single factor of the story.

"Well, he could have at least given me the reason for threatening me. I had no idea what I did wrong," she shrugged. "I had to find out on my own. But anyway, Ry keeps making comments about—where was I going with this story?" she suddenly asked and looked back down at the magazine.

Dorothy groaned and Quatre laughed.

"First crush, OK. So, Ry's pressing for information from Heero about my life before. And out of nowhere he comes up with this story that he thought a boy in my class had a crush on me because he was offended when Heero tore up my invitation."

"They didn't teach that man manners on the mothership, did they?" Dorothy mumbled. "What invitation?"

Relena ignored her. "So I got to thinking about it and realized that he was probably right. Two years after the fact and I didn't even think about the poor guy," she chuckled a little dreamily. "And after that long winded speech, there's my story, who's next?" she asked happily.

"First crush?" Dorothy sighed. "No, first time I knew someone had a crush on me, right? Oh, I really suck at that type of thing," she muttered.

Quatre cringed at the mention and studied her face as she lay next to his elbow, her eyes closed in thought. "Um… I don't know. The only one I remember both of you already know about," she sighed.

The room hung silent for probably the first time in three hours. Quatre exchanged a worried look with Relena, but neither knew what to say.

"Well, that ruined the mood," Dorothy broke in, picking her head up and looking at both of them before settling on Quatre. "Next," she smirked.

He blinked, having to remember the question again. "Um… I don't think I have one," he gave a displaced smile.

Both women looked at him like he was lying. "Really?" Relena ventured.

He glanced between them again and shrugged.

"You are so oblivious," Dorothy sighed.

"What?" he asked before quickly sobering. "Oh. Does that count Jesimae?" he quietly asked.

Rolling her eyes, Dorothy snuggled herself back onto the pillow. "No. I don't think boldly asking you out counts as a crush," she snickered.

"Quatre! I didn't know you were dating," Relena teased.

"I'm not," he added forcefully. "It was a single, very mistaken, date."

"Was she that bad?" she hesitantly asked.

Dorothy burst out laughing, and then had to embarrass him further by giving a nice overview of the story for her.

Relena only laughed but reached over and patted his hand reassuringly. "That's OK, Quatre. We love you anyway."

"Thanks," he mumbled, trying to sound dejected.

Both women giggled before Relena went back to her magazine. "Describe your first kiss. Oh, I don't want to do that," she added quickly.

"Ah! Miss Relena you have to," Dorothy squealed, jumping at the question and moving to be more upright.

Quatre swallowed uneasily, "I agree with Relena, that's a little personal, isn't it?"

"And telling us about falling for the guy who threatened to kill her wasn't?" she asked. "Come on, Relena, was it Heero?"

The poor woman groaned and dropped her forehead down against the magazine page. "If I say no…?" came the mumble.

"I won't believe you," Dorothy added, far too excited about this. Something between the amount of sugar and the early morning hours never really mixed well with her.

"Fine," Relena sighed. "Yes, it was Heero. Moving on." She made shooing movements towards Dorothy.

"No, no, no. It said describe your first kiss," she retaliated.

"It was sweet, wonderful and mushy," she grumbled halfheartedly. "Happy?"

Quatre laughed despite himself and Dorothy didn't believe her for a second. "Come on, where and when at least."

Relena sighed, still face down, but the blush was obvious even like that. "If either of you tell him this, I promise… not to like you anymore," she tried to threaten.

Both laughed again and Quatre rolled onto his back in his narrow strip of bed and watched her curiously from the pillow. "Sure. Heero, your girlfriend told me the strangest thing last night when she was in my bed," he mimicked, getting all of them to laugh out loud.

"See, even Quatre wants to know," Dorothy prodded.

"No I don't," he corrected. "You don't have to say a thing, Relena." Dorothy's face came into view in front of his as she glared at him. "It's a personal item and we don't have any right to pry," he scolded her.

"Of course we do, we're friends," she snipped and focused back on the other woman who had at least picked her head back up.

"Mars. OK? When we were on Mars," she spit out.

Again the room died in shock as Quatre and Dorothy exchanged a guilty look between themselves, and she turned back to Relena. "After Marcus was captured and he came back? Sweet little heart to heart?" she gushed, while still managing to elbow Quatre in the shoulder.

"No," the other sighed, her eyes lost as they stared into space. "Before he went looking for Milliardo and Lucrazia. Just a spur of the moment type of thing, I think. I really don't know what possessed him," she added a little hazily.

"Oh, how sweet. All I got then was—"

She didn't get any farther than that before Quatre used a hand and pulled her arm out from supporting her chin and she had to catch herself. "Miss Relena gave you the story Dorothy, you don't need details," he specifically cut her off from revealing too much.

"Now, what about you?" Relena snapped back to the conversation, thankfully having missed their exchange.

"Me?" Dorothy squeaked. "Oh dear." Stopping for a while to think he glanced at Relena who looked at him with the same expression of abandon. "First kiss, or first real kiss?" she specified.

"What's the difference?" he mumbled to her, realizing that he honestly didn't want to know this.

"A lot," she shrugged, looking down at him again. "I don't think I can actually tell you the first time I pressed my lips to a man's."

Quatre was shocked. Relena was appalled, "That's a terrible way to put that."

"Well, technically I used to kiss my father, but you have to be awfully messed up before that counts as a kiss," she defended herself. "Around home you kissed people more than you shook hands."

Both of her audience members then groaned and brushed it off. "Alright, fine. First time you kissed someone, not related to you, and in a 'man and woman' type of way," Relena reinvented the boundaries with a giggle.

"Bloody politician," she groaned. "I still don't know that. I wasn't exactly Mary Sue over here," she waved a vague hand at Relena.

Quatre rolled his eyes at the two women. "What counts as a 'real' kiss then?" he asked, with a mild cringe he hoped she didn't see.

"Something memorable," she explained. "Something with some meaning to it."

"Fine, how old were you then? Five?" Relena chuckled.

"Very funny," she mumbled. "I think I was twelve actually. Although, seriously, don't ask me what the guy's name was." She ignored the groans from them and continued on. "He was cute though. A son of one of the maids that came with some relative or other that was visiting for a couple months. Now, I did know he had a crush on me," she happily added. "Anyway, one night we were out on the patio balcony chatting, and I kissed him."

"You kissed him," Relena specified the order of that.

"Well, he was taking too long."

The whole room cracked up laughing at that.

"And? What?" the other woman prodded.

Dorothy sighed. "And that was about it. He left a couple weeks later, and I don't think I ever saw him again."

"You have the most depressing love life of anyone I know," Relena whispered at her.

"Oh, shut up!" she whined. "No one's ever threatened to kill me so that I knew it was true love."

Relena promptly picked up a magazine and smacked her for it but they still laughed at the running joke.

"Your turn," Dorothy sing-songed once they had died down again.

Looking up, Quatre glanced at her first and then sobered completely as he turned away towards the ceiling. "I… really don't think I can say," he softly tried pleading for mercy from them.

"Oh, it can't be worse that Miss Outgoing over here," Relena teased.

Dorothy snorted at the reference but also didn't deny it. "Well, someone keeps saying I'm a flirt. I supposed I may as well act the part. Now stop stalling."

She poked at his shoulder and he managed to grab her hand to stop her before internally cringing at the contact. He couldn't possibly say this. "I… uh…."

"Quatre?" Relena softly asked, breaking into his thoughts as he realized both women were now staring at him a little worriedly. "Is this a bad memory?" she asked.

Bad? "No," he refuted easily, and then realized he was only making it worse. "It's just…. I don't know if it counts as 'real,'" he tried to smile instead, hoping they'd believe that.

"Well, it obviously meant something, or you wouldn't remember it," Dorothy advised, shifting to look down at him. "So of course it counts."

Looking up at her, he knew she didn't get it… and probably wouldn't. "It wasn't much," he began before shifting his eyes to Relena so that Dorothy wouldn't see them. "Just a peck on the lips, but it was… nice," he highly abbreviated.

"Ah," Relena cooed.

"That's it?" Dorothy asked.

Looking up at her again, he hid his shock and smiled to cover it. "What were you expecting?"

"Well, I don't know," she shrugged. "You sound like you got caught by the girl with the pigtails on the playground."

"How long did you wear pigtails, Dorothy?" Relena teased.

"Oh, very funny," she gave her a sour look. "Just read the questions."

Obediently she went back to the magazine and Quatre internally sighed with relief. "When was your first—oh, wrong audience," she mumbled. "Describe your first date. Well, mine's easy," she added bitterly.

"Dinner, candlelight, three other bodyguards," Dorothy giggled at her.

"Well, you already told Quatre's, so you're the only one left," she retaliated.

Dorothy snorted and he looked up at her, expecting some flamboyant way of saying she hadn't found the man worthy of a date with her yet. "I had a lovely evening with one of my former schoolmates a couple weeks ago. It was… miserably boring," she choked on her own air of superiority and deflated to a sigh.

"You didn't tell me this," he accused her. If possible the ache in his chest got deeper.

Looking back down at him she blinked. "What are you, my mother?"

"I hadn't realized you two had agreed to see other people," Relena teased.

Both of them turned to look over at her with un-amused expressions. Poor Relena picked up another cookie to stick in her mouth and went back to the magazine.

"Who was she?" It was a quiet little question that came out of nowhere.

"Who was he?" Quatre countered in a whisper as well.

At some point during one of their longer arguments, they had lost Relena. She was still dozing quite well under the extra blanket they had gotten from the closet, as well as an extra pillow under her head. She still laid farther down the bed in the middle, snuggled into a ball.

They hadn't disturbed her yet, deciding to let her be for a little while. Dorothy had snuggled herself under her side of the covers at some point she didn't recall and now laid at a funny angle around Relena and so that her head lay on the pillow beside Quatre's.

They had chatted a while before weariness had lengthened their silences. But she couldn't keep the thought from coming back to her, and had finally asked. Only to be redirected.

"He?" she asked, before realizing he meant her date. She cringed despite herself and hoped he couldn't see her expression. "Like I said, he was an old schoolmate."

"One of the team?"

"No," she almost laughed. No, Mitch was anything but the fencing team type. Not that he wasn't physically fit, but just very non-confrontational. "No, just someone whose mother I ran into at a tea party, and one thing led to another," she shrugged. "Nothing interesting," she assured, but then wondered why she was making the effort.

"Oh."

Had he been wondering about it, or was he merely distracting her from the original question? Blinking her eyes back open, she found Relena's dark blond hair looking back at her as the woman slept on, oblivious to them. "Who was she?" she repeated.

The silence lengthened as he didn't answer.

"Do you not want to tell me?" she wondered out loud. "If it's something touchy, you don't have to," she added finally. Slowly scooting down a little, she laid against the pillow and his shoulder, her odd angle making it difficult.

She felt Quatre turn his face to nuzzle a little into the back of her braid. Moving his hand softly so they didn't wake their third, he held it out until she uncovered one of hers and took it. "You really don't get it," he softly began.

Get what? She didn't know why he would be so afraid of telling her about something like this. Unless it was hard to remember. But nothing she knew of him meant that he had someone in his past that he felt so strongly about.

"You'll laugh," he finally seemed to relent.

"No I won't," she assured, giving his hand a squeeze in hers.

She felt him shake his head. "You."

"Me what?" she asked when he didn't continue.

"You're her," he specifically stated.

It still took a second before it clicked in her head. Blinking, she shifted softly and got an elbow under her to raise herself to look down at him. "What?"

He nodded to her, looking worried as he judged her reaction.

She didn't have a reaction. Shaking it off, she got her mind back online. "You mean…." "Just a peck on the lips, but it was… nice." "Oh, I'm sorry," she breathed. The whole episode in her home's dinning room almost a year ago came flooding back to her.

That didn't seem to be what he was expecting. "For what?"

"That was your…. Oh." She closed her eyes on her own thoughts. "I was really the first woman you ever kissed?"

She peeked her eyes open to see him blink at her. "Dorothy, you're the only woman I've ever kissed," he corrected. "But you can see why I didn't really want to say that." He glanced down at Relena's unmoving figure for emphasis.

"Right," she agreed. Now she was thankful she hadn't pressed the issue there and then. Still a little shocked at the thought, she sighed. "You must have thought I was a pervert."

He took his hand back from hers to cover his mouth as he laughed, trying to be quiet. "Why would I think that?"

"I don't know!" she hissed at him. "How was I supposed to know you were saving yourself for something meaningful?" she accused in a harsh whisper, not appreciating him laughing at her for it.

By now the poor man was completely confused. "What?"

"Oh, I'm so embarrassed," she admitted instead and dropped her head back down to muffle herself in the pillow.

"Dorothy?" he lightly questioned. "I don't understand. You have a history longer than your memory of kissing people, and you've never thought that you were bound to be someone's first?"

Oh, that didn't help! Now she had to wonder if she'd stolen anyone else's lip's virginity. Crap, she was a kissing tramp. Fantastic. He was right, she was a miserable flirt. She gave the pillow a hopeless sob and figured she wouldn't be taking this so hard if she wasn't so tired.

She felt a light hand brush against her hair. "Was I so meaningless?"

Dorothy raised her face again although she was sure she was still blushing. "What?" "I don't know if it counts as 'real.'" Her heart sunk again.

He watched her eyes a moment before forcing a little smile. And it was obviously forced. "You said I should have been saving it for something meaningful. …Wasn't it?" he very slowly asked.

She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself, unable to form a coherent sentence. She'd hurt him with the remark. An offhanded sentence that she didn't mean. Dorothy didn't even know how to take that back. It was so completely untrue she didn't know where to start.

There was a little hum as Relena shifted, stilling them both as the other woke again. Blinking, she glanced at them to realize where she was and then chuckled at herself.

"Morning," she mumbled, sufficiently ending their conversation.

"Sometimes, it is the words left unspoken, that hurt the most." – Unknown.

AN: You know you have missed a level of maturity when your slumber parties go co-ed.

Proofread by Random Pixy
Edited by Spiked Jin