By West Wind
Rating: PG
Pairing: 4xC, 3xR
Disclaimer: I don't own the Gundam Wing characters.
One of Quatre's many sisters, Neena, is going to be staying for a couple weeks, Mrs. Gilbert informs me. I make sure that the designated room is ready for her and continue on with my normal routine.
Neena arrives before dinner and Mrs. Gilbert welcomes her home. They hug as if they are family. I stand off to one side waiting to escort Miss Winner to her room. They pull away and Mrs. Gilbert turns to me.
"This is Catherine," she says introducing me to the new arrival.
She eyes me curiously before exchanging looks with Mrs. Gilbert that I could not fathom the meaning of. Once Neena finishes her silent exchange with Mrs. Gilbert, she shakes my hand in greeting with a very warm smile. I take her bags and follow her to her room. Once in, I set the bags down by the dresser.
"So how long have you been working here," she asks.
"Three months," I reply, "Is there anything else you need," I ask professionally.
"No, I am fine. What time is dinner tonight?"
"It is set for six thirty," I tell her.
She nods and I leave.
The next morning I rise early to workout as usual in the exercise machine room. When I finish with that I move to what I call the dance room. It is just an open room with wooden floor. One wall is covered with mirrors with a ballet bar attached. There are various mats stacked around the room that make it grate for me to practice my acrobatics, but this morning I was only planing to use it to stretch out.
Upon entering the room a strange music meets my ears. Neena is in the room moving gracefully to the music. She notices my entrance before I have a chance to retreat.
"You don't have to leave on my account," she says.
I stop my retreat and slowly move to the bar to stretch out. I can't help but watch her movements in the mirror as I stretch. Curiosity finally gets the best of me.
"What are you doing?" I ask as I finish.
"Bellydancing," she says. "I find it an excellent way to keep in shape, and it is fun."
She then starts into an obvious routine using each of the moves I had seen her practicing earlier. She is exquisite to watch with the smooth flow of her body from one movement to another. I clap when she finishes, and she bows slightly to me.
"Come! Try it," she invites.
"No, I don't think I can move like that," I say shaking my head.
Neena moves towards me, grabs my hands, and pulls me over to where she was standing earlier.
"I'll break it down and take it one step at a time."
She starts with what she calls warm up exercises that teach individual movements used in the dance. She follows that up with combining a few of them together. She patiently helps me get my form right and repeats the parts I have trouble with. I am surprised at how quickly I pick up and adapt to the movements. All the training at the circus must have helped. She then combines various movements into a short dance for me to learn. Our first time through, my eyes are glued to her reflection as I mimic her movements the best I can. She starts to instruct me on what areas I need to work on, when I see her glance quickly at the mirror.
"We have an audience," she says then gets a mischievous look in her eyes.
I glance to see what had caught her attention. There lurking in the doorway was Quatre dressed in a T-shirt and loose fitting slacks.
"He might not remember, but when Quatre was little he use to watch us practice enthralled," she voiced louder than she had spoken previously, yet not unusually loud. "He even got pretty good at it himself," she adds. "I bet you could still do it," she teases as she looks challengingly at her brother.
Quatre turns red in the face at her ribbing. She moves over to him. Places her arms over his shoulders.
"Too embarrassed to dance with you sister anymore," she taunts.
He looks at the floor and says nothing, as his face grows redder. She laughs before giving him a gentle squeeze and letting him go. I look at my watch and realize what time it is.
"I have to go," I gasp. "I'll be late for work."
Neena smiles at me and says, "don't worry about it, I'll talk to you boss so you don't get into trouble."
She gives her brother a nudge. He looks up at me.
"Don't worry about it," he assures.
I gather up my things and dash off to my room. I shower quickly and throw on my uniform so I can serve breakfast. I make my way to the kitchen to await the call from Quatre and his sister indicating that they are ready to eat. Lee looks at me quizzically.
"Cutting it close," he says.
"Yeah, I know. Got caught up in my morning exercising," I say.
The next morning Neena was waiting for me.
"Up to trying it again?" she asks cheerfully.
I give in to her request and follow her lead through the now somewhat familiar movements. As the days pass, I start getting the hang of it. I am nowhere as good as Neena, but I am learning the basics and enjoying myself. Neena is fun to be with as well.
I found myself using muscles I did not know I had. By the next weekend, I actually had a routine down and could execute it flawlessly. As we finished the dance, clapping comes from the back of the room.
"So you did take up my offer to join us," Neena says to Quatre.
"It's not everyday I get to spend time with you," he says and smiles tenderly at her. "Even if it means making a fool of myself."
She laughs and embraces him. He places a light kiss on her cheek. I overt my eyes from the touching scene, feeling like an interloper on such a tender moment between the two. I prepare to leave and let the siblings enjoy their time together.
"Where do you think your going?" Neena inquires.
I turn back to them.
"I thought you two would like to spend time together," I shrug.
"You don't have to go. I want you to stay and Quatre doesn't mind."
Reluctantly I stay with them. Neena stands between her brother and I.
"Do you remember any of this?" she asks him.
"Vaguely," he replies. "I couldn't have been more than four at the time."
"Try five," she shoots back before turning to me. "You should have seen him, he was sooo cute," she tells me, "and indulgent of our whims. We did all sorts of things to the poor boy, and he did not bat an eye. I still have a picture of him dressed up as a girl," she giggles.
I notice her brother is turning red with each bit of history she reveals, but he lets her have her fun.
"I think every older sister does something like that to her younger brothers," I say.
"Did you do that to yours?" Neena asks.
Not really focusing on her I answer her question.
"I lost my brother when I was young," I reply, sadness clinging to my softly spoken words.
"I'm sorry," she says concerned.
She places a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"It was long ago," I say trying to shrug it off. "I have Trowa now. He is like a brother to me, but I doubt if he would let me dress him up as a girl. Throw knives at him, yes. Dress as a girl, no."
Quatre snickered at the idea of trying to get Trowa dressed like a girl, and I soon joined in unable to surprises the image conjured up in my mind's eye. We are both soon laughing till we are gasping for breath. Neena looks at us oddly.
"You would have to know Trowa," Quatre offers as an explanation.
After that we get down to business. Quatre struggles at first with the unfamiliar movements.
"Neena, a guy just is not built to move like a woman does," he comments.
She would not give up.
"Watch Catherine do it," she says.
She restarts the music and I demonstrate the requested movements. His eyes glued to my body's movements the entire time.
Neena finally calls an end to poor Quatre's torture session.
"I am going to get cleaned up," she says before walking out the door.
Quatre stands there while I gather my things. I can tell he has something he wants to ask, and I look at him questioningly.
"Please, don't tell Trowa. I'll never here the end of it," he asks.
I briefly get a devilish look in my eyes at the thought. Looking into his pleading blue eyes, I can not keep up my mischievous facade. I assure him that Trowa would not hear of our morning adventure from me.
He looks relieved and flashes me what I have daubed his special smile. It seems to light up his entire being when it appears on his face and warms who ever is the object of it. He does not use it often and only with specific people. It is usually people he is close to like Trowa, one of the other pilots, or a sister. Sometimes it appears when he is sitting alone lost in his own thoughts.
Quatre turns on his heal and walks out the door. I watch him leave thinking about his awkwardness at the beginning to the smooth fluid movements he had displayed at the end and smile softly to myself.
"His eyes are a blue like the ocean," I think to myself, "and he still seems to have a boyish quality to him," I continue my assessment as if I was going to write about him.
I realize he is the one person in the household I have not written much
about.
Watching Neena and Quatre interact, makes me think of Trowa. Ever since he joined the circus, I have felt connected to him some how. Trowa Barton mysteriously appeared and joined Catherine's circus. He was a quiet man and assigned to be Catherine's partner. Upon their first meeting Catherine explained the act to him and asked if he was comfortable with it.
"It sounds easy enough," he replied.
That was what the last prospect had said, but when it came time to be the target, he chickened out.
"Shall we give it a try?" asked Catherine.
Trowa nodded, and they proceed to the tent. He stood before the board and Catherine prepared to throw knives at him. She let one fly. He didn't flinch so she tossed another. He was an excellent target, and Catherine was happy to have a partner once again.
She showed him around like the manager had asked. He did not say much, but asked a few questions here and there. Catherine found herself taking a liking to him immediately. Not in the romantic way, but in a take him under her wing, sisterly way. She pondered over it that night. Trowa's eyes reminded her of her mother's. Some of his mannerisms would bring back memories of her father. Before drifting off to sleep, she came to the conclusion that he reminded her of Triton, her younger brother.
She had adored her younger brother even if she did not always show it. He was only a year or two younger than she was, and she loved to playfully tease the quiet boy. Being his sister, she knew what buttons to push to get a reaction out of him.
They were different was an understatement. Where she was forward and outgoing, he was quiet and shy. She talked all they time, and he spoke only when it was important. He probably talked with her more than anyone else. The two of them would spend hours playing together and sharing secrets.
It saddened Catherine that her young brother never had a chance to finish growing up with her. It would have been nice to still have him around. It might have made growing up easier. He always seemed to know what she was feeling before she told him. He was dead along with her parents. His body was ever found, but it was believed that some predator might have made off with his body in the time it took for them to find her and her family. That thought made Catherine cringe.
~~
Trowa was a bit of a mystery to everyone, but that did not stop Catherine from being his friend. He would come and go with no pattern to his disappearances. Eventually Catherine learned that her new partner was a Gundam pilot, and he was using the circus as a cover to move his Gundam around unnoticed.
With that knowledge, she prayed that he was safe and would return soon. He always had till one time he was gone for quite a while. Time rolled by, and Catherine was beginning to think something bad had happened to him.
~~
The form of a lanky man emerged from the shadows. Catherine gasped as the figure staggered close enough to see.
"Trowa?" she softly called before running toward the long banged boy.
The boy stumbled and fell to his knees. Catherine was immediately by his side. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.
"Trowa!" she repeated over and over again as she internally wept for the haggard state he was in.
It was because of the fighting that he was in such poor shape.
"Oh, Trowa," She motherly cooed as she pulled back to look at him.
"You know me?" he meekly questioned.
Catherine's eyes widened at the fact that he did not recognize her.
"Trowa, it's me, Catherine," she implored. "You can not have forgotten me already?"
Tears teetered on her lower eyelids. The one person she had taken into her heart as family in a long time did not recognize her.
"I .. don't … remember," he said slowly and strained with eyes shut tight as if it caused him pain. "I don't even .. remember … who I am."
"Oh, Trowa," she lamented as she held him protectively. "What happened to you?"
She took him to her trailer, pulled out a change of cloths from those he had left behind, and gave him a hot meal. The entire time he seemed lost and confused, but did as she instructed him. Catherine's hear sorrowed for the lost Trowa, and she vowed to protect him. While he ate she explained that he was her brother Trowa. His eyes betrayed his guilt at not knowing her.
"Don't worry about it," she assured. "Get a good night's rest, and I will help you get familiar with everything again in the morning."
He looked back at her looking like an unsure child, and she encouragingly smiled at him to go on. He disappeared into his room, and Catherine rested her head on her hand and sighed. She pondered what horrible thing happened to him out there that he felt he had to forget.
The next morning as they ate quietly, Trowa, looked up at her as if remembering.
"We have a knife throwing act," he said almost questioningly.
"Yes," Catherine encouraged.
~~~
Catherine explained to the fellow circus performers about Trowa's situation before showing him around. As time passed, Trowa settled into his previous life yet not much came back to him. He seemed to swing from competent performer to insecure child, especially when he did not know what to do or where something went. He would always turn to Catherine for direction at such times. Catherine took to her roll of big sister to the younger boy and easily forgot that they were not related by blood. He was her family now and she was going to protect him the best she could.
~~~
Catherine watched as Trowa ran down the path to help his friend. He was gone again. He was so stubborn and such a fool, and she told him such as he left. She feared that he would not come back at all this time. Tears trickled down her cheeks.
"Keep your promise and come back to me, Trowa, preferably unharmed," she whispered clinging to his parting words.