By West Wind
Rating: PG
Pairing: 4xC, 3xR
Disclaimer: I don't own the Gundam Wing characters.
It is Wednesday, and I have started my morning cleaning routine. I have already cleaned two bedrooms and push my cart to Quatre's room. I knock on the bedroom door out of habit and get no answer. I open the door and enter. The room seems to be in more disarray than normal. Glancing around the room I note that the bathroom door is closed but think nothing of it. I go about straitening up the room and making the bed.
I scoop up the scattered pillows so I can make the bed. I pause briefly as the sent of his cologne wafts from one of the pillows. I inhale the fragrance once more as if trying to memorize it before piling them out of my way. I mentally curs myself for allowing myself to become infatuated with him. Sure he is cute and nice and kind, but he is my employer and in a different league than I could ever dream of being in. Plus, he is younger than I am, if only by a few years. I know I am grasping at reasons to prove to myself not to be attracted to him.
Even though Kevin has been gone for many years, being attracted to another man has always felt wrong. It is like I was betraying Kevin, even if he would be the first to encourage me to move on. It the past the feeling always hindered me from allowing the infatuation to progress and seriously considering dating anyone. This time is different. The feeling of betrayal is not there. There is not even a twinge of disloyalty, and that scares me.
As I finish with the bed, I hear the bathroom door open behind me. I turn to find Quatre emerging from the other room. His blond hair is damp and clinging to the sides of his face. My eyes quickly slide over his bare well-developed torso to the towel wrapped around his waist before returning to his face.
"I'm sorry," I spit out quickly and slightly flushed. "I thought you had already left for work."
He smiles warmly and runs his fingers through his hair.
"I have a revised schedule this morning," he answers as he moves around the bed.
I pull my eyes from his moving form and move to the door.
"I'll come back to finish later," I say before exiting and pulling the door behind me.
I lean against the cart for a moment with eyes squeezed shut. If I had not been thinking about him before, I would definitely be thinking about him now. As I push the cart down the hall, I try to push the image of Quatre half-naked from my mind. I try to loose myself in my work.
A soft rap on the door of the room I am working in pulls my attention from what I am doing.
"I'm finished," Quatre informs me.
When I see him, the image of him in a towel resurfaces. OK is all I can think of to say as I look at him dressed in his business suite.
"Have a good day, Cathy," he grins before leaving.
I am letting him get to me! Every little smile he throws my way seems
to make me unable to think clearly. I have got to get a handle on this
and stop letting him have such an affect on me. Him using Cathy instead
of Catherine, which he started doing since Christmas, adds to my turmoil.
Kevin, Trowa and Relena are the only ones who ever call me Cathy, and there
is something in the way he says it that reminds me of Kevin.
As I vacuum, my eyes keep drifting to the closed door leading to his study. The conversation ignighted from Boris's speculation repeats through my mind. …
~~
"He was just gazing intently at the picture on his desk as I worked on the flowerbeds outside the window. I think our young master is in love," Boris speculates.
"Who do you think it is?" asks Leah pryingly. "Where did he meet her?"
"Maybe he meet her at the last big social Mrs., Elsbury thew. She had been trying to get him to notice one of her daughters for some time. Remember the business party Mater Quatre held over a year ago and how she kept forcing them at him," adds Enoch.
"And he was too polite to tell her to bug off," comments Leah.
"Maybe it is someone he works with," suggests another.
The speculations of who it is and how they met fly until Mrs. Gilbert enters.
"You have been in Master Quatre's study," Leah directs toward Mrs. Gilbert. "Who is in the photo on his desk?"
"That is Master Quatre's own business, and not nosey servants," she says authoritatively squashing the conversation.
~~
That has not kept me from dwelling on it.
"Is he really in love with some one? If so, who?" I ask myself.
I fight back the ping of remorse at the center of my being, which is caused by the thought of him with a woman. I do not know why I torture myself this way. If he has found someone, then good for him I tell myself as I focus on the carpet I am cleaning.
Not even a minute passes before my eyes glance over at the door again.
"I could juts take a quick peak. I would not touch anything, and know one would know I had been there," I tell myself. "You would be invading his privacy! You would not want some one to do that to you."
I continue to struggle with my internal dilemma until I give in. I flip off the vacuum, leave it, and look around cautiously before proceeding to the door. I turn the knob quickly before I loose my nerve. The door quietly swings open revealing the object of my quest. I move to stand behind the desk making the photo in the frame visible.
Disappointment fills me as I pick up the frame. It must have been some other photo he was looking at for the photo in my hand was of Trowa and me. Just then I hear a click of the door being shut. My stomach sinks at being caught with my hand in the proverbial cookie jar.
"Find something interesting?" asks a male voice.
I look up into Quatre's face unable to keep the flush from rising on my own. His face is unusually expressionless as he awaits my answer.
"I was just…" I start.
"Yes," he says making me more edge because of my guilt.
He moves closer as I try to put together a coherent answer to his question. I did not know what I would tell him. If I told him the truth, he will wonder why I care so much, which I will not even admit to myself. If I try to make something up, it is going to sound lame and may cost me my job. As I force myself not to fidget under his gaze, I decide I would rather live with the consequences the truth would bring rather than those from a lie.
"I was curious about the photo on your desk," I admit.
His eyes narrow slightly as if they were trying to see into me.
"Why?" he asks while leaning against the wall behind the desk.
"Boris saw you enamored with a photo on you desk and everyone was speculating who was in it. I just got curious and had to see."
"And now that you have seen it what do you think?" he asks taking the picture from my hand.
"Hmmm," I stall.
"What did you think when you first saw the picture?" he rephrases the question.
"I thought you must have a different picture," I say, as I look him in the eye with honesty
"There is no other picture," he says slowly as he reaches around me to set the picture back on the desk. "That is the picture I was enamored with."
My unvoiced why is clearly written on my face. Quatre's eyes lock onto mine, and I wait for him to continue. He places a hand on the desk on either side of me effectively trapping me in place.
"Because I am in love with the woman in it," he says with a smirk at the corners of his mouth. "I have been for a long time. I just didn't know if she knew if she loved me yet."
He arched one eyebrow in an unvoiced query.
"She does," I manage to get force out of my suddenly dry mouth.
His smirk turns into a full-blown smile.
"I thought she might," he says as he lowers his lips to mine for a brief kiss.
I lean against the desk for support as my knees threaten to buckle at his touch.
"Will you marry me?" he honestly asks after the kiss.
That was just one too many shocks in a three minute time frame for my system to take. I begin to slide to the floor. Quatre catches me and chuckles.
"A bit to quickly for you?" he asks.
I only nod while clinging to him for support. He easily sets me on the desk.
"You don't have to give me an answer right now," he says.
I throw my head back and laugh at the absurdity of the entire situation. I tell myself I have to be dreaming again.
"No, you are not dreaming" Quatre says as if he can read her thoughts. "And sometimes fairytales do come true,"
It is a direct quote from the end of my story about Pat. He smiles teasingly at me.
"You gave me the story with your other writings," he explains. "Maybe it was a prophetic story."
I feel giddy at the recent events. I struggle to form a coherent thought other than Quatre is in love with me. I look into his smiling face. His blue eyes are overflowing with mirth and happiness as he looks down at me. He gently strokes my cheek. My breath catches in my throat at his touch and I lean into his caress.
"You are so beautiful," he breathes.
He once again catches my lips in a kiss. I lean closer to him wrapping my arms around his neck. His soft hair brushes against my arms. He trails kisses down my jaw to my neck.
"I have waited for this moment for so long," he whispers before nibbling my ear.
His familiar words cause me to stiffen. Quatre pulls back and looks at me questioningly.
I try to shrug it off.
"Your words reminded me of a dream," I pitifully try to explain. "A dream I had about you the night I found you in Trowa and Relena's kitchen."
He seems to blush slightly as he chuckles nervously.
"In your dream were you standing by a railing in your black dress and I come up behind you and kiss your neck?" he asks.
My eyes widen in surprise.
"There are some things I need to tell you," he says catching my hands in his and gently stroking them with his thumbs.
My stomach turns at his comment, and I fear the worst, even when I do not know what he is going to tell me.
"It is nothing bad," he comforts as he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.
I am amazed at how he always seems to know what I am thinking or feeling.
"At times, I know and feel things like what people are feeling," he says looking into my eyes.
I look at him confused.
"What do you mean?" I softly ask.
"Well," he starts as he searches for examples, "when I first met your brother in combat, I knew it was wrong for us to be fighting each other. My heart cried out it was wrong," he explains as he rests his hand on the center of his chest, "so I surrendered. I came out of my Gundam and Trowa did also. That is when we became friends," he smiles at the memory.
"I know for the past few months, you have had an internal struggle anytime I am near. You try to convince yourself you are not in love with me and it is an infatuation. You worry because you do not feeling like you are betraying Kevin when you might have feelings for me. And right now you are confused and don't understand."
He looks down at me with the most expressive caring set of eyes, and I believe he can see into my soul.
"Can you do this with everyone?" I ask.
"Fortunately, no," he answers. "Usually it has to be a strong emotion for me to pick it up even with my friends. Although, there was a part of me that knew Trowa was still alive and wanted to search for him after his suite exploded," he shrugs. "I do not fully know the extent of my gift, but I have learned to trust it. Especially concerning you."
Quatre once more strokes my cheek, and a warmth spreads over me filled with love, devotion, and longing. I gasp at the intensity of the emotions. Some how I am certain that what I am feeling is his feelings.
"That is what I think happened with your dream," he sheepishly smiles at me. "After watching and being envious of Relena and Trowa's relationship and seeing you in that dress again at the Christmas dinner, I wanted to take you up in my arms and tell you how I felt. I found myself dreaming of you often both when awake and asleep. Some how we shared one of those dreams, I think."
"So how long?" I ask once I find my voice.
Quatre once more chuckles lovingly at me, and happiness bubbles within me.
"Many years," he admits. "Since around the day that picture was taken," he says gesturing to the photo on his desk.
I twist and pick up the photo once more to examine it. Now, I remember it being taken. It was taken the summer after Trowa came back to me after the last confrontation.
"I went to visit Trowa and watched your act. When I saw you again, I knew you were the one for me. It was beyond me how, since you never seemed very pleased to see me, but I knew one day…," he trails off.
"When Trowa and I returned, you were out playing with some of the children. I could not take my eyes off you, and your brother noticed. I was embarrassed that my attraction to you was that obvious. He gave me a half-cocked smile and playfully ruffled my hair before promising to send me a picture so I could watch you all I wanted without feeling your wrath. A week or so latter I received the promised item and it has adorned my desk ever since."
That explains Trowa's smirk when I told him of my job. He has known all along that Quatre was in love with me.
"You have been waiting for me that long," I say in awe as I place the photo back.
"Yes," he emotionally says, "and you are worth it."
"Oh, Quatre," I coo as I feel my insides quiver with his words.
His face is open for me to read and those words ring true from his soul. This man loves me like none other ever has or will. I feel like the luckiest woman alive as I lean forward and kiss him. A small tear of joy makes its way down my cheek.
Quatre pulls me off the desk and closer to him. My body molds itself to his as our kiss deepens. The emotions of each of us soar at our newly declared romance, and our closeness causes my entire body to tingle with the rightness of it.
I am home and where I belong - in his arms.
~ The End ~
Author's Note: I thought I wouldl add at least one more chapter showing the reactions of those around them to their romance, but I have decided to not do it. I started writing it, but I don't like it so this is as good a place to end as any.
Let me know what you thought, suggestions on improving, etc.
West Wind