A Strawberry and Vanilla Swirl
1 Chapter 4
Four years later... (A.C. 205)
He wasn't 'Father', which was good. Although she had met Duo, Trowa, and Wufei and knew them as uncles, he was not 'Uncle Quatre'. Indeed, Quatre was called 'Quatre' and was treated more like a close, loving friend.
She could tell him secrets, and he would tell her things, too. She always wanted to be around either him or her mother. And, although many questions about Quatre always floated in the four-in-a-half-year old girl's mind, she was raised to be too polite to ask such things.
To this little girl, the best place in the world was the park. The wind would blow her honey blonde hair everywhere, which felt nice and cool. Plus, her and Quatre had so much fun at the swings, or slides, or monkey bars, or the other fun items the park had. Her Prussian blue eyes were always sparkling with joy.
Destiny giggled from atop Quatre's shoulders as he carried her over to the stand that sold ice cream. Quatre never failed to find a way to spoil her… for some reason.
"What can I get ya?" asked the man.
Quatre and Destiny both grinned. "A sundae and a strawberry and vanilla swirl, please."
The man nodded at Quatre and went to work on the two requests. Soon, he handed Quatre a bowl and a cone along with a few napkins. Quatre paid the man and walked off.
"M-m-m," Quatre said as he held the cone close to him. "Strawberry and vanilla swirl ice cream."
"Hey," whined the girl on his shoulder. "That's my ice cream!"
Quatre chuckled and held it up over his head so she could reach it. "I know. I'm smarter than to eat your favorite ice cream."
He came to a large fountain that was surrounded by a two-foot tall wall. Here, visitors usually sat. He picked Destiny up off of him and sat her on the wall.
"Aww," she whined again.
"'Aww' nothing," Quatre replied as he sat next to her. "I don't want your dripping ice cream on my head."
She giggled and started to lick her ice cream. Quatre glanced at the water behind him and looked back to Destiny. He smiled and reached into his pants pocket. "Want to make a wish, Angel?"
Destiny nodded eagerly. She watched Quatre pull a coin out and hand it to her.
"Now remember, you can't tell what you wished for, or it won't come true."
Destiny nodded again. She stood up and turned around. She closed her eyes for a second, to make her wish, then opened them and they the coin in. Quatre smiled at the 'plop' noise the object made when it hit the water.
"So, what'd you wish for?"
Destiny giggled. "I can't tell, or it won't come true." Suddenly, some of Destiny's ice cream fell on her light blue shirt. "Oops."
Quatre sat his bowl down and reached for the napkin. He quickly wiped the ice cream off, but you could see a purplish color pot on her shirt, along with hints of drips. But, ever so happy Destiny didn't seem to care. She gave Quatre a big smile. "Why don't you make a wish, Quatre?"
"Okay." Quatre reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin, tossing it behind him.
"What'd you wish for?" Destiny asked playfully.
Quatre looked over at her. "I wished that your mother won't kill me when she sees that stain."
"Uh-oh."
"What?"
"You shouldn't have said it, now your wish won't come true."
Quatre picked the girl up from the little wall and sat her on the ground. He then took his bowl and the two began to walk together. "I'm afraid I'm going to need a bit more than a wish to get pass your mother."
The two passed by the car that they rode there in. Pagan, who was sitting inside, was waiting for them. He was so old now, and Quatre and Relena tried to make sure he didn't do much. Nevertheless, Pagan refused to stop taking care of Relena and they couldn't fight with him.
"Look, Quatre," Destiny piped up. She pointed to the long pink car. "It's Mr. Pagan."
Quatre smiled and looked over to the car. Pagan looked over at them. Quatre nodded to him, which signaled that he and Destiny were going to walk the short distance back to Sanc. Pagan nodded back and drove off.
Destiny soon finished her ice cream, but she didn't like the taste of the cone. She held it up to Quatre in her, now, sticky hand. "Here, I'm done."
Quatre chuckled and took it from her. "Well, gee, thanks. Mind if I finish it?"
She shrugged. "I don't mind. I don't like the taste."
So, Quatre began to eat the sticky cone. Quatre stopped after a few bites. "I hope she doesn't mind that you got dessert. All well, it's a few hours until dinner."
She giggled. "You're starting to sound like Uncle Duo."
"Oh my gosh," Quatre said with wide eyes. "I am."
Now she started a fit of laughter at Quatre's surprised look. "It's okay. When we get home, I'll get Mr. Cuddles and he'll make you feel all better."
"Thanks."
"Your welcome!"
The two continued walking until the Sanc Kingdom's gate could be seen. Then, Destiny just ran the rest of the way. Quatre continued at his own pace, and he wasn't that far behind anyways. He soon caught up to the girl who kept pushing the intercom button.
"Hey Mommy," she yelled in. "Open the gate!"
After a few moments the gate began to slowly open and Relena's voice came over the 'com. "Not so loud next time, dear. I think everyone heard you."
Destiny giggled and ran pass the gates, Quatre following behind her.
'She better stop,' Quatre thought. 'She's going to fall and hurt herself.'
At that moment, Destiny tripped and fell on her knees and hands. She started to cry fro the pain the ground had caused her. Then, when she saw that she was started to bleed, she cried even harder. Relena had seen the whole thing at the doorway, and ran over to her.
Quatre sighed as he came over to the two girls. Relena was hugging the little girl to her tightly; telling her it was going to be okay.
"Relena," he said. The two girls looked over at him. "Do you want me to go get the band-aids?"
"No, I'll carry her up to the bathroom. Can you get the door for me?"
"Yes," Quatre said as he followed her inside.
Relena sat her down at the counter next to the faucet. She pulled out the peroxide, a box of band-aids, and some cotton balls.
Destiny's eyes widened when she saw the black bottle, she cried even worse than before. "Not the stingy stuff! I don't like the stingy stuff!" She jumped off the counter and went to run out the door. Quatre caught her and carried the struggling girl back to the counter. But he didn't set her down.
"It's okay Relena," Quatre said. "She doesn't want the stingy stuff, so we'll just take her to the hospital and she can have surgery.
"No-o-o," the girl complained.
Quatre sat her on the counter. "Then let your mother put some peroxide on it. Close your eyes, it won't hurt that much. A physical pain is better than a mental one." The girl pouted, but she closed her eyes and covered them with her hands.
"Thanks Quatre," Relena said. She took a cotton ball, dabbed it with the peroxide and rubbed it on her daughter's arm.
Destiny hissed with pain. "Ow, ow, ow!"
"Don't think about it," Quatre suggested to her.
Relena put a band-aid over the spot on the arm, and then moved to her leg. She did the same thing there. And so, now Destiny had a band-aid on his arm and leg, and had her eyes still covered. Quatre caught Relena's eye and they smiled at each other. Quatre turned back to Destiny and tapped her shoulder.
"It's all over."
Destiny uncovered her eyes to see that Relena was done. She put her arms out and wrapped them around Quatre's neck. "Down please." Quatre thought this amusing since she could get off it herself. But he picked her up and sat her on the ground anyways. "Thank you," she said in the cutest voice she could. "I'm hurt now so I'm going to get Mr. Cuddles." Destiny ran out of the bathroom and to her room.
Quatre continued smiling at Relena, and she kept smiling back. Finally, Relena let out a sigh. "I'm going to go make some tea. Would you like any?"
"No thanks," Quatre replied. "I'm pretty full."
"Really? Because, I believe when I was eating for two, you were the one who said you can't ever be too full for tea."
"Yeah, but I think I had too much ice cream." Quatre mentally kicked himself once he said that.
"Aha! So that's what you two ate. I wondered what that stain on her shirt was."
Quatre frowned. "I'm sorry, Relena."
Relena shook her head. "No, it's okay. She should be able to eat some of her dinner."
Quatre nodded. Relena walked pass him and down the hall. He watched her until she reached the steps, to at this time he yelled, "Relena!"
Relena stopped and turned to see Quatre running down the hall to meet with her.
"On second thought, I would love a nice cup. Please?"
Relena tried not to laugh at his childlike behavior. "Alright. Come on." She started down the steps, and Quatre quickly followed.
Pagan sat a tray with saucers and cups on the table. He handed one to Quatre, and then to Relena.
"Thank you," Quatre said quietly.
"Really, Pagan. I said I could make it."
"Nonsense, Miss, that's what I'm here for. I made a smaller cup for Miss Destiny, in case she were to care for any."
Relena looked thoughtful. "I wonder if she would like any."
At that exact moment, Destiny came running into the dining room. Wrapped in her arms, was a little brown bear. The red bow around its neck had been retied multiple times, but it still looked brand new.
"There you are," Relena said playfully. "Would you like some tea?"
"Uh huh." Then she held up the teddy bear. "Can Mr. Cuddles have some tea too, Mommy?"
"No, Destiny. Mr. Cuddles can sit in the chair. No toys at the table, you know that."
Destiny nodded and sat her teddy bear on a chair by the door. Pagan gave a slight bow before he exited the room.
Mommy had told Destiny many stories. And there was a story behind Mr. Cuddles, too. When Destiny was two, she took a fond interest to the stuffed animal that sat on her mommy's bed. When Relena noticed this, she told her that she could have the bear if she was careful with it. Once Destiny asked why Relena loved the bear so much, she said that her father gave it to her.
Back when her mommy had Mr. Cuddles, he was named Heero bear. But Destiny didn't know what that was so she renamed it Mr. Cuddles. She wondered when Daddy gave it to Mommy, and sometimes thought about asking Quatre about it. But then, she thought it would lead to an 'awkward situation'.
Destiny walked over to her chair and climbed up to sit on it. She sat down and looked between Relena and Quatre. Relena pushed Destiny's cup closer to her so that she could reach it.
"Thank you Mommy," she said cheerfully.
Quatre grinned as Destiny took a big sip of it. Then she sat the cup down with a large exhale and continued looking between Relena and Quatre.
Relena seemed interest in an article she was reading out of a family magazine. But Destiny could see that Quatre kept looking over at Relena. The weird thing was, Quatre had a funny look on his face, almost like he was thirsty and he had a drink in front of him. It didn't bother her though; she knew that he did that a lot.
Quatre noticed Destiny was looking at him. His whole face turned red for some reason unknown to the girl, and became more interested in his teacup. In fact, she didn't see him look up again.
He ended up being the first of the three to finish his tea. He quickly excused himself and left the room. Destiny gave his retreating back a sad look and was afraid that it was her that made him leave so fast.
"I'm done, Mommy," she told Relena.
"Okay." Relena knew her daughter to never drink all of her tea anyways.
Destiny hopped off the chair and went after Quatre, grabbing Mr. Cuddles as she went pass it.
She pranced down the hall, looking in all the rooms for Quatre. Then, a few doors down, she heard a soft musical sound. She slowly walked to the door and peeked in. Quatre was playing a violin.
She got a bright smile. Quatre played a lot of the instruments. Everyone in that room, actually. She liked how he could make the violin sound so nice. He got her to try it once, and the only thing she made was a loud, earsplitting screech.
Destiny walked in quietly as Quatre finished. As soon as he did, she started clapping eagerly. The sudden noise made Quatre jump. When he saw it was only her, he sighed in relief.
"Was that another song you made up, Quatre?"
Quatre nodded as he out the violin back in its case. "Yeah."
"It was pretty."
He smiled appreciatively. "Thank you. Would you like to try?"
She made a face and shook her head. "I can't make it sound pretty like you can."
Quatre chuckled as he sat the violin case off to the side with other instruments.
"Will you play me a song, Quatre?"
Quatre looked up to her. He nodded and walked over to the black grand piano. He sat down and patted the spot next to him. She hopped over and climbed up to sit next to him.
"Okay," Quatre said as he examined the keys. "What do you want me to play?"
She shrugged. "I dunno. Anything you want."
Quatre nodded. He put his hands over the keys and began to play a sweet little tune. It was beautiful. It seemed to symbolize his emotions. Each note he could play like he knew the song by heart. He closed his eyes and let his hands glide across the keys. Every so often, pushing down on a pedal to hold a note longer.
The song was only about a minute long, but to Destiny it was the prettiest thing she'd ever heard. And when he lifted his hands off the last three notes, she gave him enough applause for an audience.
"That was great, Quatre! I loved it."
"You love everything I play," Quatre teased. "You flatterer."
Destiny didn't know what a flatterer was, but the way Quatre said it, it must have been something good. She gave him a big grin. "It was good!"
"I agree," came a voice from the doorway.
The two turned their heads to see Relena smiling at them. Quatre smiled back. "Thanks, Relena."
"Mommy," Destiny said excitedly. She jumped off her spot and ran over to her, holding onto Mr. Cuddles tightly so she wouldn't drop him. "Will you play dollies with me?"
Relena gave her a sad look. "I can't. I have a statement to read."
Destiny looked really disappointed. Quatre stood up and walked over.
"I'll read it for you and summarize it for you, Relena," he offered.
"Quatre -- "
"I can. You spend time with your daughter. Besides, you know those things. The writer says the same thing through the whole document, he just rephrases the thesis on every line."
Destiny didn't understand what Quatre said, but it made her mommy giggle.
"Only if you want," Relena told him. "I don't want to force you."
Quatre waved her off. "Don't worry about it. You're not forcing me – you didn't even ask me. I'll be fine."
"Okay, it's the only thing on top of my desk." Quatre nodded and left the room. Relena looked over at Destiny and smiled. "Let's go find you some dollies, hon." The two headed for Destiny's room.
Destiny tackled a big box in her closet where she kept her dolls that couldn't fit in her room. Most of the tings inhabiting her room were stuffed animals. She opened up the box and began to shuffle through them all.
Relena bent down on her knees and began to help her pull some out. She warned her that they weren't to get out anymore than four, though. So she had to pick four out of her whole collection.
During the search for the third doll, Destiny stopped and looked up at her mom. Relena stopped as well and looked back at her. "What is it?"
"Mommy... do you love Quatre?"
Relena sat there looking at her in disbelief. After a moment she shook her head. "I love your daddy."
Destiny slowly nodded her head. "Okay, Mommy."
Relena never has told Destiny about Heero. Destiny has never asked about her father, so Relena has spared her heart by not discussing it. The thing was, whenever Relena used the word 'Daddy', Destiny acted like she knew Heero and understood what Relena was talking about. Plus, if she ever tried to talk about it, Destiny didn't want to and would change the subject, which Relena found interesting for a four year old to do. So, Relena thought of it as being in Destiny's best interest to not bring up the subject.
Relena smiled. "I love him dearly as a friend. How about you?"
Destiny beamed as she began to count on her fingers. "I love Quatre, I love you, I love Uncle Duo and Aunt Hilde, I love Uncle Wufei and Aunt Sally, I love Uncle Trowa, I love Aunt Catherine – 'cause she saved me – and I love Mr. Pagan, and I love Cook, and -- "
"Okay, honey, okay," Relena said sweetly. "I get the picture. You love the whole universe."
"Uh huh," Destiny nodded her head enthusiastically. "Because it didn't do anything to me, right Mommy?"
"Right." Relena gave her daughter a proud look.
"So… Okay Mommy," Destiny said now getting back to the dolls in the box. "Let's play dollies now."
"Okay," Relena said as he helped her daughter quickly pick out two more dolls.
***
"Distaste of air," Quatre mumbled as he read through the document again. "What does he want, fresh air shipped in a bottle?" Some guy was complaining that he went to the colonies for the first time and didn't like the difference in the air there. Air on the colonies was the last thing Quatre would expect to hear a complaint about. When he was younger, he didn't know the difference until he set foot on the earth. This man was just too used to Earth.
He decided this was definitely not worthy enough to take Elena's free time with her daughter away. Besides, this might come up at the next meeting, and by how badly this paper was written… Relena wouldn't be missing much.
Quatre quickly discarded the paper into a manila folder and opened a drawer to stick the folder in. He opened up the middle drawer to get a pen or pencil to label the folder with, when something caught his eye. He knew he shouldn't be nosey, but he pulled the item out anyways.
The item ended up being a collection of pictures hooked together by a paperclip. He figured that if he'd gone this far, it wouldn't hurt to look at them now.
The first picture was a picture of Destiny, which he guessed the picture was about a year old. She looked so cute just giving the camera her biggest smile. He put this picture to the back of the pile and looked at the next one.
This picture was about a year old, too. Destiny was sitting on a slide in the park, ready to slide down. Relena was watching a few feet away. Quatre remembered this day; he took the picture. Right before he snapped it, Relena, in her big winter coat, complained how cold it was and for Quatre to take a picture fast. You could see some snow in the background, but not the breath in the air like you could that day. With a big smile on his face, Quatre moved this picture to the back of the pile again to look at the next one.
His smiled faded slightly at the next picture. It was a picture of Heero and Relena. They were just lying on the couch. A sleeping Heero held a wide- awake Relena. He wondered who took the picture. He shrugged and put this picture in the back, as well.
The last picture took him by surprise. It was a picture of Destiny and himself. It must have been one of those nights Destiny had a nightmare, because they were both asleep in his room. Relena must have snuck that picture. He put this picture in the back so the first one he saw was now the first one again.
He replaced the paperclip and put them back in the drawer, keeping in mind the original reason he had opened the drawer was to search for a pencil or pen. He did find a pencil and labeled the folder before putting it in the bottom drawer. He replaced the pencil and made sure everything was still as neat as before, before leaving.
He passed Relena and Destiny's rooms – both of which were empty – and went straight to his room. As soon as he got inside the room, he got a call. He went over to his videophone on his desk and clicked the 'answering' button.
"Yes?"
Duo's face popped up on screen. "Yo, Q-man. How's like?"
Quatre gave Duo a warm smile. "Just fine, thank you, Duo."
"Hey, Quatre... we were wonderin' – me and Hilde – if you guys could come visit us in space."
"Huh? Come visit you?" Quatre's voice got suspicious. "I was asked to come home a couple weeks ago, Duo, what's going on?"
"I don't know what'cha mean. We just wanna see you guys. Honest."
Quatre sighed. "I have to talk to Relena about that and you know it."
"Than ask her if you three can come. 'Sides, Destiny's never been to space, it'd be a good experience. C'mon!"
"I'll see, Duo." Quatre waved at him. "Really."
From behind Duo, Quatre could see Hilde's dark hair. She call out to him, "You better come see us Quatre Winner."
Duo cringed. "You just can't fight a girl's order, Q-man. Don't try."
Quatre smiled at the two of them. "I told you, Duo. I'll see what Relena has to say."
"Okay – and, uh, Quatre?"
"Yes?"
"Could you call Wufei for me?"
"Call him for you? Why?"
"Long story, just tell him Duo called."
Quatre sighed. "You sure put a lot of things on my shoulders, Duo."
"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. So, I'll see ya in person in a couple days."
Quatre sighed. "We'll see, good-bye."
Duo and Hilde replied with a 'bye' simultaneously before the screen went black.
Quatre sighed. He didn't understand it. People wanted him in space; Duo wanted him to call Wufei. He wasn't quite sure of what Duo had said. Something weird was going on. He knew it.
The End of Chapter 4!!!
I'm so excited; my favorite chapter is coming up next… I just have to type it… Anyways, thanks for the good reviews so far, thanks for reviewing now, and of course, as always, thanks for reading.
And now, for a limited time only (hehe) e-mail me (KatRWinner@gundamwing.net) with anything you might wanna talk about. Where I'm going, spoil the story for you, why I have the weirdest cat in the world… how it is possible for Quatre to be that cute, I don't think it is possible, …um I'm sure you can think of something. I don't get emails in that acount except from my mailing list, so… yeah.
1 Chapter 4
Four years later... (A.C. 205)
He wasn't 'Father', which was good. Although she had met Duo, Trowa, and Wufei and knew them as uncles, he was not 'Uncle Quatre'. Indeed, Quatre was called 'Quatre' and was treated more like a close, loving friend.
She could tell him secrets, and he would tell her things, too. She always wanted to be around either him or her mother. And, although many questions about Quatre always floated in the four-in-a-half-year old girl's mind, she was raised to be too polite to ask such things.
To this little girl, the best place in the world was the park. The wind would blow her honey blonde hair everywhere, which felt nice and cool. Plus, her and Quatre had so much fun at the swings, or slides, or monkey bars, or the other fun items the park had. Her Prussian blue eyes were always sparkling with joy.
Destiny giggled from atop Quatre's shoulders as he carried her over to the stand that sold ice cream. Quatre never failed to find a way to spoil her… for some reason.
"What can I get ya?" asked the man.
Quatre and Destiny both grinned. "A sundae and a strawberry and vanilla swirl, please."
The man nodded at Quatre and went to work on the two requests. Soon, he handed Quatre a bowl and a cone along with a few napkins. Quatre paid the man and walked off.
"M-m-m," Quatre said as he held the cone close to him. "Strawberry and vanilla swirl ice cream."
"Hey," whined the girl on his shoulder. "That's my ice cream!"
Quatre chuckled and held it up over his head so she could reach it. "I know. I'm smarter than to eat your favorite ice cream."
He came to a large fountain that was surrounded by a two-foot tall wall. Here, visitors usually sat. He picked Destiny up off of him and sat her on the wall.
"Aww," she whined again.
"'Aww' nothing," Quatre replied as he sat next to her. "I don't want your dripping ice cream on my head."
She giggled and started to lick her ice cream. Quatre glanced at the water behind him and looked back to Destiny. He smiled and reached into his pants pocket. "Want to make a wish, Angel?"
Destiny nodded eagerly. She watched Quatre pull a coin out and hand it to her.
"Now remember, you can't tell what you wished for, or it won't come true."
Destiny nodded again. She stood up and turned around. She closed her eyes for a second, to make her wish, then opened them and they the coin in. Quatre smiled at the 'plop' noise the object made when it hit the water.
"So, what'd you wish for?"
Destiny giggled. "I can't tell, or it won't come true." Suddenly, some of Destiny's ice cream fell on her light blue shirt. "Oops."
Quatre sat his bowl down and reached for the napkin. He quickly wiped the ice cream off, but you could see a purplish color pot on her shirt, along with hints of drips. But, ever so happy Destiny didn't seem to care. She gave Quatre a big smile. "Why don't you make a wish, Quatre?"
"Okay." Quatre reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin, tossing it behind him.
"What'd you wish for?" Destiny asked playfully.
Quatre looked over at her. "I wished that your mother won't kill me when she sees that stain."
"Uh-oh."
"What?"
"You shouldn't have said it, now your wish won't come true."
Quatre picked the girl up from the little wall and sat her on the ground. He then took his bowl and the two began to walk together. "I'm afraid I'm going to need a bit more than a wish to get pass your mother."
The two passed by the car that they rode there in. Pagan, who was sitting inside, was waiting for them. He was so old now, and Quatre and Relena tried to make sure he didn't do much. Nevertheless, Pagan refused to stop taking care of Relena and they couldn't fight with him.
"Look, Quatre," Destiny piped up. She pointed to the long pink car. "It's Mr. Pagan."
Quatre smiled and looked over to the car. Pagan looked over at them. Quatre nodded to him, which signaled that he and Destiny were going to walk the short distance back to Sanc. Pagan nodded back and drove off.
Destiny soon finished her ice cream, but she didn't like the taste of the cone. She held it up to Quatre in her, now, sticky hand. "Here, I'm done."
Quatre chuckled and took it from her. "Well, gee, thanks. Mind if I finish it?"
She shrugged. "I don't mind. I don't like the taste."
So, Quatre began to eat the sticky cone. Quatre stopped after a few bites. "I hope she doesn't mind that you got dessert. All well, it's a few hours until dinner."
She giggled. "You're starting to sound like Uncle Duo."
"Oh my gosh," Quatre said with wide eyes. "I am."
Now she started a fit of laughter at Quatre's surprised look. "It's okay. When we get home, I'll get Mr. Cuddles and he'll make you feel all better."
"Thanks."
"Your welcome!"
The two continued walking until the Sanc Kingdom's gate could be seen. Then, Destiny just ran the rest of the way. Quatre continued at his own pace, and he wasn't that far behind anyways. He soon caught up to the girl who kept pushing the intercom button.
"Hey Mommy," she yelled in. "Open the gate!"
After a few moments the gate began to slowly open and Relena's voice came over the 'com. "Not so loud next time, dear. I think everyone heard you."
Destiny giggled and ran pass the gates, Quatre following behind her.
'She better stop,' Quatre thought. 'She's going to fall and hurt herself.'
At that moment, Destiny tripped and fell on her knees and hands. She started to cry fro the pain the ground had caused her. Then, when she saw that she was started to bleed, she cried even harder. Relena had seen the whole thing at the doorway, and ran over to her.
Quatre sighed as he came over to the two girls. Relena was hugging the little girl to her tightly; telling her it was going to be okay.
"Relena," he said. The two girls looked over at him. "Do you want me to go get the band-aids?"
"No, I'll carry her up to the bathroom. Can you get the door for me?"
"Yes," Quatre said as he followed her inside.
Relena sat her down at the counter next to the faucet. She pulled out the peroxide, a box of band-aids, and some cotton balls.
Destiny's eyes widened when she saw the black bottle, she cried even worse than before. "Not the stingy stuff! I don't like the stingy stuff!" She jumped off the counter and went to run out the door. Quatre caught her and carried the struggling girl back to the counter. But he didn't set her down.
"It's okay Relena," Quatre said. "She doesn't want the stingy stuff, so we'll just take her to the hospital and she can have surgery.
"No-o-o," the girl complained.
Quatre sat her on the counter. "Then let your mother put some peroxide on it. Close your eyes, it won't hurt that much. A physical pain is better than a mental one." The girl pouted, but she closed her eyes and covered them with her hands.
"Thanks Quatre," Relena said. She took a cotton ball, dabbed it with the peroxide and rubbed it on her daughter's arm.
Destiny hissed with pain. "Ow, ow, ow!"
"Don't think about it," Quatre suggested to her.
Relena put a band-aid over the spot on the arm, and then moved to her leg. She did the same thing there. And so, now Destiny had a band-aid on his arm and leg, and had her eyes still covered. Quatre caught Relena's eye and they smiled at each other. Quatre turned back to Destiny and tapped her shoulder.
"It's all over."
Destiny uncovered her eyes to see that Relena was done. She put her arms out and wrapped them around Quatre's neck. "Down please." Quatre thought this amusing since she could get off it herself. But he picked her up and sat her on the ground anyways. "Thank you," she said in the cutest voice she could. "I'm hurt now so I'm going to get Mr. Cuddles." Destiny ran out of the bathroom and to her room.
Quatre continued smiling at Relena, and she kept smiling back. Finally, Relena let out a sigh. "I'm going to go make some tea. Would you like any?"
"No thanks," Quatre replied. "I'm pretty full."
"Really? Because, I believe when I was eating for two, you were the one who said you can't ever be too full for tea."
"Yeah, but I think I had too much ice cream." Quatre mentally kicked himself once he said that.
"Aha! So that's what you two ate. I wondered what that stain on her shirt was."
Quatre frowned. "I'm sorry, Relena."
Relena shook her head. "No, it's okay. She should be able to eat some of her dinner."
Quatre nodded. Relena walked pass him and down the hall. He watched her until she reached the steps, to at this time he yelled, "Relena!"
Relena stopped and turned to see Quatre running down the hall to meet with her.
"On second thought, I would love a nice cup. Please?"
Relena tried not to laugh at his childlike behavior. "Alright. Come on." She started down the steps, and Quatre quickly followed.
Pagan sat a tray with saucers and cups on the table. He handed one to Quatre, and then to Relena.
"Thank you," Quatre said quietly.
"Really, Pagan. I said I could make it."
"Nonsense, Miss, that's what I'm here for. I made a smaller cup for Miss Destiny, in case she were to care for any."
Relena looked thoughtful. "I wonder if she would like any."
At that exact moment, Destiny came running into the dining room. Wrapped in her arms, was a little brown bear. The red bow around its neck had been retied multiple times, but it still looked brand new.
"There you are," Relena said playfully. "Would you like some tea?"
"Uh huh." Then she held up the teddy bear. "Can Mr. Cuddles have some tea too, Mommy?"
"No, Destiny. Mr. Cuddles can sit in the chair. No toys at the table, you know that."
Destiny nodded and sat her teddy bear on a chair by the door. Pagan gave a slight bow before he exited the room.
Mommy had told Destiny many stories. And there was a story behind Mr. Cuddles, too. When Destiny was two, she took a fond interest to the stuffed animal that sat on her mommy's bed. When Relena noticed this, she told her that she could have the bear if she was careful with it. Once Destiny asked why Relena loved the bear so much, she said that her father gave it to her.
Back when her mommy had Mr. Cuddles, he was named Heero bear. But Destiny didn't know what that was so she renamed it Mr. Cuddles. She wondered when Daddy gave it to Mommy, and sometimes thought about asking Quatre about it. But then, she thought it would lead to an 'awkward situation'.
Destiny walked over to her chair and climbed up to sit on it. She sat down and looked between Relena and Quatre. Relena pushed Destiny's cup closer to her so that she could reach it.
"Thank you Mommy," she said cheerfully.
Quatre grinned as Destiny took a big sip of it. Then she sat the cup down with a large exhale and continued looking between Relena and Quatre.
Relena seemed interest in an article she was reading out of a family magazine. But Destiny could see that Quatre kept looking over at Relena. The weird thing was, Quatre had a funny look on his face, almost like he was thirsty and he had a drink in front of him. It didn't bother her though; she knew that he did that a lot.
Quatre noticed Destiny was looking at him. His whole face turned red for some reason unknown to the girl, and became more interested in his teacup. In fact, she didn't see him look up again.
He ended up being the first of the three to finish his tea. He quickly excused himself and left the room. Destiny gave his retreating back a sad look and was afraid that it was her that made him leave so fast.
"I'm done, Mommy," she told Relena.
"Okay." Relena knew her daughter to never drink all of her tea anyways.
Destiny hopped off the chair and went after Quatre, grabbing Mr. Cuddles as she went pass it.
She pranced down the hall, looking in all the rooms for Quatre. Then, a few doors down, she heard a soft musical sound. She slowly walked to the door and peeked in. Quatre was playing a violin.
She got a bright smile. Quatre played a lot of the instruments. Everyone in that room, actually. She liked how he could make the violin sound so nice. He got her to try it once, and the only thing she made was a loud, earsplitting screech.
Destiny walked in quietly as Quatre finished. As soon as he did, she started clapping eagerly. The sudden noise made Quatre jump. When he saw it was only her, he sighed in relief.
"Was that another song you made up, Quatre?"
Quatre nodded as he out the violin back in its case. "Yeah."
"It was pretty."
He smiled appreciatively. "Thank you. Would you like to try?"
She made a face and shook her head. "I can't make it sound pretty like you can."
Quatre chuckled as he sat the violin case off to the side with other instruments.
"Will you play me a song, Quatre?"
Quatre looked up to her. He nodded and walked over to the black grand piano. He sat down and patted the spot next to him. She hopped over and climbed up to sit next to him.
"Okay," Quatre said as he examined the keys. "What do you want me to play?"
She shrugged. "I dunno. Anything you want."
Quatre nodded. He put his hands over the keys and began to play a sweet little tune. It was beautiful. It seemed to symbolize his emotions. Each note he could play like he knew the song by heart. He closed his eyes and let his hands glide across the keys. Every so often, pushing down on a pedal to hold a note longer.
The song was only about a minute long, but to Destiny it was the prettiest thing she'd ever heard. And when he lifted his hands off the last three notes, she gave him enough applause for an audience.
"That was great, Quatre! I loved it."
"You love everything I play," Quatre teased. "You flatterer."
Destiny didn't know what a flatterer was, but the way Quatre said it, it must have been something good. She gave him a big grin. "It was good!"
"I agree," came a voice from the doorway.
The two turned their heads to see Relena smiling at them. Quatre smiled back. "Thanks, Relena."
"Mommy," Destiny said excitedly. She jumped off her spot and ran over to her, holding onto Mr. Cuddles tightly so she wouldn't drop him. "Will you play dollies with me?"
Relena gave her a sad look. "I can't. I have a statement to read."
Destiny looked really disappointed. Quatre stood up and walked over.
"I'll read it for you and summarize it for you, Relena," he offered.
"Quatre -- "
"I can. You spend time with your daughter. Besides, you know those things. The writer says the same thing through the whole document, he just rephrases the thesis on every line."
Destiny didn't understand what Quatre said, but it made her mommy giggle.
"Only if you want," Relena told him. "I don't want to force you."
Quatre waved her off. "Don't worry about it. You're not forcing me – you didn't even ask me. I'll be fine."
"Okay, it's the only thing on top of my desk." Quatre nodded and left the room. Relena looked over at Destiny and smiled. "Let's go find you some dollies, hon." The two headed for Destiny's room.
Destiny tackled a big box in her closet where she kept her dolls that couldn't fit in her room. Most of the tings inhabiting her room were stuffed animals. She opened up the box and began to shuffle through them all.
Relena bent down on her knees and began to help her pull some out. She warned her that they weren't to get out anymore than four, though. So she had to pick four out of her whole collection.
During the search for the third doll, Destiny stopped and looked up at her mom. Relena stopped as well and looked back at her. "What is it?"
"Mommy... do you love Quatre?"
Relena sat there looking at her in disbelief. After a moment she shook her head. "I love your daddy."
Destiny slowly nodded her head. "Okay, Mommy."
Relena never has told Destiny about Heero. Destiny has never asked about her father, so Relena has spared her heart by not discussing it. The thing was, whenever Relena used the word 'Daddy', Destiny acted like she knew Heero and understood what Relena was talking about. Plus, if she ever tried to talk about it, Destiny didn't want to and would change the subject, which Relena found interesting for a four year old to do. So, Relena thought of it as being in Destiny's best interest to not bring up the subject.
Relena smiled. "I love him dearly as a friend. How about you?"
Destiny beamed as she began to count on her fingers. "I love Quatre, I love you, I love Uncle Duo and Aunt Hilde, I love Uncle Wufei and Aunt Sally, I love Uncle Trowa, I love Aunt Catherine – 'cause she saved me – and I love Mr. Pagan, and I love Cook, and -- "
"Okay, honey, okay," Relena said sweetly. "I get the picture. You love the whole universe."
"Uh huh," Destiny nodded her head enthusiastically. "Because it didn't do anything to me, right Mommy?"
"Right." Relena gave her daughter a proud look.
"So… Okay Mommy," Destiny said now getting back to the dolls in the box. "Let's play dollies now."
"Okay," Relena said as he helped her daughter quickly pick out two more dolls.
***
"Distaste of air," Quatre mumbled as he read through the document again. "What does he want, fresh air shipped in a bottle?" Some guy was complaining that he went to the colonies for the first time and didn't like the difference in the air there. Air on the colonies was the last thing Quatre would expect to hear a complaint about. When he was younger, he didn't know the difference until he set foot on the earth. This man was just too used to Earth.
He decided this was definitely not worthy enough to take Elena's free time with her daughter away. Besides, this might come up at the next meeting, and by how badly this paper was written… Relena wouldn't be missing much.
Quatre quickly discarded the paper into a manila folder and opened a drawer to stick the folder in. He opened up the middle drawer to get a pen or pencil to label the folder with, when something caught his eye. He knew he shouldn't be nosey, but he pulled the item out anyways.
The item ended up being a collection of pictures hooked together by a paperclip. He figured that if he'd gone this far, it wouldn't hurt to look at them now.
The first picture was a picture of Destiny, which he guessed the picture was about a year old. She looked so cute just giving the camera her biggest smile. He put this picture to the back of the pile and looked at the next one.
This picture was about a year old, too. Destiny was sitting on a slide in the park, ready to slide down. Relena was watching a few feet away. Quatre remembered this day; he took the picture. Right before he snapped it, Relena, in her big winter coat, complained how cold it was and for Quatre to take a picture fast. You could see some snow in the background, but not the breath in the air like you could that day. With a big smile on his face, Quatre moved this picture to the back of the pile again to look at the next one.
His smiled faded slightly at the next picture. It was a picture of Heero and Relena. They were just lying on the couch. A sleeping Heero held a wide- awake Relena. He wondered who took the picture. He shrugged and put this picture in the back, as well.
The last picture took him by surprise. It was a picture of Destiny and himself. It must have been one of those nights Destiny had a nightmare, because they were both asleep in his room. Relena must have snuck that picture. He put this picture in the back so the first one he saw was now the first one again.
He replaced the paperclip and put them back in the drawer, keeping in mind the original reason he had opened the drawer was to search for a pencil or pen. He did find a pencil and labeled the folder before putting it in the bottom drawer. He replaced the pencil and made sure everything was still as neat as before, before leaving.
He passed Relena and Destiny's rooms – both of which were empty – and went straight to his room. As soon as he got inside the room, he got a call. He went over to his videophone on his desk and clicked the 'answering' button.
"Yes?"
Duo's face popped up on screen. "Yo, Q-man. How's like?"
Quatre gave Duo a warm smile. "Just fine, thank you, Duo."
"Hey, Quatre... we were wonderin' – me and Hilde – if you guys could come visit us in space."
"Huh? Come visit you?" Quatre's voice got suspicious. "I was asked to come home a couple weeks ago, Duo, what's going on?"
"I don't know what'cha mean. We just wanna see you guys. Honest."
Quatre sighed. "I have to talk to Relena about that and you know it."
"Than ask her if you three can come. 'Sides, Destiny's never been to space, it'd be a good experience. C'mon!"
"I'll see, Duo." Quatre waved at him. "Really."
From behind Duo, Quatre could see Hilde's dark hair. She call out to him, "You better come see us Quatre Winner."
Duo cringed. "You just can't fight a girl's order, Q-man. Don't try."
Quatre smiled at the two of them. "I told you, Duo. I'll see what Relena has to say."
"Okay – and, uh, Quatre?"
"Yes?"
"Could you call Wufei for me?"
"Call him for you? Why?"
"Long story, just tell him Duo called."
Quatre sighed. "You sure put a lot of things on my shoulders, Duo."
"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. So, I'll see ya in person in a couple days."
Quatre sighed. "We'll see, good-bye."
Duo and Hilde replied with a 'bye' simultaneously before the screen went black.
Quatre sighed. He didn't understand it. People wanted him in space; Duo wanted him to call Wufei. He wasn't quite sure of what Duo had said. Something weird was going on. He knew it.
The End of Chapter 4!!!
I'm so excited; my favorite chapter is coming up next… I just have to type it… Anyways, thanks for the good reviews so far, thanks for reviewing now, and of course, as always, thanks for reading.
And now, for a limited time only (hehe) e-mail me (KatRWinner@gundamwing.net) with anything you might wanna talk about. Where I'm going, spoil the story for you, why I have the weirdest cat in the world… how it is possible for Quatre to be that cute, I don't think it is possible, …um I'm sure you can think of something. I don't get emails in that acount except from my mailing list, so… yeah.