A Strawberry and Vanilla Swirl
Chapter 5
Of course, Relena didn't object to the idea of going into space. She missed the colonies so much and she even volunteered a personal shuttle for them.
They got one of those planes where you had two seats facing two other seats. Quatre sat across from Relena and Destiny. Relena let Destiny sit by the window, besides, she could see out the window just fine from her spot. Quatre leaned his head against the window as he watched the to girls across from him.
"Destiny," Relena said. "I want to show you something my father told me once." Destiny gave her a quizzical look. Relena pointed out the window. "See the earth?" Quatre even turned his head to see what was going on. "Don't ever forget how beautiful it looks from afar."
Destiny grinned at the pretty Earth, trying desperately to hold her neck up high enough to see out the window – especially with the belt holding her down.
This didn't go unnoticed. Quatre grinned at her. "Hey, Destiny."
Destiny stopped stretching her neck and looked over at Quatre. She saw the mischievous look in his eyes. So did Relena, who got a worried look.
"Do you know what one of the best parts of space is?" When the little girl shook her head, he went on. "Do you know what gravity is?" When she shook her head again, he chuckled. "Let me show you."
Quatre unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up. Suddenly he pushed up off the ground, which, on Earth, could be known as a jump… except he didn't come back down. He stayed in the air. Chuckling at Destiny's surprised look, he floated off.
Destiny hopped up and down in her seat. "I wanna do that, Quatre! How do I do it? Can I do it, Mommy? Please?"
Relena smiled at her lightly. "I suppose. Be careful, don't hit your head."
Destiny grinned and unbuckled her seatbelt. She hopped off her seat and was surprised when she didn't land. "Look, Mommy," she said cheerfully. "I'm flying!" Suddenly she paused and looked over at Quatre who was looking out a window upside-down. "How do I move?"
Quatre looked over at her. "Just push your weight to a certain direction." He gave her an example by floating over to her. "See?"
"Oh," she said happily. She jerked to the right, like she was trying to run into something. She ended up rolling over in that direction.
Quatre laughed. "Not so hard!" He glanced down to Relena who was smiling. When she saw the glint in his eyes she looked back out the window. Quatre landed on the ground and put his hand on the back of her seat. She already knew what was coming.
"Come on Relena," he said playfully. "You know you want to have some fun."
"That's so childish," Relena said, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
"Duo and I used to do this all the time," Quatre said as he hopped in front of her. He paused for a moment. "Point taken."
She giggled at him. "Alright. But don't expect me to be up for a long time."
Quatre took back off into the air, where Destiny was starting to get used to how to maneuver in 0 gravity. Destiny slowly stopped and she and Quatre watched her mommy for a moment.
Relena sighed. She unbuckled her own seatbelt and stood up. "I haven't gotten off the ground in years." Relena, herself, wasn't sure if that was a complaint as she hovered above the floor. "Okay, I'm floating. Happy, Quatre?"
Quatre chuckled. He came over to her and touched her shoulder, looking right into her eyes, he said sweetly and slowly, "You're it." Then took off. Destiny giggled and followed him.
Relena tightened her hands into fists. "This is so childish. The vice foreign minister playing tag in the air." She got a funny look in her eyes. "Okay, guys. Here I come." She headed right for the cockpit where she saw the two go.
When she got in the room, she saw Quatre was on the ground looking out the window. He had a sad look on his face. He gave the pilot a glance; he nodded in return. Destiny, however, was floating in the background waving all of her limbs asking Quatre how to land.
Relena sighed. She came up from behind Destiny and wrapped her arms around her waist. Destiny was surprised and jumped. She turned her head around to see Relena and relaxed slightly. Relena pulled both of them down to the ground. "You push all your weight down," she advised.
When the two girls touched the ground Relena hugged her daughter, who said she'd remember the tip and hugged her mommy back. Relena looked over to Quatre, who seemed to have lost his playfulness quite fast. Plus, it was unlike him to ignore Destiny like that. She walked over to Quatre, Destiny following after. Destiny had never seen that look on Quatre's face before.
"Quatre," Relena said. "What's wrong?"
Quatre looked over at her out of the corner of his eye. Seeing he seemed to relax him slightly. "Relena," Quatre said quietly. "Can I talk to you?"
Relena gave Quatre a worried look before she nodded. She looked over at Destiny. "Stay here dear, okay?"
Destiny nodded as Relena and Quatre went back to the seating area of the plane. Relena faced Quatre with his upset look on his face.
"What's wrong? Quatre? Did that pilot say something to upset you?"
"No, it's just… He gave me this." Quatre held up a piece of paper. Relena looked at it for a long moment, before she took it out of his hand and looked at it herself.
'Colony L4 – Statistics
Literacy Rate: 86%
Birth Rate(for every 1,000): 12
Death Rate(for every 1,000): 12
Life Expectancy: 61'
Quatre noticed Relena's look and sighed. "Rashid sent that to me. I guess managing a colony from Earth is quite more difficult than in the colony itself. Everything's changed dramatically. Our literacy rate used to be 98%. Birth rate was 17, and death rate was 8. The life expectant was even 73. I don't understand why he waited so long to send this to me."
Relena looked up to Quatre with sorrowful eyes. "Quatre... I'm sorry..."
"You don't need to be sorry," Quatre said bitterly. "I should have made more frequent trips up here than just once a month. I went against my better judgment."
"Quatre, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself."
"Yes, I should. My colony used to take care of people so well... Now look at what I've done."
Relena watched him float down an aisle and sit in a chair, just looking out the window. Relena and Quatre sighed at the same time. She knew when he got like this it'd be hard to get him out of it. Relena felt a tug on her arm. She looked down to see her little girl looking up at her.
Destiny frowned. "Mommy, why's Quatre so sad?"
Relena picked her daughter up. "It's hard to explain, dear."
***
Relena waited until the landed before saying anything else to Quatre. When they did land, she turned to him and gave him her warmest smile. He still had that sour look on his face, but his eyes brightened slightly. Yet, it wasn't until Relena said, "Destiny, smile at Quatre," and Quatre got that cute little kid look, that he cracked a smile.
The limo ride to the Winner mansion was rather short. Destiny enjoyed it, anyways. It wasn't until the large golden gates appeared that her eyes really shimmered. "This is where you live, Quatre?" Destiny asked without looking away from the window.
Quatre nodded. "Yes, I have. All my life."
"Wow, Mommy. Quatre's house is bigger than ours."
Relena smiled at her and Quatre smirked.
"Yes, and going up and down those stairs is really good exercise."
"That's why you're so thin," Relena joked.
When the limo pulled up, Destiny was ready to jump out, when someone opened the door for her.
"Ma'am," the man said, and stood to the side to let her out.
Destiny grinned at him. "Thank you!" She hopped out of the car and turned to see Relena. "Just like Mr. Pagan, huh Mommy?"
Relena frowned slightly at what she said. Pagan was ill when they left and she felt so bad about leaving him like that. But, of course, Pagan told her to go on, have a good time and not worry about him. Nevertheless, Relena nodded at her daughter. Relena scooted out of the limo, with a nod from the man.
Next, Quatre came out and the man straightened as best he could. "Sir," he said.
Quatre faintly smiled at him. "Hello, Gordon. How's Jr.?"
Gordon smiled. "He's going to school in the fall."
"That's good," Quatre said. He beckoned for the two girls to follow him. Destiny skipped after him and Relena went at her own pace.
Quatre took two steps into his home before he was enveloped in a hug.
"Master Quatre, you're back! Oh, I missed you so much!"
Quatre recognized the voice. "Cook, how are you?"
The heavy lady pulled away and looked teary eyed. "Oh, Master Quatre, it's been so boring around here without you!" She glanced over to see Destiny. The girl jumped when she was noticed and hid behind her mommy's leg.
Cook grinned. "I see you've been busy, Master Quatre," she said playfully.
Quatre's eyes widened. He looked over at Destiny, back to Cook and shook his head vigorously. "No, Cook, these are my friends: Relena and her daughter, Destiny."
Cook did her best to curtsy. "Vice foreign minister Darlian, it's been awhile."
"Yes it has," Relena agreed.
"Cook," Quatre said, with a serious tone that got everyone's attention. "I need to work. Do you happen to know where Rashid is?"
"If you go to your office, you may find out. But, I warn you: proceed at your own discretion."
Quatre didn't like the way she said that. He took off in a run for his office. Relena looked startled.
"Quatre, wait for me!" Destiny called. She started off after him.
Relena sighed. "Destiny Darlian, I know you are not running in the house." Destiny heard this and steadied to a pace, knowing to always do what her mother told her.
***
Quatre took one look in his office and thought he was going to faint.
First of all, it was a mess. There were papers all over the floor and desk. The faxing machine was going nuts. All of the file drawers were open; Rashid was currently looking through one of them. Auda was looking through the desk and pulling out more papers. Abdul was typing at the computer quickly. And, as if things couldn't look worse, the fan was on and it was blowing things around.
Quatre was still standing there in shock when he heard a shocker, "Master Quatre!" behind him. The name caught the attention of the three men who were in the room. They all looked up to see Quatre, but Quatre turned his head to see who said his name.
There was Afmahd. He had a tower of manila folders in his hands. He gave Quatre the best smile he could before he hurried into the room.
"Master Quatre," Abdul said, surprised. He started typing faster than before.
A sheet of paper was blown through the air by the fan and Auda caught it. "We were just about to clean this up, Master."
"Master Quatre, you came back quickly," Rashid said.
Afmahd sat the manila folders on Quatre's desk. "The room doesn't usually look like this," he assured.
Quatre pulled the sheet of paper he showed to Relena on the plane out. He waved it around with a rather upset expression. "What's this, huh? Can someone share?"
The men glanced at each other before they all started talking at the same time. Quatre closed his eyes and shook his head. He walked over and slammed the paper on his desk, scaring them all.
"All right, we're going to work on this. But first, Abdul and Afmahd, could you pick the room up, please? Rashid, can you close the file drawers, we'll reorganize them later. Auda, I'm going to need something strong."
"Yes Master," the all said at the same time as all of them scrambled to do their certain tasks while Quatre collapsed onto his chair.
Destiny acknowledged the tall man, who came out of Quatre's office and quickly ran pass her down the hall. Sometimes it annoyed her how grownups could do things she couldn't – like run in a house. Of course, she was sure to never complain to her mommy.
Destiny looked in Quatre's office. She saw three men moving around quickly with Quatre sitting off to the side. His head was down on his desk, as if in frustration. Relena came up behind her daughter and stared in awe at the mess of the room. Quatre picked his head up and saw the two girls standing in the doorway.
"You two might want to make sure you get a room," he said. He picked up a bunch of papers and shuffled them. "I'm going to be here for a long time."
Destiny gave Quatre a sad look. That meant she probably wouldn't see him for a long time. Relena gave Quatre somewhat the same look Destiny had on her face, before she pushed the girl off.
Destiny took her time down the steps when she saw something that looked like a brown snake disappear pass a corner of the hall that was in front of the steps. She blinked trying to think of what it was. She grinned and went down the steps faster. Relena watched her daughter jump off the last step and skip to the hallway; she picked up her pace to follow.
Destiny turned right when she got to the hall and a bigger grin came across her face when she saw something near the end of the hall. She forgot her mommy's warning and broke off in a run shouting, "Uncle Duo!"
Duo pulled his head out of the room he was looking in and shut the door. Wondering who said his name, he turned his head to look down the hall. His own grin plastered across his face when he saw the little girl run towards him. He dropped down to one knee and stretched his arms out. Destiny ran right into them, to which Duo wrapped his arms around her and picked her up.
Destiny wasn't allowed to have favorites, but if she could have a favorite uncle it would be Duo. She saw him more. Plus, he was nicer to her. Not to mention the only one, besides Mommy and Quatre, that tried to use words she could understand.
There was only one thing she found strange about Uncle Duo – and it wasn't his three-foot long braid. Sometimes, when Duo stays at her house, he brings Aunt Hilde with him. At nights, when she has nightmares, she'll usually head to Quatre's room, because his room is two doors closer than Mommy's. Well, she has to pass by the room Duo and Hilde use. And every time she did, she would hear the strangest noises coming from their room.
She always wondered why they weren't asleep at one in the morning. Of course, she knew it was impolite to ask such things. So, she kept such questions to herself.
"How're you, kid-o?"
"Great! How are you Uncle Duo?"
"Good." Duo noticed Relena walking toward them and grinned at her. "How's life, Relena?"
Relena nodded when she realized what got her daughter so excited. "Just fine, Duo. Thank you."
Duo sat Destiny on the ground, his braid sliding over his shoulders as he did so. Destiny gave it a playful tug before he stood up again. Duo gave Relena a sly look before he walked over and engulfed her in a hug. He pretended to cry as he said, "Oh, I can't believe you didn't come to give me a hug. I missed you Relena!" He did a couple sniffs and sobs to add onto the dramatic scene.
Relena sighed. She patted Duo's back. "It's okay, Duo."
Duo picked his head up. "Really? It is?"
"Yes." Relena looked at him for a moment before looking over at her daughter. She smiled. "Duo, can I talk to you for a moment?"
Duo allowed Relena to pull him to the side. "What's up, Relena?"
"I don't want Destiny to hear this, because I don't want to get her hopes up. But Duo, Quatre is stuck working and today isn't a good day for me. Could you take Destiny out?"
Duo shrugged. "Sure Relena. Since this is our first date I'll be good and bring her home by ten --"
Relena poked his chest. "You know what I mean."
Duo grinned. "Sure. Where do you want me to take her?"
"I don't care... how about a movie? And nothing over PG!"
"Okay, okay," Duo said, waving his hands in defense. "But if ya don't mind my askin', why can't you take her?"
"Two reasons: PMS and I'm starting to cramp."
Duo nodded in understanding. "Ah, okay. Well, I'm off!" He started to walk pass her when Relena stopped him.
"Oh, and Duo."
"Yeah?"
"Her bedtime's at eight thirty, try to have her home before ten." She smiled at him and he winked back.
"'K, kid-o!" Duo said to the little girl cheerfully. "Let's --"
"I'm ready! I'm ready! There's a movie I want to see, too!" Destiny hopped up and down.
Duo blinked in surprise. How had she heard? Did she inherit more from Heero than just his looks? Nah, he was just imagining things. "Well, alright! Let's get in my car." He picked her up and carried her out upside down.
"Bye Mommy!" she was able to yell between giggled. Relena smiled and waved back.
***
Destiny had only been the passenger of a car driven by Duo once. And she had been in the backseat, because Duo was driving Relena to a meeting.
Now, Destiny found nothing wrong with riding with Uncle Duo. They were going about 70 down a 55 MPH road. Destiny was looking out the window at all the passing objects. The radio was turned up loud, too. She smiled when she realized Uncle Duo like to sing along to the radio.
"And like a true nature's child,
We were born, born to be wild!
We can climb so high,
I never want to die."
Destiny giggled at the way he sand that last note.
"Born to be wild!"
Destiny sighed and continued looking out the window, as Uncle Duo seemed to be enjoying himself on the other side of her.
As she looked out the window, she got that feeling. That cold feeling of a child trapped somewhere and trying to get out. Her eyes narrowed slightly when she felt this. A shiver ran down her back and she physically did so, too.
"Huh?" Duo noticed Destiny out of the corner of his eye. He reached over and turned the radio down giving her turned head a raised eyebrow. "You okay, kid-o? Are ya cold?"
Destiny shook her head. She looked over to Duo and gave him the best smile she could. "No, I'm fine. Thanks..."
Duo nodded. He turned back to continue driving and noticed blinking lights in his rearview mirror. "Aw, man," he whined as he pulled his black car over to the side.
Destiny turned around in her seat to see what was going on behind them as Duo mumbled something. She was too short to see out the back window, but when Duo rolled his window down, her attention turned there.
Duo had his driver's license ready when a policeman stepped up to the side of the car. The cop pulled his sunglasses off and gave Duo a look.
"Hiya, there officer," Duo said. "Problem?" He held his license out to the officer, who took it and inspected it for a moment before he looked back at Duo.
"Sir, can you tell me how fast you were going back there?"
Duo knew the speed limit was 55 so he took a chance to see if Lady Luck was on his side. "Um... probably... 60?"
"Try 73."
"Ooh," Duo winced. "Sorry 'bout that."
The policeman didn't smell any alcohol on Duo's breath, but one can't ever be too sure. "Can you say your alphabet for me?"
"ABCD, EFG, HIJK, LMNOP, QRS, TUV, WX, Y and Z."
"Now you know my ABC's," Destiny san the continuation. "Next time won't you sing with me?"
The cop glanced over to Destiny and gave her a small smile. Destiny's once big smile faded. "Mr. Policeman, are you going to arrest Uncle Duo?"
The policeman chuckled. "No."
Destiny nodded. "That's good, because he saved the world and colonies in a war."
Duo gritted his teeth and glanced at the girl. He never said he saved the world, he said he helped save the world – right after Wufei told him to stop telling her that he was a war hero.
"Plus, he's my mommy's friend. And you can't arrest Mommy's friends, she wouldn't like that."
Duo now glanced back to the officer, hoping he wouldn't get upset or anything. But he was grinning at her.
"Don't you worry little lady. I won't arrest him." The officer looked at Duo and handed him his driver's license back. "I'll let you off with a warning: don't break the speed limit." The officer stepped away from the car and tipped his hat to him. "Have a nice day."
"Yeah, thanks," Duo said, giving him a fake grin. He took off at the closest to 50 he could get and looked over to Destiny. "You saved my skin, kid-o. I really owe you."
She smiled back in a proud way. "Well, now you have a reason to take me to the movies."
Duo chuckled. "You know, Quatre used to do stuff like that, too. Do a favor for me when I least expect it. Come up with a reason for me and stuff. You can really tell who raised you." She beamed at the fact that she was being compared to Quatre.
***
Quatre let out a deep sigh. These calculations weren't right. These salaries were too low. This capital was inaccurate. These hospital funds were way off. And it was spring and hotter than the desert! Who had been keeping track of the books during the time he was gone? Sure, while he was staying in Sanc he could do all the virtual stuff... but these ledgers were ridiculous.
Abdul came over and sat a collection of papers down. "Here are the assets of 203."
"Thank you, Abdul." Quatre turned his head slightly. "Have you guys found anything within After Colony 204, yet?"
"Not yet, Master," came two chorused responses. Quatre sighed and rested his head on his hand.
"Don't stress, Master." Rashid informed from standing next to him.
"Oh, Rashid, this is all my fault. How could I have done this to my people? Quatre Raberba Winner... since when? I'm more like a l--"
"Master Quatre," Rashid said in such a loud and upset voice, everyone in the room stopped to look at him. "Don't you dare finish that sentence! I don't ever want to hear you say something like that again! What have I always taught you?"
Quatre sighed and looked down. "'Have a little pride in yourself'," he recited. "But Rashid -- "
"No. Master Quatre, that means all the time -- even when things are worse than ever. Always trust and believe in yourself. You made a decision that gave the Winner Corporation a minor setback. It's alright."
Quatre smiled. "You're right Rashid, I'm sorry. It was my decision... it wasn't like I went because I was afraid that, if I didn't, the person who asked me to go would aim a gun at my head."
There wasn't time for anyone to be confused by his statement, because a quiet rapping at the door made everyone, including Quatre, look the other way.
Relena gave a weak smile when she realized she had everyone in the room's attention. She came in the door and walked over to Quatre's desk. "Quatre..."
Quatre immediately stood up in the presence of a lady, like he was taught to do. "Yes?" he noticed he asked this a bit too hopeful, but Relena didn't notice.
"I need to rest... do you have any idea where I can stay?"
"You haven't found anyone to get you a room yet?" When Relena shook her head he looked thoughtful. "Well... you can stay in my room." He realized he said that a little to enthusiastically, he didn't want anyone to get any idea. However, Relena didn't notice again.
"No, Quatre. I'm sure you'll need it. Besides, it's your room."
Quatre gave her a smile. He wanted to say something to that, but decided against it. In turn, he just said, "Well, if you're really tired, you can get a room down the hall from mine. It's up the stairs and down two doors to the left."
Relena smiled back at her. "Thank you, Quatre."
"Mm-hm," Quatre said as he watched her leave, closing the door behind her.
Everyone in the room was giving Quatre smirks and raised eyebrows. Quatre noticed this. "What?"
"We saw that look."
"What look? I have no idea what you're talking about." He shuffled a couple papers as the three men came over to surround him.
"So that's the one that stole our young master's heart and kept him on Earth, eh?' Auda said.
Quatre's eyes narrowed slightly. "She didn't do anything. I went to Earth because a friend of mine was going through a hard time in her life."
"Yeah," Abdul said. "And that's why you offered her you room."
"I mean for the time being," Quatre retorted.
"Su-u-ure," Afmahd put in.
Quatre gave them all an upset look. "Will you guys stop picking on me?! She's one of my friends'...girlfriend. I'm just watching over her, okay? Our relationship... we're just friends. Understand? All right. Where are the assets for 204 at?"
The three were so frightened by Quatre's voice, they immediately went back to the files to continue their search, while Rashid went back to the computer in front of him to find any information in there for A.C. 204.
The End of Chapter 5
This was actually a pretty good chapter! I'm surprised in myself. Oh, I don't own the song 'Born to Be Wild' by Steppenwolf. Hehe. Plus, I spell Rashid's name different than they do in Quatre's Episode Zero. I like the way I spell it, though, it puts the sound together more for me. Sorry if you don't like me spelling it that way. Anyways, as always, thanks a lot for reading! You all are nice people!
Chapter 5
Of course, Relena didn't object to the idea of going into space. She missed the colonies so much and she even volunteered a personal shuttle for them.
They got one of those planes where you had two seats facing two other seats. Quatre sat across from Relena and Destiny. Relena let Destiny sit by the window, besides, she could see out the window just fine from her spot. Quatre leaned his head against the window as he watched the to girls across from him.
"Destiny," Relena said. "I want to show you something my father told me once." Destiny gave her a quizzical look. Relena pointed out the window. "See the earth?" Quatre even turned his head to see what was going on. "Don't ever forget how beautiful it looks from afar."
Destiny grinned at the pretty Earth, trying desperately to hold her neck up high enough to see out the window – especially with the belt holding her down.
This didn't go unnoticed. Quatre grinned at her. "Hey, Destiny."
Destiny stopped stretching her neck and looked over at Quatre. She saw the mischievous look in his eyes. So did Relena, who got a worried look.
"Do you know what one of the best parts of space is?" When the little girl shook her head, he went on. "Do you know what gravity is?" When she shook her head again, he chuckled. "Let me show you."
Quatre unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up. Suddenly he pushed up off the ground, which, on Earth, could be known as a jump… except he didn't come back down. He stayed in the air. Chuckling at Destiny's surprised look, he floated off.
Destiny hopped up and down in her seat. "I wanna do that, Quatre! How do I do it? Can I do it, Mommy? Please?"
Relena smiled at her lightly. "I suppose. Be careful, don't hit your head."
Destiny grinned and unbuckled her seatbelt. She hopped off her seat and was surprised when she didn't land. "Look, Mommy," she said cheerfully. "I'm flying!" Suddenly she paused and looked over at Quatre who was looking out a window upside-down. "How do I move?"
Quatre looked over at her. "Just push your weight to a certain direction." He gave her an example by floating over to her. "See?"
"Oh," she said happily. She jerked to the right, like she was trying to run into something. She ended up rolling over in that direction.
Quatre laughed. "Not so hard!" He glanced down to Relena who was smiling. When she saw the glint in his eyes she looked back out the window. Quatre landed on the ground and put his hand on the back of her seat. She already knew what was coming.
"Come on Relena," he said playfully. "You know you want to have some fun."
"That's so childish," Relena said, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
"Duo and I used to do this all the time," Quatre said as he hopped in front of her. He paused for a moment. "Point taken."
She giggled at him. "Alright. But don't expect me to be up for a long time."
Quatre took back off into the air, where Destiny was starting to get used to how to maneuver in 0 gravity. Destiny slowly stopped and she and Quatre watched her mommy for a moment.
Relena sighed. She unbuckled her own seatbelt and stood up. "I haven't gotten off the ground in years." Relena, herself, wasn't sure if that was a complaint as she hovered above the floor. "Okay, I'm floating. Happy, Quatre?"
Quatre chuckled. He came over to her and touched her shoulder, looking right into her eyes, he said sweetly and slowly, "You're it." Then took off. Destiny giggled and followed him.
Relena tightened her hands into fists. "This is so childish. The vice foreign minister playing tag in the air." She got a funny look in her eyes. "Okay, guys. Here I come." She headed right for the cockpit where she saw the two go.
When she got in the room, she saw Quatre was on the ground looking out the window. He had a sad look on his face. He gave the pilot a glance; he nodded in return. Destiny, however, was floating in the background waving all of her limbs asking Quatre how to land.
Relena sighed. She came up from behind Destiny and wrapped her arms around her waist. Destiny was surprised and jumped. She turned her head around to see Relena and relaxed slightly. Relena pulled both of them down to the ground. "You push all your weight down," she advised.
When the two girls touched the ground Relena hugged her daughter, who said she'd remember the tip and hugged her mommy back. Relena looked over to Quatre, who seemed to have lost his playfulness quite fast. Plus, it was unlike him to ignore Destiny like that. She walked over to Quatre, Destiny following after. Destiny had never seen that look on Quatre's face before.
"Quatre," Relena said. "What's wrong?"
Quatre looked over at her out of the corner of his eye. Seeing he seemed to relax him slightly. "Relena," Quatre said quietly. "Can I talk to you?"
Relena gave Quatre a worried look before she nodded. She looked over at Destiny. "Stay here dear, okay?"
Destiny nodded as Relena and Quatre went back to the seating area of the plane. Relena faced Quatre with his upset look on his face.
"What's wrong? Quatre? Did that pilot say something to upset you?"
"No, it's just… He gave me this." Quatre held up a piece of paper. Relena looked at it for a long moment, before she took it out of his hand and looked at it herself.
'Colony L4 – Statistics
Literacy Rate: 86%
Birth Rate(for every 1,000): 12
Death Rate(for every 1,000): 12
Life Expectancy: 61'
Quatre noticed Relena's look and sighed. "Rashid sent that to me. I guess managing a colony from Earth is quite more difficult than in the colony itself. Everything's changed dramatically. Our literacy rate used to be 98%. Birth rate was 17, and death rate was 8. The life expectant was even 73. I don't understand why he waited so long to send this to me."
Relena looked up to Quatre with sorrowful eyes. "Quatre... I'm sorry..."
"You don't need to be sorry," Quatre said bitterly. "I should have made more frequent trips up here than just once a month. I went against my better judgment."
"Quatre, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself."
"Yes, I should. My colony used to take care of people so well... Now look at what I've done."
Relena watched him float down an aisle and sit in a chair, just looking out the window. Relena and Quatre sighed at the same time. She knew when he got like this it'd be hard to get him out of it. Relena felt a tug on her arm. She looked down to see her little girl looking up at her.
Destiny frowned. "Mommy, why's Quatre so sad?"
Relena picked her daughter up. "It's hard to explain, dear."
***
Relena waited until the landed before saying anything else to Quatre. When they did land, she turned to him and gave him her warmest smile. He still had that sour look on his face, but his eyes brightened slightly. Yet, it wasn't until Relena said, "Destiny, smile at Quatre," and Quatre got that cute little kid look, that he cracked a smile.
The limo ride to the Winner mansion was rather short. Destiny enjoyed it, anyways. It wasn't until the large golden gates appeared that her eyes really shimmered. "This is where you live, Quatre?" Destiny asked without looking away from the window.
Quatre nodded. "Yes, I have. All my life."
"Wow, Mommy. Quatre's house is bigger than ours."
Relena smiled at her and Quatre smirked.
"Yes, and going up and down those stairs is really good exercise."
"That's why you're so thin," Relena joked.
When the limo pulled up, Destiny was ready to jump out, when someone opened the door for her.
"Ma'am," the man said, and stood to the side to let her out.
Destiny grinned at him. "Thank you!" She hopped out of the car and turned to see Relena. "Just like Mr. Pagan, huh Mommy?"
Relena frowned slightly at what she said. Pagan was ill when they left and she felt so bad about leaving him like that. But, of course, Pagan told her to go on, have a good time and not worry about him. Nevertheless, Relena nodded at her daughter. Relena scooted out of the limo, with a nod from the man.
Next, Quatre came out and the man straightened as best he could. "Sir," he said.
Quatre faintly smiled at him. "Hello, Gordon. How's Jr.?"
Gordon smiled. "He's going to school in the fall."
"That's good," Quatre said. He beckoned for the two girls to follow him. Destiny skipped after him and Relena went at her own pace.
Quatre took two steps into his home before he was enveloped in a hug.
"Master Quatre, you're back! Oh, I missed you so much!"
Quatre recognized the voice. "Cook, how are you?"
The heavy lady pulled away and looked teary eyed. "Oh, Master Quatre, it's been so boring around here without you!" She glanced over to see Destiny. The girl jumped when she was noticed and hid behind her mommy's leg.
Cook grinned. "I see you've been busy, Master Quatre," she said playfully.
Quatre's eyes widened. He looked over at Destiny, back to Cook and shook his head vigorously. "No, Cook, these are my friends: Relena and her daughter, Destiny."
Cook did her best to curtsy. "Vice foreign minister Darlian, it's been awhile."
"Yes it has," Relena agreed.
"Cook," Quatre said, with a serious tone that got everyone's attention. "I need to work. Do you happen to know where Rashid is?"
"If you go to your office, you may find out. But, I warn you: proceed at your own discretion."
Quatre didn't like the way she said that. He took off in a run for his office. Relena looked startled.
"Quatre, wait for me!" Destiny called. She started off after him.
Relena sighed. "Destiny Darlian, I know you are not running in the house." Destiny heard this and steadied to a pace, knowing to always do what her mother told her.
***
Quatre took one look in his office and thought he was going to faint.
First of all, it was a mess. There were papers all over the floor and desk. The faxing machine was going nuts. All of the file drawers were open; Rashid was currently looking through one of them. Auda was looking through the desk and pulling out more papers. Abdul was typing at the computer quickly. And, as if things couldn't look worse, the fan was on and it was blowing things around.
Quatre was still standing there in shock when he heard a shocker, "Master Quatre!" behind him. The name caught the attention of the three men who were in the room. They all looked up to see Quatre, but Quatre turned his head to see who said his name.
There was Afmahd. He had a tower of manila folders in his hands. He gave Quatre the best smile he could before he hurried into the room.
"Master Quatre," Abdul said, surprised. He started typing faster than before.
A sheet of paper was blown through the air by the fan and Auda caught it. "We were just about to clean this up, Master."
"Master Quatre, you came back quickly," Rashid said.
Afmahd sat the manila folders on Quatre's desk. "The room doesn't usually look like this," he assured.
Quatre pulled the sheet of paper he showed to Relena on the plane out. He waved it around with a rather upset expression. "What's this, huh? Can someone share?"
The men glanced at each other before they all started talking at the same time. Quatre closed his eyes and shook his head. He walked over and slammed the paper on his desk, scaring them all.
"All right, we're going to work on this. But first, Abdul and Afmahd, could you pick the room up, please? Rashid, can you close the file drawers, we'll reorganize them later. Auda, I'm going to need something strong."
"Yes Master," the all said at the same time as all of them scrambled to do their certain tasks while Quatre collapsed onto his chair.
Destiny acknowledged the tall man, who came out of Quatre's office and quickly ran pass her down the hall. Sometimes it annoyed her how grownups could do things she couldn't – like run in a house. Of course, she was sure to never complain to her mommy.
Destiny looked in Quatre's office. She saw three men moving around quickly with Quatre sitting off to the side. His head was down on his desk, as if in frustration. Relena came up behind her daughter and stared in awe at the mess of the room. Quatre picked his head up and saw the two girls standing in the doorway.
"You two might want to make sure you get a room," he said. He picked up a bunch of papers and shuffled them. "I'm going to be here for a long time."
Destiny gave Quatre a sad look. That meant she probably wouldn't see him for a long time. Relena gave Quatre somewhat the same look Destiny had on her face, before she pushed the girl off.
Destiny took her time down the steps when she saw something that looked like a brown snake disappear pass a corner of the hall that was in front of the steps. She blinked trying to think of what it was. She grinned and went down the steps faster. Relena watched her daughter jump off the last step and skip to the hallway; she picked up her pace to follow.
Destiny turned right when she got to the hall and a bigger grin came across her face when she saw something near the end of the hall. She forgot her mommy's warning and broke off in a run shouting, "Uncle Duo!"
Duo pulled his head out of the room he was looking in and shut the door. Wondering who said his name, he turned his head to look down the hall. His own grin plastered across his face when he saw the little girl run towards him. He dropped down to one knee and stretched his arms out. Destiny ran right into them, to which Duo wrapped his arms around her and picked her up.
Destiny wasn't allowed to have favorites, but if she could have a favorite uncle it would be Duo. She saw him more. Plus, he was nicer to her. Not to mention the only one, besides Mommy and Quatre, that tried to use words she could understand.
There was only one thing she found strange about Uncle Duo – and it wasn't his three-foot long braid. Sometimes, when Duo stays at her house, he brings Aunt Hilde with him. At nights, when she has nightmares, she'll usually head to Quatre's room, because his room is two doors closer than Mommy's. Well, she has to pass by the room Duo and Hilde use. And every time she did, she would hear the strangest noises coming from their room.
She always wondered why they weren't asleep at one in the morning. Of course, she knew it was impolite to ask such things. So, she kept such questions to herself.
"How're you, kid-o?"
"Great! How are you Uncle Duo?"
"Good." Duo noticed Relena walking toward them and grinned at her. "How's life, Relena?"
Relena nodded when she realized what got her daughter so excited. "Just fine, Duo. Thank you."
Duo sat Destiny on the ground, his braid sliding over his shoulders as he did so. Destiny gave it a playful tug before he stood up again. Duo gave Relena a sly look before he walked over and engulfed her in a hug. He pretended to cry as he said, "Oh, I can't believe you didn't come to give me a hug. I missed you Relena!" He did a couple sniffs and sobs to add onto the dramatic scene.
Relena sighed. She patted Duo's back. "It's okay, Duo."
Duo picked his head up. "Really? It is?"
"Yes." Relena looked at him for a moment before looking over at her daughter. She smiled. "Duo, can I talk to you for a moment?"
Duo allowed Relena to pull him to the side. "What's up, Relena?"
"I don't want Destiny to hear this, because I don't want to get her hopes up. But Duo, Quatre is stuck working and today isn't a good day for me. Could you take Destiny out?"
Duo shrugged. "Sure Relena. Since this is our first date I'll be good and bring her home by ten --"
Relena poked his chest. "You know what I mean."
Duo grinned. "Sure. Where do you want me to take her?"
"I don't care... how about a movie? And nothing over PG!"
"Okay, okay," Duo said, waving his hands in defense. "But if ya don't mind my askin', why can't you take her?"
"Two reasons: PMS and I'm starting to cramp."
Duo nodded in understanding. "Ah, okay. Well, I'm off!" He started to walk pass her when Relena stopped him.
"Oh, and Duo."
"Yeah?"
"Her bedtime's at eight thirty, try to have her home before ten." She smiled at him and he winked back.
"'K, kid-o!" Duo said to the little girl cheerfully. "Let's --"
"I'm ready! I'm ready! There's a movie I want to see, too!" Destiny hopped up and down.
Duo blinked in surprise. How had she heard? Did she inherit more from Heero than just his looks? Nah, he was just imagining things. "Well, alright! Let's get in my car." He picked her up and carried her out upside down.
"Bye Mommy!" she was able to yell between giggled. Relena smiled and waved back.
***
Destiny had only been the passenger of a car driven by Duo once. And she had been in the backseat, because Duo was driving Relena to a meeting.
Now, Destiny found nothing wrong with riding with Uncle Duo. They were going about 70 down a 55 MPH road. Destiny was looking out the window at all the passing objects. The radio was turned up loud, too. She smiled when she realized Uncle Duo like to sing along to the radio.
"And like a true nature's child,
We were born, born to be wild!
We can climb so high,
I never want to die."
Destiny giggled at the way he sand that last note.
"Born to be wild!"
Destiny sighed and continued looking out the window, as Uncle Duo seemed to be enjoying himself on the other side of her.
As she looked out the window, she got that feeling. That cold feeling of a child trapped somewhere and trying to get out. Her eyes narrowed slightly when she felt this. A shiver ran down her back and she physically did so, too.
"Huh?" Duo noticed Destiny out of the corner of his eye. He reached over and turned the radio down giving her turned head a raised eyebrow. "You okay, kid-o? Are ya cold?"
Destiny shook her head. She looked over to Duo and gave him the best smile she could. "No, I'm fine. Thanks..."
Duo nodded. He turned back to continue driving and noticed blinking lights in his rearview mirror. "Aw, man," he whined as he pulled his black car over to the side.
Destiny turned around in her seat to see what was going on behind them as Duo mumbled something. She was too short to see out the back window, but when Duo rolled his window down, her attention turned there.
Duo had his driver's license ready when a policeman stepped up to the side of the car. The cop pulled his sunglasses off and gave Duo a look.
"Hiya, there officer," Duo said. "Problem?" He held his license out to the officer, who took it and inspected it for a moment before he looked back at Duo.
"Sir, can you tell me how fast you were going back there?"
Duo knew the speed limit was 55 so he took a chance to see if Lady Luck was on his side. "Um... probably... 60?"
"Try 73."
"Ooh," Duo winced. "Sorry 'bout that."
The policeman didn't smell any alcohol on Duo's breath, but one can't ever be too sure. "Can you say your alphabet for me?"
"ABCD, EFG, HIJK, LMNOP, QRS, TUV, WX, Y and Z."
"Now you know my ABC's," Destiny san the continuation. "Next time won't you sing with me?"
The cop glanced over to Destiny and gave her a small smile. Destiny's once big smile faded. "Mr. Policeman, are you going to arrest Uncle Duo?"
The policeman chuckled. "No."
Destiny nodded. "That's good, because he saved the world and colonies in a war."
Duo gritted his teeth and glanced at the girl. He never said he saved the world, he said he helped save the world – right after Wufei told him to stop telling her that he was a war hero.
"Plus, he's my mommy's friend. And you can't arrest Mommy's friends, she wouldn't like that."
Duo now glanced back to the officer, hoping he wouldn't get upset or anything. But he was grinning at her.
"Don't you worry little lady. I won't arrest him." The officer looked at Duo and handed him his driver's license back. "I'll let you off with a warning: don't break the speed limit." The officer stepped away from the car and tipped his hat to him. "Have a nice day."
"Yeah, thanks," Duo said, giving him a fake grin. He took off at the closest to 50 he could get and looked over to Destiny. "You saved my skin, kid-o. I really owe you."
She smiled back in a proud way. "Well, now you have a reason to take me to the movies."
Duo chuckled. "You know, Quatre used to do stuff like that, too. Do a favor for me when I least expect it. Come up with a reason for me and stuff. You can really tell who raised you." She beamed at the fact that she was being compared to Quatre.
***
Quatre let out a deep sigh. These calculations weren't right. These salaries were too low. This capital was inaccurate. These hospital funds were way off. And it was spring and hotter than the desert! Who had been keeping track of the books during the time he was gone? Sure, while he was staying in Sanc he could do all the virtual stuff... but these ledgers were ridiculous.
Abdul came over and sat a collection of papers down. "Here are the assets of 203."
"Thank you, Abdul." Quatre turned his head slightly. "Have you guys found anything within After Colony 204, yet?"
"Not yet, Master," came two chorused responses. Quatre sighed and rested his head on his hand.
"Don't stress, Master." Rashid informed from standing next to him.
"Oh, Rashid, this is all my fault. How could I have done this to my people? Quatre Raberba Winner... since when? I'm more like a l--"
"Master Quatre," Rashid said in such a loud and upset voice, everyone in the room stopped to look at him. "Don't you dare finish that sentence! I don't ever want to hear you say something like that again! What have I always taught you?"
Quatre sighed and looked down. "'Have a little pride in yourself'," he recited. "But Rashid -- "
"No. Master Quatre, that means all the time -- even when things are worse than ever. Always trust and believe in yourself. You made a decision that gave the Winner Corporation a minor setback. It's alright."
Quatre smiled. "You're right Rashid, I'm sorry. It was my decision... it wasn't like I went because I was afraid that, if I didn't, the person who asked me to go would aim a gun at my head."
There wasn't time for anyone to be confused by his statement, because a quiet rapping at the door made everyone, including Quatre, look the other way.
Relena gave a weak smile when she realized she had everyone in the room's attention. She came in the door and walked over to Quatre's desk. "Quatre..."
Quatre immediately stood up in the presence of a lady, like he was taught to do. "Yes?" he noticed he asked this a bit too hopeful, but Relena didn't notice.
"I need to rest... do you have any idea where I can stay?"
"You haven't found anyone to get you a room yet?" When Relena shook her head he looked thoughtful. "Well... you can stay in my room." He realized he said that a little to enthusiastically, he didn't want anyone to get any idea. However, Relena didn't notice again.
"No, Quatre. I'm sure you'll need it. Besides, it's your room."
Quatre gave her a smile. He wanted to say something to that, but decided against it. In turn, he just said, "Well, if you're really tired, you can get a room down the hall from mine. It's up the stairs and down two doors to the left."
Relena smiled back at her. "Thank you, Quatre."
"Mm-hm," Quatre said as he watched her leave, closing the door behind her.
Everyone in the room was giving Quatre smirks and raised eyebrows. Quatre noticed this. "What?"
"We saw that look."
"What look? I have no idea what you're talking about." He shuffled a couple papers as the three men came over to surround him.
"So that's the one that stole our young master's heart and kept him on Earth, eh?' Auda said.
Quatre's eyes narrowed slightly. "She didn't do anything. I went to Earth because a friend of mine was going through a hard time in her life."
"Yeah," Abdul said. "And that's why you offered her you room."
"I mean for the time being," Quatre retorted.
"Su-u-ure," Afmahd put in.
Quatre gave them all an upset look. "Will you guys stop picking on me?! She's one of my friends'...girlfriend. I'm just watching over her, okay? Our relationship... we're just friends. Understand? All right. Where are the assets for 204 at?"
The three were so frightened by Quatre's voice, they immediately went back to the files to continue their search, while Rashid went back to the computer in front of him to find any information in there for A.C. 204.
The End of Chapter 5
This was actually a pretty good chapter! I'm surprised in myself. Oh, I don't own the song 'Born to Be Wild' by Steppenwolf. Hehe. Plus, I spell Rashid's name different than they do in Quatre's Episode Zero. I like the way I spell it, though, it puts the sound together more for me. Sorry if you don't like me spelling it that way. Anyways, as always, thanks a lot for reading! You all are nice people!