I know it's been a really long time... I'm sorry... but school is taking up ALL of my time... but anyways... I got a review just the other day that inspired to finally put this chapter up... I hope you guys like it... please review... so I can know you guys still like the story and what not... anyways... enjoy!
Siren
Chapter 9 - All For You
He stared at the doors that lead to the women's bathroom, and mentally kicked himself. Fantastic work! Duo shook his head and sighed, he had been standing there for 3 hours already, and Sylvia didn't come out. She had to see this coming. It was just a fling, a fun thing we shared, nothing serious. He straightened his jacket and proceeded into the ladies' room. I wish I was doing this under different circumstances. It was my dream to one day go into the ladies' room, now that dream is ruined. sigh He opened the door and expected to see angry women staring at him, no such luck. Thank goodness. The bathroom was completely empty, and quiet, except for Sylvia's gentle sobs of course. He looked around to see in which stall she was in, and when he found it he knocked on the door. "Sylvia come out. We have to talk."
"No we don't! Go away!" She responded through her sobs.
Duo sighed. "Please... Just come out. Let's straighten this out. We were good friends once; we can always go back to that... Right?" This woman is taking this way to seriously. We only dated a couple of weeks! What was she expecting a 20 karat diamond ring? "Sylvia..."
He heard the sound of the door being unlocked from the other side and gave a quiet thank you. When the door opened he was greeted with Sylvia's red, wet face. Her make-up was runny, and her hair was a mess, but she didn't care, he had just finished breaking her heart. "Who is she?" She asked.
Duo shook his head. "Don't do this. You do not want to do this." Duo answered her.
"I have a right to know who it is. Can't you at least give me that satisfaction?" She had an idea of who it was, and although she wanted him to confirm her suspicions, at the same time she was afraid of how right her suspicions might be. She had once gone to visit Duo as a surprise, and had caught them together having coffee at the place around to the Preventer's main building. The way he looked at her and smiled at her gave his feelings away. It was a smile he only showed her, his body language screamed I love you, but the girl never seemed to notice, as obvious as it was to everyone around them. Or maybe it's that she chooses to ignore his feelings because she'll never return them. That was the day her heart had begun to come apart.
"Sylvia please... Let's just go somewhere where we can talk more calmly." Duo told her.
"It's Dorothy isn't it?" She asked suddenly. "You're breaking up with me because you're in love with Dorothy Catalonia."
"How did you--" Duo was speechless.
"It's obvious. It's been obvious since the day I saw you two together at that coffee shop. Your smile, your eyes, your attitude gave you away completely. At that moment I knew I was no competition for her, but I tried to make this work anyways." Sylvia answered him. Her sobs had subsided by then. She took a piece of tissue, wet it, and used it to clean her face. She straightened out her black suit and turned to face Duo. "You're a great guy Duo, so I'll give you a piece of advice. Good advice, even though you just finished breaking my heart. Dorothy may be a free woman, but her heart doesn't belong to her. It hasn't been hers for a while now." She reached out and touched his smooth face. "Be careful, Dorothy's an expert at guarding herself while she's disarming others. It's not to say that you may never get to be with her, just remember that while you can offer her your heart, the only thing she can offer you is an empty space. Her heart belongs to the only man that can make her feel alive, and unfortunately for you, his name's not Duo." As she began to leave Duo's voice stopped her.
"I'm sorry..." He said with remorse.
She gave him a sad smile. "Don't be. After all, you're doing this for the one you love. That's nothing to apologize for." As Sylvia opened the door, he saw her walk out with her head held high. She reminded him of Dorothy in that aspect. No matter how embarrassed or hurt they were, they refused to let that pull down their spirits, their pride didn't permit them to show the world what they looked like when they had not gotten their way, or when they had been hurt.
Duo stood there for a minute and reflected on her words. Up to this point he thought he had done a good job at masking his feelings for Dorothy. Apparently he was wrong. She got one thing right, Dorothy's an expert at disarming others. He scratched his head and walked out of the bathroom. First she took it bad, and then she was extremely calm. Women!
He left the restaurant and decided to take a walk and clear his mind instead of going home right away. Duo had wanted so badly for this fling with Sylvia to be more than a fling. He wanted it to bloom into a full fledge relationship. He had wanted it to turn into something meaningful, something that would make him forget his feelings for Dorothy. His feelings at first were of hope. Hope that Sylvia would be the one to make him fall in love again, but half way through their "relationship" he realized that she wasn't the one that was going to help him forget Dorothy, and that's when it became a simple fling.
He saw a small park and decided to go sit in one of the benches. As he walked past couples sitting and holding hands, he sighed and tried to look for a bench that was away from the crowd. When he found a solitary bench he proceeded to sit down. Duo sighed and looked around. Usually, when he was feeling lonely, he would call Heero for company so he could hear out his problems. But he knew Heero was as busy as ever now that he was off planning his engagement party. Or better yet, being held prisoner by Relena, who's probably making all the decisions and is keeping him there so she can feel like she isn't doing all the work. He would have called Hilde, but he was pretty sure she would be the last person on earth who would want to hear about his unrequited love for Dorothy.
Duo's relationship with Hilde hadn't exactly the perfect one, but it had been enough for him and had made him happy. She was the type of woman that could make any man feel happy and wanted. When he had been transferred to work in the Preventer Headquarters on earth, Hilde wasn't exactly thrilled, but she was supportive and decided to pack her bags and move with him. At some point, Duo had had it all. The great girlfriend, a stable job he loved, friends. When he had asked Hilde to marry him he was so happy she had accepted that he could have died a happy man. And then one day something changed.
Dorothy began working at the Preventers as Heero's partner after he had been engaged for a few months. They saw a lot of each other, and needless to say Dorothy never cared much for him. The second week after she began working there, they somehow ended up sitting together, she ignoring him and Duo just daydreaming. And then she broke the silence. Duo thought back and smiled as he remembered their conversation. Dorothy began speaking to him about everyday things, making small talk, and he, to be polite, answered her back. He was surprised to see how much they had in common. And that's when everything began to fall apart. He and Hilde began to grow apart, and he began falling in love with Dorothy.
Duo had tried to deny it to himself. He kept his relationship with Hilde going and tried to make things work, tried to make himself love her again. But it was no use and he ended up breaking off their engagement. Hilde was understandably hurt, but he would have rather hurt her then, and then have them be married and have it be hell.
Duo stood up from the bench and looked at his watch. 10:30. I better head back home, long day tomorrow.
------
It had been 3 days since Dorothy's little outburst, and rather than recognize she had somewhat over reacted, she chose to ignore any type of communication with Quatre. After the little fiasco, Dorothy had received a call from Lady Une informing her that she would have to escort Quatre to Relena's engagement party and that they were to act as if nothing had happened. And they were to also act like intimate friends; no one was to know that Dorothy's purpose for being around Quatre was to be his bodyguard. Dorothy had tried to weasel herself out this mess but Lady Une would not budge. Lady Une's exact words to Dorothy were 'Stop being childish and act like a grown-up. You're here to protect Winner, not have jealous fits whenever you see him with another woman.' Dorothy had resented that remark about her jealousy fit, although that's what they were. She didn't like it when other people could read her actions and reactions so easily
As luck would have it, tomorrow would be Relena's engagement extravaganza as well as Dorothy's birthday. Dorothy stood up from the chair she had been currently occupating and walked to the mirror in her room. Under Lady Une's orders Quatre and Dorothy were relocated to Quatre's apartment, which was luckily some 10 miles away from the Preventer Headquarters. Dorothy had been none too pleased, especially since the rumors had already begun that she and Quatre had re-ignited their old relationship, which no one had proof of ever existing. As she began fixing her hair she heard a knock on the door and new instantly it was Quatre. Who else would it be?
She heard the door open and Quatre entered the room. Dorothy turned around to face him. "What do you want?"
"We need to talk." Quatre answered her. "We need to settle things right now. Once and for all."
"Funny, I thought everything was settled. Officer Deveroux is being suspended, and Officer Casey will be put on probation. And that's that." Dorothy said as she finished fixing her hair and walked to the bed to pick up her jacket.
"You know that's not what I'm talking about Dorothy. This hostility isn't taking us anywhere."
"Oh, did you want to go somewhere?" Dorothy asked. "Does the baby want an ice cream?"
Quatre rolled his eyes and walked towards Dorothy. He grabbed her by the arms; lead her to the chair she had been sitting in earlier, pushed her down to sit, and stood right in front of her. "Stop playing games, you know I hate those. I need to know why you went off on Officer Deveroux like the other night. You were way out of line."
Dorothy looked away. "I already told you why, I don't feel the need to repeat myself..."
Quatre kneeled in front of her and made her look at him. "Why did you leave?"
Dorothy rolled her eyes and tried to push past him but it was impossible. "This is not the time or the place."
"I hate to disagree, but there's no better time than right now. I loved you; I gave you everything I possibly could. And all you did was turn out to be an ungrateful woman who left without a word." Quatre told her, his anger shined through his voice.
"I'm not going to have a conversation about something that's in the past. What's done is done and it can't be changed." Dorothy was too scared to look at him; she knew if she did she wouldn't be able to keep herself together.
"Tell me what I did that made you hate me so much. Please." Dorothy remained silent. Quatre rolled his eyes and stood up. "You know I just don't get you! One night we're perfectly fine, and then the next thing I know you leave only leaving a letter behind saying that being with me was the worst mistake in your life."
"You really don't know?" Dorothy asked. She wasn't sure if he was playing stupid or being sincere. She also didn't know how Quatre had the nerve to act like the victim when he was the one that cheated on her in the first place. "Are you telling me that you have no recollection of what it was that you did that night?"
"I'm telling you that I don't know what it was that made you all of a sudden decide to abandon me." Quatre answered her. He stood up and paced around the room a bit before finally stopping and looking at Dorothy again. "I'm beginning to think Iria was right, that all you wanted with me was a fun time. For me to spend millions on you like I did, and then just leave me hanging. I never believed her, but now that you refuse to just tell me what the hell was that happened, if something really did happen, I'm beginning to believe her."
Her blood slowly boiled. How could he accuse her of that? "Wait a minute, you sadistic jackass. You're telling me that I, one of the richest people this side of the galaxy, that I used you for your money? Me? Dorothy Catalonia? Heir to two of the most important fortunes of our time. I used you for money? My God if I didn't think you were stupid before, I think it now."
"Well your lack of an explanation as to why it was that you decided to just pack up and leave might be an indication of that."
"Listen you skirt chaser, and listen good. Just because that old hag of a sister of yours thinks I'm like one of her friends, who only wants you for your money, doesn't mean she has me down as to what kind of person I am, or that she can read me like a book. In fact she and the rest of your family would have eventually lead to the demise of our relationship had I not left. Something that was already happening." Dorothy said, her voice rising and standing up. "After all these years, I can't believe you still follow what she says like a lost little puppy that needs guidance."
"You have no right to speak about my sister like that. I don't even know what kind of person you are anymore. You're not the person I fell in love with. I don't know what kind of woman has a relationship with more than 10 men in one year, but I highly doubt it would be someone who would have respect for themselves."
That's it! Dorothy laughed to try to hide the fact that tears were making the back of her eyes burn. "What kind of person am I? What kind of person am I? I'm the kind of person that doesn't move on just one day after the supposed love of his life breaks off their engagement. One day you bastard, you waited one miserable day. You apparently couldn't wait to fall into Catherine's arms could you? Or was it her bed that you wanted to jump into? I'm not sure which one it was so clear it up for me hot shot."
Quatre was perplexed now. "Catherine's arms? What are you talking about?"
Dorothy scoffed and shook her head. "I saw you two in bed together. You and her, on our bed Quatre. On our bed. You and Little Miss Circus Trash. What were you thinking? And with her! My God! You wanted to know why I broke off the engagement right? Well there you have it."
"Dorothy, Catherine and I never---"
Dorothy cut him off. "I don't want to hear it. I don't care to hear it. I saw it. I saw you and Catherine, on our bed." Dorothy wiped the tears and grew angry with herself for showing Quatre how much he had hurt her. She managed to make the rest of the tears go away, and looked at Quatre. "So don't you dare judge me. You, of all people, judging me? Good one."
I don't know what the hell she's talking about. Quatre thought. He had too much pride to let Dorothy get away with such an infamous accusation. So for once in his life, he set out to hurt her. Yeah well at least I wasn't out there having a very public affair with a man who was married, and had a kid. Don't you ever wonder if the fact that she knew her father was cheating on her mother with some psycho war bitch is what drove her to the way she is now?"
Now it was just near impossible for Dorothy to not let the tears run out again. She was angry, hurt, tired, and disappointed. That, however, didn't stop her from running straight for Quatre, tackling him, and once on the floor punching him. She stood up and walked to where she had been before. That felt good. "You want another reason as to why I left, and broke off the engagement? You want another reason? I got sick of your sisters' harassment; I got sick of having to compete for my own boyfriend with some circus slut, who you ended up in bed with might I add. You couldn't even stand up for me to your uncles, and grandparents. How was I supposed to marry a man who was ashamed of our relationship huh? You answer me that question, and answer me how it is that you have the nerve to blame me for not wanting to marry you. Better yet, give the answer to someone who cares. I'm done with this, and I'm done with you."
Dorothy walked towards the door and was followed by Quatre. When she opened the door just a bit he pulled her by the arm, and slammed the door shut with the other one.
"You and I are not done talking Dorothy." He said sternly. "It's not fair for you to say that I didn't stand up for you, because I did. You know I did, you saw me do it."
"Doing it only in front of me wasn't enough. I can stand up for myself. But I couldn't be the only fighting a losing battle." Dorothy rubbed her eyes and looked away. She tried to get out of his strong hold but he wouldn't budge.
"You know how important my family is to me. It's the same with yours. Your family means a lot to you, and so does mine to me." He sighed and looked at her. "Dorothy you have to know that you meant the world to me then, and you still do so now."
"Is that why you slept with Catherine the day after you proposed? I should congratulate her. She won." Dorothy said solemnly, she felt her voice about to break, but she was able to control it. She heard her cell phone ring but didn't bother to go pick it up.
Quate let go of her arm and ran a hand through his hair. He was tired already. "Dorothy I didn't want this for us. I didn't choose this for us." He said looking at Dorothy's back.
She turned around immediately after hearing his words. "You didn't choose this? YOU DIDN'T CHOOSE THIS? Yes you did! This was the choice you made the minute you decided to sleep with Catherine Bloom while you went around proclaiming your love to me! You're a grown man Quatre. You, better than anyone, should know that all your actions have consequences. The minute that you decided to sleep with that good for nothing whore was the minute you chose to loose me." She wiped the tears from her eyes with a shaky hand. "I gave you everything. My life, my heart, my absolutely everything. Do you know how hard that was for me? I trusted you completely; I trusted our love and our life together. I was ready to marry you even though all your family opposed to it. I was ready to walk on fire. And looked what you did to me Quatre! Look! This, all this is your doing. All for a stupid night of fun, if you can even call it that. So you tell me Quatre, you tell me right now. Was it worth it? Was sleeping with that... that... thing worth it? Was sleeping with her worth breaking my heart? Because I don't think so!"
"I don't remember sleeping with her Dorothy. I can't rectify something I'm not guilty of. I don't remember ever inviting Catherine to our bed." Quatre stated. His face was flushed and his eyes were watery.
Dorothy scoffed. "Saying that you don't remember isn't going to get you off the hook here Quatre. I'm not a teacher asking you for your homework, I'm the woman you cheated on." She sighed and looked away for a while, and then she looked back at Quatre. "You know what the funny thing is?"
"What?" He asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.
"That you're still the one that makes my heart 'sing', like they say in the books and movies, the only one that makes me feel whole. That I'd probably still go to the ends of the world with you. And yet... it seems like that wasn't enough for you... even now it seems that way. Sometimes I stop and wonder what it was that I couldn't give you. What was it that I didn't give you? It seems that while I gave you my absolute everything, there was something that was still missing. And sometimes I want to know the answers to those questions so badly that it hurts, but most of the time I prefer to remain oblivious. I don't know what went wrong, what I was missing, and it seems I'll never get to know will I?" She sighed. Turned around and headed for the door, but Quatre reached out for her, grabbed her arm, and pulled her into an embrace. He hugged her as if his life depended on it. She felt her temple a bit wet and realized that he was crying. She heard him say he was sorry, and that he loved her, and that he couldn't live without her, to please go back to him. Dorothy tried to push him off but he wouldn't budge.
Quatre let go of Dorothy and walked out of the room and toward the living room. He sat on the couch with his head in his hands. Dorothy headed towards the mirror to look at the wreck she had become. I swore to myself that Quatre would never make me cry again, and look at me now. I'm a mess. I'm a mess all over again and for the same reason I was a mess five years ago. She wiped away her tears and turned around to face the door Quatre had has left through. She straightened out her shirt and walked to the living room. There she saw him, the only man who had ever owned her heart, with his heart broken. She sympathized with him, but at the same time she was as hurt as he was, in her mind even more. She shook her head and went to stand right in front of him, like he had done to her earlier. She grabbed his wrists and made him stand up.
Quatre looked away from Dorothy's gaze. He really didn't remember anything about his supposed night with Catherine, but it didn't matter, he had hurt the one he loved the most. That was reason enough for him to be ashamed. He felt as Dorothy slid her arms around him in a hug and hugged her back.
Dorothy breathed in his sweet smell and felt the tears sting her eyes. "I love you." She let out a sob, and hugged him tighter.
Quatre held on to her for as long as he could. He didn't want to let her go ever again. "I love you too." He kissed her and hugged her again.
Dorothy kissed him again and again. "But, for some reason it isn't enough anymore." She felt his arms loosen and she stepped back a little. "I don't know if I can do it anymore." She sighed and walked towards the door to leave.
"Is this how it ends?" She heard Quatre's voice, and her heart broke into a million pieces all over again. "I don't know. I just know that I'm not ready to forgive you." Dorothy answered as she opened the door and left the apartment.
"Dorothy, don't go... please."
She smiled a bit and turned to look at him. "I wish for this hell to end right now. For us to finally be out of each other's lives, but I'm still your bodyguard. I have to do my job." She sighed. "I'll be back in a few hours; there will be officers around the area, and two outside your door. If you need anything just tell them." She turned around and left. I need a drink. She took her cell phone out of her jacket and mad a phone call. "Meet me at Aura." She hung and walked towards the elevator. I don't know why I just did that, but I need to see him right