Chapter five

It was still early when Ram woke me. I went upstairs to change and tidy myself up, splashing water on my face I looked up into the mirror, and stared at my refection. To most people I seem fearless, hell, I've gotten medals for being fearless, but that is far from the truth half the time I'm scared shitless. I worry about a lot of things, so much I have ulcers, insomnia, and a slight drinking problem, and it's not so much of a problem as a dirty little secret.

I shook myself and went and got changed. As I stumble around my room, I tidy it up a bit, finally. I left my bedroom, walked down the catwalk, and preceded down the stairs, and headed to the communal room, I rolled the door open and peered in, and he was still asleep. He looked very comfortable sleeping there; I walked toward him and crouched next to the couch.

"Cat?" I say softly, "come on boy time to get up."

He groans, "What?" he blinks owlishly up at me. I grab him by the arm and heave him upright. He makes an unhappy sound. "Don't you forget anything?" he mutters to me.

I smile at him, and give my head a shake, "not even my birth." I reply back to him and pull him to his feet. His nice clothes are horribly wrinkled.

The door rolls open and Ram walks in bearing clothes, lower class, beat up, hole-filled clothes, she walked over and handed them to cat. He smiled at her and thanked her, and in that simple exchange I had made my final decision about him, at first I wasn't sure I would help him, his being upper class it could've caused so many problems, but after that, his sincere thank you for a pile of ragged clothing, I was determined nothing was going to stop me from helping this polite young man.

As the meeting of the Eld got underway, I introduced Quatre, as Cat, to everyone, and I explained to them that he was upper class, I didn't mention my plans just that he was in fact upper class, so they fully understood the seriousness of the situation and they understood that I wouldn't be swayed from helping him, also so Cat wouldn't understand the seriousness of the situation. He didn't need to know what we were putting on the line to help him; he didn't need that weighing on him.

I went over the schedule, doling out the responsibilities to them, watching from the corner of my eye as Cats eyes grew big as the list for each were getting longer. With that I nodded to them and Heero walked over and hit the big red button a loud buzzing was heard, then voices as all the kids got up, making beds, talking, and of course squabbling.

I pointedly looked at Cat then walked out of the kitchen, and to my office, he gave a quick look around and followed me.

By the time he got to the office I was already seated behind my desk waiting for him, I was glancing down at my own list of things to do today, thinking that I should hire a maid to clean my room as it seems that I'll never get the time to in this life.

He had closed the door and sat in front of my desk, he swallowed nervously. I looked up from my lists, quite suddenly and he gave a little jump. My face went blank for a second; I was seething inside that someone could make him so uncomfortable around people that he would jump at sudden movements. "There's a form I need you to go over and sign." I stated calmly.

"Form?" he looks concerned.

I nod, "its just house rules, the types of behavior that's not acceptable, things that have to be done, by you while you live here, keep going to the support meetings and the like," I sighed, "read." I said. Then turned back to my papers, his focus went to the forms in front of him and he read through them quietly, until he reached the part that everyone sputters at.

"Nine o'clock curfew and a no dating policy," he sputters out, "this is more strict than living at home." He muttered.

I look at him and smile, "I run a tight ship, I've learned from past experiences that the less information I know the more problems that arise, if you want to date someone, that's fine, but I have to meet them, me and one other of your choosing." I pause for a moment, watching him weigh what I said before I continued, "the curfew is set, and that's almost non-negotiable. Unless you have a job that goes late and then we discuss it. Asides from that everything there is pretty straight forward."

He nodded at that. "Any questions?" I asked he shook his head no.

I pulled the forms from his hand and flipped to the last page, and handed it back, I tapped the page at the bottom, "Sign." I stated simply, and he did.

'Quatre R. Winner' it read. Winner. Just great, not only was this kid upper class, his father was a multi millionaire, he owned a dozen companies and was good friends with the Peacecrafts. Just fucking fantastic.

Even though his family now throws a big problem into a already rocky situation, I just nod when I read his name as if it's not a problem. Not letting anything show on my face, and keeping my cool is something I learned very quickly in life.

"So first order of business is to get you somewhat settled in, I realize that you don't have any of your stuff, but I'd like to clear a space for you, so you have something here that's yours." I spoke softly to him, while considering what I was going to do when the time came to speak to his parents.

"Are you worried?" he tilts his head and looks at me closely.

"No, I just want to make sure I word everything correctly," I stated off-handedly, "also I have an errand to run for one of the others, I have to speak to them before we go so," I said and stood up. "Let's get going."

As we walk out of my office I grab the first person that walks by; which just happened to be Darcy. I swing her around and drop my arm around her shoulders, "this is my younger sister, Darcy, and she'll find a place for you." I speak quickly, so she gets the hint.

She reaches out and grabs his arm, and loops it through her own, "First I think you should have a tour of the place, and then we can pick out a proper abode for you." She says with a smile, Cat smiled back.

He turned slightly to me, "see you in a bit." Then Darcy drags him off to the far end of the warehouse, I turn around scanning the immediate area for Trowa, he's probably the person who knows me the best, not just the mask I wear. And right now I need his opinion and advice.

As I complete my turn I find him standing leaning against the wall beside my office door, cup of coffee, that's strong enough to melt gundanium, in hand, looking at me, giving me a patient look of his own. I walk into my office and collapse into my seat. Trowa walked in and closed the door.

"So we're going to keep him then," he states mildly.

I nod and mutter, "And possibly end up in jail for the attempt."

He smiles, "what's his name?" I hand over the form, his brows go up. "Well that's going to make things interesting. What are you going to say, when I asked Ram she muttered something about sass. And refused to elaborate." He looks up from the paper, waiting for me to explain.

"Never mind about that," I said frowning, "I don't know what to say, usually it's just, you know who I am and you know why I'm here. No need for explanation. There going to ask why, why, why…" I let out a big sigh.

"So explain, answer the questions, this is the first time that what we do will be seen by the upper class, we had better make our stand a good one." He spoke quietly trying not to intrude too much in my plan, he sat back and put one foot up on the edge of my desk and sipped his horrid coffee.

I nod, and lean back opening a file cabinet taking out a thick file, Trowa's eyes narrow at the file, because he knows what lies within. "Just in case they need proof." I say quietly. My office has the feeling of a tomb.

As we walk out of my office, Darcy and Cat walk up to us, Cat's eyes are alight with happiness, he evidently has taken a liking to my sister, and they come to a stop in front of us. "Cat this is Trowa." I indicated the tall young man to my right, Cat smiles and nods at him. And Trowa does something completely unexpected, he steps forward, leans in and hugs Cat.

"Everything will be alright." He states to the younger, smaller man on the receiving end of the hug. Cat hugged him back briefly, and nodded.

As Cat and I walked down the alleyway to the street I went over and over in my head what I should say, how I should say it, and what my attitude should be like.

Balls. I was totally screwed in my opinion. I looked over to Cat, his head was bowed and he appeared deep in thought, it was a mild spring day, he didn't have a jacket but one of Trowa's old flannel shirts that he had grown out of, an old pair of pants, and even old sneakers. Surprisingly this look suited him just as well as a tux would. His hair was slightly ruffled from sleep.

As we reached the street I stopped walking, Cat carried on a few steps then stopped and looked at me questioningly. I smiled "Where are we headed?"

He blushed a bit, and stammered out that we should head to the palace; as that's where his family would've gone when they realized he wasn't at home. I nodded at him and headed up the street with him trailing behind. Outwardly my face was blank, on the inside I was running through every vile curse I knew, in multiple languages. At one point in my life I was known to the Peacecrafts, I played with their son when we were little, I hoped desperately that they had forgotten me.

Duo Misfit

The best things in life.

George Carlin

Lewis Black

Monty Python.