Quatre's Angels
Busy washing the morning dishes Suki sang along with the radio, her butt moving to the beat as she threw some of the bubbly soap into the air. She loved Christmas, it was one of her favorite times of the year. One of the few times in the year people actually made an attempt to be good and giving, to show their loved ones just how much they cared. As a Buddhist Christmas wasn't technically something you'd expect her to celebrate but she'd decided long ago that celebrating the spirit of Christmas fell in line with her beliefs. That and she just didn't want to miss out on all the fun and presents.
"Sometimes I really wonder if someone didn't drop you out of an airplane or down a mountain when you were a kid." Cat said dryly as she walked into the room, wondering absently how Suki got her butt to move like that. She probably didn't want to know. "Could you please turn off the stupid carols?"
"Awww, you're as bad as Heero." Suki said as she turned to face her now very small and furry friend. "It just isn't Christmas without the carols you know."
"Carols are nothing but repetitive garbage designed to drive people so insane that they'll buy way too expensive stuff for people they don't even like but have to because it's Christmas and expected of them." Cat said as she headed over to her water dish for a quick drink before continuing with her rant while Suki just shook her head. "And don't be shakin your head at me, Suk. I know you. You've probably already blown most of your savings on hundreds of presents, a quarter of whom might actually get you something in return."
"Christmas is about giving, Cat." Suki reminded Cat with a wag of her finger. "And I like buying presents for people. I like knowing that they'll get some joy and happiness from them and know they matter to me."
"You buy presents for your mailman and newspaper boy." Cat said with a roll of her eyes.
"Who are people just like you and me and deserve to know that I appreciate their hard work on my behalf." Suki shot back with a pout as she sent Cat the familiar why do you have to be so difficult look. "And you better get your shopping done soon too or there's going to be nothing left in the stores."
"My shopping?" Cat repeated, sarcasm plain in her voice as she gave Suki the familiar are you out of your mind look. "I have nothing to shop for and even if I did how the hell would I do it? I'm a cat remember?"
"It's kinda hard to forget since I've been getting neck pains from looking down at you so much."'
"Oh shut up."
"Anyway just because you're a cat doesn't mean that you don't have to buy presents. I'll take you shopping and help you pick stuff out." Suki said with a smile, warming up to the idea. "It'll be fun."
"I don't have any money remember?" Cat pointed out, not surprised when Suki looked blank for a moment. "I don't have access to any of my bank accounts or any of my cards. It's sort of hard to go shopping when you don't have anything to pay with."
Well then you can just borrow money from Anna and me." Suki said though her voice was a little less sure. She and Anna didn't have money to throw around either, especially since they weren't working at the moment. She'd already put a large, gapping hole in her bank account with her Christmas shopping and she really didn't have all that much she could loan Cat.
"I am not borrowing money from you guys. How the hell am I supposed to pay you back?" Cat argued, knowing that the two sisters were no more rich then she was. They were lower class civilians with no one and nothing to fall back on but themselves and each other. "So no, I'll...I'll...shop online!" Cat said as the idea popped into her head. Maybe she didn't have any cards on her but she knew her credit card numbers off by heart and why couldn't she max them out? She was going to be dead shortly anyway. The credit card people were evil too with their interest rates and they deserved to lose a few grand. Plus most of her cards were under assumed names so no one would know that someone was using the credit cards of a so called dead woman. Bonus.
"Hey, that could work." Suki said as she clapped her hands in delight, her good mood back and bouncing. "So what are you going to get your boys? When do you want to go online to start shopping? I'm almost done the dishes so we could do it then."
"Uhm...do I have to get the guys anything?" Cat said weakly, the idea terrifying her. She'd never had to buy anything for anyone but her father and her two friends, there had never been anyone else to buy for.
"Yes, you do." Suki said with her hands on her hips, her face serious and set. "I know you hate shopping and that it embarrasses the hell out of you to let anyone know you even remotely care about their well being but this is Christmas. You love those boys and you're going to get them presents and be nice to them."
"Well maybe I'll buy them something...but I don't have to be nice. No where is it written that I have to do both." Cat snarled before hightailing it out of the room before Suki told her she had to do something else that was all mushy and yucky. Heading into the living room Cat hopped on the couch and was all set to go looking for the remote when a figure came out of the TV with a familiar grin on his face. "Damn it, Colin. What the hell are you doing here?"
"I am the Ghost of Christmas past, present and future." Colin said in his most ghostly voice, waving his hands around as he grinned at her. When she simply sat on the couch looking at him like he'd lost his mind completely Colin stopped, putting his hands on his hips. "Oh like you could do any better."
"I'm a talking cat. You can bet your non existent ass that I could be a hell of a lot scarier then you are on my WORST day. I already have a rep and that's without the whole talking thing, pal." Cat said sweetly, her tail twitching in agitation. A visit from Colin was never a good thing, especially when she hadn't done anything that called for the visit. "So what do you want?" Cat demanded, cutting straight to the point.
"Merry Christmas to you too." Colin said sarcastically as he walked over to sit beside her. Apparently the ability to talk hadn't sweetened her disposition at all, not that he'd expected it to really. This was Cat they were talking about. "You're certainly in the Christmas spirit."
"It's not Christmas yet, stupid." Cat reminded him as she flopped on her stomach, keeping a weary eye in his direction. "So did you really come here to pull a Christmas carol on me? If you did you can just save your none existent breath. I'm fine with the way I am and I'm dying in a matter of weeks anyway. Go scare small children or play jokes on nuns, I've got better things to do then hang around with you."
"I'm overwhelmed with your love and Christmas spirit." Was his sarcastic reply. "And for your information I just dropped by to wish you a Merry Christmas. I didn't realize that was a crime. Christmas is always a busy season for us and I wanted to make sure I got the chance to see you and wish you well."
"Oh." Cat said carefully, feeling a little bad now. He was an angel after all which probably meant he couldn't lie or anything. And it did make sense that angels would be busy since people were always crazier and on the edge during religious holidays thanks to the world going to hell and the industrialists jumping on that. "Uhmm..Merry Christmas." Cat muttered.
"What was that?" Colin said slyly, putting a hand to his ear just to piss her off. "Did you say something?"
"Nope. Now go away so I can find the clicker and watch some TV."
"You're all heart, Cat."
"I know, it's embarrassing how soft and cuddle cute I am." Cat said as she carefully pressed one of her claws down on the power button on the remote, the TV's screen flashing to life. "I wonder where Duo put the TV guide." Cat added, deliberately ignoring Colin who only laughed and faded away, leaving her alone. When she was sure he was gone Cat laughed too before flipping around until she found some cartoons to watch.
"Hey, Cat? Ready to do some online shopping?" Suki wanted to know as she walked into the basement to find Cat watching the Bugs Bunny and Tweety show reruns. Oh to have a video camera right now, Suki thought as she watched Cat make fun of poor old Wily Coyote. She was just so cute.
"Yeah, I've seen this one. Mind turning it off for me?" Cat asked, thanking Suki when she did then following her friend into the next room which housed five computers, one for each of the boys. "We better use Duo's, his is the one with all the stupid stickers on it."
"I would have never guessed." Suki said with a chuckle as she walked over to take a seat in front of the computer. "So do you know what you want to buy?"
"Uh oh." Cat said, her eyes on Quatre's computer instead of Duo's. "That's not supposed to be there."
"What's not supposed to be there?" Suki wanted to know as she swiveled around in the seat to look over at Quatre's area, not seeing anything out of the ordinary.
"That big file folder beside his computer. It's part of a presentation he's supposed to be giving today at this big meeting. I almost knocked his coffee onto it last night and he just about had a cardiac arrest." Cat said as she chewed on her bottom lip. "He was up most of the night working on this stuff to get it done."
"Are you sure it was that folder?" Suki said looking worried now too. Quatre had looked worn out and tired that morning when he'd come down for breakfast. Worn out enough to have forgotten something. "Uh oh."
"Positive. We have to get this folder to him, Suki. I can't remember when the meeting was but if there's a chance we can get it to him in time we have to try." Cat said with a decisive nod, all business now as she forgot about everything but helping Quatre out. "Damn but the guys have all the cars."
"We could take the bus?" Suki suggested then shook her head at her own suggestion. "Too slow and a taxi wouldn't be much better given what traffic is bound to be like right about now. We could call one of the guys and get them to come get it?"
"They're all likely busy, they were all looking worn out this morning from all the paperwork they've been getting in exchange for their time off for Christmas." Cat argued with a shake of her head. "Plus as it is we'd have to go through lots of channels to get a hold of them since you won't be on their list of callers to put straight through." As if on cue they heard a door slam upstairs and looking at each other the two raced out of the room yelling Anna's name. Finding her in the kitchen with a glass of milk in her hand and a puzzled look on her face Cat breathed a sigh of relief. Anna had wheels, so to speak.
"What's up? Or better yet what did you two do?" Anna said with a suspicious look on her face.
"Quatre left some really important files here that he needs for a big meeting today!" Suki said quickly, the whole story pouring out. "But you have Wufei's motorcycle right so can we borrow it?"
"One, Wufei only let me borrow it because I have a motorcycle license, 2, I wouldn't trust you to be able to handle one in good weather much less the weather outside. 3, if it's so important then leaving it up to you two to deliver would be one of the stupidest things I've ever done." Anna said with a shake of her head, draining her glass before setting it by the sink. "I'll take it."
"But you don't know the way there and I know where Quatre's office is and stuff." Suki pointed out, not the least put off by her sister's casual insults. "Duo took me for a tour last week after all. So we'll all go. Wufei's bike can hold two people and a cat right?"
Arriving at Preventers a half an hour later the girls were all a little cold, a little wet and not particularly looking forward to the trip back. Anna carrying the folder in her backpack and Suki carrying Cat in hers they all headed into the main office with Suki leading the way. "I feel like a Charlie's Angels rerun." Suki said excitedly as she led the way. "You know the three beautiful women, off on a mission in a highly classified government base. Only instead of Charlie's Angels we're Quatre's Angels. This is so mag."
"Concentrate on the mission then, stupid." Cat pointed out from Suki's backpack, her head sticking out of the necessary gap at the top.
"Right." Suki said with a decisive nod. Luckily most of the guards they met up with that blocked their way recognized Suki from her last visit, those that were skeptical soon got the hell out of their way when they saw the girls were carting around the cat from hell. Half way through they heard their names called and turned to see Heero walking towards them with a weary look on his face. "HEERO!" Suki called out as she raced over in her red snowsuit, throwing herself at Heero who had learned to tolerate the daily hugs and even managed to pat her on the head which was her signal to let go.
"What are you three doing here?" Heero wanted to know, having a feeling he didn't want to know.
"We came to deliver some stuff to Quatre that he left at the house." Anna said calmly before things got even more out of hand which would slow down delivery. "It could be really important."
"He does have a big meeting starting in ten minutes or so with some pretty big names. He couldn't tell any of us what it was all about either, said it was classified. On a need to know basis. Lets go." Heero said with a nod and soon he was getting the girls through the checks at the speed of light, the soldiers not able to get out of his way fast enough. Arriving at the right meeting room Heero knocked and when there was an enter Heero opened the door with the two girls filing in after him, the group finding themselves being stared at by some of the biggest political and economic names in the earth and colonies.
"Lieutenant Yuy?" Lady Une said as she stood up in her chair, a questioning look on her face. Heero was not supposed to be a part of this meeting and who were the other two women? The one with the candy cane hair looked about as harmless as Santa Claus but the other, oh she looked about as dangerous as Heero.
"We're very sorry to have interrupted. We need to speak with Mr.Winner for a moment, ma'am." Heero said with a respectful nod of his head.
"Quatre, you have five minutes before we need to begin." Lady Une said with a quiet warning in her eyes as Quatre nodded and quickly got out of his seat, ushering everyone out before they could cause any more trouble. This was the worst possible meeting they could have interrupted.
Closing the door carefully behind him Quatre turned to face them with a harried look on his face as he ran a nervous hand through his hair. "What are you guys doing here? Was that Cat's head sticking out of Suki's backpack? Please tell me it wasn't."
"Yup and you should be grateful since we came here to save your bacon, Winner." Cat called out from behind Suki, a little peeved that she couldn't see anything but wall since Suki was facing everyone.
"You left a folder at the house that Cat thinks you need for this meeting." Anna explained as she held out the folder to Quatre having retrieved it from her pack. "We just wanted to get it here in case you really did need it."
"Oh damn." Quatre said as he took the folder, staring down at it as he flipped through it like it held the meaning of life. In fact this file held top secret government information that had he not showed up with he might have very well been in more trouble then he could handle, especially when he wouldn't have been able to tell them for sure where it was. The sort of information, the kinda of secrets and plans this folder held..to be up for grabs, to enter the black market. The idea was too terrifying to comprehend. That morning he'd gone to the safe and grabbed what he'd thought was the right folder, completely forgetting that he'd been so tired the night before to remember the damn combination and so had left it on his desk. With the house security he hadn't been worried, especially since that room in particular immediately locked down as soon as the security went off since all the computers carried stuff of sensitive nature. And he'd left it at the house and if the girls hadn't gotten it into their heads to come and bring it he'd have been as good as dead. Closing the folder Quatre held it against his chest then shocked the hell out of everyone by kissing Anna right on the lips in thanks, kissing Suki on the cheek and then Cat on her furry head, giving big thanks to all of them then going as red as Anna when he realized what he'd done.
"You, ah, better head on back, Quatre." Heero said with a faint smirk, trying not to grin at the look on Anna and Quatre's faces. It was also telling that Quatre's had kissed Anna on the lips while Suki on the cheek. Definitely interesting.
"Oh, ya. I..ah...better be going. Thanks again you guys." Quatre stammered then practically ran for the door, letting himself in before closing the door after him.
"Anna and Quatre, sittin in a Gundam. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
"Just because you're my sister doesn't mean I can't have you killed."
"First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Quatre with the baby carriage."
"Cat, how much do you cost again?"