Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ 1 Blood on the Window ❯ Cat's Grin ( Chapter 21 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

"Oh! What happened to your arm?" Relena was all concern as she pulled Quatre's right arm up to level with her eyes, picking at the bandage that was wrapped around it and frowning.

I coughed, "We ran into Jun last night."

Her eyes went horrified and she focused quickly on Quatre.

"Duo did it," he consoled her quickly, then thought about what he said.

"What?" Relena demanded, letting him go to look at me.

"It was my idea," Quatre offered quickly, "I was fucking with Jun…"

"How does that end up with Duo cutting you? How bad is it? Duo, I should kick your ass…"

"He just told you it was his fault!" I protested instantly, offended and slightly bothered.

"If you'd let me explain," Quatre muttered, gaining Relena's attention again, "Bare with me, please…I was fucking with Jun, getting too close and being suggestive. I want him to know what Wufei must have felt with a loaded gun pressed into his back, I want him to feel that helplessness…"

Relena's eyes fell to the floor.

"So I was being forceful, and making him uncomfortable. I don't know if Heero's told you, but I want to move back this summer."

She giggled, her cheeks flushing slightly, "Heero didn't say a whole lot to me last night."

Her tone left no question as to why, and Quatre gave me a look.

I winked at the guy, "He likes blood, you've figured that out, haven't you?"

Relena rolled her eyes, "I was wondering what brought that on." she grabbed Quatre's wrist, then smirked up at him, "Thank you."

Quatre's cheeks flushed and he looked away from her.

I laughed at them both.

"Anyway," Quatre stumbled over the word before recomposing himself, "I asked Jesse to tell a few stories about me…"

"About Rob," I corrected.

"Same difference," he started.

"Not really. Quatre is a heterosexual male with a six year old daughter, and Rob is a single warped bastard who gets off on pain and knives."

"What?" Relena asked, blinking up at Quatre.

Quatre pulled his arm from her, "The stories," he explained, "I asked Jesse to spread it around that I was into sado-mas, and that Tailor's expertise with his knife turned me on."

Relena thought about this a long moment before giggling evilly and looking to me.

"What?" I asked, studying her eyes.

"If what I saw at the Leigh concert means anything," she muttered, "Then you are into sado-mas."

I rolled my eyes at her.

"What, now?" Quatre asked, blinking between us.

"It's nothing," I started, "I was fucking with Jun."

"And nearly fucking Wufei." Relena added helpfully, "They were making out and Wufei had to keep telling him to stop."

Quatre's eyes locked on mine, amusement very evident.

"Fuck you," I informed him, rising to my feet.

He chuckled evilly, "The lord forgives all sin, right?"

"Quatre!" Relena gasped.

Quatre laughed evilly, "That's what you keep saying, isn't it, Duo? Is there…perhaps…a reason for this mantra?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Yeah, I'm fucking a chick out of wed-lock."

He laughed at that.

Relena smiled at me, then started undoing Quatre's bandage.

"Relena!" he protested instantly, focusing on her, "Its fine…Heero cleaned it…" he trailed off as she met his eyes suddenly.

He grinned at her and shrugged, "I didn't see a problem with that."

She considered his eyes a long moment, and before she could reply I dodged up the stairs. Heero, Trowa, and the girls were still sleeping. Miguel and Wufei were in the shower, and…

"Good morning."

I stared at the door to Trowa's room in pure amazement.

That was Hilde's voice.

"Morning…" Trowa muttered, then silence fell.

Hilde giggled finally, "What's the matter? You're not really upset about that, are you?"

I moved to my bedroom, still eavesdropping.

"Not really," Tro lied obviously, "Where's my…where's Alex?"

"She and Lea slept with Quatre last night. They were both in there on the bed when we got home…" she giggled, "How the hell do you think this happened?"

"I…I don't know," Trowa professed, sounding dumbfounded, "I didn't think you…I mean…"

I decided I didn't want to hear any more of that conversation, shutting my door quietly.

The trip home had been interesting, because Quatre'd been bitching about the blood and Heero had been trying not to think about it. Jesse had been the only person of help, since he'd dug some napkins out of the glove box of Heero's car. I'd been driving. Heero had helped Quatre, since the entire slit I'd made was bleeding a bit, and he'd been extremely-jumpy, by the time we'd reached the house.

Jesse and I had ended up staying up talking in my room for a few hours, but I'd shut the door to save my sanity.

Wufei and Miguel, as far as I could tell at the time, were downstairs making out or something, and Trowa had disappeared with Hilde before I even went upstairs. Heero had forced Quatre after him up the stairs and into the bathroom, shutting the door.

Since I had been the most sober by the time we'd gotten home, I'd gotten up the earliest, even though Jesse and I had stayed in my room until six plotting out a few stories about Rob.

I blinked at Wufei, who was curled up on the bed blinking at me, then moved to lay next to him.

"Mm…" he muttered, shifting across the bed to lay against me, "I'm tired."

"Did you have a good shower?" I asked, grinning.

He laughed slightly.

I sighed, cracking my neck slightly, which caused him to jump, "Sorry." I muttered.

He was asleep again in moments.

.

"Do you want me to make green bean casserole or not?" Relena demanded of all of us in exasperation. She was standing at the end of the cart, looking us all over in vague irritation, a can of green beans in her hand.

No one said anything.

She took a deep breath, ready to start berating us again for our stupid-indecision.

"Relena, we don't really like green bean casserole," I muttered quickly. The last few Thanksgivings we'd had, we'd always had a dish of green bean casserole left over-which I'd been forced to eat.

"So just tell me that," she snapped, slamming the can back on the shelf and giving us all a look, "I'm not making the entire meal, and I'm not the only person eating. It's a holiday, get in the spirit!"

Duo choked back a laugh. Quatre coughed, composing himself quickly, but Trowa was grinning openly as he met my eyes. I cleared my throat, to which Duo replied with another choked chuckle.

We all started laughing as Relena glared at us, "What's so funny?" she snapped as Alex and Lea came around from behind to blink up at us.

I cleared my throat quickly, though I was receiving the darkest look I'd received in a while.

"Get in the spirit." Quatre informed her.

Relena focused on him, though everyone else had started chuckling again.

"I'll go get a ham," I said quickly, nearly running up the isle with the others behind me.

Sometimes it truly amazes me how many people it takes to pick out one item of food.

.

Duo presided over grace with a short prayer of thanks, not even Heero objected to that. Heero then began slicing the turkey with a smile as Relena passed the ham down the table. It wasn't like any previous Thanksgiving we'd had, Duo was sitting beside Kayla and had started feeding her tidbits of food, his prayer had been what…one line? It had been short. Heero hadn't said a word about celebrating thanks with gluttony, and Wufei and Miguel were acting much like Duo and Kayla.

Quatre beat me to the smallest piece of ham for Lea, and I had to cut a piece in half for Alex, not that I minded. Hilde was sitting next to me, casting me small glances, and I was extremely worried about what she might be thinking.

When Heero'd finished carving the turkey, he passed a tidbit into Relena's mouth-which caused her to nearly choke and start giggling since she hadn't been paying attention. Heero smirked at her.

"This food smells delicious, Relena." Jesse muttered as the turkey reached him. He'd been nearly ecstatic when Relena herself had asked him to have supper with us, and after a hasty telephone conversation, had agreed. He was dressed in a pair of fancy slacks with a fancy shirt. Duo had done the same thing, as well as Wufei, so the rest of us had been forced to dig out some nicer clothes than we'd been intending to wear, though getting Alex in the dress I'd bought for her during my visit had been a matter of suggestion.

"Thank you," Relena said happily, "I only did the turkey and the ham, though."

"Oh?" Jesse looked inquisitively to Hilde.

She pointed at the fruit salad, though her mouth was full.

This got us all curious looks.

"Duo and Wufei made the yams, potato salad…and what else?" she asked them.

"We nuked the rolls," Duo supplied, "And Fei boiled the corn."

"So it was…everyone but me who did something?" he asked, looking nervous.

Relena giggled, "I think so…or did you bring something?" she added to Kayla.

Kayla smiled, "I baked pies. They're warming in the oven."

"Ooh!" Relena bounced out of her chair to open the oven, "Oh, Kayla…" she breathed, "Those are gorgeous!"

Kayla beamed at her.

"Don't worry," I reassured Jesse, who was starting to look embarrassed, "I didn't do anything either."

"Trowa!" Hilde smacked my leg.

I laughed, flashing her a guilty smile before winking at Jesse.

Jesse grinned at me.

.

Quatre was worrying at his bandage again.

"Stop." I muttered, knocking his hand away…again.

"It's sore." he replied petulantly, "And bits of it itch."

"No shit, it's healing." I muttered, looking back to the newspaper, "You've had cuts before, this shouldn't be any different."

"Except that a comrade did it," he muttered darkly.

I met his eyes, wondering why he was being so childish.

"Hey, guys." Wufei muttered, having come down the stairs while I studied Quatre. He slid into the chair and looked to Quatre curiously.

"Hey." Quatre muttered petulantly.

I snorted, reading the paper again.

"What's up?"

"Quatre keeps messing with the bandage." I explained.

"Oh," Wufei muttered, looking back to Quatre, "Don't do that."

Quatre grinned at him.

Duo came flying down the stairs, taking the corner wide, then skidded to a stop as he focused on us. His grin was infectious.

"Oh really?" Quatre asked him.

He laughed, walking normally into the kitchen and digging into the fridge, "I just had a pleasant conversation with Jesse."

"Are we going out tonight?" Wufei asked.

"No, he wants us all to go to his place, he's having a party or sorts."

"Of sorts?"

"I don't know who all he's invited," Duo explained, "But I got the impression it'd be a few of the syndicates."

Wufei's considering look went dark, "I'm not going if Jun is going to be there."

Duo frowned, thinking about that, "I suppose not," he agreed, "And I suppose if he is going to be there, we shouldn't bring the girls. Shit." he sat at the end of the couch, thinking about this.

"Nice and foresighted of you." I muttered to him.

"Well if you aint mister sunshine and dawn," he studied me, "What's your tweak?"

I decided to ignore that.

"Dude, seriously," he muttered, "What's up?"

"Nothing." I replied, studying him again.

"Relena refuse to screw you or something?"

I gave him a level look.

He chuckled, looking to the others.

"Now that I've got you lot here," Quatre muttered, sitting forward in his seat, "I want to know what your intentions are."

"What intentions?" I asked, refolding the newspaper so I could hold it in one hand.

"With your…significant others." this was accompanied with a look to Fei.

"What intentions?" I asked again, studying him. I'd lived with mine for three years and wasn't changing that in the foreseeable future.

"Are you going to marry her?" he demanded, slightly irritated.

I stared at him.

"I'm asking you honestly, Heero. Do you intend to marry Relena?"

That one knocked me for a loop, I shook my head slowly, "I don't think she wants to marry me."

"Which is why she started screaming at him and demanded why he was cheating on her under the pretext of him not asking her yet." Duo agreed to Wufei.

"Which is why she put up with his ass for the last three years." Wufei added.

Quatre grinned at them, rubbing his bandage again.

"I'm serious!" I snapped, yanking his arm off, "And would you quit it?"

"Ack!" Quatre muttered as if he hadn't realized he was doing it again, then met my eyes, "I think she wants to marry you." he informed me, still sincere.

I wouldn't meet his eyes as I shook my head.

"I see…" Quatre muttered, thinking, "So do me a favor?"

"What's that?" I asked, looking back to him. I didn't quite trust him under the circumstances of the conversation.

"Buy the ring."

"What?" I muttered, blinking at him.

"Go buy the damn ring. A nice juicy diamond."

I stared at him.

He shrugged, "You want to marry her, don't you? And don't come back with her not wanting to marry you. Would you marry her if you thought she wanted to?"

I stared at him a moment longer, resting the paper in my lap as I thought about that. I couldn't see my life without her…

"So buy the diamond." he muttered, "An opportunity might present itself and you could bag yourself a beautiful blushing bride."

I had to smile at the thought of what she'd look like in a wedding gown.

"So?" Quatre pressed.

"So what?" I returned.

"Are you going to buy the ring or not?"

I scratched at my hair a little, looking to Wufei and Duo, who were both watching me expectantly, "I…guess…"

"Don't sound so enthused," he muttered sarcastically, looking to Duo and Fei, "It's only the rest of your life we're talking about…"

Duo smirked at him.

Quatre focused on him instead, "Okay, so what about Kayla?"

"What about her?" Duo returned, raising an eyebrow.

"What is your plan?"

"I've known her for about six months, give it six more and I'll get back to you."

"Kayla's sweet, you should stay with her." Wufei muttered, giving Duo a look.

"I'm not intending to leave her," Duo replied, "I just don't know if she's intending to leave me."

"Ah, so you're in the same boat as Heero."

"Less a handful of years," Duo agreed.

I gave him a look.

He grinned at me.

"And Miguel?"

Wufei caught himself from immediately replying, shrugging, "I dunno. He's nice."

"Nice?" Quatre raised an eyebrow.

Wufei shrugged, not meeting our eyes, "I don't see a long-term thing with him. A year or two at the most."

"Why?" I asked, thinking about that, "I like Miguel."

Wufei met my eyes, "I'll keep that in mind while decided my future."

I had to grin at that.

"But really?" Quatre muttered, "You haven't looked so…alive…in years."

Wufei smiled, "Like I said, he's nice…but I don't…love…him, you know? I mean…I do right now, but…"

Quatre nodded, thinking about that.

"Okay, Mr. Commitment, what about you? Why haven't you found someone else? I know you're not still caught up on Maria."

He shrugged, dropping his eyes, "It's hard to find somebody when you're a single parent. Yeah, chicks dig that I'm taking care of a little girl, but…they don't understand. The few times I've tried for relationships, they've crumbled around me because I have to focus on my girl."

I nodded, considering that.

"Maybe you'll find her when you come here," Duo said, smiling at him, "I did…Wufei did…hell, even Tro has."

We all blinked at him.

"You see him with Hilde?" Duo demanded of us, "You think that's not going somewhere?"

We exchanged looks again.

"That's a…very pleasant thought." Quatre muttered, his eyes going distant.

"You have free babysitters," I muttered, "Because if we're here, you can leave Lea at any time. That clears your mind of worrying about hiring someone."

He grinned slightly at me.

"Plus, you'll be here, meaning that we can field the ball for you."

He snorted.

"Now stop fiddling with the bandage and change the subject."

.

I smiled as I watched Alex and Lea running around with the other kids about their age. I'd called Jesse back after realizing that he actually might invite Jun and got him to promise not to. That made it a more intimate group since it hadn't spread past Jaded.

There was very little alcohol spread around, but we were all having a spirited discussion anyway. As the assassin, the people of Jaded feared and respected Heero-and only seemed scared of me. I was making the 'did he just say that?' type comments, which was making everyone laugh and Heero was explaining the qualifiers of the topic.

Well, I wasn't the only one making those comments. Wufei and I were bantering while Miguel sat back and laughed and Quatre played at Rob. He didn't have a whole lot to say, but he kept catching Jesse's eyes.

I hadn't warned Jesse, his discomfort was my fault.

Of course, I was being Tailor, the Cheshire Cat, so…

"How did you fall into this company?" someone demanded of Trowa suddenly.

Tro looked up from Hilde, then at Heero, Wufei, Quatre, and I before grinning at the person, "You'd be amazed at what back-alley ring-fights attract."

This got him a look of curiosity.

He smirked as Alex came and threw herself into his arms, "I'm thirsty, Daddy."

"Utterly amazed," Trowa added to the guy, crossing the room.

Jesse had asked us to play at our pseudonyms. The people here were his people, he ruled, so he wasn't going to be able to be himself, so he'd asked us to counter him. All in all, it was going very well. Relena was playing evil and Hilde was playing coy, Alex and Lea had no clue what the adults were up to, so we didn't have to worry about them…

And everything was going just a little too well.

When Jun appeared in the drawing room and looked up to us, we all stopped.

My eyes, however, landed on Jesse.

Jesse's eyes went huge as Wufei shifted his position so he was in my lap and Miguel moved closer to my side.

"Jun!" Quatre said, jumping to his feet as Jun stared at everyone in amazement.

"I thought you said you couldn't make it?" Jesse muttered to him in confusion.

"There was an unexpected cancellation." Jun muttered as people rose respectfully to greet him.

I noticed that none of our group had risen, and people were trying to cast us meaningful looks-well, the ones who were too stupid to notice that Wufei was in my lap with my arms around him as I glared daggers across the room.

"Tailor," he greeted me as he came in, then focused on Heero, "Tony…"

"Come sit with me," Quatre muttered before Jun could comment further. We were all getting looks since the guy had greeted us.

"No thank you, Rob." Jun muttered, focusing on Wufei and nodding his head-he didn't actually meet Wufei's eyes.

Wufei turned his head to nuzzle me wordlessly.

Jun looked briefly to Miguel before focusing on Relena-his eyes widened.

She smiled slowly at him, "Mr. Martin." she greeted.

"Misses…?" he left it hanging expectantly.

"Darlian." she replied, "Lindsay Darlian."

"I'm honored," he muttered, bowing.

Relena smirked at him-her eyes nearly screamed 'you should be', though she didn't say it.

"This is Chance," I added, indicating Trowa, "The lady is Rebecca, and this gentleman here is Marcus." I added, indicating Miguel.

Miguel nodded at him, not reacting to his sudden and new name.

"I'm honored." Jun said again, looking around at them.

"You know Rob," I grinned at the guy, studying his eyes, "And the rest of them are up to Jesse."

.

"I'm going to puke." I informed Duo as my stomach churned slightly. I was ignoring Jun as much as I could manage by burying myself in Duo, and while I knew that Jun wouldn't dare try anything with me, I was not in a happy place. I was disgusted with Jesse for lying to me, and more than ready to go home. I felt horrible for Miguel, who had gone extremely quiet and stopped touching me, though Quatre had shifted to sit against Duo after it had been made very evident that Jun wouldn't sit with him.

"I'll be back." Quatre said, just loud enough to be heard as he stood and followed Jun down a hall.

Duo chuckled darkly, "I hope he scares the piss out of Jun."

"Can we leave yet?" I demanded of him, meeting Heero's eyes hopefully.

"And let him win?" Duo purred at me, "Just try and relax, it's not only me and you, and I know for a fact that Heero has his gun."

I nodded, trying to reposition myself to look more comfortable in the room.

It ended up being a longer night than I'd intended. Jun eventually got tired of Rob's advances and began taking shelter behind Jesse, who obviously had about as much of Quatre's attention, though Jesse was much more at ease with him. Well, he had been.

Quatre was being magnificently evil. His eyes flashed every time he looked toward either of the males, and he even made a few advances on Hilde-who hadn't been given the full story and was able to react with the embarrassed innocence Rebecca would have really had in the situation. When he pulled the shit on Relena, Heero would simply give him a look and Quatre would back down.

All in all, it was really kinda fun-until Duo started to verbally spar with Jun over my head.

"I'm tired, Apa," Alex muttered, coming up to him and extending her arms to him.

Jun blinked.

Lea was a moment behind, climbing into me and Duo's combined lap.

"I think it's time we left," Relena muttered, though not very sincerely.

"Not yet." Quatre muttered, smiling at Jun.

"Fei, why's Daddy acting like that?" Lea whispered at me.

"We're playing a game," I whispered back, "Call him Rob, okay?"

"Then who's my daddy?"

"I dunno, pretend you're my sister."

She giggled at me.

I winked.

"Certainly, Mr. Chang," Jun muttered, "That angel cannot be yours?"

"She's mine." Quatre said with a grin, "Certain indiscretions of youth, you understand."

Jun nodded, not meeting Quatre's eyes.

Quatre smiled, giving him that evil look.

"We should probably go," Relena said again, which brought all our attention to the fact that Alex was blinking too much to be able to stay awake much longer.

"I can make them up beds?" Jesse offered, rising to the occasion as Lea crawled into Quatre's lap.

"No, we'd better go." Duo muttered, rising slowly so I could find footing, "It's been a long day."

Jesse nodded.

"Mr. Chang, could I have a word?" Jun asked me quickly, also rising as my entire party stood.

I frowned at him, "I'm leaving."

"Please," Jun muttered, "Just a moment of your time."

I narrowed my eyes at him, then wondered if maybe I could make him leave me alone, conceding.

"I do not appreciate having to beg for your attention, Mr. Chang." he said darkly to me as we moved into a hall just off the foyer.

"Am I supposed to care?" I returned, "I thought I made myself clear. I want nothing to do with you." I studied him a moment, "And just so we have no misunderstandings," I added, switching to Chinese, "I want nothing to do with you."

He narrowed his eyes at me.

"I can say it any language, is there one you understand more?"

"Do not provoke me, Mr. Chang."

"You're in a house with two assassins, two street-fighters, and two women who delight in torture. Do you really want to take that route of this conversation?" How I was managing to keep my shakes under control was beyond my comprehension, because I could feel them starting again. "I also might add that they're all mine."

"Gundam pilots, guerilla warriors…queens." he was staring directly into my eyes.

I raised an eyebrow at him, "That changes nothing."

"So you do know," he muttered

Why the fuck didn't people realize that I was also a Gundam pilot? I was tempted to throw that in his face, but decided the secrecy level I'd been living with was comfortable.

"Who is Rob, anyway?" he added, "He recognized my name and my station. How?"

I studied his face, raising an eyebrow, "How is it that you know they are Gundam pilots?"

"Tailor and Tony are easily traced. They made little effort to hide their true identities…do you wonder what the other pilots might do, should I contact them?"

I wanted to laugh right in his face.

"Wufei?" Duo said evenly from where he was waiting at the door.

"Good night, Jun."

"Wait!" he muttered, catching my arm.

Duo's knife was in hand.

"Just let me apologize," he snapped.

"I'm hardly inclined to be cooperative, Mr. Martin." I snarled, "Let me go."

"Mr. Chang…"

"Let me go."

Jun seemed taken aback, releasing me.

"If you come near me again, I'll let them have you." I added, turning and starting back up to Duo, who took the moment to kiss me heatedly with his knife in hand, meeting Jun's eyes with a smirk as he flashed the thing at him.

And as his street name suggested, he disappeared with a grin.