22-Aug-2000
Category: Adventure, Angst, Romance, Action.
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4x5 (or variations there of.)
Rating: PG (Language)
Universe: Companions of Fate
Disclaimer: Not mine, no money being made or sought here.
NOTES: Plot Happens. :D
The Winner limo pulled to a smooth halt and Quatre automatically reached for the door handle. He was studying the numbers he'd be going over in the day's meeting and was running on automatic pilot. He went to push the door open, only to have it smoothly pushed back against him.
Quatre looked up and blinked. He heaved a sigh and removed his hand from the door resting it demurely in his thigh. Wufei and Master Manshu really had drilled the little details into the personal security guards. It only took a moment, then the door swung open for him. Quatre flinched a little at the bright sunlight and reached into his breast pocket, pulling out a pair of sunglasses and sliding them onto his face before he slid from the limo.
He beamed a charming smile at his security guards, fighting the urge to make some snappy comment about wrapping him in bubble wrap. It wasn't their fault they were more scared of Wufei then the man who signed their paychecks. The worst Quatre could do was fire them. Stepping along the sidewalk, he was halfway up the steps of the building that housed the WEI, Earth Co. Offices when a shrill voice pierced the morning air.
"Quatre Winner! Do you have a moment."
Quatre turned looking towards the garishly dressed woman and quietly thanking Allah he'd put on sunglasses. Sally Cothe was charging up the sidewalk, microphone in hand and camera man in tow.
'Fuck.' Quatre thought to himself.
Plastering a brilliant smile on his face, Quatre turned all the way around, making a discreet motion to his guards to keep them from jumping the woman. That would be a definite public relations no no... even if it would be amusing.
"Good morning Ms. Cothe. I'm afraid I am on my way...."
"Oh just a moment, really. I was interested to know what you thought of your sister Frecila holding the Winner ball this year at her private estate." Cothe just barreled right over Quatre, shoving the microphone in his face.
Inwardly, Quatre cut loose with a string of curses that would have done Duo proud. Outwardly he just smiled warmly, folding his hands neatly in front of him on the briefcase handle.
"My sister often held society functions for my father. She is an excellent organizer of such events and I am certain that under her graceful hand it will be quite the evening to remember."
Actually, he had no idea Frecila had taken such an action on herself. The formal ball was for all of WEI's employees as well as close family friends and other corporate big wigs. It had traditionally been thrown by his father and organized by Ira. Since the war and the death of his father and sister, the ball had been canceled for a couple of years. He had only decided to start the tradition up again as a social/political move to give Relena a more relaxed setting in which to talk to influential people.
He was not amused to learn Frecila had just publicly taken control of the ball. If he decried her action, it would air dirty laundry and weaken his own position. So Quatre beamed his brightest, proudest smile at Sally and got a little satisfaction from watching her face go from smug, to confused.
"Uh... it was my understanding that your sister Ira, usually coordinated such events." Sally recovered quickly.
"Yes, Ira did head up a number of such functions. However, my sister Frecila assisted her often and I have every confidence in her ability to pull this off in a style that will honor my late sister's memory." Quatre edged his voice just enough so that Sally would need to lay off that line of questioning or look horribly boorish.
The trash t.v. woman took the hint and smiled overly brightly at him. While she was trying to recover Quatre stepped in smoothly.
"Now, if you will excuse me I have..."
"Just one more thing Master Winner."
"Of course." Quatre answered patiently as he pondering just how he could possibly put a positive spin on his bodyguards pounding a well known vidscreen personality into the ground.
"Who will you be escorting to the ball?"
Cothe once again regarded him with a smug, knowing look. As if she knew something she shouldn't and she was just squirming with the urge to shove his face in it and make him look bad.
'Not today onna.' Quatre mentally growled in his best 'Wufei' tone. Throwing his head back, the camera caught young Master Winner laughing, brightly up towards the clear blue sky. Still chuckling with mirth, he pulled his sunglasses down on his nose so he could give Sally Cothe a sassy, mischievous expression over the rims. The sun caught the gold highlights in his hair and in that moment he looked every inch the very eligible playboy.
"I fear you will have to be patient. Now, if you will, " he put a definite emphasis on the word *will*, "excuse me. Good day Ms. Cothe. As always, it's been a pleasure."
Turning neatly on his heel, Quatre moved on up the stairs, making himself deaf to the woman's calls at his back.
End Part 4
Laekin
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