05-Sep-2004

Title: Nothing Like the Sun 15/15
Author: Sol 1056
Rating: R
Pairings: 1+R, 1+2, 2+3, 3+4... oh, and 4+OC
Archived: gwaddiction & sweetlysour Warnings: Quatre cusses, gets laid, beats people up
Disclaimer: not mine. I know this. don't sue, it's all for practice.
Note: thanks to those reading & reviewing
Right. Last chapter. I knew it was winding to a close, but I didn't expect it to wrap up inside of 13,000 words - and here it is, clocking in at just over 7,500. Short by Maldoror standards!

Nothing Like The Sun by Sol 1056

Part Fifteen

Quatre answers the phone, mutters something unintelligible, and hangs up. Running a hand through his hair, he stumbles to the bathroom, blindly feeling for the faucet handles.

He smiles again, at nothing and everything, and continues on his way.

My mouth was still dry, when I opened my eyes, and it took a minute for me to realize I was staring at a ceiling. I shifted, and nothing hurt – too much, that was. My right arm was in a sling, and my shoulder was bandaged. There was an IV in my left arm; it drizzled cold into my veins and made me want to shiver. I wasn't wearing much more than a blue hospital robe and a thin blanket. It wasn't enough.

"Cold?"

Wufei was leaning against the wall, over by the window. There were a number of machines around him, beeping and listing various outputs in green on black. The window reflected us both, and I grimaced at how worn and tired I looked.

"Yeah," I said. "And thirsty."

I expected him to get a nurse, but he surprised me by opening a cabinet under the window and pulling out a blanket. Wufei spread it over me, then retrieved a cup of water from the side table. Holding the straw so I could sip, he waited until I waved the fingers of my left hand.

"I feel like crap," I told him.

"You should. You were shot."

"I was hoping that was just indigestion from too much rich food." My head itched, and it took some wrangling to get my left hand free so I could raise it. I yawned, and closed my eyes for a minute while Wufei pulled a chair up closer.

"You've been waiting for me to wake up?" I opened my eyes, turning my head to see him regarding me with an exhausted, but amused, expression.

"And playing guard," he replied. "You're tired."

"Guard from what?"

"Those three." Wufei jerked his head towards the door, and I knew exactly whom he meant.

"Lola... did you talked to her?"

"Yeah." Wufei rubbed his forehead. "I got her call, but no details before I think she threw the phone away." He looked away, troubled. "We found her in the basement. Beat-up, and drugged."

"Did they... "

"No." Wufei shook his head.

"Shit." I snorted. "Look at me, I'm happy that she was only beaten up, and not raped, too."

"Be thankful for the little things," Wufei replied. "She's alive."

"Yeah." We were quiet for a moment, and I managed to scratch the end of my nose and felt immensely grateful that I could. "Well," I started, then sighed. "I owe you."

"Not at all." Wufei's gaze was level. "I don't need to say it, do I?"

"No." I smiled, just a little. "So what's up with the guarding?"

"Let's just say there's a bit of tension," Wufei said, blandly.

"Fuck."

"Don't even try and say it's all your fault." He arched an eyebrow, and I made an attempt at shaking my head.

"No... if you're talking about what I think you're talking about, it took both of us." I stared at the ceiling, rather than look at his impassive expression. "I don't know why, really, we... but I guess whatever happens, I'll deal with it."

"We all will," Wufei said, shrugging. "Who do you think Heero talked to, when he came back?"

I shot a quick glance at Wufei, but he was staring off at the banks of instruments.

"I shouldn't keep you too long," he added, quieter. "You nearly bled to death. You almost single-handedly wiped out the hospital's stores of O-positive. Of course you'd have to have the rarest blood type," he sniffed.

"Hell, yeah." I tried to ignore the thought of nearly dying, and shrugged with my good shoulder. "One more notch on the bedpost for not-dying despite someone's best attempt."

"Yeah." He stood, and looked me over carefully. "Are you up to visitors?"

"Send them in," I replied. "I'll let you know when I've hit my limit."

"You'll get them one at a time," Wufei said. He narrowed his eyes at the door. I sensed someone was hovering in the doorway, but I couldn't see around the corner. Wufei nodded, and Duo stepped through, looking abashed. Wufei snorted. "Maxwell, I said... "

"We drew straws," Duo retorted. "And no blood, either."

"Hmph," Wufei said, and stalked out.

Duo nearly pasted himself against the wall as Wufei passed, then grinned at Wufei's back. He turned to me, and his smile faltered.

"Sorry we didn't get there sooner," he said, his eyes lowered.

"Sit down," I told him. "I'm the one who should be apologizing."

"Qua---"

"No, for everything," I insisted. "For calling you and just leaving you hanging, for picking fights, and for... for Heero."

"I had a lot of time to think about it, while we waited on the word from the doctors," Duo whispered. He settled into the chair Wufei had vacated, and reached out, wrapping his hands around my free hand. "Your skin is like ice," he said, chafing lightly. He didn't look up, and I noticed his braid was pulled forward, swaying a little as he moved. "I realized... when I saw Heero a few weeks after you two... " Duo shrugged, his brow furrowed. "This is going to sound stupid, but he was at peace. And... I guess I finally decided that if anyone was going to give him that, I'd rather it be one of you four, and not some stranger who wouldn't realize just how... " Duo's voice cracked, and he paused and swallowed hard. "How much he... "

I couldn't think of what to say.

"I know... " Duo stared down at our joined hands. "I know you'd not throw him away. I'm sorry I said... "

"I know." I squeezed his hand, gently. "I'm still sorry we hurt you. It wasn't what I wanted... I thought a lot about it, too. For better or worse, I realized the one thing on my mind was... " I sighed, and was amazed when Duo didn't pull away. It gave me a bit of hope, and the strength to be honest. "I just wanted him to be happy. I didn't know what else I could do, and it... My turn to sound stupid, saying it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"You sound like Trowa, now." Duo's voice held the barest hint of teasing, but I groaned.

"Trowa... man... " I closed my eyes. "I don't know if I can face him. Not after the way I've behaved, and then what I did... "

Duo snorted. "I think he was angrier at Heero for using you."

"Using---?" I blinked.

"Like I said before, it's not always rational, is it." Duo's grin was crooked.

We were both quiet for several minutes, and Duo stared down at our hands. His thumbs continued to make little circles on my palm and the back of my hand. It was soothing; it was Duo – movement and yet stillness at the same time.

"What excitement did I miss?" I poked a finger into Duo's palm to get his attention.

"You passed out when we started to undo you, and get you onto the stretcher, but you came to when we got you outside. You don't remember?"

"Not much. Just random bits."

"You were annoyed I couldn't tell you what happened to Lola," Duo said, and winked. "She's okay, by the way."

"Wufei told me." I grinned.

"Bet he didn't tell you that he ripped the entire building apart looking for her, did he?" Duo rolled his eyes. "When Heero and Trowa found out why, they went ballistic on the guys they'd taken into custody. Trowa said she's, uh, your girlfriend or something?"

"No, just a good friend," I said. "Wufei went on a rampage, hunh."

"You know how those three are about civilians," Duo said.

There was a tap at the door, and Wufei appeared around the corner. "Five minutes are up, Maxwell. Clear out."

Duo winked at me, and got up. "I'll see you in the morning," he promised. He waved a hand at Wufei, nonchalantly, over his shoulder, and left.

A few minutes later, Heero stepped through the door, and Wufei watched until Heero had sat down. I raised my eyebrows, but Wufei was already gone, looking irritated.

"Since when did he become some kind of frickin' mother hen?" I made a disgusted face.

"Since he decided the rest of us are idiots who can't find our way out of an emotional paper bag with night goggles and a pick-ax," Heero replied, deadpan.

"Actually... " I smirked. "That's pretty accurate for me, at least."

Heero nodded, and stared at me for several moments before looking away.

"Heero," I said, softly. "Do you... Duo told me you wouldn't look him... I know he's starting to forgive but I don't... " I sighed.

"Quatre," Heero replied, with just a trace of irritation. "It will all work out, but not by hammering at it. In the meantime, I need to try again."

"Try again at... "

"Being me," Heero said, and nodded firmly. He was staring at the dark window, watching our reflections. He snorted. "Last time you were run through with something, I don't recall visiting you. I was not the best friend I could have been, after all you did for me."

I said nothing. It was true, but at the same time, it wasn't. And he knew it as well as I did. I may have put him together after I destroyed Mercurius, but he put me together just as much after Zero.

"We learn as we go," I finally said.

"I think I want to go to school, too," Heero whispered.

"What would you study?" I accepted his shift in thoughts without qualm; I suspected things were getting too close to the bone for my private friend.

"History, I think," he replied. "There's a program in Asia, at one of the universities, that's supposed to be excellent. But I'd have to leave Preventers... so I'm not sure."

"Work your way through school?" I grinned, slyly. "I don't know if you'd make a good doorman, though. Maybe you should try waiting tables."

Heero glared, but the look didn't have half its usual heat. "I was thinking of working in a library."

That caught me totally off-guard. "A library... you mean like with books?"

"No, the kind with empty shelves."

I grunted, and raised an eyebrow.

Heero shrugged, and gave me a shy smile. After a heartbeat, I returned it, and we sat there in quiet companionship until Wufei came to escort Heero out. A minute later he returned with Trowa, and I was seriously tempted to say I'd hit my limit. But I couldn't do that. I'd done enough damage already.

Trowa settled into the chair, and I considered making a crack about being Grand Central Station, but he looked too exhausted for me to be so callous. His hair was dirty, and there were a few smudges on his cheeks, and a bruise. One of his sleeves was bulkier, and I wondered if there were bandages under there.

He didn't say anything, and I couldn't quite look him in the eye. He shifted in the chair, and exhaled slowly. I thought he was about to speak, but he said nothing, and I couldn't find the words, either.

We remained there, for several minutes, both of us studiously looking elsewhere. Then Wufei strode into the room, with an expression like he was going to punch Trowa.

"Well?" Wufei stood over Trowa, his arms crossed.

Trowa simply nodded, and Wufei rolled his eyes, leaving again.

"He's really taking this seriously," I whispered, awed.

"Yeah." Trowa gave me a tiny smile. "I think he's secretly enjoying getting to boss us around, though."

"Fear the self-righteous," I replied, risking a smile of my own.

"He's been a bystander to all of it," Trowa said, and his smile faded. "About that... about every---"

"I don't really want to talk about it," I interrupted. "It's not that I don't... I know we should. But I just... I feel wiped already, and I... I just... " I gave up. I didn't know how to put it. I just wanted to be with him, and for a few moments, let that be enough.

"We all screwed up," Trowa said, still staring off towards the end of the bed. I turned my head to look at him, but he didn't look my way; his long bangs covered the side of his face and I could only make out the edge of his nose, the curve of his jaw, the movement of his lips. Trowa's mouth was open a little as he breathed, choosing his words as carefully as he ever had. "Coming to talk to you about Duo was cruel of me."

"You didn't know how I felt," I pointed out.

"I'd never asked."

"That's irrelevant."

"I don't... " He huffed, but still didn't look my way. "I'm trying to apologize."

"There's no need," I said, and closed my eyes, too tired to handle much more of him refusing to look at me. "Seems to me the worst is still on my end of the scales. After everything I did to you... during the war... and now... " I sighed. "I can't believe you'll still even talk to me. Hell, I can't believe any of you will."

"Of course I'll still talk to you," Trowa said, and his voice held affection, but I didn't open my eyes. "If I could forgive you for going crazy in Zero, this is nothing."

"It's not nothing. Don't---"

"Quatre," Trowa said, but kindly. "Shut up. Get some rest. I forgive you. The question is, will you forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive, not now," I said.

I heard him stand, and I still didn't open my eyes. It was warm, and I was tired, and my body ached in a dull throb. Something rustled near me, and then lips were pressed against my forehead. I opened my eyes to see him smiling down at me. I could only stare, shocked.

"I just want you to be happy," I told him.

"That's always been your reason for everything," he murmured, and ran a hand through my hand, brushing a few strands out of my eyes. "I know that."

"I didn't do a very good job," I muttered.

"No." His lips quirked up, just barely, at the edges. "But you'll always get a second chance with me."

"I'm on my eighth chance, I think," I said, my eyes slipping closed.

I could hear someone approaching – light steps, but an even pace, so not Duo. Probably Wufei, I figured, relaxing into sleep as knuckles brushed over my cheek. It wasn't until both sets of footsteps left the room that I woke long enough to realize that perhaps Trowa had meant something else entirely with his last words.

I woke up in the morning to find a nurse checking over the equipment. When she realized I was awake, she let me have a few sips of water and peeled back the top blanket for me. My body temperature was coming up, and the blankets over me were getting to be oppressive. She raised the top of the bed up so I could stare at the wall, instead, and pointed out the remote for the television, but I wasn't interested.

The last thing I wanted was to watch the news, and find out just how it had all rolled out. Having the Preventers show up on site, guns blazing – when two of the guns were in the hands of non-Preventers, on top of that – well, I just couldn't see the media letting that one go by.

"Mister Winner?" A soft voice broke me out of my reverie, and I looked up to see a young woman standing near the foot of my bed. She smiled, a bit weakly, and waved with a few fingers. "Hi. I'm, uh, I'm Cindy. I... "

She seemed familiar, and then I realized. "You're from the clinic. Your father... "

"Yeah. I... I wanted to apologize," Cindy said, lowering her head. She wrung her hands against her stomach. "After that first time you were in the clinic, I was home visiting a week or so after that, and my mom was pestering me about meeting someone so... " Her quick rush of words slowed to a reluctant pace. "I... I told my parents I'd met you. My dad used to talk about you, after the war, and I guess I'd always thought he admired you or something. I thought he'd be like, impressed or something."

I continued to stare at her, impassive.

"And he... like a week after that, he came to school, and visited me at work," she continued, her voice growing softer. "He wanted to see where I worked, and what I did, and he took me for lunch and I thought it was like he was finally, y'know, doing the father-daughter thing and he wasn't, I guess it was something to do with you... " She made a choking sound, as if struggling to keep her composure. One hand crept up and she wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Cindy," I said, but couldn't think of what else to say. I was too busy paying attention, for maybe the first time in too long. She felt apprehensive, and nervous, and utterly remorseful, but also bewildered, with a great deal of hurt. I could see it, too, in the line of her neck and shoulders, the shaking in her hands, and the quiet sniffling. She was trying to walk a fine line: apologize without condemning her father. I didn't envy her. I sighed, and managed a smile. "I understand."

She glanced at me quickly, then away. "I'm really sorry," she whispered again, and fled.

I stared at the wall opposite for a long time, thinking about parents and children and what it means to love someone and what it means to hate someone and the things we do when we don't know the difference. Little of it had to do with Cindy's father, or his greedy wish for hush money, and perhaps that was some form of revenge, or maybe money was the only reason. But Cindy and her explanation was enough to make me think, to go back to the thoughts I'd had while feeling the blood drip down my jacket into my lap.

When Wufei came to see me at noon, I told him what I'd decided.

My sisters didn't pay the hush money, opting instead to argue for releasing details to the public. Duo was well known on L2, and was probably the least affected by the entire debacle. Heero's role in the Mariemaia Incident had been covered extensively, though his personal history was still blank to most of the media. The circus world was fully aware of Trowa's involvement, and the few remaining members of Wufei's clan had always known of his role. Mine was the only one that had been shut down and covered up so completely.

It made returning to school in the fall a bit of an experience, since this time I didn't have the cover of anonymity. On the positive side, the gangs in the area around campus suddenly found other places to be when I was out for a walk. It amused me, especially since my shoulder wasn't healed yet, and half the time my walks were to a physical therapist to work out the last of the kinks.

Victoria held true to her agreement; no more money came my way from the family, and I had three more years to finish my degree. I could have tested out of a number of classes and finished earlier, had I chosen engineering, but I'd decided on something else. I went after it with everything I had.

Heero didn't go off to university, and we never discussed it again, but he did seem to express a great deal of curiosity about the classes at the university. Wufei made monthly treks to see me at school, and the day he showed up to find I'd moved into a more secure apartment – with a sofa bed for guests – I wasn't sure to laugh or roll my eyes at his pleased look.

Lola was in physical therapy for a great deal longer than I; the beating had been severe, plus she'd torn several tendons from a fall when the two men jumped her. Trowa sent me tickets to the circus – not his, but a friend's – and I took Lola. We didn't have our fancy clothes, but we pretended, and it was just as much fun.

Jamie cooled off considerably when he found out I was a Gundam pilot. There were too many things in his past, as a soldier with the Alliance, and I guess where he could handle me being rich, he couldn't handle me being the former enemy. It hurt, for a while, and then I had to let it go.

There were others on campus who felt the same way as Jamie, but Felicia, Chip, Lisa and Lola seemed to delight in running interference. And what harassment they couldn't prevent sure halted the day Heero and Wufei rolled into town for a week. I suspect the three of us strolling across campus was enough to make most people decide a wide berth was a good survival instinct.

My sophomore year passed; for the following summer, I interned. It sounded exciting on paper, but in reality it meant doing a lot of filing and a lot of cleaning up after the mentoring team.

Wufei's rule continued to be upheld. None of us dated each other, nor did we entertain the notion. Time, he'd counseled, and we agreed, just as we all sighed and nodded when he also informed us that there was to be no more discussing our sex lives with the rest of the pilots. Duo cracked later that Wufei was sick of hearing that other people were getting laid, but I know he knew the truth as well as I did. Wufei had lost, and learned from it, and he was just trying to help us learn the same lesson, in his own bullheaded way.

Trowa had moved into management with the circus, but the way he kept dragging me to the Zoo every time he visited told me his heart wasn't in performing with animals, but in studying them.

Junior year, my friends were graduated and gone, but I had a small assortment of new friends from my department. Duo was done with school, and working for a company on L4, but he came to visit me every few months, alternating with the rest of the group. They were pretty good about warning me, to make sure I'd have time off work.

Except Trowa. When he visited, he still never thought to call ahead.

"Quatre!" The girl at the desk practically falls over her companion to throw herself around the table and into his arms. "Oh my god, you made it!"

"Caroline, hunh," Quatre says, and grins. "Yeah, well, watch yourself, Caroline, because I know a few things about you, too."

Tim laughs, and pulls Alex off his mother. "You two visit. I'm going to catch some of my classmates."

Quatre realizes Tim's wearing a badge, from several years before his class. He raises his eyebrows at Lola, but she just grins and puts a finger to her lips. Accepting the sleeping two-year old from Tim, she leads Quatre into the large ballroom.

My senior year, I began putting my plan into action. I kept my mouth shut, and did my homework, and saved up money for a good suit. I told no one of what I intended, although the other pilots knew my course of study.

Duo bawled me out over the phone when I told him I'd opted out of the graduation ceremony. When I reminded him that he'd done the same, he insisted it was different. I just told him what date to be on L4, and ended the call before he could ask any questions. He was the hardest to get a hold of, now that he was working on a major project, and the last I told.

I flew out of Chicago on a tourist shuttle, the cheapest flight I could afford. My bag held nothing more than a stack of papers I'd meticulously gathered, a change of clothes, a copy of my diploma, and the letter detailing the job I'd begin when I got back to Earth. Everything else I owned was packed and on its way to Brussels. It wouldn't get there overnight at the cheap rates I'd paid, but it'd get there.

Iria met me at the L4 shuttle, looking annoyed I'd not asked her for a Winner shuttle, but I deflected her curiosity easily. It was a diplomatic side step, but one I'd learned to handle after two years of dealing with a reputation. The taxi pulled up to the Winner headquarters, and Iria caught me chuckling.

"What?" She quirked an eyebrow.

"Just thinking how much I hated being political, until it was the only option left," I admitted. "On campus, I mean."

"You've grown up," she said. "I think even Victoria has to admit you're not a little boy any more."

I never was, I thought, but shrugged and smiled. It wasn't that I was a little boy. It was that I was a man who'd wanted to be a little boy, and eventually I'd had to get over wanting that, and realize it was just as good to be a man.

Even if sometimes I wondered what might've happened between Trowa and I, had I told him sooner, had I not slept with Heero... but we'd followed Wufei's decision. We'd never discussed it. We five had fought since then, tensions running high sometimes, but somewhere in there, we'd changed. We could argue and fight, but nothing would come between us, not even the space we sometimes needed to cool off. And even my first year in school hadn't been enough to even threaten that; it was our own insecurities that made us doubt it.

I pushed away the pensive thoughts and followed Iria into the building, waiting patiently while the security guards checked my I.D. When we passed the receptionists and entered the interior lobby, the other pilots were waiting for me.

"Quatre, man, I'm going to kill Wufei if he doesn't stop looking smug," Duo burst out. He scowled at Wufei and spun to jab a finger at me. "Spill!"

"Ignore him," Heero said, and rolled his eyes. "Ignore them both."

"Wufei doesn't know any more than you do," I assured Duo, and grinned. "He's just doing that to annoy you."

"It's working!"

Trowa didn't bother to stand, but just smirked at me.

"Come on, gentlemen," I said, heading towards the largest conference room. It wasn't far from the entrance, and through the frosted glass I could see a number of women milling around. "We're heading into estrogen territory."

"I heard that," Iria called, and ducked through the conference room doors.

"Shit," Duo muttered. "You sure I can't wait out here?"

"You could, but you'd miss all the fun." I patted my bag, and Duo pouted for a minute. Heero nudged him from behind.

"Get out of the way, if you're not going in," Heero said.

"I'm going, I'm going," Duo replied, and scooted into the room just ahead of me.

The four of them took up ranks near the back, and I hid a smile at how much habits died hard. They'd all chosen positions where they could see the windows and all exits, preferring to remain leaning by the wall, ready to move at a moment's notice. None of us were big on dealing with crowds, thanks to our training, but I'd been working on my own coping mechanisms. It still took a deep breath or two before I moved to the head of the room. Twenty-one of my twenty-seven sisters had been able to make it; another fifteen or so people present were among the top stockholders and division heads.

I smiled calmly, and opened my bag. Lifting out my notes, I handed them to Iria, at my right, and motioned for her to hand the rest out.

"I'm not returning to Winner International Conglomerate," I announced.

"Quatre---" Victoria started to say, from her seat two down on my left.

"Let me finish." I smiled, waiting until she'd settled down, a slight frown on her face as she glanced briefly at the documents being handed to her.

"According to our father's will, I must remain head of the company. Careful study of his will, however, reveals that there is no designation for how long this must be, nor how end of leadership is determined. The assumption until now has been that I can only leave WIC upon my death, at which point it will be inherited by one of my children. Our father's will is clear that one of my children must inherit, but given remarks on page sixteen, paragraph three – which you'll see in the first page of your handout – there is implication that retirement is a respectable termination of leadership."

Iria blinked, flipping through the pages, and opened her mouth. I held up a hand. Several of my other sisters, that I knew less well, were looking back and forth between Victoria's puzzled frown, Iria's confusion, and Alayah's outright bewilderment. I spared a second to pity Alayah's dawning realization that I wouldn't be working for her again, and continued with my planned speech.

"Therefore, I have decided to retire, and cash in the standard family retirement package. And thus I'm hereby announcing that I am bequeathing leadership of WIC to my eldest child." I paused, just long enough to know I had their attention. Hell, even Trowa's chin was up, and he was staring at me fiercely, almost suspiciously. I didn't risk winking at him, but I wanted to. Instead, I let my gaze sweep across everyone present, and raised a hand to point at the person I named. "Victoria Winner."

The room was completely silent. No one moved, and I can honestly say that's the only time I've ever seen Victoria's mouth wide open and not because she's speaking. She was completely speechless.

"News flash, Quatre," Duo drawled from the back of the classroom. "But if you're saying you're her dad... that's not only gross, but kinda physically impossible."

Several people chuckled, and I shot Duo a quick grin. "If you'll turn to page seven, you'll see a list of employees on the payroll of WIC. Page eight are the bylaws and tax policies for L4, instituted after the colony's independence in the First Eve War. Page nine is a formal acknowledgement of my role as legal guardian for Victoria Winner, granted in an Earth court but filed in conjunction with the Supreme L4 Court." It had cost a bit to get that done quietly, but seeing Victoria still speechless made every penny worth it. "In case this isn't clear, the laws are simple. I own WIC, despite my sabbatical. Therefore, all money coming in and out, at the bottom line, consists of my profits and debts. According to law, if I contribute more than fifty percent of a person's income, I can claim them as a dependent. Therefore, as the person whose company pays for one hundred percent of Victoria Winner's expenses, I can claim her as my child on my taxes."

"That's ridiculous," one of the division heads retorted. "If that were true, every independent employer could claim their employees as children."

"Only if they're already related," I said, not missing a beat. "As Victoria and I are, I can invoke nepotism as justification for her salary."

Victoria blinked a few times. I think Zalia, to her right, was tempted to thump Victoria on the back, but even Zalia – one of Victoria's toughest sharks in the business world – wasn't going to risk losing her hand just to make sure Victoria was still breathing.

"In conclusion," I announced, "if you turn to pages ten, eleven, and twelve, there's a listing of the company's assets in A.C. 195, when I assumed ownership, placed against the company's holdings today. These holding have quadrupled in the past seven years. Following the precedent set by the only other member to retire from the company – our father's younger brother, twenty-six years ago – there's the amount I intend to take as my retirement fund."

Papers rustled, and I heard a few gasps. Heero looked around, annoyed, and in a flash he'd stepped forward and yanked a paper from someone's hands. The four pilots grouped around him, and Duo's head came up, looking at me in shock.

I grinned. If he were shocked then, he'd be floored in a half-hour.

Victoria came to just before I left the conference room. Her hands were flat against the surface of the table, and she looked up at me, her shock fading into something more akin to bewilderment. I smiled at her, and shrugged, and she blinked a few more times, then smiled. It wasn't a business smile; it wasn't a sisterly smile; it was something small, and sweet, and almost childlike in its vulnerability.

I'd told Trowa once that I just wanted to make the people around me happy. It'd taken me long enough to figure out how to do it without hurting them at the same time, but seeing that tiny smile on Victoria's face as she realized I'd just handed her everything she'd ever wanted...

That made it all worth it, I think.

"Crap." Duo leaned forward, until his nose was against the paper, then sat back with an explosive exhalation. "Crap. No, fuck. Yeah. Fuck, Quatre!"

"What?" I leaned back, clasping my hands behind my head, and gave him a lazy grin. "Did I not do the math properly?"

"You did, but... " Duo repeated the motion.

Trowa reached out, without looking, and smacked Duo on the back of his head. "Stop that. The number's not going to change."

"Can there really be that many zeros after something?" Heero's face was almost as much a picture as Victoria's had been.

We were in a side conference room, something smaller and more fitting for our smaller group. The last of my handouts were scattered across the table, but I hadn't bothered with a presentation. I'd just tossed out four copies and said, "We're sharing."

Trowa ran his fingers over the paper, for the third time.

Wufei's head was down, and for a second I thought he might be crying. But when he raised his face to look at me, he said nothing; his face was dry, though his eyes glittered dangerously.

"Crap," Duo muttered.

"Duo," Trowa warned.

"This is just unbelie... shit!" Duo shook his head. "Man, there's no way I'm letting you give away this much money. I wouldn't know what to do with--- is that a million? How many zeros is in a million?"

"A lot," Heero answered absently.

I realized he was counting under his breath, index finger moving slowly across the printout, and I stifled a smirk. Heero seemed to lose track on the page and had to start over, a fine line between his brows. Shock, I decided.

"I'm not just giving it away," I informed Duo. "We're family. Anything and everything I have is yours, and I know if our positions were reversed, you'd do the same for me."

"Yeah, but that's not the point!" Duo slammed a fist down on the table. "This is your family's---"

"You're my family. You five. You were there way before I met any of them," I snapped, then relented, falling back into the chair. "I don't want to argue about it. I've set up a fund for myself that invests the bulk of my share, and I'll draw off the interest. If you want, I can show you what I did and you have that option, as well. Or you can take it all now, and do what you want with it. But you're my real family. And if I've inherited money, then the way I see it, it's only right that it be split among everyone in the family."

"You have the most peculiar logic," Trowa announced.

"Comes from hanging out with Duo," Heero said.

"Hey," Duo sputtered.

"I agree," Wufei added. "With both of them."

I grinned at Duo. "Looks like you're out-numbered. So. Anyone hungry?" I started to stand, and Trowa rose as well, but Duo remained where he was.

"What the hell are we going to do with all this money?" Duo's voice wasn't much more than a breath. When he raised his face to me, his eyes were large, his expression almost lost. "What are we... I don't... "

"Duo," I said, "do whatever you want with it. It's your inheritance, too."

"But... " Duo rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand, and turned on Heero. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to school," Heero said. He glanced at me quickly, that flash of vulnerable blue from under his eyelashes, and his voice shook, just a little. "I'm going to study history."

"Oh." Duo turned to Trowa. "Are you going to school, too?"

"No," Trowa said. He stared down at the paper, then folded it neatly and tucked it away in his back pocket. "But I think I want to find out about starting a breeding program." The fact that he looked everywhere but at me spoke almost as loudly as his words. "Brussels doesn't have any good ones."

"Wufei?" Duo seemed to be hoping for something – perhaps, I realized, it was simply permission to let it be real.

"I think I want to travel," Wufei said, and stood up. He glanced at me, then away, raising his chin. "But first, Quatre suggested food, which means he's paying."

I groaned.

Duo stood up as well, folding the paper as precisely as possible. He was about to tuck it away when Heero caught him by the arm.

"What about you?" Heero smiled, shyly, but didn't let go. "Any ideas?"

"I wanted to go back to school, get my master's, but with my school loans... " Duo tightened his hold on the paper. "But they're pretty much paid off now, aren't they... So, school for me, too."

Heero let go of Duo's arm, but for a moment, the rest of us were transfixed at the smile shared between the two of them. That is, until Wufei snorted, rolled his eyes, and left the room.

"About time," I heard him muttering as he passed, but he sure looked smug to me.

"Lisa and her boyfriend got here earlier, but I think they went back to their hotel to sleep. Lisa's working on shuttle design, now," Lola says. "Did you get the letter from Joe at Christmas?"

"Quatre Winner," Lola says, pretending to be angry. "Don't you dare, or I'll tell your husband about the time we dared you to pick all the quarters out of the fountain in January." Naked, she mouths.

"Nothing even close," Trowa whispers. His hand squeezes Quatre's knee, under the table, and Quatre grins, because it's true.

fini

(:./sol/nothing15)