"Wish Upon a Star "

Written By: Waterliliylf

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. All rights remain with Bandai, Sotsu and associated parties. No profit being made here.

Rating: R

Warnings: sap, angst, fluff, AU

Pairings: 3x4

Summary: When you wish upon a star, it makes no difference who you are, unless you're the heir to the Winner business empire. So when you do find a means of escape, how long can you hold on to the fantasy, and the man of your dreams, before reality takes over?

"Wish Upon a Star "

 

Planning:

'How do I look?' Quatre walked into the sitting room of his – now Heero's – suite at the hotel, still straightening his tie, and made a face at his neatly suited reflection in the mirror over the fireplace. Quatre Raberba Winner gazed solemnly back at him.

'Like you.' Heero barely glanced up from his computer screen, but his tone made it clear that this wasn't altogether a good thing. 'I preferred the way you looked last night.'

Quatre blinked; in all the years they'd been friends, he couldn't remember Heero ever commenting on his appearance before. 'Me too. I called Zechs before I got changed.'

'And?'

'And I apologised profusely. I told him my assistant hadn't bothered to pass on any of his messages, presumably on Iria's orders, and that I was sorry.'

'It wasn't your fault.'

'Yes, it was.' Quatre sat down opposite his friend, drawing a chair up to the desk. 'I should have tried harder to find out what was wrong, and to fix it. Instead, I just hid my head in the sand and assumed something would work out eventually. Like I always do. He was kind enough to say he forgave me. Well, on condition that I save the trees.'

Heero grinned. 'That sounds like him.'

'Yes.' Quatre smiled back. He'd missed Zechs in his life; missed the other man's astringent view of life. Then he lost the smile, thinking of the last thing Zechs had said and whether he should tell Heero. 'Um, he said the fact that he'd met Duo through me helped my case a little bit as well.'

'Ah.' Heero's eyes were suddenly glued to his computer screen. 'Is it serious for him then?'

'He seems to think so. He was actually with Duo when I called; they're out on his yacht for the morning. Heero, I'm sorry. I thought he liked you, last night.'

'That's irrelevant. And you have nothing to be sorry for. I knew he was involved with someone from the start.'

'Well, I'm still sorry,' Quatre offered, giving his friend's hand a brief squeeze. This wasn't fair. Zechs had people fawning over him all the time, and hardly ever gave them a second glance. It was the first time he'd ever seen Heero so affected by someone.

'It doesn't matter. You seemed to spend a long time on the call to Zechs.'

'I didn't really. I tried calling Relena as well; we really have to talk.' That was a masterly piece of understatement. Quatre still wasn't entirely sure why she'd agreed to marry him in the first place. Zechs had hinted she'd hoped that, as the new Mrs. Winner, she would be able to influence some of the Winner intentions for Sanque. She was away though, for the next couple of days; escorting a group of deprived teenagers on some sort of wilderness tour. 'And I called Father.'

That actually won him a proper look. 'Really? You're still here so I imagine he hasn't ordered the Maguanacs to drag you back to L4.'

'Not immediately, no.' Quatre ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more. Trowa liked it like that. 'I told him all about Trowa. It was…odd. He actually listened to me, for once, like I wasn't just a child to be indulged.' He shrugged. 'You know, half the time I'm sure he thinks I'm still about twelve years old. It was nice to be treated like an adult for once.'

'So what happens now? You're taking Trowa home to meet the family?'

The blond took a deep breath. 'Not quite. But I think I may have convinced Father that if I'm actually to take over WEI, as opposed to being a figurehead who happens to have the right surname, then I need more experience. And someone is going to have to head up our offices in Sanque.'

'That someone being you, I take it?'

'Of course.' Quatre's mouth stretched into a broad grin. 'So I get to stay here for a couple of years, at the very least. He's not really happy with Trowa being a part of the deal, but I can promise to be discreet. We'll see what happens after that, but at least Trowa and I will have a chance to get to know each other properly.'

'By which you mean he may actually get to know who you really are?'

'Ouch. I am going to tell him; just as soon as his forest has some sort of protection order. I actually started to say something last night, and then we, well, we got caught up in something else.'

'I can imagine,' Heero said dryly. 'Now, before you talk to Iria, there's something you should know. I've been looking through both your company email accounts.'

Quatre nodded, not remotely surprised at Heero's computer expertise. It was how they'd met after all. He'd been seventeen, spending his summer holidays in the Accounts Department, and one morning his computer had mysteriously eaten the file he'd been working on the previous day.

He'd called the IT department, expecting a posse of technicians to storm in his door, with their superior breathlessly gasping apologies for the limitations of the system. That was what had happened the last time. Instead, a messy-haired boy his own age had turned up, flicked a few keys and given him a brusque lecture on the correct way to back up files.

Heero hadn't deferred to him for one second, which was a novelty. He'd treated him just like a normal person. They'd met for lunch, and Quatre suddenly had a friend, someone who was almost as lonely as he was. Heero had spent most of his life travelling with his guardian, never staying in one place long enough to establish friendships. He'd had private tutors, and although he was now attending university on L1, he was on a fast track programme, a couple of years younger than most of his classmates, and didn't really fit in.

Iria had approved of the friendship. Heero was a young man with an outstanding work ethic; he could only be a good influence for her little brother.

It wasn't entirely true.

Heero was a model of good behaviour – mostly – in the WEI building. At least when anyone was watching him.

Iria never suspected that the quiet, serious boy's idea of fun was to hack into the computer accounts of major corporations, or government departments. He didn't steal anything or cause any sort of damage. He just enjoyed the challenge.

Nor, fortunately, did she ever suspect that the boys' trips into the desert to study astronomy or weather patterns usually culminated in neck-or-nothing horse races across the sands. Rashid had obligingly kept quiet about these little excursions.

'What did you find?'

'A number of emails had been deleted, unread.' Heero paused, looking at him. 'They were mostly from Zechs. A few were from different environmental groups in Sanque; they obviously thought they might have more of a chance with you than with Iria. Some messages had also been sent to Zechs from your email account, asking him to stop bothering you.'

'That's awful. Zechs never mentioned that. I guessed my PA had been interfering with my inbox, but that's a total invasion of privacy. I'm sure it's illegal!'

'Then you can have Iria arrested,' Heero said, straight-faced. 'Problem solved.'

'Don't tempt me.' Quatre stood up, one hand raking his hair out of his eyes. It was an automatic reaction now. Trowa thought it was sexy.

'Rebel,' Heero observed, grinning at him. 'Good luck.'

Iria actually gave him a bright smile as he walked into her suite. 'It's good to see you looking more like yourself, Quatre. I take it you've come to your senses finally and decided to come home.'

'Not quite, although I think I have finally come to my senses. I told you, there are some things we need to talk about.'

She nodded. 'I got your message, but I didn't quite understand. Some nonsense about trees. Really, little brother, I don't have time for this right now. You may have decided to throw up all your responsibilities, but someone has to keep the company running.'

'I think WEI can survive without you for ten minutes or so.' Quatre took a couple of deep breaths. 'What we're planning to do here, it's a mistake. We're destroying part of this country's heritage.'

'Don't be so melodramatic. It's just a few trees. Nobody cares.'

'Yes, they do. A lot of people care. I've been researching just how much this morning; it's not just the people in this country but conservation groups all over Europe. Sanque is a democracy and there's an election next year. If enough people protest against this, their government will have to take notice.'

Iria snorted. 'That's all ridiculous. Yes, there may be a few disaffected elements, but no country in its right mind would reject such an advantageous deal. Anyway, we need the wood from those trees.'

'No, we don't. We need wood, yes, but any good hardwood will be sufficient. Sanque has a forestry department that produces tonnes of timber every year for the building industry. That will be more than sufficient. There's no need to exploit an ancient forest.'

'Quatre,' Iria glanced at her watch, frowning. 'You didn't even know this ancient forest existed a couple of days ago. Why don't you leave this to the people who actually know what they're doing?'

'Because I'm not sure if they do,' he told her flatly. 'We are about to sign a treaty with this country, as partners, and our first act is to ride roughshod over these people we're supposed to be helping. There are sites on the internet devoted to cursing us, Iria! There are protestors picketing the new offices we're building. We can't go on like this.'

Iria gave him a reluctant little nod. 'We may possibly have underestimated popular opinion in this case. I don't understand it; we've employed the top L4 experts on this country and its culture.'

'Maybe you should have actually spoken to some of the people from this country. Look, we can change this.'

'Oh, no. It's far too late. Backing down at this stage will look like weakness, as if we're giving in to popular pressure. That's no way to run a company.'

'No. It will look like we considered the options, and the wants of our future partners, and made a different decision. It will make us look flexible and indicate a willingness to co-operate and compromise. Irry, we can turn a PR nightmare into something really positive for Winner Enterprises! We can declare the forest a park, and make a gift of it to the people of Sanque. I've been there; it's beautiful! You could go there, and have a whole photo shoot and make a big ceremony out of it. The media would absolutely love it and it would make us look like the good guys, like we're not out to rape this country of every resource it possesses.'

'Hm. Well, I could find time to talk to our public relations people.' She sounded rather reluctant about it. 'Perhaps.'

'No. Definitely.'

'Quatre, you can't tell me what to do. You have absolutely no power in this company.'

'Not now,' Quatre said levelly. 'But you're the one who's pushing me to take over. Do you really want me sitting in the CEO's chair and reversing decisions you've made. Because I'll do it. I've already spoken to Father and he agrees with me.'

'What?' She exploded. 'You know that we're not supposed to bother him with trivial problems like this. His doctors all said so.'

'This isn't trivial. If you're so worried about Father's health, maybe you shouldn't be running to him telling tales every time I do something you disapprove of.'

'He's the head of the family,' Iria said coldly. 'As such, he has the right to know what his heir is up to. Particularly when it concerns the family dignity.'

'Fine. In that case, can we agree that your precious family dignity is at stake here? And if you think it isn't, just look at some of the Winner-hating sites on the internet. Not the .sq though. That's revolting.'

'Well, there's nothing more I can say, is there? If you've already gone running to Father. Thank you for that, Quatre. It's always nice to look incompetent.'

'I'm sorry. That wasn't actually what I was trying to do, Iria. Honestly. Um, I told Father a few other things while we were talking. About Trowa and what I want to do with my life. He's agreed to me taking over the subsidiary here on Earth for the next two years.'

'I see,' his sister's voice was bathed in bitterness. 'It must be wonderful to be you, Quatre. Always to get just what you want.'

'What? I thought you'd be pleased. It means that you get to run WEI for the next two years.'

'I don't run Winner Enterprises, as you put it,' Iria said coolly. 'I may get to sit at the head of the table in the board room, and theoretically I have some say in decisions, but we both know that anything I want to do has to be passed by the board, and our sisters, and Father. I don't have any real power because I'm not really the CEO at all. Just the woman who's keeping the seat warm for you.'

'I'm sorry,' Quatre said.

Iria's face softened slightly. 'It's not your fault. It's just the way things are. And there's nothing either of us can about that. You may get to play at running the company here in Sanque for a year or two, but you'll have to come home eventually.'

'I suppose so.' He wasn't going to think about that. He and Trowa would sort something out between them. Assuming that Trowa even wanted to be with him once he found out the truth. 'One other thing. I was talking to Zechs this morning. There seems to be have been a slight communication problem between us. Messages going astray for instance.'

She didn't even trouble to deny it. 'We were in the middle of a massively important deal with Sanque. We didn't' need Zechs getting you involved and trying to meddle in things you know nothing about.'

'He's my friend. He's one of the few friends I've got.'

'He's a bad influence,' Iria said levelly. 'He always has been. You don't need people like that in your life.'

Quatre shook his head. 'Iria, you wanted me to marry his sister!'

'Relena's quite different.' She gave him a speculative look. 'You know, I still think she'd be a wonderful wife for you. And she would give you a veneer of respectability, if you still want to carry on your liaison with this man.'

'It's not a liaison! I love him.'

'Oh, please. You don't even know him! What happens when he sells his story to the press, or decides to blackmail you to get some money for that failing business of his?'

'He wouldn't do anything like that.' Quatre pushed his chair back and stood. 'He's not like that.' He handed her a sheaf of papers. 'Heero and I ran this up earlier; it's a press release. You'll probably want to have it polished up a bit by your people. I'd like to see it announced on the news this evening.'

'That's impossible. My schedule is full and…'

'The main news programme is at nine o'clock, Iria. I think that gives you plenty of time. Goodbye.'

Out in the hallway, Quatre just sagged against the door he'd closed. Oh, God. He'd never spoken to Iria like that, never spoken to anyone like that. It was the way his father spoke to people, utterly confident that he would be obeyed.

And his sister had just nodded briefly.

Amazing.

He took out his 'phone, still marvelling at this new world, and called Trowa.

'You,' Trowa said firmly, 'were supposed to be home an hour ago. I think I'm going to have to ground you.'

'I know. I know and I'm really sorry. Heero and I got caught up in something and we lost track of time. I'm on my way home right now.'

'That's OK. I was actually about to call you. We have a slight change of plan for the rest of the day. Ellie was meant to be sleeping over at her friend Charlotte's house, while Cathy's on her date tonight, but apparently Lottie's come down with some sort of stomach bug so we're babysitting. I'm heading off to pick El up from school now. We'll still go out and do something; it just won't be quite the romantic date I'd planned.'

'Oh, that's all right. At least we get to spend some time together.'

'You really are Mr. Perfect, aren't you?' Trowa teased, the words dancing with affection. 'I'll see you later, OK? And it's a school night, so we can pack my Ellie off to bed nice and early and have some fun. How's that?'

'Perfect. See you soon.'

Quatre was still beaming when he walked into Wish. Everything was perfect; just perfect. All his plans had slotted exactly into place. And he had a whole evening to look forward to with Trowa. Much, much more if things continued to go so well. Once Ellie had gone to bed, he'd suggest taking a bottle of wine up the roof, and he'd tell Trowa the truth, under the stars.

'Hey, Cat,' Duo glanced up from the books he was stacking and smiled. 'Did everything work out OK for you?'

'Excuse me?' Quatre shot him a quick, questioning glance, but Duo's head was bent over a list he was reading.

'Heero told me last night that he was going to help you with some computer problems today. All fixed?'

'Um, yes. All fixed.' Quatre forced himself to breathe deeply. 'Everything's fine. Where's Trowa?'

'Chauffeuring Ellie around. I think she had to go to karate class. He said he'd be home by three.'

'OK. I was talking to Zechs this morning. Did you have a nice time with him?'

Duo's face lit up, and Quatre felt a sudden pang of sympathy for Heero. It seemed to be serious for Duo, then. 'It was amazing. Totally amazing. We sailed all around the harbour and saw dolphins and seals and we had this really nice brunch on deck with champagne and everything. Best date I've ever been on!'

Quatre bent down and took out a stack of books. 'Can I help? I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. Do you like him?'

'Of course I do!' Duo said cheerfully. 'Who wouldn't fall for a handsome prince who's out to show the best time ever? Cat, d'you think I could ask a favour?'

'Certainly.'

'Would you mind looking after the shop for an hour or so? He's asked me to this big party tonight, and I need to buy something to wear.' Duo made a face. 'It's at the Regency Hotel and I don't really have anything appropriate. It kind of sucks though; having to shell out money for something I'll probably never wear again.'

'Well, you don't have to.' Cat gave him a slightly uncertain glance. 'I don't know if you'd be at all keen on this idea, but you could borrow something of mine if you liked. We're the same size, I think, but you mightn't want to wear someone else's clothes.'

'Are you kidding?' Duo scoffed. 'Cat, seriously, I wouldn't have a problem with that. I never had new clothes in my life 'til I came to Sanque. Are you sure you wouldn't mind me taking your stuff? I'll get it cleaned and everything tomorrow.'

'Of course I don't mind. After all, I wore some of your things my first day here. Come on; we can close the shop for fifteen minutes, can't we? You can see if there's anything of mine that you like. It'll be fun!'

'You bet!' Duo enthused. 'Like playing dress up, right?' He gave Quatre an oddly shy little grin. 'I'm kind of nervous about this actually. I'm not used to going to these sort of fancy parties, but if I'm wearing your designer gear, I'll fit right in. It's fun sometimes, isn't it, to make believe you belong in this whole other world?'

~ * ~

Chapter 18

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