"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 "

Almost:

Quatre's heartbeat didn't slow down properly until he'd waved Duo off.

It had been nothing more than an innocent, throwaway comment. Surely. Surely Duo would have said something else if he'd been more suspicious. Except he didn't actually know Duo all that well, and maybe he liked to tease and torment people, until they were gibbering, nervous wrecks.

He had the shop to himself for almost an hour before Trowa and Ellie arrived home. Unfortunately, there were a couple of customers around which meant no welcome home kissing. He did get a quick hug from Ellie though, before she turned pleading eyes on to her uncle.

'Uncle Trowa, can I read Twilight? Please?'

'No. I've told you. You're too young. Those books are for teenagers.'

'But Marissa in my class reads them,' Ellie whined.

'Well, Marissa in your class doesn't have a cool uncle who's maybe taking her to the carnival this evening.' Trowa paused for effect. 'Unless you'd rather stay here and read about stupid vampires.'

'NO! Carnival! Pleeeeeasse…' She flung herself at her uncle, who grinned over at Quatre.

'What d'you reckon, Cat? Would you like to go to a carnival?'

'Oh, please!' Quatre begged with as much enthusiasm as the little girl. 'That sounds like so much fun. I've never been to a carnival. We don't have things like that on L4. Can we really go?'

Trowa burst out laughing. 'You two make a pretty good double act. OK. But it's not all that spectacular; it's just a few rides and sideshows on the end of the pier. Carnival it is then, as soon as we close up the shop. But you have to have a healthy snack and do your homework first, Ellie. Your mother gave me very exact orders.'

'OK.' Ellie plonked down in one of the beanbags by the counter, hauling books out of her school bag. 'I have to learn spellings and I have some really hard sums. Fractions. Can you help me?'

'Spelling, yes. Sums, not so much. You'll have to ask your mother tomorrow.'

'I can help, if you like,' Quatre offered.

'Seriously?' Trowa asked hopefully.

'Seriously. I love maths.'

'In that case, you're hired as a private tutor. And possibly as my accountant. Duo and I are both hopeless at keeping the books straight. Do you really not mind helping Ellie out?'

'Not at all,' Quatre said demurely. 'Of course, giving private tuition wasn't part of my initial job description when you hired me, so I will expect to be compensated.'

'All the junk food you can eat?' Trowa suggested. 'Bumper cars? A ride on the roller coaster?'

Quatre peeked over at Ellie, engrossed in packing her books back into her bag and lowered his voice. 'Well, some sort of ride would be perfectly acceptable.'

'The ghost train?' The little girl piped up. 'That one's really fun!'

Trowa rolled his eyes. 'Yeah, that's what he meant, all right. Ellie, take your stuff upstairs. Cat will be up in a minute. Cat, can I just get you to show me something in the stock room?'

'Customers,' Quatre gasped raggedly, slightly more than a minute later, when Trowa finally let him up for air.

'Don't care,' Trowa muttered. 'They can burn the place down, or steal every damn book if they want. Haven't seen you since this morning, and I am damn well going to get two minutes alone with you if….'

'Cat,' Ellie called plaintively from outside. 'You said you'd just be a minute, and it's been three. I counted. Aren't you going to help me?'

'Fuck.' Trowa took a deep, controlling breath.

'Well, not now.' Quatre gave him a sparkling smile. 'Maybe when she's gone to bed?'

When Trowa came up from the shop two hours later, Ellie had taken the cats up on to the roof to play and Quatre was cleaning up the kitchen. Baking had been fun, but caused a serious mess.

'What in the world are you doing? And what smells so good?'

'My cologne?' Quatre quipped, throwing the dishcloth in the sink. 'Actually Ellie and I baked brownies. She decided she didn't want the carrot sticks and dip you had for her. And we did her homework first, and then we worked out fractions practically by dividing up the brownies. Would you like one?'

'Only if I get to eat it off your naked stomach with lots of whipped cream,' Trowa teased. Or maybe he wasn't actually teasing. Hopefully.

'Absolutely. Once Ellie's in bed.' Quatre reached up to kiss him. 'For now, you'll just have to use a plate.'

'You could feed me.' Trowa took a bite out of the brownie Quatre held out. 'That way, I'd get to lick your fingers and wow, this is good. I didn't know you could bake.'

'Well, I've never done it before, but Ellie showed me what to do.' Quatre blushed at the praise.

'It's great. You're perfect, you know that? Just what every man wants; a chef in his kitchen, an accountant in his shop, and a gorgeous sex god in his bedroom.' He winked, demolishing a second cake in two bites. 'Or maybe in the kitchen, when we've got this place to ourselves?'

'I'd like that. Trowa, there's something I need to…'

'Uncle Trowa!' Ellie barrelled into the kitchen, the black cat Sophie squirming in her arms. 'I did my homework. Can we go now?'

'Sure.' Trowa rescued the disgruntled cat and let her run upstairs to the roof. 'Did you thank Cat for helping you and making you brownies?'

'I had to help him,' the little girl declared. 'He didn't know that you had to grease the baking tray or heat the oven or anything.'

'Well, I'm sure you didn't know how to do those sums until Cat showed you either.'

'Well, no,' Ellie admitted, slipping her hand into Quatre's. 'He was great. Way better than Miss Devlin at school.'

'Thank you,' Quatre squeezed her hand, impossibly touched.

The drive to the carnival was enlivened by Ellie's breathless narrative of just what she planned to do there, what she'd done at school that day, and her plans for the weekend. She had, Quatre thought wryly, a far better social life than he'd ever had.

'Is this OK?' Trowa asked as he parked and the three of them got out of the car, Ellie skipping a few steps ahead. 'It's not exactly how I'd planned to spend this evening, but….'

'It's great,' Quatre said firmly. 'Really great.' He meant it. The air was rich with the scent of popcorn and fast food and melted chocolate. There were balloons floating after running children, and music blaring out of speakers overhead. 'Where do we go first?'

'Candyfloss,' Ellie decided.

'Cat?'

'I don't know. I've never tried it.'

'OK.' Trowa took out his wallet and handed his niece some notes. 'Candyfloss for three. And don't tell your mother.'

'You spoil her.' Quatre twined his fingers in Trowa's as they watched the little girl scamper off, marvelling that he could do this and nobody cared.

'Yeah. I'm lucky; Cathy does the discipline and I get to indulge the hell out of her. Sort of makes up for her not having a dad.'

'Doesn't she ever see her father? Or is he not around any more?'

'Oh, he's around sometimes, more's the pity. When it suits him and he doesn't have anything more important going on. Which usually isn't at the times he's arranged to come and spend time with her. She adores him, poor kid. She's convinced he's got some really important job that takes up all his time.'

'And does he?'

'No way. He calls himself a freelance photographer, but he's on social security, and he sometimes does a bit of grunt work for local bands, setting up gigs and stuff. He's an asshole, always talking about some big money making scheme that's going to make him a fortune. And in the meantime his daughter never gets to see him.' He frowned, looking at Ellie who was coming back juggling three giant clouds of pink candyfloss.

'Cathy was so desperate to get the divorce that she promised him access whenever he wanted. She never thought he'd take her up on it; he wasn't interested in Ellie when she was a baby. He never helped out with her, never wanted to spend time with her.'

'But she's such a sweetheart! How long were they married for?'

'Little bit less than two years. He insisted they get married when Cathy was pregnant; his family are strict Catholics so I think he was guilted into it. He cheated on Cathy for the whole time, as far as I know; the last straw was when he brought one of his bimbos home and screwed her in their bed. She filed for divorce after that.' He grimaced. 'She's always had the lousiest taste in guys.'

'She's lucky to have you.' Quatre said softly

'Well, I'm lucky to have her and Ellie.' Trowa dropped his voice as Ellie ran back over to them. 'And you. It's great that you two get on so well. Hey, princess. Let me take one of those. Now, Cat, try your first candyfloss and see what you think?'

It was odd. Insubstantial and toothachingly sweet, as if spun sugar had been swirled with air. They walked around, letting Ellie have a ride on the merry-go-round, and the three of them squeezing into a carriage for the ghost train. That was fun.

'Uncle Trowa, please. Can we try to get the llama?' Ellie begged, dragging them off to one side.

'Llama? Are there animals here too?'

'Oh, he's not real,' Trowa explained. Just a stuffed toy at the shooting range. Ellie's in love with him and we always try to win him when we come here. OK, we'll have a go each, but I don't think anyone ever wins prizes at these things. They're rigged so you don't win.'

Ellie did fairly well, hitting two of the five little ducks but Trowa was atrocious. Every shot went wide and although he did manage to pepper the fence behind the booth. At one point, the stallholder had to duck.

'Sorry, sweetie.' Trowa handed the rifle back. 'Next time, maybe.'

'I think you were better this time,' Ellie said encouragingly. 'You didn't hit the ground even once.'

'Can I try?' Quatre levelled the rifle, narrowed his eyes, the way Heero had taught him and took aim. Each of the little birds fell over as he placed a dead centre shot.

'Wow! Wow, Cat!' Ellie was jumping up and down, clinging to his hand. 'You did it! That was so cool! Like a gunfighter!'

Trowa grinned at him. 'You've got a fan for life. Now, are you going to tell me about your secret identity?'

'What?'

'Well, to be able to shoot like that, I guess you've really got to be secret agent or something?'

'Oh.' His heart began to slow down. 'No. Nothing like that. Heero taught me to shoot years ago.' Oh dear. This was getting ridiculous. At this rate he'd be giving himself a coronary soon. The sooner he actually told Trowa, the better.

'Oh, he's so cute.' Ellie gushed, arms full of a brown and white plush toy. 'Thank you, Cat. Thanks a million trillion!'

'I think she likes it,' Trowa grinned. 'Now, how about we go and get some dinner? They do pretty good fish and chips here; we could take it down to the beach and find a nice place for a picnic?'

'Yay!' Ellie cheered. 'And I'll tell my mum you made me organic vegetables, like always. Can I have onion rings too?'

'This isn't quite how I'd planned tonight, you know.' Trowa licked vinegar off his fingers, looking out at the sea.

'I'm really enjoying myself,' Quatre said truthfully. 'But what did you have planned?'

'Something a little bit more romantic.' Trowa shifted closer, easing one arm around the blond's neck and pulling him closer. 'Just the two of us, for a start. I thought we'd go and have a really nice meal somewhere, like a proper dinner date. And then we could go and find somewhere with good music to dance to, and then I'd take you home and ravish the hell out of you.'

'That would have been lovely. But we can still go home and you can still ravish me.'

'Proper all the way ravishing?' The breeze blew Trowa's hair back from his forehead, exposing both very green eyes. 'Or were you just teasing back in the stockroom?'

Quatre nodded around a mouthful of cod. 'I'd like that.'

'You said you wanted to wait for us to get to know each other a bit better.'

'I know. I meant it. But I really, really like you, Trowa. I want that.'

Trowa's arm tightened. 'I really, really like you too, Cat. And I can't wait to get you home.' He chuckled. 'How bad is it that I want to give my niece sleeping pills or lock her in her room or something?'

Quatre leaned down to whisper in his ear. 'How bad is it that I'd help you? And we can always lock our own door.'

'I had a little chat with Duo earlier. He said he doesn't mind looking after the shop all day tomorrow. I thought we could go off for the day tomorrow. Maybe stay overnight somewhere?'

'Oh, that would be brilliant! Really? Where are we going?'

'I'm going to take you to one of my absolute favourite places. It's a few hours up the coast. It's called Prospect Point; there's miles of beach, and an old lighthouse that you can tour, and loads of hiking trails, and a cute little village. Cath and Ellie and I went there last summer for a long weekend, and there's a really nice little B and B. You'll like it, I think.'

'I already love it!' Quatre laughed.

'Are you guys being all smooshy?' Ellie, hands on hips, stood staring at them.

'Very smooshy,' Trowa said cheerfully. 'You finished your dinner, honey? Can you run and put all this in the rubbish bin? We'd better head back, now. It's getting late and you've got school tomorrow.' He pulled Quatre to his feet. 'Come on, you; move that cute ass. I'm going to give it some serious smooshing when we get home.'

'I can't wait.'

Getting a much-indulged little girl into bed was a lengthy affair. There had to be hot chocolate, spot checks under the bed for monsters, a story and lots of hugs.

'Right.' Trowa closed the bedroom door. 'Now, just we'll just give her a few minutes to drop off, and then I'm sweeping you off to bed.'

'Do you think we could watch the news first?'

'OK. If you want.' Trowa sounded slightly surprised but turned on the TV anyway. 'I'm going to make tea. Do you want some?'

'Oh, I'll get it. You stay there.' Quatre made two cups of tea, waiting for sounds of cheering to erupt from the sitting room. This was going to be perfect. Trowa would be so happy that he wouldn't care what Quatre told him. When he went back out, Trowa had turned off the TV, and was flicking through the paper.

'We've got a great forecast for tomorrow. Sunshine all day.'

'That's great.' Quatre sat down. 'Ah, wasn't there anything exciting on the news then?'

Trowa shrugged, taking a cup. 'Some PR circus with those Winner people. Apparently, they've reversed their decision to log the forest.'

'But..that's wonderful, isn't it? It's what you wanted? To save the lovely trees?'

'It's great that the trees were saved, sure. But they're just turning into this big media event now. They were probably planning to do that along, come swooping to save the day, making themselves look like the good guy.'

'Oh.' Quatre's happy bubble deflated abruptly. 'You don't know that. Maybe they just realised what an awful thing they were doing.'

'Yeah. Sure they did.' Trowa leaned over and kissed his cheek. 'I love that you're such an idealist. Big business people don't think like that, Cat. It's all a publicity stunt; gets them lots of positive advertising.' He shrugged. 'But the end result is good, so I guess we do have something to celebrate. And I'm sure we could think of a way to do that, hmmm?'

'I can think of a way.' Quatre squirmed as Trowa ran a knowing hand down his chest. 'But Trowa, there's something I've been meaning to tell you first, something really important and I ….'

'Uncle Trowa,' a small voice interrupted from the doorway. 'I don't feel so good. And I got sick in my bed.'

'Oh, poor baby.' Trowa scooped her up. 'Come on. Let's get you cleaned up.'

'I – I didn't poison her with my brownies, did I?' Quatre wondered anxiously, as they were stripping the sheets from Ellie's bed. She had decided she needed a hot bath, to get all the 'icky sick' off her skin.

'Of course not!' Trowa leaned over the bed to give him a quick kiss. 'It was probably my fault, giving her all that junk to eat. I'm usually a bit stricter than that, but I was sort of distracted. Plus there's a vomiting bug going 'round her school and her two best friends have it.' He grimaced. 'I think we might have to take a raincheck on the plans for tonight, Cat. Cathy said the other kids who got it were pretty much throwing up all night. I might just sleep in here with her.'

'That's all right. I mean, it's not all right, but of course I understand.'

'Thanks.' Trowa reached over to ruffle his hair. 'I swear, I am going to ravish the hell out of you tomorrow.' He fluffed up Ellie's pillow and straightened the sheets neatly. 'Now, what was that thing you wanted to say?'

'It can wait.'

It would have to. And they had the whole next day to themselves, and the night. At some point, there would be the perfect time.

 

~ * ~

Chapter 19

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