Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Revenge of the Heart ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

I don't Own Gundam Wing, I don't even own a car. Get used to it already.

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Revenge of the Heart

Chapter 6

By: Celestial Vision

"Thanks, I appreciate you getting that taken care of. Well I'll be seeing you next week then, I'll have those papers signed and ready. Talk to you later!"

Quatre hung up the phone and leaned back with a sigh of satisfaction. It was over. The LemcoTech nightmare was finally over. The final papers had been signed two days ago and the only thing left to take care of was to have the current employees sign their new contracts with Winner Corp.

Quatre pulled his leg up and put one foot on his desk edge and pushed off, sending the hand made Italian leather chair zipping across his huge office and let out a childish yell, "Wheeeee!!!!!!!"

He finally stopped just before he crashed into the huge window of his office and turned to look out on the view. It was a beautiful day. He made his decision in an instant. He got up and grabbed his jacket that he had tossed over the back of his chair. Picking up his phone he spoke into it, "Rachel, I'm taking the rest of the day, no… I'm taking the rest of the week off. You have a great day!"

He didn't give enough time for his secretary to respond. He knew he didn't have any appointments that couldn't be put off and he wanted out of this office. Leaving top floor and stepping onto the elevator he wondered exactly what he was going to do. He had nobody to celebrate with when he thought about it. His closer friends Duo and Trowa were both on the colonies. Wufei was on some secret mission with Sally, and Heero could be on Mars for all he knew. The Maguanacs, while he considered them family, didn't know how to completely let loose around him and Lucille Channing was completely out of the question since she had finally gotten the hint that he couldn't stand the sound of her voice. He stepped out of the elevator on the parking garage level and pulled out the keys to his Jaguar. He got in and turned the motor on, easing his way through the various levels to reach the surface and pull out onto the street.

He wondered again what he should do. He drove along the coastal road that wound through Triton city until he came to Beach Park. He parked the Jag and took off his tie, unbuttoning the collar. He stepped out, locked the Jag, and made his way to a food vendor that was catering to a group of small children that were scrambling to buy ice-cream. He waited his turn with a smile on his face, enjoying the children's squeals and laughing as they received their treats. He looked at one little girl with bright red, curly hair and a sprinkling of freckles across her nose. She was adorable and her eyes sparkled when she laughed. He watched as she got her ice cream cone and ran off with her friends. He grinned fondly as she disappeared. "Cute aren't they?" The food vendor behind the counter asked him with a smile.

Quatre returned the expression and said, "Yeah, I'm going to have one just like her someday." He frowned to himself as he stepped up and reached for his wallet, "Where did that come from?" He had always liked children and wanted a couple but he had never said anything like that before. He decided to ignore it and concentrate on the rest of his day. He looked up at the menu displayed on the wall of the small trailer and made his selection. A few minutes later he had a sandwich and chips along with a can of soda, and was headed towards a grove of shade trees a few hundred yards from the sand of the beach.

He took a seat on a bench in the shade and watched the children run through the park with parents and guardians trying to keep them under control. He wondered why they took them on these kind of field trips when they knew that the kids were going to run rampant and refuse to be confined. He ate in silence and watched the waves come in and people frolic in the water and sand. He loved this place. He remembered when he had first seen the ocean when he had come to earth. It had been endless blue that smelled so clean and salty he knew if he died in that moment, it would have been happy. He had wanted to live near it all his life and after the war he had decided to move his business to Triton City, the largest metropolitan area on the coast. He hadn't regretted it once.

He ate in silence enjoying the sounds of the gorgeous Wednesday afternoon, happy that he had decided to take the rest of the week off. After the entire merger ordeal and his attempted assassination three weeks ago, he deserved a few days of pure rest. He finished the last chip in the bag and drank the last of the soda. Crumpling the trash into a small ball he tossed it expertly into a waste container at the end of the bench. And leaned back, wondering what to do with the rest of the day. It would be a great day for a ride, he hadn't been on Galahad since the horses mad dash for safety from a hidden gunman had spooked him. Quatre couldn't say he blamed the animal. Today would be perfect to get the horse back on the sand for a little exercise. He got up and walked back to his car.

Thirty minutes later he was pulling up in front of the Winner mansion. He stepped out and walked in the front door. He headed down the hall for the staircase that took him to his rooms passing the security room as he went. He normally never paid any attention to it, hadn't even set foot in it since it had been set up in a better location in the house two years ago, but today he slowed his pace after passing it when he heard a snatch of conversation through the door that was slightly ajar.

"How can you say that?!She tried to kill Master Quatre!!"

"I know and I don't approve of that but you gotta' admit, it's a pretty tough situation she's in."

"I don't care. That little bitch tried to kill him and she deserves whatever she gets!"

Quatre opened the door cautiously and poked his head in. It took his eyes a moment to focus in the dim light of the room and on what he saw. There was the usual assortment of television monitors and switchboards that controlled the various camera's and electrical fences and defense systems that were always there, but one thing had changed. In a small corner of the counter-desk was a radio monitor of some sort. It wasn't the full size like the ones used by emergency rescue workers but it still had two reels of tape that were spinning slowly around and seated in front of it were two Maguanacs with headphones. Both were leaning forward intently and hadn't noticed him come in. Quatre didn't need to be a genius to figure out that they were talking about Aislinn, the girl that had tried to kill him and he had a cold feeling of dread as to what that monitor was for.

He stepped fully into the room and made his way across to stand behind the to Maguanacs. They hadn't even heard him come in or seen him directly behind them and so they jumped a foot in the air when he laid a hand on both their shoulders at the same time and asked loudly, "What are you doing?"

The first man looked at him and stammered, "M-m-m-master Quatre! We-we didn't notice you come in sir! Can I do something for you sir?"

"Yes. You can tell me what all this is." He motioned to the monitor.

"This?" The man looked like a cornered rabbit. "Oh this is just something… Rashid ordered!" The man relaxed, happy that blame was passed.

"What is it?" Quatre asked, his voice deadly calm.

"Monitoring equipment."The second man said and looked Quatre square in the eyes.

"For what?" Quatre was getting tired of this.

"Rashid ordered it for your protection sir. It's the recording unit for two covert monitoring devices in the ghetto."

"The girl that tried to kill me?" Quatre had suspected but had hoped he was wrong.

"Yes sir." Both answered at the same time.

"What's going on then? Why are you both so intent on what's going on? Doesn't it only take one of you to run this stuff?" He gestured around the room. "Or is there some interesting little radio soap opera going on?"

Both two men looked down, to the side, anywhere but Quatre's face. Quatre took that as their final answer.

"Do you mind if I check out what's so interesting?" He laid a hand out to the first, more cowardly man, and made a motion indicating that the man had better hand over the headphones.

He complied, pulling off the phones and handed them to Quatre. The desert prince pulled the plastic listening device over his ears to enter in on a rather heated conversation.

"God-dammit! You little bitch, why do you keep pulling this shit!?" Came an angry mans voice he didn't recognize.

"I'm not pulling anything Lee! I just want to be left alone! Why don't you just leave me and my family and Jack alone? You can have anyone you want! Why me?!"

Quatre felt his blood go cold. He recognized that one alright. Only this time, Aislinn's voice was not laced with anger and hatred, it was filled with terror and helplessness.

"You know god-dammned well why!"

"I don't! I just want to live in peace! Please, just leave us alone!" Quatre felt his heart go out to her like it had when she had told him the story of how he had killed her family. She was terrified.

"Fuck that Aislinn. You're gonna' do what I want, when I want it! You've got a week to make up your mind and then I'm coming back. I'm not taking no for an answer anymore. The choice is yours. I'm offering you the world you little ingrate and you know it. You should be ashamed of yourself the opportunity your denying those little bastards in that room, you keep them here! You keep them living in this hell-hole eating trash when they could be living in luxury and you too! I'm offering you a fucking palace and you want to stay here in a dump. If you want it then you got it bitch! If you haven't made up your mind in a week that's it. I'm coming back here and throwing you and those little brats on the street, and that old man too if he interferes! Do you understand me?!" The man's voice that was already yelling rose to a near deafening scream. When there was no answer on Aislinn's side, he heard the unmistakable sounds of a fist making contact with another persons body, a cry of pain from Aislinn, and a thud of something heavy hitting the floor.

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!" The man yelled again.

"You go to hell." Her voice was weak and scratchy and deadly quiet.

"What did you say?" The man's voice dropped to the same level.

"I said," she paused as if to draw breath, "GO TO HELL!!!!!!!!!"

There was quiet for a few electrically charged seconds. And then he heard another sickening blow land and a choked, strangled cry was ripped out of Aislinn. He heard it a few more times, wondering what the hell was going on and hating the fact that he could do nothing but stand and listen. He didn't know how many times he heard that gut wrenching sound and her agonized groans but finally stopped and he heard the sound of footsteps and a door opening.

"Maybe that will teach you. Quit acting like your hurt bitch and get up." The man's voice was light and it sounded as though he had run a long distance. There was a pause again and finally a light chuckle, "Fine, you stay down there on the floor where you belong, I'll be back in a week. Make the right choice Aislinn. You won't like the consequences if you don't."

Quatre heard the door close and there was quiet. After a few moments he heard a thin, weak voice that was muffled by something call out "Aisee? Are you okay? Aisee, I'm thirsty can you get me some water? Aisee? Aisee? Aisee!!! Aisee please answer me!" Then there was the sound of a small childs weak crying as his sister didn't answer.

Quatre didn't remember yanking the headphones off and racing from the room. He didn't remember charging up the stairs to his room where a phone was and calling 911. He didn't remember literally ripping off the ridiculous business attire he was dressed in to pull on practical clothes in a record breaking twenty seconds and bolting to his office where he still had Aislinn's ID hidden in the back of a drawer and then racing back down to where his car was parked. All he remembered was leaving the estate at well over 95 miles per hour and fumbling with the small device that served all the functions of a cell phone, organizer, and personal computer to punch in her ID number and bringing up on the small screen a picture of her face and her address. He knew he had to get there, the ambulance would never reach her in time, they might not even send one at all since the address was in the ghetto. He knew she was in trouble. In his mind he knew Aislinn was a fighter, she would stop at nothing to get up and fight on against whatever threatened her or her family. Only if she were beaten and had no alternative would she stop fighting and whatever the psycho in her apartment had done to her had made her do just that. All this he knew in his mind, but he knew it even more in his heart, it was as if there were some link that he had to her and it was fading slowly. She was in trouble, much as he tried to deny it to himself, he knew that she was dying.

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Aislinn tried to get up and go to her brother who was sick in his room with his sister but she just couldn't find the strength. The pain was all through her and she coughed raggedly. She felt a strange, coppery taste in her mouth and it was filled with warm liquid. She spat to rid herself of it and was horrified at the amount of blood that landed a few inches from her face on the floor. Had Lee really kicked her that bad? She was worried now. She tried to get up and moaned at the fire that went through her stomach, lanced through her chest and sent tendrils of pain throughout her body to the tips of her fingers and toes.

She felt more warmth in her mouth and spat again. At the sight of more blood she felt her head spin. "Oh god. What did he do to me?" She thought frantically and tried to remember where and how hard Lee had kicked her. She ran it through her mind. He hadn't really aimed, he had just started trying to get a hit in where he could. "Just my luck he would wear boots today." She thought at he irony and concentrated, trying to evaluate how much trouble she was in. He had gotten her stomach of course but she had been in a small ball, maybe not to much damage there. Then He had gotten a few to her chest and heart region and he had gotten to healthy cracks to her skull. She knew he had cracked a couple of ribs because she had heard them snap. Had one of them punctured a lung? She cleared that from her mind. No. She could still breath, it hurt like hell but she still had the ability… "Have to get up. Have to get to Jack. He can fix anything."

She tried a third time to rise and felt a flood of blood fill her mouth before she gagged and fell back, suddenly remembering that Jack had gone out of town to handle some kind of family business and wouldn't be back till Saturday. "I'm in big trouble." Was her last thought before she blacked out.

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Quatre drove along the dirty street and parked when he reached the building that had been listed as her address. He parked the car and stepped out, scanning the street for anyone who might be looking to jump the driver of such an expensive car, seeing that it was still deserted except for the homeless person curled up on the curb on the other side of the street he dashed for the building and the rickety old fire escape style stairs that led to the fifth floor where she lived. He hit the balcony walk running and counted the numbers on the doors going faster as he neared hers.

He reached it and paused only for a second to wonder why he was doing this. She had tried to kill him and now he was here helping her? Why was he doing this? He'd never even stopped to consider it but he'd just known it was something that he had to do. "Blame the all-forgiving pacifist in me I guess." He thought and turned the know to her door. And stepped in. What he saw rocked him to the core of his being.

The red-haired girl who had so boldly tried to kill him, even when she had been restrained by three grown men in his office, the woman who had shown so much courage and strength even when all the odds were against her, lay on her side in the floor unconscious. He saw a line of blood coming from her mouth to form a matted pool in her hair that lay in a crimson soaked mass all around her, he saw the bruises that were forming on her face and her arm lay bent at an impossible angle. In another room he could hear a weak crying and the little boys voice he had heard on the radio had been joined by a little girls.

He snapped out of his shock and crossed the room to her. Gently laying two fingers at the base of her throat, breathing a sigh of relief when he found a pulse, weak and thready, but a pulse all the same. He stood up and entered the room that he heard the children's voices. He saw a homemade bunk bed with two children in it. They were both thin and pale looking and he could tell they were sick with something. The boy saw him and despite his obvious illness he jumped out of bed and stood on shaky legs, his little hands balled into fists.

"Who are you?" He demanded. "You better get out of here before I make you!"

Quatre smiled at the boy he recognized from the picture that had been in Aislinn's wallet. Apparently her spirit had been passed on to her siblings in the years she had been raising them. He saw the boy grow even whiter and he fell to the floor. He swallowed and realized what he had just gotten himself into by coming here. This whole family was in trouble. He crossed the room to the little boy and picked him up and set him on his bed.

"I'm a friend of you sister's. I'm here to help you guys, okay? I want you to get a some clothes on and I'm taking you and your sister to the hospital." He would have to, he had predicted the ambulance driver's behavior accurately. It took 45 minutes to reach this place with his car going 30 miles over the speed limit all the time the closest hospital to this area was only fifteen away. He made a silent vow to find whoever was in charge and make sure they paid the price of Aislinn's life if she didn't make it.

"We can't go to the hospital." The little boy said matter-of-factly and laid back down in bed.

"Why not?" Quatre asked absently while straightening and looking at the nearly emaciated face of the little girl.

"Aisee doesn't have health insurance on us. We have to take care of ourselves. Hospitals charge too much." The little boy supplied.

Quatre shook his head knowing that it was the truth. He remembered Aislinn's bills and paycheck that he had seen. The little boy was telling the truth for sure.

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of all of you." Quatre gave up on the thought of the little girl getting dressed, he would just have to wrap her in a blanket and carry her. He walked to the small wardrobe that had the name "Aaron" stenciled on it and reached in to grab a pair of threadbare pants and a T-shirt with a small rip in it. He shook his head and tossed them at the little boy along with a pair of shoes. "Get dressed and I'm getting you out of here. I'm going to go help your sister now."

"What's wrong? What did Lee do to her?" Aaron asked.

"She's hurt but I think she'll be fine." Quatre said.

"Liar." The little boy looked right into Quatre's eyes and soul. The blonde Arabian remembered Aislinn had told him that she was empathic too and he wondered if the little boy had the same abilities or if he just had that innate childhood gift that could sense the truth.

"Get dressed." Quatre ordered and left the room. He went into the other room that was obviously Aislinn's and grabbed a thin blanket off the bed and returned to the kitchen area.

He knelt down beside her and laid it over her picking her up easily in his strong arms. He wrapped the blanket around her fully and tried not to move her broken arm. He had left the front door open and carried her out of it and down the five flights of stairs to the car. He carefully placed her in the front passenger seat and laid it back into the reclining position giving thanks to Allah when he was finished belting her in and she was still out cold. Then he raced back up to the apartment to find the little boy struggling in his weakened state to pull on the first shoe. Quatre hurried in and did the job for him then picked him up in one arm and the little girl in the other and left the apartment, the little boy making him stop long enough to lock it.

He carried the children back down and put them in the backseat and started the car. He drove at an unbelievable speed to the hospital while calling ahead to the emergency room to tell them that the Quatre Winner was on his way there with an emergency and there had better be a doctor there to greet them with bells on. When he heard the stammered acquiescence from the on duty nurse he spoke to and hung up the phone he for once was thankful for his name.

In a few more minutes and a near side-impact collision when he ran a red light, he pulled into the circle drive of the hospital to find three nurses armed with wheelchairs and a gurney, an orderly, and two doctors waiting at the curb. He threw the car into park before it had a chance to stop rolling and opened the doors to lift Aislinn out and onto the gurney. The twins were taken into the hospital in the wheelchairs.

The doctor that seemed to be in charge shoved the orderly forward and said, "Brian here will park you car for you in my personal spot Mr. Winner. You just come with us." Quatre found himself grinning in spite of the circumstances they were in. It was hilarious how people would fall over themselves in the right amount of money or power were involved. He handed the keys absently to Brian and followed them into the building.

The twins went with the second doctor that was apparently a pediatrician and Quatre followed the one that had taken over Aislinn. They took her to a private room and the nurses there lifted her out of the chair and onto a gurney. Quatre stood back and watched in helplessness as he watched them go to work on her. He listened as her heard words like "fracture… internal bleeding… ruptured something major… possible concussion… what kind of animal would have done this?", fly over her as they took her vitals and immobilized her arm.

The doctor stood away from the gurney and turned to Quatre to speak, "She's in bad shape, we've got to get her into x ray and possible surgery now. I'm going to have to ask you to leave and go with the children. Do you know anything else other than what you told the nurse over the phone?"

"No." He said lightly. "She's not going to die is she?"

"If we can stop the bleeding I don't think so. Now you need to leave sir."

Quatre didn't spend any more time arguing he simply turned and left to head down the hall to where he had seen the doctors and nurses take the children. After stopping a few times to ask directions he found himself in the pediatric ward and a room where the doctor was staring down the little girls throat and the boy was filling him in on the details of what and when they had both come down with what his sister had thought was just a bad case of the flu. Upon Quatre's entrance, the doctor, Bridgeway had filled him in that the boy was getting over a case of the flu that he would recover from in a week but the little girl's had turned into a case of pneumonia.

"She'll have to stay in the hospital for at least a week." Dr. Bridgeway informed him.

Aaron went into a fit. "We shouldn't even be here in the first place! Aisee was taking care of us just fine! We shouldn't be here!" The little boy's face crumpled and he started sniffing and trying to hold back tears. Dr. Bridgeway looked at Quatre questioningly.

"Do you mind my asking how you're involved in all of this?"

"It's a really long story." He said. "Is there anything you can do for the little girl?"

"Her name's Anne." Aaron said angrily.

Quatre's shoulders slumped resignedly. "Is there anything you can do for Anne?"

"She needs to stay here under observation obviously. She needs an IV drip and I'll want to keep her on medication. This is a pretty bad case and her malnourished condition makes it even worse. I'd like to know how she and Aaron here got to be in that situation. I'm required to call family services in a case like this."

Quatre knew exactly what family services would do and he looked at Dr. Bridgeway with murder in his eyes. "Is that absolutely necessary?" He asked, his question laced with danger.

"W-well…" The doctor faltered. " I suppose I could delay it for a couple of days, at least until the little girl is on the way to recovery."

"Oh I think you'll delay it altogether. If I were you, I'd hate to have my professional reptation involved in a nasty child custody fight. Especially if it's one that I'm going to win."

The doctor cowered and Quatre was filled with self-loathing. He hated to have to use his power like this but he couldn't have this little family broken up. He'd made that decision three weeks ago and he planned to honor it no matter what.

"Well I… I suppose I could re-evaluate the children and re-determine…" Dr. Bridgeway said trying to find a smooth way to recant his earlier statement.

"Look doctor. I know what this looks like but I can personally guarantee that these kids are going to receive the best treatment from now on. Don't ask me how but just take my word for it alright?" Quatre looked at the doctor with pleading eyes.

Dr. Bridgeway sighed and nodded. Quatre thanked him and watched as he moved and had the nurses wheel the little gurney with Anne on it away.

"Where are you taking her?" Aaron asked frightened.

"There going to go and get her cleaned up and start giving her the medicine to make her better." Dr. Bridgeway said. "Don't worry, in a week your sister is going to be better and in two, she'll be up and running again. Right now we need to get some stuff into you so you get your strength back."

Quatre watched the doctor open a locked medical cabinet and pull out a syringe and a bottle of something. He stuck the needle in and pulled the plunger upwards, drawing a blue colored liquid into the body of the syringe. He took Aaron's arm and swabbed a part of his elbow with an alcohol pad and stuck the needle in, injecting the medication into his vein.

Slapping a Band-Aid with little dog doodles all over it on the spot where the needle had been he told him, "That's gonna' sting for a few minutes but in an hour you're going to be able to stand and walk on you own. Don't try running and jumping or anything for a couple of days though." He grinned at the little boy only to receive a scowl so he turned to Quatre.

"Make sure he gets lot's of healthy foods and drinks plenty of water. He's a little dehydrated at the moment. He should be fine in a few days and fully recovered and in full health in a week. You can take him out to the waiting room now I'm going to go and tend to his sister."

The doctor left the room and Quatre turned to the little boy who was looking at the floor with an expressionless face.

"Hey, it's going to be alright." He said reassuringly. The boy didn't look up.

"Did you hear me?" He asked again. Still no response.

"Hey there's a bug on you!" He tried to scare the kid into action but he still looked downwards. There was always one last shot. He hoped it wouldn't scare the boy too much.

"Aaron, I know you're worried about both your sisters but believe me when I say that they're going to be alright. I'm going to take care of your family for awhile until Aislinn is better alright?"

Aaron's head snapped up and he stared at Quatre with wide, shocked eyes at hearing the blonde man's voice inside his head. "I thought only Aisee could do that!"

"Really?" Quatre asked.

"Yeah," the boy smiled lightly, "It's kind of annoying. When we act like we can't hear her when she calls us with her regular voice she knows we can always hear her head voice." He said sheepishly.

"My mother did the same thing to me." Quatre told him and remembered how he had never been able to lie to his mother, knowing this little boy went through the same thing made him feel closer to him.

He walked over and held out his arms to the weak child. "Wanna get out of here and go wait and find out how things are going with Aisee?" He asked using the boy's nickname for his big sister.

The boy just held out his arms and Quatre picked him up. The little boy who had been so fierce and defensive earlier wrapped his arms around Quatre's neck and buried his face in his shoulder, Aisee had taught him to open his mind so he could sense what people's intentions were towards him and his twin sister. When he sensed this man all he could feel was a huge strength and feelings of care for him and his sisters. It felt good to be held by someone who was that strong.

Quatre, more skilled in his empathic powers could almost hear what was going on in the boys mind and patted the child's back reassuringly. "You're all going to be fine." He said and carried the youth back out of the room and down the hall to a waiting room.

He sat the boy in a chair and took the one next to him. He picked up a magazine and opened it to a random page. He started reading when he felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked down into Aaron's face and the little boy stared back up. "Want me to read to you? Aisee always makes us read to her."

Quatre reached over to the table to grab a children's magazine he had seen earlier but when Aaron saw what he was doing he stopped him. "No, I meant what you're reading."

Quatre was surprised but let the boy take the Newsweek he had been glancing through and find a story that looked interesting. It was one about the terra-forming project on Mars. The little boy cleared his throat and began speaking slowly and clearly, pronouncing each difficult and scientific word perfectly. Within twenty minutes the 5 year old had read the entire article without stumbling or making a mistake once. He looked up at Quatre with a shy smile, "Was I good?" He asked.

"Very." Quatre said flatly still in shock. He couldn't believe it. He had been a brilliant child as well but he hadn't been able to do that until he had been at least seven! "When did you start to read?"

"Oh Aisee started teaching me and Anne the alphabet when we could talk and recognize stuff. That's the first thing I remember so far, her telling me what A, B, and C were. You think I'm good, you ought to see Anne. She's even better than me." Aaron said proudly.

"Really? Tell me some more about your sister." Quatre said.

The little boy tossed the magazine aside and turned to face Quatre. In the next two hours Quatre was blown away by the stories that Aaron told him about his fierce older sister. He learned how she had taken down seven men in the ghetto one time with only a knife and the TADS gun. How she and the twins had been practically adopted by their neighbor "Uncle Jack" who was an old seaman and told them stories about Ireland and how one day he was going to take all of them there to show them the land of their roots, "But that doesn't make any sense." Aaron said, "How do we have roots? We aren't trees."

He finished his long narrative by telling Quatre how she worked long hours at the library and barely paid the bills but still managed to get them the Christmas presents they asked for. And how she had been fending off bad Lee for nearly two years now.

"Who is this Lee guy anyway? And why do you call him 'bad'" Quatre asked. He recognized the name, it was the one she had screamed when he was listening in on the radio.

"He's the guy that owns the building we live in. He's been bothering Aisee for a long time now. We call him bad because that's how he feels," Aaron rubbed the center of his chest to demonstrate, "It's how he feels in here."

"What does he want?" Quatre asked innocently.

"He says he wants her to come live with him and be his housekeeper. He says he'll send us to school and give Aisee a lot of money but we all know he'll hurt her somehow. I've asked Aisee what he really wants but she says it's too complicated and I won't understand. She keeps telling me that she'll explain when I get older." The little boy's face darkened and his voice took on a childish venom, "He hurt her today, I know that. She'll probably tell me I don't understand that either."

Quatre smiled faintly at the amount of wisdom the boy had. It was a shame that such innocence was lost this early in life. He was about to say something reassuring when the doctor that had taken Aislinn away hours earlier suddenly appeared through a set of swinging doors. He was dressed in surgical scrubs and was pulling a protective net off of his head.

"Well the surgery was successful. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was but she is going to take awhile to recover. Can I speak with you alone Mr. Winner?" The doctor nodded in Aaron's direction and Quatre got up motioning for the boy to remain where he was. He stepped out into the hall with the doctor and listened gravely to all that he heard.

"She lost a great deal of blood and has four broken ribs in addition to her forearm, she also suffered a concussion. Strange as this may sound, those aren't the main problem. She's going to heal just fine given a couple of months but she's suffering from exhaustion both physically and, although she hasn't woken up yet, I think it's safe to say mental as well. She's going to need to just shut down for the next couple of months that it takes for her bones to heal and after that she's going to need a few more. I'm going to be honest with you, Mr. Winner, this is one of the worst cases I've seen."

Quatre nodded and spoke, "How long will she need to stay in the hospital?"

The doctor thought a moment. "At least four days for observation with the surgery, but since we're keeping her little sister here for a week, we might as well have her do the same. It certainly won't hurt."

"I agree." Quate said. "Is it alright if I take the boy out of here or does he need to stay as well?"

"I already spoke to Dr. Bridgeway and he feels it's safe to take the boy out. He's pretty much over his illness, just needs some fresh air and rest."

"I'll be leaving in a little while then. When do you expect her to wake up?" He asked.

"Actually, I think it might be a good idea to keep her sedated for a couple of days anyway. I had a run in with her about three years ago when she was brought here after some kind of scuffle with some street thugs. She had a slash on her arm from a knife and she had to be held down by several orderlies so we could sedate her and treat the wound."

"How many, three?"Quatre asked.

"Five."

"She's calmed down then." Quatre remarked and shook his head.

"Excuse me?" The doctor asked bewildered.

"Never mind." Quatre looked back up at him as an idea took form in his mind. "Would it be possible for her to receive the same treatment at home that she would here given the right professionals were there?"

The doctor was a little surprised by that but considered. "I suppose so. She would need a nurse with her at all times of course and I suppose a doctor could come by once or twice a day to keep tabs on her recovery. Are you thinking of taking her out of here?"

"Well you said she needed rest, I can't think of a better place to get some rest than my home." He said, thinking of how the sea always seemed to heal any problem.

"I suppose she could be moved. Not for a couple of days at least though. I want her to start healing."

"I understand. Will there be any paperwork I need to fill out?" Quatre asked.

"Yes there will be release forms and private care contracts to be signed but we can take care of that if you just leave us her and your ID's. I take it you'll also want the little girl to leave with you as well?" The doctor asked.

"Absolutely."

"I don't think there will be a problem, Mr. Winner. Let me just go see that Miss Kennedy is put in the recovery room and I'll go take care of those forms personally."

Quatre thanked the doctor and returned to where Aaron was sitting.

"Is Aisee going to be okay?" He asked.

"She's going to be just fine." Quatre smiled at him. He thought for a moment, it was late May shouldn't schools be out at this time? He asked Aaron.

"We got out a week ago." The little boy said.

"Do you and your sister like the ocean?" Quatre asked him.

"Yeah! Uncle Jack takes us there a lot! We get to swim with the dolphins sometimes."

"How would you like to spend the summer at the ocean?"

"Are you for real?" Aaron asked incredulously.

"Yes."

"Is Aisee gonna' be there?"

"Oh yeah, she's gonna' be there."

"COOOOL!!" The little boy yelled. "Wait till Anne finds out!"

Quatre grinned and filled the little boy on the basic details that Aislinn and Anne and himself were going to be living with him for the summer while his big sister recovered.

"How is Aisee going to pay bills if she isn't working?" The little boy asked suddenly.

"I'm going to take care of everything. Your sister has nothing to worry about." Quatre told the boy.

The boy stood on his own and took a few careful steps by himself. "I guess that shot really did work." He commented.

Quatre made his way towards the reception desk that the doctor had told him to go to in order to sign the appropriate forms. He was touched when the little boy slid his small hand into Quatre's larger paw. The boy was so trusting, apparently Aislinn hadn't told him about the ex-Gundam pilot. He wondered if the boy would still be so carefree around him if he knew it had been Quatre that had been the cause of his parents' deaths. He put it out of his mind and made his way to the large desk that a nurse was waiting behind for him. She handed him a clipboard filled with papers that were already filled out and waiting for his signature. After a few minutes, she handed him his car keys and told him that and ambulance would deliver Aislinn and Anne to his home in four days and that a nurse would be there in two to set up the appropriate equipment that would be needed to monitor their recovery. Quatre thanked her and led Aaron by the hand out to the parking lot. Walking down a long row he soon spotted his car and they both stepped in.

The boy was fascinated by the luxury car and Quatre couldn't help but be amused by the way the boy fiddled with the different knobs and dials of the radio and temperature control as he drove the way back to his home. As he drove through the huge wrought iron gates that signaled the beginning of the mile long driveway the boy fell silent. "Is this where you live?" Aaron asked.

"Yes."

"Where's the building?" He asked honestly.

"I have a house. And we'll be there in a few seconds."

Aaron fell silent again and watched the land of Quatre's estate roll by in the early hours of twilight. As the Jaguar popped over the final hill that hid the mansion and the ocean and they were revealed, Aaron's mouth fell open.

"You live here?"

"Yes."

"But it's huge!"

"A few other people live here as well." Quatre filled in.

"How many?"

"Thirty of the men I was with in the war and then about 12 people who help manage the house and grounds."

"Oh."

Quatre grinned as the boy fell silent again. He pulled up in the circle drive and groaned as he saw Rashid waiting for him in the door. He cursed his foolishness at not being more subtle when he had made his mad dash from the house earlier that day. Of course, the two men who had been in the security room would have told Rashid what had happened and all the Maguanacs knew Quatre well enough to know what he was up to. When Quatre got out of the car and stood facing Rashid, the man said only two words.

"You didn't." He said his tone one of question and doubt.

"I did." Quatre's tone was one that dared Rashid to argue with him.

"Master Quatre, she tried to kill you."

"I was in her exact same place at one time if you'll kindly recall. I know what it's like. I can't really blame her for what she did. I feel at least partly responsible Rashid, this is my way of making it up." Quatre stated it in a way that told his old guardian that the case was now closed.

Rashid could only shake his head and sigh, Master Quatre was one of the most reasonable people he had met in his life but when he made his mind up about something, he stood firm. Rashid could tell that this was one of those few issues that Master Quatre was not willing to negotiate on. "Fine. You win Master Quatre."

His blonde charge smiled broadly at him and clapped him on the shoulder. "Marvelous!" he said, "She'll be here in four days." And turned away from a bulging eyed Rashid to open the passenger door of the Jag and help out a small boy, barely past the age of a toddler. A boy with pale, sickly skin, and unmistakable red hair.

Rashid was speechless. He recognized the child. He had done further research on the girl that had tried to kill Master Quatre and he had found the pictures of her dead parents and twin siblings. The face of the young male twin and this one were identical. Rashid ran Master Quatre's words through his mind again. "She'll be here in four days." Quatre laid a hand on the boys shoulder and led him past the still shell-shocked Maguanac and into the house. Getting the boy out of earshot before Rashid's shout of fury echoed over the estate.

"WHAT?!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

To put it mildly the house was in an uproar. Most of the residents of the Winner estate had grown accustomed to Master Quatre's random acts of kindness towards animals and people. When he had brought Galahad home most had simply rolled their eyes and shrugged. When he had bought a condemned building and remodeled it into a shelter and soup kitchen for the homeless, they had patted him on the back, even when he had made a sizeable contribution to some organization trying to save an endangered species of tarantula from extinction, they had shuddered and chalked it up to their employer's all caring nature. But when they learned that he had personally rescued the young woman who had tried to kill him less than a month ago and was now bringing her here for the next two months at least, it was rumored that he had finally become a "totally-insane-care bear" as one elderly housekeeper told him to his face. Ms. Mullens had snorted at Quatre's reasons for bringing his would-be murder into his home and had considered several times smacking some sense into her young employer's handsome head

"Please Mrs. Mullens, I don't want to argue about this. Just go prepare a couple of rooms for her and the children."

The old woman had simply looked at him with an evil gleam entering her eye and turned on her heel leaving the room muttering something that sounded like, "Oh I'll get a room ready for you alright! And it'll serve you right when you get a steak knife through the heart when you're sleeping at night."

Before Quatre had time to ask her what she was up to she had left his office in a huff and Quatre had gone back to the work he had sat down to doing on his computer. He glanced across the desk to where Aaron was happily consuming a bizarre meal that consisted of, Chicken and Rice casserole, some kind of potatoes, carrots, spinach, chocolate cake, and apple juice. He shuddered at the boy's personal choice of food, especially the spinach, the awful smell was enough to turn his stomach. "What was his last name again?" Quatre asked him.

"Foffwull" The child mumbled around a mouth of food.

Quatreraised an eyebrow, "Wanna swallow and try again?"

Aaron complied and after a large gulp said, "Boswell, his name is Lee Boswell."

Quatrewent back to typing in his search and the boy went back to inhaling his food. He hit a button and after a few seconds There appeared on screen the smiling face of a handsome young man along with all his personal information. Quatre raised up a silent prayer of thanks to wherever Heero Yuy was, Allah should smile upon him for outfitting Quatre's computer with this government (and probably illegal) software before he had disappeared again.

He scrolled down through the mounds of information on the young mans personal life. Noting he had just recently come into his money. He found a few files that showed he had been arrested and charged with assault three years ago by a young woman who was a former girlfriend, but the records had been purged and charges were dropped. The woman's body, the report added, had been found lying face down in a tributary river that drained into the ocean eight days later, beaten and strangled.

Quatrefrowned at the information. This Lee guy was bad news if he had ever heard of it. He remembered what the man had said about coming back in a week to talk to Aislinn. Turning off the computer, Quatre decided that in a weeks time he was going to have to pay a day visit to Aislinn's apartment himself, but he would deal with that when the appropriate time came. He faced the boy who by now had finished his dinner and sat looking at Quatre, waiting for him to make the next move.

"Why don't we go see if Mrs. Mullens has a room ready for you?" Quatre came around the desk and opened the door for the boy to walk through.

He knew there was an old fashioned nursery in the opposite wing of the mansion so he led Aaron to that. As he neared the room, he saw that his assumption was correct. He walked into the large room and saw Ms. Mullens plumping one last pillow before setting it on a small bed with blue linens that was next to another similarly styled one only it was in pink. Quatre groaned inwardly. If Ms. Mullens was one thing, it was old fashioned. One would think that twenty years after her last child had left home she would stop with the old disgusting color guidelines for children but she was determined to stick to them. Quatre cleared his throat and spoke, "Everything in order?" He smiled and hoped she was over her earlier tirade.

She whirled around, her face still a storm cloud that softened only slightly as she looked at Aaron who cowered behind one of Quatre's legs. "Yes." She said curtly.

"Well that's great, Aaron why don't you go ahead and get in bed. It's late and I think you need to get some sleep." Quatre pulled the boy from behind him and gave him a gentle push forward toward the bed as Mrs. Mullens left the vicinity to go and pull the drapes closed.

Aaron walked over and sat on the bed looking at Quatre questioningly, "What do I sleep in?"

Quatrewanted to smack himself for not thinking of going back to Aislinn's apartment and getting some clothes for both her and the children. He would have to take care of that tomorrow, for now he supposed he could grab one of his shirts and the boy could use that for tonight. He told Aaron as much, ignoring the look of disapproval he received from Mrs. Mullens and told the boy he would be right back. He left the room motioning for the woman to follow him.

In the hall he started heading back in the direction of his wing. "Which room did you make up for Miss Kennedy?"

"An appropriate one for this rash decision." She said smugly and grinned.

"Where is she going to be?" He stopped dead in his tracks and felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand at full attention.

"I put her in the room next to yours." She smiled even wider, reminding him of Duo Maxwell whenever he had made some wisecrack and was preparing to blow something into oblivion.

"The green room." He said it as a statement, not a question.

"You got it. It'll serve you right when she kills you this time. Or that little kid in there!"

"Oh come on Clara!" Quatre only used her first name when she had overstepped her bounds and she knew it. "He's a little boy and that girl won't be trying anything once she gets here."

"You say that now, I wouldn't be too sure if I were you." She looked at him and made an excuse to leave.

Quatrehurried back to his room shaking his head in disbelief at the elderly lady's paranoia. He entered his room and rummaged through a drawer till he found an old long sleeved T-shirt that the boy could use and headed back to the nursery. He found Aaron tugging off his shoes and shirt and handed him the shirt. "We'll get your stuff here tomorrow so you don't have to go around in that stuff. And don't worry about that old lady that was in here. She's just not used to visitors."

Aaron looked at him doubtfully. "I don't think she likes me too much." He said.

"She'll come around soon enough, don't you worry. So what do you want to do tomorrow?" He grinned at the boy as he tugged on Quatre's old shirt that made his already small body look even tinier when clothed in sleeves that were half a meter too long for his arms and the hem reaching the floor it reminded him of the time a few of his older sisters had made him dress up in his father's old clothes and play house; he had nearly broken his nose from tripping on the over long pants and shirt.

"Can I see my sisters?" He asked him and climbed back up on the bed and started getting over the covers.

"Sure, and after you visit them, we'll go back to your home and pick up the stuff you'll need to stay here." Quatre helped him pull the blankets up near his chin.

"Okay." The boy said and yawned.

Quatre walked to the door and turned off the light. He stood for a moment in the door watching Aaron for a moment before closing it and heading back for his own wing. He reached it and had intended to head for his own room but slowed as he passed the door to the green room. He stopped and stared at it for a moment. He reached out and turned the knob and the door swung open slowly. He stepped into the darkened room and turned on the light. He looked around cautiously as if he expected something to jump out at him any moment. When nothing did he relaxed and laughed nervously to himself. There wasn't anything in here. Nothing to be afraid of at all.

He walked across the room to where the open drapes were and stared out. The ocean was calm as could be. Light waves rolled in and swept the shore, glistening in the light of the full moon. There was no storm, no candlelight, and no red haired assassin to be found. He walked from the room and headed to his own, but still shut and locked the door before he stripped and fell into his bed. He lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, listening to the silence, and wondered about what to do tomorrow. He would keep his promise to Aaron and take him to see his sisters and drop by their apartment. What to do about that guy Lee though was the problem.

He'd thought the name was familiar before and he remembered it now. Quatre had only met the man once, at some benefit gala a year or so ago. They had been introduced through a mutual acquaintance and exchanged handshakes and pleasantries. The young man was a year or two older than Quatre but that hadn't stopped the man from falling over himself trying to make a good impression on the ex-pilot with name-dropping and an offer of an old lot he owned should Quatre ever need a good deal on land to build some new building or warehouse. Quatre remembered his first impression he had gotten alright. The moment he had been introduced to Lee Boswell he had wanted to get away. Something in the young mans entire demeanor screamed, "cruel bag of slime".

The memory Aislinn lying in a pool of her own blood made him furious that his impression had been correct. He thought about his own actions that day, when Boswell found out what he had done he knew the man would be furious. He remembered his threat on the radio that he would throw Aislinn and the twins out if she didn't comply with his wishes and their old neighbor if he interfered. Quatre realized he hadn't thought this whole thing through as he remembered the heated argument.

While he knew he had done the right thing, he doubted that Aislinn would agree. She would be furious when she woke up and found herself in Quatre's home. She would be even more so when she learned she had been sent to a hospital. He wondered how he was going to calm her down when that happened. He had a feeling that she would accept it when he reminded her of her previous attempt on his life and he could turn her in at any moment, but that didn't solve the other problems his actions that day had caused.

He knew the library she worked at, he made a sizable donation to it every year. He was confident that they wouldn't mind hiring a temporary replacement for the months she would be gone if he pushed a little. What about where she was going to live though? Lee was certainly not going to let her stay there after this. He was going to have to find her a better place to live once she left his home but he doubted she would be willing to accept his assistance, and his threat to turn her over to the authorities would only last for so long before she grew tired of it and called him on his bluff. He rolled to his side and stared out the window at the beautiful ocean and felt a sensation rush through him. "Everything is going to work out." He thought to himself.

"I have no idea how but everything is going to be just fine." He felt relieved as he spoke the last.

He didn't know where the knowledge came from and didn't feel like analyzing it. He'd been in these situations before and whenever he felt that all consuming calm fill him, he knew that it was better not to question it. It hadn't been wrong once. He relaxed and felt his eyes growing heavy and he relaxed with the assurance that somehow, this fiasco would work out in the end. The mental note he had made earlier in the evening to be waiting for Lee when he returned to Aislinn's apartment in a week came back to him. Somehow, that didn't seem soon enough. He decided that tomorrow after he had fulfilled his promise to Aaron, he would pay a visit to Mr. Boswell's office instead. He felt a pang of longing for his old way of thinking in the war, when he had hated hurting other people and despised conflict. He still felt that way but age and experience had finally gotten the better of him when he had learned the hard way that sometimes, violence was the only answer. He had never liked having to use force of any kind whether it was financial or physical but he decided that he would make an exception in Lee's case.

"Better take Rashid with me," He added with a yawn. "His punches are a lot harder." And then he fell asleep.