Disclaimer:  Did I mention this was an AU?  I don’t own blah and all that and Gundam Wing.

Did I mention this was an AU fic?  Thank you all who have reviewed!  It’s a warm and fuzzy feeling I get inside when I know someone has read my fics!  Thanks again!

The Colours of Life

Chapter 2: Together Now and More Shopping

By: J.B. Santiago

Dorothy looked at him.  His eyes.  His goddamn eyes.  She hated his eyes.  They were the type of blue eyes she could be caught staring at forever.  She felt as if her surroundings had disappeared and there was only her and him; just staring into each other’s eyes.  She hated the way he made her FEEL.  ‘Damn him and everything he does!’  Dorothy tore her eyes away from his to glare at her smiling cousin.  “We know each other.”  She gritted out, as she tried to push down the emotions, being so close to him, brought about. 

Bethany’s smile just got wider.  “Mr Winner, are you going to join us for coffee now?”

“No.” Came Dorothy’s reply just as Quatre said “Yes.”

They returned to just staring at each other and Bethany tried to repress a giggle.  “It seems cousin dear, doesn’t think you want a cup of coffee.  We could have tea instead.”  Her voice, plainly containing mirth.

“Quatre!  There you are!  Poor Heero can’t hold all these packages.”  Relena said giggling at the sight Heero made as he tried to juggle all of Relena and Quatre’s packages without breaking anything.  “He is so stubborn, he won’t even let me carry anything.  Oh!  Hello Dorothy, it’s good to see you again!”  Seeing who was with Quatre and making her way over for a hug.

“Miss Relena, it’s good to see you again too.” Dorothy said, returning the hug.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends, Dory?”  Bethany said smiling at Relena.

Dorothy winced at the childhood nickname, before giving her cousin another icy glare.  “Miss Relena, this is my younger cousin, Bethany Montague.  Bethany this is my friend, Relena Darlian and her fiancé Heero Yuy.”  She motioned to each one of them. 

“You’re my role model, Miss Relena.  You’re so passionate about your beliefs.”  Bethany grinned and shook Relena’s hand.

“Why thank you Bethany.  That’s very kind of you to say.”  Relena said, giving Bethany a polite smile.

“Well, we must be off now.  It was good to see you again, Miss Relena, Mr Yuy.  I’ll see you at the Summit Talks and the Ball.”  She nodded her head before grabbing Bethany’s arm and began to walk briskly away from the scene.  She stopped and looked over her shoulder, “Hope to see you there too, Mr Winner.  Goodbye.”

Bethany gave her cousin an irritated look before waving happily at the three standing by the café. “Bye!  See you soon!”  She yelled before getting out of Dorothy’s grasp and walked at her pace.

Relena gave a quizzical look at the two blonds as they turned a corner disappearing.  She glanced at Quatre who was just staring at where Dorothy had just been.  Relena shook her head, ‘Poor Quatre, I thought I had it bad with Heero.’  She giggled as she remembered Heero still juggling the bags.  “Quatre do you think you could help Heero, he won’t accept my help.”

Quatre snapped out of his reverie and gave Relena an embarrassed smile, “Sorry.  Here Heero, let me help you with that.”  Taking his packages from the grateful Heero, he smiled weakly, as Relena continued their ‘sightseeing’ but his thoughts were centred around a certain blond with icy blue-grey eyes.

         ************

“Dorothy, that was quite rude.  I was just having a nice conversation with your friends.”  Bethany ran a hand through her hair, as the wind whipped it behind her as Dorothy zigzagged around Paris traffic in her golden Porsche convertible towards her villa on the outskirts of the city. 

They stopped at a stoplight.  “Why did you introduce me to, Mr Winner?  You already knew, we would know each other.”  Dorothy asked her eyes on the road.

Bethany laughed.  “Oh, come on, Dorothy.  I know you have a ‘thing’ for ‘Mr Winner’.  It seems he also has a ‘thing’ for you, Dory!”  Bethany laughed again, nearly receiving whiplash as Dorothy gunned the engine and began speeding through traffic.  “Sheesh, Dorothy slow down!”

Dorothy gripped the steering wheel tighter, her hands nearly devoid of blood from her grip.  ‘Calm, Dorothy, calm.’ She repeated over in her head.  “Thing?  Dear cousin, I don’t have any type of feeling towards Mr Winner but cordial friendliness.  He is more likely to receive my contempt then affection.”  The roads were clearing now as they were nearing her Villa.

Bethany gave Dorothy an impish smile, her eyes twinkling with mirth.  “Sure, Dorothy, sure.”

The car pulled next to tall iron-wrought gates.  Dorothy pushed in the security code a little harder than needed and the gates opened slowly.  She drove the car slowly up the driveway, coming to a complete stop in front of two marble pillars leading to the front door.

“Bethany, keep your assumptions to yourself.  Your Grandparents told me to keep you out of trouble and I intend to keep you well away from trouble.  Don’t even think of doing anything stupid.”  Dorothy gave her cousin a withering look.  Her threat of punishment in her eyes, not being said.

Bethany just grinned even wider, “Of course, Dorothy.  I wouldn’t think of it.  You go have fun at those political mud fights.  I’m just going to shop.  That’s all.  Ok, mother?”  She teased, her eyes laughing.

Dorothy growled. “I’m serious, Bethany.”

Bethany nodded her head.  “So am I.”  She smiled innocently.  “I feel a bit jet-lagged.  I’m going to go take a nap.  Is that safe with you Dory?”

Dorothy nodded her head.  “I’ll get the butler to bring up your bags.”

With that Bethany got out of the car and sauntered into the villa.  Dorothy stared after the figure until she had disappeared from view.  She sighed.  ‘When did I ever agree to baby-sit my nineteen year old cousin?’  She shook her head and slammed the door shut.  Damn her, for being right.  Damn him for making it so obvious! Making her way into her villa she didn’t notice the eyes, hidden in the trees surrounding the villa, watching her.

         **************

“Whoa!  This place is so beautiful.”  Catherine smelled in the air of Paris, stretching out her arms to feel the spring sun on her limbs.  The circus was doing a special show for a Children’s Benefit being held in Paris.  She knew some of Trowa’s friends were going to be here for the Summit Talks.  Quatre Winner had already contacted them and he had invited her and Trowa to have dinner tonight with him and the Vice Foreign Minister.  Catherine wanted to get to know these people better, since they were her brother’s friends and they seemed like a nice bunch of people.

“Hey Cathie!  The manager wants to see us now.”  Trowa walked up to his sister wearing part of his clown suit.

“Ok.  Just enjoying the sun, Trowa.”  She smiled up at her brother who remained stoic but his eyes sparkled with happiness.  When Cathie was happy, he was happy.

Catherine clasped her hand with Trowa’s, giving him a smile before handing to the manager’s trailer.

*************

“Hilde…Please can we stop now!” an exhausted Duo Maxwell exclaimed under a mountain of shopping bags.

“Duo, we’ve only been to 36 boutiques! Not even half of them!”  Hilde Maxwell patiently explained as she happily skipped down the rows of shops.

“You never buy from these shops anyway!  You’ve bought all this junk from the markets!”  Duo ignored the glare Hilde gave him when he said ‘junk’.

“So?  It’s the principle of the thing.  You have to go to the boutiques, that’s the whole point of Paris!”  Hilde tried not to notice Duo’s puppy dog expression.  It didn’t work.  “Oh, Duo!  Fine one more shop than we’ll go back to the hotel and try on those…trinkets we bought from that vendor.”  Winking seductively at her hapless husband, she skipped into another boutique.

         ************

Relena tried on a pair of designer sandals.  They matched her cream-coloured summer dress.  She walked a few stops towards the door then did an about turn only to stumble slightly on the heel and flail backwards.

Heero forgetting that some of the packages he was carrying were breakable, dropped them as lunged to save Relena from landing on her backside.  Instead a person who had just entered the shop had other ideas.

“Hey Relena! Watcha doin here?” asked Duo who looked like a walking shopping bag.

Relena turned to see who had caught her.  Her eyes brightening and she cracked a smile. “Hilde!”

“Relena!”  The two stood by the entrance hugging and chattering on about some sort of shop or other.

Duo slowly edged away from the shopaholics and grinned at Heero and Quatre.  “Small world, eh guys?  How the hell did we end up in this situation?”  He shook his head smiling.  Heero gave no reply but his features had relaxed into a small smile.  Quatre smiled back, shaking his head as if to say ‘I have no idea.’

Duo was about to start yammering away when Hilde grabbed his arm.  “Duo, Relena says there’s these really great clothing shops further down.  Come on lets all go together!”  Hilde exclaimed following Relena – who had taken off those unstable sandals and had her more comfortable tennis shoes on. 

The three men al gazed at the two figures before collectively shuddering.  The day just got a whole lot longer.

         *************

-         Joir – Unknown Time –

“Ensem ka il pae LIFE.”

“Together there will be LIFE.’  The ancients were rather blunt weren’t they sis?”  Keioa looked at Lavirea as they gathered their energy and transferred it to the key.

“No point in trumping up a fact.”  Stated Lavirea as she felt a drop of sweat roll down the side of her face.  She frowned as she channelled more energy into the key.

“I guess.”  Keioa couldn’t stand it any longer.  They had been channelling energy for what seemed like days but the key didn’t become Red.  It was supposed to become Red.  “I can’t keep this up much longer, Lav…” Her voice came out labored.

“You will.  Just a few more - ” Lavirea stopped as each of the symbols on the key began to turn Red.  Dropping her connection; Keioa doing the same.  The key began to float, emitting a pulsing red glow.

Sister looked at sister.  “It’s time.”

         *************

Person who wrote above stuff:

         Ok, there might be people (ok probably one) who are wondering where the HELL am I going with this fic!?!?  I do have an ending!!  I have a SEQUEL!!  BUT I don’t have…a middle…ehehehehe…  Well a kinda do but its REALLY really umm..transparent?  SO please R&R and C&C and flame me at setm_29@hotmail.com better yet just Submit a review and help me with the middle! PLEASE!!