Chapter 3  

  Quatre awoke to find the sun shining in on his face.  The curtains were open and the shower was going. 

   "How many showers does a girl need?" he said to himself. Dorothy poked her head out of the door and asked him to bring her brush to her. 

   "Dorothy, how many showers do you need?"   

"Oh, this morning I was up early working on Relena's garden." She then closed the door and the sound of a hair dryer could be heard.   

"Weird," Quatre thought, "Why would Dorothy want to work on a garden?" he then left and walked downstairs to get some breakfast.      Quatre was cooking a huge breakfast for everyone. Trowa and Catherin were helping.   

  "Can I help?" a sexy voice said behind Quatre, who he thought was Dorothy.

    "Sure, grab a thing of eggs and start to work." 

   "Quatre, who are you talking to?" Catherin asked the boy.   

  "I was talking to…" Quatre said as he turned around to find nothing there.    

"Funny, I could have sworn I heard someone say something to me. Oh well." He turned back around and continued to make the biscuits. Dorothy got dressed in a cute purple sun dress. She put on off white sandals and her hair in a loose braid. She, after all, wanted to try something different.  She then headed downstairs to the smell of something wonderful.   

"Breakfast! Yummy!!" She went to the kitchen and sat down at the table.   Trowa walked in carrying a plate filled high with pancakes. Dorothy slightly giggled at seeing him try to balance it. 

'That's weird. I've really opened up since I met Quatre.' She thought.  Next came Duo struggling with a bowl filled with eggs.    

"Heya Dorothy!" He said once he saw her.    

"Hey Duo, Trowa.  Who cooked all this?"   

"Quatre, mostly, and Trowa, and Catherin." Heero said walking in through the front door.

Dorothy saw that he had dirt all over him and must have been tricked into helping Noin in the garden.  

  "Yeah, it's nice to know such a good cook." Catherine said carrying a plate with biscuits on it.   

Dorothy watched as Relena and their son came in from playing outside.  Then Hilde came down from upstairs carrying her baby in her arms.   

  "Now that everyone is here, lets eat!" Duo shouted and grabbed a handful of pancakes.    

Everyone started to eat, a little more nicely than Duo who was scarfing it all down.       Dorothy noticed how everyone was here except for Quatre.

"Where is Quatre?"   

"I'm right here." His voice came from the door to the kitchen.       Dorothy looked over and saw that Quatre was very seductively standing against the door frame.    

"Uh, Quatre, What's up with you?" Catherin asked.  

  "Nothing, I just need to talk to Dorothy privately."      Dorothy sat there. She had never seen this side of Quatre. Dorothy looked into his eyes and saw nothing. Absolutely nothing. She suddenly got very scared.

    "Dorothy, come here." He spoke, rather comanded.     

"No. You're not Quatre." She said more to herself that to the Quatre.    

"Fine, have it your way." Dorothy watched as Quatre walked over to her.   He bent down and whispered in her ear. "Remember the morning moon?"     

Dorothy had no clue as to what that meant. Her brain wasn't working right now.   Quatre grabbed her waist and pulled her to him.  Dorothy would've screamed if she could, but she was to scared.  'Where are the others?' She thought. She looked to where the others were eating last. Nothing. A bright light flashed, and she was sitting at the table.  

  "Where am I?" She asked.   

"Honey, are you OK?" Hilde asked. "You're here eating breakfast with us."  

  "Oh, where is Quatre? I need to speak to him." 

   "He went to the garden."    

In the garden Dorothy was sitting on the swing Relena had under the Oak tree. She had covered every square inch of the garden, and not a sign of Quatre.  

  "I wonder what all this morning moon stuff is. I mean, it makes no sense." She said to the wind. "But maybe that is why I keep filling weird every time I get near Quatre.  And then that would explain why I can't be mean to him, like I use to." 

   "Could be." A voice said behind her.   

Dorothy turned around startled. There stood Quatre. He had nothing on but a pair of shorts.  Dorothy had to admit he was very sexy.  She then shook herself. No I can't let Quatre brake my shield. Not any more.  

  "What are you doing here?" She said meanly. She watched as Quatre's face fell. 

   "Oh, I was just walking and thinking about some stuff." He answered, sitting next to her.   

"Quatre, may I ask you a question?" She looked over at him.  

  "Yes."   

"Well, about that story you told yesterday, what does it mean?"     

"Well, I believe it means that on the day of the morning moon, what ever that is, that we have to keep our guard up.  And be sure to do exactly what we are told. Or else something bad will happen. At least that's what I think."  

  "Oh, OK."  Dorothy got up and started to leave.    

"Dorothy, let's skip today. Do something fun."  Quatre said as he grabbed her arm.   

"Like what?" She asked turning to him.  

  "I don't know, go exploring." He offered.  

  Dorothy didn't know if she should be mean, or agree. But looking at Quatre, she had a flash of deju-vu.  A scene with a beautiful garden, and under an oak tree sat a little girl and her father. They looked very happy.  Then the father went off.   Dorothy saw the face of the man, her father, and it looked just like Quatre's. It needed love and understanding. Understanding that this was what he had to do.    

"Dorothy, are you OK?" Quatre's voice brought her back to reality.    

"Yeah, I just remembered something."    

"Oh, well do you still want to skip?"  

  "OK." Chapter 4 Dorothy had waited for Quarte to change into a pair of pants and a T-shirt, then they were off. Quatre led her to a small waterfall overlooking a stream.    

"As a child my favorite place on Earth were the streams. I would splash in them all day." He told her, looking out at nothingness.     "I always loved waterfalls.  The steady sound of them would put me to sleep." Dorothy said, remembering her past.    

Dorothy walked over to where the stream met the waterfall. She took down her hair and let the gentle water wash the hurt away. Dancing and humming a tune from long ago.

"Dorothy, can I ask you something?" Quatre asked coming over to her.  He had his shirt off and was standing under the waterfall with her.

"Sure." She said absentmindedly.

"Nevermind." He said, noticing she wasn't paying attention.  A sudden felling came over him.  He had to have her.  The way her hair shimmered against the sun and the water.  The way her every move was like an angel's.

"I have to sit down." He said, falling upon a rock that was nearby.   The feeling was overwhelming him. 'What is this?  Can it be the curse?' he thought to himself.  He decided that he had to act on his emotions to get the feeling to stop.  'But it may kill her.' He thought frantically. 

   "Quatre, are you OK?" Dorothy asked.  She saw that he was pale as a ghost and his eyes were empty.  Every once and a while flickering back to life. Like a battle within his conscience.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He told her. "but I have to tell you something." Dorothy looked into his eyes and found hurt and pain.  Just like hers where before she started over. Before she knew love.

"Ok." She told him. Helping him back to their little camp.

"Dorothy, do you remember the story I told you last night?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, that isn't just a story. It's a curse. A curse that was put on the Winner family."

He looked away form her.  As if he didn't want her to know the truth. 

"Go on." She encouraged.  He had sparked her curiosity.

"Well, a long time ago a sorceress named Catrina came up form the earth and cast a curse on my great, great grandfather.  It was said that if ever a Winner fell in love, and thought about stuff he should not be doing, he would feel great pain, and should he ever make love to her, she would die." Quatre finished quietly. 

He had never told anyone this before.  Dorothy saw that Quatre was blushing at the end of his story.

"If that is the curse, how come the other day, when we, ya know, you didn't feel any pain?" she asked, blushing herself.

"I don't know. I haven't figured that out yet."

"But, how did the family reproduce?" her curiosity asked against her better judgment. Quatre silently laughed.

"Dorothy, that is a secret even I don't know.  My dad told me he would tell me when I got older, but…" Quatre trailed off.

"I know." Dorothy said. She laid her head on his lap.  'I don't care what happenes to me, as long as I can make you happy.' She thought. 'Thank you.' Quatre's voice said in her mind. She looked up at him and saw him smiling at her.

"Is there any way to break the curse?" She asked

"Yes, but I don't know how." He said disappointedly.

"That's OK. We'll figure it out." Dorothy said. All that could be heard was mother nature.

"Quatre?" Dorothy broke the silence.

"Yes,"

"Will it hurt you if I kiss you?" Dorothy turned five different colors of red.  That seemed like a stupid question, but she didn't want to hurt him. "No, I don't think so." He answered, also turning many shades of red. Dorothy took his chin in her hands and lightly, at first, kissed his soft lips.  But the overwhelming desire to have him swept over her and the kiss became deeper.  Her tongue played with his and her hands wondered around his neck.  Quatre found himself slipping his hands around Dorothy's waist. Then his hands wondered down to her butt.  He felt Dorothy gasp as he gave a quick squeeze.  Dorothy reluctantly pulled away. "Quatre, we can't do this."

"Yeah, I know.  I'm sorry my emotions got to me." He said.

"Hun?" was what Dorothy had to answer. "I love you Dorothy. I want to be with you for eternity.  But this stupid curse won't let me." Quatre said turning away.  He was so fed up with life.  He just wanted to kill that stupid sorceress for having to make him lose the one love of his life. "Quatre," a gentle voice said. He turned around and saw Dorothy looking him straight in his deep blue eyes. A single tear fell down her face. 

"I love you to Quatre.  I've loved ever since you said I was kinder than you. By the way I'm sorry for that." She giggled trying to make herself not cry.

"I saw that you had lost your father because of the war, and so had I. Then I found out that we needed each other.  We needed each other to be complete." Quatre was speechless.  It had never dawned on him what is was that was missing, but now he realized. It was love. It was understanding. But most of all it was Dorothy.

To be continued.....