In a Child's Eyes

Chapter One

A Charitable Action

Relena Darlian dumped the remaining coffee down the drain. Sighing, she started a new pot and returned to her carefully organized desk and frowned. The brunette secretary was not a neat freak in any way. Unfortunately her boss was, and he insisted her desk be clean and well organized. In her whole twenty-six years, Relena had never met anyone so obsessed about cleanliness as Heero Yuy. It wasn't just about cleanliness either. Mr. Yuy was obsessive about everything; thus the reason for the wasted coffee. Every hour Relena was to make a fresh pot of coffee. She had forgotten once when she had been a new hire and he had known. It was only two hours old, but after one sip the Japanese man dumped the cup down the drain and proceeded to lecture her on the importance of keeping fresh coffee available.

Relena sighed again at the memory as she sank into the chair at her desk. It wasn't really a bad job once she had figured out all of Mr. Yuy's idiosyncrasies. In fact it was actually a pretty good job; cushy with great pay, working for one of the most powerful business men in the world.

The European woman glanced at the clock. One hour. Heero Yuy had been gone for one hour which meant he would probably be back soon. Relena frowned and hoped Mr. Yuy wouldn't be in too bad of a mood when he returned. The chances of that happening were close to the chances of pigs flying into the office and dancing on her desk. The dark haired man was in a meeting with his father, Odin Lowe who was one of the original founders of Lowe, Yuy and Barton, inc. Her boss could get in a fowl mood just by hearing Odin Lowe's name being mentioned, let alone being in the same room with the man.

From what Relena had gathered, father and son had never been very close. To say Heero Yuy had been close to his mother would most likely be an overstatement, but they seemed to have been at least on speaking terms before she passed away three years ago. Relena figured this probably had something to do with the fact that Mr. Yuy's parents probably never had anything to do with their son

Relena didn't know much about her boss' childhood per say, but she did know that Heero Yuy had been sent away to college at the age of ten. He then graduated when he was sixteen with a masters degree in business. This prodigy child had then been put to work when he returned home. Relena had been hired when he was seventeen. Apparently he had been very picky about who he would hire, and when he did hire someone they ended up quitting after a week or two.

But not Relena Darlian. No. Twenty-two year old Relena had stayed despite her seventeen year old boss' moodiness and picky behaviors. With a six-year old daughter to raise, she needed the money.

Mr. Yuy hadn't been as powerful of a man when Relena had been hired, but after working for the dark haired man for a year his mother passed away leaving him everything she owned and willed that he have her position in the business. This of course had made Mr. Lowe furious and the rift between father and son had become a great chasm.

The young business man knew the inheritance he had received was his mother's last attempt to get back at Lowe and not out of any great love for her son. Relena remembered vividly the day when her Japanese boss had burst into the reception area and told her to clear his schedule for the next month, gathered a few things in his office and stormed out, leaving the brunette to wonder if she had really seen tears in the young man's eyes or not.

Relena looked up as her thoughts were interrupted by a young Japanese man throwing open the door to her office and slamming it shut. Not saying a word to her, Heero Yuy stalked over to the coffee pot, poured himself a cup of the dark brown liquid, and sat in one of the sofas that dotted the large area.

Mr. Yuy didn't say anything as he sipped the hot liquid, but Relena knew that wouldn't last long. Relena sat back in her chair and looked at her boss while she waited for him to speak. At twenty-one, Heero Yuy was ruggedly handsome with wild dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes that were slightly slanted in the Japanese fashion. His face had sharp angles, yet still had a soft boyishness to it which was only emphasized by the fact that the young Yuy had almost no luck in growing facial hair and so remained clean shaven. Relena's boss was also a health nut and a devoted attendee at the gym which kept him in great shape. The combination of his Japanese heritage from his mother and his American heritage from his father had definitely made Heero Yuy into one interestingly beautiful specimen of a man.

"Do you think I make this company look bad?"

Relena raised her eyebrows at the unexpected question. "What do you mean?" She asked cautiously.

Heero stood, made his way over to the coffee pot and poured himself another cup. Relena waited patently, knowing that talking wasn't on her boss' list of things he liked to do.

"He says I make the company look bad because I haven't done anything good or charitable…"

Relena rolled her eyes. Odin Lowe was always trying to come up with ways to insult Heero or make him look bad. Lowe should have been the last one to criticize her boss for being uncharitable. In fact, Relena thought Odin Lowe and Takara Yuy had left all the charitableness to Trowa Barton, the third of the company's owners. She was about to say something to that affect when Heero said it for her.

"Mr. Barton has always been the one to do the charitable stuff. I don't see why he wants me to start doing it now too." The Japanese man said angrily.

Because he's being a jerk. Relena thought, but kept that to herself. "Is it so bad to have to do something good for other people?" She asked.

"No. That's not the point… What do you suggest I do?"

"Well… you could always donate a large sum of money to some good cause out there." Relena suggested.

The dark haired man shook his head. "He wants me to 'devote some time to helping others'. Of course he wants me to be doing that and everything else I need to do in the company." He sighed and finished off his second cup of coffee before pouring himself a third.

"Well… you could help clean up a neighborhood."

Heero shook his head as he blew into the cup of hot liquid.

"You could…" As Relena began listing things, her Japanese boss continued to shake his head at each suggestion and after five minutes the brunette was hard pressed to find more good ideas.

"What about volunteering at a hospital? Help out at an orphanage? Take in a foster kid? Volunteer in some third world country? Join the Peace Corps? Um…" It was then that Relena noticed her boss had quit shaking his head and was giving her The Look, which meant he was thinking about something she had said.

"I could do that." Heero said after a moment of thought.

"Join the Peace Corps?" Relena asked, thinking he couldn't really be considering that.

"No, don't be ridiculous. I don't have time for that. Take in a foster kid. I could do that, I mean, it can't be too hard right. What is it, six months you have to keep the kid or something? … What?" Heero's eyebrows knit together at Relena's expression.

"Mr. Yuy… You can't really be serious." She said finally.

"Why? What's wrong with that idea? It's not like kids take up that much time."

Relena tried to keep in mind that her boss most likely didn't have very much attention from his parents as a child and wouldn't really understand the effort it would take to care for a foster child. "They take more time than you would think…" Relena began.

"You have a kid and you do just fine." He remarked.

Relena opened her mouth but couldn't find the right words. He had obviously forgotten all the times she had gotten off early or hadn't been able to come in because of a doctor appointment here or a school play there or even when her daughter had been sick.

Taking her silence for defeat, Heero nodded and said, "It's settled then. Why don't you make an appointment with some orphanage for me to pick out a kid."

"Mr. Yuy it doesn't work…" Relena began, but he cut her off.

"Tell them I'll give their organization a nice donation." Heero began to walk back to his office when he stopped and turned around. "Actually… Why don't you just tell them to have a kid waiting for me around six tonight. I'll take care of any paperwork and donations when I get there."

"But…"

Ignoring her protests, Heero Yuy turned around and headed toward his office glad to have gotten through another 'Odin Lowe' problem.

Father Quatre Winner looked over the budget for the little orphanage and sighed. There were just too many kids and not enough money. Unless something miraculous happened, they would have to send all the children to the State orphanage. The orphanage run by the state was a large facility with too many children and not enough staff members. The phone rang, bringing the blonde man out of his worried musings.

"Saint Peter's orphanage. This is Father Winner how can I help you?" Quatre said automatically.

"Good afternoon Father, my name is Relena Darlian I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment." Said a professional female voice.

"Of course. What can I help you with Ms. Darlian?"

Quatre's eyebrows rose as the women on the other line explained what she wanted.

"I'm really sorry Ms. Darlian, but we don't…" Father Winner began.

"Of course we are aware of your orphanage's state of monetary affairs and we would like to make a donation…"

Quatre bit the inside of his cheek. "Well… of course we always appreciate donations…" The thirty year old man felt a wave of guilt at even considering putting one of his precious children in this Heero Yuy's care in exchange for monetary compensation. But the fact remained that if his little orphanage went bankrupt all the children would probably be a lot worse off.

The blonde man sighed. "Alright Ms. Darlian, let me get some paperwork together and…" another sigh "Did Mr. Yuy specify any specific characteristics? Age? Gender? Well never mind that, I'm not letting a single man take a girl. Nationality? Personality characteristics? No?"

Quatre was interrupted by a his office door bursting open revealing Hilde Schbeiker, one of the volunteers, dragging a sullen eight-year old boy, sporting a long braid, behind her. Father Winner held up his hand as Hilde opened her mouth.

"Of course Ms. Darlian, in fact I think I know just the one for him." Quatre said, eyeing the boy Hilde had dragged in. "No, thank-you. Have a nice day. Uh-hu, good-by now." And with that, the blonde man hung up the phone.

"Alright what happened this time?" Quatre asked.

As the German woman began her rant about how the child had gotten into the janitor's closet, taken some urinal cakes and dropped them into the fish tank, Quatre watched the boy who was now chewing on the end of his braid and glaring at the floor. When Hilde was finished, Father Winner told her to leave the boy with him.

After the dark haired women left, Quatre walked around his desk and knelt on the floor next to the boy, who looked as though he was trying hard to keep from crying.

"Duo?" The blonde man asked gently. "Why did you put the urinal cakes in the fish tank?"

The small boy mumbled something the older man couldn't hear.

"What was that?"

When Duo looked up, a large tear spilled out of his eye and down one ruddy cheek. "Because they smell good and the fish tank stinks… so I thought the fish would like them… I didn't know it would kill them…" The little boy's brave front vanished and he started to sob. Quatre hugged the child until he quit crying.

"How would you like to live outside the orphanage for a few months?" Quatre said with a smile.

The small boy's eyes grew big. "You mean on the grass in the playground?"

At Duo's reaction the blonde man laughed out loud. "Goodness no! I mean in a foster home. There is a man who would like to take in a child for a few months. Would you like to go?"

Duo let go of his braid and smiled. "Can I?"

Father Winner smiled and nodded. "He's coming tonight, will that be alright?"

Duo nodded again and Quatre hoped he was doing the right thing.