Reunited

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam SEED or any of the characters that appear in this fic!

Dedicated to my "little brother" Haloseventeen!

Cagalli Yula Athha paced around her bedroom anxiously. In a matter of hours she would be reunited with the only man she had ever loved. They had been separated for several months because of a war that had ended two weeks prior to their separation. She hated the fact that he was gone but there was not much that could be done about it.

"I promise after things are taken care of back home I'll return to you Cagalli," he had said, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"I understand. Your home is important to you," the blonde responded. He nodded and gently brushed a few stray wisps of her hair from her face.

"Stay out of trouble," he teased, earning a scowl from the young woman. "I love you Cagalli," he said as he leaned his face closer to hers and gently kissed her.

A knock on the door pulled the blonde from her reverie. With a light sigh she crossed the room and opened the door. "Yeah?"

"Lady Cagalli, you have visitors," came a voice from the other side of the doors. Cagalli blinked a few times as she tried to think of who would come visiting her. She had not been expecting any body that day except for her boyfriend… but he wasn't due back on Earth for a few hours.

"Tell them I'll be there in a minute," she said, a hint of annoyance in her voice. She had wanted to get a few things done before getting ready to leave but it didn't seem entirely possible at the moment. 'Who would be coming over at a time like this?' she thought, knowing it wasn't her brother or any of his friends.

She opened her closet and pulled out a red shirt and a pair of khaki pants to wear while she temporarily entertained her guest. She would save her actual decent clothes for later. Even though she disliked dressing up in formal and fancy clothes, Cagalli had sworn to herself that she would look good for him. He was entirely worth the effort (and potential agony) she would put her self through later. She threw her clothes on quickly and stalked out of her room, preparing to give whoever had decided to stop by an earful about disturbing a busy woman.

Athrun Zala tried his best not to look too bored. He had spent the last few hours of his day holed up in a room that was over crowded listening to people speak about the post-war progress of the PLANTs. He had been doing it pretty much since he returned to his home several months prior. He didn't know why it was so important for him to attend each and every meeting; he was only the son of the late Patrick Zala, one of the former leaders of the PLANTs. Of course, he was not alone in his agony. The daughter of the late Siegel Clyne (the other chairman) was also there with him. The two Coordinators had spent their lives living in the PLANTs and they had been in the spotlight quite a bit before and during the war, especially near the end when they had defected from ZAFT and Patrick Zala's cause.

'If I hadn't I might never have seen Cagalli again,' he thought as he began to completely ignore the speaker. His mind had wandered onto an entirely different topic, not that he minded. He was much happier when he thought of the woman he had been missing so dearly. 'I wonder what Cagalli's been up to?' he asked himself, partially afraid of the answer. Cagalli was a woman with definite attitude. He couldn't help but smile as he remembered how they had initially met…

They had been stranded on an island together during a battle. Cagalli had been his prisoner at first but he ended up untying her. They had spent the entire night on that island; him armed with a gun and his mobile suit and her with a knife and a plane on the opposite side of the island. It was very soon after that they saw each other again; Athrun had infiltrated Onogoro Island with three of his comrades when he had seen her with his long time friend Kira Yamato. 'And then I didn't see her again until…' he thought, trailing off. He found it difficult to face the fact that he had almost killed his best friend. He had been rescued by Orb ships after destroying his mobile suit along with Kira's. They had both believed Kira was dead and that it was Athrun that had taken his life. Her words still bit into him.

"That's crazy! If you were such a good friend then why the Hell did you kill him?"

Clenching his fists tightly, he forced himself to think of the better moments he had shared with Cagalli during the war; their few moments together on the Eternal between battles. He instantly smiled as he remembered their first kiss. 'God I wish I could go back to her right now!'

"Athrun!" called the lyrical voice of Lacus Clyne, Athrun's former fiancée. The blue haired young man turned and waited as the pink haired "princess" made her way over to him, a smile present on her delicate face.

"Hello Lacus," he greeted her rather formally. Lacus' smile widened and she returned his greeting. The meeting had ended and Athrun had bolted from the room as fast as he could. It took Lacus all she had not to race out after him; she had seen how his attention had warned through the bulk of the meeting.

"Athrun, is there something troubling you?" the pink haired young woman asked, a look of concern appearing on her face. Athrun looked shocked for a moment but just chuckled. He should have expected that Lacus had noticed his change in behaviour and attitude. Of course, before he could answer her question Lacus took him by the hand and led him away from the stream of people exiting the room the meeting had been held in. "It will be much easier to talk here, don't you agree?" she said as she sat down on a bench. Athrun gave a nod before sitting next to Lacus on the bench.

Athrun looked down at the floor as he tried to pull his muddled thoughts together long enough to give Lacus a coherent answer. He was growing anxious because he knew he would be heading back to Earth in a couple hours. "Lacus, I…" he started and stopped. He realized that Lacus, too, was away from the person she wanted to be with the most. How could he sit and complain about his frustration about not being with Cagalli when Lacus wasn't with Kira? It started to seem selfish and the last thing Athrun wanted to do was upset the woman sitting with him.

"You are wishing you could leave earlier so you can see Cagalli, right?" she spoke up, causing Athrun to lift his head and meet her gaze. He nodded in response, still awed at how accurately she could pinpoint his worries. It had always been something she was good at and it always amazed him. "I feel the same… I just want to return to Earth right now… but I have to stay for a few more days," she commented softly, sadly.

"Lacus," Athrun said, a small smile on his face.

"Athrun, if you could leave early, would you?" Lacus asked him.

"Of course I would! Cagalli's all I've been thinking about since I woke up yesterday!" the blue haired young man exclaimed, causing Lacus to laugh her lyrical laugh.

"In that case, I have a gift for you Athrun."

Cagalli made her way down the stairs, muttering to herself about idiotic visitors. Once she reached the bottom step, she clenched her fists at her sides and yelled, "HEY! Who do you think you are? Don't you know I'm a busy woman?"

"And I'm a busy man, but I made time to come see you." Cagalli heard the voice and froze. Her eyes went wide as the one who had spoke to her stepped into her line of sight. If the voice hadn't given away the identity of her guest, the blue hair and relative formal dress of the person did.

"It can't be… you're not supposed to…" the blonde stammered, her cheeks growing warmer with her embarrassment. Without giving her outburst much more thought, Cagalli rushed forwards at the person and was immediately embraced by a pair of familiar and loving arms. "I thought you weren't coming back until later tonight," she said lightly, looking up at him. Her amber eyes met his turquoise ones and her cheeks flushed at the intensity and passion of his gaze.

"I was but we have a very kind friend in the PLANTs," her replied as he held Cagalli tightly to his chest.

"What do you mean Athrun?" Cagalli asked, blinking in confusion.

Athrun smiled and ran a hand through his lover's blonde locks. "Apparently your brother and Lacus arranged for me to come home early."

"Kira… and Lacus…? But wouldn't they want to reunite early? They're probably suffering just as bad as we did!" Cagalli exclaimed, shocked and surprised by Athrun's revelation.

"I know… but that's the kind of people they are. They would do anything for their friends," Athrun replied as he moved Cagalli and himself over to the staircase to sit down.

"I still can't believe you're really here Athrun," the blonde said as she lightly placed her hands on Athrun's face. Her hands were soft and warm against his cheeks and he smiled.

"I'm here and I don't plan to leave your side ever again," he softly confided to her. Cagalli looked him in the eye and blinked. Her eyes were starting to water but the last thing she really wanted was to start crying like a baby. It wasn't as though Athrun had never seen her cry before; rather, she didn't want to ruin a happy occasion by turning into a sobbing wreck. "Cagalli… you're crying…" he said, still speaking softly to her.

"You idiot… I'm so happy to see you! My emotions are all jumbled up," the blonde said as she wiped at her eyes, laughing a bit.

"I really missed you," Athrun said quietly, inching his face closer to Cagalli's.

"I really missed you too," Cagalli told him, speaking just as quietly. Without another word, she closed the distance between their faces and kissed him with as much passion as she could muster. The young couple sat on the steps for what seemed like an eternity before their kiss broke. Athrun just smiled and pulled Cagalli close, resting her head against his chest and a hand on her head. Cagalli smiled and allowed herself to be held close to him.

"I love you."