Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass, but I do love to play with Britannia's toys.
Lloyd was an incredible multitasker.
He was always doing more than one thing at a time, always: testing a new system while typing notes on a completely different procedure, tightening joints on Knightmare frames while overseeing a new shipment of Sakuradite, and (much to Cecile's chagrin) talking while eating. He'd never been able to concentrate on just one thing, so by the time he was fifteen or sixteen he'd completely stopped trying. Lloyd knew it drove everybody crazy, but it was simply the way he operated.
They could all get used to it, he would sometimes think.
"It's so damn cold in here." Cecile muttered to herself. She hated it, but they had to keep the lab chilly to keep the machines from overheating. And Cecile's uniform didn't always keep her very warm.
Lloyd glanced at his assistant. Her face was grim and sober. He couldn't help but sympathize with her, because neither of them had expected things in Area 11 to escalate so quickly.
Princess Euphemia dead. Zero and the Japanese outraged. Full-blown rebellion on the horizon. It really was turning into quite a mess.
Cecile spoke again, cutting the eerie silence and jarring Lloyd from his thoughts. "I'm sorry Cecile, could you repeat that?"
"I said to turn around or something. I have to change into my pilot suit."
"Oh, right."
Instead of simply averting his eyes or turning his back, Lloyd actually left the room to sit beside the doorway, giving his assistant complete privacy while keeping her within earshot. He knew she was going to talk to him about what had just happened between him and Suzaku, even though Lloyd hoped she'd drop the subject.
"Why did you try to stop Suzaku?" Cecile asked quietly. Lloyd sighed.
"I'm a military contractor." He said without emotion, hands in his lap, watching her shadow from the doorway.
Her shadow...
That was when he noticed that the light behind Cecile was very bright, and he was sitting in the dark. That meant for a very clear and concise shadow.
Lloyd's mind snapped into multitasking mode, perhaps without him even realizing it. He kept part of his mind, the scientifically rational Left Brain, on the conversation.
The other part of his mind, the deviously imaginative Right Brain, decided to observe Cecile's rather attractive, partially-clothed silhouette.
"You didn't want him killed, did you?" said Cecile, letting her skirt pool around her ankles, slipping off her button-down shirt. She reached around herself to unsnap her bra, then let it fall to the floor with the rest of her clothes. The unsaid part of her statement was left hanging in the air: Maybe there's hope for you after all, if you care about him enough to stop him from entering the fight.
But that wasn't exactly what drove Lloyd, caring for Suzaku. He was not a compassionate man. Cecile knew that. That's why the second part of the statement had not been voiced.
The light behind the young woman illuminated her every line and curve; the muscles in her legs, the swell of her breasts, the slimness of her wrists. Lloyd wasn't sure if she was giving him this view on purpose, but he appreciated it all the same.
In the rational part of his mind, Lloyd scoffed at her statement. "Why should I care?" he said almost bitterly. He was very aware of the bandage on his cheek, under which was the healing scrape from Suzaku's fist.
When Cecile reached into her hair to take out the metal pins, he became very aware of the room's icy temperature as well. She turned enough to the side for him to notice slightly erected nipples. Very briefly (so briefly that, had he not been watching carefully, Lloyd would have missed it) she rubbed her thighs together in an attempt to create a little friction and a little heat.
Perhaps sexual tension was the last thing Lloyd wanted to add to his list of today's frustrations, but he wasn't about to look away.
Oh Miss Cecile, he thought, You had better stop shivering. Or else I'll come over there, warm you up properly, and then give you a real reason to shiver.
His imagination got the better of him, and he pictured his assistant sharing his bed instead of his lab. Her blue-grey eyes wide and close to his. Her lithe body covered in goosebumps that had nothing to do with room temperature.
While half of Lloyd's brain slipped into the gutter, the other half kept up the conversation. "You know as well as I do." he murmured.
He heard a slight intake of breath from the doorway, and Cecile's shadow turned in his direction as she tugged up the zipper of her pilot suit.
Lloyd carried on. "The biggest human flaw is that we are so pitifully fragile, in our bodies, our hearts, and our relationships with each other."
He was speaking, of course, of Suzaku. No matter how brilliant of a pilot he was, he would always be the weakest part of the Lancelot. He had to be, because he was human. He felt emotions, felt love. His love for his princess had been a glaring weakness, in the end. And Lloyd hated it.
"Nevertheless, you can't bend the world or people any which way you want."
Lloyd knew Cecile was right (though he didn't want her to be). She was always right about this sort of thing. Still, he pressed the point.
"I want every part of my mechanisms to function exactly as I wish," he said. "If we lose Kururugi, we'll just have to find another devicer."
"People are not so replaceable, Lloyd."
"Agree to disagree, Cecile."
There was a moment of silence, and then Lloyd chanced a peek up and around the corner. She was fully dressed, so he got up and moved to stand in front of her. She was comfortable in the pilot suit, looking like a warrior.
She was so damn attractive.
"May I ask a personal question, Lloyd?"
He was surprised, but responded, "Fire away."
Cecile squared her feet, put a hand to her hip, and looked Lloyd straight in the eye. "Am I so replaceable as well? Is an assistant and partner as disposable as a devicer?"
Lloyd took a step forward, mere inches away from her. He tucked a strand of her midnight blue hair behind her ear, and the scientific part of his mind said, "You're a different matter, Cecile. You are much more valuable to me than Kururugi."
She smiled slightly, calculatingly. "Good to know." She turned and began walking toward her sutherland. Lloyd went in the opposite direction, to the main deck. They did not look back at one another. They had work to do.
Lloyd wondered if she'd heard the part of his sentence that had gone unsaid. The part that came from the other half of his mind.
Miss Cecile, you're irreplaceable, and more precious to me than you know.
AN: This pairing deserves more love than it gets. I'll be writing much more of these two, so stick around and/or author alert me if you like CecilexLloyd. I'm also gonna experiment with CorneliaxGuilford, SuzakuxEuphemia, and maybe even LelouchxKallen. We'll see.
If you thought this ficlet needed to be rated higher than T, message me about it and I'll hear you out.