IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This is not Chapter 20. I was about to start writing out the next chapter when I realized I had totally forgot to add a part in chapter 19. Just add this part right at the end of Chapter 19 and continue from reading there. Sorry for the troublesome, however for chapter 20 to happen this has to happen. Hope you enjoy!
Finding Destiny
Continuation of chapter 19
(Cagalli's POV)
I stopped walking and looked back at the scene. Feeling dread, I whispered out the name that came to mind.
"Athrun…"
I quickly left the site; people brushed against me as I passed. Finally, I made it to a side street and rounded the corner next to a line of dumpsters. I folded over and threw up.
If I had been in the pizza place on time, I might have been shot. I might be dead. Athrun might be one of the dead, if I could believe in the scrap of information I received.
I made my way back to the streets and looked around for a nearby payphone.
Taking out a quarter, I quickly dialed the number to Athrun's office. The office's receptionist picked up on the first ring, rattling off the names of law partners and local politicians without a pause.
"May I speak with Athrun Zala?" I tired to keep my voice as calm as I could.
"He's in a meeting. May I take a message?"
"Are you sure?" I asked surprised.
"Yes," the woman sounded slightly annoyed. "I saw him go in ten minutes ago, but if you like me to interrupt the meeting…" She trailed off as if she had no intention of doing so.
I hung up without answering. "He wasn't there," I whispered, relieved.
Getting out of the booth, I slowly made my way back to the doctor's house. I let myself in and sat down on the couch. "I'm safer here," I whispered quietly, knowing I would be a fool to leave another message on Athrun's phone again. Deep down I knew if he'd gotten the message, nothing would have stopped him from being there.
"What did you say, Ash?" Mrs. J asked, coming into the living room.
"Where is Miller?" I thought it was odd that he had brought me here and then would disappear without a trace. "I have to talk to him." Maybe Miller could help me.
"He's around. He's always around," the chubby woman answered. "He and the doctor go way back."
"Back to the war…?" No one knows Miller, so he can probably deliver a message to Athrun without Yuli or anyone else noticing, I thought.
I tried to plan and talk to Mrs. J at the same time.
"Yeah, you can say that," Mrs. J said slowly. "Miller fought alongside Orb's Special Forces. He's the kind of soldier who goes deep behind the lines. The doc told me several times that Miller would go back to save wounded soldiers who were brought down. Even when his captain would order him to stay, he would continue to go back until the last man was out."
Mrs. J didn't seem to notice that I was lost in my own problems and only half listening.
"Doc said Miller had four bullets holes in him when he made it back from the last round, and the man he was carrying was covered in blood. But somehow the guy was still breathing. The doc went to work right there in the field trying to save them both. Miller wouldn't let the doc touch him until the pilot was tended to first."
I waited while Mrs. J sipped some sort of liquid from her cup. She then continued, "They shipped both men back that night as soon as they were stable. Within a matter of hours they were in the military hospital."
Mrs. J smiled, knowing she finally caught my full attention. "The pilot lived, thanks to Miller and the doc. Miller, on the other hand, had a hard time getting around for a few months. He wouldn't allow the hospital notify his own wife! He probably feared he wouldn't make it." Taking a quick breath she added, "When he got out of the hospital, the doc got released from duty. Both men had spent much of a night talking about when they would arrive home and how they would meet up and have a drink afterwards."
Frowning slightly, Mrs. J turned away from me and said sadly, "After several months, Doc went over to see him when Miller didn't return his calls. He found Miller sitting in his living room with a loaded .45 across his lap. Appears his wife got tired of waiting and left him. She even sold a little business that had been in his family for three generations. There he was, twenty-five with no wife, and thanks to getting shot up, no career."
Miller's life changed suddenly, like mine. I understood why he felt so lost.
"Apparently, Miller had never been too friendly of a guy, even before he went to fight in the war. When he got back, he was mostly bitter and mean. Only person he would have listened to that day was the doc." Mrs. J took another sip and set the cup down on a nearby table. "Doc talked him into living, if you can call working heavy construction for 15 years living. Miller didn't spend a dime when he didn't need to. He saved every penny until he bought his family's business back."
"Wouldn't it have been destroyed due to Orb's destruction?" I asked curiously.
"The owners who bought the place from Miller's ex-wife rebuilt it after the war was over and when Orb was rebuilt."
"I see. Did he reopen?"
Mrs. J shook her head. "No. He lives above it, in a little apartment the old owners had built. He still doesn't spend a dime if he doesn't need to. He tries to eat at all the free places. He told the doc that those folks leave him alone and he doesn't have to put up with some waiter dropping by every few minutes asking him if he wants something." Smiling softly, Mrs. J excused herself and said she had to make a quick phone call or her daughter, Monday, would sleep all day.
I paced waiting for Miller, planning what I would say. The doc came down for dinner but seemed too tired to eat so I helped him upstairs and sat by his bed as he relaxed. Wordlessly, he reached for my hand.
I held his wrinkled fingers in mine until his breathing slowed in sleep. I then tucked a blanket around him and slipped quietly from the room.
It was dark when I walked out onto the porch, but I was surprised when I noticed Miller leaning against the rail of the steps.
"Evening," I said as if I saw him there every night.
"Evening," he answered back. "You feeling better, pest?"
"Yes, thank you." The "thanks" was for more than him asking about my health, and we both knew it.
"How's the doc tonight?"
"Weaker," I answered sadly.
Miller let out a long sigh but didn't say anything.
I leaned against the porch fence and waited for more questions. When he didn't ask, I said, "I guess you've got a right to know about me, but the stabbing that night was just an accident. The kid was trying to scare Mary. He looked as surprised as I felt when the knife sliced me."
"No questions," Miller responded.
I wasn't sure if he just wasn't interested or hated talking. I still didn't know why he'd helped me, or if he would again.
He was silent. We sat down on the porch in the metal chairs that creaked as we rocked.
Finally, he said in a little more than a whisper, "The Marys told me a cop picked up your bag after you left the bus stop."
"Did you tell them where I am?"
He looked at me with a frown. "I'm not in the habit of telling anyone anything, pest."
"I figured that. I just didn't want the Marys to worry."
Miller huffed loudly. "Don't worry much about them. They have taken quite good care of themselves."
We were silent except for the sounds of the streets.
"My name is not Mary," I said, feeling that I had to tell him the truth from my own mouth. "Then again I suppose you had figured out long ago who I truly am."
Looking up at me carefully he nodded his head in agreement. "Anything else you need to get off your chest, princess?"
"…I'm pregnant."
"I figured that too. You eat more than any skinny woman I have ever seen. Anything else?" he asked slowly, staring at me intensely.
"I'm in danger." A tear rolled down my cheek slowly. "I need your help."
When he didn't say no immediately, I looked up at him carefully. "Please, I need your help. My husband's life might be in great danger, along with the people whom I care about and love."
Watching him closely, I added, "The morning after the bombing, I saw the bomber with a man who is associated with my husband. He said as long as the wife was taken care of, there was no reason to go after Zala. I think he meant kill."
Miller just rocked back in his chair, his face more in shadow than light. "Is your husband a tall guy with a beard?"
"No," I answered, knowing Athrun never grew a beard in his entire life. "Why?" Miller once had asked me before about a man with a beard.
"Does your husband know there's a baby on the way?"
"No. The doc was the first one to inform me," I admitted. "Tell me why you asked about the beard."
"There's a man asking questions. He's not a weasel of a guy like the one who has been after you and I had guessed he wasn't a cop. Romeo says he walks the streets at night, but if he's homeless he's not staying at any shelters."
I didn't want to think of anyone else looking for me. The bomber, Detective Snyder, probably Yuli and his friend was enough. Now a man with a beard was asking questions and drawing enough attention for Miller to get word of it.
"Do you want to go in or go home?" Miller broke into my thoughts.
"More than anything, I want to go home. However, I don't want to endanger anyone. If the bomber found me, he might kill whoever gets in his way. The pizza shooting had to be meant for me."
"It might be a coincidence."
I shook my head. "Not this morning; at dawn, I left a message on Athrun's cell phone. Yuli must have overhead it somehow."
Miller stood up and looked away. "Or…"
"Or what…?" he waited for me to finish.
Turning to face me, he looked at me solemnly. "If you want my help, you've got to consider one more possibility."
"All right," I said slowly, feeling uneasy.
Pulling out a newspaper from his coat pocket, he handed it towards me. Looking at him slowly, he said, "Turn to the gossip column on page 8."
Turning the papers, I stared wide eyed at what I saw. There, in two different pictures were both Athrun and Estelle. Separated, but with the same young woman. Reading the column quickly, it had stated "A new spark for the Zala family- as a strange young lady was now taking over the now missing Mrs. Zala's spot".
"What is this?" I said, surprised.
Clearing his throat, I quickly looked up at Miller, questioning him. "The other possibility that you have to consider is that your husband, Athrun Zala, knew."
………………………………...
Author's Note:
Sorry for this short bothersome snip……..yet deep down I knew it wouldn't really fit well in Chapter 20. I knew I should have remembered it for chapter 19 but it only came to me when I started chapter 20. So I do apologies for the troublesome. I hope you do enjoy it though.
In addition I would like to say thank you to ritachi, my new beta reader! Hopefully now there will be less grammatical errors, which I'm grateful for. Thanks ritachi!
On the bad side of news however, I'm not positive when I will have the next chapter up. School right now is hectic. Projects after projects and test after test. Plus for some odd reason, either people enjoy having religious parties around this time or have their bdays in may is a mystery to me. So I will 2 be busy on the weekend which leaves me little time. I will however try my best in updating ASAP. I might end up breaking chapter 20 into two parts like Chapter 20 A and Chapter 20 B just so I won't keep you guys waiting forever for something new.
I would like to say thank you to :
MissKTSEEDSummonermoi
stuntsheep
cherry
yvonne
asga
lightyearsaway
Anonymous
AnimeSirenkirei31Chayla MaznableThank you for reviewing! From reading the comments, I started to realized Meyrin isn't going to be loved by many and I'm sorry if I kind of tinted her image in the story to the series. I'm trying to get all the characters in their right individual POV. But I also like to play around with them.