"Hey there," Natalie politely greets her father once she appears at the threshold of Rick's office door.
Her father glanced up at her, returned the gesture of a smile, and teased, "Don't act like a stranger now, come on in."
She innately senses no signs of hostility or anger from him but instead there was a rather a serene nature around him.
Once the woman takes a seat in front of him, she poses to him, "Are you angry at me for abandoning my post?"
Rick noted his daughter's facial expression before he responded to her question, "I can't condone your choice from a military perspective but that is completely irrelevant at this very moment."
"First and foremost, I'm speaking as your father. I'm alleviated that you came back unharmed."
The raven haired woman felt at ease once she heard what her father just told her. She was utterly speechless and decides to nod her head at his notion.
'Should I tell him what I found out about Princess Mai?' The young woman ruminates when she watches the old man busies himself around his desk.
'No that would only complicate things…I have to keep a close eye on her.' The solider thought to herself before she decided on the best way to handle the Princess Mai situation.
"So how does it feel to be a godmother to five kids now?" Rick inquired about her feelings on King Aikka and Queen Eva announcement that was concerned about her future position.
The raven haired woman was silently glad that her dad decided to divert their attention on to blissful news that dealt with her.
"I'm excited! I am so happy that I would even be chosen for that kind of responsibility." His daughter expresses her genuine opinion about the situation.
"Yes, that's a weight that you will have to bear but at least you don't have to carry it alone. After all, you have Minato's assistance." He remarked with a small smile on his face.
Natalie's cheeks were pink after processing what her father was telling her, 'Oh…I think I know what it is now.'
"I guess so, but it seems as if I just can't get away from him. Why is that?"
"Why can't I have another twelve-year break? This is so frustrating!" The young woman starts to vent about Minato after a mere mention of his name.
The raven haired male could not help but to laugh at all the inquires that his daughter directs his way once he says that name, "You two were simply made for one another…"
His sights observe his daughter protests against his previous statement, "There's no way that we were made for each other! How can you say something like that?"
"Shush, now listen to me. Did you ever wonder why Minato and Namikaze visited our home as often as they did?" Rick catchizes to his daughter.
"Ah come on dad, don't tell me its because…" The captain held up her hands to wave at him as if to signal him to cease.
"Well...that's one of the many reasons why but I would be lying if I said it wasn't the primary motive." The older man reveals with the same smile evident on his face.
"Oh, I refuse to sit here and listen to this! I'm so totally gone!" Natalie shrieks as embarrassment was evident on her face and in her choice of words.
'Like I said…there was something that changed between them…kids…' He was thinking to himself after getting a good laugh from his daughter Natalie.
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Minato eventually made his way down the same hallway that Natalie just came from. He was presently deep in thought, 'I wonder why Natalie couldn't look me in the face?'
"Hey Minato!" A voice snapped him out of his thoughts when he glanced over to where he heard someone called out his name.
His obsidian eyes was beholding Queen Eva, currently in a wheelchair, observing the twins playing in the courtyard.
It was then did the blonde registered that it was the queen, who yelled his name, "Yeah, come over here! I need to talk to you about something."
The young man did not have second thoughts about going and head over to where Eva currently sits, "Hello there Minato, you look…radiating today?"
'Radiating? What is she suggesting?' He repeats to himself while he searches for any signs that will quickly reveals her purpose.
"Can I ask you a question, Minato?" Eva carefully interrogates while she continues to keep a watch on her current responsibilities.
"Sure anything, what has been nagging at you?" The solider asks in a polite tone before he settles in next to the queen.
"How where you able to find Natalie?" The raven haired woman with crimson tips grilled right off the rip, which suited her straightforward personality.
His obsidian eyes gaze over to see her facial expression and display that she was serious about what she just ask him.
"How can I explain it…I was talking to someone when they said something and it hit me! I knew right then exactly where she could possibly be." The knight verbalizes while he leans backward until his back connects against the grass.
"Oh okay then," She mutters in an tone of indifference toward Minato. "I was wondering, how long have you known Natalie?"
The man sat up after he heard the question and rested his elbow on his propped knee, "I would say about twelve years now."
The pregnant woman feigns shock and discloses, "So out of all these years that we've known each other, you've never told me that you knew Natalie for that long?"
"My apologies but we weren't on good terms with one another at the time."
"I was surprised to see her when I came back to the castle." Minato supplied an answer to her question not aware that his tone wavered a little.
The queen was shocked at his answer and tone he used with her, "I mean, I have known her every since she was eight years old."
"You would've at least thought that we would have still been in touch with one another. It was as if she didn't want to see or speak to me at all."
"Do you have any idea as to why she could have been so upset to not talk or even converse with you for an elongated period?" Eva pumps for the reason why.
Minato was peering over at her before shrugging his shoulders, "Who knows? You of all people should be familiar with the fact that Natalie doesn't keep her life as an open book."
"But there is something that I did realized a few days ago. For some reason, every time I came to visit she would never be physically present."
'That's because she is in love with you…' The raven haired woman with crimson tips concluded to herself after she heard his statement.
"I have a question for you Eva. I need your brutally honest opinion on this." The knight pops the question he wants to ask her.
She displays a weird expression and allows it to pass since her curiosity starts to get the best of her now, "Minato, I know that with my kind of personality then the question you are about to ask me is to honestly answer."
'If you say so Queen Eva,' He conceives to himself before he releases a sigh from his mouth.
"Do you think Natalie and I would make a decent couple?"
"I mean, I don't know where this idea popped up in my head from but I feel as if I can trust you with this question." Minato asked his question.
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"Oh excuse me, I didn't mean to run into…you." Natalie momentarily paused once she realized exactly who she had ran into.
Golden lights appeared within her vision when she did not know how to react to what she saw before her.
Before the young woman could mumble even a sentence let only a word, Jordan beats her to the punch, "I know that we don't have a good history together but can you at least spare me a civil conversation for once."
The solider remained deafly mute before she silently agrees to what he just proposes to her. 'I can at least give him one conversation and I do mean just one.'
"Alright, you can go ahead with what you want to tell me." The captain gives him the verbal go ahead as she folds her arms across her chest.
The Avatar was releasing a sigh of relief seeing as Natalie was willing to at least comply with some of his standards. "First off, I wanted to tell you welcome back since it has been awfully quiet around here."
She was feeling a throbbing in her temples, "What are you trying to get at Avatar?"
"Have you ever had that companion who you can always seem to trust no matter what? That they were so willing to give up there needs just to help out another's selfish desire?"
"It's weird because you never really know their intentions for the other but when it is revealed it is such a beautiful thing!"
'What's he getting at with that?' The woman wonders after she listens to him ask her that question.
It was at that very moment did realization hit her. The question that he directed towards her, for some odd reason Minato's face emerged headfirst in her contemplation.
'Ugh…' The raven haired woman tensed at that thought.
His sights closely observe her reaction, sense that she withdraw inside of of her own little world and debate with her consciousness and subconscious.
"You know I didn't mean for you to go deep in thought about it and zone out on me." The golden figure remarked her after he touched the top of her head with his hand.
"Look…you're lucky to even be standing in front of me at this moment."
"Now if you don't remove your hand from atop my head then you won't like what will happen next. I guarantee you that." Her voice was low but loud enough for him to hear her warn him.
The young man immediately removed his hand once the dark anger the raven haired beauty had given off in his direction. 'No wonder she is feared by men.'
"My apologies, I got ahead of myself in this conversation. Uhm, there appears to be some tranquility in your aura that is very soothing to me." The intergalactic dignitary was apologizing for pushing the boundaries with Natalie again.
The green eyed woman issued him a strange look after what he just told her, 'Tranquility? It is soothing to him?'
"Trust me, that's something that you will not understand unless you were in my position."
"Anyway, I shall take my leave before I ruin what good favors that I find myself in. Wouldn't you agree with me on that?" The Avater catechizes while he stares at her dead in the face.
"If you say so, I have other things that will gladly occupy my time and my thoughts."
"Besides, where do you get the nerve asking and saying such bizarre things to someone that doesn't like you?" She demanded before she departed from the area.
Jordan tilted his head to the right, returned his head back to its normal position and shrugged his shoulders, "I cannot tell you that. You will have to find that out on your own."
"Wait a minute, first you claim that you want to have a civil conversation. Next, you go spurting out nonsense about having a close friend. Then you sense that there is some peace in my aura."
"Lastly, you declare that you cannot tell me. What kind of stunt are you pulling this time Avatar?"
He simply turned his back on the beautiful woman and wore a small frown evident on his face. 'I cannot tell you because you already know the answer to that question. You are simply in denial about the fact.'
'I swear he has more sides to him then this entire castle.' The captain declared to herself in frustration. She was repeatedly groaning and rubbing her temples to stop her headache.
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"Alright you two, it's time to come inside now!" Eva loudly yells at her twins. Her crimson eyes were directing toward the darkening sky.
"Come on Kiera, let's go! Mother is calling." Kieran tells his sister after he peers over his shoulder towards his mother.
"Good. I was starting to getting tired." Kiera tiredly responds before she stifles a yawn with one of her hands.
"Hey, what do you think about Minato and Natalie?" He suddenly asked his twin about the recent news of Minato and Natalie accepted the roles as their godparents.
The young girl shrugs her shoulders as a physical answer instead of a verbal one. "Why'd you ask me that?"
The young boy glances over his shoulder again, "I don't know if it is just me but I saw both Natalie and Minato talking to mom in a short period of time."
"Oh, I see now," Kiera was responding while placing the bottom of her fist in her open palm, "Yeah, I saw it too. What do you think?"
Kieran directs his attention back to his twin, "I don't know myself. I think they like each other."
"Is that so?!" She asked with delight in her tone. "I like where this is going with those two!"
"I have to say that I am a little jealous of Minato though." He suddenly replies to his twin's question.
"Well then, you'll have no other choice but to confess to your crush with your undying love." Kiera jokes with her brother, who laughs at the notion.
"I believe that it will pass but let's hurry up. We don't want mom to stress herself to much, now do we?" Kieran requests for his sister.
"Nope or she might go in to labor early. That's bad news for our next brothers or sisters." Kiera agrees with what her twin said.
The twins ran full speed towards their mother with wide smiles on their faces.
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Author's Note:
12.10.16 Major editing revisions
06.26.17 Major cleaning edits