Chapter 9
[Carpenteria Base, EARTH]
"For someone who got separated, not by choice, from her boyfriend and is FINALLY going to meet him in person," Dahlia spoke as she prepared the equipment needed to draw her blood and check her bullet wounds, "you don't look excited or happy."
Shiho offered a small smile to Dearka's younger sister who happened to be her personal doctor, ever since she took two bullets meant for Yzak. Sent by Ezalia, this doctor's job is to make sure she doesn't participate in the escalating conflict between PLANTS and Earth Alliance.
"We've been together here close to a week now, you can talk to me, you know." Dahlia pulled the strap tight over Shiho's arm and tapped on the vein that appeared for her to draw blood.
"4 tubes of blood, seriously?" The brunette with blunt-cut bangs shot the blond with her signature cold look. "Sorry my friend, that look doesn't work on me ANYMORE." The doctor rolled her eyes before she focused on getting the needle in and filling the first tube with Shiho's blood.
The DEEP ARMS pilot chuckled, "I scared you for the phone only once and you gained immunity right after. Not good."
A small chuckle slipped from Dahlia as she skillfully switched another empty tube, "but you didn't call him in the end. Can I ask why?"
Shiho took a deep breath, "I think it's better that I ask him face-to-face on those topics…"
Even though there were endless questions running through her head regarding his past engagement, about Lacus' role in her current relocation on Earth, how he is coping etc, she wanted to see and gauge for herself that he was alright before asking her questions.
From what Shinn told her previously, she knew Yzak was having a hard time because of his position in the Supreme Council, the National Defense Committee, and ZAFT.
Having a hard time was an oversimplification, she hoped that he wasn't suffering any post-traumatic stress from the failed assasination attempt. He may be in the military, a war-hardened soldier, but there's a limit to how much one could take.
She recalled how distraught he was after dealing with the super weapon commissioned by the late Chairman Dullindal. How his entire being was tense and rigid with disbelief and fear as she held him in his room. How he was almost stuttering as he revealed his thoughts to her. And yet, he appeared unfazed in front of the team and led them through the final mission before he retreated to his office, which also served as his quarter.
"You want to make sure he's okay before you blast at him, right?" Dahlia revealed nonchalantly as she completed drawing blood, removed the needle and applied pressure on the spot. Shiho raised her eyebrow in surprise, 'how was she able to guess that?'
"You may be the significant other to Terror of ZAFT with your work social antics, but after hanging out with you for 5 days now, I know you're a softie at heart." Dearka's younger sister smiled warmly at her.
"That's not true. I'm not a softie." Shiho clipped, continuing to apply pressure on the spot after Dahlia stuck a band-aid on it.
"Okay, I'll cut you some slack. You're a softie when it comes to Yzak." Dahlia chuckled and shot her teasing eye, before the brunette could retort, the younger Elthman quickly added. "You should have seen yourself AND listen to your tone whenever you're on the phone with Yzak. Anyone who has worked with you will have their jaws unhinged in shock."
Shiho rolled her eyes at the blonde's exaggeration, "are you sure you're Dearka's younger sister? You sound like him. You two should be twins."
"You two are making me SO JEALOUS and UPSET that I'm single, you know!" Dahlia pouted as she passed her a small bag of bandage and medication for possible infection of her wound and painkillers. There was also a pocket-size sealed packaging, "here. Take it."
The brunette frowned for a second at the sealed packaging in front of her - she has no idea the contents, before directing her bewilderment to her personal doctor, "what is this? Strange, it looks familiar but I don't recall what it is."
The lady in front of her shot her a bored look, "this and its content are going to be your BFFs over the next few days, when you finally get to see your boyfriend in person."
Taking in the persistent puzzled look on Shiho's face, Dahlia rolled her eyes. "Condoms, my friend. You do know the military provides this and other basic healthcare stuff to all their staff, especially those on the frontline, right? That's why it looks familiar to you but you don't recall - because you probably didn't need it last time but it's different now." She wriggled her eyebrow suggestively and slapped the package on Shiho's palm in a dramatic fashion.
Based on the file that Ezalia handed to her during the rushed meeting, Dahlia knew Shiho wasn't seeing anyone in the past. Neither was she sexually active. Better to be safe than be sorry, right?
Upon realization, Shiho's cheeks began to heat up and despite the colouring of her face, she gave a firm response, "no."
The doctor raised her eyebrows at her in surprise, "no, as in you don't want it because you're sure that Yzak has it. Or no, as in you totally forgot about it and you're taking it, just in case Yzak doesn't have it or enough of it."
"No, I don't need it -"
Dahlia's eyes widened in shock, "so you're gonna risk fulfilling my boss' (Ezalia) long-time wish of becoming a grandma."
Shiho swallowed and became stiff, "no! We just got together and to be needing this, it's -"
The doctor recovered slightly from shock and continued spilling the beans, not catching a word the brunette is saying, "I'm not supposed to be telling you this but Ezalia has been going on about having 4 grandchildren is the minimum she's expecting from Yzak and whoever his partner is. She's given up on trying to set him up on dates and now she's trying to guilt-trip him for ignoring his aging mum's request."
Dahlia shrugged nonchalantly, "there you have it. She's expecting 4 grandchildren and every time he visits, she will remind him about it."
Shiho shook her head at the revelation, "look… thanks for sharing this interesting insight between the mother her son, but I'm not having it. I'm in the military and I don't know what I want to do or where I want to go after ZAFT… after this neverending mess of armed conflicts, so it's too soon to have a child -"
The blonde had a grin of the Chesire cat, "so you don't mind having one with Yzak then, nice."
"No! I don't mean it that way!" She exclaimed and dragged a palm down her face, "I'm too young to have a kid and my main point here is, Yzak and I just got together. Having to use THAT is too soon. No."
Taking in her reaction, Dahlia giggled at the brunette as she put away the sealed packaging. "I'm not going to force you to take it, but…"
She passed her sachet of familiar-looking pills, causing an exasperated sigh from Shiho. "Not the pills. I've stopped consuming because they screwed up my appetite and focus big time. I can't work or sleep when I'm on them. You should have it noted somewhere in my medical report."
"I know but you need these, in case your period resumes while you're here on Earth. Better to have it with you than not… and these are the improved versions, the side effects are less severe than the other one you had."
Shiho stared blankly at the sachet, not moving an inch.
"Come on. It's not going to take up much space in your backpack. What if your period resumes and the nasty cramps come along? I won't be with you over the next few days to save you from the pain. Yzak will be useless when it comes to this too." Dahlia persuaded with a gentle smile. She hates the time of the month too and she doesn't know whether hers being regular is a good thing or a bad thing.
"How I wished I was back in space." The pilot of DEEP ARMS muttered as she grabbed the sachet and put it in the pocket of her jacket. "Anything else?"
Dearka's younger sister shook her head and grabbed Shiho's backpack as she hooked her arm around hers, leading her out of their shared quarter. "I'll see you to the pick-up location for the exit transport."
She took a deep breath as the shuttle came to a halt. Even though it has been slightly over a week since she last saw Yzak in person (when she attended the Independence Day and Memorial Service and ended up being shot), she was nervous. She didn't know what to say to him and how he would react seeing her again.
She grabbed her backpack, slinged a strap over her good shoulder without the bullet wounds and stepped out of the shuttle. Much to Dahlia's surprise, the wounds are healing fast and she no longer needed to use the special bandage and medical plaster in order to hold the wound closed and prevent her from moving too much.
Taking another deep breath, she scanned the parking lot in front of her hoping to see a familiar face, of someone who she's excited and nervous to see again.
Seeing that there were a handful of black sedan cars in the parking lot for visitors (those who came to pick up soldiers booking out of the base), she checked her phone for the details of the car that Yzak will be driving during this trip on Earth, when she felt a slight tug on her backpack. As though someone was trying to help her carry it.
"I was expecting a bigger bag since we're spending a few days together."
End of Chapter 9
Author's note:
I'm back! It's been years since my last update and to cut a long story short, I'm thankful to be happily married to a loving husband, with whom I had the opportunity to build our nest together and be there for me when my health took a turn for the worse.
Over the past years when I paused the updates, I found out that I had autoimmune disorder and went through several relapses ever since. Recovery hasn't been easy but I made it this far with the support and care from my family and friends.
Now that I'm expecting, I've decided to cut back on MANY things and expectations which puts me A LOT of (unnecessary) stress, to avoid a relapse as much as possible… and here I am, I found my way back to writing this story.
I hope to finish it before my little bundle of joy arrives in Sept *fingers-crossed* :) He / She is my first child and I'm excited to welcome him / her :)
How have all of you been? This pandemic is still here but I hope the email notification of this chapter update brings a smile to your face and brightens your day. THAT is what I had in mind when I wrote this chapter.
Did you notice that I didn't jump straight into the dark dry stuff like politics (Lacus Vs Yzak), the war (ZAFT vs Earth Alliance) etc. It was light-hearted (I tried) and intended to be a fan-service in a way (sorry, nothing too fluffy or steamy, I just got back on this story, so I'm warming up with this update).
I won't be aiming for the length of previous chapters but to update as frequent as possible, so you can expect similar lengths to this chapter going forward.
Hope you enjoy it!
Leave a comment on your thoughts, I'll reply in the next chapter! Stay safe and well everybody!