Disclaimer: Sunrise

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The back deck was starting to get lively as they finished the preparations and started their grill-party.

Kira started to put the ingredients brought by the girls to the grill as Tolle and Auel came from inside, bringing the cooler box filled with different kinds of drinks, from soft drink to alcohol. While the meat was sizzling on the hot grill, Meyrin and Lacus started to pass drinks to everyone.

"Alex, what do you want?" Lacus asked while holding a beer can and coke. "Is beer okay with you?"

"Yeah, thanks," he said as Lacus passed him the beer. "Cagalli what do you—" Alex turned and saw Cagalli—who was standing beside him—was staring at the beer in his hand. "You want some beer too?" He asked, offering the one in his hand.

"I'm fine with anything, but if you drink, then maybe it's better if I don't have any alcohol," Cagalli said, declining the beer. Besides, she noticed that Lacus was staring at her again with a displeased face. Meyrin then offered her a glass of calpis, the same thing she was having. Despite him being puzzled by the way Cagalli responded, Alex decided to let that go for now.

After they all had a drink on their hands, Lacus as the initiator of the get-together gave a few words, thanking all of them who participated by coming and bringing the foods, and then toasting for an even better friendship and for work also. Then Kira started to hand out each of them a serving of what's on the grill.

When everyone was enjoying the meat and vegetables and appreciating Kira's work and Auel's marinade sauce, Alex scooted over to Cagalli and asked the question that had been on his mind. "Why does your drink of choice depend on me having alcohol or not?" Alex asked as he sat beside Cagalli, who was eating the grilled veggies.

After completely swallowing her food, she replied in a half-joking manner, grinning, "Remember the first time we met? We can't have that drinking fiasco happen again, can we? Who knows what you'll do this time if that happens again?"

And of course Alex knew what she meant. The night before their first meeting, he had been consuming enough drinks that could last him for a year in one night, and in that drunken stupor he had gone out of his way and made a contact with Cagalli through a dating apps, which resulted in their meeting, which led to them living together, and then ended up to them engaged to each other at present time.

But that was not Alex's most favorite moment in his life, for sure.

So Alex's face turned sour at her words. "I won't! That time is a one time thing, and it won't happen again, ever!"

"Oh, I don't know. I just think one of us should stay sober just in case. What if you do things even worse than last time?" Cagalli pulled herself higher to whisper in Alex's ear, "Like sleeping in the wrong bed or something."

"That. Won't. Happen." Alex emphasized each word, hissing back at Cagalli.

And then Cagalli just laughed out loud heartily, something he had never really heard before. "I know, I know, geez," she grinned at him, "But that's what makes the current us, no?" Cagalli finished with a question to him, bringing her glass to her lips.

Alex remembered one of his biggest mistakes in life, that brought her to his life.

A lot of things have happened—you could say it was the turning point of his life—ever since he met her.

A lot of things have changed as well. Like how his attention was no longer centered around Lacus—mostly it was still her, but he was starting to see other things, all because of Cagalli. If she was not with him today, he might be sending Lacus a sad, longing look in spite of her husband being present with them. She was being a good distraction for him, making Alex forget about his broken heart even though only for a little while.

And despite all the danger surrounding them—which Cagalli was oblivious to—the life that he thought would be gloomy because of the heartache, seems a little bit more tolerable now.

Because of her…

Well, at least his plan was starting to work and he was no longer miserable, not really.

And seeing her bright face, Alex couldn't help but let out a short chuckle with her.

And then, they heard a click of a shutter.

"You guys had a nice vibe there," Miriallia commented with a smile, checking the result on the screen of her camera. "It looks good! I'll send this too later. You wanna have a look?" and without waiting for her answer, she approached Cagalli and showed her the screen.

Surprisingly enough, they looked like an actual couple who were having fun, laughing together with drinks in their hands. Cagalli was glad that she and Alex looked convincing enough to his friends, despite some moments where they had no idea how to respond to them and was worried it would be a giveaway for their cover to be blown. But so far, it looked like nobody noticed anything they shouldn't have. So, it seemed like they fooled them enough to make them think that she was Alex's actual fiance. Cagalli was glad all these past two months they spent together trying to get to know each other, just for the sake of their cover, was worth it.

The rest of the night went by smoothly. All of them enjoyed the good foods and drinks, had a nice chit-chat and a bout of laughter. After all the meats and veggies were devoured by them all, next came the fruits for dessert. There, Cagalli knew that peach was Alex's favorite fruit when she saw him reach for it first after Lacus offered them to him, gloating that she peeled and sliced all of them.

After that, they played some games too, though Cagalli only participated at the start and then decided to just watch from the sides since she wasn't as good as the others—to be honest, Cagalli didn't have much experience with playing games with other people so she easily lost to the others. After that, she mostly watched how Alex interacted with his friends—because he was the only person she was familiar with. But at times, Miriallia and Meyrin step aside and join her watching the other playing.

At one point, Miri asked her about the things that she had been holding back since this morning, asking about Cagalli's leg. Of course, she insisted that Cagalli didn't have to talk about it if she didn't want to.

So Cagalli told her the basic story she told all the people who asked, that she got close enough to the conflicted area in Orb and got unlucky, leaving the gory details out and explained it in a moderate manner as best as she could.

After they cleaned up and enjoy the rest of their drinks, just lounging at the deck post-dinner, enjoying the ocean breeze and the starry night that looked clear since there area was considerably had almost no light pollution, Meyrin suddenly suggested something, "Auel and I brought some fireworks, want to light them up?" Everyone immediately got hyped and prepared for it—Meyrin went to her room for a while to take the fireworks, followed by Kira who was fetching a bucket of water for later. Summer was usually the time for fireworks—either as a big event with enormous ones or a backyard type like the ones Meyrin brought, so most of the party members, who were PLANTs locals, were excited about it.

When they all walked to the sandy beach with various kinds of fireworks—the rocket, fountain, sparklers, even some firecrackers, Alex noticed that Cagalli's face wasn't as excited as the others as they followed the rest of the gang.

"Cagalli?" He asked, curious. "What is it? You don't look… good?" he ended with an unsure tone when Cagalli stopped a few meters away from where they set up the firecrackers.

"Nah… I'm okay…" Her voice sounded unsure herself, Alex started to doubt she was really alright. But he thought that Cagalli would eventually tell him if she was feeling unwell, because she usually didn't hide things.

Seeing that she made no attempt to approach the others, and the way she was eyeing the fireworks warily, Alex asked again. "You don't like fireworks…?" Albeit inconspicuous, he believed he saw Cagalli give him a small nod.

Alex decided to watch from the side with Cagalli, while the others were fusing on the fireworks Meyrin had brought along. It was good that they were so preoccupied with the fireworks that they didn't notice them both not joining them.

Seemed like they started with the firecracker first when Alex heard the familiar loud, rattling sound that continued for a while. At the same time, he could feel Cagalli tense as soon as the explosion started. While the girls squealed and the boys laughed at their reaction, Alex noticed that Cagalli's face was clearly looking pale and she was shutting her eyes tightly. Her body was shaking slightly, her hands were covering her ears. Faintly, he remembered when he saw Cagalli awake in his living room, like she was somewhere else instead of here with him.

"Cagalli…" Alex softly called out, his hand floated in the air, only halfway from touching her; just like that time, he wasn't sure if it was okay to touch her or not. "Do you want to go inside?" he offered. Cagalli, contrary to her usual self, didn't say anything and only nodded submissively and didn't react much when Alex led her back inside the house.

Cagalli didn't really remember how she got to the sofa in the living room. From the time they mentioned fireworks, all she could think about was the image it created in her head.

Fireworks.

Fire.

Explosion.

Bombs.

Mines.

"Here, drink this," Cagalli saw a glass of coke in front of her, and felt someone dove down on the sofa beside her.

"I'm not thirsty, though," Cagalli said, still taking the glass from him despite her own words.

"You look like you were going into shock. I heard that sugar is good for someone when they go into shock, so… You don't have to drink it if you don't want to," Alex stared straight front.

Cagalli sipped the coke just to appreciate his kindness, but in the end surprised herself when she emptied the glass in no time. Was she actually in shock?

When she was about to put the glass on the table in front of her, she realized Alex had gone to the kitchen to retrieve the actual bottle of the coke and refilled her glass. Mumbling a short thanks, Cagalli sipped her glass slowly this time.

None of them talk after that. Even though they were inside, they could still hear the loud sound of the fireworks. But at least Cagalli's face was noticeably better than before, even if just slightly.

"You can go back if you want, you know," Cagalli finally said to Alex. "No need to be stuck here with me. Go and enjoy your time with your friend," she felt bad for dragging him down inside with her. Plus it was kinda awkward sitting here with him in silence.

"I don't really find the fireworks entertaining either, so I'm good here," Alex refused. But he felt the silence was a little bit too much so he added, "Do you want to talk about it?" From the corner of his eyes, he could slightly see Cagalli shaking her head. "I won't push you to talk if you don't want to. But keeping it inside is not good for you either. So…" Alex paused, hesitating to say the rest of his thought.

What Cagalli was having now, as well as what he had watched of her, what Cagalli was having was probably a trauma post war. And that was not something that one could easily open up to someone else, not even to a family member. Let alone to him, who was nothing to her except for a friend with some benefits—specific benefits.

But seeing her struggling a lot, for several times, was making him unable to be indifferent toward her. Alex knew they were just roommates, they didn't really see each other except for weekends or at times Alex was home early enough to catch her before nighttime. Even so, they still live together, so they were each other's closest person for the time being.

"I… uh… know it must be difficult for you to talk to me, I'm nothing to you but just a roommate to achieve your goals and so are you to me. But we are… well at least I consider you as my friend now… So… If you need someone to talk to… I'm here… Just try to open up even if just a little bit, just to the part that you are comfortable to share with me. Even though it's fake, we are still going to get married and we'll be living together at least for a year, and it's not that short of a time. You'll feel better spending your time with me if you can be comfortable with me to some extent, right?"

Alex didn't push her again after saying that. He already offered what he was willing to do to Cagalli, and all he could do now was wait for her, if she was going to take it or not.

When the muffled sound of the fireworks was getting softer—maybe they had switched to the sparklers?—Alex heard Cagalli start to talk, "The sound of fireworks reminded me of home."

Home. Something that reminded you of home was usually a nice thing, such as homemade meals, some kind of scent, old songs, or other things. While in Cagalli's case, things that reminded her of home usually were not pleasant things. Her home, Orb, was currently ragging with internal conflict between the Government and the armed insurgency party. And it was causing many damages to the civilians, be it physical or mental.

And Cagalli had both.

"Back then, sometimes I heard it, sometimes I saw it. In the night, they were even clearer; the sound… and the flash… I lost my home… my family… my friends…" Alex noticed Cagalli's fingers holding the glass were turning white.

So, without thinking much about it, he took one of her hands into his.

"They are all in the past," Alex tried to sooth her. "You are going to get your green card and live a good life after this. You won't have to go back home again."

Cagalli let out a small, bitter laugh. "I don't even have a home to go back to."

You have me.

The words were on the tip of his mouth when the image of Athrun Zala came to his mind again.

Their current relationship was only for the time being, and after Cagalli got her green card, it would be better if she stopped being involved with him. He was too dangerous, his world was too dangerous for her.

After all of this ended, he would have to send her far away, where no one from his past, Athrun or anyone, could find her. That would be the best for her.

And he would probably have to move somewhere else too, to keep Lacus safe.

Before he could say anything to respond to her, Alex could hear a rhythmic tippy tappy sound of flip-flops. Then from the kitchen, Lacus emerged with a relieved face.

"Alex, what are you doing here? You are missing out!" Lacus approached them with a disapproving look toward Cagalli.

"Cagalli was suddenly feeling unwell, so I'm here keeping her company. I'm sorry we just went back inside without saying anything, but don't worry about us, you guys can continue without us," Alex explained, still holding Cagalli's hand. Meanwhile Cagalli was not in the mood to handle Lacus so she kept her gaze down to the glass on her hand. Alex's excuse that she was not feeling well should be enough for her to keep silent without being considered rude to the host.

"Is that so? Then I think you should call it a night then. You must be tired after such a long drive and all the things we did today," Lacus smiled sympathetically to Cagalli. "Alex, why don't you take her to your room? We'll wait for you," she turned back to Alex with a different smile.

Yep, she wanted to remove her from the party, Cagalli thought to herself. Clearly she didn't want Cagalli joining their gathering.

Cagalli too, had had enough pretending to be Alex's fiancee in front of everyone for today, so she decided to just go to her room compliantly and rest her body a bit, since there was no way she could sleep at all tonight.

"Actually, I think I'll go with her. Can you tell the others about Cagalli and we are calling it a night? You guys can enjoy the rest of your night, don't mind us," Alex put his best friendly smile to Lacus before getting up and held his hand out to Cagalli helping her get on her feet. "Can you stand, or should I carry you again like last time?" Alex said in a low voice—but enough for Lacus to hear— and then he let out a small chuckle.

"Shut up," Cagalli pouted, making sure Lacus couldn't hear her answer. And led by Alex, both of them headed upstairs, leaving Lacus gaping at their leave.

With a start, Alex sat up and found that he was lying on the bed, in his and Cagalli's room, at the beach house that was owned by Kira's family.

He remembered taking Cagalli, who was frightened by the fireworks, upstairs. He wasn't feeling right leaving Cagalli to rest in the room, while he was out partying with the others. Besides, he felt Lacus' words when she suggested Cagalli to rest was a little bit off to him.

So, they spent their time doing whatever they used to do at home. Alex bought his tablet and was doing some research for his work and then ending up reading news. Cagalli was taking out something like a journal, and wrote a lot of things on it; mostly her experience with Alex's friends after today's party. Last thing he remembered, Cagalli was still in the room with him, but now she was nowhere to be seen.

And as usual, his eyes felt so dry when he slept without doing his night routine.

Checking the time, his tablet showed 3:42. Figuring that no one would be awake in this hour—except for Cagalli who said that she wouldn't sleep at all, Alex walked to the bathroom and did the routine he missed, and walked out of the room in search of Cagalli. Down the stairs, he checked the living room first but found no one there—though he saw Cagalli's book on the table. So she was here, and then either she went to the deck or maybe the beach by herself.

Heading to the kitchen, he saw Kira entering from the sliding door connecting the kitchen to the deck. "Oh, Alex," Kira greeted as he was coming to his line of sight.

"Hi, Kira. Didn't expect to see you here," Alex tried to hide his grimace. Being alone with Kira was something that he wished he could avoid through this gathering. So he tried to find an excuse so he didn't have to talk much with him. But Kira opened his mouth first, "I was woken up and feeling thirsty, so I went down to fetch some water. I'm just heading back again. Are you looking for Cagalli?"

Kira's question was stopping him on his tracks. "Huh? …Yeah… Did you… by any chance… see her?"

"She was sitting on the beach, looking at the ocean. I saw her from the kitchen so I just went to greet her. She said she had trouble sleeping." Kira pointed behind him.

"Thanks," Alex said briefly. But when he walked forward, Kira didn't move an inch from the front of the sliding door.

"I'm sorry, but I thought that I might not get a chance to talk to you again like this. I just want to ask you something… if you don't mind."

"What is it?"

"Do you… have any feelings for Lacus…?"

For a while, Alex didn't know how to react. He himself thought that he had done a pretty good job for not really giving any attention to Lacus. He always stopped himself when he wanted to look her way. Was it not enough? Or did he unconsciously keep doing that?

"I see…"

Kira's words brought his attention back. Wait, he hadn't given him any answer yet. "I'm sorry, what?" Alex was bewildered.

"Your silence is enough of an answer for me."

Damn. "No, I don't think you— I mean… I don't…" Alex didn't know how to answer as he got flustered. He realized that if he didn't have any feelings for Lacus, he would have responded as if he had no clue at all. But the way he acted, Alex was stunned because he hadn't thought that Kira got any idea about his feelings so he couldn't respond right away.

He couldn't let Kira be suspicious of her relationship with Cagalli. And moreover, Alex couldn't let him believe that he still had feelings for his wife. "No, I…." he tried again.

But even so, Kira's kind smile didn't waver, though he could see it didn't reach his eyes.

Alex couldn't understand what he was thinking.

But there might be no point in lying to this guy. He already knew.

So he decided to give him the best answer he could. "I did," Alex put emphasis on the past tense. "But I know I'm not the one for her. I'm not the best for her. She never sees me that way," Alex couldn't help but feel bitter at his own words; he was never enough for her. He wondered if it was shown on his face. "But I think you might just be that person for her. She's yours now. So keep her safe, make her happy." Now that Alex had a strong reason to let Lacus go, it felt just a tiny little bit easier for him to say all those.

Though that didn't mean that the pang in his heart went away completely. He still hoped that there would be an alternate ending to his story with Lacus. To be happy with her together.

No, he couldn't risk her life.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to go find my fiance now," Alex took another step, and now Kira moved away, giving him access to the sliding door.

"Cagalli!"

"Huh? Alex? Why are you here?"

"How long have you been here? What are you doing?" Alex passed through the steps connecting the deck to the beach, approaching Cagalli who was sitting on the sand, with her forearm crutches lying beside her.

"I told you I won't sleep, so I've been killing some time here. I read a book in the living room, finished it earlier than expected, so I decided to take a walk outside and enjoy the breeze. Though I couldn't walk that far. The sand is not stable enough for my crutches," Cagalli said, still sitting where she was. "I also talked a little bit with Kira earlier."

"Really? About what?" Alex asked, surprised. He didn't think Kira would approach Cagalli for more than a small polite greeting.

"...Just asking if I enjoyed this party and asking me to come again with you next time."

"What's with the pause at the start?" Alex noticed the delay in her answer, as if Cagalli was editing her response.

"If I say it was about Lacus will you let go? Cause I don't think you need to hear it."

Alex's brow furrowed deeper. Why would Kira and Cagalli talk about Lacus? "You are not talking about my feelings for Lacus to him, right?"

"What? No! Why would I talk to him about it? Why did you think that?"

"I met him on my way here. Kira just asked me if I have any feelings for Lacus, and I wonder who gave him the ideas."

"Definitely not me. I didn't talk about that with him. Though I would suggest you control your reaction when you are with her cause I noticed that you're still following her with your eyes. You watched her in a different way than you watch Miriallia or Meyrin. You are subtle enough, but when her husband is there, it's only natural that he notices. I noticed," Cagalli stressed the word, looking up to Alex. "Well, I know it must be difficult to forget a 3-years-worth of feelings and love. I think you are doing good enough, but let's do better next time. You want to let her go completely, right?"

After a moment of silence, Alex finally answered, "... Yeah… I do."

"Also…" Cagalli started again, but then hesitated, contemplating if she had to tell him or not.

"What?"

"Nothing. Forget it," Cagalli shook her head and stared at the ocean again.

Alex furrowed his brows, couldn't be helped but felt curious. He felt like Cagalli was about to talk of something still related to Lacus. But then, he decided to not ask for more. If she wanted to talk about it, she would do it in her time.

"You won't be back inside any time soon?"

"I like it here. I want to see the morning rays. You can go back and sleep."

"It should be 4AM already and I don't think I can go back to sleep. So maybe I'll join you. You said you want to walk near the seaside, right?" Alex took a few steps away from Cagalli when he noticed a single foot-prints with crutches-prints on the sand. "How far did you go?"

"I was walking along the sandy beach but my crutches kept getting sunk into the sand. So I gave up and walked back here where I put my leg, and had been sitting here for a while."

Alex hummed a response and followed the prints to see how far Cagali had walked by herself, and true to her words, it wasn't that far. She was walking to the left side of the beach from where she was sitting, facing the sea.

When Alex was about to turn back to her, he noticed a presence of another person near the beach house.

It was dark and the summer morning rays were just about to come so Alex still couldn't make out who it was. When he waved his hand to him—the person clearly looked like a guy to him, he ran away to the front side of the house.

And when the light from the house hit that person, Alex could see him even if only just for a second. But it was enough for him.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" Alex ran with all his might to chase him. But when he got to the frontside of the house, he could hear the sound of a car engine going further from where he was; he had run away.

Cagalli, hearing the urgency in Alex's voice, thought that he was referring to her. But when she saw him dashed to the house's front side, she knew it was someone else.

Cagalli got to her feet as fast as she could and took her crutches. She wanted to chase Alex, but she felt like she could only be a hindrance with her leg—her best effort to run to the deck was already less than normal people, she wouldn't be able to do anything for him. So all she did was wait for him there; she could probably do better to stand-by there; she could either go inside to call for help or evacuate everyone if needed.

And when Alex came back to the deck using the side stairs—the different one from the one she used from the beach side—Cagalli was taken aback by his expression.

It was the same hostile expression as the one he had shown her at the bookstore.

"Go back to your room! Now!"

"Wha—"

"NOW!"

Thank goodness Cagalli didn't ask him for more and just did as he said, Alex thought when Cagalli turned away from him and dashed inside.

Still feeling his blood rushing fast, Alex walked back to the front side of the house, checking the perimeter again to make sure. When he was certain that no one was lurking around anymore, Alex went inside, throwing himself at the sofa in the living room.

Running his fingers through his hair, he sighed deeply, remembering that he slipped again to his old self. But it couldn't be helped.

Because in the short second when the mysterious guy was shined by the small light, Alex could swear that the guy who had been watching both him and Cagalli, here in the private beach house that no one had a reason to come to unless they were invited to, had a familiar midnight blue mane.

It's been two weeks and my cough still wont go away, sigh.

MarBere123, thanks for the idea, I think we'll see that kind of development in later chapter

Someone got a rather close guess about it, but I'm kinda curious on who do you think Alex actually is? And what do you think his relationship is with Athrun?

And finally, who do you think paid them a visit in the last part of the chapter?

Cheers~