Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed or its characters.

OOOO

"Hello Miriallia. Long time no see."

Miriallia jerked her head up to be met with a tan face and a startling pair of amethyst eyes. "Dearka!"

She shook her head totally confused at his sudden appearance. Maybe it was like this morning, and she was just imagining him standing in front of her. Yeah that was it, she was just envisioning him standing there.

"Miriallia, are you okay?"

"Wha...wha...what are you doing here?" She asked keeping her wide aqua eyes locked with his amethyst ones.

He smiled at her confusion. It seems his appearance had taken her ability to think away. That seemed fair to him, since she always made him feel tongue-tied every time he was near her. She was still as beautiful as the day he left her on the Archangel.

"Well, I think I am here to buy some books and maybe talk you into having dinner with me tonight."

"Excuse me?" Miriallia asked totally bewildered. She did not hear his explanation to why he was in the bookstore. Her mind was still racing as to him being there. He had grown more handsome since the last time she had seen him. Though with Tolle's sudden death, she had not truly realized Dearka's good looks. On some level she knew he was handsome but with him standing in front of her she could not help but notice. He had a strong build with heavily muscled arms and a lean, tall frame. His blonde hair was a little bit longer but still shorter than Kira's shaggy hair.

"I said that I was here to buy books and try to convince you to go to dinner with me." Dearka stated very plainly. He watched as she processed his statement. He very much did not mind her taking her time to respond to him, because at least this way he got to take his time looking at her. Besides he knew that he had surprised her.

In general he liked what he saw. Her brunette hair was a nice mix of gold and brown strands. Dearka knew that he was going to have fun trying to come up with the proper name for her hair color, since brunette did not quite fit it. Her face was thin, but those deep aqua eyes of hers made a person forget everything else. He did not like how frail she appeared to be. It looked like she had quit eating and her already slender frame was now painfully thin.

"Dinner?" She whispered bring him back to reality.

"Yeah, you know that meal you eat at night. Sometimes alone but hopefully with me tonight." He quipped giving her a disarming smile.

"With you?" Miriallia repeated. Her brain was slowly starting to function again. "Wait! What are you really doing here? And don't tell me that they PLANTS don't have bookstores." She demanded, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Well, I was helping with the reconstruction, and when everything was done I decided to hop on a flight and come see you." Dearka said reaching behind the counter to grab her elbow and pull her out from behind there.

Miriallia dropped her arms and stood stiffly in front of him, now refusing to meet his determined gaze. "Don't you have to go back to the PLANTS?"

Dearka sighed at her obvious reluctance to have dinner with him, or even discuss it. Well he could be stubborn when the need called for it and there was certainly a need for it right now. He had not flown through space just to be put off by this snip of a girl.

"They don't need me right now. I am on free time and I missed you." He said pulling her into his arms, hugging her close to him. "I promise to answer any and all questions that you might have if you will go to dinner with me tonight?"

Miriallia pushed herself out of his arms and put a little distance between the two of them. "I'm sorry, I can't. I am suppose to meet Sai at the airport to greet Kira and the rest of the group."

"So I will go with you to meet everyone and then tomorrow we can have dinner." Dearka said trying to convince her. It seemed that she had become more stubborn since their short time together on the Archangel.

"I don't know?" Miriallia said hesitantly.

"I do, now be a good girl and finishing closing the store so we can leave." Dearka smiled inwardly as her pert nose rose in the air and she turned her back on him. Turning around to lean his back against the counter, he crossed his arms across his chest and waited on her. Since she was busy closing the store, he had a better chance to study her without her noticing.

She looked graceful as she moved around the bookstore, placing this book here and that book there. He liked that she had decided to keep her hair short. It looked very soft and like spun silk. His attention quickly turned from her hair to her legs. A wolfish smile broke out on his face as she brought out a ladder to put books on higher shelfs. The ladder did not very sturdy but his attention to the ladder was lost the minute she began climbing up the ladder. He was given a very nice view of her smooth, trim legs as she moved up and down the ladder.

He was too busy staring at her legs that he almost failed to see how unsteady the ladder was becoming. Pushing off the counter to go stand beside the ladder, Dearka was just about to call out a warning when Miriallia slipped and fell. He caught her in his arms but just barely. Clutching her body tightly to his chest, Dearka could feel his heart pounding in his chest, as images of what could have happened to her if he had not been there to catch her.

Miriallia wrapped her arms around his neck and felt her body tremble while she tried to calm her racing heart. She had tried to brace herself, when he had caught. She laid her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes to block out the images of falling off the ladder. The two stayed standing close together, neither moving except for Dearka soothingly rubbing her arm.

Realizing that she was in his arms and had her own around his neck and her head on his shoulder, Miriallia lifted her head and unwound her arms. "You can put me down now. Thanks for catching me." She said placing barriers between herself and the strong handsome man who had just saved her.

Her calm mild tone infuriated him. Dearka could not believe she was going to act like she had not just almost broken her beautiful neck. He put her down a little too quickly, causing her to clutch his shoulders or fall. She left her hands on his shoulders just long enough for her to regain her balance. The minute she regained it, she pulled her hands away from him and put some distance between the two of them. He tried to keep a lid on his rising anger, but failed when she turned away from him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He shouted at her, grabbing her arm and turning her back around to face him.

"Excuse me? There is nothing the hell wrong with me. What the hell is wrong with you?" Miriallia shouted back. She tried wrenching her arm free from his grip, but he just held her tighter.

"What's wrong with me is that you could have broken your neck and you are acting like that is an everyday occurrence." He raged, as he contained the urge to shake some since into her.

"Of course it isn't an everyday occurrence. I told you thank you. What more do you want from me?" She yelled at him. It felt good to yell at him she realized. It had been so long since she had lashed out at someone and it felt good to let out her emotions instead of bottling them up, like she had been doing for the last two years.

"Thank you for saving me. Now if you will please let me go, I can finish up here and we can go."

She had done it again. She had thanked him again and dismissed the whole subject. But she was right. What else did he expect or want from her? Maybe for her to have staid in his arms longer, or shown a little more gratitude. The few minutes that she had let whatever guard she had down, and let him hold her had been heaven. She had weighed nothing more than a feather, which bothered him. She was too thin, and had felt too fragile in his arms. It bothered him to think about what would have happened if he had not been there to catch her.

His anger was starting to ebb away, while he followed her to the counter to wait for her to finish closing the store. Just as he was about to lean back against the counter again, Miriallia turned to face him all the sudden and poked him in the chest.

"Look Dearka, I'm not going to climb up the ladder again, so you can quit tailing me. Do you know how hard it is to work with someone following you like a shadow? Just go sit over there and give me five to ten more minutes, then I will be done. Okay?" She pointed to a chair neat the front window and waited till he started moving away.

He could not believe it. That was the third time she had snapped at him since he had caught her. He had not been following her on purpose, he had not even realized he was doing it. But he did as she asked and moved away from the counter over to one of the reading chairs.

OOOO

She was true to her words, six minutes after she dismissed him, she was ready to leave. Dearka followed her out of the bookstore and waited as she locked it up. When she turned back around, he smiled at her and handed her the bag of books and papers she was taking home. She thanked him and waited for him to show her where his car was.

"We can leave my car and take yours, if you want?" Dearka suggested.

"No that's okay. We have to take yours, because mine isn't working, so I walked to work this morning."

"You walked?"

"Yeah. It really isn't that far from my apartment. And when I'm not wearing heels it is a nice walk, unless it is raining or really cold."

"So tonight you were just going to walk back home, if I hadn't come by tonight? Or was Sai going to come pick you up?" Dearka asked feeling his anger rising again. Walk home! What is she crazy or did she just want to be mugged or worse?

"No, he was going to meet me at my apartment. What is the big deal? I have walked home alone several times." Miriallia said. She was confused at why he was once again becoming angry with her. If anything she was the one who had a right to be angry. What with his blatant interfering of her private life. She had not talked to him in two years and now here he was demanding answers form her.

"Are you out of your frickin' mind? Do you know how many different things could happen to you walking alone at night?" Several times! He could not believe it. She obviously had no common sense. He shuddered to think what could have happened to her. It dawned on him that he had grabbed her shoulders when she struggled to be released from his tight grip.

"No, I am not out of my frickin' mind. Look, you have no right to yell at me. I am safe and the only time I have been bothered is right now, by you. So let me go, I have to go met my friends." Miriallia demanded, glaring at him. She could not believe his nerve. Who did he think he was lecturing her on walking home alone. And if he did not quit grabbing her then she was going to deck him.

Dearka released her but matched her glare with one that was just as menacing. "See your wrong. I do have the right. Believe me when I say I have more than enough of right to yell at you." He held up a finger to her lips, stopping her from voicing the questions he knew had. Now was not the time to go into that discussion. This one was bad enough and he had a feeling if he opened up that can of worms then she would just as soon jump off a cliff than talk to him again.

"Come on, my car is across the street. If we don't go on then we will be late."

"No."

"No what?" He asked confused. She was crossing her arms over her chest and refusing to move.

"No, I am not getting in the car with you and you are not coming to the airport with me. I revoke the invitation." She said rebelliously. To prove her point, Miriallia turned on her heel and began walking in the direction of her apartment.

Dearka ran to catch up with her. "Hey, if I remember correctly, you didn't invite me, I invited myself. So please come back and I will drive you home." He reached to grab her hand, to pull her back towards the car, but she quickly stepped out of his reach.

"Look Miriallia, it really isn't safe for you to be walking all alone at night. If you don't want me to go to the airport with you fine, but at least let me drive you there." He pleaded with her. There was no way he was going to let her walk home. So he decided to try and reason with her, and if that did not work then he was going to throw her over his shoulder and deposit her in the car.

Miriallia weighed her options carefully. On one hand she could get in his car and let him drive her home and then she would be done with him. On the other, she could ignore his request and keep walking. Unfortunately he would just keep hounding her until she gave in, and if that did not work she didn't doubt that he would use physical force to get what he wanted.

He wished he knew what was going on in that head of hers. It was not that difficult of a request. Just a simple yes or no. Well the yes would be simple, the no would be hard, because he was determined to get his way. He refused to let her walk alone, especially in the dark. Just as he was about to demand a response from her, Miriallia gave him an answer.

"Fine, where's your car? I have to meet Sai at 7:00, so let's go." Dearka escorted her to his car, making sure to place a hand on her back. He wanted her to be use to his touch and his presence. Because whether she was ready or not, he was going to be in her life.

OOOO

The car ride to her apartment was a strained silent one. Miriallia only talked to give him directions. After that she sat quietly and stared stoically out the passenger window. The trip only took ten minutes, but it felt a lot longer to her. The intrusive silence was broken once they reached her building. Dearka got out of the car and walked around to open the door for her. He gave her enough room to get fully out of the car, but refused to let her leave. Trapping her between his arms and the car, he smiled down at her, but was met with a very hostile glare.

"What do you think you are doing?"She demanded. Crossing her arms over her chest, she stood in a defensive postion trying to put space between the two of them.

"I wanted to talk to you and I really didn't want to have to chase you down again. Now tell me why you said that your apartment is close to the bookstore."

Her face lost it's hostile look only to be replaced by one of confusion. "What are you talking about? The store is close to my building. Otherwise that car ride would have taken even longer."

"That car ride took ten minutes. That means it has to at least take you twenty just to walk there. Twenty minutes is not close, especially at night. Now why don't you march your cute ass inside and change clothes and I will wait on you so we can go to the airport?" He replaced his smile with a glare, to let her know his displeasure at her for letting him believe that the two buildings were closer together.

Miriallia's laughter perplexed him. He assumed that she would fight him on going to the airport. Dropping his guard and his arms, Dearka almost fell on his own ass, when she pushed him away.

She quickly ran around him but stopped once she made it to the entrance of the building. "Dearka, there is no way me or my cute ass is going to the airport with you. Thank you again for catching me and for the ride home, but I want you to leave. I can't think of a single thing we have to talk about, so this is good night. In fact it really would be fro the best if you went on back to the PLANTS. I'm sure someone needs you there." She dashed into the building, not stopping until she was safely inside the elevator.

OOOO

Dearka watched as Miriallia ran away from him. He was torn between smiling at her prise and groaning at her stubborn hide. He settled on sighing . Getting back into the car, he decided to give her a little time alone, before he tried again. Besides he had a feeling that he had gone to far with the cute ass comment, but he was just trying to play with her. It had hurt when she told him to go back to the PLANTS. It had been two years since he had seen her and now she wanted him to leave. He had only been near her for an hour and it was nowhere near enough time for him.

He loved her. It was as simple as that. Not once in the last two years that had separated them, had he stopped thinking of him. They had only spent a little time together on the Archangel, but after she got over wanting his head on a platter, she had shown him kindness like none other had. It had been hard on him to stay away from her for these last two years. But she needed tome to heal from her boyfriend's death, and he had to return to help with peace negoations and rebuilding the war torn areas. There was still a lot more reconstruction to do, but he had decided to stop and begin rebuilding his life. The first stop to reaching his goal, was Miriallia. To bad she was being stubborn. Some part of him had hoped she would have been happier to see him again. Maybe even throw herself into his arms. He knew better, but he had still hoped for it.

Thankfully he had been working with Kira, Cagalli, and Lacus, so he was able to keep up with her for the last two years. Lacus was the only one to realize his feelings for the aqua eyed girl. So whenever Kira received a letter from Sai, Lacus would pass along any information on Miriallia. He knew that she was still grieving for her dead loved one, and that she had lost a lot of weight. He figured Sai had been exaggerating about her weight loss until he saw her tonight and held her in his arms.

Learning that she was still in mourning had discouraged him, until several weeks ago, when Sai sent a letter saying Miriallia was starting to move on. He said that she was happier, eating more, and had packed away all her old pictures. This was just the news that Dearka needed to decide to come to Orb and win her over.

To bad he had forgotten how stubborn she could be. It was going to take a lot to break through all the barriers that she had errected. Unfortunately it will probably take even more just to make her understand his true intentions. He was not proposing marriage, only a chance to know her better. Everything about her intrigued him. Like the way she is always kins to others even if they did not deserve it. Athrun, for one, is an examole of that kindness. He had been the one to kill her boyfriend, and she may hate him, but she is still kind to him. Hell, she had been nice to him when everyone else thought he was dirt just because he was a coordinator. That fact and he had tried to shoot down there ship. But she had befriended him and he had fallen in love with her.

Dearka smiled to himself, as he contemplated the look on Miriallia's face when she sees him at the airport with everyone else. He was sure there would be fire in those aqua eyes. He continued to think of her as he parked his car at the airport.

Looking at his watch, Dearka whistled seeing that he was right on time. Thankfully Yzak had told him what gate they would be arriving at, saving him from having to stop and ask. Thinkning of Yzak, made Dearka wonder how his friend was doing traveling with the lovebirds. He would definitely be a grouch once they landed. And Dearka figured Cagalli would be the major source of Yzak's grouchiness. The two of the had a weird respect for each other. It probably came from them both liking to try and boss Athrun around. Even though Yzak respectec Cagalli, that did not mean he liked it when she tried to boss him around. Ususally the two of them got into a pissing contest on who was more important, Cagalli the Princess of Orb or Yzak, a member of ZAFT'S high council. Most times it was Athrun and himself that had to step in and break them up, but tht was only after they had a good laugh at the two.

Bumping into a blonde haired man , brought Dearka out of his thoughts about his friends behavior. Realizing that the man he had ran into was Sai. Dearka extended his hand out to shake with the other man.

"Hey Sai. How are you doin'?"

Sai smiled at him, geniunely happy to see him. "Hey Dearka. Good to see you again. Mir will be pleased to see you."

Dearka smiled but reframed from commenting on Sai's observation of Miriallia's happiness to see him. 'Oh, I wouldn't say pleased exactly. More like pissed off, especially since she seems to want me gone from Orb' he thought to himself, while he half listened to Sai ramble on.

"So what are you doing here?" Sai asked him, causing Dearka to pay attention to the conversation again.

"Well, we all decided to coem in and visit once the reconstruction was through. I had some stuff to see to, so I came in a little earlier than everyone else. Much to Yzak's irritation."

"Yzak's coming in too? I figured he would want to stay in the PLANTS."

Dearka laughed at Sai's comment. "Oh, he would have, but his motehr is driving him crazy and we all bugged him into comeing. And when that failed to work, Cagalli challenged him into coming. I think it went something to with him being to chicken to come to Orb. That made him so pissed that it took me, Athrun, Kira, and Lacus to keep him from killing her. So now he is aboard the shuttle with Kira, Lacus, Cagalli, and Athrun."

Sai laughed along with Dearka. He did not know Yzak that well, but what he did know made him realize how pissed the silver haired coordinator would be after being stuck with tha tfoursome on the shuttle.

"Ouch man. I would not want to be you when he gets here. Maybe Mir can save you from his wraith."

Dearka just barely stopped himself from snorting. Yeah right, it is more like Miriallia would team up with Yzak to hurt him.

"I don't know, Miriallia many not feel like saving me." He said, trying to be honest without saying that she would probably hand him over personally.

"Naw, I bet she will. After all you departed as friends and she has mentioned you a few times over the last two years. Good they are here." Sai said, hurrying off to greet everyone as they left the shuttle.

Dearka could feel his heart speed up. She had thought about and mentioned him. To bad Sai had run off before he could ask him if it had been good things she had said about him or bad. Well it really did not matter either way, because she had thought about him. Hell, it could not have been to bad, since she was able to be friendly to Athrun and he definitely rated higher on her list than Athrun did.

It was the fist meeting his face that brought him back to the real world. "What they hell was that for, you son of a bitch?" He roared at Yzak, who was rubbing his fist happily. Justas he was about to lunge at his friend a soft voice stopped him.

"Oh my god. Are you alright, Dearka?"

OOOO

Author's note:b Thank you to everyone who reviewed my story! You all rock and I hope that you like this chapter.

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