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

Miriallia fumed to herself while she waited for the taxi to pick her up. Her emotions were rioting thanks to a certain blonde haired coordinator. She should have gone back to bed and pulled the covers up over her head and not left until tomorrow morning, the moment that Sai said everyone was coming back to Orb. When he said everyone, she had just assumed he meant Kira, Lacus, Cagalli, and Athrun. She never dreamed that Dearka would be included in everyone. She had to wondered if that meant the silver haired coordinator would be coming also.

It was like she had caused Dearka to appear out of thin air, thanks to her thinking that man was him this morning. Then again is could have been. There was no telling how long he had been in Orb, a week, two weeks, who knew.

The honking car horn, startled her. Looking around to see who the car was honking at, she realized that it was the taxi she had called for earlier. Tomorrow she would have to call a garage to come and get her car to fix it.

After telling the the driver her destination, Miriallia settled back into the backseat of the taxi and watched the passing scenery. No sooner than once she had gotten comfortable did her mind slipped back to Dearka.

What was he doing here? And what did he mean, he had every right to be mad at her for walking home alone at night? She really was going to have to set him straight. Dearka had no place in her life other than as an acquittance. Possibly a good friend, but definitely nothing more. Her heart gave a funny lurch at the thought of Dearka not having a more prominent role in her life. She could not believe it. What the hell was wrong with her? She gets heartbroken at telling him to go back to the PLANTS, but furious when he tries to insert himself in her life and tell her what to do. That was it she was officially crazy.

Granted she did understand his anger at her walking home at night alone. Sai even became pissed with her when he found out. Of course he never really told her that, for fear it would send her over the edge. She, herself, did not always like doing it. The whole time she is walking, she is constantly afraid that someone is going to attack her. But after how high-handed Dearka treated her, she would be damned if she let him know how the walk effected her. Big jerk, acting like he was her father, and she was an errant child, who needed a spanking.

She sighed as the scenery changed from commercial buildings to the open area of the airport. The drive to the loading zoning seemed to fly by and before she knew it the taxi was parking in front of the doors of the airport. Stepping out of the taxi, Miriallia payed the driver and thanked him for the ride. Looking down at her watch, she cursed under her breath at the time. It was 7:12, and once again today she was late. Oh well, there was nothing she could do about it now. Glancing at the piece of paper that Sai had given her, she turned left and headed towards the space transport gates. She began running the closer she got to the gate to make up for the lateness of her arrival.

Tears of happiness welled up in her aqua eyes, at the sight of her old friend and new ones. It had been so long since they had talked. Stopping to watch the reunion from a distance, Miriallia smiled to herself at the antics of her friends.

Sai was talking to Lacus and Kira, while Cagalli was fusing at Athrun for something, who was laden down with all their luggage. She recognized the silver haired coordinator as a friend of Dearka and the former pilot of the X102, codename Duel. So she was right, everyone had meant both the foursome plus the two coordinators. As she looked at the Duel pilot, he seemed to be very pissed off and heading straight for a very tanned, very blonde man, who was none other than Dearka.

The sight of Dearka wiped the smile off her face. What was he doing here? Hopefully catching the next shuttle back to the PLANTS. There was the funny feeling again. He looked lost in thought with a sad wistful look on his face. She almost felt sorry for him,because the Duel pilot looked as if he were about to kill. She watched as he drew back and punched Dearka hard across the face. Her eyes grew twice in size as Dearka stumbled backwards and all commotion around them came to a grinding halt.

She heard Dearka yell something, as she ran to his side. All thoughts were centered on his well being. She could not believe that his friend would hit him. Then again, there were a few times earlier today that she, herself, wanted to hit him. She watched as he raised his fist to hit back, until she cried out.

"Oh my god! Are you alright Dearka?" She grabbed his raised arm and dragged him to the nearest chair, forcing him to sit down. Leaning over him, Miriallia gently touched his cheek, searching for broken bones.

Dearka stared up at her confused. He wondered when she had arrived and why she was fawning over him. Not that he was going to complain. Personally, he liked the feel of her hands on his face. Well he did until she pushed to hard at his swollen cheek. He flinched at on of her to rough pokes, startling her.

Deep aqua eyes met crystalline amethyst ones, as the two stared at one another. In the back ground, they could hear Cagalli yelling at Yzak, who was yelling back, and Athrun who was trying to stop the two. Never breaking eye contact with her, Dearka raised his hand up to hers. He cupped her smaller one against his face and slide it down just enough so that he could kiss her palm. Pulling her hand down he held in tight within his grip and rubbed her soft palm with his thumb.

"Thank you for the care, Miriallia. Yzak has a temper and I should have been expecting him to do something like that." Dearka let go of her hand and stood up to go help Athrun with the bickering duo. As much as he did not want to walk away from her, he knew that if he stayed a moment longer than he would end up doing something to irritate her.

He could not believe it, she cared! Whether she wanted to or not, she cared for him. The truth was in those incredible eyes of hers, and the soft touch of her fingers. If his cheek did not hurt so much he would have found all of this quite humorous. Sai, Kira, and Lacus had not moved from their original position. Sai and Kira looked torn between humor and weariness. Oh he knew why, they found it funny. Anyone would had spent anytime around Yzak would laugh. Thanks to Yzak's short temper, he would rather resort to violence than to tell you what was bothering him. And what was bothering him was having to have ridden alone with four people who could and did grate on his nerves. Naturally, this is Dearka's fault because he had flown in on an earlier flight.

Poor Lacus appeared to be bewildered by the whole thing. She knew Yzak had a temper but he had never shown it in front of her. She just could not figure out why he would hit Dearka. Leaning over, she whispered her questions to Kira, unfortunately they were loud enough for everyone to hear. Kira smiled at her and promised to explain everything later.

As Dearka got closer to Athrun and the quarreling twosome, he could hear Yzak demanding Athrun to control his girl. Ouch, not the best thing to say in front of Cagalli. Stepping in at the last second, he wrapped an arm around the irate blonde's shoulders stopping her from lunging at Yzak.

"Hey Princess, Athrun. Hello again Yzak. I thought I would let my mouth do the greeting this time instead if your fist." He could hear the others groan at his intentional taunt.

Athrun pinched the bridge of his nose wondering how they were going to stop this fight before it could have happened. A murderous look jumped into Yzak's eyes. He pushed Athrun out of his way and inched forward intent on inflicting more damage to Dearka's person.

"Oh, Miriallia, how good it is to see you again." Lacus shouted , drawing everyone's attention to her. It was just enough of a distraction for Kira and Athrun to pull Yzak back.

Miriallia had not moved from the chair, where Dearka had been previously occupying. She was looking a bit dazed and upset. Dearka wondered if she was upset about him being punched or if it was something else. She was staring out the windows ignoring the ruckus that was going on around her. It seemed that she had not even heard Lacus's question. But then she turned away from the window and looked back at the group.

Hearing someone call out to her, Miriallia turned her head and attention back to the people around her. It had been Lacus, who was talking to her. She was grateful for the distraction. Since running over to help Dearka, her thoughts had become chaotic. And they were all centered on Dearka and their first meeting when she had tried to kill only to to turn around and save him. Pushing her thoughts away, she smiled truly happy that her friends were really standing in front of her after two years of separation.

"Kira!" She yelled as she ran throwing herself in his arms. As always, he looked perplexed at the girl who was holding him in her arms. He kept his arms by his side until Lacus nudged him to return the hug.

"Uh, hey Miriallia. How have you been?" He asked once she finally released him.

His question went unanswered as Cagalli rushed over to their small group and she, Lacus, and Miriallia enveloped each other in a group hug. All three girls talked at once, somehow understanding each other, where no one else could. They continued to laugh and talk, ignoring the guys around them, until Athrun, Dearka, and Yzak walked over to join their group.

She watched as Sai shook hands with Athrun and nodded politely at Yzak. Miriallia felt her body stiffen as Athrun held his hand out to her. Gathering her courage, she smiled at him and placed her hand in his larger one.

"Hi Athrun. How are you?"

"Good and you?"

"Very well thank you." She replied. Miriallia was proud of herself. She had talked to Athrun and for the first time it did not feel like she was having to pull teeth to do so. She turned her attention to the silver haired coordinator and smiled at him.

"Hello, um, Yzak?"

Still pissed at Dearka, Yzak nodded his head at her, and turned his attention back to his prey.

Realizing that she had been dismissed, Miriallia turned back to Cagalli and Lacus. The girls once again ignored the guys to talk among themselves. Sai, Kira, and Athrun began talking about the reconstruction, while Yzak angrily with or to Dearka.

Dearka only half listened to Yzak's tirade. His attention was focused solely on Miriallia. She was smiling and laughing. Things he had not managed to make her do today. Course that could have something to so with his chiding her about the ladder and walking home alone. Who was he kidding, he had not chided her, he had yelled at her. Sighing, Dearka felt a pang of jealousy when she laughed at something Cagalli said. It must have been wild because both Athrun and Kira were blushing.

A hard shove to his shoulder brought his attention back to Yzak.

"Are you listening to me?" Demanded his pissed off friend.

"Yes. Look I can settle this real quick. I'm sorry. I should have known you would not be happy about flying in with them, but I had some things I needed to take care of. Now, get over it and lets join everyone else. And no I am not going to tell you what I had to do." Dearka said, patting his friend on the shoulder. It was a dangerous thing to do. Especially since Yzak was still mad and he had basically told him to suck it up and move on. Dearka had a feeling that this was not finished yet but he would deal with it later as long as it did not interrupt his time with Miriallia. He did not have long to spend in Orb and he wanted to be with her for as long as he could. Yzak would just have to wait.

He smiled at Miriallia, as he and Yzak rejoined their friends. She turned her face away from him and focused back on the group around her.

"So long are you staying? Where are you staying?" Miriallia asked moving closer to Sai, placing some distance between herself and Dearka. His smile unnerved her, along with the look in his eyes. Those amethyst depths held a certain amount of possession in them whenever he looked at her.

"Well, everyone but Dearka is staying at my house here in Orb. I invited Dearka but he declined. Apparently, he felt he needed to stay else where." Cagalli said turning her sharp attention to the blonde haired coordinator.

He smiled at Cagalli but reframed from commenting on her statement.

"Anyway, for how long we are staying I don't know. I'm suppose to take over the responsibility as representative in a few months so I'm trying to travel as much as I can before then."

"So why don't we move this shindig to Cagalli's house, so that everyone can get settled in." Sai suggested. Everyone laughed as Kira and Athrun groaned at having to carry their girlfriends and their own luggage again.

The group moved towards the parking lot, where everyone's ride was waiting.

"Hey Sai, can I get a ride with you?" Miriallia asked quietly.

"I would let you but my car is loaded down with equipment from work? Where is your car?"

"The battery is dead. That's why I was late. I had to take a taxi." She explained. Maybe she could fit in with Kira and the others. It would be a tight fit with five other people and luggage, but it was better than wait for another taxi. She was just about to ask when a voice interrupted her.

"Miriallia, you can ride with me. I have plenty of room and there is no reason for you to take another taxi when we are all heading for the same place." Dearka had her, and she knew it. He knew it. There was no way she could decline without raising questions why, from everyone else.

She smiled weakly at him, all the while planning his demise. "Thank you, Dearka."

"Think nothing of it. Come on my car is two isles over. See you in a little bit guys." He said waving bye to the group. He slung his arm across her shoulders and led her towards his rental car. He could feel her shoulders stiffen under his touch. Being perverse, Dearka pulled her closer to his side, knowing that she was mad at him, and just as likely to hit him for holding her. But he simply did not care. All that mattered was how she felt fitted against his side.

Miriallia was at war with herself. She was upset at Dearka anchoring her to his side, but a part of her liked the warmth and security his body provided. She had not been cuddled up to someone's side since Tolle's death. She sighed unhappily. This is stupid, she needed to quit comparing every guy to Tolle. Tolle is dead, he is never coming back. She needs to let him go and quit letting his memory rule her life.

Miriallia glanced up at Dearka in confusion, when he stopped and dropped his arm from her shoulder. She had been to busy thinking about Tolle to realize that she had sighed out loud.

Dearka turned to face her, reaching out to lift her chin. "What's wrong?" He asked her softly.

He traced his hand from her chin her ear, to move some hair out of her face. His fingers lingered in her soft hair, loving the feeling of those silkily strands against his skin.

"Nothing's wrong. I was just thinking."

"Well, that must have been some heavy thoughts to elicit a sigh like that. Come on we should get going. Unless you want to tell me the truth about what is going on in that head of yours?"

Miriallia shook her head no and pulled away from him. He just moved back against her and wrapped his arm around her once again, guiding her to his car.

The car ride to Cagalli's was reminiscent of the one to Miriallia's apartment. Trying to break the silence, Dearka turned on the radio and hummed softly along with it. There was something about the way Miriallia had looked at him in the parking lot, that was bothering him. When he had pushed her hair back, her eyes had looked pained, as if she were hurting form his simple gesture.

He did not like seeing her sad or unhappy. It did not suit her. She should be happy and shielded from further pain. She had experienced enough in the war, and he wanted her to be happy form now on. Granted his actions had been the reason for her sadness, but he could not help himself. All he had thought about was touching her hair to find out if it was as soft as it looked. It was softer.

He jumped when Miriallia tapped him on the shoulder. It was then that he realized she had asked him a question.

"I'm sorry. What did you say?"

She rolled her eyes at him but repeated her question none the less.

" I asked who was singing this song. It sounds so familiar, but I can't place where I have heard it before."

"Oh, well it's Lacus. Most likely you heard it before, when she was on your ship. This is the song she use to sing during the earlier part of the war. We use to all love it when she would come and sing. It did not happen often, but when it did it was great. That and it was a good chance to pick on Athrun." Dearka smiled lost in thoughts of the first days of the war, when everyone was still alive and not so bitter.

Miriallia listened to Lacus's song, lost in her own thoughts. She knew Lacus could sing. Sai had told her that he and Kira had over heard her once on the Archangel, but Miriallia had never imagined how good Lacus was. The song playing was sad yet sweet at the same time. It's melody was hauntingly beautiful, causing her to think things best left in thought. It was like Lacus was singing about Miriallia's past and possible future. Her life had been shattered by one mistake but now it seemed that mistake had allowed her to do more and become more.

"There you go again, thinking those heavy thoughts. So what exactly are you thinking about?" Dearka asked her tenderly. He reached over and grasped her slender hand in his larger one. He had to smile when she did not immediately pull away form him.

"I was not really thinking about anything." Miriallia said finally pulling her hand away from his. His grasp had been warm and soothing, making her already conflicted emotions to go into overboard.

"You're a terrible liar. I wish you would just tell me. It will make you feel better to talk about whatever is bothering you." He said a little less tenderly but still softly.

Miriallia sat stubbornly quiet, refusing to respond to him. She was sick of him thinking he could pry into her life. Or that he had a right to insist answers from her. She was still bothered by his earlier comment on how he believed that he had a right to interfere in her life.

"Come on Miriallia, answer me. Or I will just bring this up in front of the others. And somehow I don't think you want to discuss this in front of everyone else."

He was right. She did not want to talk about this in front anyone. It would just bring everyone down, and she did not want to be responsible for ruining the jovial, good mood of the group. "You are such a jerk sometimes, you know that?" She spat at him. Why could he not just let this drop?

"All I was thinking about was Lacus's song. It's so beautiful but also haunting. It made me wonder who she sang those lyrics about. It also made me think about my own life, and how I need to put somethings into perspective. Is there anything else you would like to know, Dad?" One of the main reasons she had not wanted to tell him what was on her mind was that the song caused her to think of him. And she would be damned if she let him know that, especially now. It was silly, but she felt if he knew she had been thinking about him then he would become more persistent with her.

Dearka flinched at the tone of her last question. There was no doubt about it. He had managed to make her mad again. That had not been his intention. She had looked so sad listening to the song. He only wanted to know what it was that was making her melancholy. So he had forced her to tell him. Every time he asked in the past, she said nothing and found a way to change the subject. He was not willing to let that happen this time. He wanted to know what was going on in that head of hers, and no matter what it took, he was going to find out.

Her answer shocked him a little. It was true that Lacus's song was haunting but he had never thought about who she was thinking of when she sang it. He guessed, he always assumed it was about Athrun, after all they had been engaged. Honestly he had not really even listened to the words before. It was just a song, simple as that. Now he found himself wanting to hear it again, so that he could truly listen to it again.

He wondered who Miriallia was thinking about as she listened to the song. If he had to guess it would be her dead boyfriend. When was she going to let him go? Dearka almost voiced his question out loud, when she interrupted him.

"Good we are here. Thanks again for the ride." She rushed out of the car, not waiting for his reply.

He sighed as she disappeared into the large house. He needed to remind himself that he could not push or he would lose her. But dammit he was hurt that she threw herself in to Kira's arms and not his own. That had been the reception he had been wishing for from her, when he arrived at the bookstore that afternoon. All he wanted was for Miriallia to yell his name all happy like and wrap her arms around him. Hell she had given Yzak the same greeting she had given him.

Thinking about greeting Yzak, he realized that he should get inside before his friend decided to try and kill him again.

Miriallia ran into the house trying to escape Dearka's persistent questions. She was worried about where his line of questions were heading and the only way to stop it was to get out of the car. Thankfully, they were already at Cagalli's when she made her dash for freedom.

She stopped running when she realized that she had no idea where in the house everyone was. Back tracking to the front door, she listened for voices to tell her which room they were all in. Unfortunately there were no voices to be heard. That meant Cagalli and Yzak were not fighting for once. She had laughed at one of the letters Lacus had sent her describing in full the "minor disputes" between Cagalli and the silver haired coordinator. Lacus may call them "minor disputes" but everyone else saw it as war between the two. Right now it seemed Yzak was winning, but Miriallia had no doubt that Cagalli would correct that before the trip was over.

She laughed to herself, envisioning the ways Cagalli and Yzak were going to pick at each other. Maybe they should have been brother and sister, instead of Cagalli and Kira. Those two certainly fought like they were related. She almost felt sorry for Athrun and whoever else had to step in between those two.

"What are you laughing about?" Dearka asked closing the front door behind him.

Miriallia jumped at his question. She placed a hand over her rapidly beating heart and turned to glare at him. "Didn't you ever learn that it's not nice to sneak up on people?" She yelled at him.

"I wasn't sneaking up on you. I just walked through the door and heard you laugh. All I wanted to know was why you were doing so. I'm sorry, I scarred you."

"It's alright. I was just thinking about all the upcoming fights between Cagalli and your friend. Also how Lacus refers to their fights as 'minor disputes.' It was funny to me, so I laughed."

Dearka smiled down at the laughing woman. He was just about to tell her some of Cagalli and Yzak's more humorous fights, when Yzak came up behind her. A greeting was on the tip of his tongue when Yzak reached out and tapped Miriallia on the shoulder.

She did not just jump this time, she screamed.

"Dammit! What is with you people and sneaking up on people?" She fumed as she turned her wraith on Yzak. "I mean seriously, couldn't you have said something before just scarring me. Bloody hell!" She could feel her cheeks heat up as Kira, Lacus, Sai, Cagalli, and Athrun poked their heads out of a room to see what all the yelling was about. Gathering what was left of her pride, she squared her shoulders and pushed past Yzak, marching towards the occupied room.

Everyone turned their bewildered gaze on Dearka, who just shrugged his shoulders. Yzak muttered something about crazy naturals, earning him a glare from Dearka.

"She is not crazy. You just scarred her. What did you want anyway?"

"I was sent to bring you to the living room." With that said he walked off, yelling over his shoulder that he was going to his room.

Everyone slowly went back into the room to resume their conversations. Sai held back, signaling Dearka to do so also.

"Did I really just hear Mir, cuss and yell at, well you and Yzak?"

"Yes. Though this time her shouting was reserved all for Yzak."

"This time?!" Sai asked surprised and perplexed.

"Well I have gotten to be on the receiving end of her ire, a few times tonight. No big deal."

"You mean she yelled. Actually got angry and yelled at you?"

"Yeah. That is what I said. Why?" Dearka asked rubbing the back of his neck.

Sai took his glasses off and cleaned the lenses before answering Dearka's question. "Well she hasn't gotten angry in the last two years. This is great!" he exclaimed.

"I'm glad you think so, because personally I don't like her being pissed at me."

"I'm sorry. I didn't meant it like that. It's just that she has been kinda like a doll lately, but now she is showing emotions. Granted happiness would be better than anger, but I will take whatever she does. I knew everyone coming here would be good for her. Especially you, Dearka. I'm glad you came." Sai patted him on the back, before leaving him in the hallway.

Dearka still was not sure if he should be happy, she chose to be angry with him or not. He was happy that she was coming out of the depression Sai said she had been in, but he wished she would show it in better ways.

Sighing to himself, Dearka walked into the room to join the others.

Author's note: I know that parts of the conversations are formal. Especially the one between Athrun and Miriallia, but remember that she is not comfortable around him so her speech is going to be stilted and formal. I am working on making the conversations more light, but I speak formally most the time so it is a little hard for me not to write that way. I hope that everyone likes this chapter. Sorry it took so long to get out, but I have had finals and papers so that has pretty much been all I have done. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. You all are great!

Well review and tell me what you think!