Disclaimer: See page before, you probably did already if you're reading this . . . Slight references to Mir x Deke, La x Ki and Ath x Cag

He opened the door to find a small, but bright eyed girl, cropped russet hair flashing against her blue eyes, standing next to guy who could only be described as mellowed out with a thick head of yellow hair.

"Miriallia and Dearka," Mu muttered, trying to keep a smiling face. He had found out the identities of the two people who single handedly ruined his day.

"Hi!" She gave a happy little wave; her orange dress twirled slightly.

"Yeah," Dearka slid his hands into his pockets casually.

"Hope we're not too early," Miriallia closed into herself, seeing only Murrue behind Mu's tall, towering figure leaning in the doorway.

"Actua—"

"No, you're right on time," Murrue stepped in easily, completely aware of what Mu was about to say. "It's just everybody else who's late." The pair walked in, looking at the surrounding room. Vast and open, filled with light, but sadly empty. Miriallia moved closer to Dearka in the awkwardness of being in Mu's house while still managing to maintain her happy outside.

Mu closed the door and Murrue started back up the stairs.

"Oh, Captain, need help?" Miriallia offered quickly.

"It's just Murrue now," she told the girl in that low and wistful voice that Mu had heard earlier and it chilled him yet again. "But, yes, I'd love some help." As the two ladies started to disappear, Dearka calmly looked around the vast room.

"You're getting it on nicely," he remarked off-handedly; causing Mu to stiffen up and elbow the other in the stomach.

"Nosy kid." Dearka set off laughing as the doorbell rung yet again.

Lacus Cline and Andrew Waltfeld.

"Good afternoon, Mister LaFlaga." Lacus smiled as a pink mechanical ball jumped from her hands. Mu guided the pair inside, receiving a quiet nod from the cut-up Andy as he gracefully hobbled up the stairs. Mu followed them up, everybody was gathering in his kitchen since the crowd wasn't there yet. The ZAFT commander turned Eternal Captain saw Murrue and smiled.

"Ah, Ms . . ." Andy glanced down, "—Ramius . . . nice to see you again." That pause froze everyone up who noticed: Mu, Murrue and Dearka. Dearka grinned; and the thought that Andy had to even check her left hand made Murrue blush, boiling inside, and made Mu sweat behind him.

Too much stress.

A welcome relief came when the doorbell rang again. Mu dashed out of the room before anybody could stop him.

Way too much stress. The door opened to show more people from the Archangel crew, the technical Sai and the shy Kuzzey. Mu flashed a smile as he thumbed them towards the stairs.

"They're up there," he told them, completely not hearing what they said in return. They spoke to him for about a minute, the topic completely meaningless to him, he was too preoccupied, nodding all throughout.

When Sai and Kuzzey left to go upstairs, Mu wrenched open the closest door and slammed it behind him. His hands wrapped around the stone counter as he tried to calm himself down, regulate his breathing somewhat. He took one glance at his refection and suddenly noticed all the signs of aging he wasn't supposed to have yet. He leaned his forehead on the bathroom glass and watched the clouds he breathed onto it.

I'm a mess . . . Is that a good thing . . . ?

The small box, a lot smaller than a gun and weighing tons less, seemed huge and heavy, weighing his pocket down. The tiny bulge in the fabric where it hid felt as obvious as a neon sign.

Mu doused his face with water, washing off the sticky sweat. He dried it with a towel, still working on the breathing.

"I'm not supposed to be this worked up," he muttered.

Another doorbell, another guest. This time, Kisaka, an officer for Orb's military. And behind him, three of the crew: Neumann, Romero and Mr. Murdoch.

Mu had regained his laughing outside as he followed the quiet Colonel and his talkative former crew up the stairs to the party that had gotten increasingly noisy. It was supposed to be a surprise party, and if the kids could hear it coming, then the messing up of his house was a worthless effort.

The twelve people were all sitting idly by in the kitchen when Mu got there, drinking, eating, food he had brought downstairs miraculously back up again. The topic of conversation: who exactly it was that set everything up.

"I get how Kira thinks he's coming to a surprise birthday party for Cagalli and vise versa, but I swear that Cagalli helped with the invitations," somebody laughed.

"Yeah, and then it was Kira who decided who to ask for a party ground."

"Yeah," Mu cut in, "Just be glad I agreed to let you use o—my house." Murrue and othersuspicious parties glanced up, but other than that, nobody noticed Mu's misstep.

"But that's only because it's the biggest and, sorry to say it, but emptiest. Nice place but isn't the silence a little unnerving!" There it was; they were getting there. Mu held up his hands in shaken surrender.

"Hey, hey, don't gang up on the partial host here," he laughed.

"Well then, 'Partial Host,' we're running out of food!"

"Yeah, and get us some more of these little toasted things . . ." Mu gave an exaggerated sigh and started his way down the stairs. Murrue looked back at him.

"We're going to need more than two plates," she told the rest of the party as some reason for following Mu out of the room. Murrue had moved her way seamlessly over to the owner of the house, slowly leaned over the table. "Are you okay?"

"What?" Mu looked up, laughing. "Of course I am. Like to see the day I wouldn't be. Hell'd have frozen over twice and there'd actually be peace o—" He stopped, surprised when she fluttered a kiss over his cheek. He looked down at her amber eyes and flashed another roguish grin. "What about keeping to ourselves?" He mused, hands lightly teasing her waist.

She smoothed his shirt out, pulling down harder than she had to around his collar.

"I just thought you were looking a little down, that's all." She yanked again, his head jerking down. He wanted to kiss her, but not miss her lips; he wanted to, but held back. "Now, let's get back to the party. They're probably wondering where the food is." She stiffly walked away one of the smallest plates held in her hand. Mu smiled after her, hand resting on his pocket. Suddenly, he couldn't understand the fear he felt before.

The doorbell rang again and you could hear the party suddenly quiet upstairs. It was five minutes to One, the time Kira and Cagalli were told to be here. Could one of them have been early? Murrue, still on the stairs, turned around. From where she was, she could see through the windows over the door. Everybody else hung around her, quietly making their way out of the kitchen. She sighed and nodded to Mu with a smile, he went to open the door.

Behind her, you could hear the 'pink-haired-princess' giggle, her Haro following suit.

"That's Athrun for you. Always late." Laughter erupted as the pristine soldier walked inside.

"Lacus . . ." He sighed, only imagining what she could have said.

"Well, it doesn't change the fact that you're kinda cutting it close," Andy laughed.

"Yeah, sorry. A slight detour." Athrun looked around as the Haro started shooting towards him. "So I guess they haven't come yet?"

Kira came walking casually down the peaceful street, mechanical Birdie on his shoulder. Cagalli's party is going to be great, he kept thinking. And it's being held at Mu's place, another adventure, but I wonder how things are going with him and Murrue . . . Kira'd been looking forward to this surprise party all day, only in the back of his mind was the alert going off about how it was his birthday too. He juggled the small gift in his hand as he kept walking, whistling the day away.

Cagalli was briskly making her way towards the house of that annoying man. Sure, she knew him better, but he still had that attitude that didn't sit right. Why they chose to have the party at that man's place was perplexing enough. Her mind kept going over the last talks she had with Athrun and the others and she kept worrying it wasn't going to work right. They didn't seem too together. That and Lacus could never keep her mouth shut.

They both came down the street, each lost in their own minds, respectably. The two sidewalks crashed into each other, meeting at the walk towards the ex-Commander's ashen home. Thankfully, the kids' attention spans collided before they did.

"Kira?"

"Uh, Cagalli!" The pair met and an awkward silence followed, broken only by the chirping so nicely supplied by Birdy.

"So, ah, what are you doing here, Kira?" She slid his card behind her back.

"Oh, Mu needed help cleaning out his attic, so I came to help. You?" He swallowed, small box hidden in his hand.

"He was promoted—I just came to give him the news, hah." They smiled at each other understandingly, except both knew that Mu's flat-roofed house obviously didn't have space for an attic, nor was he in active service so he couldn't move up the ladder. Did they notice? No. Did they care? No.

"Going inside?" Kira offered, voice slightly strangled.

"Oh, yes. You?"

"Yeah." The pair made their way shiftily to the door, each knowing in their heads that they single-handedly ruined the surprise for the other.

"Shh, they're coming!" Hurried whispers crowded the small space in the space cradled by the grand staircase banisters and before the door. The group would have turned off the lights, but the grand bay windows brought in too much light even with curtains.

One tentative knock. Then two.

The handle was tried and the door gave easily.

"Um, Mu, you in there?" Kira's voice wafted in, unsure of what to be saying. The door swung slowly on its hinges, slowly revealing them all.

The looks on Kira and Cagalli's faces were priceless when they all shouted "SURPRISE!"

"Uh, Mu!" Was all Kira managed to get out. Mu replied with a wink, a shrug and another grin.

The party went on, after everybody got their last word in on how the twins had been duped, of course, explaining it all. It kept getting louder and 'wilder.' Even Mu had tons of chances to stick close by Murrue and tease her slightly. Nobody would have noticed.

Somehow, everybody managed to get a spot in the Living room. Lacus curled up beside Kira and Athrun at Cagalli's shoulder as always. It was starting to simmer down. As the presents were being presented.

"Is that the last of the goodies?" Somebody asked, let down because of the good time they brought.

Mu swallowed.

This was the time. He knew it.

"I have a gift!" He announced proudly. "But it's not for the Birthday Boy or Girl . . ."

Of all the people's heads to turn to him, Murrue's was the most beautiful and the most confused. He had made his way over to her, smiling, but not laughing. He held out his hand to her and in his palm sat the small black box from his pocket.

Murrue's heart was beating so fast and so hard she didn't know if her body could take it. Her eyes kept flickering from Mu's knowing grin back to the gift box laid out before her. Her pale, shaking hands reached for it. But she didn't know why they were shaking. Was she scared or excited?

The top popped open and a small gasp escaped her natural lips. There, in the box, a small, intricate ring. Silver and woven, and, at the top, a clear cut stone that shone with a sparkling vision.

A diamond.

Every thought, every sense of reality fluttered out of her like every breath.

". . . I—I don't know what to say . . ." Mu's grin faltered. With a sigh, he replied, the joke out of his eyes.

"You know . . . Of all the meaningful things in the world, that's the one I'd actually want an answer to . . ."

"I—"

AN: I've taken time into my thoughts to give a serious thought into what she'd say. I didnt know whether she'd say yes or no, whether she'd say anything, or whether it'd be dream or reality, but i passed that writer's block and went on to write more.