Dearka & Miriallia

Author's Note: Okay, I know the update took a little while, but I've been really depressed. My kitty passed away on Monday. She was with me since I was a child and I miss her terribly. I hope I was able to write this chapter well. I was having trouble finding humor in things for the past few days, as I'm sure you can all understand. On a happier note, chapter 21 is already written. I kept writing so much that I continued on to the next chapter immediately. But since I love reviews (they're an addiction of mine) I'll post the next one after I get a few. Thanks again for the support everyone!

Disclaimer: It is obvious by now if I'm here that I do not own Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny or any other Gundam Series. But any characters I create to place in this world are mine (But I don't mind if you guys want to use them too. I have no problem with that. You don't even need to ask me. I enjoy sharing to make other stories the best they can be.)

Chapter 20

Rekindled

Dearka's eyes fluttered open as he cringed from the position he was in. He had fallen asleep with Miriallia in his arms sitting up against the back of the day bed. Miriallia had been able to reposition herself, now spread out on the day bed with her head on his lap. He gently moved Miriallia's head from his lap and heard her moan from the motion. Carefully he rested her head back on the day bed where he had been sitting. As he stood up, he felt his back aching.

"Well, it was a comfortable position when we fell asleep," he thought.

Dearka moved out of the room quietly and down the hall of the enormous home. Ahead of him, he saw a door at the end of the hall and decided to do a little prying. Before he got too close to the door, he heard a ringing.

"My cell," he thought.

He patted himself down trying to remember where he had placed it. As his hand slid past his right pants pocket, he felt it. He flipped open the cell phone and answered the call.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked softly in order to avoid waking up Miriallia down the way.

"I just thought I would let you know that there is some activity on Martius 1," Yzak's voice came through.

"Activity?" Dearka asked.

"Well, I couldn't just let it go that Cadey got away from Shiho and I, so I enlisted some help from my mother," Yzak replied.

"What?" Dearka yelled forgetting to keep his voice low.

Miriallia stirred from her spot on the day bed at the sound of Dearka's distraught voice. She slowly moved herself from the spot Dearka had left her in and rubbed her eyes gently. She looked around the room to see he was no longer there. With that, she walked toward the door and stopped when she heard Dearka speak again.

"What are you thinking?" he asked his friend again.

"I didn't tell her anything about the kid, okay? I just told her you and Cadey were in a fight and she left and no one could locate her. I said you were worried and you wanted to apologize to her," Yzak stated.

"I can't believe you did that and with such a lame excuse no less," Dearka said.

"Look, it's your own fault that you let Cadey get away in the first place. I'm just trying to help you find your kid. You know that no one but a Council Member has the pull to locate someone who goes into hiding. Especially when it is another Council Member's child," Yzak reasoned.

"So, she's on Martius 1," Dearka reiterated.

Dearka could hear Yzak huff his irritation over the line. There was no doubt Yzak was as annoyed with Dearka, as he was with Yzak. Miriallia stayed still by the door keeping out of sight.

"So, she's on Martius 1," Miriallia thought.

"Yeah, well, I'm sure you could have found out that same information without letting your mother in on it. She may end up saying something to Cadey's father about everything," Dearka scolded.

"I highly doubt that," Yzak answered.

"Really? And why do you doubt that?" Dearka asked.

Dearka turned to look back at Annabella's room. He began to walk toward it and Miriallia heard his footsteps coming closer. She quickly booked it back to the day bed and threw herself on it as quietly as she could, trying to get herself back in the same position she had awoken in.

"There is no way my mother would say anything I didn't want her to. She won't even tell my father, so I am sure she won't tell Cadey's," Yzak responded.

"He has a point," Dearka thought.

He remembered exactly how secretive Ezalia Joule could be from all his encounters with her. In fact, a lot of Ezalia was in Yzak. Dearka made his way through the entrance of Annabella's room and saw Miriallia's motionless form on the day bed. He smiled to himself and then made his way back out into the hall closing the door behind him. Miriallia's eyes popped open at the sound of the door clicking and she sat up quickly and scurried over to the door, gently pressing her ear against it.

"Fine, I guess there isn't anything I can do about it now," Dearka said in defeat.

"When are you coming back up here?" Yzak asked.

"I thought I was on leave and the last time I checked, it hasn't even been a full day," Dearka said mockingly.

"You know what I mean," Yzak reprimanded.

"Well, I'm actually at Miriallia's house here in Orb. She needed to pick up her passport before she could travel to the PLANTs," Dearka started.

"You mean to tell me that you are bringing that girl with you?" Yzak screeched.

"I don't really have much of a choice. If I don't bring her, she'll just find her own way there," Dearka replied.

Miriallia smiled to herself at what she heard.

"Good to know he knows me that well," Miriallia thought.

"Great, that will make things more interesting," Yzak said sarcastically.

"Anyway, she wants to tell her parents what happened too, so we have to wait for them to return. They should be here in a couple of days she said. I'm glad you may have located Cadey though. I was getting worried that she may disappear into the woodwork if I didn't get up there in a reasonable amount of time," Dearka answered.

"Sure, now you're glad," Yzak scoffed.

Dearka shook his head and looked back at the door to Annabella's room again.

"Can I ask you for another favor?" Dearka asked.

"I'll keep an eye on her and if she moves, I'll let you know," Yzak answered before Dearka could ask.

"Thanks Yzak," Dearka said.

"Yeah, well, you better hurry up and get back here to the PLANTs. I do have two ships to command you know," Yzak snipped.

"I will. As soon as we tell her parents about Annabella, we'll be on our way to fetch Cadey," Dearka answered.

"I'll have Shiho keep an eye out for a while. She had been getting a little stir crazy with no action up here," Yzak said.

"Poor Shiho is getting no action. How can you be so cold?" Dearka teased.

"Shut up Dearka! You can be so vulgar when people try to be serious," Yzak yelled.

"Relax, I was just joking. Look, I'm really grateful you guys are helping me out with this. Really," Dearka said.

"The one upside is that at least I know you are still acting like yourself. I was getting worried for a while. I wasn't sure if you were doing that well from the way our last conversation went," Yzak said sincerely.

Dearka closed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath.

"I'll be doing a lot better once Annabella is back in Miriallia's arms," Dearka admitted.

"I should get back to work and I'll send Shiho over to Martius 1 to keep an eye on Cadey. We'll update you if she moves anywhere. I just think it is odd that she would think to go to my home PLANT when she knows you sent me out looking for her in the first place," Yzak stated.

"I think she is trying to find a place where she won't be recognized easily and that we wouldn't think to look. She isn't that familiar with Martius 1 and she is definitely a person who doesn't like places she is unfamiliar with. She probably thought if she stayed away from places that she was more comfortable, we wouldn't find her so effortlessly," Dearka concluded.

"I guess," Yzak replied.

"If you think about it, she is just like we all were before we entered the military. She is still as spoiled as she ever was. I have to give her credit this time. She is actually putting her own comfort aside in order to stay hidden. She must really want to hang onto Annabella," Dearka answered.

Miriallia cringed when she heard Dearka's last sentence.

"Give her credit? She's not that brilliant and she can't have my daughter," Miriallia thought still pressed against the door listening intently.

"She's definitely trying to stay out of sight. It's a good thing my mother was able to track her down. I'll let you go, but get back up here soon," Yzak stated.

"Will do. Thanks again Yzak," Dearka replied.

With that, he flipped his phone closed and walked up to the door.

"You know, if you wanted to hear what I was saying, you could have just opened the door," Dearka mocked.

Miriallia fell backwards from her spot. She was now standing next to Annabella's crib at the back of the room.

"How did you know?" she cried through the door.

Dearka began opening it slowly trying to avoid the possibility of hitting her with it. When he saw she was now a good distance away, he pushed it open more quickly.

"I think it was cute how you tried to pretend you were asleep the first time I came back into the room to check on you," he said without answering her question.

She glared at him for a moment.

"If you knew then, why didn't you say anything?" she asked irritated.

"You didn't look like you wanted me too. You were trying to be all stealthy, so I didn't want to ruin it for you," he smirked at her.

Miriallia reached into the crib and grabbed a stuffed animal to throw at him. Dearka caught it with no effort and tossed it back into the crib.

"So, are you going to show me your room?" he asked still smirking.

She raised an eyebrow at him before walking by.

"I'm hungry," she replied walking toward the stairs giving him a cold shoulder.

Dearka threw his head back and groaned. Miriallia was now ignoring his question the way he had ignored hers, but he obediently followed her down the stairs into the kitchen.

Back on Martius 1…

Cadey had found a cute little home she and Annabella could stay in. She walked around the bedroom looking at the closet space leaving Annabella on the bed.

"Well Emma, it's not what I'm used to, but it will have to do," Cadey spoke to the child.

Annabella looked up at her with a pouting face. She was getting tired of this girl and was waiting to see her mother's face walk through the door to save her.

"I think we should go shopping and get some supplies. I pulled out just enough cash from daddy's account to last us until we make a trip back to Sextillis. That way no one will be able to locate us," she said confidently.

She had no idea, that within one day, Ezalia Joule had already tracked her down and Yzak was having her tailed. She grabbed Annabella and began to walk toward the door.

"We'll buy you everything you need Emma and then when your daddy gets here, we can be a happy family," Cadey said as they headed out.

"Hey Yzak, she's leaving the house now. How long am I supposed to follow her around this stupid place," Shiho's voice rang over her communicator.

"I just spoke with Dearka an hour ago. He should be back in the next few days. He'll pick up from there, but until he does, I need you to shadow her," Yzak replied.

"Fine," Shiho huffed.

"And watch what you say. Martius 1 is my home," Yzak reminded.

"Yeah, whatever," Shiho snipped as she turned her communicator off to follow her victim.

Two Days Later…

Dearka sat on the couch feeling extremely nervous from the information Miriallia was feeding him.

"And don't say you're a soldier of ZAFT. My father doesn't approve of the military. I was an exception for him, but there is no way he will accept you if you tell him how we met," Miriallia stated.

Dearka could feel his face burning up.

"What did you say happened then?" he asked cautiously.

Miriallia stopped in her tracks relieving the rug from its' torture.

"Well, I said you were one of the civilians we saved from Heliopolis and that you stayed on to make sure I was safe," she replied.

Dearka's head was beginning to spin.

"How can anyone be so stupid as to buy that story? You were still with…" he stopped.

Miriallia's eyes fell upon him with a deathly glare.

"I said we became friends first," she answered angrily.

"Well, I guess that is partially true," Dearka thought.

"Look, he never even liked Tolle when we were together, so it's not like you have to fight an image of perfection as I'm sure you're thinking," Miriallia informed.

"No, just that I have to lie about my existence," he replied.

"I thought you said you loved me," she continued to glare.

"I do, I just think it's a bad idea to start off by lying to the man. I mean, won't he see right through it?" he asked.

Miriallia began pacing again and you could almost hear the carpet crying. She was an even more nervous wreck than Dearka.

"That's a great idea Dearka! Hi daddy, glad you are back from your trip safely. This is Dearka. He is a soldier of the ZAFT military. I know you hate soldiers, but we met after we imprisoned him on the Archangel for trying to kill all of us for over 4 months. After a while, we let him out and he had some crazy crush on me. Then he decided to protect the ship and we became friends. This all ultimately led to us sleeping together on his last day before leaving for the PLANTs. He promised to come back and never did, and that's how Annabella came about," Miriallia finished still shooting glares at him.

Dearka cringed as she finished yelling at him.

"Sorry," was all he could say.

"Well, that's not even the topper of it. Remember how I said I would watch Annabella? Well, I took her on an assignment; almost got myself killed, ran into him, had his fiancée kidnap her and then ended up sleeping with him again. Now he says he loves me and we want to be together. Daddy, can I please have your blessing," Miriallia said with sarcasm.

"This is going to be a nightmare," Dearka realized.

"You're telling me," she said as she fell onto the couch next to him.

The soft plush sofa swallowed her up and she leaned her head on Dearka's shoulder.

"So comfy. I don't want to move from here. Maybe everything will magically be fixed for us," she said with hope.

"So, I'm not a soldier, but a civilian that became your friend and met you on the Archangel after Heliopolis," he reiterated.

She blinked at him with shock that he may actually go along with her story.

"Yes," she said.

"And we fell in love after you lost Tolle and had been close for months," he stated.

"Yes," she said again.

"And you are explaining the fact that we slept together how?" Dearka asked.

"Poor judgment and a heat of the moment kind of thing. Not that he was pleased with it, but it was kind of true," she replied.

"Poor judgment huh?" he said dejectedly.

It was now her turn to feel bad about what she had said.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," she replied.

"I hope not," he said furrowing his brow at her in concern.

She leaned over and kissed him playfully on the neck.

"I wouldn't change anything. Well, except the part where you didn't return," she said now nibbling on his ear.

Dearka was starting to feel even warmer now and he turned to face his attacker. She looked so cute when she played the seductive role that he couldn't help but answer her calls.

"Just promise me that you won't fight back and you will stay quiet about everything," she asked.

He moved in and began passionately kissing her.

"I promise, unless you do something that will provoke me to," he replied between kisses.

Before they both knew it, they were lying on the sofa, Dearka on top of her and letting sparks fly. Then the most frightening sound any guy could hear at that moment erupted, the sound of the closing door with footsteps following.

"Miriallia, are you home?" the deep voice rang through the house.

Miriallia pushed Dearka off her and he fell to the floor. She jumped up from her spot and saw her parents in the foyer. Quickly she straightened her green skirt and almond top. Dearka was rubbing his head from the bump he received from the coffee table. She mouthed the word sorry to him as she hopped over his body to reach her parents.

"Hi daddy," Miriallia said running up to give him a hug.

He accepted his daughters' embrace and held her tight. Dearka slowly made his way off the floor, but was unsure of what he was supposed to do next.

"What was I thinking? Why did I agree to this? I should have just come here with her to get her passport and then we should have left for the PLANTs immediately," he thought.

"Where's Annabella?" her mother asked as she set her suitcase down.

Dearka peered around the corner at the question and was able to see Miriallia's mother. Miriallia looked amazingly similar to her mother. Other than their hair color and style, you would have thought they were sisters and not mother and daughter.

"Oh, and who's this?" her mother's sweet voice said.

"Yeah, um, this is Dearka Elsman. He is, um, well…" she started.

Both her parents looked back and forth between the two of them. In what felt like a millisecond to Dearka, Miriallia's mom's eyes widened.

"Oh," she said walking over to him.

Dearka turned his head sideways a bit when he saw her approach him. He felt her eyes pierce through him and he was becoming quite uncomfortable.

"You're okay Dearka. She's not going to skewer you and serve you for dinner. At least, I hope not," he thought.

Miriallia's father was unsure of what provoked his wife to walk over to the young man with such intent.

"Well, it's nice to meet you young man. Are you a good friend of Miriallia's?" he asked.

"I don't know if it is really that nice to meet him," Miriallia's mom interrupted.

"I'm dead," Dearka thought.

"Mom!" Miriallia cried.

"What's a matter, doesn't he speak?" her father asked ignoring both his wife and daughter.

"Of course he does," Miriallia said irritated.

"So you are Annabella's father I presume," her mother chided.

Dearka could feel his body going numb. He couldn't even open his mouth or give any attempt at words. With that statement, Miriallia's father's eyes widened. He looked at his daughter and then looked back at Dearka with contempt.

"This is the guy!" he yelled.

"Yup, I'm dead if she doesn't let me fight back," Dearka thought.

"Daddy please," she begged putting her hands up in front of her.

"Well you are handsome, I'll give you that," Mrs. Haw confirmed.

Dearka started to blush, wishing he hadn't when he saw Mr. Haw become even more infuriated.

"Okay, this isn't the way I wanted to tell you," Miriallia said trying to calm her father down.

"Dear, why don't you have a seat on the couch? It may be a while and you look a little pale," Mrs. Haw said to Dearka.

Unfortunately for him, he couldn't feel his legs anymore and was afraid if he took his eyes off Mr. Haw for a moment, he may be attacked. Miriallia looked back behind her and saw the fear in his eyes.

"And you're supposed to be a ZAFT soldier," she thought.

She stepped back from her father and walked toward Dearka. He could feel her presence, but still didn't take his eyes away from Mr. Haw. They were locked in a stare, only Mr. Haw was the intimidating one this round. Miriallia grabbed Dearka's hand and pulled him to the couch. At that moment, his eyes dropped from Mr. Haw and fell onto Miriallia's.

"This is a bad idea, you can't leave me in this position" he whispered trying not to move his lips.

"It will be okay, just follow my lead," she whispered back pushing him onto the couch.

Mrs. Haw walked over to her husband who was as angry as a bull with his eyes seeing red.

"Come on honey. Let's just sit down and talk with the boy. He can't be that bad if Miriallia likes him so much," she said.

Miriallia sighed in relief realizing her mother was going to back her up. From her comment before, she thought she might have been wrong about that possibility. Mr. Haw followed his wife into the living room obediently and sat down in one of the sofa chairs across from the kids.

End

Author's Preview: Uh oh, here comes the lion's roar. Plus, Cadey is on the move. Please read and review for me so I can continue on my happy way.

Reviewer Response: Hello to all my wonderful reviewers. Thank you so much for all your support and reviews on all my chapters thus far. I love you all so much! Unfortunately due to possible changes in TOS (which is still unconfirmed) all responses are now located on my personal website. Please click on my profile page to link to the website. Thank you.