Dearka & Miriallia

Author's Note: There is a partial link now to the Destiny storyline minus Miriallia on the Archangel and we will go back off track again from there. But in order to work in the next plot twist, Angel of Dreams and I discussed using part of Destiny in its' current phase. The one thing you may notice is time jumps – don't worry, I plan on filling in some pieces for you in the future, but I wanted to get moving in the story a little so I will make those as mini stories or one-shots in the future. 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 22

An Understanding

Sea of Marmala (at Kureta)…

As the battle concluded, another Extended had fallen. Neo was far from pleased. He sat in his chair awaiting the inevitable call from Lord Jibril. As he sat contemplating his justification of the newest defeat, the buzzer to the office rang.

"Yes," Neo called bidding the soldier entrance.

"Sir, we have the information you requested from the attack on the San Juko base," the soldier replied.

The soldier handed over a file folder full of pictures and papers. Neo grabbed the folder from the soldier before dismissing him.

"You may go," he ordered.

"Yes Sir!" the soldier saluted.

Neo pushed back his chair, reclining into a more comfortable position. He began flipping through the information placed on his lap. As he reached the middle of the pile, he saw pictures taken of a young girl that seemed quite familiar to him.

"Who is this girl?" he thought.

He couldn't place a finger on it, but felt as though it he knew her from somewhere. There in front of him, the picture a spy camera in the heavily wooded top of the mountain had snapped pictures of Miriallia with Annabella strapped to her back. The notes on the picture showed information the soldiers had collected on the girl. They were only able to get a name and address from what they had to go on. But, for Neo that was enough.

"Miriallia Haw," he read out loud.

Before he had more time to contemplate his findings the screen flashed on before him.

"I believe I told you I wouldn't tolerate any more failures Neo," Lord Jibril said angrily.

"I do apologize Sir," Neo answered.

"And now, we have lost another Extended. I knew the first was unavoidable, but this time it is intolerable," he scolded.

"I assure you, we are working to rectify the situation," Neo replied.

Lord Jibril furrowed his brow making his beady eyes seem even more freakish.

"And how do you propose to rectify the situation?" he asked.

Neo looked down into his hand and saw the picture of the young girl with the camera staring back at him.

"She seems like she may be a good candidate," Neo thought.

"Please, have faith in me and I will provide a victory against the Coordinators soon," Neo said slyly.

The small smirk on his face softened Jibril's making him smile back.

"I will hold you to that. This is your last chance Neo," Jibril said before terminating the communication.

Neo continued to stare at the blank screen for a moment and then blinked back to reality. He pressed a button on his chair console.

"Yes sir," came a voice.

"I would like you to acquire a young woman named Miriallia Haw and bring her to me," Neo stated.

"Sir?" the officer replied.

"I believe she will be of great use to us," Neo answered.

"Isn't that the young woman who was spying on the San Juko facility?" the officer asked.

"Yes and it is time we gave her a tour of our new one," Neo smirked to himself.

"Yes Sir!" the soldier commented.

"Very soon, we will once again have the upper hand thanks to you my dear," he thought smiling at the picture of Miriallia and Annabella.

Back at Miriallia's Home…

Dearka walked up the stairs cautiously behind Mr. Haw. He wasn't sure what was about to happen and felt a little queasy in his stomach.

"So tell me, how long have the two of you been at our home?" Mr. Haw asked.

It seemed like an innocent enough question to Dearka.

"About two days," Dearka replied.

"And where did you sleep," Mr. Haw asked.

"I should have known he was setting me up," Dearka thought.

"I slept on the day bed in Annabella's room Sir," he answered.

Mr. Haw turned on the top stair and stared into Dearka's eyes.

"Sir, what are you doing?" Dearka asked feeling uncomfortable again.

"Just looking to see if you were lying to me," Mr. Haw answered honestly.

He turned again and walked down the hall.

"I am in no way condoning this relationship you have with my daughter. I want to make that clear. But, if Annabella is in danger, then I have no choice but to trust you will fight for your daughter the way I will for mine," he stated.

"And when you say the way you will for yours, you are speaking about fighting me for her aren't you?" Dearka concluded.

Mr. Haw turned to him again after pushing open Annabella's bedroom door.

"Come in here son," Mr. Haw put his arm out bidding Dearka entrance first.

Dearka entered obediently walking to the center of the room. Mr. Haw shut the door behind them.

"My rules are simple. You will not touch my daughter and she will not touch you. I expect you to monitor the situation every moment of the day as to what is happening with this fiancée of yours. Until you find them, you will not say a word to Miriallia about what I am about to say to you. In the end, when Annabella is returned to Miriallia safely, you will walk away and return to your fiancée and never look back. You will tell her you don't believe it will work out and that you still love your fiancée, which from the looks of the conversation you were having on the phone, you do," Mr. Haw ordered.

Dearka lifted his head with his eyes widening.

"With all do respect sir," Dearka started.

"I don't want to hear it. Find your daughter and then walk away. Miriallia has had enough pain in her life. And for the record, I'm not asking you to walk away; I'm telling you to. You will never be a part of this family so don't waste your time trying," Mr. Haw answered.

With that Mr. Haw walked to the door without looking at Dearka.

"I will have Mrs. Haw come for you when dinner is ready. Until then, stay in here and do whatever you have to in order to get things rolling to find Annabella. I'll be watching you like a hawk and I may not be a Coordinator, but I am a father and my senses are keen enough," Mr. Haw said before opening the door to leave.

"I don't believe him. Does he really think I'm going to walk away from Miriallia again! I won't let him do this to us. We love each other. But I guess I have no choice for now. If I want to bring Miriallia with me to the PLANTs, I have to go along with him," Dearka thought furiously.

Dearka walked over to the day bed and slammed his fist into the pillow.

"That son of a…" he thought.

Tears were beginning to fill his eyes now and he couldn't understand why. He hadn't been so soft since he was a child, but now with everything Miriallia and he were going through, he couldn't hold them back. Before long, there was a knock on the door. Dearka took a deep breath and walked over wiping the few tears away.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Can I come in?" Miriallia inquired.

"I don't think it's such a good idea Mir," Dearka replied with the recent events swirling in his head.

"Huh?" Miriallia questioned outside the door.

"What has gotten into him?" she thought.

Ignoring his answer Miriallia pushed through the door.

"What did my father say to you?" she asked entering the room and closing the door behind her.

Dearka turned to look at her with frustration written all over his face.

"Nothing, just to keep working to locate Cadey and Annabella until dinner," he replied being partially honest.

"So, he told you to leave me after we get Annabella back, didn't he?" she concluded for herself.

Dearka looked at her in amazement. He hadn't even mentioned anything to her that would give her the indication that had been said.

"Yes Dearka, I know my father's tactics all too well. He is just trying to scare you away from even playing the game. But, you promised not to leave me right?" she continued.

"I know, but right now, I'm a little freaked out by everything," he stated.

"Well, you shouldn't have challenged him if you weren't going to try to win," she reprimanded.

Dearka looked at her in shock.

"Try to win?" he asked.

"You have now entered what I like to call the Haw game of life. Now, if you want to win you will have to do everything I say from now on," she winked at him.

"Oh right, because we've seen how well that's already gone," he mocked.

She glared at him before continuing.

"It would have gone better if you had just stood up and walked out the door with me, but no, you had to be all macho and challenge my father's authority under his own roof," she scolded.

"Well, I didn't think it would end up this way," he answered.

"What? You thought he would completely accept you?" she stated.

"That is the way you made it seem," he reminded.

"I said you broke through the wall, I didn't say you beat him at the game," she answered.

"I didn't know we were playing a game. The last time I checked, this was real life," he snipped.

"Until we leave this house, you have to make every move as if it may be your last. You see, you already have a head start in the game thanks to Annabella and that doesn't make daddy happy. So, he thought he might push you back a few spots by making you walk away at the end. But please, tell me he failed," she replied as she walked closer to Dearka.

He felt his face flush as she leaned up against him.

"Hey, we're not supposed to touch," he said pushing her away.

She smiled at him with a devilish look on her face.

"Seems you may have a chance to win after all," she said.

"Great, now you're testing me too," he said snidely.

He looked around the room again at all of Annabella's things.

"Good thing I told him I was staying in here the past two days," he smirked to her.

"Yeah, he would kill you if he found out we were sleeping together in my room," she winked playfully.

"I don't remember sleeping," he said making her blush.

She backed herself up to the door and placed her hand on the knob.

"And thus begins your test to see how well you can play the game. I'll miss you more than you know. Just make sure to find Annabella quickly so we can get back to real life," she said before opening the door.

Dearka grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket.

"I guess I should start by tormenting Yzak. It's been a good half hour. Maybe I can irritate him enough that he will get moving," Dearka smirked.

"That's my guy," she said as she exited.

"Your guy, huh? I like the sound of that," Dearka thought smiling.

Miriallia walked down the hall and entered the bathroom. She had felt a little strange when she was standing in the room with Dearka.

"Great, wouldn't this just be the time. Go figure I would start now," she thought grabbing a pad from the drawer.

She walked back out and headed toward her bedroom to get cleaned up before dinner.

A few weeks later…

The two lovers had been playing Miriallia's fathers game well. They refrained from touching, holding or kissing each other and kept their discussions about the current status of the search for Annabella. Mr. Haw had backed off of Dearka a bit, but continued to keep an eye on him, especially in the evenings.

"Dear, you do have to get some rest," Mrs. Haw said.

"I'll rest when that boy is out of our home and Annabella is back safely," Mr. Haw replied.

"You can't watch those two every moment of the day," she said sternly now.

"You want to bet," he said irritated.

"Honestly. You are acting like a child. Your daughter is in love and all you want to do is ruin it for her," Mrs. Haw scolded.

Mr. Haw glared at his wife.

"That boy is not good enough for her!" he yelled.

Miriallia and Dearka could hear the conversation from the top of the stairs where they had planted themselves waiting for information from Yzak on Miriallia's laptop.

"Wow, he really doesn't like me," Dearka whispered to Miriallia.

"He doesn't like any guy," she whispered back typing softly on the keys to log into her account.

Mrs. Haw was beginning to get angry with her husband again.

"No boy is good enough for your little Miriallia. But I have news for you dear, she isn't a child anymore. In fact, she is a mother herself and you will have to accept that," Mrs. Haw yelled back.

"At least your mom likes me," Dearka whispered again.

"I think you've proved yourself to be a good father in her eyes. That is, now that you know you are one," Miriallia smiled to him when she looked up from the screen.

"I feel kind of guilty sitting here and listening to them fight about us," Dearka replied.

"Oh, don't worry. I used to do this all the time as a kid. They never noticed me. We get a nice angle that we can see and hear them at, but they can't do the same on us," she whispered.

"Do you think they can't hear us because we are whispering and they are busy yelling," Dearka mocked.

"Or maybe because when I was little, I didn't have someone sitting next to talking to me in any sort of hushed tones," she mocked back at him.

Dearka smiled at her. He loved the way they were able to discuss things so openly. He felt like he had not only found the love of his life, but another best friend.

"I am very well aware that Miriallia is a mother. But, until now, she did not act like one!" Mr. Haw yelled.

"What did you expect from her? She was still very young and extremely hurt when Annabella entered the world. She has grown up a lot since then, or have you been too pigheaded to notice?" Mrs. Haw screeched.

"No thanks to him!" Mr. Haw roared.

"If I remember my biology correctly, and I believe I do, that young man was not the only one who made the decision that brought about Annabella," Mrs. Haw said trying to calm herself down.

Dearka was beginning to feel uncomfortable again. It had been happening a lot lately.

"God, if this is how your family is reacting, I'm not so sure I should introduce you to mine," he stated.

Miriallia looked at him to see his face paling again.

"It's probably best if I didn't meet them until everything is said and done now. They may be even more upset than my parents. Especially since you have Cadey attached to you still," Miriallia responded.

"And unlike your mom, mine may be even more vicious than my dad. I can't imagine either of them standing up for me against the other," Dearka said sadly.

"As long as I'm with you, I don't care what people say," Miriallia said with a smile still plastered on her face.

Dearka took another deep breath as he waited for word to come through on Miriallia's laptop and he continued to listen to the fight below them.

"Somehow he tricked her. I'm sure of it. We didn't raise Miriallia to act like that," Mr. Haw tried to reason.

Dearka shook his head remembering the first night they spent together.

"Wow, if they only knew who came on to whom," he said more to himself.

Miriallia looked back at him before hitting him in the arm.

"Watch it buddy," she warned.

Dearka laughed softly before responding.

"You know it's true," he teased.

"Well, it's only because someone was going to leave," she informed.

"I still left you know," he answered.

"Don't remind me. That's what started this whole mess," she said annoyed.

"You know I intended to come back…" he began.

"We've been through this a hundred times Dearka. Can we move on from there now?" she pleaded.

"Yeah, sure," he replied.

The fight continued and Dearka put his head against the white banister spindles while wrapping his hands around two of them.

"Somehow, I doubt he tricked her or even forced her for that matter. Do you think she and Tolle were never together too?" Mrs. Haw questioned.

With that, Miriallia shut the top to the laptop and looked over at Dearka.

"Hey, want to go into Annabella's room now? I think we heard enough," she said with her face turning red.

Dearka smirked at her.

"I'm not that naïve Mir. I could tell you were experienced when we were together," he said as she continued to turn a brighter shade of crimson.

"Yeah, well, we don't need to hear my parents discussing it," she said quickly.

She was about to stand until she felt Dearka grab her arm and pull her back to her place in the hallway.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm curious. I want to hear your father's response to that," he smirked.

"Really, you can be a pain in the…" she started.

She stopped mid sentence when she saw Dearka put his finger to his lips to shush her. Her eyes squinted into a glare at him before he leaned over to break one of the most prominent rules of the Haw household. He perked his ears up during their kiss to hear the response.

"Miriallia was never with that boy Tolle! She was a very good girl until she met that ruffian!" Mr. Haw began yelling again.

"You are so gullible if you believed her back then on Heliopolis. I can't believe you don't know your own daughter well enough to realize what she had been up to. You act like you know everything that is going on in her life and she is acting no differently than she did back then. You really believe it is because she wasn't under your guidance when she was on that ship still, don't you?" Mrs. Haw reprimanded.

"If we had been there…" he started.

"Annabella would still be here now," Mrs. Haw finished.

Dearka blinked at those words before looking at Miriallia.

"Hey, don't look at me like that! I can't imagine you were any better. It's all thanks to that stupid double standard," she pouted.

"I didn't say anything," he defended.

"Yeah, but you were thinking it," she scolded.

Miriallia leaned back on to her hands and closed her eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked concerned.

"Yeah, just a little tired lately. I don't know what is wrong with me all of a sudden. I guess I'm just stressed trying to locate Annabella," she replied.

"I think we are done talking about this. Go get the them both for dinner," Mrs. Haw said harshly.

Mr. Haw began to leave the living room angrily. Miriallia and Dearka hopped up from their spots and dodged to their separate rooms. Miriallia shut her door quietly and sat on her bed with the laptop reopening it to see if there was any word from Yzak. Dearka did the same except he grabbed his cell phone and dialed his voice mail to pretend he was checking for messages. Mr. Haw entered the room Dearka was in first and stared at the young man as he waited for him to hang up his phone.

"Was there any word yet?" Mr. Haw asked.

"No sir," Dearka replied courteously.

"Fine, Mrs. Haw wanted me to grab you for dinner," he stated flatly.

"Uh, thank you," Dearka said standing up from the bed.

Mr. Haw walked to Miriallia's room and knocked on the door. Dearka exited Annabella's room and watched as Mr. Haw entered Miriallia's room.

"Miriallia sweetheart, it's time for dinner," Mr. Haw said sweetly.

Dearka rolled his eyes at how gentle he was being to Miriallia while he was as rough as steel wool to him.

"I guess that's how my parents would react too," Dearka thought.

He started to walk down the steps as he heard Miriallia respond.

"I'll be down in a moment daddy," Miriallia replied.

"Can you get any more sugar coated Mir? Although, I'd probably be the same way as Mr. Haw is if Annabella came home in this situation," Dearka thought.

The role of fatherhood was starting to take effect on him and he didn't really mind.

"Now if only I could get you back so I can actually have a chance to be a father," he thought as he continued down the stairs.

Mrs. Haw was waiting at the bottom for him.

"How are you doing? Are you hanging in there?" she asked kindly.

"Uh, yeah. I'm doing okay," he answered.

"Good. Don't let Mr. Haw rattle you. You've done well for the past few weeks," she encouraged.

"Thanks," he said with a slight smile.

Mr. Haw came stomping down the stairs with the grumpy look back on his face when he saw Dearka again. Dearka scurried to the kitchen to avoid another confrontation with the man.

"I've had all I can handle of him. I hope Yzak finds Cadey and Annabella soon," Dearka thought.

As Dearka sat down, he saw Miriallia enter the room. She sat down across from him and smiled. He smiled back but quickly wiped it off his face when he saw Mr. Haw glaring at him.

"Does this guy ever take a break," he thought.

Mrs. Haw began to put the food on the table and Dearka kept his eyes to the floor trying not to look at Miriallia or her father. Miriallia looked at the food and took in the heavenly scent.

"Wow mom, it looks delicious," she said.

"I hope it tastes that way too," Mrs. Haw replied with a smile.

They all began to eat quietly and Dearka continued to avoid eye contact with Mr. Haw as he felt his eyes drilling into him. Miriallia took a few bites of her food before quickly putting down her fork. When the fork dropped, everyone looked up at her.

"Is something wrong dear," her mother asked.

Miriallia sat still for a moment trying to regain her composure. She couldn't even speak and she could feel everyone staring at her.

"Mir?" Dearka asked ignoring the glare he received from Mr. Haw.

"Excuse me," she was finally able to say politely before pushing away from the table.

She scurried out of the room and Mrs. Haw stood up quickly to follow. Mr. Haw was about to stand when Mrs. Haw stopped him.

"You two stay, eat. I'll check on Miriallia," she said following her daughter upstairs.

End

Author's Preview: Here comes the new twist in the next chapter. Stay tuned to find out what it is. 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.