Dearka & Miriallia

Author's Note: I should have chapter 25 done for tomorrow (no promises, I'm tired right now), but I have to buy the uncut of Gundam SEED Volume 10 (meaning I have to wake up early so they don't sell out), so I may watch that and then post later in the evening if I'm still awake. 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 24

On The Run

On December 4…

Ian stepped off the shuttle and walked through another terminal. He was starting to get tired of seeing the inside of these and longed to be back on a base.

"How sad is it that I prefer a base or a ship to these ports," he thought.

He walked along the path noticing the billboards along the wall.

"They are all starting to look the same. I think I saw that sign on Junius 3," he thought lethargically.

He stopped before passing a coffee shop embedded in the terminal. The scent of the freshly ground beans were captivating his senses.

"Guess it can't hurt to grab some coffee. I don't want Cadey thinking I'm this worn out or she won't take me seriously," he said to himself.

He walked in and grabbed a cup of coffee, finding a seat to relax for a few minutes.

At Miriallia's home…

Dearka climbed the stairs to Miriallia's room with the glass of water in his hand. He walked to her door and knocked softly.

"It's okay, you don't have to knock," she said smiling.

She was lying down on her bed in a powder blue silk top with matching hi cut shorts. Dearka began to blush when he saw her beautiful form in front of him.

"What's the matter?" she asked innocently.

"Uh, nothing," he said moving over to her with the water.

He handed her the water cautiously and then backed away.

"Thank you," she said when she grabbed it.

She began to eye him up and down raising her eyebrow to his shyness.

"There is obviously something wrong," she said a little annoyed.

"No, I mean, yes. Well, do you really think I should be in here with you dressed like that? What if your dad comes upstairs? I can't imagine your mother can keep him busy forever," Dearka replied.

Miriallia started to giggle at him. She didn't do that much so it threw Dearka off a little.

"What's so funny?" he thought.

She continued to laugh and Dearka furrowed his brow in concern. She was definitely acting strange.

"All right, what?" he asked irritated.

"Nothing, you're just cute. So tell me, since you said you wanted to be with me, are you planning on being this shy whenever we visit my parents home in the future?" she asked still laughing.

He definitely didn't get it. She was the one who told him to play the game her father set out for him. Now he was trying and she was tempting him to lose on purpose.

"No," he said defiantly.

"Really?" she asked in between laughs.

"You're not amusing," he said as he walked to the door.

She paused for a moment to catch her breath before calling to him again.

"Dearka," she called.

He turned to face her only to see a pound puppy being tossed at him. He caught it effortlessly, but continued to glare at her. He threw it back at her as she also had no trouble catching the stuffed animal.

"You are really not amusing," he said again leaving the room.

"Goodnight," she sung as he shut her door.

A smile filled his face at her playfulness. Even though she had tempted him, he refused to give in and could tell from the way she was acting that she was either testing or teasing him. He wasn't quite sure which it was. He walked to Annabella's room, closing the door behind him.

"Damn, I was going to make sure she was feeling okay," he thought after she had thrown him off with her tactics.

He sat on the daybed and grabbed his duffel bag.

"Oh well, I'm sure she's fine from the way she was acting. I'll just see her in the morning. Besides, I should check in with Yzak and find out if there is any news on Cadey yet," he thought.

He had shoved his cell phone deep into his bag and began unpacking to find it. He pulled out his clothes, including his uniform and found the phone lying at the bottom.

"It always amazes me that when you throw your phone in the bag, it not only ends up at the bottom, but in order to find it you have to take out every last item before it becomes visible to you again," he thought slightly irked with having to repack.

He refolded his clothes and placed them in the bag neatly, his uniform still on the bottom.

"Won't be needing that anytime soon," he though as he put it in the bag.

He used his phone to dial Yzak's office on the Voltaire and waited for his friend to pick up.

Back on December 4…

Ian stepped out of the taxi and headed up the large stone steps of Kelley's family cottage. He could see Cadey and Annabella playing in the living room, but Annabella didn't look too thrilled. He smiled to himself at the site of Annabella safe and sound.

"Thank God she is okay," he thought.

He walked to the door and rang the bell. Inside, Cadey looked up from the living room floor and walked over to the door. Before she could even look to see who it was, Ian spoke.

"Don't bother pretending you're not there Cadey, I could see you on my way up the steps," Ian said threateningly.

Cadey's eyes squinted in anger.

"What do you want?" she asked with contempt in her voice.

"Let me in, we need to talk," Ian ordered.

"And if I don't?" she asked already knowing his answer.

"I'll break down this door. And if you make me do that, you won't be happy with what I do next," he threatened.

The door swung open and an extremely agitated Cadey stood in front of him. For the first time, he didn't care that she was upset and he pushed through the door almost knocking her over. He walked straight for Annabella.

"Don't touch her," Cadey yelled running past him to grab her before he had a chance.

"Cadey!" he yelled.

"She's my daughter, you can't have her," Cadey cried.

Ian couldn't believe his ears.

"What? She's not yours Cadey," Ian stated simple facts.

Cadey shook her head holding Annabella tightly to her. Annabella was not very pleased with this close contact. She began to hit Cadey with her tiny hands in an attempt to be put down.

"Yes she is. Emma is mine and you are not taking her away from me," Cadey exclaimed.

Ian was astounded with her declaration that he fell backwards a few steps.

"She has really lost it," he thought.

Tears were forming in Cadey's eyes and Ian realized that this was not going to be as easy to just take the child from her arms. She was still his friend and he knew she needed some serious help.

"Cadey, you can't run forever. You know that. You may have been able to make it for a while now, but one day someone else will find you too and it's going to be over. They'll put you in jail and take Annabella away to give her back to Miriallia," Ian said calmly.

"It won't happen and her name is not Annabella, it is Emma," Cadey reiterated.

Ian had his hands up in front of himself waving them down to try to relax the now heavily breathing Cadey.

"I'm not getting through to her. What the hell do I do? I should have just told Dearka where she was. Cadey may not have been so freaked out if he was here," Ian thought wishing he could smack himself in the head right about now.

"Cadey, you are living in constant fear and you'll always wonder if the next knock on the door is going to be the end of your journey. When it happens, Emma is the one who will suffer," he said playing along with Cadey's delusions.

Cadey had begun to calm a little and breathing more regularly. Annabella was still not happy and began whining her discontent.

"Do you think this is what Dearka would really want? If you want him back so badly, you need to start thinking rationally," Ian pressured.

Cadey looked down to the floor.

"The older Emma gets, the worse it's going to be. She is just a baby now and you can manage to escape and live on the run until she's a little older and then she'll be ripped from your arms and you'll be the only mother she has ever known," he continued.

The tears started falling down Cadey's face and Ian realized he was finally reaching her.

"But I love her," Cadey cried.

"If you do this, you will devastate her. She'll be emotionally scarred for life and then she's going to find out that she had another mother. A mother you denied her because of your grand scheme to win her father back," Ian continued.

"It won't happen like that," Cadey denied.

"She's going to be the one to suffer Cadey, don't you see that? And to make things worse, she may never forgive you," Ian said.

Cadey couldn't bear to hear anymore, placing Annabella on the ground with her toys.

"I know you are trying to help me Ian, but if I don't have Dearka, I don't have anything. If that girl is able to take him away from me, then she owes me this," Cadey said defiantly.

Ian was beginning to get frustrated but held back his anger.

"Cadey, you need to be thinking about Emma right now," Ian said.

"I am thinking of her!" Cadey yelled.

"You say you love her right? I'm not saying it's easy. I mean, look at me, how do you think I feel? These are hard choices to make and I chose to sacrifice my feelings for the person I love," he stated.

"I love Emma more than anything," Cadey cried.

"Then decide what is best for her, a life on the run with all those risks or to reunite her with her real mother. Cadey do you have the strength to sacrifice everything for Emma's happiness?" he asked.

"I…" she started.

Before she could get any words out Ian heard a noise from outside.

"Cadey grab Annabella, I mean Emma and get into the bedroom," he ordered.

Cadey obediently followed his instructions.

"What the hell is that?" he thought moving to the front door.

Cadey could see people surrounding the front of the house and she moved into the bedroom.

"I have to get out of here," she thought.

She grabbed her purse on her way into the back bedroom and locked the door. Quickly she opened the window and crawled out running to the car she had purchased a week before in the detached garage. She saw a soldier coming toward her and she gathered speed pushing through the barn like doors.

"Over here," a soldier cried.

Cadey had no time to strap Annabella into the car seat and once again placed her in the passenger's seat securing her with the seat belt. She turned the ignition as the soldier had made it to the door and started banging on the window.

"Leave me alone," Cadey yelled in a panic.

She slammed on the gas peddle and flew out of the garage trying her best to avoid the soldiers that were trying to get in her way. Dust shot up in all directions from the tires blinding a few soldiers on her way out.

"What the hell," Ian said when he saw the car from the window.

He ran to the front door and opened it revealing a very angry woman.

"You again!" he yelled.

The woman turned back from her vision on the escaping car and was taken aback at his presence.

"Damn it!" he cried watching Cadey escape.

"Who are you?" the woman asked angrily.

"Someone who was trying to rescue that little girl!" he yelled figuring that's why soldiers in uniform were at the door.

"Yeah good job with that. You let her get away," she replied angrily pushing through the door.

The girl got on the communicator and made a call.

"We lost her thanks to some idiot here," she scoffed.

"Hey just a minute, you are the one that let her get away. I almost had the baby back and who the hell are you anyway," he screamed.

"Who is that?" Yzak questioned.

Shiho flashed the communicator toward Ian and both sets of eyes widened.

"Shiho, grab him. That's one of Cadey's close friends," Yzak ordered.

Shiho lifted her hand and five soldiers surrounded Ian.

"Great!" he yelled.

He put his hands up in the air in order to surrender.

"Dearka knows I'm here," he lied.

"Really, then why did he send us to look for her?" Shiho mocked.

Ian glared at her.

"You are such a bitch!" he said under his breath.

A few of the soldiers overheard and laughed a little at his remark.

"Have him brought back to the ship, I can't imagine Cadey is going to be easy to find right now. She's probably hiding out somewhere on that PLANT by now," Yzak ordered.

"What are you going to do?" Shiho asked.

"Fill Dearka in and see if this guy is telling the truth. Then I'll check to see his status in ZAFT," Yzak stated.

"This guy is a ZAFT soldier too," Shiho said irritated.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that sweetheart?" Ian said condescendingly.

Shiho glared at him and walked over ready to smack him.

"Just bring him here Shiho," Yzak warned.

"Fine," she said slamming the communicator shut.

A smirk filled Ian's face.

"I'm glad she got away now. I wouldn't want someone like you returning Annabella to Miriallia and Dearka," Ian said obnoxiously.

Shiho shook her head and walked away.

"Let's go," she ordered.

They all headed out the door, Ian still keeping his hands up as to not provoke the other soldiers.

"Well, this is going just swell," he thought.

In Neo's office…

"Have you located the girl?" Neo asked the attending soldier.

"Yes sir, she is at her home in Orb, but there is a young man that seems to be with her at every moment," the soldier replied.

"Well, he has to walk away at some time," Neo stated.

"Yes Sir!" the soldier saluted understanding the cryptic order and leaving to carry out his duty.

"Very soon, my problems will be rectified," Neo thought with an evil smirk.

At Miriallia's home…

Dearka was beginning to get annoyed that he wasn't able to reach Yzak.

"What the hell is he doing?" Dearka thought.

Before he had a chance to redial, his cell rang at him. He looked down and saw it was the person he had been trying to locate.

"It's about time," he said when he answered.

"What is?" Yzak asked.

"I've been trying to call you for the past twenty minutes," Dearka said irritated.

"Well, I've been trying to track down your brat," Yzak said coldly.

Dearka was now livid.

"She is not a brat!" he yelled.

"I found her," Yzak said.

This stopped Dearka's anger in its' tracks.

"Where?" he cried.

Miriallia came bursting through the door.

"Did he find her?" she shrieked.

Yzak cringed when he heard Miriallia scream.

"I didn't say we caught her," Yzak said.

Dearka was beginning to get angry again.

"This is ridiculous, I'm coming back to the PLANTs to find her myself," Dearka stated.

"This isn't my fault," Yzak defended.

"Let me guess, you're going to blame it on Shiho? Man, can't you take responsibility for anything that you actually screw up?" Dearka asked agitated.

"Watch it Elsman, you still work for me, remember that!" Yzak stated.

Dearka looked over and saw Miriallia's sad look. He walked to her and put his arm around her. She buried her head in his chest and let more tears fall from her eyes.

"Besides, it happened to be Ian Randall that was our downfall this time," Yzak informed Dearka.

Miriallia lifted her head when she overheard Yzak's shrill voice say Ian's name.

"Ian, huh?" Dearka repeated.

"Yeah, he said that you knew he was looking for Cadey too. Honestly, if he was, he may have almost had her," Yzak said sincerely.

Miriallia looked up at Dearka with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Yeah, I knew he was looking for her. He told Mir he would do his best to find Annabella for her," he replied.

Miriallia's eyes softened and a small smile showed on her face. She mouthed the words thank you to him. He just smiled back at her.

"I can't believe I have to defend that creep. If Miriallia wasn't here, I'd deny it and have him put in the loony bin with Cadey for that matter," he thought.

"I'm not letting her get off of December 4, so maybe you should get ready to return. But I'm going to be the one to find her, got that," Yzak said belligerently.

"Whatever, we'll leave tomorrow," Dearka confirmed.

Miriallia felt so much better at the sound of those words. She had been waiting three weeks to hear him say that. Dearka hung up his phone and looked down at the angel wrapped around him.

"Since we're leaving tomorrow anyway," he smiled.

She laughed at him and pulled away.

"I don't think so my dear. You may just need to take a cold shower tonight. I need to get some rest for when I have my chance to beat Cadey to a bloody pulp," Miriallia said with a wink.

"Hey, you are supposed to leave Cadey to me," he reminded.

"We'll see," she sang as she left the room hitting the light switch on the wall off on him.

Dearka rolled his eyes and went back to the daybed.

"Don't worry Annabella, we're coming to get you and I promise you will have everything you could ever dream of," Dearka thought as he rested on the bed slowly closing his eyes for the night.

Miriallia walked into her room and grabbed a new bag from the closet. She found some clothes and a really sexy outfit for the evening to wear when she was alone with Dearka again.

"Soon, I'll have everything I should have had two years ago. Dearka, Annabella and you little one," she thought rubbing her womb.

She finished packing her stuff and turned off her own light in order to get some rest for the long day ahead.

End

Author's Preview: It's the Cadey an Ian showdown up next for all those who have been desperately waiting for someone to confront her. 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.