Dearka & Miriallia

Author's Note: Hey there, sorry I disappeared. I've been desperate to write my next chapter and finally I was able to. Hopefully I should have chapter 26 done for tomorrow too. 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 25

Ominous Events

3:00 AM, Miriallia's home…

A light breeze entered the partially open window in Miriallia's room. She could smell the fresh air as she rolled over to her side mid-dream. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw a shadow over her bed. Quickly, she sat up with fear in her eyes. Before she could let out a noise, a chloroform soaked rag was thrust over her nose and mouth. She tried with all her might to avoid breathing in the fumes, but to no avail. Her arms flailed at the brutal attack knocking over the lamp on her bedside table. The lamp smashed to the ground causing Dearka to jump out of his bed.

"What the hell was that?" he thought fearing Miriallia may be in danger.

Mr. and Mrs. Haw were already at Miriallia's door trying to open it. The invaders that had entered their home locked the door forbidding entrance to the room. Mr. Haw banged on the door and tried to ram it with his shoulder but only hurt himself more. Dearka moved in and realized there was no way to knock the door down.

"It's solid wood, we can't break it down," he said angrily.

Mrs. Haw had run down the hall and into her bedroom while Mr. Haw had been trying to get through the door. She ran back and pushed both men out of her way.

"It's an old house and the locks are all the same skeleton locks, meaning any of our keys will unlock it," she said irritated with them.

As the key turned, she pushed open the door to see a gun aimed at her while some men carried Miriallia out through the window. Mrs. Haw flinched at the inevitable outcome when she heard the click of the hammer pulling back before the loud bang. She felt something or someone push her over and fall on top of her when the sound rang out. Her eyes opened to see her granddaughter's father slumped over her. Mr. Haw tried to get by the two of them blocking the doorway to capture the person responsible for shooting at his wife but wasn't fast enough. They had escaped easily out the window. He ran to the window and watched them load Miriallia into a dark van and speed out of the driveway. His fists hit the windowsill in anger before running back to his wife.

"Dearka?" Mrs. Haw screamed as she shook the young man.

His eyes opened causing him to immediately flinch in pain. Mr. Haw grabbed him and pulled him up roughly.

"Oh god, be careful with him," Mrs. Haw said with terror still in her voice.

"He's going to be fine. It just got him in the shoulder," he said furiously.

Mrs. Haw stood up quickly, her nightgown covered in Dearka's blood.

"Don't just stand there, do something," she screamed.

Mr. Haw shook his head unwillingly.

"What the hell is wrong with you. I'll go and call Jerry, hang on Dearka," she said irately pushing her husband out of her way.

"I may have underestimated your ability to cause trouble for this family young man. It seems you are far more dangerous than I had originally anticipated," Mr. Haw said pulling open one of Miriallia's drawers of clothes.

He grabbed one of her t-shirts and wrapped it around Dearka's left shoulder pulling it as tight as possible to inflict a little more pain on the boy who had been a nuisance to him since they met.

"Owww," he cried at the blatant attempt to make him feel the pain.

"Grow up," he said hitting him on the injured shoulder.

"What is your problem? Are you trying to kill me yourself?" he asked sarcastically.

"If I was trying to kill you, I would have left you there to bleed to death," Mr. Haw said venomously.

"Seems that even though I just saved your wife, you still can't stand me," Dearka said through gritted teeth.

"Those were EAF Soldiers. You are the one to blame for this. Saved my wife, that's a laugh. They probably came for you and decided to take Miriallia as a captive. Even if you saved my wife, daughter and granddaughter, I still would never accept you," Mr. Haw huffed as Mrs. Haw re-entered the room.

She knelt by Dearka's side and put her arms around him. Dearka could see the agitation in Mr. Haw's eyes.

"Why are you still standing there? Help me move him to the bed until Jerry gets here," she cried.

Mr. Haw helped his wife lift Dearka off the floor and moved him over to Miriallia's bed. Dearka flinched again from the pain in his shoulder.

"Don't worry dear, you are going to be fine," Mrs. Haw said comfortingly.

Dearka already knew that in his head, but was annoyed that he ended up caught in the crossfire. If he had been a second quicker, the person shooting at them would have missed both he and Mrs. Haw.

"Go get some water for him," she yelled at her husband again.

Mr. Haw stalked away angrily.

"I should be calling the police to report a kidnapping and handing the ruffian over to the EAF, not fetching him some water," he thought angrily.

"I'm going to be all right. I have to go and find Miriallia," Dearka said pushing himself up from Mrs. Haw's arms.

"Don't you even think of moving. I know you will find her and save her, but you need to wait until we get that shoulder taken care of," she said like she was his mother.

"Thanks," he said lying back down on the pillow.

He could smell the scent of Miriallia's shampoo on the pillowcase and closed his eyes waiting for this Jerry guy to show up so he could head out for Miriallia. Mrs. Haw heard a soft ringing coming from Annabella's room. She stood up and walked away from him. When she returned she had his cell phone in her hand. He grabbed the phone gently from her and answered Yzak's summons.

"Hey," he said in pain.

"Sorry it's so late, but I wanted to tell you we have Cadey and your kid," Yzak stated matter-of-factly.

Dearka flinched in pain again when he tried to sit up. Mrs. Haw put a hand on his chest to push him back down to the bed.

"Stay down," she ordered.

He gave a faint smile at her before answering Yzak again.

"Is Annabella okay?" he asked concerned.

"It depends on what you mean by okay," he said angrily.

"Why? What happened to her?" Dearka asked becoming even angrier now.

This was the last thing he needed to find out. If something had happened to Annabella now that he lost Miriallia again, he wouldn't be able to take it.

"It's not what happened to her, it's what's going to happen to her if she doesn't shut up soon," Yzak said frustrated.

"But she's okay," Dearka said ignoring Yzak's threat on his daughter his voice slightly distorted.

He knew Yzak would never harm Annabella no matter how angry he was. After all, Annabella was a part of Dearka and Yzak was very protective of his friends and their family's. Yzak noticed the sound in Dearka's voice this time and commented on it.

"Are you okay?" he asked with worry in his voice.

"Well, if having Miriallia kidnapped by EAF soldiers and being shot in the shoulder is okay, then yeah, I'm just dandy," he said sarcastically.

Mrs. Haw couldn't help but smile at his sense of humor.

"What the hell happened?" Yzak yelled.

"I don't know, but I need to find out. They have Miriallia!" he said furiously.

"You need to get back to the PLANTs and deal with this kid before Shiho explodes. I'll start working on locating your precious girlfriend," Yzak said smartly.

Dearka pursed his lips together and bit down when another shot of pain coursed through his body. He didn't want to leave Earth without Miriallia by his side and Yzak could tell that was the reason for the delay in his response.

"What are you going to do by yourself? If you remember correctly, Athrun rejoined ZAFT and he is the only one with a connection to that girls former EAF friends. If anyone will know how to find her whereabouts, it's him," Yzak reasoned.

"Fine," Dearka said in defeat.

"Is it time to reinstate you as a ZAFT soldier then?" Yzak asked.

"No, not yet. I still need to deal with Cadey and maybe enlist some help from my parents, but I haven't decided if that is the best idea yet. I still need more time to figure everything out. Plus, the dedication ceremony is coming up and that is going to cause a few problems now that Annabella is there," Dearka admitted.

Mrs. Haw watched Dearka as he finished his conversation with his friend.

"Just hurry up and get back up here. You can figure out the rest later. Plus Cadey is no picnic either. She's been screaming in the room Shiho put her in for hours now. Thank God Ian is acting mature and sitting in his quarters quietly," Yzak stated.

"I'll leave later in the morning," Dearka replied.

"I'll be waiting," Yzak said as his door swished open showing a frantic Shiho.

Dearka could hear his little girl screaming in the background.

"I can't get her to stop," Shiho said in exasperation.

Yzak just stared at her in bewilderment with a look of fear that she was going to pass the kid to him. Mrs. Haw grabbed the phone from Dearka and began to speak with Yzak.

"Can you bring Annabella over to the phone please?" she asked.

Yzak waved Shiho over with the crying girl and Shiho held her up in front of the console. Mrs. Haw began to sing Hush little baby with the sweetest voice and Dearka watched gratefully as he heard the noise in the background of the phone dissipating.

"Wow," Yzak and Shiho said in unison.

Mrs. Haw handed the phone back to Dearka when she heard the doorbell ring. She had also realized Mr. Haw hadn't returned with the water she asked for and excused herself to retrieve both for Dearka. Dearka got back on the phone to speak with Yzak.

"Is she okay?" Dearka asked.

"Yeah, she fell asleep in Shiho's arms during the song," Yzak replied still a little shocked.

"Guess she just wanted to hear a familiar voice. She's probably scared to death being moved so many places in this past month never seeing or hearing someone she recognizes," Dearka said still amazed himself.

"Well, Shiho is going to put her to bed for now, but you better get here quickly and take care of this. I'm not a babysitter you know," Yzak snipped.

"I'll leave in the morning, but I'm a little worse for the wear right now," he admitted.

"At this point, you could be on your death bed and I would still insist you get back here to help," Yzak said with a smirk.

"Goodnight Yzak, and thanks," Dearka said appreciatively.

"Again, you're welcome. What would you do without a friend like me?" he asked.

"I don't want to find out," he replied before hanging up the phone.

He pushed the back of his head into the pillow allowing the sides to fluff around his ears in order to block out the yelling he could hear downstairs between the Haw's.

"How could I let this happen? We were going to get Annabella together later in the morning. I don't understand what is going on. Why did the EAF want you? Is it because of the photos at San Juko?" he thought trying to make sense of it all.

He heard a knock at the door and saw a strange man staring at him.

"So, you're a coordinator right?" the man asked.

Dearka was a little shocked at this question, but answered respectively.

"Yes," he replied.

"And you have a higher tolerance for pain, am I correct?" he asked another question while walking over to the bed.

"To some degree I do," Dearka answered.

Mrs. Haw entered the room after finishing her fight with Mr. Haw downstairs.

"Is there anything I should get for you Jerry?" she asked sweetly.

"Scissors and towels would be good," he replied while taking the make shift bandage off Dearka's shoulder.

Miriallia's t-shirt was now covered in blood from Mr. Haw's attempt to stop the bleeding. Dearka was feeling slightly lightheaded, but was too preoccupied with Yzak's call to notice how out of it he was becoming. Dearka flinched again as Jerry felt the wound in his shoulder.

"Well, the good news is you're going to live," he joked.

"Really, you think," Dearka said sarcastically.

Mrs. Haw returned with the towels and went over to Miriallia's desk to grab some scissors. She handed them over to Jerry and walked to the other side of the bed to support Dearka. Jerry carefully cut Dearka's shirt to expose the wound better and then handed the scissors to Mrs. Haw.

"Thanks," he said.

She put them down on the desk and then returned to Dearka's side. Mr. Haw was now standing in the doorway watching the events. Dearka looked over to him and glared at him for the things he had said not long before. Jerry grabbed an antiseptic bottle from his bag and poured it on two towels to press against the wound on both sides of his shoulder.

"Lucky for you, we don't have to take a bullet out," he said working the towels around the edges gently.

Dearka could no longer continue his glare at Mr. Haw now that the pain had intensified. He cringed and squeezed his eyes closed while praying for the pain to disappear.

"We just have to get you cleaned up enough to travel back home, right?" he asked from the information Mrs. Haw had given him.

"Yeah," Dearka said through gritted teeth.

"All right then," he said pulling out a stitching needle and some thread.

Dearka opened his eyes in horror when he realized what Jerry was about to do.

"You do know what you are doing right?" he asked hoping not to offend Mrs. Haw since she brought this man here.

"I've been a doctor for thirty years. I think I know a think or two about sutures," he replied with a small laugh.

"Don't worry dear, he is a very close friend of our family and I didn't think it was such a good idea to bring you to a hospital under the circumstances," Mrs. Haw said in an attempt to relax Dearka.

"Thanks," he said as he felt the needle pierce his skin.

In a matter of minutes the front of the wound was taken care of and Jerry helped him roll on to his stomach after taping a piece of gauze to the wound with some more antibacterial gel on it's underside. He then worked on the exit wound of the bullet while Dearka's hand gripped Miriallia's pillow tightly. The pain was excruciating and he was sure Mr. Haw was enjoying every moment of it.

"There you go, all taken care of," he replied helping Dearka on to his back once again.

Dearka tried to sit up with no luck. He could still feel the pain and had unavoidable tears in his eyes from it all.

"Here, take these until you get back to the PLANTs. It was what took me so long to get here," he replied.

Dearka looked at the label and read what the drug was.

"OxyCotin?" he asked.

"Trust me, all your pain will subside for the time being with these. I'm sure they will work on a coordinator as well as they work on a natural. But, they're one of the most highly watched drugs on the market, so I had to call in a favor to a Pharmacist friend of mine. Without your medical records and proof of treatment, I wouldn't have been able to get these for you without a lot of questions being raised. You're just lucky I'm such a good friend of Miriallia's mother," he said with a wink.

"Uh, thanks," Dearka replied with a hint of concern in his voice.

Mrs. Haw handed him the glass of water and he took one of the pills.

"Just get some rest and take it easy on your trip home. Make sure you see someone up there to re-stitch that better," Jerry said as he walked toward the door to Miriallia's room.

"I'm going to stay here dear, can you see Jerry out?" Mrs. Haw asked.

Mr. Haw pushed himself off of the door jam and followed Jerry down the hall still grumbling about the fact Mrs. Haw was paying so much attention to Dearka.

"Don't worry, that drug will kick in soon and you will be able to get some rest," Mrs. Haw said as she pushed some of his falling curls off his forehead.

"Thank you for taking care of me," he said sincerely.

"I would do anything for the man who loves my daughter so deeply," she replied staying by his side.

"I'm so sorry this happened. I should have been able to save her," he said depressed.

"You will. Don't worry, I have faith in you. Besides, you saved me and you know who has her," Mrs. Haw said with a smile.

Dearka closed his eyes still feeling Mrs. Haw as she brushed his hair gently. When he opened them again she was still smiling.

"Is it okay if I keep Annabella with me up in the PLANTs for the time being?" he asked.

"She is your daughter, so that is something that you will have to decide on your own now that Miriallia isn't here. If you want to keep her with you, I have no complaints," she said.

Dearka's eyes softened even more.

"I wish my mother was as kind as Miriallia's. I guess that is where Mir gets her big heart. She definitely doesn't get it from her father," he thought with sarcasm.

He sat in silence as he felt his pain lessening. His eyes looked around the room and he saw Miriallia's bag on the floor. He breathed out with a sigh and Mrs. Haw saw what he was looking at.

"You should probably take that with you so she has it when you get her back," Mrs. Haw said before walking out of the room.

Dearka watched her exit and then return with his duffel bag from Annabella's room. She grabbed Miriallia's car keys from her desk and placed them on top of the two bags.

"You can take Miriallia's car to the shuttle port tomorrow. Just hit the map button on the dashboard and then the number two button and it will direct you to the shuttle port as you drive. She used to get herself turned around all the time so I programmed that as the second map in the system. Make sure you take a lot of pictures of Annabella for me too. I want to see how much she grows while she is with you up in the PLANTs," Mrs. Haw said happily.

"I will and thank you again for everything Mrs. Haw," he said.

"Just get some rest and from now on, you can call me mom, okay," she said with a wink.

She walked to the door and got ready to hit the light switch.

"If you need anything there is an orange button that glows in the dark and it will send a signal to the intercom in my room. I actually had it installed when Miriallia was pregnant for the million and one things she wanted, but you can use it now if you need me," she said still smiling.

Dearka smiled back again and decided to test out her offer.

"Thanks mom," he said still smiling.

"I told you, anything for the man who is in love with my daughter," she said hitting the switch.

Dearka closed his eyes and tried to relax so he could figure out what he was going to do next. Before he had a chance to think, his exhaustion had other plans and pulled him into a peaceful rest.

Back on the Voltaire…

"He's coming back right?" Shiho asked desperately.

She had just put Annabella down in the crib and secured her with the strap in case of any turbulence from a surprise battle. Yzak put his finger to his lips in an attempt to have her lower her voice moving quietly to the bed.

"Oh for goodness sake," she said in a whisper now.

He rolled his eyes at her as he began to change from his uniform to lie down on the bed.

"It's not like you had to listen to her scream for the past 4 hours," Shiho said irritated.

"Unless you want her to scream for the next 6 hours before Dearka returns, then you should lower your voice," he said.

Shiho was shocked at the turn of the tables. She had expected to be the one telling Yzak to stay quiet with his lack of vocal volume control, but it ended up being the other way around. She glared at him as she changed too and jumped into bed.

"You don't think she is going to wake up anytime soon, do you?" she whispered in fear.

"The kid isn't a newborn, so I'm sure she can sleep through the night," Yzak whispered back before closing his eyes.

Shiho hit the button on wall and slipped down under the covers hoping she wouldn't have to hear the little girl scream again the way she had for the 4 previous hours.

"He had better get back her and take care of his own kid, or I'm going to kill him myself," she thought before drifting to sleep.

End

Author's Preview: The EAF has Miriallia and Dearka has to return to the PLANTs if he wants to save Annabella from Yzak's wrath. Poor guy, just when he thinks it will get easier, it gets harder. He may even learn how Yzak caught Cadey finally. 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.