Title: A Little Too Late

Author: Jusrecht

See Disclaimer and Warnings in the first chapter

Note: For those who feel disappointed with Athrun's preferences, I'm sorry. But I've given the warning in the first chapter and I have future plans for him, so let's bear it, shall we?

Chapter Five

The elevator came to a halt and Athrun sighed, waiting at a corner as men and women in suits and council attire filed out of the lift, some of them nodding politely at him before disappearing into the after-work crowd. He stepped out after the last man had left with a quiet 'good evening', pace perceptibly slower than the regular rushing all about him.

"Athrun!"

He turned to the voice and smiled as Meyrin hurried to his side, a number of maps cradled in her arm. She frowned when she was close enough to clearly see his face, and said, "You look tired. How was the meeting going?"

"Frittes was raising an argument about human rights, can you believe it?" he complained with a sigh and resumed his steps. "I mean, yes, we are free beings and all, but we cannot create peace without law and order. Even the stupidest, most amateurish politician knows about it. It's a good thing that the majority votes favored the passing of the bill or I'm going to show him what the world without law and order feels like."

She suppressed an amused smile. "That is not a behavior befitting a candidate of the chairman, you know."

"You have just gotten me a great idea to escape from being a chairman, Meyrin, how can I ever repay you?" he said in a mock-gratitude. "I really cannot understand why it has to be me. I almost destroyed PLANT twice and everybody knows that I was the pilot of Justice."

"It is not my place to answer that," she replied smoothly and then opened the map on the top of the stack in her hand. "Commander Delaware requests a meeting with you tomorrow morning. He invites you to have breakfast with him at Terracotta at eight o'clock sharp. And then you will have the annual assembly with the Council at eleven, including lunch at half-past one. The subject is the Council's accomplishments and failures for the whole year and after lunch, Chairwoman Canavar will announce the candidates of her successor."

Athrun gave her a half-surprised, half-hopeful look. "I wasn't aware that there was another candidate."

"Of course, it was because you were away for the last three days," Meyrin explained with a sullen look on her face. "Representative Donovar thinks that this may be a good opportunity for him to run for the election, that sneaky coward. He even said that we should not put hope on an irresponsible man, which I'm sure he meant you and your absence. But it's okay because nobody likes him anyway."

"Now, that is the speech not befitting a candidate of the chairman's secretary," Athrun teased her.

"And I thought you were reluctant to be the chairman," she shot back with raised eyebrows. "Just surrender to your fate, Athrun, and run for the election. And by the way, Chairwoman Canavar asked me to give you her best regards because she cannot see you in person yet and, as I quote: Pay attention to your health. The election is due in one month." Meyrin fixed him a solemn look. "She was furious you know, when she found out that you were in ORB."

Athrun frowned. "She knew that I was down there?"

"Everyone knew you were down there, Athrun," Meyrin waved her hand exasperatedly into the air. "This is not the first time you leave PLANT for the pilot of Freedom."

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious," he smiled grimly at her. "Which means that there will really be a problem if I am to leave PLANT again for a few days."

"Yes."

He sighed. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind,"

"But you're going no matter what, right?" she accused with a tone which said that she indeed knew and better he didn't think to lie to her.

Athrun smiled again, but it was warm this time. "I have no idea that you know me so well, Meyrin."

"Yes, whatever. Just make sure you speak to the Chairwoman if you intend to go. I really don't want to put up with any questioning which I do not know the answer myself."

Still smiling, he put his arm around her shoulders and said apologetically, "I'm sorry. I was hurried and I completely forgot about everything else but the news that I had just heard."

Her expression softening, Meyrin decided that she couldn't fight that smile and settled for a mock-pout. "Okay, just make sure you tell your secretary then."

"Of course. And thank you, Meyrin, I owe you dinner," Athrun released her, ready to walk to his car that was waiting for him

"No, thanks, all my evenings are booked by Youlan and I don't want him to get strange ideas because he knows that I had a tiny little crush on you which I no longer have as a matter of fact, but he may not believe it because sometimes he likes being a jealous lover over someone who is much, much more superior than him which describes you perfectly."

Hand still for a moment at the handle of his car's backdoor, Athrun stared at her, amusement barely concealed. "Did you just say that in one intake of breath?"

"Oh, go home and get some sleep, Sir Representative," Meyrin said firmly and obviously was suppressing a grin. He merely smiled in return and was about to open the door to his car when she added with a louder voice, "And don't forget to eat! You have to do something with that skinny body of yours!"

Not answering, Athrun only waved at her and slipped to the backseat. Once inside, he leant back to the plush seat with a sigh and closed his eyes contentedly as his chauffeur asked, "Straight to home, Sir?"

"Yes, Roderick," he answered without opening his eyes. All of a sudden he felt tired beyond words, as if the burdens of a week decided to deluge him all together at the moment. There was still a ridiculously full schedule ahead of him, he reminded himself bitterly, and admitted with a sinking heart that it might as well be after the election when he finally had the time to visit Kira and Cagalli again. It was still a month away and to think that his friends had to face the world without him by their side made him feel angry to himself. Athrun was thinking along the line of retiring early when suddenly he realized what he had been thinking and finally came to a conclusion that he really needed a long, good sleep.

It was why that when his cell phone suddenly rang, Athrun felt that it was better if he did not own a cell phone. At all. His opinion about phones in general did not improve when he found out who the caller was.

"Athrun Zala."

"Representative, there is a piano recital in Francois Hotel tonight at eight. Is there any chance that you can go out with me to the recital?"

Massaging his throbbing temple, Athrun suppressed a string of curses that clearly would not befit a respectable representative of PLANT and replied with a tight voice, "Listen, Commander Asuka, do you really want to ask me out right now? Tonight?"

"Uh...yes Sir," Shinn's voice was hesitant as if he was unsure of the ground he was treading upon – which probably was the actual problem. "Is there anything wrong with that?"

The big question asked, Athrun inhaled deeply and then, feeling that a vein had exploded in his ear, shouted to the phone. "I'll tell you why it's wrong! I haven't slept for two days because some imbecile has decided to replace three containers of grains with cranes! Representative Frittes was looking for a fight with me during the Inter Colony Security Meeting and my best friends are apparently brother-and-sister! I really like to blow off somebody's head right now! Do you still want to ask me out now?"

A long, pregnant silence met the end of his outburst and Athrun could see Roderick wincing from the rearview mirror. Fingers still massaging his brow, he once again closed his eyes, immediately regretting his temper tantrum. And then Shinn's voice rose again, much more careful this time but he could still detect some less repentant hints lying underneath which tore him off between annoyance and bitter amusement.

"There will be capital punishment for blowing my head off, Sir."

Athrun was so close to tossing his cell phone out of the window – to hell with it, he just wanted to rest and forgot that the world and its problems existed. "Do I really have to deal with you now?"

Now he was sure he had just heard a chuckle coming from the line and for some obvious reasons wished that Shinn were before him in person so that he could glare at him and do things that none of his supporters for the Chairman seat would appreciate since it might put him in jail for the rest of his life. He was in the middle of developing several scenarios of homicide when Shinn suddenly asked, "Are you going back to ORB right now, Representative?"

"I can't," he sighed – at least it was a normal question he could answer without humiliating himself further. "I still have many things to do here and speaking of that, a commander wants a meeting with me tomorrow at eight. That's why I'm going to get home now and sleep straight until morning."

Another long silence occurred. Athrun stared out of the window, not really seeing anything but a face he knew would be haunting him for the rest of his life, and waited. He only hoped that Shinn would understand. He needed rest. He really needed it.

But he forgot that he also needed to eat.

"You know something? I can come and bring you food if you want, and then we can have dinner together and talk about things."

"Shinn–"

"That's the first time I hear you exploding like that, you know," the words tumbling out so fast almost liked it was because Shinn didn't want to hear what he was going to say. Athrun bit his lips, aware that it was error of his part, and refused to give any comment on that, letting yet another silence to fill in the blank. After what felt like a century later, there was a small sigh breaking the silence between them and Shinn spoke again, softer this time, "Sorry, it takes some times for the shock to wear off."

He winced – for a moment grateful that the commander was in fact not there in front of him or he could see it – and then rearranged his tone of voice to what one could count as patient. "In case this one little fact escapes your memory, Shinn, I happen to be a human too."

"Yeah, I realize that," his interlocutor was quick to respond as if he wanted to cover a misspeaking. "But you don't seem to be as human as you did back then in Minerva."

Athrun knew that it was true, and yet he still said, "That was six years ago."

"I know, people change and stuff," Shinn admitted reluctantly and sighed again. "I really don't mean to pry, but that problem of your friends really bothers you, doesn't it?"

"It's called prying, Commander."

Athrun could almost sense panic and something much subtler he really didn't wish to find out what coming from the phone. "No, I just want to tell you– I mean, I want to let you know that– what I mean is if you want to talk about it–"

"I don't like French," he heard himself saying and almost as immediate, bit his tongue so hard that it must be bleeding now. He had just said it.

"Excuse me, Sir?"

Shinn's voice was so thin that Athrun had to force himself not to chuckle or let a wry smile carried by his voice through the line. "I don't like French food," he repeated more carefully, more softly. "You can bring anything but that."

"Okay," was the quiet, meek answer before he terminated the connection.

All the way home, Athrun saw a mass of pink hair dancing wildly in the air behind his closed eyelids.

But he couldn't reach her.

The clock was showing the number 11:30.

Kira had been staring at it since it had turned 11:10 and now wondered why he was still staring at it. There was no answer it could give to all of his problems, really. It couldn't change the fact that he and Cagalli were siblings either, which had turned out to be an official affair today. She had called him earlier that afternoon and informed him that the blood test result had just come out. There was no doubt; they were twins.

On that moment, Kira had felt too numb to feel anything else. Nothing had improved much since then for he had attempted to do less than nothing about it, content to bury his head under the mountain of paperwork on his desk and pay no heed to anything else. Being a vice-president demanded a great portion of his concentration and Kira was determined to keep it that way. Work was good. It completely kept his mind off matters he didn't wish to attend to, although perhaps only for a little while.

But now it was night. No more work to be finished and the office had gone too quiet for hours. The silence was suffocating, but he was reluctant to return to the tired but patient smile of his mother and too afraid to come back alone to the emptiness of his apartment. And so he stayed and tended his dark thoughts.

He should have seen these coming. Especially with Cagalli's position and importance, this chain of events were rather inevitable. Should have been prepared for these, Kira cursed himself, finally looking away from the clock and turning his chair around to the colorful night of ORB. There are some he could deal with. People calling him 'incestuous bastard' was one thing but hearing them accusing Cagalli such as 'how can someone run the country if she can't hold her own personal need' was entirely another, which he did not take so well. She had worked too hard for her country to deserve such comments directed at her. He only wished her people really loved her enough than to be swayed by the incident.

Still, her opponents, her rivals and those who disliked her in the political battlefield wouldn't go easy on her. It was the drawback of being so loved by the people – that kind of jealousy could prove to be harmful. Those people had means to obtain what they wanted. It was during times like this when Kira felt that he should stay by her side, supporting her, but he couldn't even do that now without fearing that chins would wag.

He was, after all, Cagalli's brother.

Another surge of headache invaded the rest of the empty space in his head and Kira sighed. In Athrun's company, his mind had been constantly guided away from those disturbing thoughts. Now, they were rushing back at him like the merciless waves of vengeance. Work had successfully distracted him of course, but not only once or twice he had found himself looking at the phone, longing to hear Athrun or Cagalli's voice.

Once again he sighed and whirled his chair around, reluctantly admitting that he had to go home anyway. Suddenly Kira felt his heart stop for a moment when he noticed a figure leaning on the doorframe, and breathed in relief at the next second once he recognized his employer's frowning face.

"Sir?" he called out after finding his voice back, a shade of uncertainty in it, "what are you doing here at this hour?"

"I can ask you the exact same question," the older man replied flatly.

"I was just–" his unprepared answer stopped at that point and Kira realized that there was no reason he could give but the truth, which he himself was still unsure about. It was so stupid to say that he had spent hours looking at his desk clock. But his employer was still looking at him, a question tinted with blunt glares in them, and Kira replied weakly, "There are works I have to do, Sir."

"You can finish them tomorrow," was the sharp respond and Kira had to admit that his reason was pathetically lame. He hummed something noncommittal and rose from his seat, trying to busy himself with some papers, anything to avoid looking at his superior. This was what he got from knowing his boss personally.

"Your mother doesn't appreciate you hiding it from her," suddenly the older man spoke up again.

Kira looked up carefully and, meeting the tired gaze, nodded. "Yes, Sir, I've talked to her."

The man was still eyeing him for a while, slight mistrust clearly drawn in the shape of a frown on his temple. But in the end, he only sighed and said, "Go home, Kira, and tomorrow morning cook breakfast for her. You will need her support to get through this."

A little nod was all he could give in return because Kira suddenly felt that a big lump had decided to settle in his throat. He stood still behind his desk, thinking about his mother, listening to the door being closed from the other side.

Not a second later, the door flung open again loudly and the older man reappeared at the threshold.

"Listen, son, I don't give a damn to what you do with your love life," he declared suddenly and harshly, a fierce scowl hardening his features. Paying no heed to Kira's surprised look, he continued quickly, "I mean, yes, I will give a damn if that can get you AIDS or something but I understand that you didn't know she was your sister. It wasn't your fault, do you understand me? Don't think that the world will blame you for it." He paused for a moment, taking in the fact that the younger man was still rooted to where he was, before then his voice gained a softer quality and he asked, "Do you love her, son?"

"Yes," Kira answered without thinking. It was one of few questions he had absolutely no need to think about. He knew the answer for sure.

A small grin lit his employer's face and Kira thought that probably the world was not as cruel as he initially thought. The older man crossed his arms and said again, "Do you still love her now, knowing that she is your sister and all?"

Kira smiled despite himself – although perhaps it was a little too melancholy to be called a smile. It was yet another of those questions. "Yes."

"Then go for it."

"It isn't right, Sir," he responded automatically, surprising even himself at how fast the argument gushed out of his mouth. "I mean, what are people going to say? You may not mind but I don't know about others. She's going to have a lot of troubles because of it and–" he paused, unable to continue because the rest of his words were stuck in his throat. It was the silent sympathy in the other man's eyes which forced them to leak out a minute later, even though his voice sounded too thin to his liking.

"She won't be able to live without her people."

"Then let her go," his employer's voice suddenly gained its earlier harshness. "Don't do anything half-heartedly, son, you'll only insult her,"

It wasn't that easy, Kira was ready to argue once more but the older man had disappeared behind the door, now shut tightly and not reopening. Kira wondered if he had annoyed his boss with his answers but...

But he knew that he must decide what course to take soon.

He thought of the ring he had yet to buy, and then of Cagalli's smile, and sighed.

Very soon.

Notes: Next chapter is finally the long-awaited Kira-Cagalli angst/romance. Sorry for taking so long to reach that part. Thank you for reading! Please review!