( This chapter is kinda angsty. It made me wonder: if Murrue-san missed Mwu that much after Seed when they'd only been together a couple of months, what would she be like when they've been together for years and he had to go away for a while?
Oh, and I'm not copying anything from lithiumflower's or Alone In A New Place's fics either. )
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"You asked to see me, sir?" asked Mwu, sticking his head around the door.
"Ah, La Fllaga. Yes, come in" replied the academy principal (and a superior officer). Wondering what this summons was all about, Mwu sidled into the office.
"Sit down, Colonel, sit down". Meekly, Mwu sat, brushing blonde hair out of his face.
"Okay, I'll get right to the point. Some of our older students are being sent on a six-month tour of duty in Scandinavia, sort of an exchange visit. And when they were asked which instructor they'd most like to have accompany them, they all said you."
Mwu was baffled. "Me, sir?"
"Yes, you. Since the younger students have other instructors that can cover your classes, we're sending you to Scandinavia."
"Oh." Then a thought occurred to Mwu. "Sir, is it possible to...?"
"Sorry, Colonel, you and the students will be housed in military barracks, you can't take your family with you."
Mwu felt as if he'd been hit by a sledgehammer. Six months? On the other side of the world? Without Murrue and the girls?
"But, sir..." he attempted to protest, but he was interrupted. "No, Colonel, no buts. It's an order. You leave in three days. Plenty of time for farewells, and six months isn't all that long."
Mwu spent the rest of the day in a daze. When he got home and opened the front door, he saw her standing in the kitchen. She was holding Lily in her arms, and her beautiful face lit up in a smile when she saw him.
"Oh, welcome home! Dinner's just about ready, okay?" She frowned as she saw his expression.
"Mwu? What's wrong?"
How can I answer that? Everything's wrong...
He opened his mouth, but no words would come out, just a stutter. "I...I..."
The eighteen-month-old Lily waved her arms in the air towards him. "Want to go to Papa."
Murrue smiled at the little girl and took her over to Mwu. Placing Lily in her father's arms, she whispered "You can tell me later, okay?" Nodding, he kissed her on the cheek, smiling when Lily patted his face.
"Papa! You're home!" A small figure darted through the kitchen door and clamped it's arms around his waist.
"Hey, munchkin. Had a good day at school?" asked Mwu, forcing cheerfulness into his voice in front of the children.
"Yup!" beamed Stellar. "We had art class today!"
"Sounds great! Why don't you tell me all about it?" The little family walked into the living room, and sat down, where they began to tell each other what they had done that day.
Later that night, when the children had gone to bed, Murrue turned to her husband.
"Now will you tell me what you couldn't earlier?" He looked up at her with such an expression of pain it made her heart twist. She knew that whatever it was, she wasn't going to like it.
"Murrue, I..." He told her the whole story.
After learning the truth, she turned white. But she didn't let him see.
"Well, this new experience will be good for you!" she said brightly, blinking back the tears in her eyes.
"You'll get to see so many places, meet lots of new people, it'll be fun! I.."
"Murrue!" he snapped angrily. She jumped, alarmed at the tone of his voice. He saw her shock, and immediately looked apologetic.
"Sorry, sweetheart. I didn't mean to yell. But will you please stop pretending to be happy?"
"I...well...I..." The pain she had been trying her best to push down bubbled to the surface, and she couldn't hold back the tears anymore. Burying her face in his shoulder, she started to cry.
"Please...isn't there anything you can do?" she sobbed. "I...don't want you to go..."
Mwu held her tight, wanting to cry himself. "I tried, my love, believe me, I tried. But I have no choice.."
That made her cry even harder, and all he could do was hold onto her.
How can I comfort her when I feel the same way she does?
If telling Murrue about his looming absence had been hard, telling the children was even worse.
Thankfully, Lily was too little to understand. When she was told Papa was going away for a while, she just nodded and carried on sucking her thumb. But Stellar...
"No, Papa! You can't go away!" His seven-year-old daughter clung tight to him, as if her grasp could somehow prevent him leaving. "If you have to go to this other place, then take us with you!"
Mwu bent down, his heart aching at the sight of the tears in Stellar's blue eyes.
"I'm sorry, sweetie. But the place I'm going is only for soldiers, mama's and little girls can't come."
Stellar shook her head. "Then stop being a soldier!" she yelled, breaking away from her father and running to her room.
Murrue bent down next to Mwu and took him in her arms. "Don't worry. She'll understand in a while. I think she's so mad because this means you'll miss her birthday.."
Mwu sat down heavily. "Don't you think I know that?"
2 days later, Orb Military Airport, Onogoro Island
Stellar looked pleadingly up at Mwu. "Papa, are you really sure we can't all come with you?"
He sighed. "Yes, sweetie, I'm sure. I'd love for you to all come with me, but you can't. Besides, the place I'm going to is very cold, and you aren't used to that. You might get sick. And you have to take care of your mama and Lily, okay?" The little girl looked down and bit her lip, as if fighting back tears. Then she looked back up at her father with a determined expression, resembling her mother so much Mwu had to smile.
"Okay, Papa. But here" she said, reaching into the little pink satchel she carried. Pulling out a teddy bear with a blue ribbon tied around it's neck, she handed it to Mwu. "Take him with you."
Mwu was surprised. "But isn't he your favourite? Won't you miss him?" Stellar shook her head.
"I have other teddies. And if he's with you, you won't be so lonely."
Mwu smiled at his daughter's generosity. "Thanks, princess" He lifted her up and hugged her tight. "Miss you"
Stellar hugged him back "I'll miss you too, Papa"
Putting her down, Mwu then turned to Murrue. She was holding Lily in her arms, but she set the toddler down (who immediately ran to find her big sister) and walked towards him. She smiled bravely, though tears were brimming in her beautiful marigold eyes.
"Well, I'll see you in six months. You'll write, won't you? And call when you can?"
"All the time" he promised, stroking her cheek.
"Okay." she said softly. "Come on now, you'll be late" Then she gasped. She suddenly remembered saying those words to him at Alaska, the memory as clear as though it had happened yesterday. She hadn't been able to prevent him from leaving then, and she couldn't now.
"Murrue?" Mwu asked, concern in his blue eyes. Looking at the familiar handsome features of her husband, she felt her composure waver, then crumble altogether.
Hugging him as tightly as she could, Murrue burst into tears.
"Please don't go...please...stay with me. You -you said you'd...never leave me again..."
Mwu's heart felt like it was breaking. Holding his wife, he buried his face in her hair, tears of his own disappearing into the wavy auburn. "I'm so sorry...I always seem to break my promises.."
She shook her head, still crying. "It's..it's not your fault...you were made...to go..." Raising her head to look at him, she pulled him into a passionate kiss, which he immediately returned.
"Just...hurry back..okay?" she whispered when they broke.
Giving her one last hug, and kissing Lily, Mwu shouldered his bag and walked away from his family.
Lily turned to Stellar. "Nee-chan, where Papa go?" Her big sister rubbed tears away from her eyes.
"Somewhere far away." The toddler didn't understand. "Lily goes too?"
Stellar gave her a hug. "You can't. None of us can. Not even Mama." Lily started to cry.
"Then Papa doesn't go! Papa comes back!"
Murrue bent and picked up her youngest daughter, kissing her on the cheek.
"Papa will come back, okay? Come on, let's go home."
Six months will feel like eternity. How will I cope without him?
1st month in Scandinavia
Dear Mwu,
How are you? I hope you're taking care of yourself and your students. The girls and I are doing just fine, and Lily's even started toddler group. She goes with Lacus-san, as she takes her son there, and stays at her house afterwards. This means I can go back to work, and I'm glad about that. It keeps me occupied.
Stellar got moved up a class at school. She'd read all the books meant for kids her age, and the teachers decided to see how she'd do in a higher class. She loves it, and I couldn't be more proud of her. When I said I was writing to you, she said I had to tell you. Is it very cold where you are? I remember when Archangel was in Scandinavia, it was below freezing a lot of the time. So I made you a scarf. It's not that good, but I hope it helps keep you warm. Stellar chose the colour, and she also asks if you can build a snowman and send her a picture. She's never seen a real one.
Please write back soon, I miss you, Mwu.
Make sure you do your best, and remember that we'll be here waiting for you.
Love you always,
Murrue
The letter made Mwu smile. It had arrived at the perfect time, as the leaden sky and the snowflakes swirling past his window made him feel rather miserable.
"I always knew Stellar was smart" he said to himself, picking up the bear she had lent him. "She must get that from her mother.."
He unrolled the blue scarf Murrue had made for him. It was rather haphazardly made, full of holes, and wider at one end than the other. But to Mwu, it was perfect.
How could it be anything but? She made it for me...
Wrapping the scarf around his neck, he closed his eyes as he inhaled the faint traces of his wife's scent that still clung to the fabric. The smell made him feel as if she was there with him, and eased some of his loneliness.
I miss them so much...
2nd month in Scandinavia
Dear Murrue,
Thanks for your latest letter. The guys here are sick and tired of hearing me tell them all about the things my family have been up to. But they're all great people, and have become good friends. The students are pretty homesick, as this place couldn't be more different than Orb. It's huge! I keep getting lost, ending up in the mess hall or the medical wing when I'm supposed to be in class or something...
Anyway, how are you three doing? I hope you're all keeping well, and you'd better be taking care of yourself, you hear me?
I enclosed two pictures, one of the snowman Stellar wanted to see, and one a guy took of me the other day. I also sent Stellar a present for her birthday. I wish I could be there to see her open it.
I miss you all. Only four months till I can come home.
Love Mwu x
Murrue finished reading the letter, tears in her eyes. She was keeping her sadness tightly under control, letting no-one see how much pain she was really in, not even the children. Stellar knew there was something not quite right about her mother, but she hadn't said anything, probably because she didn't want to make Lily worry.
Everything around her seemed to remind her of her absent husband. The roses he'd planted in the garden for her, the slightly crooked shelf in the kitchen (that made anything placed on it list to one side), the way he used to steal the cookies meant for the girls..In the daytime, she could ignore how she felt.
But at night, sometimes it got too much for her. She would curl up in the too-empty bed and cry herself to sleep, quietly, so Lily and Stellar wouldn't hear. She hated being so weak, but she missed him so much..
Kissing the photograph he'd sent her, she slipped it and the letter into her pocket, resolving to read it to the girls later.
Please, Murrue prayed, Send him home soon. Send him back to me...
3rd month in Scandinavia
Dear Mwu,
Thank you so much for the photographs. Stellar loved the one of the snowman wearing your scarf. She took it to school and showed all her friends. The other picture - I keep it with me. But it makes me worry. You look so thin? Are you eating properly? It's rather ironic that I'm doing my best to look after myself, as I know you'd worry, only to see that you're not doing the same. Please, Mwu...
Since you don't look to be eating enough, I sent some cookies that the girls and I made the other day, also a slice of Stellar's birthday cake. She insisted I send the piece with the most frosting, saying how much you loved it. The doll you sent her - she never lets it out of her sight. Lily always wants to play with it too since she found out it was from you. I've had to break up quite a few squabbles over it...
I've enclosed photographs from the birthday party for you. Please look after yourself and the students.
Hurry home soon, okay?
Love you always,
Murrue
Mwu leafed through the pictures while eating some of the cookies. They tasted wonderful. He remembered stealing spoonfuls of the mixture whenever she baked, laughing when she'd scold him and threaten him with her wooden spoon.
Coming across a photograph of the three together, he grinned. Lily was eating a slice of cake, unaware of the camera.
Stellar was smiling, clutching the doll he had given her. And Murrue... He gasped.
I haven't seen her in so long...she's so beautiful. When this is over, I'm never leaving her again.
4th month in Scandinavia
"Hey, Colonel La Fllaga? You got a moment?" came the loud voice of the base's CO.
"What is it, sir?" asked Mwu, stepping into his office. The CO smiled.
"Are you happy here?"
What kind of dumb question is that? Of course I'm not happy.
"Uh..well...I...uh..." he stuttered, trying to think of the best way to word it.
"You're not, are you? Your students have been to see me. They're worried about you. Apparently you've not been eating much, and you're almost constantly daydreaming."
Mwu looked at the floor. "Sir, I - " The CO didn't look angry though..
"Sounds like a classic case of homesickness to me. I can understand how you feel. I had to leave my own family behind to accept this posting. But still..."
Mwu looked up. "I'm terribly sorry, sir. It won't happen again"
The CO scowled. "I know it won't. I've already sent a message back to your CO in Orb, saying you're unsuitable for this postion, and are being transferred back to your own base."
Mwu didn't understand. What's he doing that for? Unsuitable? Being transferred...wait. He looked up in amazement. "Sir?"
The CO smiled. "Go home, Colonel."
It was dark in the house. Murrue was sitting upstairs on the sofa in her room, watching TV with the sound turned down. Stellar was staying over at a friend's house tonight, and Lily was with Lacus-san for the weekend.
Murrue knew that she shouldn't be alone, as her thoughts became deafening. But she needed some time to herself.
Sipping a glass of milk, she frowned when she heard the front door open and close. Didn't I lock that?
Footsteps could be heard on the stairs. Is it a prowler? Picking up a heavy ornament, Murrue stepped quietly to the door, ready to defend herself. What she saw made her drop the ornament, leaving it to shatter all over the floor.
"Now that's not a nice way to greet someone, is it?" Mwu put down his bag, eyebrow raised. Murrue just stood there in shock, unable to believe her eyes.
"Am I sleeping? You can't be here...you have two months left..."
Her husband grinned. "They sent me home early"
She walked up to him and touched his face with her fingers, still convinced this must be some sort of wonderful dream.
Mwu smiled and tilted his head to one side, leaning into her hand. "I'm home, Murrue."
She choked, the tears beginning to stream down her face. "Mwu!" Throwing herself into his arms, she held him as tight as she could, as if to reassure herself that he really wasn't a dream.
"You're...you're really here...you're home. You won't ever leave again..will you?"
Mwu bent and kissed her for what seemed like forever, neither of them wanting to let the other go. For the first time in months, they both felt truly happy.
"Don't worry" he whispered, when the kiss finally ended. "I won't ever leave again. Not even if they order me to. You're far more important to me than the military could ever hope to be."
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( That was well sappy XD. Hope you likey! Please read and review! )
