Note: I must bid all my readers' adieu, this is the final chapter of Evolve. I hope you all enjoyed the rollercoaster of emotions and the touching speeches. I have another ff to finish and then I'll be posting another GS/GDS fanfic. So… read on. And thank you for reading this far.

Chapter 8 --- Our Last Surprises

The party slowly came to an end as the guests began to leave around 11, it was very late and Lacus went into the nursery to put Hitomi to bed. The remaining Dearka, Mirriallia, Kira, Lacus, Nicol, Athrun, Cagalli, Yzak, Shace, and Miari sat in the large den. An air of anxiousness filled the room, wall to wall until Miari shot straight up standing before them all.

"Okay, I'll be as quiet as I can possibly be, but… over the past week and so you may have noticed that four of us had disappeared." Miari began.

"Miari." Kira stopped her. "You can let that breath out."

"Just relax kid." Cagalli adjusted her jeans as she curled into Athrun, taking over the whole love seat.

"Okay. Well all four of us have joined secrets." Miari took in another breath. "Nicol and I moved out… and into together."

"Whoa. What?" Dearka almost choked. "You guys are what, 16?"

"Eh hem, 21, thank-you very much." Miari stuck out her tongue. "We appear younger because we're more civilized."

"Miari." Nicol blushed.

"Well, not even at 16 months ago, I flew to Paris to see you in concert because you sweat when I smile, so this is a step. And we're happy about it." She stated defensively.

"Yes, I really suppose that's true." Lacus smiled.

"Bout time." Athrun stated.

"So, that's your news? So, Shace? Yzak?" Kira blinked.

As Miari sat in Nicol's embrace she nudged Shace. "Go on. They'll be angry either way. Just remember, Yzak's mean."

"Thanks kid." Shace rolled her eyes. Before she could say anything, Yzak turned around and kissed her. It was the first time he'd ever shown that much affection before his friends. But like everything he did, he had his reasons.

"Shace and I were engaged." Yzak stated. Dearka's jaw dropped.

"Whaddya do wrong?" He snorted.

"Nothing. We got married." Shace nodded once again jaws dropped, but the look on their faces seemed a little more hurt than shocked.

"Hear us out." Yzak stopped the onslaught of questions.

"We want to have a reception party with all our friends and family to celebrate." Shace nodded.

"Really?" Mirr blinked. "Cool. We get to dress Cagalli up again?" Lacus, Kira, Dearka, and Mirr all laughed stuttering slightly on breath. Athrun however had a sly grin on his face and it made it look like he was proud of his girl begin so difficult.

"Well anything I wear to that party, any later than a month, will have to be maternity clothes." Cagalli blushed with a nod.

"And I thought you all had big eyes when Yzak kissed me." Shace snickered. "But that would mean, Hitomi's gonna have her first cousin?"

"Mhmm." Cagalli and Athrun nodded.

"Cagalli." Kira hugged his sister, then gave Athrun a hug as well. "And now we're going to have the 'who's the better Uncle/Dad question' coming up."

"You bet. May the best man win." Athrun laughed.

"Well this feels odd." Miari said quietly.

"What does?" Nicol turned to her.

"Together as friends, we've kept secrets, had fun, fall in love. We aren't the same people that met throughout grade school and into the work world." Miari smiled sweetly.

"No, we aren't. We've grown to so much more." Lacus nodded. "It almost feels the same, as long as we want it to be."

"We came, we saw, we conquered-ow!"

"Shh." Mirr said after turning Dearka into a punching bag.

"It felt appropriate."

"Some of us never change." Yzak mumbled.

"Well, maybe we don't change?" Athrun sighed outwardly.

"Maybe we've all just… evolved." Kira smiled and silence filled the room once again until Hitomi's cries erupted from the baby monitor and Kira shot up the stairs.

"That's it." We've al evolved." Shace kissed Yzak and settled into the warmth of her surroundings and the fireplace.

End