Standard disclaimer: the author does not own Gundam Seed(Destiny) or any of its characters. Gundam Seed(Destiny) is the property of Bandai and Sunrise plus other people who I don't know the names of.

Dearka rubbed his hand over his face, and let out a sigh as he looked down at the face of his furious ex-girlfriend.

Swallowing his rising irritation over her less than friendly greeting, he said in a tired voice, "If you have a problem with me being here, Miriallia bring it up to Captain Ramius, she's the one who invited me to stay here after all."

Groaning slightly at this answer to the question she had screamed at him, Miriallia said,"Well, that explains why you are here at this house, but it doesn't explain why you are here in ORB in the first place."

Dropping into one of the many chairs in the spacious tea room, Dearka rested his hand on the palm of his hand and said in a non caring tone,"Oh, that. I am just here to help the Princess with the rebuilding of ORB on the behalf of ZAFT."

Crossing her arms over her chest, Miriallia raised an eyebrow at this statement, and in a tone of disbelief said,"Are you telling me that you are some kind of goodwill ambassador from ZAFT?"

One of his trademark smirks finally made an appearance as Dearka said a bit smugly,"Yeah, pretty much."

Her brow furrowing with confusion, Miriallia continued with her line of questions,"But why would they send you? Why not just have Athrun do it?"

The smirk dropped off of Dearka's face at this question and shifting uneasily in the chair he opened his mouth to say something, but before he was able to a voice from the doorway broke into their conversation.

"Because Miriallia, even though Cagalli and Lacus forgave me, to the other leaders of the

Plants and ORB, I am still a traitor and thus they don't trust me with such an important task."

Meyrin's eyes clouded over with at this statement, knowing that the lack of trust the two countries put in him hurt even though nothing about his person betrayed that fact.

Reaching out a gentle hand she lightly touched his arm and popping her head around his body, looked up at him with concern filled eyes and whispered,"Athrun?"

Athrun smiled down at her and giving her hand a gentle squeeze, he held it in his own for a second before letting it drop.

This odd action roused Dearka's curiosity and with a flippant grin, he called out to his old friend,"Hey Athrun, who's the new girlfriend?"

Their cheeks burning red, Athrun and Meyrin quickly separated but before Athrun could say anything, Miriallia piped up exasperation evident in her voice as she said,"Meyrin isn't his girlfriend, Dearka."

Surprise brightening his purple eyes, Dearka turned his attention back to Miriallia and asked,"She's not? The why was she hanging onto him?"

"I don't know why she was hanging off of him, but since he is engaged to Cagalli, she is obviously not his girlfriend." A hint of rebuke linger in this comment but Meyrin took no notice of it,she was to caught up in the pain she felt after hearing that Athrun was engaged.

But before she was able to dwell on that pain for longer than a minute, Athrun spoke up his voice oddly detached.

"Are people still engaged when the woman takes off the engagement ring, Miriallia?"

Eyes widening at this question, Miriallia shook her head slowly and said,"No, I don't think so. Why do you ask?"

Instead of answering her question directly, Athrun merely turned around and as he was heading out of the room said bluntly,"Then Cagalli and I are not engaged."

A stunned silence filled the room after this abrupt statement from Athrun and it was several seconds before anybody made a move.

Meyrin was the first to move. She darted across the room to the door that Athrun had went through and grasping the handle was about to go after him in hopes of saying or doing something that would erase the shadows that had appeared in his eyes as he spoke of the ORB princess.

Before she was actually able to leave the room though, a strong hand wrapped around her right forearm and pulled her to a stop.

Twisting her head to look in the face of the person who was stopping her from leaving, Meyrin was surprised to find that it wasn't Miriallia who had drawn her up short as she had been expecting, but instead the young man whom everyone called Dearka.

Glancing down at his hand on her arm, Meyrin looked up at him and while her brow crinkled in both confusion and annoyance she asked politely,"Is there something you wanted Mr.Elthman?"

Dearka gave her a small smile and gently pushing her behind him, grasped the door knob with his other hand and with a quick motion was out the door, calling through the door,"I'll deal with Athrun,you guys just sit tight."

Meyrin stared at the door for a moment and then turning around asked Miriallia who had taken a seat on one of the couches in the room,"Is Dearka a friend of Athrun's?"

Miriallia looked up from studying the floor with a rather dark look on her face and giving Meyrin a reassuring smile said,"Yeah, he is. Why do you ask?"

Meyrin came to sit by the older girl and with a look of worry still hiding in her eyes said,"Oh, I was just wondering if I should go after him or not.But since Mr. Elthman is Athrun's friend I'm sure they are fine."

At this comment Miriallia's eyes widened with curiosity and leaning closer to the younger woman said in an almost suspicious tone,"Who are you to Athrun, Meyrin?"

Meyrin's eyes grew wide at this question and clenching her hands tightly over her heart said in a nervous tone, "I don't know what you mean, Miss Hawke.Athrun and I are friends, you know that."

Her eyes narrowing to slits Miriallia got to her feet and looking down at Meyrin said,"Yes, well I'm friends with Cagalli, Miss Hawke. Not you."

And with that cryptic comment Miriallia left the room, leaving Meyrin alone with her thoughts.

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While Meyrin and Miriallia were having this friendly girl talk, Dearka had caught up with Athrun in the kitchen.

Walking over to his friend, Dearka waited quietly for a few moments as Athrun went about preparing a cup of coffee. When he offered him one, Dearka gave a brief shake of his head and having decided how he was going to approach the subject, said in a bland tone,"Was it because of the red head that Cagalli called the engagement off?"

Giving Dearka a cold look, Athrun said,"You would have to ask Cagalli that, she never told me her reasons," and without another word left the kitchen, heading back to the room he had just stormed out of.

Blinking in surprise, Dearka leaned against the kitchen table and muttered to himself,"Now I really want to know what's up." Straightening up a small smirk crept around his lips as a solution to two of his problems sprang to mind and acting on that thought, Dearka pushed open the kitchen's swinging door, and went in search of his ex hoping to get both, back together with her and some info on his friend's love life.

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Stopping just outside of the living room door, Athrun paused to collect his thoughts hoping that Meyrin wouldn't decided to interrogate like Dearka had tried to do, while he was doing this, his cell phone gave a tinny ring, and switching his coffee cup to his left hand, he grabbed his cell phone with the other and flipping it open said,"Athrun, here."

A husky and very familiar voice said,"Athrun, it's Cagalli,I want to see you."

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Author's note: This story hates me! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Any suggestions are welcomed.

Thank you for reading!

Thank you to:ritachi, SetsunaKou, Slightly Sinister Sinestra, Mirallia, Shimmering Rose Petals, Emily for reviewing your comments were very encouraging.

God bless you,

EzrathenNehemiah Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28