Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass.

"Kallen"-Speech

'Lelouch'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"Halt!"-Loudspeaker

"Roger."-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

Chapter 14.5: Ashford Family Politics

Dean's Office, Ashford Academy

"But mother!" Milly protested.

"Millicent, this is your duty." her mother replied down the phone, "Do you not wish to see the Ashford Family returned to prominence?"

"Yes I do!" Milly replied, "I do want the Ashfords to reclaim their status, but-"

"But nothing Millicent." her mother said flatly, "The negotiations are moving forward with the Asplund Family and that is unavoidable. Either accept it or do what I have been telling you to do for years; seduce and marry Marianne's eldest, then convince him to reveal himself to the Royal Family. That is the fastest route to restoring the Ashford Family."

"And as I have been telling you for years, mother, even attempting to do so would irreparably damage the relationship Lelouch has with the Ashford Family." Milly snapped, "It might induce him to take Nunnally and vanish from our sight. He probably has a plan in place for dealing with this exact scenario! Lelouch is an honest-to-goodness genius, mother. Do not underestimate him or you will regret it."

"Your infantile infatuation blinds you, daughter. He is a man, easily controlled by his desires." Her mother dismissed her concerns airily, "Very well then. If you will not listen to reason, I shall continue the negotiations with the Asplund Family. Good Day."

A slight click, followed by a low purring noise signalled to Milly that her mother had, rather abruptly, hung up on her. She slowly replaced the handset onto the cradle and looked at her grandfather, who sat behind his desk with a wry expression on his aged face.

Reuben Ashford was close on his eighty-eighth year and was rail thin. His once golden hair had faded to a pale snowy white and his face was deeply marked by lines and wrinkles. Nevertheless, his cornflower-blue eyes were still as sharp as ever, full of a deadly intelligence and sharp wit that had escaped his son, only to be inherited by his granddaughter.

"It seems Melisande is still controlling Roderick behind the scenes." Reuben remarked in a surprisingly deep voice for such a thin man, "What is your assessment, granddaughter?"

Melisande DeAmbury had married Roderick Ashford at the height of the Ashford's power and influence and had quickly become the power behind her weak-willed and guileless husband. She had tried numerous ploys to try to wrest the control of the Ashford Family from Reuben as soon as she and Roderick had returned from the honeymoon.

Needless to say, Reuben had held her off deftly. As savvy as she was, Melisande was impatient and hasty, a bad combination in any sort of politics. The best thing she had done was to give birth to Milly, who had inherited the best parts of the Ashford and DeAmbury bloodlines, a strong will and intelligence mixed with ambition and the ability to be absolutely ruthless when she needed to be.

The closeness between the Ashford Heiress and the eldest child of their most successful sponsored Knight, Marianne the Flash, had seemed to herald an ever closer relationship with the throne…right up until Marianne's murder and the subsequent exile of the Prince, swiftly followed by the Ashford Family's own self inflicted exile to the former nation of Japan.

Suffice to say, Melisande had not been impressed by her undignified exile from Pendragon, and had been trying to get the Ashford Family back in Imperial favour ever since by trying to convince Lelouch to sacrifice himself on the alter of her ambition.

Lelouch, after deducing her plans at the age of thirteen, had threatened to sic Sayoko on the woman if she came within knife throwing range of either himself or Nunnally ever again. He hadn't been joking either. Melisande had almost lost an ear when she tried to approach him for another 'talk'.

"Mother dearest still can't get the fact that Lelouch is so far out of her league politically that there is no comparison possible between them." Milly replied bitingly, "She is going to do something stupid, something that will jeopardise what little power and prestige the Ashford Family has managed to retain since Lady Marianne's death."

"Agreed." Reuben said, "She has been seen meeting with numerous members of various criminal cartels in recent weeks, doubtless accruing favours from them by concealing their goods on Ashford Family properties, those old warehouses on the northern side of the Settlement for example."

"Even she surely wouldn't be that stupid." Milly said in disbelief, "What possible use could criminals be?"

"Ah Milly." Reuben smiled gently at his only grandchild, "Your mother has tried every legal way of ousting me, only to end in failure every single time. So now she is looking for an extralegal route…blackmail, assassination, extortion…that sort of thing."

"NO!" Milly shouted angrily, "I will not let her do this!"

The Ashford Heiress had been raised by a combination of her old nursemaid and her Grandfather. She loved him fiercely and had not even known who her mother and father had been until she had turned five and had disliked them both on first sight, her mother because of the way she talked like Milly was a pawn on a chessboard and her father because he obediently followed her mother around like a dog on a leash.

"Now, now Milly." Reuben said bracingly, "Did I say that I have done nothing to counter her moves?"

"Well…no…" Milly replied, "But...I don't see what can be done."

"You are still slightly naïve, my dear." Reuben chided her, "You see, I had foreseen Melisande would eventually become frustrated enough to turn to the cartels for aid almost since the very moment we set foot in Area 11. That is why, after everyone had a chance to settle in, I called a meeting of the heads of the cartels and bribed them to take any favours she offered, but not do a thing for her. Several of those Cartel heads are now acting as affluent businessmen as a result of what I offered them."

"But…but…" Milly was stunned that her grandfather would willingly consort with criminals, even to stop her mother, "What if the links that they have with the Ashford Family are revealed?"

"Ashford Family? Oh, they had no reason to believe that I am a member of the Ashford Family. I was not present at all. Rather, a man in my employ, a largely built fellow, sat behind a paper screen, while I watched via a hidden camera and spoke via a transmitter with a built-in voice scrambler." Reuben smiled as he recalled making those arrangements. It had made him feel young again as he set a plot up to eventually ensnare his daughter-in-law.

Milly started to chuckle. "You pulled the 'Mysterious Mister Mastermind' routine on them?" she asked in delight.

"The classics remain the best route sometimes." Reuben replied, dusting a non-existent piece of lint from his suit, "I put myself forward as an 'interested party eager to deal the final blow to the Ashfords' and they were only too eager to agree. They picked up suitcases of money from the warehouse where the meeting was held and they have received a similar amount every six months since."

"And…you actually trust them?" Milly asked carefully.

"Heavens, no." Reuben chortled, "Several of them have tried to find out who I am via the courier services I use to deliver the money. To no avail, as I use several different cutouts between myself and the money, not to mention roundabout and convoluted methods of having the money gathered and distributed. No, I fully expect them to try and pull something, but for now, they are doing exactly what I want."

"That's a relief." Milly sighed, "So, what do you think we should do about mother's plans for marriage for me?"

Reuben sighed. "Regretfully, she had laid out your choices very clearly. I have no doubt that the Earl Asplund will be the one chosen to wed you should the negotiations go well. He has always desired the Ashford Family's original plans for the Ganymede, maybe even the actual unit itself, for himself.

On the other hand, you could always start to follow your heart and join Lelouch's bed with Sayoko and Miss Crossfield."

"GRANDFATHER!" Milly yelped as she flushed red at his blunt insinuation that she give herself to Lelouch. She had figured out that Sayoko had given herself to Lelouch at long last (it had been plain the maid had desired him for at least four years), as well as that he was also intimate with Celesta Crossfield.

A part of her burned with jealousy that other women had moved in on the boy she had fallen for so long ago, but another part was happy for Lelouch. Happy that he had finally lowered his barriers enough to allow someone other than Nunnally into his heart.

"Lelouch would be too suspicious of what I could be doing if I tried that, grandfather." Milly said as she struggled to get herself under control, much to Reuben's amusement.

"Not if you were upfront and absolutely honest with him about your motives." Reuben countered, "He knows and trusts you enough to believe you when you are serious. Like how he trusts you to keep Theta Base a secret."

Milly scowled at her grandfather with that last dig. He had known about Lelouch's forays into the complex since the very first moment he had set foot in the place. He had also placed a backup server for the footage that went to the secret observation room, so Milly erasing the footage of Sayoko entering the facility in that Sutherland had done nothing but alert him that she also knew about it.

"Millicent let us speak frankly." Reuben said seriously, earning Milly's full attention. Her grandfather never called her by her full name unless he was about to be deadly serious about something.

"Yes, grandfather?" Milly said, heart pounding.

"Lelouch is Zero, isn't he." Reuben stated bluntly.

"He hasn't said as much." Milly replied, "But he was the one who spanked Clovis like an unwanted stepchild in Shinjuku. I managed to get that much out of him. It's where he got his hands on that Sutherland that Sayoko had. As for Suzaku's rescue, the entire thing had Lelouch's fingerprints all over it; decisive, audacious, a touch reckless and above all, daring."

"An odd coincidence has just appeared." Reuben remarked, "Early this morning, Lelouch filed for time off for, at the very least, today, possibly tomorrow as well. Then a few minutes ago, the news began showing that Princess Cornelia has engaged in anti-terrorist activities in the Saitama Ghetto…surrounding it in a remarkably similar manner to how Prince Clovis surrounded Shinjuku."

"Oh god…" Milly breathed, "She's set up a trap for Zero…and Lelouch is walking right into it! What could he be thinking?"

"Lelouch did walk through the aftermath of the Gunma Massacre." Reuben said softly, "He cannot abide them, so Shinjuku would have been hard for him to endure. At the first hint of knowledge of such a thing happening, he will have moved to prevent it. Cornelia may not know it, but she used irresistible bait for this trap of hers."

Milly's worried expression grew deeper at Reuben's words.

"I have lived through more intrigue and bloody politicking than I care to remember." Reuben said quietly, "A few firefights as well, now I come to think of it, so I speak with the full weight of experience when I say this: life can be brutal and all too short at times. You have loved Lelouch since you were both children, you still love him, regardless of your dalliances with various maids and students, and you are only hurting yourself if you continue to deny your true feelings, even more so if he continues to fight Britannia and ends up dead someday."

Reuben leaned forwards to lock eyes with Milly, who was paralyzed with shock at her grandfather's words. "Let me ask you something. If Lelouch were to die in Saitama, which would you regret more? His death or the fact you were not able to confess your feelings to him beforehand?"

Milly looked at her grandfather with tear-filled eyes and collapsed into the seat nearby as she felt fear and regret overcome her properly for the first time in years. Fear for Lelouch, regret that she had never been able to bring herself to tell him how she felt and even more fear that it might be too late for her.

Reuben stood up and rapidly walked around his desk to envelop his sole grandchild in a hug. She clung to him as she had not since she was a young child, frightened by the demons of sleep.

"Easy there, Milly." he whispered, "Lelouch is too smart to die in Saitama. He did promise you to be as careful as he could, remember?"

"…yes, but…but, he's going up against Cornelia!" Milly sobbed.

"Trust him, sweetling." Reuben muttered softly, "All we can do is trust him."

In the office, the teenaged woman and the old man held onto each other, one seeking comfort, the other giving comfort, both hoping for the safe return of one Lelouch vi Britannia.

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Author's Note: Whew! Now that was irritating! In the last two days, I have had to proofread and repost forty chapters, including my Naruko story. I will now turn my attention back to the chapter I was writing before the Admins got all Anal about lemons. I will see about writing the next Prepared Rebellion chapter this time next week.

Later.