Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD.

Long Time Ahead

Athrun was vaguely aware he was awaking from sleep. Honestly, he didn't want to. The sleep felt deeper and more contenting than any he had ever had; he felt like basking in this warmth and comfort as long as possible, until someone forcefully pulled him out of it.

However, his mind was telling him there was something he had to do in the morning, though he couldn't remember what, and he wasn't the type to ignore the warning of his mind and keep sleeping.

Slowly and reluctantly, he opened his eyes to find himself in a bed which wasn't his. He blinked more than five times before he remembered where he was.

The room wasn't exactly bright. The curtains were thick enough to block most of the sunlight which could disturb the much-needed sleep of the busy owner of the room. But the curtains weren't properly shut, probably due to her carelessness, and a ray of light succeeded to sneak into the room and on the bed.

Judging from the light, it seemed to be midmorning already, later than his usual time to get up.

He slowly turned his head toward the other side of the bed, toward the woman lying next to him. Her face was turned away from him and her body was covered by a sheet. All he could see was her golden hair, which was shining brightly in the sunlight.

A wide smile suffused his face as he took the sight in.

After enjoying the sight for a while, he sat up, a smile still on his face, then stretched with a yawn. He made a slightly puzzled face. Somehow his body hurt a little here and there. He wondered whether it was because of their activity last night. He couldn't remember feeling pain when he had gone to sleep. Then again, he probably had been in a too euphoric mood to notice such a minor disturbance.

It had been his happiest night though he wished he could have done a little better, with less fumbling. Well, he would have a chance to redeem himself. Besides, it wasn't like she had complained about the way he had carried himself, or done better than he did. It was just natural they had not been able to perform perfectly well for they were both beginners. They could just practice and learn together from now on. They would have plenty of opportunities. What was important was that they had shared such a wonderful time. He was sure it was what she would say.

Shifting his eyes back to her, he felt a sudden need to make sure this wasn't a dream, and softly caressed her hair. It felt exactly the same way it had last night, which satisfied him.

"Hmmm...sure..." she mumbled in sleep. His face softened. He leaned toward her so that he could have a better view of her face.

Sleeping peacefully, she looked as if she was a little child, quite different from last night when she had looked...well, quite like an adult.

He coughed, feeling heat creeping to his cheeks and his face melting into a rather stupid smile as he vividly recalled last night. With eyes full of affection, he stroked her hair, twirling the golden strands around his fingers. It was such a happy and peaceful moment.

Until she mumbled something again and her hand came swinging to nearly hit his face. But he securely stopped the attack without turning a hair, of course. He was a well-trained soldier, an admiral on top of it. There was no way he would let someone who wasn't even a soldier assault him in his face, even if it was his girlfriend—fiancée. He corrected himself inwardly, and smiled again, gently placing her hand down.

Then, his smile turned into a frown as a thought crossed his mind: She might be the reason why his body hurt. He narrowed his eyes at the woman now facing toward him and still sleeping soundly. It seemed very likely. He remembered Kira had often kicked him or fallen on him from the bed when they had a sleepover as children, and she was Kira's twin. Come to think of it, he was sure he could recall coming to consciousness once or twice during the night, though only briefly; he had quickly returned to sleep, sensing no danger.

Plus, he didn't believe even a bit that she was any more elegant when asleep than when awake. Not that she couldn't be. In fact, she could act quite elegantly when she set her mind to. Whatever it was, her stubbornness wouldn't allow her to do what she was determined to achieve halfway. It was just that she didn't like doing it and wasn't willing to unless it was necessary to carry out her duties. And he was sure she wasn't willing, or even capable, to be that patient in a dream.

He let out a sigh. It seemed he had to get used to finding a few new bruises in the morning when they spent a night together. Well, everything came with a price, right? And it wasn't much of cost.

Also, she hopefully would grow out of the habit of attacking him while they were sleeping after they got used to sharing a bed. Or maybe he should come up with a defense plan like trying to lock her in his arms all night though he wasn't so sure it would help. Maybe should he give a try to getting her quite exhausted before they fell asleep so that she wouldn't be so energetic in her sleep? Even if it had no effect either, they could have fun in the process.

He half-heartedly stroked her hand he was still holding. There were a few little callouses and faint scars here and there, mostly from her military training, which she still took occasionally. Even the great care and effort of her servants to keep her appearance ladylike had not been able to completely erase them, though they had succeeded in making the callouses not so obvious. You couldn't notice them unless you closely observed her hands or carefully caressed them, both of which he had done plenty of times.

It was certainly not a lady's hand, a soft, protected hand. It was a hand of a fighter, a hand of a protector, a hand of hers, and he loved it: the look and the feel. And it had felt amazingly good when this hand touched and—

A memory from last night came back to him, and he released his hold of her hand, his cheeks turning pink.

He decided to go back to entertaining himself with playing with her hair, which seemed safer.

As his hand brushed her hair, however, she released a moan and stirred. Under his gaze, her eyelids fluttered and the amber eyes behind them made their appearances to finally focus on him after a little. It felt like the sun had risen to shine on him.

He smiled. "Good morning." He debated, for a moment, whether he should add something like "sunshine," but decided against it. It was too embarrassing. He opted to drop a kiss on her forehead instead.

"Athrun...?" Her voice still tinged with drowsiness, Cagalli blinked quizzically. "...Oh."

A golden smile spread over her face. She gazed at him for a while, and then shyly averted her eyes as if the sight of him smiling and gazing back at her was almost too much for her to take in. A pale pink tint decorated her cheeks prettily.

Sitting up, she tucked her hair behind her ear and covered her body with the sheet, which was actually unnecessary. She was wearing a dressing gown as he had made sure before they fell asleep last night so that she wouldn't get cold or anything. He wasn't naked either, though he was wearing only an undershirt and underpants.

"Well...morning." She still didn't quite meet his eyes, and it tempted him to tease her.

He leaned in and captured her lips right at the moment her eyes turned toward him. Looking into her wide eyes, he pulled back with a smirk.

"What was that for?" she asked incredulously.

"What? Can't I give a good morning kiss to my...fiancée?" He tried to keep as much laughter out of his voice as he could, though it was hardly successful.

Her face now more red than pink, she gave him a glare before looking away, muttering, "Idiot."

Ignoring the insult, he carelessly pulled her toward him to give another kiss on her hair.

She tried to push him off, though not with much force, and gave him a dramatic pout. "I'm not in the mood."

"Don't worry. I can work with that," he responded lightly. His keen eyes didn't miss the flash of curiosity that crossed her face.

He circled his arms around her waist from behind, and started to tickle her.

A mixture of squeal and laughter came out of her mouth. "Athrun!" She twisted her body in an attempt to escape his hands, laughing. "Hey! Stop!"

As he released her, she threw herself back on the bed. He placed his arms on each side of her body, locking her between them, and looked down at her face. She looked back up at him with watery eyes and flushed cheeks, slightly panting.

As if drawn to her by gravity, he slowly lowered his face while she twined her fingers in his hair and closed her eyes in response.

A sound of knocking interrupted them before their lips met, causing them to halt and their eyes to fly open.

"Lady Cagalli, are you awake?" A maid's voice came, placid and professional.

"Y-yes! You don't need to come in!" Cagalli shouted with much haste, forgetting she had locked the door herself.

But then, maids usually brought a spare of the master key around in case there was a need for them to open a locked door. Though as far as he knew, they didn't use it without permission to enter a room someone occupied.

"Breakfast is ready," the maid said. "Oh, and it seems Athrun-sama is sleeping in. Would you like us to go into his room and wake him up"—inside the bedchamber, the couple exchanged a panicked look—"or would you prefer to go yourself?"

"I got it! So you don't have to be bothered with him! We'll be down there in a minute, thanks! You're dismissed!"

"Yes, my Lady," the maid answered with perfect calmness in marked contrast to her mistress.

The couple strained to hear the maid's footsteps. After hearing the door of the sitting chamber shut and becoming certain the maid had actually left, they sank into the bed with long and tired sighs.

"They know about us—this...don't you think?" Cagalli said reluctantly.

He very much wanted to say no, but his smart brain worked out a different answer. Turning his eyes away, he responded, "I'm afraid it's very likely."

It was quite suspicious that the maid had bothered to ask Cagalli whether to wake him up; the servants of this mansion didn't disturb guests unless told otherwise. Not to mention she was one of the maids assigned to Cagalli's chambers, not to a guest room, to begin with. It wasn't her job at all to look after him.

It made much more sense to think that the maid had been indirectly telling them she, and probably some other servants, had covered for them. Perhaps she had also been warning them to leave the bed before the cover was blown and his whereabouts last night were known to someone like Myrna, the housekeeper and Cagalli's caretaker who certainly wouldn't be pleased with the news that her precious Princess had spent a night with a man despite being not married yet.

With a loud noise, Cagalli buried her face in a pillow. "I'm so, so embarrassed."

"Tell me about it." He covered his eyes with a hand, trying to ease the inner disturbance caused by the realization that the fact they had shared a bed was now known to some people, if not many—which he sincerely hoped wasn't the case.

"You should've returned to your room last night."

Removing his hand from his face, he raised an eyebrow at her, which she didn't see for her face was still hidden in the pillow. "As far as I remember, you were clinging to me and asking me not to go."

He found some distraction and fun in getting a peek at her reddening ear and watching her head sink deeper in the pillow.

"I wasn't in the right state of mind," she grumbled in a muffled voice. She added after a little while, "I don't want to go downstairs and see their grinning faces."

He was feeling exactly the same way, though he didn't think the servants would give them meaningful grins as she was thinking. It wasn't unusual for them to have different opinions on the meaning of an action or an expression of her servants. She insisted it was because he paid too little attention to other people. But he was sure it was just because he didn't know them as well as she did.

And right now, he was somewhat glad about it. It was probably better for him if he couldn't differentiate those who knew about their secret night from those who didn't, or if he couldn't notice the meaningful expressions those who knew would give them, which Cagalli was so sure of happening.

Inhaling a deep breath, he pushed himself up into a sitting position. Although they both had today off, it didn't mean they could stay in bed all morning, no matter how tempting the idea was. They weren't married yet. As far as anyone other than themselves was concerned, they weren't an engaged couple even.

In fact, he had planned to wake up early, preferably before the servants did, and go back to his room, he finally remembered. Yet, he had uncharacteristically overslept, whether because he had been tired from their last night's activity or because he liked sleeping beside her, having completely freed and lost himself to her, too much.

And even after coming to consciousness, he had been too busy relishing his happiness to remember his plan. He made a mental note to be more careful next time he had a sleepover in her bedchamber before the wedding ceremony.

His mind went on to another important thing. He needed to go buy an engagement ring as soon as possible so that she could wear the ring, which announced she was his, at least in front of the people close to them. He also had to properly talk to some people who were family to her about the matter of their engagement and marriage. Maybe he could finish most of the tasks by the end of this day if he was lucky.

Forming a plan in his head, he poked hers. "Well, it can't be helped, you know."

He got out of the bed and picked up his clothes he had placed on her dressing chair before sleeping. "Or are you planning to skip your breakfast?"

He silently counted ten, and she lifted her face from the pillow. "No way. I'm starving." Putting on his shirt, he smiled at the predicted answer.

He walked back to the bed and held out a hand. "Then, come on." She grabbed his hand as if instinctively.

She slid down the bed and got on her feet. She no longer needed the support of his hand, but kept her hold of it for a while before letting it go reluctantly, which was a little odd. However, he didn't think much about it. A large part of his mind was occupied with today's plan.

He turned to the door, properly dressed now. "I'll go to my room," he told her, inclining his head to throw a glance at her who was still standing beside the bed.

He had to take a shower and change clothes before going downstairs. He kept some of his clothes in "his room," which was actually a guest room he always used when staying in this manor. So he just needed to go to the room without being seen by anyone so that they could keep the pretense that they had spent last night in separate rooms.

It could disturb his plan if Myrna or some other people he was planning to see found out that Cagalli and he had slept together. He didn't think any of them would seriously oppose their marriage even then, but he definitely preferred to stay in their good books, and maintain his reputation of being a highly disciplined gentleman.

As he grabbed the doorknob, Cagalli called from behind. "Athrun."

No sooner did he turn fully around than he felt her body, and her lips, bump into his. It was a little too forceful and their teeth actually clashed though it didn't really hurt. At least, he didn't notice any pain. He simply stood still, except for his hands that automatically held her waist.

With wide eyes, he stared at her as she broke the kiss. Blushing, she explained, "We didn't get to kiss earlier."

"Right...?" he said in an uncertain tone, trying to make sense of her odd behavior.

She took a step back. "Well, I guess I'll see you later then." Her voice and eyes were longing—wistful, as if she couldn't bear being apart from him even for several minutes.

His heart tightened with a strong emotion, and he instinctively closed the distance to pull her into a firm embrace. Her arms came up to squeeze him.

"Yes, you will," he said into her ear. "I won't go anywhere. We are going to spend the rest of our lives together, remember? There will be plenty of time for us to share." He added in a light, joking tone, "Maybe too plenty. You may become tired of having me around."

She let out a short laugh which was muffled by his jacket. "I don't know about that. You aren't so boring, you know."

"But not as fascinating as you."

"Then, I should probably teach you to be crazier." She lifted her face to smile at him. "I don't think it'll be easy. But, as you said, we have a lot of time."

He smiled back. "Sounds like a plan."

They shared a slow, tender kiss before finally separating themselves from each other.

"I'll be right back," he promised, now feeling reluctant to part himself.

"I know," she returned with eyes still longing but brighter.

With one last look at her, he left her bedchamber. He strode from the door between the bedchamber and the sitting chamber to the door to the corridor, and cracked it open to peek out. To his relief, there was no one in his sight, probably by courtesy of the servants who had volunteered to be their accomplices. He slipped out of the room, silently closed the door, and started walking with brisk steps.

Probably he should change the plan of the day. Getting a ring and asking for consents, or more like blessings, for their marriage could wait. Although he liked properness and the idea of making the engagement more official and wanted to get those stuff done soon, none of it mattered as much as she did.

After all, they had just gotten engaged and spent their first night together. Maybe they should focus on just each other, putting aside the thoughts of others at least for a day. He was sure they deserved that much of luxury. As he had told her, they had plenty of time and didn't need to rush.

They could just sit and talk about the future like wedding, honeymoon, and children. Come to think of it, they had never really discussed such things. They had been too busy working for the day they could be openly together, and talking about what came after had seemed premature. Plus, as much as he had dreamed of making a family with her, or maybe because of it, he had also been somewhat afraid of creating a detailed plan and have a realistic image of the life they might never be able to attain.

But now, he didn't have to feel like that. They had reached where they had wanted to go. Now, they were where they wanted to be, living the tomorrow they had been dreaming of. And they were going to head for their new destination.

It was an exciting idea, not to mention a necessary one, that they would spend some time figuring out their new goals and planning for them.

Maybe they also could catch up on intimate time they had missed during these years when they had not been able to be as close to each other as they wanted. Not intimate in the way like last night, but a more chaste way, of course.

Although they had not been hiding their relationship from her servants, they had not exactly shown intimacy in front of them even in such a way. They had saved it for their alone time. Partly because of the secrecy of their relationship and partly because of his preference to keep his feelings to himself and the selected few. But maybe he should start to accustom himself to being more affectionate with her in front of other people.

It didn't sound like such a bad idea. He wasn't feeling like keeping some distance between them just because servants were around. He had realized he wanted to stay close to her, probably as much as she did to him. He probably couldn't change his behavior instantly, though. Old habits die hard. But little by little, it was going to change. He was certain about it.

Their lives were going to change. Their relationship was going to change. Despite his general dislike of change, he felt excited and happy with the idea. There had not been a change he looked forward to as much.

Their new journey, not just as lovers but also as husband and wife, was going to begin soon. Another long journey, surely with some hardships but with much happiness. They were going to keep walking together, fighting together.

He blinked once as a ray of light was thrown in front of him, right at his feet. It appeared clouds had made way for the sun.

Slowing his steps, he looked up through the window to the clear, blue sky and the golden sun. Birds were chirping somewhere. Lowering his gaze, he could see a pair of guards making their rounds and the garden staff tending trees and flowers here and there, with the sun shining brightly upon all of them.

The sight was so ordinary, but wonderful nonetheless. The world looked exactly the same as it had yesterday, and yet completely different. It felt exactly like a new life was beginning, not just a new day. He felt as if the universe was congratulating them and sending its blessing. Of course he knew it was silly, but he was entitled to some giddiness, considering his current situation, right?

In a not so far future, this scene would become the usual one he saw in the morning as well as that of her sleeping next to him. This place would become his home. His and her home. And hopefully their children's home someday.

He was so filled with happiness that he felt as if his body was going to burst out. Last night, he had felt it was the happiest moments of his life. But he was feeling happier thinking about what was coming. And he was sure that even greater happiness was awaiting him in the future.

A content smile on his lips, he threw one last glance at the sun in the sky before shifting his eyes to the direction he was heading. With a light in his eyes, he quickened his pace to get back as soon as possible to the sun of his world which was smaller yet brighter, brighter than anything else in this universe, and to the planning of their long future together.

The End

A/N: I'm really happy I've finished and posted this fic. With "Missing Piece" and this done, I feel I have put out most of what I wanted to write.

It's not that this fic is going to be my last fic. I still have several ideas: some AC, some not. It's just that most of the fics I have written so far, I wrote them as a part of my project of writing about AC. Even those featuring neither. Or especially those fics. And I'm greatly relieved I've reached the point at which I can say the project is over.

Thank you for reading. And thank you very, very much for all the reviews and messages. I could've never finished my project without your support.

*posted 03/08/18*