Wow, I hadn't updated for a while, so I'm making this a good one…hopefully.
Luckily, the blue haired coordinator was able to grab her wrist in time. Otherwise, she would have a taken a fairly bad stumble down the stairs and ultimately ruined the whole 'secret' part of the job. The blonde held her hand to her mouth to prevent a yelp from escaping. All the excitement she'd just seen made her step back and lose her footwork on the stairs. Once she'd regained her composure, she gave her partner in crime a grave look.
"Boy, was Lacus far off."
"Not entirely…"
Stealthily edging the walls, he motioned her to follow him as they quietly made their way down a the bleached white halls.
"Where are you going? We have enough."
"I want to see…"
"Are you insane? Not only are we sure to get caught, Kira will never forgive us!"
"Well if he's hurting Lacus, I'll never forgive him."
"Get real, Athrun! We're in a bio lab! Do you really expect him to be fooling around here?"
"Anything's possible." The coordinator shrugged.
"You saw it. It's just work… freaky…but work."
The blue haired boy looked over his shoulder at his wife, who was creeping up behind him and rolled his eyes.
"Kira is a pilot, Cagalli. He's a professional mechanic, far from a genetic engineer. He has no business here."
"You're forgetting. He's also a coordinator, the perfect coordinator, for that matter. I'd say that gives him reason."
"How can you be defending him? You're not even sure! All you saw was an incubation tube!"
"…and that's enough! Really, Athrun, I feel like a ten year old sneaking cookies from my father. I can't do this anymore. I don't see the point."
They reached a small lounge by a stair landing. Athrun took a deep breath. He looked at the blonde's big golden eyes and gave her a little peck on the forehead.
"Alright, go home. Get some rest."
"I'm not letting you do this alone!"
"I'll be fine. I need to get through this, Cagalli. Lacus still is a good friend of mine."
"…so is Kira."
"Go on…"
When she disappeared down the stairs, he went on the direction he believed he saw his best friend's figure went.
It led him to a tall wooden door, different from all the steels ones that lined the last dozen hallways he passed.
He heard footsteps.
Remembering his training from ZAFT, he waited at the corner until he heard the steps fade away. When whoever it was, was gone, he crept up to the unique door. It was partly open and he could hear two female voices from the other side. One was definitely a child.
The former Justice pilot spotted an adjoining door further down the hall and slipped in there. He had gone into what looked like a nursery, painted soft pastel colors and furnished with fine mahogany and toy lying around, not typically a room you'd find in a genetics lab.
Athrun followed the voices he heard. In what looked like the bedroom section of the suite, he saw, indeed, two girls. One was a middle aged woman with bright red hair, too bright to be natural, he thought, probably dyed to cover the grays, he guessed. The other, sure enough, was a little girl. Her back was towards her but he could see she had pale skin from her arms. The old woman was brushing her long fuchsia hair.
The blue haired boy sweatdropped.
He quickly, but quietly slipped out of the room and returned to the lounge where he'd last seen Cagalli. Panting, he snatched out his cell phone and dialed a number he didn't normally call.
"Hello? Can is this Mr. Argile?"
There was a worried "Yes." from the other side.
"Sai! It's Athrun. I need you to meet me in from of the Heliopolis Genetic Research Facility."
"What? Why? Athrun, I'm at work."
"It's very important, Sai. It's about her." The Justice pilot said as if it meant something.
"What the hell do you mean?!" The person on the other end started to sound interested.
"Just come…I think…I think I just saw her…"
The line hung up.
Athrun proceeded out the building where he arranged to meet the old friend.
Later…
It was late and she was still alone in her room in the twenty story condominium. The sky had already gone from pale blue to orange to inky black in front of her. She stood a glass of wine in hand, on the balcony of her bedroom. Diamond littered the night sky. Dim lights from the city sparkled in the distance.
She watched and waited for a familiar silver car to pull up at the lobby and for her beloved brunette to step out of the driver's seat and hand the keys to the guard. Actually, she'd been waiting since about 6 o' clock when he should have gotten out of work.
Time check: 10:30 pm
Those bright headlights and that silver car didn't come anywhere near in sight.
She was tired and tired of it all. The songstress had given up. She went to her bed, rest her head on a pillow and lay there, perfectly still, starring at the ceiling, wishing it'd collapse on her.
He put his key through the doorknob and quietly opened the door. The brown haired coordinator made sure not to stir anything. Lacus was probably asleep by now. He passed by the dining room where he saw two places still neatly set.
"She didn't eat dinner…" The thought brushed by his mind but her shrugged it off as unimportant.
He found her in their room, peacefully resting. Kira walked up to the sleeping figure. She was in a silk periwinkle robe. The songstress wasn't in her normal sleeping position. Instead of hugging a pillow to one side of the bed, her arms an legs were spread out and her rose hair was a mess above her head. She had an empty wine glass in her hand.
"Lacus doesn't drink…" It suddenly came to mind.
The boy took the glass out of her fingers a placed it safely on the night table. Kira sat at her bedside and brushed her hair off her face. He sat and watched her sleep for a few moments. She was as sweet and calm as always. This was Lacus Clyne, whose voice had enchanted the PLANTS during their grimmest days. He smiled. This was Lacus Clyne, his girl.
He sat there for eons, deep in thought. So many things had been busying him lately yet strangely he was calm. He didn't want to have it any other way. While starring at his girlfriend sleeping, he pondered on the things that had happened to him in the past. He especially thought of his day and months in the archangel and the days he still piloted the Strike. More importantly he pondered on his life now…and what he was doing.
Still deep in his thoughts, he leaned over and kissed the girl on the bed lightly on the cheek. He whispered.
"Good night, Fiona. Sweet dreams."
While the brunette was in the shower and getting changed, the young woman lying on their bed in that grand master bedroom wept silently, being careful to wipe away her tears and resume her act of unconsciousness before he came back.
Kira Yamato slept beside her that night, his heart and mind at peace and dreaming good dreams.
The beautiful maiden that lay beside him had monsters creeping up at the back of her mind, gripping her heart and taking over all her naïve beliefs and her sense of good in the world.