a/n: here it is..I'll cut to the chase.

disclaimer: standard

Previously:

She could feel the grin spread across her face, so wide that the corners of her mouth ached, "Yes you idiot. Of course I'll marry you."

Lacus groaned and rolled onto her side. Determinedly she squeezed her eyes closed...maybe if she tried hard enough sleep would find her again. It was no use. She could feel the sleep seeping out of her like water out of a sponge. Eyes still closed she reached out for Kira, more than anything she wanted to feel his warm body against hers. As she shimmied over to his side of the better however she was disappointed. He eyes flew open when she realized he wasn't there.

She felt th panic start to well up in spite of herself. Something must be wrong.

In desperation she rolled off the bed, her feet hitting the cool floor with a quiet 'thud'. She stood in the middle of the room for a second, the panic slowly starting to ebb away. She took a deep breath and turned to her bedside table, carefully switching on the lamp that stood there. As the light started to envelope the room something caught the corner of her eye.

it was a piece of paper. It lay, crumpled and discarded on Kira's pillow. As she picked it up she realized she had probably rolled over it in her hysteria. As she read the note she felt a small smile grace her lips.

Lacus,

Morning sleepy head.

Your meeting with the Orb reps is at 10:00am, I set your alarm for 8:30 so you should have plenty of time. Good luck.

I love you.

Kira

p.s.- don't forget to eat lunch.

Lacus felt her heart rate slow and she nearly laughed out loud at her stupidity. As she glanced across the room she noticed Kira's military uniform was missing from its usual hangar.

Lacus jumped as her alarm turned on, set to her favourite radio station. She glanced at the clock, already knowing what time it was.

What would she do without Kira?

As her hand reached out to silence the alarm she noticed a sparkling on her ring finger. She smiled as she remembered the events of the day before. She couldn't help but stare at the ring. It was a symbol of her happiness, of her love. There was no need to think about life without Kira, for Kira would always be there...the ring proved that.

He was the man of her dreams and of her reality. They were perfect for each other. Together they had lived and fought, shared happy times any sad times. They had comforted each other in their times of need. Their love had withstood the hardest test imaginable: War. The war had both broken them and strengthened them. Before the war Lacus would have never wanted to marry a soldier and yet she had found her true love while being a prisoner on an enemy battleship.

She shivered as she remembered all the times he had put his life on the line fore her. She felt she owed him so much. And yet...he claimed that she had saved him, that she had been the only thing holding him together.

Lacus smiled, if that was the only thing she ever accomplished her life would be worthwhile.

She snapped out of her revere as she noticed how cold her bare feet were against the wood of the floor. It was time for a shower.

Lacus plopped down in her chair, thoroughly exhausted. AS she lay her head down o her desk the glowing number of the clock caught her eye...1:24pm.

She groaned.

She still had to make a public appearance and meet with The Chairman of PLANT before the day was done. At least Yzak was good at short, to-the-point meetings so their discussions shouldn't take too long. Lacus allowed herself a minute to close her eyes and rest, after all she would have to be the perfect, infallible Lacus Clyne in front of the people. Lacus sighed as she realized that even after she got home their would be no rest. Tomorrow she and Kira were headed to PLANT where they would attend a press conference with Yzak in honor of the fifth anniversary of the fall of Junius seven. Lacus was set to sing proceeding Yzak's speech as the Chairman of PLANT. Tonight she and Kira would have to pack and prepare.

And practice... Lacus cringed, it would be the first time she had sung in front of a crowd since the first war. As she glanced down at her hands she smiled at the ring that adorned her finger. Everything would be fine, Kira would be by her side. Like always. Suddenly her stomach growled and she remembered Kira's note.

'Don't forget to eat lunch.' It had seemed like such a simple statement, but to Lacus it was much more. She giggled at how the simple statement made her heart swell. Kira knew she was notorious for working through lunch.

Lacus turned to the phone that sat on her desk and punched in the number of Sarah, her secretary.

"Yes Ma'am?" Sarah drawled, the slight hint of a southern accent evident in her voice.

"Sarah I'm taking a break, would you be so kind as to forward all my calls for the next half hour to my voice mail?" Lacus felt slightly guilty, she hadn't taken a break for ages and she felt bad asking the young girl to handle her duties and...

"Of coarse Ms. Lacus...is there anything else I can do for you?" The younger girl's reply was pleasant, not sounding the slightest bit put out.

"No Sarah, that would be all."

"Alright, have a great lunch Ms. Lacus!" With that there was a click and Sarah was gone, back to her work. Lacus couldn't help but smile. A break...it did sound good.

Now came the question of what to eat...

As Lacus sat pondering her choices her phone rang. Lacus couldn't help but frown...what happened to her break? As she moved towards the phone however, she noticed that it was only Sarah. She sighed, it must be important if Sarah was interrupting her. Lacus hesitantly picked up the receiver, "Yes Sarah-chan?"

Sarah's response was bashful and full of apology, "I'm sorry for the disturbance miss, but...there is someone hear to see you and I thought I better inform you because you may want to see him and..."

Lacus gently cut through Sarah's rambling, "It's quite alright Sarah, may I ask who it is who wishes to see me?"

"It's Mr. Yamato...I figured you'd want to see him." Lacus could virtually hear Sarah brighten.

She felt her heart lurch and a wide, yet puzzled grin spread across her face. Kira should be at work...Even so Lacus felt herself giggle, "Thank you Sarah. Would you be so kind as to show Mr. Yamato up to my office?"

"Of coarse not Ms. Lacus."

As Lacus hung up the phone she couldn't help from feeling giddy. She tried to contain herself but, just when she thought it was possible, her engagement ring caught her eye and all hope was lost. She heard them approaching from down the hall and it was all she could do to keep herself from bouncing up and down.

There was a knock on her door and Lacus answered with a sweet, "Come in." She smiled, she was convinced her voice had remained passably steady. The door opened to reveal Sarah, beaming broadly. Sarah's eyes locked with hers for a moment and she winked. Lacus felt a faint blush creep up her neck, was she that easy to read? All thoughts vanished however as Sarah stepped aside to allow the man she lead to enter the room. Lacus felt her smile widen and it was all she could do to keep from rushing across the room and jumping into his arms.

"Kira.." She nodded in Lacus Clyne fashion and then, with great difficulty, turned back to her assistant, "Thank you Sarah-chan, that'll be all." With that Sarah turned and left, pulling the door closed behind her. Before the door was even fully closed Lacus leap forward and rapped her arms around him.

"It's nice to see you too Lacus." He chuckled as she pulled back, blushing, It took her only a split-second to regain her composure, the now-familiar beaming smile slipping easily onto her face. She stood there, at arms length from the man she loved and let her eyes roam freely over his face, taking in every detail of the face she knew so well.

Kira smiled, "You look beautiful Lacus."

She giggled, "you don't look too bad yourself." She teased, gesturing to his blue,white and yellow Orb uniform (a/n: Like the one Cagalli wore in Destiny you know...with the yellow shoulders?), "By the way General Yamato...shouldn't you be at work?" Her tone was teasing as she played with the badge on his uniform.

"Actually Ms.Clyne, I took the rest of the day off." He grinned as he let this sink in.

"Excuse me?" Lacus stood dumbfounded, Kira never took time off.

"Well...it was unusually slow, what with Cagalli and half our soldiers already in PLANT. So I decided to start my trip early and take the rest of the day off. Don't worry, Shinn is covering for me." He grinned at her. Kira's relationship with Shinn was anything but stable, with the younger boy still having the rare outburst. During the last year however, the two war heroes had steadily earned each other's respect and an uneasy trust. Though their bond was fragile, it was slowly growing more stable every day.

"And Shinn's OK with this?' Lacus asked.

Kira chuckled, "Well he agreed didn't he?" As he looked at his fiance's disbelieving look he raised his left hand to reveal a n impossibly good smelling package, "I brought Chinese."

At the prospect of food Lacus dropped the subject, deciding quenching her hunger was more important than interrogating Kira. "I love you." She smiled, her eyes never leaving the food.

Kira laughed as he began laying out the cartons of take-out on her desk, "If I knew food would get this kind of reaction I would have proposed to you age ago." He teased. Lacus merely nodded as she sat down and started dishing out food with her chopsticks. She heard Kira sit down and handed him a container of food and a pair of chopsticks. As she slowly, daintily started eating she realized that she had skipped breakfast. She really had to start eating all her meals.

"Lacus?" As she lifted her head she noticed Kira studying her. His eyes were filled with his love for her but his voice was serious, measured. "I think we need to discuss our engagement."

Lacus felt her heart drop..this couldn't be good, "Y-yes Kira?"

Kira must have sensed the hesitation in her voice for he leaned forward to take her hand in his. As he spoke his thumb traced circles on the back of her hand, "I know what you're thinking Lacus, no I'm not reconsidering." He backed his words with a reassuring smile, "I just think we should discuss what to do now."

Lacus let out a breath she never knew she was holding, "Well...we get married right?"

Kira actually laughed, "Geeze Lacus, for such an inspirational speaker you sure aren't very perceptive." When he saw Lacus's puzzled expression his face softened, "I meant breaking the news."

Lacus stared at him for a moment, amazed at her own stupidity. In her elation over her engagement how had she forgotten that no one else knew? How had the thought of telling everyone not even crossed her mind? "Wow. Can't believe I didn't think of that..."

Kira smiled at the very un-Lacus like statement. He decided to help her out, "Well I was thinking we should start with the people we're closest too..you know Athrun, Cagalli, My parents, Murrue, Mwu, Dearka, Miriallia, Yz-"

"Oh dear." Lacus cut across his list but it kept continuing in her head...Lunamaria, Shinn, Meyrin, Andrew...the list went on and on...they'd sure encountered and befriended many people during the war. It would take days to contact them all...Unless...

"What if we don't contact them?" She looked up form her food to lock eyes with Kira, who was thoroughly confused. When Lacus continued her voice was careful, measured,"The press conference tomorrow...what if we announce it then?" Kira stared at her for a moment then picked up his chopsticks. As he chewed on his food she could tell he was deep in thought and for a moment she thought she'd hurt him. As he slowly swallowed his raised his eyes to meet hers once again.

"That may work, and it would probably be easier than phoning up all the people we've ever known." He smiled as he thought of how long that would take. "Are you OK with that though? I mean announcing it in front of everyone? Will the public's reaction be positive?" Lacus caught the meaning behind his words. Not many people knew that Kira was the pilot of the Freedom, to most of them he was the General of the Orb forces or Commander Yamato of ZAFT. Kira was worried about how the general public would react to the fact that he was the famous War hero and pilot of the infamous Freedom. He had, after all, fought both against and for the PLANTs. What would they think of the fact that a man who had never fought with ZAFT before had, upon joining the army, had been made a Commander immediately? The fact that this man, who they knew nothing about, was engaged to be married to Lacus Clyne, the princess of the PLANTs?

Lacus gripped Kira's hand reassuringly, causing him to lift his eyes to meet hers. She was filled with sadness as she saw the insecurity and uncertainty in his eyes; Kira was a war hero, a General, a good man. He had saved the soldiers of both sides from each other and themselves numerous times. He deserved to be accepted and appreciated not live a life with no one knowing of his accomplishments, a life in fear of rejection and disgust. "Kira...I need you to be there with me, to make the announcement. And maybe...maybe this would be a good time to announce your role in the war."

Kira immediately dropped eye contact and he sighed, "I-I don't know Lacus. I don't see why they need to know. I don'y need medals or awards, I'm fine with no one knowing what I've done."

Lacus felt tears coming to her eyes ' I'm fine with no one knowing what I've done.' She gently reached over and grabbed his chin in her hand, gently tipping it up so their eyes met. "Kira, I don't want you to ever think like that." Her voice can in a fierce whisper, "You deserve better than this. You've sacrificed so much, why shouldn't you get a reward?"

Kira smiled, though his eyes too had begun to water, "I got you didn't I?"

Lacus smiled and leaned forward to kiss him, "Yes, you got me." Slowly she pressed her lips to his and she felt him respond almost desperately. As she gently pulled away she looked at his handsome face. There was so much pain, s much loss in those endless amethyst eyes. She smiled, "I'm not saying it has to be anytime soon Kira, but you should tell. I doubt the reaction will be as you envision it."

a/n: there it is...

next chapter will probably be the last build up.

But now its late and i'm tired..its time for me to go to bed D

Thanks for reading!

and PLEASE PLEASE review if you like it (i want to know if it's worth continueing the story)

bfos