THANK YOUS to the follow lac-le, known as r, Cherimai.

This chapter is only a bridge chapter leading to a much more important chapter coming up, it may be a little more boring than what I have written yet but finals are killing me and well, I wanted to pack most of the actions originally meant for this chapter into a separate chapter, into next chapter.

CHAPTER 5 – FINAL NEGOTIATIONS

A high pitched wail pierced the night and Athrun slowly opened his eyes before realizing it was Kora. He got up, being careful not to wake Cagalli as he walked to the baby's room. He scooped up the little girl in his arms, hushing her, and gradually she stopped crying. He smiled, suddenly noticing Cagalli entering the room, "I'll take her for a bit, Athrun."

He shook his head, "No, I can handle it, why don't you go back to bed; you have a long day tomorrow."

Cagalli looked at him before she left, Athrun gazed at the beautiful tiny angel he held in his arms, feeling slightly sad that tomorrow he had to leave to return to PLANT, and leave both Cagalli and Kora. Kora stared at him with her emerald eyes, before smiling happily at him and giving him cheerful coos that made Athrun simply smile. After a while he saw her start to close her eyes, and he gently laid her down in her cradle. The moment he left however, he heard a wail that sent him back to the nursery. He once again held her and she was once again a bright, cheerful babe in her father's arms. Again she settled down, he again set her down but before he even left the room he saw she was getting ready to cry and he decided to stay with her for the night. He didn't see any other way she was going to settle down for the night.

Athrun the next morning hurriedly downed some breakfast, aware that he had a lot to do before catching his flight to PLANT this afternoon, he was going to have to hurry. Cagalli came down the stairs to the hall in her robe, and Athrun quickly kissed her, "Kora?"

"She just got done eating. Do you have to go?"

"Absolutely have to, or I wouldn't leave ORB at all. I'll send for you and the baby at a later time, I am sure Kira and Lacus as well as the whole of PLANT would like to see the Zala heir. Take care, Cagalli."

With that he left in a hurry, leaving Cagalli in a slightly depressed mood as she realized she had to get going for her day of work, she hurried up the stairs and got dressed. As she rushed down the stairs she said, "Mana, take care of Kora."

"You know I will."

"Thanks, sorry, I am in a bit of a hurry."

For Cagalli impatiently waited for them to conclude the measure of compromise that would put all in favor of a treaty with PLANT. She still received suits but several people had backed off either realizing that they had no chance next to Athrun or because they didn't want to have to anything to do with someone who had already been involved in an illicit relationship. The Seirans were one of the few who weren't giving up, even Yuuna voiced that he understood that Cagalli may have "gone astray" and done things she shouldn't have but that he would still have her. She shook her hand, shaking it off; she intended to make Kora's birth legitimate. She intended to give Athrun all of her and make sure the world knew it as well. Athrun and her marriage would be condoned and even perhaps encouraged by the treaty.

"Is all in favor of this?" one of the representatives voiced.

The Seirans looked far from happy but nodded slowly in consent, the rest of the Council was in agreement with her, even if the Seirans didn't agree she had the power to push it through. She rose from her seat, "Very well with that concluded I shall voice this to PLANT Ambassador Zala."

She gathered her things, noticing that Yuuna was over she quickly made a hasty retreat only to feel an arm clamp onto hers. She was surprised when she saw, "Athrun."

Athrun however was in front of her, giving a rather harsh glance to Yuuna, who made his own hasty retreat. At best, Athrun could be called possessive as a man and for the kind of suitors Cagalli had pursuing her it was an almost welcomed attribute. Athrun put his arm around Cagalli and she handed him some papers, "The draft of the treaty/alliance approved by the Board of Representatives today and please bring especially to their attention Clause 4, that will NOT be negotiable under any circumstances."

Athrun looked it over, his eyes quickly scanning the contents of the pages, before he tucked them away in his own briefcase, "Understood, Chief Representative Athha. You will take care of Kora."

She glared at him playfully, "Of course, she is my child too you know."

Cagalli and Athrun drove to the airfield where Athrun was surprised to see Mana and a wailing Kora. He put down his briefcase, and held out his arms for her. Mana put Kora safety in his arms and almost instantly the child stopped crying with a huge grin, the tears on her tiny face abandoned and left to be dried by the sun hanging high above. Suddenly there was a flash and he realized that Mana had taken a picture of him, Cagalli, and Kora. He handed Kora to Cagalli, picked up his brief case, gave his fiancé a kiss, and got on the transport.

A few hours later, Athrun gazed outside the transport to see PLANT once more, and sighed at he got up taking his brief case with him, when he got of he nearly was rammed full faced by a pink ball which he hurriedly blocked with his free hand. Another hand grabbed it and he saw some people had come to welcome him, "Kira, Lacus."

Kira took Pink-chan with a laugh and said, "Hello again, Athrun, I heard from Cagalli that you have a beautiful daughter, one which was reluctant to see her Father leave."

"Yeah," he suddenly noticed Kira made a gesture to Lacus who was holding a little bundle in her arms, "Who is this?" though he knew well that it was Kira and Lacus' son.

Lacus said, "Keir."

Athrun gazed at the little baby, and immediately realized the baby had his mother's eyes but the hair color resembled neither Lacus nor Kira. Lacus seemed to read his mind, "He has the hair of my mother, he looks just like his grandmother."

Athrun smiled, before he saw a woman come forward and she gave a small smile, "Welcome back, Ambassador Zala, my name is Representative Sayaka, I have been dispatched by the Council to welcome you. Are you ready to go?"

He nodded, and felt someone place their hand on his shoulder, he turned around, "Kira?"

"We will see each other again later tonight, right Athrun?"

"Of course," and he followed Sayaka. He sat down waiting for Sayaka to finished introducing him. He was broken out of his reverie when he heard Representative Kanaba say, "Please approach the Council, Ambassador."

He came forward; he felt an urge to salute when he remembered he wasn't in the military anymore and restrained the impulse. He put down on the Council table and they looked over it, "ORB's current Representatives were concerned and they have voiced that the special Clause 4 is not negotiable.

The Council all looked at it, there were a few frowns, Kanaba nodded and said, "We will convene and discuss this in depth but I have one question, this treaty calls for two representatives, one from each body, to maintain this treaty, how would you do it, Athrun Zala?" Representative Kanaba smiled, already knowing where this was going; it was paving the way of an alliance and a way for young Zala to marry ORB's queen. This could make an interesting political relationship but she couldn't help but know that if another war arose, this very thing that would bring them together now would tear them apart and strain the relationship. She hoped Athrun knew what he was doing; he was putting more on the line than ever before.

Athrun said, "Chairwoman Kanaba, I would do the thing that would form the strongest bond possible, I would bring two people together who would no matter what stand firm together to maintain it and if need be, sacrifice to defend it."

"Thank you for your insight, Ambassador, we will reflect on this."

SIX MONTHS LATER…..

Athrun had been anxious when he first received summons to the Council and prayed silently that they and ORB had came to a final agreement. For a long time to the two powers had argued, compromised, and agreed on various parts of the treaty. The debate of the past two weeks had been how this was going to be carried out and enforced between and inside the two nations. Athrun, while he had spent a lot of time with Kira, Lacus, and little Keir, was growing increasingly impatient, he wanted to see Cagalli and Kora. The only thing that seemed to get his mind off of this desire was making things but now he was done with his most recent work: a little light blue Haro meant for Kora whenever he got to see her again. The way she hadn't seen him for a long time, he wondered if she had forgotten about him. He heard a ring and turned to his room's communications console before turning it on.

"Ambassador, your presence is required in the Council chambers."

"I'll be down there right away."

He hurried to the Council chambers and stood before them realizing that the Chairwoman herself was missing. He simply stood before them, waiting for them to confront him.

Cagalli was looking out the window of her shuttle and looked at PLANT in astonishment, she couldn't believe she was here; she would get to see Athrun soon. Next to her, a little baby cooed happily, "That is right, we are going to see your Father very soon."

Many of the representatives had been reluctant for her to actually go to PLANT telling her it was a bad idea but she hadn't listened to them, she wanted to assert and defend her own ideals though Athrun was doing a valiant job himself. There was also the fact she wanted to see him again after so long. She got off the shuttle to see a woman there who extended her hand and said, "It is a pleasure to welcome you to PLANT, Chief Representative Athha, and my name is Eileen Kanaba. I am personally pleased that you have come to foresee the final stages of this delicate but meaningful arrangement that you had advocated so much for."

"I am glad to be here, I thank you for inviting me."

'It is only right that we allow you to personally oversee and approve of our agreements. We are indeed intrigued and hopeful that everything will work out smoothly."

Cagalli turned to Mana and said, "Take care of Kora for me won't you?"

"Of course."

And she followed the woman to the Council Chambers.

Athrun heard several people muttering before the room went silent and Chairwoman Kanaba walked him, Athrun was surprised when she saw a person walk next to him he had not expected to see, "Cagalli, I mean, Chief Representative Athha."

Kanaba had sat down and said, "Do not be so surprised, Ambassador. We personally invited to her discuss and agree on a final decision," she cleared her throat and said, "We are under the understanding that ORB and PLANT will be friendly nations as long as we preserve the peace, and in the event that such conditions are breached, ORB will be strictly neutral. That is what Clause Four states. The Council has agreed to all of this terms that have been drawn up and we are thankful of that. The final discussion we are having today is how these agreements that form this alliance will be carried out. We already asked Ambassador Zala this question and he believed that the best way was to have a pair embody and enforce it. The Council agrees with his suggestion and believes the best way for this to be carried out is through a marriage, a political union between someone of PLANT and ORB. That is why we were going to ask Ambassador Zala to return to PLANT as a Representative of this very Council and to act as PLANT's behalf in this alliance. What do you have to say about this arrangement?"

Cagalli said, "I agree with it, it was already decided that I would act on ORB behalf as its main representative."

Athrun couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was to going to have to become a part of a country he had formerly betrayed. He was happy, this put him and Cagalli in a good position to go forward with there relationship but he would no longer have the freedom he had before, he would have to stay at PLANT and take an active role here away from ORB and away from Cagalli. He gave a intense look at the rest of the Council and wondered if they purposely were doing this to distance him Cagalli but he didn't see any other way. Either he took this chance or he surrendered everything to get absolutely nothing in the end. He knew that this was his only chance to have Cagalli's hand without protest from anybody else and he sure as hell wasn't going to leave Cagalli alone to be taken by the Seiran bastard waiting for her in ORB, "I agree to this proposal of the Council."

"Now to decide when this alliance will be mutually signed by both of the parties," Kanaba began.

Athrun came forward and said, "I understand that we just made a political engagement between myself and the Chief Representative."

"That is correct."

"Than if that is so, why do we not conclude and sign on this alliance when that union has been made."

"Do you have any objections to this point made by Representative Zala, Chief Representative?"

"No."

"Than that concludes this discussion, and we will push for a union to happen as soon as possible if neither of you have any objections.

Athrun and Cagalli smiled, they had waited for this a long time, and the last thing they were going to do is object if it happened sooner rather than later. They left the Council Chambers and Athrun immediately kissed his wife-to-be. She smiled, before returning it only breaking it to say, "I brought Kora and Mana with me, they must be around her somewhere."

Athrun smiled before he grabbed Cagalli's hand and led her to his room. He grabbed the little Haro off the table and put it in his pocket before he and Cagalli went to find Mana. They were just about the give up and wait for them to return when they heard and delighted coos coming from a room and they saw Mana in there with Kora. Seeing them immediately she saw, "Miss Cagalli, Mr. Athrun." Athrun however made a shh noise and activated the little Haro. It came to life and floated into the room. It took a moment for Kora to notice it and she started giving little giggles of delight while the little blue ball floated around screaming "haro, haro, haro."

It took a moment for Athrun to realize that Kora herself was trying to imitate it except it came out with haru. Suddenly the ball stopped and instead of saying haro it said, haru, haru, haru. Kora pointed and tried to make a grab for it, all the while laughing. Cagalli couldn't help but smiled as Athrun went forward to bond with his little girl.

Micol straightened up her hair and entered into the room before saluting, "You called me sir?"

"I understand that the Earth Alliance is straying from our own ideals."

"ORB has been a spearhead to a movement to encourage peace, due mostly to the fact it is militarily strong and it is in good relations with the pacifistic Coordinator faction led by the Clyne bitch."

"I want something done, anything to cast doubt on the Coordinators, it would be even better if you could get ORB to question what they are doing. Can you manage that?"

She saluted, "I can, give me at least a month and I can have what little has been accomplished between Naturals and Coordinators in ruins."

A/N: I originally planned to have more happen in this chapter but decided to cut it here and allow for the real action to happen in this next chapter. For some confusing parts of this chapter pretty much Athrun has gained political stability and power (amazing considering he is still very young) and Cagalli and him are now going to be married for the sake of this alliance (and because they want to be married to each other) I don't think I need to tell you much about Micol other than I think her affiliations are obvious (if they aren't I'll give you two letters B.C.)

Secondly, Athrun made Kora her little "Haru" So cute.

COMING UP NEXT CHAPTER - Athrun and Cagalli are going to be married and Micol is going to make her strike.