Disclaimer: I own nothing of GS/GSD and everyone knows that already, so go on and R&R&R, please, just so you can make my day!

Chapter 23

Kira had been right when he had said she would be happy, Cagalli thought dryly, almost like he had a crystal ball swathed amidst his precious computers and stashed somewhere in his garage or something.

As soon as she had gotten to Athrun and leapt at him in a tight embrace, she thought time stood still as he held her too, but Athrun had gently broken the hug and saluted as Kisaka made his way to them and winked before saluting in return.

They had gone back to her office before the rest of the troops, leaving them all to resettle when they were done embracing their loved ones and she had offered to give him lodging in a separate, private house near the PLANT embassy building somewhere near ORB's government office.

Her house was near the ORB office of course, he knew that. Athrun had lived there before as Alex Dino and had liked the large but cosy manor her father had left behind for her. Now they were sitting in the dining room working separately but in comfortable silence. She had invited him there for dinner a day after he had arrived, and now it was like his second home. She didn't mind of course, in fact, she had been the one who had made it his second home. He was invited there so often that she was sure the moths were already chewing the carpet in his assigned house.

Two weeks had passed so quickly she didn't even realise it was gone. And then the letter from Kira and Lacus had came shortly after and Cagalli and Athrun would go to PLANT to attend their wedding.

The whole issue of Kira and Lacus' wedding was frankly very foreign to Cagalli. She had arranged to arrive in PLANT earlier than Athrun on purpose, although she had agreed to take the same flight as him, but then she had chickened out and snuck out early in the morning with a few pieces of clothing and the gown they had sent over for her in a suitcase.

So now she sat in the shuttle alone, left to her thoughts and couldn't help recalling the conversation they had had three days ago and didn't know whether to cry or laugh.

He had been drinking his coffee very quietly, working steadily, while she similarly worked on editing a proposal she would submit in two weeks time, not that she had to rush it out, just that she liked to finish her work in advance, and then Athrun had suddenly spoken and surprised her.

"We'll go to PLANT together."

It wasn't a question, but it wasn't an order either, it was more of a statement than anything else.

Lacus had written an invitation for both of them to turn up at Kira and her wedding, and of course, Cagalli really didn't need an invitation since she had known a long time ago that they were getting married. But Lacus had kindly written out an invitation especially for her and Athrun in her lovely cursive handwriting, the type Cagalli would have taken ages to do, and Lacus had even sent over a dress for Cagalli to wear as her maid-of-honor.

She hadn't fancied wearing pink, but Lacus was wearing pink that day so thankfully Cagalli would be spared. Instead, she was handed a white dress, not quite reaching her knees with sleeves that were such glimmering gossamer that she couldn't resist stroking it to feel its lovely texture.

She made sure nobody saw her admiring the dress though; she'd be too embarrassed to show she actually liked it. Perhaps Lacus had knew that when she had personally picked it out and sent it over for Cagalli to have.

Athrun didn't have anything sent over to him even though he was to be Kira's best man, obviously because Kira wasn't quite bothered with clothes and he knew that Athrun would take care of his attire anyway.

And then he'd just casually said, "We'll go to PLANT together.'

So she had gaped and sputtered, "No, we can't! People will think it's fishy that we're so chummy with each other and then we'll have to go on an interview and explain ourselves again!"

He looked at her and smiled innocently.

"Precisely," he said calmly, while she glared daggers at him.

"Why'd you want that kind of situation anyway?" she asked, thoroughly bewildered.

"If we don't tell people now that we're seeing each other, they'll be very shocked when we suddenly get married, and then it'll be an even bigger scandal since they had no prior knowledge of what was happening at all," he explained briefly.

"Ah, that is quite tru-" she said thoughtfully, then she jumped and cried furiously, "Hey, who said we were getting married?"

He just looked at her and smiled more, and she could sense it wasn't the right time to say anything more, but she persisted and said in her most authoratative voice although they both knew there was a little hint of a pleading tone in it, "Let's just do as I say and go separately."

And then he smiled and she sighed in relief but a second later, he said mildly, "No."

Gaping at him, she wanted to punch him and his stupid ego.

"You won't give up, eh?" she said in her most dangerous voice. When she used her best mafia-voice, those around her would tremble, but he didn't. Damn him.

"I could say I'll surrender and we can go separately if that makes you happy," he replied blithely, "but I'll sneak off with you anyway, and then we'll still leave ORB and go to their wedding together."

Cagalli looked carefully at Athrun, leaning back in his chair, really quite relaxed and staring at her quite calmly, and then she realized he wasn't joking. So she had given up instead, but then last night, she had packed her bags and set her alarm clock at three in the morning.

And then she'd snuck off first thing before anyone noticed and gotten to the shuttle-grounds all by herself, although she was an admittedly, very bad driver. But most people weren't on the road at four in the morning, so she had been quite alright as a whole.

Then she had requested to take the shuttle, the earliest one so she'd get to PLANT before he woke up and realized she had gone without him, he could take the next one for all she cared, she was still edgy when they were together, she didn't want the whole world finding out anything and publicizing anything at all. He didn't mind, he had made that very clear ages ago, but she was shy about the whole thing, she really didn't want anyone except Kira and Lacus to know.

So there she was, sitting in a shuttle by herself, stupidly staring out of a window and counting down the two hours it would take to reach PLANT from ORB. She half-wished she hadn't been so stubborn and risked going together with him so she would at least be able to talk to someone, but since she was already here, she'd just grit her teeth and bear with it.

And then Cagalli leaned against the seat and closed her eyes, thinking that she could get a bit off shut-eye while she was there, and she would have dozed off while the shuttle took off if she hadn't heard a dry cough next to her and felt something slide into the empty seat next to her.

She opened her eyes in shock, since she was supposed the be its only passenger and found herself staring straight at a pair of green eyes.

"Athrun," she said in absolute horror.

"Cagalli," he mimicked humorlessly.

"How dare you," they began furiously at the same time, and then she threw up her hands in exasperation while he grimaced very terribly. They paused, breathing heavily and then they began at the same time again.

"-take off without me," he demanded.

"-come along with me," she snapped.

And then they glared at each other and the flight attendant who had thankfully been in the captain's compartment came out with a gigantic smile, obviously not noticing they were about to murder each other and said happily, "Ah, now that Chairman Zala is here, we can take off!"

"You knew about this?" she shot angrily at the hapless attendant.

"B-but why wouldn't I?" the man stammered, "Didn't you arrange to take the same flight as Chairman Zala?"

"Yes, she did, she just forgot, we'd like to be left alone now, thank you," Athrun interrupted swiftly.

She waited impatiently for him to disappear out of sight and earshot and turned to him in a semi-rage, hissing just in case anyone was eavesdropping. "How'd you do it anyway, you, you-?"

He laughed mirthlessly as if to mock her and she wanted to claw at him and his green eyes, but then he pressed himself close to her until their faces were almost touching, ignoring her instantaneous blush and said calmly, "I thought you might try a few stunts, so I slept in the shuttle grounds all night, woke up when I knew the first shuttle was open for service, and then when I saw you sneak there, I followed you in."

Cagalli wanted to smack his handsome face silly, but then she stopped herself and asked desperately, "Why'd you have to go to PLANT with me at all costs anyway?"

He looked at her with something she recognised as tenderness in his expression, and then it grew serious and he said softly, not trying t o start moving away even though they were dangerously near, "I told you I'd be with you for always."

And then she couldn't be furious with him like she had wanted to be and sighed resignedly and kissed him first with her own free will, praying inwardly that the attendant wouldn't come in. He didn't, so they continued.

When they got off at PLANT, she was awakened by him tapping lightly at her shoulder and saying that they had arrived. Grumbling to herself, she stretched in her seat, pulled up her luggage and moved raggedly after him very listlessly, quite forgetting that a while ago, she hadn't been able to be apart from him for more than a few seconds. He didn't seem to mind her sudden lack of interest in him, he only chuckled and walked slowly by her side as they alighted.

By the time they had reached the ground, she saw Kira waving at both of them, Lacus already running towards them and laughing as Cagalli shot towards her and hugged her.

"Are you ready for the wedding?" Lacus asked sweetly.

"I should be asking you that, since you're the bride," she retorted.

"I've been ready a long time ago," Lacus said thoughtfully, then giggled when Cagalli smiled knowingly at her and then turned to Kira saying excitedly, "Let's go back and let me see what the place looks like, I've been anticipating this for a long time too!"

The house they had bought was truly wonderful, the kind with white picket fences, reddish-brown bricks and flowers blooming everywhere, glorious beyond anything. Kira's marriage to the idol of PLANT had been a fairytale the minute they had announced they were getting married, even the PLANT Supreme Council members would personally turn up for their ceremony, and it was to be broadcasted to the whole of PLANT.

Kira and Lacus hadn't really wanted their wedding to be in such epic porportions, but then they didn't mind that PLANT wanted to see their princess getting married off too. Lacus had been interviewed so many times about the wedding to be held the very next day that she could memorise exactly all the answers that she had given. As Cagalli wandered around in the large yet cosy house, she heard Athrun standing next to her, mutter, "Damn dog."

"What?" she said in confusion, wondering if he'd lost his marbles.

"I said, damn dog," Athun said more loudly for her sake, and then she looked carefully at the exquisite vase he had been glancing at and saw that its side was suspiciously wet.

"Dog?" she criedd excitedly.

"We couldn't resist getting one immediately when we returned to PLANT", Kira explained helplessly as Athrun glared at him, "We need your help toilet-training it, Lacus and I have no idea how to start."

"Then why'd you get it?" Athrun asked furiously.

"Like I said, we couldn't resist," Kira muttered ashamedly, "Ah, but it's a good dog, it won't be a naughty thing, but we couldn't bear to scold it, because Lacus doesn't really know how to do anything except cuddle it and I only know how to train mechanical pets like Tori and then-"

"Where is it?" Cagalli burst out, unable to contain her excitememt.

"Backyard," Lacus cut in, grinning at Athrun who looked a little miffed that he had to help them train their dog when it was theirs and not his.

But he followed Cagalli who yelped in excitement and charged through the house into the backyards where she spotted a blondish, almost white retriever sleeping and lazing around in the sun. The dog pricked up its ears, stood up and immediately trotted over, whereby she squealed and started ruffling its fur and hugging it. And then it tried to lift up its leg to sprinkle on her, but Athrun glowered and strode towards it, shooing it away where it retreated into a corner and whined piteously.

"Why'd you do that?" she said amusedly.

"You're not his territory," he said indignantly while he pushed away the dog that was rubbing itself comfortably against his leg like it was a scratching post and then trying to go back to Cagalli for a pat, " You're mine!"

"Alright you," she said resignedly, wanting to laugh and cry at the same time, "go train him then."

And then she wandered off to go find Lacus who had promised to show her the wedding gown she would wear the next day, and they spent an hour looking at the dress and talking about the guests who would go and meet them.

Cagalli could see very clearly that Lacus would look extremely beautiful in her weddding gown, it was a pale pink-whitish colour with large double straps to drift around Lacus's shoulders and arms with a delicate rose-pink pattern printed on them, the skirt full and billowing. But Lacus wouldn't wear anything on her head other than her signature gold pin because the dress itself was terribly elaborate, and Cagalli was quite sure that nobody who got married in PLANT after Lacus appeared tomorrow would ever wear a veil again. It would probably be deemed as passe. But just for the ceremony's sake, Lacus had agreed to throw a veil over her head.

Then she declined Lacus' offer to show her around the house and wandered off the extensive estate on her own again, moving like a little ghost into all the rooms and admiring the way the sun came in brilliantly but not too obtrusively, and the beautiful interior that Lacus had personally chosen.

Hearing noises from the garden, she suddenly remembered Athrun and the dog and stoof near the entrance of the backyard, looking around.

She heard him chuckling and saying encouragingly, "That's right, that's right," and then some barking and she ran over the bushes and saw him bending down to firmly remove a ball from the dog's mouth. Cagalli grinned when she saw it sit, rapt with attention, wagging its tail like a windmill and gazing at him adoringly while he laughed and patted its head, then he stood up and threw the ball again where it shot off and raced crazily after it. She considered going there herself but thought she'd remained there to watch.

So the dog raced back to him again with the terribly-mutilated ball, obviously it had been doing some chewing, and then he removed it fearlessly again and said commandingly to the dog, "Paw."

It looked at him with its tongue hanging out and pushed it out very obligingly where he took it and said incredibly seriously, "Excellently performed, Officer."

And then she couldn't help it and laughed until she had to clutch her stomach and obviously, he noticed her then, and then he coloured a little and said lamely, " I didn't really notice you."

"You address the dog like a soldier?" she gasped with laughter, and then when the dog ran up to her, she crouched down and hugged it, allowing it to lick her hands and trample over her feet in its excitement.

"First step to training a soldier is alswys adressing the soldier by his rank," he said as seriously as he had before, then he realised she was still howling with laughter and said very indignantly, "It's true! When they hear their rank, they are reminded of their position and obey commands better!"

"T-that's not it," she howled, tears forming in her helpless laughter, " N-nevermind, you don't need t-to explain."

And then she sat down and the dog promptly moved into her open lap and plopped down where she stroked it and said, "What's his name?"

"No-name," Athrun said a little sulkily.

"What makes you so sure?" she asked cheerfully, "Did Kira forget to name it?"

"No," Athrun told her, "Lacus didn't like the names he gave it and she didn't approve of the names he gave it, so they left it to you to decide."

She flopped the dog's ears back and forth playfully and considered what he had said, chewing her lip a little.

"It's yellow and white, so let's call it Souffle," she suddenly declared, and then she looked at the dog hungrily and said, "Now I want to eat it. Athrun, help me skin it, and I'll try and bake it and when can see what we can do for tea then."

He pulled her up to him, ignoring the dog that bounced of her lap with a yelp and laughed.

"Trust you to name it after a dessert," he said softly as his hands around her waist grew firmer in their grip.

"N-nothing wrong with that," she stammered, trying to look less unsure of herself.

"No, I never said there was," he continued softly, then she thought he was going to kiss her, but he expertly slipped off his hands jsut in time as Kira, whistling merrily came into the backyard and asked curiously, "How's the dog? Is it able to salute yet, Athrun?"

"No, just toilet trained, can sit when asked to, fetches a ball if told to, and offers a paw if asked for a handshake," reported Athrun authoritatively with just a hint of pride.

Admring his handiwork with the dog, Kira whistled appreciatively and said, "I thought so."

Then he chuckled and bid them both go in and wash up for tea. Souffle tried to follow Athrun in too, but he gestured threateningly at it and the dog wandered back, quite lost without its trainer.

And when they stolled in with Kira and Athrun quite happy to listen to her chatter away like a monkey, Lacus had already gotten all the food ready on the table, along with an albino-hair coloured someone Cagalli immediately recognised as-

"Yzak Joule," he said, standing up and offering her a hand. Quite at a loss for words, she mutely took his hand and allowed him to shake it firmly, then was startle dout of her reverie at meeting the famed Commander Joule in person when he let go of her hand and suddenly sneered, turning to Athrun and holding out something square and wooden.

"Yzak," Athrun greeted cheerfully, but he stopped short when Yzak shoved the thing he had been carrying in front of Athrun's nose.

"Chess, right after this," Yzak ordered, and then for the first time, Cagalli noticed a girl in the corner, long brown hair nicely tied up at the end with a surprisingly girlish pink bow.

"Shiho, you've come too!" she said in amazement.

Shiho Hahenfuss moved up to Cagalli and saluted, smiling, while Cagalli looked and thought how lovely she looked when she smiled, but then Shiho scowled very abruptly quite similar to the way Yzak had suddenly sneered, and she was quite startling to Cagalli before Shiho turned to Yzak sharply.

"Put that down and go drink your tea." she ordered him, taking the chess set out of his hands and putting it securely under her arm.

"You're not my mother," he said defiantly while Kira and Lacus watched in amusement. He still let her take the chess set away from him though.

"I never said I was; go put that down, wash your hands and we can start, I'm ravishing," Shiho said brusquely, and then she pecked him very lightly on the cheek to put him in a fairer mood, knowing that they could only start tea if she did that.

Athrun though Yzak was going to blow up, but then he did as he was told to once Shiho had threw in her trump card, grumbling to himself all the way down to the end of the hall where the bathroom was. Clearly, he didn't call the shots where his fiancee was concerned, although he probably ordered her around when it was work in ZAFT.

But Yzak Joule had matured after the first war, he wans't the haughty, bad-temepred youth a year older than Athrun who normally looked calm and composed with his snow-white hair but had a temper to match Cagalli's. He was intelligent, obviously, and he was a gentleman from what he said when she conversed with him, but clearly, his way of loving Shiho would only be appreciated by Shiho herself, who loved him in a way only he would appreciate. Perfect for each other then, she thought dryly as she watched them threaten to blow each other's mobile suits up.

Tea was terribly wonderful, Cagalli thought later, it was like being in a place where nobody had any troubles and there was so much to talk about and laugh about. Well, actually, it was in the proper sense of the word.Then Shiho excused herself very quickly after that because ZAFT had recalled her from her break to test out some new samples she had to get back to immediately, and she stole the chessboards as she hurried out of the house when Yzak wasn't looking.

Later, Cagalli was sure that the neighbours situated from very large distance away from Kira and Lacus' new house could hear the scream of rage when he got back and found that his fiancee had disappeared with his chessboard. So he excused himself too after he had calmed down a little and swore he would finish the game with Athrun in a short while's time when they could meet up again, and then he disappeared too and the four of them were left there.

By the time they were prepared to sleep at night, Cagalli was already dozing off, quite exhausted from the day's excitement, so she didn't hear when Athrun quietly came into her room, and she didn't feel anything when he kissed her on her cheek and stroked her hair, nor did she realise that he had tucked her in after that, not until the morning of Kira and Lacus' wedding arrived and she woke up to find herself in a nest of warm blankets securely swathed around her.

And then she knew.