*******

Title: Snapshots

Author: DnKS – giRLs

Rating: PG13

Pairing: SuzaLulu

Disclaimers: For the umpteenth time in our life we are forced to admit that neither of the characters present in this story is ours.

Warning: …established homosexual relationship? Does that thing need to be warned about?

*******

Instalment 3 – In the Deepest of the Night

February, Britannia Mainland, 2021 a.t.b

It was not raining that night. No thunder too, not even a stir of wind. Everything felt so calm, so deceivingly calm. The perfectly silent night belied the somewhat chaotic events as of late. And Lelouch vi Britannia knew that somewhere, during that seemingly peaceful night, the terrorists that rebelled against the Empire were still wrecking havoc among people.

Lelouch tightened his lips grimly. His eyes gazed at the grand clock on the far wall on his right. A little before 1 a.m., and Suzaku was still not home yet. Though he could not blame him for that, not when he considered how dreadful the situation in their beloved country at the moment was. Not when he considered just how devoted Suzaku was in his duty to protect the country, to protect him.

His grip on his mug tightened. The hot cocoa contained within that porcelain mug had somehow grown cold, but Lelouch did not find the courage to leave his seat and refill his cup. He would stay there all night if needed, stay ardently on that grand velvet armchair in his private room with the phone just within his reach. That way he would know if the phone were to ring, if some news should come, if his Suzaku called him, or worse…

Lelouch shook his head slightly, trying to diminish such thought from his mind. It would do no good to let his imagination run wild. The Empire was facing a great peril and as a royal prince, he was supposed to use his mind to help his beloved country, not for thinking such ridiculous thoughts.

Recent advances from the European Union had somehow made The Holy Empire of Britannia experience hard times. Coupled with the economic recession and some natural disasters that just happened to strike them nearly constantly that year somehow put the people in unrest. Before long, some rebellious factions began to form. They grew greater in number as each passing days, spawning fright in the land, and terrorizing the nobles and royalties, blaming them for all the bad things happened. They gained force, lots of force, and they also gained the support from the European Union. It was plain simple, Lelouch thought grimly, what better method was there to destroy a nation than to destroy it from within?

He had to admit it was a clever plan. Stir some mistrust within people, and they would willingly destroy their own homeland. Those who are poor would be united in envy and those who are rich would be united in fear. Envy was really one of the major sins, and he had no hard time imagining how easy it was for those slick tongued men from EU to manipulate the people into rebelling against the monarchy that had sustained their life ever since their birth.

The sound of bells rang in the night, telling Lelouch that it was already one o'clock in the morning. The merry sound of those bells somehow seemed so in contrast with his feeling. If he did not have that much self preservation in him, Lelouch would surely have found himself glaring dagger at the innocent clock which was still emitting those overly cheerful sound. But amidst the regal sound of those bells chiming, he could hear another sound.

The phone was ringing.

Quickly, he snatched the phone. It was his private line, and only few selected individuals could reach him via the phone line. But Lelouch knew, without having to guess, who might be calling him at that moment.

"Suzaku," he whispered, a bit fearfully. "It's you, right?"

For a moment, there was silence. Then a voice came to him.

"Lelouch," he heard Suzaku's voice calling his name and Lelouch released the breath he did not realize he was holding. "You haven't slept?"

"How can I sleep when you're…" he stopped. His hand trembled in the dark. He knew that. "I just cannot sleep…"

Lelouch heard a weary sigh coming from the other end of connection. It made something in his heart sank. Suzaku was not suited to sigh like that, he thought. Suzaku was suited to smile, to laugh, to do so many idiotic things that would put him into trouble yet never managed to get him down. But recent situations did not allow him much time to laugh, to do stupid things. His Lordship Colonel Kururugi Suzaku was needed as a capable military official to fight the rebels, to protect the nation, to win the war.

"Are you alright?" he asked again.

"I'm alright," Suzaku answered. "I got involved in some cross fire, but I'm alright."

"How about…" Lelouch tried to speak but found his voice caught in his throat.

"I'm sorry, Lelouch," Suzaku said with remorse so great Lelouch could feel tears in his tone even though his voice remained steady. "The Lamperouge has fallen."

When Lelouch heard the news, his first reaction was to freeze in shock before grief overcame him. Another family had fallen into the hands of those rebels. But the Lamperouges were not just another family. They were his mother's kin. They were not even nobles, just a regular family which found their great fortune in the research and technology department. Those rebels only targeted them because they knew that the Empress came from that family. Just how stupid of a reason was that to slaughter a family? Just how stupid of a reason was that to kill some innocents?

Lelouch bit his lower lip. He could not cry. If he cried, Suzaku would feel even worse. He had to be strong for Suzaku. He had to.

"Lelouch," Suzaku called him again. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, I've failed you."

"No, Suzaku," he said without hesitation. "You never failed me. Don't say that."

"Mother…"

"Mother is a strong woman," he finished Suzaku's sentence. "This is… a terrible blow. But you are safe, right? And don't I always say that the most important thing is that you are safe? Therefore… don't trouble yourself over this… I know you've done your best…"

He could hear a choked snort from the other end of the connection. "I could have done better."

"We all could have done better," he corrected. "I should have been able to predict it. I should have been able to prevent it. If only I was a bit quicker in noticing their plan. If only I looked into their attack pattern more closely from the start, I would have…"

He stopped for a moment to take a deep breath. "We could have done more but the fact is that we could not. And I believe you have done your best, so don't blame yourself."

The silence that followed afterward made him unconsciously tighten his fingers around the phone cord in apprehension. Suzaku was someone with a great sense of duty and he admired his husband for that. But it would also mean that Suzaku tended to shoulder the blame himself whenever something bad happened. He would take the blame and the pain, keeping it within himself as he strived to set things right again.

"Suzaku…" he almost whimpered. "Please, don't blame yourself…"

"They were annihilated, Lelouch," Suzaku said. "All of them. Those terrorists even burnt the house down. It feels like hell here."

"But you captured them, right?" Lelouch tried to see the bright side of the whole situation. "You caught those rebels, and you will put justice onto them. We could not prevent this, but we could prevent many families from facing the same tragedy. Really, don't be so pessimistic. Everything will be well and it's not like this is the end of the world."

Lelouch could faintly hear the sound of shouting and explosion in the background as Suzaku kept his silence. He began to worry. Suzaku had overworked himself as of late, and the event was surely a big blow to him. He was worried about his husband's well being, both physically and mentally.

A soft chuckle came to his hearing and Suzaku's voice told him, "It's almost ironic."

"What?" he asked.

"You should have been the one devastated and I should have been the one comforting you, but in reality it appears to be otherwise," Suzaku said with a hint of good humor in his voice. "Your Suzaku is really pathetic, ne?"

Hearing that faint hint of smile in Suzaku's voice was enough to make a relieved feeling settled in his heart. He cradled the phone close, smiling thin though the hint of tears still visible in his eyes.

"My Suzaku might be pathetic but I love him," he said. "And my Suzaku might be pathetic but he's my everything. So don't so anything rash, okay? You have done your best and you must be tired. Don't keep pushing yourself, Suzaku, if you are to fall, what will become of me?"

"I'm sorry," Suzaku said. "For making you so worried. I assure you that I'm perfectly alright, though… well, I got some scratches, but…"

"Suzaku, last time you said you got scratches, they turned out so deep that you had to get some stitches."

"This time they are really just some scratches," Suzaku hastily assured him. "Honest."

Lelouch frowned, but the smile on his lips persisted. "If I know you're lying, there would be very terrible consequences waiting for you."

"Yeah…" Suzaku chuckled. "Listen, I will stay here for a bit longer. Sir Jeremiah is still exploring the perimeter, and I will wait for him. Once we declare the situation is perfectly under control, I'll get home, okay, so you can go to sleep now. I won't…"

He never knew what Suzaku would not do, for at that very moment, his husband suddenly stopped his talk. Following the cut off sentence were some sounds of commotion and rushed yelling in the background. He could not recognize the voice, but whoever it was seemed to be really desperate. And Lelouch bit his lip. His worries came back, hitting him full force. He did not know what happened. Could it be possible that they were under sudden attack? Was his Suzaku hurt? Why did he not continue his words? Why did he suddenly fell silent?

"Suzaku…?" he called. No answer came to him and panic started to creep into every fiber of his body. What if indeed his Suzaku was attacked because his attention was divided when he was calling him. What if…

"Suzaku, are you still there?" he called with his voice getting louder and his heartbeat getting more frantic. Fear started to overwhelm him. What if…

"Suzaku!" he almost yelled. Lelouch felt like he could weep right then and there. Why had there been no response? Why had Suzaku not answered?

A rustling sound was heard before Suzaku's voice, albeit a bit rushed, came into his hearing again.

"Lelouch…"

That sound of his name being voiced out with Suzaku's voice was the one that made the tears he had been holding up finally spilled. He could feel the warm paths of his tears against his cheeks. He was so relieved until he choked on his sob.

"Don't scare me like that!" he said to the phone. "Don't scare me like that, damn you… I thought you were attacked or something…"

"I'm sorry…" Suzaku hastily said. "Don't cry, Lelouch, please. I'm sorry. It's my fault. Please don't worry, I'm okay. Don't cry…"

He swallowed his cries, feeling a bit stupid for breaking down crying like that. "Why did you not answer my calling earlier?"

"I'm sorry, Sir Jeremiah was calling me. Listen to me, I have some great news for you," Suzaku said. His voice, strangely, held a tint of unveiled happiness in it. "There's apparently a survivor, Lelouch. We found someone who escaped the cruel annihilation. There's a living soul here, Lelouch."

He sat up straight in his chair, eyes widened. "A survivor? A member of the Lamperouge family?"

Suzaku's laugh sounded, for once that night, so cheerful. "Yes, sweetheart. He's hurt terribly and I think tonight's event is really too much for a child his age to bear, but…"

"A child?" Lelouch cut Suzaku's speech off.

"Yes, a child. A boy, to be more exact, and I presume he's not older than three years old," Suzaku answered. "Sir Jeremiah and I are taking him now. Could you please summon the Royal Physician to look after this child?"

"Yes, of course I…" he started, and then Suzaku's words began sinking in. "You are taking him here?"

"Of course," Suzaku said as if it was the most plausible thing in the world, and Lelouch had no hard time imagining that his husband surely had than innocent twinkling in his eyes as he said that. "I could not possibly leave him there."

Lelouch gaped for a while before he released a sigh. Suzaku would really never change, he thought with a resigned smile. He would always act as what his mind told him at the moment. People sometimes dub him as rash or impulsive, but Lelouch knew that those things only showed Suzaku's honesty, and maybe, he was forced to admit, also his 'naïveté'.

"Usually people would think to bring the injured to a hospital instead of their own house," he remarked. "But I will never close my gate off to people in need. Bring him here, I'll prepare everything."

"You are really the best person I might ask for a spouse, Lelouch vi Britannia," Suzaku said. "I'm so grateful that I can marry you."

"Mmh, yes," he said, rousing up from his seat. "Save that for next time I see you, then you can flatter me all you want. For now, please do excuse me for I have to prepare many things for your hasty late midnight visit, Lord Kururugi."

"Much obliged," Suzaku said good-naturedly that Lelouch could not help smiling at. "I love you, Lelouch."

"I love you too," he remarked with so much feeling in those words.

The phone connection was cut off then, and Lelouch vi Britannia was once again left in that silent night alone. But instead of an anxious expression, there was a determined glint in his eyes. And his lips held a hopeful smile as he roused his household to prepare everything for the coming of his lord and husband. He prepared the guest room, the closest to his very own room. He called the royal physician, notifying him how urgent the matter was. And he told his mother, with tears in his eyes and smile on his lips, that her family was not entirely perished. No, Suzaku had saved one little child from that cruel carnage, and he would make sure that the child would see sunshine again.

Less than half an hour afterward, a commotion reached the gate of the palace. Lelouch was prepared when they opened the front grand doors. He was prepared to see his Suzaku marching in proudly even though there were traces of ashes and blood on his white uniform. But he was not prepared to see how his loyal palace guard, Sir Jeremiah Gottwald, entering the palace with a shivering bundle in his arms, stained with blood.

It took a moment for him to realize that within those tattered cloths bundled up within Sir Jeremiah's arms was a child. A little child who, when he peeked into the bundle as he ushered them all to the room he had prepared, seemed to be unconscious and in dire need of medical attention. Seeing his condition, Lelouch felt a surge of uncertainty coming to him. What if they could not safe the child, he thought gravely. What if even after everything, every attempt they did, they still could not safe him?

Suzaku's hand came resting on his shoulder when those thoughts assaulted him and his husband's sure voice told him firmly, "We'll safe him."

With those words, he braced himself and banished any grave thoughts from his mind. He believed in Suzaku and if Suzaku said they would safe that little child, then they would surely safe him.

It was almost a miracle, the royal physician said to them afterward, that the child's condition was apparently not as bad as he looked. He had inhaled much smoke, and he got some severe cuts and bruises. But else than a concussion and a broken arm, the little child did not have any life threatening wound. He would surely be fine given time and right medical treatment, the physicians assured them with a smile, it was a wonder how great the endurance of a little child could be.

The declaration from the physician got Lelouch release a relieved breath. They would safe him. They would surely safe that little child who had managed to ensnare his heart ever since the first moment he laid his eyes on him. And he was sure about that, there was no more doubt in his heart.

"Do you know about his name?" he inquired Suzaku carefully. Dawn had broken and the child was still sleeping in the bed he had designated for him. Cleaned up and properly tended to, the child could very well be asleep if one were to ignore how there was some I.V. drip injecting drugs into that slim arm and there were bandages on several parts of his body.

"I do not know," Suzaku said from his position, hovering above the head of that oversized bed. At that moment there were only the two of them in that room accompanying the still sleeping child. "But Sir Jeremiah said he was very probably the youngest son of the Lamperouge couple, named Rolo. There is no other child around his age so I think we can be sure it is his name."

"Rolo…" Lelouch tasted the name in his tongue. He was sitting on the bed, closely watching over the sleeping child, Rolo Lamperouge. "He surely must have seen something really terrible. A mere child like him should not have seen that kind of scene."

For a moment, they were silent as they stared at that poor child who had seen much more that what a kid his age should be seeing.

"Is there no other survivor?" Lelouch asked.

Suzaku sighed forlornly. "No, and I'm pretty sure about that. Rolo is only safe because his mother protected him. Sir Jeremiah was the first to see her cooling corpse blocking something which we later recognized as a hidden door. We then found Rolo within the sealed room, weak from the smoke but very much alive. He was nearly hysterical and we were so afraid he would hurt himself more, not so surprising considering what he had been through."

"Poor child. He is surely traumatized by the event," Lelouch said as his hand gently swept some hair from Rolo's closed eyes. "What will become of him after this, Suzaku?"

"The Lamperouge is pretty much annihilated so it will be hard to decide who will take care of him," Suzaku answered bitterly. "It's possible that they would put him in an orphanage for a while before they could decide who shall be his protector. I think it would be difficult, though. In this time of trouble, no one would take a great liking on the idea of bringing an injured and traumatic little boy into their house."

"But that's terrible," he exclaimed with wide, terrified eyes. "He had gone through so much when he's still so young… a child like him deserves happiness. He deserves to be able to laugh again."

Some rustling sound alerted him that Suzaku was moving from his position. Soon, a weight settled on the bed beside him and Suzaku's arm gently circled around his shoulders. Wearily he dropped his head onto that strong shoulder, enjoying the warmth and the sense of safety the simple act offered him.

"Lelouch," Suzaku began with a gentle squeeze on his shoulder. "We have been married for nearly three years and during those years I feel so happy. I know I can be so selfish with you sometimes, so please excuse me because this time I want to ask yet another selfish thing from you."

He raised his face a bit so he could look into Suzaku's eyes directly, telling him without words that he was listening.

"I want us to take him," Suzaku said.

His eyes widened at that. "To take… Rolo…?"

"Yes," Suzaku said, dropping a kiss to his forehead. "To take him into our family. To make him our child."

"But I don't…" he tried to say. "Suzaku, don't get me wrong. I love Rolo, I really do, even though I just saw him a moment ago I can feel that I love this child. I want to help him. But I cannot… I do not know how to raise a child… I do not know what I should do if we are to take him into our household…"

He could see Suzaku smiling as his hands moved to cup his face. "You said it yourself. You love him, so that's what you should do. We will love him, Lelouch, and we will help him by that. We might not know anything about raising a child but I do believe that we know about love. Or at least I know about love because you have taught me that, Lelouch."

Suzaku gave his lips a slight peck before he averted his eyes to Rolo. He was smiling as he gently put his hand against that sleeping child's forehead.

"He deserves some loving," Suzaku said. "And I know we can give that to him. Am I right, Lelouch?"

That smile, Lelouch thought, always managed to brighten his heart. And so when he was faced with Suzaku's confident smile, he too had a smile on his face. He did not know if they could be parents to some child who came with such heavy baggage like Rolo. They were just two men of twenty after all, scantly old enough not to be called children themselves. But when Suzaku gave him that smile, he knew that no matter what, they would try and they would surely try their best.

"Yes," he finally voiced out his agreement. "Yes, Suzaku, he deserves some loving. And yes, we can give him that."

Moving his body a bit forward, he kissed Suzaku soundly on his lips. Afterward, with a smile, he also dropped a kiss on that cheek of Rolo Lamperouge, their new son. How sweet those words sounded, he thought fondly, their son.

"Get well soon, sweetheart," he whispered against that smooth skin. "We love you."

When he got up and felt Suzaku embracing him from behind as they watched their sleeping son, somehow, Lelouch knew that they would surely prevail. No matter how long it would take, they would surely help Rolo until he could laugh again in happiness. They would do that. They could do that.

- end -

(A/N: another installment to 'Pure Hearted Love' and believe us, there will be more installments coming. We just could not let go of this universe, no matter how hopeless that makes us sound. WE hope you enjoy this installment, though there is not much sap this time. Reviews, of course, would be much appreciated. Thank you for reading and it is our hope to see you again in the following installments.)