Disclaimer: I don't own any of Code Geass. Never have never will....... yeah, whatever.

.

.

.

After Quatre and Malachai left with Kit, Lelouch sat on his balcony feeling very happy with his decision to stay.

"So you're staying instead of moving to the sanctuary are you?" said Mr. Ashtor sitting beside him with a smile.

"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to be with my friends again, but it's not like I won't see them. Kit said they only live a half an hour north." Lelouch shrugged.

"You like it here that much?"

"Yes I do." he said honestly. "Leon makes me feel like a little kid for once. I'm enjoying my new perspective on life here."

"You think you can handle being stuck with Travis and I?"

"No offence, but isn't your brother Cameron supposed to be worse?"

"Yes."

"And isn't he trapped in Midnightstar Sanctuary?"

"You've got a point." Mr. Ashtor said with a smile. "I hope someday you'll get to meet him when he's back to normal. He was originally a very loving, kindhearted man. The only people he never got along with were Travis and our father. But after our mother died, Cameron took me in. He and Amy took in my nephew Connor who was a teenage orphan rescued from a local fire. Just the fact that he got Amy Schumacher to like him was a miracle in itself because that meant he had to be pretty nice."

"Oh? Why's that?"

"Considering at one point she terrified him enough he refused to go to the hospital when he got sick for fear of having her as a nurse………"

"That bad huh?"

"She wasn't very nice to officers. A lot of guys would hit on her just because she was rear admiral Schumacher's daughter. The first time Cameron tried to approach her she read into it wrong and smacked him. It wasn't until later he found out who she was, he just thought she was pretty."

"Did it ever work out?"

"Eventually when she realized if I loved him as much as I did, he must not of been like most guys. I was one of the few people she liked because I was her superior but I still acted like she was mine. She became something like another mother to me. But I think out of the three of us, Travis got the one girl that was relatively normal and that was Abby,"

"Why? You're wife wasn't normal?" Lelouch asked with a smile.

"Well seeing as when we were kids she was a nasty little bitch no. She actually bit me once too. High school we were just on complete opposite ends of the social scale, The Korean war she was a nurse under me. After that about ten years later, she was my foster son's first grade teacher. I think it was Grant that finally brought us together on friendly terms. We were married a year after I adopted him."

Lelouch couldn't help but chuckle. "Wow. Nice choice in a girl Mr. Ashtor."

"Well people change." Mr. Ashtor shrugged. "Just like you have."

"True." agreed Lelouch.

"I noticed you two have become quite close." said Leon joining them on the balcony.

"Mr. Ashtor seems to start some of the more interesting conversations." Lelouch admitted.

"Well he's one of the more interesting members in this family." Leon said with a smile.

"Now is that any way to talk to your grandfather?" Mr. Ashtor said, gently smacking Leon's arm.

"How'd you find that out?" Leon asked.

"I heard the two of you talking last night. I can't believe Marie let your mother name you Alistair. That's a terrible name."

"Gee, thanks grandpa, that makes me feel so much better about myself," said Leon bitterly, making Mr. Ashtor laugh.

"I'm just joking with you. Your name is just fine, no matter which one you use."

"Anyway, I have to go to the base to pick up a few things, do you want to come with me Lelouch?"

"I thought your captain said you weren't allowed on base." said Lelouch.

"So you were listening in on that conversation! I knew it!" he said making Lelouch blush. "And for the record he actually asked me to because I have to get some paperwork. I'm just not allowed to work. So are you going to come with me or not?"

"Yeah, I don't see why not." Lelouch shrugged. "Where is it?"

"About fifteen minutes away from the aquarium we went to yesterday."

"Okay." he said, standing up.

The two of them were soon on the freeway heading towards San Diego.

There was silence between them most of the way, but Lelouch had to admit, it was a comfortable silence.

Of course he had no idea that there really was such a thing until that moment.

"Tired?" Leon asked kindly as they crossed the large bridge over to Coronado island.

Lelouch said nothing, he just starred at the large ships and tiny sail boats in the harbor.

"Is that the ship you work on?" he asked, pointing to the large aircraft carrier.

"It depends, what's the number on it?"

Lelouch looked at the island. "It's got a 74 on it."

"Then yes, that's the carrier I work on. The John C. Stennis."

"The funny thing is, I've seen a floating carrier, but I haven't seen one like that since I was little and that one seems more fascinating. Who's John C. Stennis?"

"A former senator that died in '89. Mind you sometimes I wonder about why we chose to name this carrier after him. Don't get me wrong, I love the ship, it's my second home, literally. But I feel that the man we named him after wasn't always very right. He flip flopped too much. First he supported racial segregation, then he supported civil rights movements, then he opposed a holiday for the world's best known Civil rights leader, then he helped campaign for the first African American senator. I think the only reason we were named for him was because he worked with the armed services committee from '69 to 1980 so they started calling him the father of the modern navy."

"That sounds complicated." Lelouch admitted.

"It is."

"How can you even remember all of that?"

"Because I'm a dork and what I read I can easily remember because it sticks no matter what I do."

"You're memory is that impressive?"

"My parents first realized something was wrong with me when I read every book in my father's library in a week. I read the play 'A midsummer night's dream' in about a half an hour then I recited the entire play word for word, actions included, in about twenty minutes and I was able to explain the entire thing, symbols, meanings, and quotes with nearly no effort. That's when I realized I had become a very strange little kid. I can still recite the stupid thing and I haven't read it in about ten years."

"No offense, but the more I learn about you, the more normal I feel." said Lelouch.

"Did you want to feel normal?"

"I don't care anymore." Lelouch admitted with a shrug. "So are you the kind of person that just happens to be full of information?"

"Trust me, my head's full of random crap that really isn't worth knowing."

"Like what?"

"If you took all of the required technical manuals from our ship and laid them one on top of the other in a normal stack, they'd be as tall as our Washington Monument which reaches five hundred and fifty five feet tall. There's nine hundred miles worth of wiring and cable throughout the ship, more than thirty thousand light fixtures, twenty eight thousand sheets, fourteen thousand pillow cases, and if all of the mattresses were laid end to end they'd stretch nine miles. There are over two thousand telephones, and each one of our two anchors, which were originally the U.S.S. Forrestal's, weighs thirty tons which is worth two and a half Tillicums."

"What's a Tillicum?"

"The thirteen thousand pound killer whale my mother works with. He's six and a half tons. A whole half a ton overweight."

"I uh…… didn't know that killer whales could be overweight." Lelouch said strangely.

"They had to put him on a diet and exercise routine and cut out a lot of the salmon."

"Wow, you really are just a book of pointless information aren't you?"

"Because of it one of the guys I work with bought me this book he saw at the airport. He said when he saw it he immediately thought of me because it's called 'the book of useless information, things you never thought you needed to know, and probably don't.'"

Lelouch laughed.

"Considering everything you just told me, I can see why he would think of you." he said as they pulled up to a security gate.

"Sometimes I hate my memory." Leon said truthfully as he pulled out his wallet. He quickly showed his ID to the guard, then they drove onto the base.

"I find it kind of amusing."

"Well I'm glad one of us does."

Lelouch starred out the window at all of the buildings.

"It's kind of empty here." he said.

"That's because this is a Naval Air Station. We have more air strips than offices." Leon said as they turned down a separate road.

Between the few buildings Lelouch would catch glimpses of different kinds of planes parked in large parking spaces.

"What's the kind that you fly?" Lelouch asked.

"See those smaller fixed wing jets in that lot over there?" Leon asked pointing.

Lelouch nodded.

"I fly those now."

"Now? You didn't before?"

"Before I flew F-14 tomcats. Then they got rid of them about three years ago. Most of us were so mad because we loved our cats. Don't get me wrong, I love my F-18, and it doesn't have anywhere near as many mechanical problems, but I still miss my tomcat. Mine got lucky though. Most were sent to the bone yard, mine was sent to a museum so I can still go see it."

"And does it have the name 'Polar Bear' on the side?"

"Damn right it does." said Leon proudly making Lelouch laugh as they pulled into a parking lot.

But Lelouch paused when he saw the name on the building.

"What's this place?"

"This is my squadron's building. I'm the commanding officer of VFA-154. The Black Knights."

"You have got to be kidding! That has to be one of the most ironic things I've ever had happen in my life." Lelouch sighed.

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Because back home in Britannia, when I first started the rebellion against the emperor, I formed a group. I named us the black knights and I was the leader."

This time it was Leon's turn to laugh.

"Now that's highly amusing isn't it?" said Leon parking and getting out of the truck.

Lelouch just sat, starring at the building in front of him.

"Are you coming?" Leon asked, looking at him.

"Ummm……. Yeah I suppose." he said getting out.

He just quietly followed Leon into the building, looking at all of the pictures along the hallway that depicted the squadron's history from 1940 to present day.

"Welcome to my office." said Leon walking into an office.

Lelouch walked in after him as Leon turned on the lights. He looked around in curiosity at everything around him. He walked over to a shelf covered in pictures an awards.

One of the pictures was labeled 'VFA-154 Black Knights 2002 sea cruise,' and kneeling down in the front was Leon in his flight suit, quite obviously the youngest with a childish grin. But other than that, he looked just like he was one of the others.

More pictures showed him and his fellow pilots through the years and Leon quite obviously grew in each one.

The awards were numerous. Everything from distinguished flier to top of the class at Naval weapons fighter training school.

Lelouch couldn't help but develop an awe inspiring feeling from looking at Leon's history of flying on the shelves.

It was obvious he took his job seriously and worked meticulously towards the perfection he had achieved.

It was no wonder why he refused to give it up.

"Okay, I've got the papers, we can go now." said Leon walking out from behind his desk.

"Did you really win all of these awards?" Lelouch asked.

"Of course, if I didn't they wouldn't be there." he said with a shrug as if it was nothing. "But trust me, my record's not spotless."

"I heard something about a crash." Lelouch admitted.

"It was when I first learned to fly the F-18 by myself without a RIO. It was one in the morning, pouring rain, tossing seas, a pitching deck. When I landed my landing gear failed and the arresting cable snapped sending my jet hanging off the side of the carrier by the two back wheels. The only way to get out was to use the ejection seat because they couldn't get to me. My canopy didn't launch right, I nearly broke my back when I hit it, which was lucky considering it could've been my neck and I broke one of my legs. I ended up pretty much tumbling down into the water. It's wasn't a very nice landing."

"I wouldn't think so."

"I got lucky. The damage to my leg was bad enough I ended up being sent home to one of the naval hospitals. They told me that I'd barely be able to walk again, let alone fly."

"Yet here you are."

"I was up and walking just fine within a month. One advantage of being a…… whatever it is I am, because I sometimes doubt I'm completely human now, is that I heal unusually fast. I was up and flying by the next sea cruise. Of course I got lucky that the cause of the crash was the arresting cable snapping. Otherwise that was a thirty million dollar piece of equipment lost on my account. Luckily because until then I had a spotless record, they knew it wasn't just me making a blunder considering I already had several hundred traps underneath my belt at the time."

"So you got lucky." said Lelouch looking at more pictures on the wall.

"I was very lucky."

He paused at one picture and laughed.

"What is this?" he said looking at what would've normally been a very professional military picture.

Instead of just Leon in a fancy uniform, it was Leon in his uniform, looking somewhat professional, with Kit in his lap wearing a smaller version of Leon's leather flight jacket. Both of them with their right hand resting on their left forearm, behind an officer's hat and a ball cap that said CVN 74 U.S.S. John C. Stennis. But instead of looking at the camera, Leon was smiling down at Kit who was looking back up at him with a silly grin, their noses almost touching.

"That one was something of an accident." Leon admitted with a smile. "I had to go in for pictures and I had Kit with me because I had to just run basic errands for the rest of the day. They took my normal picture, then when I tried to get up, the photographer told me to wait a minute and he picked up Kit and put him in my lap. We just happened to be laughing at each other when he took that one. We have a regular one where we're both smiling at the camera. But that just happened to be my favorite."

Lelouch couldn't help but smile at the picture. To him it was a perfect representation of present and future generations together.

"I like that picture." Lelouch admitted. "It kind of shows just how much like his daddy Kit really is."

Leon just smiled and ruffled Lelouch's hair.

"Come on, let's get out of here. I don't want the captain to find out I'm still here and have him think I'm working." he said.

"I get the feeling that would be bad."

"That would be very bad." Leon said with a laugh.

So the two of them walked out of the office before heading to the truck and driving off base Leon making Lelouch laugh the entire time with stories and more useless information.

But Lelouch had to admit, it felt good to really be able to laugh again.

.

.

.

Ginger: If anyone's wondering, yes the the U.S.S John C. Stennis does have VFA-154 and yes, they really are The Black Knights. Though currently the Stennis's home port is in Washington, and the Black Knights offices are actually at NAS Lemoore a little farther in-land. I just changed it to NAS North Island to make it easier. I figured it been some funny irony to have Leon be the commanding officer of a squadron known as the black knights. Anyway, my usual thanks to Digidreamer, one sided pancake, and midorchi_chan.