Respect between Enemies – The BetanWerecat

Gundam Seed: "Descending Sword" and after. OCs with appearances by canon characters. The actions of Kira, Athrun, and the others have far reaching effects. Ah, interpersonal relationships! What joys they are. Rated T for language and off screen activity. (Reviews are welcomed but not required. This is written only for my own enjoyment. Flaming me will get you ignored.)

Family comes with complications. The "Recover Kayla" project begins.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed.


The wind had a rather keen edge but Kayla ignored it. The mare was warm and so was her heavy coat. She was doing all right out here with the sheep. Besides, at the moment a cold wind was better company than most of the house full of family was. She'd known her choice wasn't going to be real popular; she hadn't expected to be called vile names and accused of treason.

Hindsight was always perfect, she knew that. Still, she had to admit she'd come home with a lot of rose tinting on her emotional glasses. She should have known better, damn it! Everyone had cautioned her that there would be people who just would not accept what she'd done. But she'd wanted so badly to believe her family would be the exception. She really should have paid more attention to Yamato's warning.

It hadn't been so bad with just the seven of them home. Gran and First Kay were generally pretty supportive, more so than she'd actually expected either grandmother to be really. Her parents were upset, no surprises there, but they'd been quite civil about it. Todd, her youngest brother, was just uncertain what to think. One minute he was fine with the idea, the next he was mad about it. His twin, Alys, who seemed to be cherishing romantic dreams of her own about someone from school, was a champion on her side whose fierce defense was sometimes worse than no help at all.

If it had stayed the seven of them, they would have worked it out somehow. Truth was, things were getting down to bearable by the time the others started arriving. Crystal, Richard and Douglas, the triplets, had come in first. While Richard was the most upset, the other two were fairly understanding. She'd taken that as a sign and decided everything would be fine. Bad move.

Larry had been the next through the door and everything had gone instantly to hell. The first she knew he was back was when he punched her in the face, knocked her down and tried to stomp on her stomach to kill the 'little space monsters'. Thank God Gran had been there and cracked him across the back of the skull with her cane! Pop and Doug had pulled him away before he could recover from that and she'd never let him close to her again.

But nothing shut his mouth. Larry knew every filthy thing you could call a Coordinator and he used it all; beginning when he got up in the morning and stopping only when he finally fell asleep at night. Pop had slammed him up-side the head three times before he got the idea that Mom didn't want to hear that language at the dinner table but that was the only place anyone had been able to shut him up.

It hadn't helped that his twin didn't really disagree with him. John would never use that kind of language but he wasn't pleased to find his younger sister was actually going to go through with having Coordinator kids. No one had been idiot enough yet to mention that she planned to leave and marry the father to either Larry or John. Kayla really wasn't looking forward to the reaction to that news when it did get out.

The sound of hoof beats alerted her to a visitor. The pace was a steady canter, whoever it was wasn't in a tearing hurry. Kayla waited where she was. The spot she'd chosen would let her see whoever was coming long before they saw her. She didn't trust Larry not to try something if he could slip away from the house. That was why she carried a phone with her and had Alys and both grandmothers watching him to let her know if he managed it.

But when the rider came in sight, it wasn't Larry. It was the one sib she was actually worried about, her oldest sister, Maria. Because unlike Larry, who for all his rage was just a Lieutenant, Maria was a Brigadier General in the Army. If she decided to get in the way, she had the clout to do some dangerously official things.

Maria brought her roan gelding to a stop beside Kayla's dapple gray mare. The thirty-one year old general sat quietly, just watching the sheep graze. Kayla was not fooled. She set her jaw, waiting for whatever lecture her sister had in mind. Rather to her surprise, it was a while in coming.

How'd she do it, Kayla wondered. Maria was a handsome woman, more striking than she'd been the last time her younger sister had seen her. Tall, straight, with the family's raven hair and dark bronze eyes unique to herself, she always looked like a recruiting poster when in uniform. Today she was dressed in ranch clothes and yet she was still a stunningly beauty. She was known for her patience and ability to outwait her enemies. But apparently she didn't see her sister as an enemy yet because she opened the conversation herself rather than letting time force Kayla to do it.

"Well, I've heard a bunch of paranoid prattle from Larry and a much more coherent story from First Kay." Maria said calmly. "I gather, mostly from First Kay, that you're expecting, the father's ZAFT, and the kid's a Coordinator. This fact or fiction?"

"Fact." Kayla replied shortly.

"I see." The older girl rocked comfortably back in her saddle. "Ignoring Larry's recitation of the Blue Cosmos party line since it isn't really any of his damned business, you want to tell me anything about it?"

"What do you want to know?"

"Oh, all of it naturally. But I'd say the part that matters is why."

"I'm human. I met another human. We fell in love. End of story."

"Hardly." Maria Grayhawk said dryly. "Lets start with something simple. This guy got a name? A rank? A job in the ZAFT? I know you, him I'm curious about."

"Adrian Ito, Second for the Thoms Team, Elite mobile suit pilot."

"Redcoat eh?" She pulled a small data unit out of her saddlebag and consulted it. "Interesting. Looks like your fella is one of their up and coming young officers. Recently promoted to Captain when the Thoms Team was rebuilt and greatly expanded. He seems to be considered pretty good at his job too. Picture's not great but I'd say he's got better than fair looks even for a Plant-bred Coordinator. I can see where he'd catch any woman's eye at least for a few seconds."

She put the small slate away. "But this isn't just a case of his catching your eye here. You've decided to leave your entire past, family and all, for this guy. You're serious here aren't you?"

"Damned straight I am." She looked at the saddlebag with the data slate in it. "How do you know he's been promoted? I hadn't heard anything about that and I know Lance Thoms was worried about all three of them getting shot!"

Her sister eyed her. "You know Commander Thoms well enough to call him Lance? Kayla, I want the story from you. Not second hand, from you. Now start at Alaska and don't stop until you've mustered out."

"Do you now? I'm not so sure you do. It isn't very complimentary to the Atlantic Federation after all."

"What, you think I don't know about the Cyclops? My brigade was the first on the ground after the battle Kayla. I saw the place before anyone got a chance to clean up a thing. No, I know what happened there and I know who ordered it. The bastard died at Second Jachin Due or I think the Army would have revolted and brought him up on charges. You don't sell out your own troops like that. Not if you expect them to keep on serving you that is."

Emerald gaze met bronze and bronze won. "Fine, I'll tell you. But you aren't going to like it."

"I don't have to like anything here, just understanding it is good enough."

"All right, then start by understanding this; Adrian saved my life." Kayla snapped.

When her sister simply waited patiently for her to go on, she did. The morning passed into afternoon and that to dusk before she finished. Maria never said a word. She did her probing with a raised eyebrow, a cocked head, or a skeptical frown. Kayla just talked. It was a relief to finally dump it all out for at least one member of the family. She told Maria things not even Charlie Yellow Dog had managed to get out of her, including leading ZAFT cadets to defend the Plants from Alliance nukes. She told her about Mendel Colony as well, making Maria the first Alliance officer not part of Blue Cosmos to know about the Ultimate Coordinator program, and Kira Yamato.

Afterwards Kayla wondered why she'd just trusted her sister so. But in the years to come, she would never find Maria ever broke that trust. What she told her that day never went past the General herself.

There was a long silence after she finished. Maria simply rode quietly. They'd moved on by that time, gently chivvying the flock toward the main pastures and the hay that would have been set out for them there. The sheep flowed away from them as the gates opened and they suddenly had access to the evenings hay ration.

"Well, I understand this much better now." Her sister finally said. "And I can't argue with your right to your own choice. I can say I'm not sure it's a good one but that's as far as I can go. You know the man and I don't. Only you can decide if he's really husband-and-father material."

"And I have." Kayla pointed out evenly.

"Yeah, you sure have at that." Maria nodded, then turned to eye her sharply. "Has anyone told you what's behind this insanity of Larry's?"

"Nope. And I don't care either! I just want the damned bastard to leave me alone!"

"Watch what you call Mom and Pop kiddo, even if you don't mean it that way. You need friends here, not more enemies. And you do need to understand what's going on. Lack of information can kill you know."

"Can it be told fast? Because I don't plan to sit out here all night, it's just too cold."

"Sure. The basics are easy. His marriage fell apart because Rebecca didn't tell him she's a Coordinator."

Kayla's head snapped around and she stared. "What?"

"Rebecca is a Coordinator." Maria repeated quietly. "I don't think she knew it. She was adopted after all and the Lewis family can't be said to have much in the way of either ambition or admiration for education. So she grew up believing she was a Natural and not a real bright one at that. They found out when Shiloh fell and broke her arm. The doctors discovered she's also a Coordinator. They tested her twin and Rebecca too."

"And found Larry Jr. is another Coordinator since his mother's one." Kayla nodded.

"Yeah, although I'd be interested in knowing why you'd make that assumption since no one else has."

"No one else has discussed genetics with Dr. Roland Ito either. Adrian's grandfather is a crank and a pain and stupid about people but he knows his own field. He explained that our family, by cleaning up our genetics like we have, has set itself up to be the ideal Ito Project cross line with any Plant Coordinator family. We will always produce Coordinator kids when paired with any Coordinator. Our genetics are so clean there's nothing left in them to block the enhancements of the Coordinator parent from dominating the cross."

She smiled grimly. "Any family like ours that is following Dr. Morrison's genetic health program is in the same boat by the way. And the Plants now know we exist. Dr. Ito will be looking for our kind of clean genetics when he can make connections with the fertility clinics again. The Morrison Plan may end up saving the Coordinators more than it does improving us Naturals; and we know how much it's helping us!"

"Oh that'll not be welcome news."

"Then don't spread it." Kayla told her sharply. "The Morrison Plan will solve so many of Earth's health issues, we can't have it denounced or halted just because it'll help the Coordinators too. Just don't say anything about it. It isn't like they're gonna be shouting it from rooftops you know."

Maria nodded slowly. "I'll have to think that over carefully. The ramifications of this go in a lot of directions. But I do grant it isn't something that I should just announce without any preplanning either. The last thing we need is Blue Cosmos getting hold of this. I don't need them hunting down my family just for deciding we wanted to be healthy!"

"All the more reason to keep your mouth shut then." Kayla replied coolly.

"Uhm. Yes, and then there's the fact that Larry is a card-carrying member of Blue Cosmos too. Yeah, this will take a great deal of thought."

She closed the gates behind their horses as they followed the last of the sheep through them before adding, "I'll talk to Pop and see if something can't be done to shut Larry down. If nothing else, the kids don't need to be hearing that kind of language. Jamie is pretty steamed at you over this and Carol is just plain confused but neither of them are taking Larry's mouth very well either."

"Think you can get it through anyone's head that I am not a traitor?" She asked. "Damn it, I came home to resign just to avoid that issue! I could have stayed in the Plants if I'd wanted to commit treason!"

"I'll see what I can do." Maria promised. "Now let's get the horses stabled. I don't know about you but I'm hungry."

"I could eat." Kayla agreed amiably, happy to have the support of the oldest and most respected of her sisters assured now.

"By the way, kiddo," the General said quietly. "I want you to know that I think you did the right thing here in coming home and telling Mom and Pop face to face about your decisions. If there is ever going to be peace in the family again – Larry aside that is – it will be because you had the courage and honesty to accept that responsibility. In the long run, that'll matter more than Ito's genetics."

"Thanks." She said softly. "I really appreciate your understanding here Maria. I hope with the peace coming you can meet him someday."

The older girl grinned. "Redcoat you said eh? Well if you're gonna steal your ram from ZAFT's flock, at least you grabbed one of their best."

Kayla laughed. "You know, that's just about what I told Gran!"

Maria laughed with her. The two of them made their way from the stable to the house still chortling. And Maria made her support of her younger sister's right to her own choices, however dubious, very clear at the table that evening as well. The shock and silence it created lasted the entire evening. Kayla went to bed that night to peace and quiet. It was her first really good night's sleep since Larry had come home. She cherished it, knowing it was unlikely to last.

At least Thanksgiving was coming quickly. Alys and Todd's birthday was the day after this year. Everyone would stay for that, then they would all be going back to their duty stations. And once they were gone, she could begin to plan her own departure. She didn't want to lose her family despite all the screaming and anger but she did desperately want to see Adrian again.


It had been a nerve-wracking journey. Grandfather had managed the clearances all right but they didn't list his reason for making the trip. This lack seemed to make the security people nervous. They'd watched him all the way from Aprilius to Aube, waiting for him to metamorphose into a danger. It seemed to disappoint them that he hadn't.

Now Adrian was standing in the still damaged shuttle station in Aube, waiting for someone called Alex Dino to pick him up. Because of the diplomatic delegations going back and forth from here, it was permissible to wear his uniform. It made him conspicuous but that was the whole point. He wanted this Dino person to find him and do it quickly. He ignored the covert attention he was attracting standing here alone in the passenger pick-up area. As long as he caused no trouble, no one should object.

A large group of construction workers flowed around him, giving him a fairly wide berth as they chatted about the roof work they'd just completed. When they were gone, there was a slender young man with navy blue hair and opaque sunglasses standing beside him. Adrian eyed him for a second, then realized just who he was.

"The name's Alex Dino." He said before Adrian could make a serious mistake. "I believe you're expecting me?"

"Ah, yes, I am." Adrian agreed quickly.

"This way."

He slung his carry-all over his shoulder and followed Athrun Zala, now apparently known as Alex Dino, to a black, official looking car. Athrun opened the door for him and feeling very odd, Adrian climbed in. As he sat down, he realized Kira Yamato was sitting directly across from him. A quick hand sign kept him silent until Athrun had joined them and the car pulled away from the loading zone.

"So, Adrian, have you lost your mind?" Athrun asked conversationally.

"Not that I'm aware of." He replied dryly. "Who sent just what kind of message that you ask?"

"Your mother." Kira said equally dryly. "She says you're planning to go to Colorado to get Kayla back. If so, that sounds a bit crazy to me."

He sat back, eyes closed. He needed help here, not lectures about his sanity. He could get those at home. Besides, he was quite ready to admit he didn't know enough to do this without the appropriate equipment and some real, in-depth information. He'd come to Aube instead of going straight to Sydney for a reason after all!

"I'm hearing a lot of silence." Athrun remarked.

"What do you expect, a confession of idiocy? I'm looking for help, damn it! If I wanted to spend hours getting my motives questioned and my intelligence evaluated I could have stayed home!"

Kira sighed. "Right. Look, I've read your mother's letter and it's a bit vague. What do you actually want help with? What are you really planning to do? Do you have any ideas of how to do it?"

"Let me ask you a question first." Adrian leaned forward slightly. "Are you aware that Kayla is a bit over four months pregnant?"

"What!" Athrun sat up startled.

"I knew about it." Kira admitted. "Cagalli spotted it and demanded the medical reports from both Archangel and Kusanagi. They got shunted onto my desk by mistake and I read them before turning them over to her."

"You knew that?" Athrun stared at his friend.

"Well, I didn't expect it to be anything you'd need to worry about." Kira pointed out.

"Right." Athrun agreed. "But now I do. Tell me these interesting tidbits next time will you? I hate being blindsided."

"You'll just drown in useless details." Kira protested.

"Better that than ignorance at the wrong moment."

"Right."

"Now that you two've settled that, can I get some help here or not?" Adrian asked testily.

"What, do you want to bring her here? To Aube?" Athrun asked.

"To start with." He agreed. "But I have an immigration permit for her for the Plants. Earth is just not a safe place for someone like Kayla any more. Blue Cosmos would come looking for her here. A minor Alliance war heroine who married an enemy officer and elected to have the wrong kind of children? Yes, they'll be after her if they can reach her."

"So you two really are going to get married! Congratulations!" Kira smiled.

"What has the Council said to that idea?" Athrun asked, much more aware of Plant law than Kira was.

"I only had one possible match in the Plants. She had several choices and I wasn't the one she picked. So as long as Kayla's genetics can be certified as properly compatible with mine and capable of producing healthy Coordinator children, I'm free to marry her if I want to." Adrian said quietly.

"Ah ha. And your grandfather Ito can certify her genetics, of course." Zala nodded.

"He'd turned the data over to the Council before I left. That's how I happen to have the immigration permit already."

"Do you have any thoughts on what kind of help you specifically need?" Kira asked.

Adrian nodded. "I'll need several things that I'm aware of and probably more that I'm not. But for starters I know I'll need acceptable local clothing, any appropriate cultural data that can be had quickly, a rental vehicle to travel over there, money, and of course, the transit tickets for me from Sydney and for the both of us to come back. I'll also need a damned good map. Kayla's family lives in a very rural area of the western North American mountain district. She's told me more than once that roads out there are few and often of poor quality."

"We can get you all that." Kira replied confidently. "The transit tickets will be the hardest part since there's no direct contact between Aube and the Atlantic Federation for civilian travel but since you plan to go from Sydney, it'll be do-able."

"How quickly?"

"It should take just about a week." Athrun told him. "And don't argue about it. You'll need the time to try to learn how to stand and move more like a Natural who grew up in a one 'g' field. We've learned it's the easiest single way for Blue Cosmos operatives to spot off-planet Coordinators. The danger level in the Federation is nothing like rumor in the Plants would have it but it isn't a safe place either. Especially for a ZAFT Elite who is traveling out of uniform in the heart of enemy territory with no peace treaty yet."

Adrian, who'd opened his mouth to protest, shut it. He'd known he couldn't just do something stupid like fly in with his GINN and pick her up. He hadn't realized just how complicated it was likely going to be though. Nor had he considered that he could be recognized just by the way he walked. It was logical, once you gave some thought to it, but it wasn't an idea that had ever crossed his mind. He'd forgotten that traveling out of uniform with the war still not legally over would get him shot as a spy too if he was caught. This whole thing was developing complexities he really could have lived without.

"You'll be staying with us." Kira told him as the silence dragged out. "Aube politics make it very unwise for Cagalli to offer you a guest room at the Residence right now. I hope you like kids."

"Lots of kids." Athrun put in darkly.

"Yes, I'm fine with kids." Adrian agreed uncertainly, looking from one to the other. "What's the problem?"

"They are orphans the Rev. Malchio has taken in. Some of them don't like ZAFT very well. Be prepared to have your shins kicked a few times." The navy haired former Elite said wryly.

"Oh," he added, "and use Alex please. Too many people want Athrun Zala dead."

"Ah, I'd wondered about that."

Athrun shrugged, almost in resignation. The green eyes looked tired when he took the sunglasses off. It didn't seem as though this new life was all Athrun had hoped it would be. Much as he wanted to, Adrian deemed it unwise to ask Kira how things were going just yet. Maybe later, when Athrun was occupied somewhere else, he would be able to find out how things had gone since they'd returned to Aube.

The rest of the trip to the harbor was occupied by a lively discussion of just what Adrian was really going to need. It quickly became apparent that the money he'd brought with him was probably not going to be enough. Everything was expensive down here and more so if you had to buy it clandestinely. Just as well that he could access his family funds through the Plant delegation since he was pretty certainly going to need to.

He wasn't surprised when Kira put a call through to Colonel Kisaka to have the man meet them out at the orphanage. Apparently Intelligence was another area of the good Colonel's expertise. Kira gave him the bare bones of the needs and Kisaka promised to be out there in the morning with some preliminary information.

They slipped from the car into a covered boat in a very small boathouse. Adrian found himself relegated to staying below deck. Apparently while 'Alex Dino' was a regular visitor to the Malchio orphanage, other ZAFT personnel had never gone there. So he had to stay out of sight the entire trip. Water travel was not a personal favorite; he was getting a bit green by the time they arrived and was very happy to quit the boat.

The island itself was a soothing place. If he weren't so pressed for time, he'd have been happy to spend much more than a single week here. The kids were a bit of a drawback. It seemed Athrun was quite correct in how some of them viewed his uniform. He managed to avoid being kicked by staying aware of where the angry ones were and dodging them. Fortunately there was a small guest house available and he didn't have to share a roof with the children.

He stretched out that night under bug netting in a room with all the windows and doors open to the shadowy air. Strange flowers perfumed the evening. The steady beat of the water on the shore gradually lulled him to sleep, aware even as he slipped under that he was going to be in for a very busy time over the next few days.