It's take her a few moments, but she eventually is able to find her voice again and speaks up. "I don't know. I'm not so sure if that's a good idea," Cagalli said to him, shaking her head.

He looked at her, his eyes pleading. "Come on, for old times' sake."

"If old times were any good we wouldn't let them get old."

"You'll regret it if you don't."

"Will I?"

"I know you will."

"Even if that is true, which I don't believe it is, I regret a lot of things." She commented, and he can't tell for sure if there's a hint of sadness in her eyes as she says it. "So I'm pretty sure one more regret in my life doesn't really matter at this point in the grand scheme of things."

"This is different though," He argued, "You'll regret it in the elevator when you go back to your room. You'll regret it when you order room service and later on during the flight back home. And you'll regret it in ten years from now when you think about it unexpectedly and your husband asks what's wrong and you're not sure how to answer. And either rightly or wrongly, he'll take it as a sign of coldness, and soon enough your relationship with the wonderful doctor is strained and before you know it you're getting a divorce. All because you wouldn't dance with me tonight." He knew that he was wildly grasping at straws here, but it was worth a shot in the slightest chance it worked.

She looked at him long and hard, and he couldn't tell what she was thinking. But finally, after what felt like an eternity, she threw up her hands in defeat and exhaled deeply. "Okay."

"Okay?" He repeated, a bit surprised that it had been that easy.

"I said okay. Now don't make me change my mind," She warned him, in a teasing manner, and he grabbed her hand, to lead the way, before she would have a chance to. With their fingers entwined, he helped her rise up from her seat and they walked together. They made sure to avoid the massive crowd that had already formed in the middle of the room and they sought out a secluded corner near instead. When Athrun finds what he believed was a satisfactory spot, he stops to ask her, "Is this alright?"

"Right here will do quite fine." She told him. Upon hearing her response, he didn't waste any more time and started to dance with her, pulling her from side to side, to the upbeat jazzy music playing in the background. A few beats later he fooled around and she found a smile spreading across her face in spite of herself. He was doing all these stupid little twirls and spun her into his arms, over and over again. A laugh escaped her lips as she tried desperately to keep up - his social and business position meant he usually had to project a serious and stuffy image to the rest of the world. It always made her happy when he could be free like this, a side of him that only a few people ever got to see.

They only stop their movements when the last few notes of the song play and a new one begins - a much slower one. There's some space left between them now which feels comfortable, but also uncomfortable at the same time, like neither of them are sure what they should do next and whether it would be too much to take another step towards each other. "Athrun," She said, hesitantly. "The song's over…"

"One more?" He asked before he could think about the tone in which he asked it.

Cagalli offered him another smile before telling him, "Of course." She placed her right hand on his shoulder, while his left hand went to her upper back, tentatively at first. But as they moved together, swaying back and forth on the spot, they quickly found a new, comfortable routine, and his hands slowly but surely drifted to the small of her back. He could feel the softness, the warmth of her skin underneath the thin fabric of her dress. She felt so alive beneath his fingers.

They didn't say anything after that but no words or witty jokes needed to be exchanged then. Indeed, it would be better to savour the moment while it lasted, to try and imprint every detail of this moment into their minds before it would be nothing more than a memory. So they drew in closer, still. She even allowed herself to close her eyes as she rested her head on his shoulder and focused on that beautiful, glorious heartbeat of his.

He held on to her more tightly, too, and pressed their clasped hands between them, so that their jointed fists remained snug against their chests. With how close they are, for the first time that night, he could also smell her hair – the scent of vanilla – and before he could stop himself he was kissing her head tenderly. There were feelings rising from somewhere deep within his chest now, a rush of emotions threatening to make themselves known, and although not a religious man, he thanked God above for the chance to hold her like this.

After everything they'd been through, it was truly incredible they could be here, together, now. And on a night meant to celebrate two people finding love, he would like nothing more than to cup those rosy cheeks and brush his lips against hers. He could do it, too, if he wanted. All he would have to do was just move his own head few inches, to lift her chin up with the smallest amount of effort. But while he wanted her, he didn't know whether she still wanted him.

So instead of saying 'I love you,' he asked her a question. "Do you remember," Athrun started, his cool breath tickling her bare neck, "the last time we did this?"

She couldn't forget, not in a million years. "It was at your military ball, wasn't it?"

He nodded. "You used to hate dancing then. And if I recall correctly, you stepped on my feet all night."

"I did not," She denied. Then after a moment of contemplation, she admitted, "Okay. Well, I might have, but I find that dancing isn't so bad now. Especially if it's with good company."

They both smiled at that and he asked her another question. "When did you get so good at this?"

"Ah, well, you know…I took a few lessons over the years. There are always parties being throw in London and it's a requirement that you know how to dance."

The answer surprises him, though it shouldn't have. It would have been unreasonable to expect that she had stayed the exact same as she was back then. Yet it didn't make it hurt any less. "So after all of that happened, you really moved." He remarked, bringing up the past again. Except this was a less happy topic for him.

"Well, Ahmed, he was just my boyfriend back then…. And he thought a change of scenery would be nice and he asked me to come with him. I was pretty sure I liked him and if you knew him, you would know he's a good, decent man. So I said yes. And we spent some time in New York first, then we went off to Munich, until we eventually decided that we would start a new life together in London." She then pleads, "Now please, let's not talk about it anymore."

"Why not?"

"Because…" She paused, awkwardly. "If I talk about my life, and if I talk about my fiancée, then I'll feel even worse for having all these thoughts that I know I shouldn't be having."

"Yeah?" He said. "And what would those thoughts be?"

" Don't be clever," was her only response. "You know what I mean." And it was true. Without her having to actually say it out loud, they both knew that there was still some sort of bond between them, an undeniable attraction that hadn't just disappeared in the time they had spent apart. After all, you couldn't just go from being madly and totally in love with someone one day to feeling nothing at all. Though common sense dictated it would be wrong to take things any further; to actually act upon those feelings.

"You think I'm being clever?" He asked, laughing. "Clever might have worked better, I don't know, maybe ten years ago when I had the youthful arrogance and confidence to back it up. I wouldn't imagine it would work well now."

"Yeah, well then, what does work now?"

"Sincerity," He told her, as he held on to her a little more tightly, her head still resting on his shoulder. "When I can muster it, that is. Or wisdom, if I had any." He pauses briefly and adds, "I can't remember if I mentioned it earlier, but I really am glad you came." She doesn't say anything at that and they continue to sway around the room quietly, both slipping away into their own thoughts.

Its then that he starts to remember how the two of them had managed to fail together despite how much love had always clearly existed between them; how all they did was fight near the end, once she had taken over her late father's company and he had been promoted in the military and it seemed like they never had time to see each other.

Eventually, after one particularly bad argument, she moved out of their apartment and he had no idea where she went. He must have spent weeks in denial at first. Every time he went out, he couldn't help but keep an eye out for her – searching, looking, reaching out to any girl that even slightly resembled the pretty blonde from the behind, without any success. It was irrational, sure, but he had refused to believe that they were over. We just needed to talk, to sort things through, he had thought at the time. That behaviour probably lasted about six months. Because it was after the six-month mark that he heard by chance at a party that she was seeing someone else. Someone new. Any prospect of a reunion seemed unlikely then. And it was at that moment he decided if she was she moving on with her life, it was about time that he tried to do the same.

He was still thinking about this when Cagalli finally lifted her head and tapped his shoulder slightly, in order to make him notice that the music had stopped at some point. Athrun quickly scanned the room, but they were the only people left. "Where did everyone go?"

"I don't know." She replied, shrugging. "I guess we weren't paying attention. That dance was probably a lot more than one song…"

It was obvious that they couldn't drag their moment out any longer, so they both let go of each other, albeit somewhat reluctantly. He stood beside her, suddenly feeling self conscious and desperately trying to think of something, anything, that he could say that would let him talk to her just a little while longer. "So…uh, when do you go back?"

"Well, my flight leaves at 11:00 a.m…" She began. "So I'll probably have to leave the hotel at 9:00a.m if I want to make it on time… It was just so last minute, and I wasn't able to get out of all my other commitments, so I could only stay the one night. I would have loved to have stayed longer."

"Ah, the curse of the seventh bridesmaid." Athrun joked, in a bid to use humour to hide his obviously disappointment at the fact she was leaving tomorrow and nothing had really changed. He then looked down at his watch. "It's nearly midnight, you should probably get to bed then"

"You're right, I should." She nodded, "I'll probably just go upstairs and watch T.V. Kill some time."

He looked around and the waiters had started to clean the tables, but not without glancing at the both of them occasionally. "They really want us to leave, don't they?"

She laughed. "You think?" She sarcastically asked him.

He simply smiled. "Alright, alright… where should we go next, then?"

She looked at him in surprise, as he was usually much more reserved and restrained than this. "Well, I should go up to my room and you should go to yours and then we should both go back to our respective lives and partners," Cagalli stated, in a very matter-of-fact tone.

"Or we could stay here a bit longer?" He suggested. "I don't know when I'll see you next. I wouldn't want to regret it..."

"Goodnight, Athrun," She said, not wanting to get sucked in by his charm again, and she quickly turned around to walk away from him. She only made it a few steps, though, before, against her better judgement, she abruptly turned back to face him and asked, "Would you like to come up to my room? I'm thinking one bottle of wine might not hurt. And you're right, it would be nice to reminisce some more..."

"I'd like that," He replied and he meant it. And with that, the two of them were leaving the ballroom to make their way to the lobby and the elevator, which was already happened to be waiting for them on the ground floor. But just as they were about to get in, she stopped again. "Hang on," Cagalli told him firmly.

"What?"

"It won't just be a nice chat, will it?" She asked and she sounded gravely serious all of a sudden. "If we go in, we'll be committing to a course of action."

"We're committing to a 30 second elevator ride."

"I need we need a moment to think this through. Can we just… stand here for a bit?"

He respected her request and they stand there in front of the elevator, contemplating where the night might take them and of the consequences their actions would have. Their time together was quickly ruined, though, by the unexpected arrival of a guest who quickly strode in from down the hall. Of course, it would be none other than the lavishly beautiful made of honour, Fllay Allster. "Hey guys," the tiny red head greeted them before adding, "So, what is everyone looking at?"

"Fllay!" Cagalli greeted back rather stiffly, "I haven't seen you in ages. What have you been up to?" Athrun was surprised to hear her initiate small talk; hadn't she told him earlier that she hated this little game of catch-up?

"Nothing much," Fllay answered, "Just the same old, same old. Traveling around the world here and there, organizing charities and galas. I married Sai Argyle though, so that's new. I'm Fllay Argyle now."

"I'm glad to hear-"

"And what about you, Cagalli?" Fllay asked, cutting her off, showing that she was just as inquisitive and nosey as ever. "You basically disappeared on all of us. I heard you're finally seeing someone though – I want to hear all about it! How did you two meet?"

'It's a boring story, I'm sure you don't really want to know," She said, shaking her head.

"I don't think I've heard this story either," Athrun says, piping up.

"Well, it was by chance. We bumped into each other at a coffee shop one day, he let me order the last chocolate muffin there was despite the fact I was behind him and he wanted it too. And after that, we started talking to each other… I guess you could say the rest is history."

"I wouldn't call that chance! That sounds so romantic," Fllay squealed. "It sounds like fate was working to bring you together."

"I think you make your own destiny, actually." Athrun interrupted, mostly because he didn't want to hear what Cagalli had to say about her fiancé anymore or how some unexplained, cosmic force had brought them together. "Look," he added, pointing in front of them to also try the topic while he was at it, "the elevator's here."

Cagalli turned to Fllay and apologized. "I'm sorry. I must have been so out…I hadn't even noticed. Ha, ha."

"You poor thing," Fllay said, and it felt more like faked social response than a genuine display of concern. "Millie told me that you came out all the way from London, I'm sure you're absolutely exhausted with the jet lag and all." She then glanced at Athrun, who stood before them. "And what were you waiting for?"

"Ah…" He doesn't know how to begin, "Ladies first?"

Fllay laughed one of her typical, high-pitched laughs. "So polite! You've always such a gentleman." She told him as she passed him and got inside the elevator. "Ladies first." He repeated again to Cagalli, so she got in as well, and shortly afterwards he followed her.

The redhead then pressed the button for the ninth floor, where her room was, and turned to face her companions. "And what floor are you going to?" Fllay asked Athrun first, while Cagalli simply stood in the corner and looked at him. She was interested to see how this would turn out.

"Ah… I don't know." Athrun said, a bit awkwardly, and the redhead simply laughed again.

"What do you mean you don't know? They reminded everyone at reception, silly."

He scratched his head, trying to conjure a plausible excuse so that he didn't have to admit the truth – that he was going to his ex-girlfriend's room and he wasn't exactly sure where that was. "It must have been all the alcohol I drank, I can't seem to remember where they said my room was," He smiled, hoping that she wouldn't push it any further.

She raised an eyebrow up, curiously. "You don't seem very drunk to me."

"Well, I'm going to the eleventh floor," Cagalli said, hoping that her interruption would end the brutal interrogation unfolding in front of her. But it was like Fllay paid no attention to her at all, because she simply continued to stare at Athrun and waited for a more satisfying response out of him.

"Ah, now I remember," He finally said. "Eleven, I'm going to the eleventh floor as well."

"What a pleasant coincidence." Fllay either bought their story or simply didn't want to make things any weirder, because she smiled and pressed the button for the eleventh floor. Another awkward silence fell between the unlikely trio until Fllay decided to speak again. "That's a nice dress, by the way, Cagalli."

"Thank you." The blonde smiled, "You look better in it actually."

"Ah, well, you know…" Fllay began but she didn't quite finish her sentence and the silence takes place all over again. "Uh, do you… did you two arrive together or something?"

Cagalli shook her head. "Oh, no, no, not at all. We were just catching up earlier. Old friends and all."

"Of course..." Flay trailed off and then turned to Athrun, suddenly becoming animated, "How is Meyrin doing by the way? I bumped into Luna the other week and she was telling me all about you guys!"

"We're good."

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

"That's good."

"Yes. It is."

"She wasn't here tonight, was she? I didn't…"

As much as her endless round of questions were driving him crazy, he almost wanted to laugh. It was so obvious what she was trying to do. She very well knew that Meyrin wasn't there, but she had always disliked Cagalli and enjoyed taking whatever shot against her that she could. And in this case, it meant trying to make it clear that he was a taken man and she had no place in his world these days. "No, Fllay, she didn't come," He answered, politely. "She's in Amsterdam at the moment, actually, she's involved in a production there. I'm surprised Luna didn't mention that."

"Ah yes, well she's a talented ballerina after all. She's so beautiful too," Fllay continued, wanting more for Cagalli to hear her comments than him, "Amazing, just amazing. And so…"

"Skinny?" Cagalli offered, piping up from the back of the elevator.

"Yes. A body to absolutely to die for," Fllay nodded. "And she's just such a lovely girl. Any guy would be lucky to find someone like her, don't you think, Athrun?" The elevator made a dinging noise at that moment to announce they had reached the ninth floor. "Ah, looks like this is my stop." The doors then opened. "Give Meyrin my best regards, Athrun. If you can remember that."

"Goodbye, Fllay."

"Bye," Cagalli said as the redhead stepped out of the elevator.

"Bye Cagalli," Fllay smiled and the elevator door closed behind her, leaving the two of them alone. At last.