Dearka & Miriallia

Book II

Disclaimer: It is obvious by now if I'm here that I do not own Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny or any other Gundam Series. But any characters I create to place in this world are mine (But I don't mind if you guys want to use them too. I have no problem with that. You don't even need to ask me. I enjoy sharing to make other stories the best they can be.)

Chapter 7

A New Dawn

Dearka finished his shift and began making his way off the bridge. All he wanted to do was get back to Miriallia and Belle to see how they were fairing. He had left them to return to his first official day back on duty.

"Hey Dearka, wait up!" Yzak had called to him as he ran to catch up.

Dearka turned in shock to see his Commander rushing off the bridge to see him. It wasn't more than two minutes ago they were together. He glared in his direction fearing he was going to be asked to work more hours. His hope was that the look he gave would deter Yzak, even a little.

"Yeah?" he asked caution in his voice as he finally stopped his stride. He continued to look behind him every few seconds as Yzak came closer, longing to escape and make it back to his quarters. He was desperate to see her beautiful face again.

"You haven't told me how my birthday present worked out for you yet. I didn't escort her back to the Rousseau last night or today, so I'm assuming it went well. And now that you have your kid back too I was wondering how you were doing."

It wasn't often that Yzak was sincere especially on the subject of Dearka's current love life. He wouldn't deny that the Natural girl he had picked was cute, but as much as he couldn't stand Cadey's personality, he still preferred her for his friend. After all, she was a Coordinator and even prettier than Lacus Clyne and Dearka could have her all to himself if he wanted to.

The problem was he didn't want her. He wanted the cute, sweet Natural girl and there was nothing anybody could say or do to change his mind. This left Yzak only one choice, follow Shiho's advice and support his friend no matter what he chose to do.

"You're lucky I don't sucker punch you for that. I can't believe you would bring it up!" Dearka was amazed at how clueless Yzak really was. No woman wants to be given away like a piece of property and all it did was leave Dearka as the one to be blamed for the entire mess. Luckily for him he slipped with knowledge on Miriallia's condition leaving her curious for more information.

"I thought you would really like it," he said in earnest.

He almost felt like decking Dearka now himself but kept calm. He couldn't believe how unappreciative he was being. But again Shiho's words of wisdom entered his mind.

"No matter what Dearka says to upset you, you have to keep your cool Yzak. He's going through a life changing experience right now and he really doesn't need you biting his head off."

"Damn it Shiho, why do your words always affect my conversations with Dearka lately?" Yzak thought while waiting for Dearka to respond.

"Look, I get what you were trying to do and I did really like it, I won't lie. But do you think if I waltzed into your office with Shiho tied with a ribbon that she wouldn't want to kill you for what I did?" Dearka asked using Yzak's personal life as an example to get through to him.

It took Yzak a moment to think about what Dearka had just said, but when realization finally hit, he no longer wanted to deck Dearka.

"Wow, never thought of it like that. I don't even WANT to imagine what Shiho would do to me. I hope I didn't make things worse for you."

Dearka sighed at his friend, his tense shoulders now relaxing. "No you didn't make things worse. Well, you almost did, but when the battle started last night she was thrown from her spot and I caught her. My back still hurts a little from the fall. We hit the ground pretty hard and I was so worried about her that I kind of blurted out that I knew about the baby."

He had done it; he had finally admitted the truth of what he had done to Yzak. He had been so afraid to mention anything after the battle the night before. And now he knew the inevitable was coming.

"You did what?" Yzak screamed.

There it is, Yzak's inability to control his anger had emerged and Dearka was the one to drag it out as usual.

"Look I'm sorry, I know I wasn't supposed to say anything until the doc told us it was okay but it's still my baby and I didn't think before I spoke," Dearka defended.

"I can't believe you could be so stupid. What if you did more harm than good in the end? You're lucky she didn't overload on you," Yzak stated.

"I realize that now, but I was really worried. Besides, she didn't go into overload and in the end, she remembered a lot about us as a couple. Plus having Belle back made this morning a pretty good one too. Did I mention I'm marrying her?" Dearka said with a smirk.

Yzak quirked an eyebrow, his friend had finally lost it. She was only dropped off in his room yesterday. There was no way he would have the courage to ask her so quickly.

"I know what you're thinking, but I'm not crazy. She remembered a few things and I did it. I asked her to marry me. It wasn't as romantic as it could have been, but I didn't want to let the opportunity slip by me again, so I took it."

"You're kidding," Yzak said in disbelief.

Dearka gave him a grin he hadn't seen in a long time. It was the grin he used to use when he had done something or in most cases someone that he had wanted to for so long.

"Oh my God, you're serious. You asked her to marry you and she said yes?" Yzak asked in shock.

"You better believe it, although she did have one condition," Dearka answered.

Yzak never thought he would hear those words come out of Dearka's mouth voluntarily. Although the part about there being a condition made Yzak feel a little nervous. "And what was her condition?"

"We can't get married until she remembers more and sees her folks again," Dearka stated some of the terms she had laid out for him.

"How long do you think that'll take?" Yzak asked curiously.

"Don't know. I'll have to ask the doc where she stands in the memory department. I definitely hope it's before the baby is due though." Dearka looked behind him once again realizing he had been wasting a lot of time talking with Yzak in the halls; time that could have been better spent by Miriallia's side.

"Hey speaking of the doctor, you'll have to bring her to her appointments on the Rousseau from now on. I'm not doing it anymore, it's your responsibility," Yzak stated bluntly.

"The Rousseau, can't I just bring her to the doctor on the Voltaire?" Dearka asked with a hint of irritation.

"The doctor on our ship doesn't know the first thing about the treatments she's undergoing. I think it's best to just leave her with the doctor that's been treating her since she arrived here," Yzak answered wisely.

"Well, can't we just switch the doctors' posts around then? Bring him here to the Voltaire?" he asked still not wanting to make the trek to the Rousseau every few weeks or so.

Yzak was annoyed at his request. As far as he was concerned Dearka had used all the IOU's he had on Yzak. "Look Dearka, this ship isn't here for your amusement. I can't just go switching personnel around whenever something doesn't suit you. Just get on the damn shuttle and bring her over there whenever he calls for her."

Dearka hadn't expected Yzak to snip at him like that, but then again, he had pushed the limits of their friendship lately. He never used to be such a high maintenance friend, but it seemed he needed more help putting his new family together than he had wanted to admit.

He stood there in silence as Yzak twisted away with his usual haughty expression.

Before Dearka could apologize for his childish behavior, the boys heard Yzak's communicator go off.

"Yes Marie?"

Dearka stood there watching to see what was going on. It wasn't often that Marie called Yzak on his communicator unless there was an urgent message from the Council or if the alarms were blaring to fill him in on the situation for battle.

"Sir, I have Lieutenant Ian Randall requesting a meeting with you. He is in the Rec Room on the Voltaire," she replied.

"What's he doing here?" Dearka asked.

Yzak shrugged before continuing with Marie. "Thank you Marie, I'm on my way."

He flipped off the communicator and slipped it back into his pocket. "Look, I'm going to see what Ian wants. You wanna come too?"

"You know I do," Dearka answered without missing a beat.

The two headed down the hall in the direction of the Rec Room, neither one saying another word to one another. When they finally reached the room, Yzak made his presence known by ordering the rest of the off duty soldiers out of the room and locking the access altogether on the door panel.

"You could have asked them nicely to leave," Ian said without looking up from his magazine.

"What do you want Randall?" Dearka asked the anger lining his words.

"Temper, temper Elsman. You wouldn't want that type of behavior rubbing off on Belle, would you? I just came here to talk to the two of you and see if we could maybe get past all of this. What do you think?" he asked lifting his eyes up from the pages and giving Dearka a rueful smirk.

"Cut it out Dearka. I want to hear what he has to say," Yzak scolded.

Dearka's eyes widened at Yzak's response to him. Once again he was caught off guard with his friends directed anger at him. "Shouldn't it be the other way around?" he thought glaring at Ian.

"Here's the deal, Yzak, you still owe me and I'm here to collect. I want to be transferred to the Voltaire and I want you to stop treating me the way you have been like you promised. And Dearka I'm glad you're here too. I was going to search you out next. We used to be good friends and I really do miss that. Somewhere along the way Cadey and Miriallia screwed our friendship up and I just want it back. I promise I won't make a move on Miriallia unless she tells you it's over and that's only after she gets her memory back completely. I also promise I won't be a pain and I'll listen to every order you give Yzak without question if you would just treat me the way you treat the other soldiers," Ian said.

"What's the catch?" Yzak asked suspiciously.

"No catch, I'm just lonely and I want things back the way they were again. I don't have any other friends on either of these ships and I'm not really interested in starting from scratch," Ian stated looking upon Dearka for forgiveness.

"Don't you still have Cadey over there hovering around you?" Dearka asked with a sarcastic tone.

"Interesting, she didn't tell you she was leaving? Wow, maybe she was serious this time about letting you go free. Who would have thought?" Ian said looking back down to his magazine.

Dearka's eyes widened again for the second time since he'd been in the room. "She left, there's no way!"

"You seem surprised, you told her not to 'hold her breath' didn't you?" Ian recited his words to Cadey yesterday.

"She told you that huh?" Dearka asked.

"We are still best friends no matter what she's done. Sort of like you and Yzak will remain best friends no matter what YOU'VE done," Ian stated with an attempt at showing Dearka how much more alike he was to Cadey than he had consciously realized.

"I don't care either way, it's up to Dearka if I transfer you here or not," Yzak said turning to walk toward the door.

Dearka watched as he left the room leaving Ian and him alone. "It's not like her to not say goodbye."

Ian could hear the sorrow in Dearka's voice. It was apparent to anyone how Dearka really felt about Cadey, whether he admitted to himself or not. He had fallen in love with her over the last two years they spent together. Most people believe you can only be in love with one person at a time, but Ian knew better than that.

He had also felt the way Dearka did at one point in his life. His past wasn't as wholesome as most would like to believe. "She still loves you Dearka, but it's not fair to keep hurting her the way you did."

"I should find her, tell her…"

"Tell her what? I just came to say goodbye and stab you deeper in the heart. I wanted you to know I'm going to be happy while you are miserable, good luck in the future? Really man, let her go, you don't really care about her," Ian said while reading the magazine and ignoring Dearka's expression.

"That's not true! I do care about her, damn it I love her too!"

Did those words just come out of his mouth? No, they couldn't have. He was in love with Miriallia. She was having his baby and they were going to get married and finally be a real family. Then why, why did he say that he loved Cadey too?

Ian dropped the magazine from his face into his lap and just stared at Dearka. Even he hadn't expected him to blurt out such a statement. "You can't have them both; it's not like back in the Academy where you could mess around with whomever you wanted to with no regrets. Besides, you belong with Miriallia. Belle proves that."

He used his words to work his way back into Dearka's good graces the way Cadey had planned him to do earlier that morning. She was right; she knew Dearka as well as she said she did. He bought it hook, line and sinker. Now all he had to do was plant a little seed of doubt in his head to begin the final step to the process.

"Although if you think about it, is Belle really a good thing to use as a basis of whom you belong with?" Ian asked staring off into space.

"Huh?" Dearka said partially under his breath.

"Wow, what if you didn't get Miriallia pregnant with Belle and instead you got Cadey pregnant when you guys were together for those two years. Now THAT would have been confusing for you. I wonder whom you would have chosen then. Would you really be with Miriallia or would you stay with Cadey because she was the one with your child?" Ian stated standing up from his spot.

Dearka watched him move, his words dancing in his head. "Whom would I have chosen if it was the other way around?" he thought as Ian pushed by him.

Ian turned to look at him again. "Come on, forget it, I was just thinking out loud. Sorry about that, can we finally call a truce and leave this whole sorted business in the past?" he asked reaching out his hand.

Dearka snapped out of his daze and outstretched his hand to meet his former rivals'. "Thanks for everything you did to protect Miriallia, Belle and even Cadey and this time I'm being sincere."

"I know you are. I'm just glad this fighting is finally over between us. I kind of miss watching you make a fool of yourself," he said with a wink.

Ian was about to step out the door when Dearka snapped back from his thoughts to what Ian had said previously. He decided to give him one last test before he truly believed his words. "Hey since we've patched things up, I have to be honest with you now. Miriallia is pregnant again and we're getting married. I just thought it would better for me to tell you than for you to find out from someone else, mainly Yzak."

He stopped dead in his tracks and closed his eyes. Did he just hear Dearka say that Miriallia was pregnant again? "It's a test, but is it the truth?" he thought.

Ian turned to face Dearka with a smile on his face never letting him see the anger hiding behind his eyes. "Wow, I can't pretend I'm not shocked, but congratulations. I hope it's easier for you this time around and I guess tell her I said hi since I probably won't see her much anymore."

Dearka couldn't sense anything but the shock and supposed congratulatory feelings that were being portrayed by Ian. He no longer felt he had any reason to doubt the young man standing in front of him. "Thanks and I'll tell her."