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 17
Trust
In the meeting room…
Dearka sat in one of the chairs at the boardroom table and waited for word on his daughter and Miriallia. He had been leaning back in his chair with his feet up when the door swished open again.
"Please Dearka, can't you at least pretend to be a gentlemen," his father scolded tossing papers on the table and sliding them toward him.
Dearka removed his feet from the tabletop and pushed the chair out to sit correctly. He picked up the papers and looked them over.
"It's your copy of our agreement," Tad stated.
"I know; I'm just making sure you didn't alter anything. I did end up reading it all the way through you know," Dearka said with a sarcastic tone.
Just then another set of papers were tossed down to him. "Are these about Nora?" he asked looking at the clinical sheet.
"It seems like she's hanging in there due to the treatment she's now receiving. It's beginning to look hopeful. But, I wouldn't say she's anywhere near being out of the woods yet," his father replied.
"And Miriallia?" Dearka asked.
"I'll have her taken care of too. You know I wouldn't have believed you truly read the original papers if you hadn't said that just now," Tad said with a smirk.
Dearka scoffed at his father. It wasn't the first time the man thought Dearka didn't have the ability to follow instructions or read things thoroughly.
"Contrary to popular belief, I do know how to use my head. I'm actually smarter than you give me credit for," Dearka said reading through Nora's papers.
"Your wife-to-be will get any and every treatment we can find to help undo what the EAF have done to her. But I am going to have to take my leave once again. I am a busy man after all and there are plenty of things I have to attend to. My assistant here will escort you back to Miss Haw where she will become your wife."
Tad paused for a moment before continuing, looking his son over from head-to-toe. "You will also be given an assistant of your own to attend to any need the two of you may have for the remainder of your stay. And I will be having little Nora transferred out as soon as she is at a stable level 4 to a state-of-the-art facility on Februarius 2," he checked again to see if his son was still paying attention to him.
Although Dearka never looked up at his father, it was apparent he wasn't ignoring what was being said. "You mother has a place set up for the two of you to stay with Annabella and you will be allowed to visit Nora daily. If you have any other questions about the agreement, please have your assistant schedule an appointment to meet with me and we can discuss things further. Other than that, I will give you and your new wife some space. I'll send any updates on appointments and details for you through your assistant though. I wouldn't want to be seen as a burden to your happy little family. I'll be seeing you son," Tad said as he turned to leave.
"What you're too busy to spend anymore time on me? Do you have that many more strings to pull and people to manipulate in your life? And also I think you meant to say your spy, not my assistant," Dearka said mockingly.
"Trust me, it's your assistant, and I don't have to manipulate people. I just give them a choice and my way seems to be in everyone's best interest most of the time," Tad said with a smirk.
"Wait, hold on a minute," Dearka called remembering something.
"What Dearka? I'm a busy man as I said," his father replied exasperated.
"I have a question still. How are you going to pull it off that we were married for so long when everyone on PLANT knows I was engaged to Cadey?" Dearka asked.
"You think someone like me doesn't have all the loose ends tied up? Honestly, I thought you knew I was better than that. It's as simple as the document you're going to sign," his father began.
Dearka looked at his father directly in the eyes. "The document?" he questioned with a look of confusion.
"It is an official document from none other than the Archangel itself from the first war. I have also obtained a copy of a former Commanding officer's signature that was stationed on the ship during your stay with Miss Haw. And using a simulated computer program and all the pieces you come out with an official marriage document from a time of war prior to the conception of your first daughter. As for everything else, you neglected to tell us the situation and we only recently found out about your current marriage to the woman and cancelled all other arrangements accordingly with the White family."
"Well, it seems you've thought of everything haven't you," Dearka said as he saluted his father as a proper ZAFT soldier.
His father now returned his salute and turned to head out the door. His plans were in motion. Dearka and Miriallia just had to wait for the other shoe to drop to find out what he was truly up to.
Dearka followed his fathers' assistant down the hall with all the paperwork in tow. He was finally going to get his wish; he and Miriallia would be married and stay together as a family. "Well, hopefully," he thought, knowing his father wasn't going to let them off the hook so easily.
The halls were silent with no other patients or doctors to be seen as they reached Miriallia's hospital room. Dearka waited for the assistant to open the door with a pitiful look on his face from having to resort to trusting his father again. He wasn't even sure if he should act happy about their pending marriage.
By allowing his father to present Miriallia with the agreement alone, he had set himself up for the unconfirmed mood she would be in. And that was always dangerous for him when it came to Miriallia and her emotions.
Dearka heard a gasp from the man in front of him and pushed him out of the way. There she was lying on the floor looking weak and fragile. He ran to her as quickly as he could and noticed what she had been up to. "Don't just stand there, get the doctor in here now!" he ordered.
"Yes sir," the assistant said as he scurried out of the room in a panic.
"Honestly Mir, are you TRYING to kill yourself?" He asked knowing she wasn't able to answer. He picked her up in his strong arms and carried her back to the bed, placing her down gently. Pushing the IV set up away from her, he began to disrobe her from her outfit and put her back into the hospital gown.
"Between you and the girls, I'm starting to think I'm not going to be able to keep up," he said as he now pet her forehead gently, trying to wake her from her sleeping state.
"I need you to open your eyes Mir," he said rubbing her arms and earning a small moan from his fiancée. Her eyes began to flutter open gently and she saw her man staring down at her. A small smile crept onto her features.
"Trying to get out of bed again to see Nora?" he asked already knowing the answer. Miriallia began to notice she was in the hospital gown again and smirked at him.
"Trying to get a cheap thrill in the given situation," she teased as the door swung open to reveal the doctor and Councilman Elsmans' assistant not far behind.
"You know that wasn't what I was doing Mir," he replied with offense in his tone as the doctor pushed him out of the way. Dearka turned to see a nurse following behind to assist the doctor, and looked Miriallia up and down.
"Get that IV back in her now," the doctor ordered with annoyance.
Dearka laughed at Miriallia as she shrieked from the pain of the IV being replaced in her hand. "If you keep this up Miss Haw, you are going to have a lot of puncture wounds from us having to re-administering the IV," the doctor scolded.
"I mean really Mir, you could just pull the tube out, you don't have to keep pulling out the needle," Dearka said still laughing at her.
"You think this is funny Elsman!" she snipped.
Dearka looked at her with a more serious expression and answered her question. "No Mir, I don't think it's funny at all. You need to stop moving around so much and you definitely have to stop taking the IV out. It is still treating you for the EAF incident," he said with a scolding tone.
"You heard the Lieutenant, Miss Haw. For your own sake, if you won't listen to us, then would you at least listen to him? He's only looking out for your best interest," the nurse replied as she readjusted the IV flow.
"Great, now I'm getting lectured that I should listen to you from these two," Miriallia said feeling defeated. She was still feeling weak and her head was spinning. Not to mention as much as she fought against her feelings, she still didn't trust all Coordinators. Although, she didn't have the guts to even admit it to Dearka at the present time, knowing it would only hurt his feelings again.
"If you're done trying to escape your hospital room, then I'll give you the update on Nora," Dearka said tossing the papers in her direction. They landed gently on her lap and she looked down at them.
The only thing she had on her mind though was the first part of his comment. "It wouldn't matter if I escaped the hospital room, I still won't be able to escape the prison that has been set up around me," she said sounding bitter.
Dearka waited for the doctor to finish her check-up before commenting on her response to his words. The doctor scurried around and gave the nurse the final instructions before saluting Dearka and heading out the door.
"They salute here too," Miriallia asked just noticing the exchange.
"We are on a military hospital facility Mir. This was the only place I could legitimately take you right now," he answered hinting that his resources had been scarce.
"I see," she replied as she made herself comfortable on the bed. The nurse had been setting up some medications for her and walked over to hand them to her.
"You just need to take these few pills and rest for a while. I'll be back in about an hour to check on you," she stated as she watched Miriallia swallow them without question.
Dearka leaned against the counter in the room with his arms folded in front of him as he waited for the nurse to exit as well. Again with the formalities he stood up straight to return her salute and then went back to his slouched position against the fixture.
He looked over in the direction of his fathers' assistant and noticed someone was still not present. "Shouldn't you be getting OUR new assistant in here," Dearka said in an attempt to rid himself of the man.
"I was going to call them up here, but it seems I've misplaced my phone," he replied patting himself down.
"Then why don't you go get said person?" Dearka asked with annoyance lining his tone and a bit of the spoiled rich boy shining through.
"I would Sir, but I've also been instructed not to allow you to leave my sight for even a moment," the assistant admitted.
"And what am I going to do? It's not like I can take Miriallia and Nora and run before following through with the orders my father has given," Dearka scoffed.
"Yes, I know that Sir, but…" he started.
"Yeah, yeah, what my father says is law to you. Well we can't just sit here and wait for the person to show up without orders. They are waiting as well and since you have no other way to get those orders out to them, you should probably go do it in person," Dearka reprimanded.
The assistant stood still for a moment before realizing, what Dearka had just suggested, was his only option. He didn't know the number by heart to use the hospital rooms' phone and he couldn't have the person paged unless he went to the nurses' station. So his only choice was to break one of the Councilman's orders to fulfill the other. The man dashed out of the room and down the hall and as the door shut, Dearka moved swiftly to Miriallia.
"Tell me you don't have that cell phone," Miriallia said.
"I wish I could," Dearka replied as he dropped it on the floor and kicked it under the bed. He knew there wasn't much time to speak with her before everything they said was reported back to his father.
"Look Mir, if you don't want to go through with this, you don't have to. Just don't sign the papers. Pretend to pass out, stall the process. We can get you and Nora the help you need until I can find a way to contact your parents for help. I know they can pay for all of this and then I'll pay them back when I get our lives sorted out. I swear you can count on me for that," Dearka replied giving her a way out of the cage she felt she was in.
"I know you're trying to save us all, but I don't know how long it would take to accomplish your plan. And, I really can't risk our child's life. Once they come back, you won't be able to play a trick like that twice in order to contact my family," Miriallia replied.
"This isn't how I want it to be between us Miriallia. I don't ever want you to be forced to stay with me to ensure you have access to our children," Dearka said feeling her pain that had been caused by none other than his father.
Her soft hand gently fell to his face in an attempt to wipe away the worry he had. "I know this isn't how you want it to be, but it is, what it is and we will get through it all just fine. I don't have any intention of ever leaving your side again so it's all a moot point anyway. No matter what your father throws at us, I'll be right there with you forever making the agreement practically null and void," she said with a fake smile lining her features.
"You can't fool me Miriallia. I know you're as worried as I am about what his next step to this whole set up is. Do me a favor and at least play sick until we leave this complex and move to the facility that they want to bring Nora to. Give me that much time to try and get a hold of your family," he begged.
They both heard the beeping of the door code being entered and Dearka removed his face from her cupping hand and returned to his position against the counter. "Please, just do this for me and don't open your eyes unless you hear me say to," he begged in a whisper.
Still waiting for a sign of Miriallia's answer, the door swished open and Dearka turned his head to see the people enter. But what he had almost missed was the small nod Miriallia gave him as she closed her eyes and forced herself to look as though she was asleep. A smile filled Dearka's features knowing she had agreed to the stall tactic. She had placed her trust in him once again and he had to make sure not to let her down this time.
"Hey, I think I see your phone," Dearka said with a smart tone as he pointed under the bed.
The man glared at him as Dearka smirked and scooped it up from under the bed. "We need you and Miss Haw to sign the marriage certificate now," the assistant said but hadn't realized Dearka was no longer looking at him.
"You have to be kidding. What the hell are you doing here?" he yelled almost startling Miriallia from her performance of being drugged to sleep.
"I was wondering when you would notice I was here. I'm your new assistant silly," the voice came.
"No way! There is no way you're going to be our assistant! That is just sick and twisted," Dearka cried in anger. He knew his father was going to try to cause problems between him and Miriallia, but this was definitely not what he expected.
"Not only will my every move be reported to my father, but Cadey and Ian will have all our daily events written down like a stenographer would write a trial," Dearka shuddered at his thought.
"Well I guess I don't need to introduce the two of you," the man said as he handed Dearka the marriage certificate to sign.
"No, we're well acquainted, aren't we Sir," Kelley said with a smirk of her own.
Dearka scoffed at her and looked away to the papers, grabbing the pen from the man's hand. "I can sign this now, but Miriallia is asleep. They gave her some medication and a sedative so I don't know how long she'll be out for," Dearka said scribbling his name down.
"I'll just leave it in Kelley's capable hands then for when she wakes up," the man said as he retrieved the paperwork and handed it to the young woman.
He bowed to the two of them and left the room to find his way back to the Councilman, leaving Dearka and Kelley glaring at each other.
"It must be nice to finally get your way, but just so you know, whatever you're up to, I'll find out. Don't think that little cell phone theft trick will work on me," Kelley said with a small wink.
"I don't know what you're talking about. The man dropped his phone and his big feet must have knocked it under the bed when we came in to find Miriallia lying on the ground. I haven't moved from this spot practically since I was brought here," he replied.
"Yeah, whatever, I don't believe you for a minute. And you, over there playing dead, I know you're really awake. You can pretend all you want, but I'm not as stupid as the Councilman's assistant. You're going to sign these papers whether you want to or not," Kelley stated looking over at Miriallia's still form.
"Leave her alone Kelley, she's asleep," Dearka replied forcefully.
"Yeah well, we'll just have to see about that, won't we?" Kelley asked making her way toward Dearka.
"I don't exactly know how you plan on doing that," Dearka said sarcastically.
"Maybe I'll do something like this," she replied leaning in to Dearka.
He hadn't expected what she was about to do and before he knew it, he could feel her lips against his. As he began to react, his mouth fell slightly open and he felt her tongue against his. Unintentionally, he kissed her back a little as he was trying to push her away from him. The sound almost made Miriallia cringe from her spot in the bed.
As Kelley was pushed away from him, Dearka was already wiping his mouth on the sleeve of his uniform. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he yelled.
"Nothing, I was just curious to see if she would move or not," Kelley replied with a small laugh.
"That was definitely uncalled for. Not to mention, we don't even like each other in the slightest. I'm lucky Miriallia is asleep, she'd probably kill us both for your little stunt," Dearka said trying to sound convincing.
Although, he knew she was probably fuming in her place and he had no way to counteract the attack he just received on his character.
"True, but I'll give you one thing, you are a great kisser whether you try to be or not. Cadey was right about that at least," Kelley said earning a grunt of anger from Dearka.
He knew what she was trying to do by bringing up Cadey's name now and he wasn't going to fall for it. "Even if Miriallia was awake, it wouldn't matter what you said about Cadey. I've told her everything there is to know about my past with her. And that's just what it is, the past. You can tell her that at your next pow-wow you two setup that tells her everything I'm up to these days," Dearka said leaning against the counter once more and staring at her in silence.
"We'll just see about that Dearka," Kelley said with a gleam of vengeance in her eyes.