We Met Two Years Ago

by Ben Firebird

The sequel to the story But We Just Meet, many of the pairings will remain the same, like Lacus/Kira and Cagalli/Athrun, but there will of course also be a few new once. This goes on in the Second Bloody Valentine War with quite a few change, like Shinn's sister Mayu still being alive.

97. Chapter 97

This took quite a bit longer than I had intended, but on the other hand this is the longest chapter I have ever written, so I hope that makes up for it and that you are all doing well, out there.

I'll see you all next year.

Chapter 97

It was about a week after the real Lacus' speech to the world. Presently, a small two-person space shuttle was approaching the Eternal, escorted by two black High Maneuver Type GINNs. Yet as the Eternal's hangar door slid open, the GINNs broke off and started heading towards the Nazca-class Tomoe that was flying just above the Eternal.

Quietly watching the two black war machines enter the blue spaceship's likewise open hangar, Romina Amalfi swallowed loudly a single time as she tried to make out what was inside the Eternal's hangar. It was kind of hard to see from this distance, but the green-haired woman was relatively certain that she could see some sort of gundam mobile suit in there. Not that she knew overly much about gundams. Thinking back, pretty much the only one she had ever gotten a good look at was her son's first gundam, the Blitz, and while she might have told Nicol back then that it looked nice and quite impressive, the truth was, she found that mobile suit to be kind of disturbinglooking, if not downright ugly.

Yet as the tiny shuttle entered the hangar and the hatch slide shut behind them, Romina was finally able to get a really good look at the gundam in there, it looked quite a bit more slick and not nearly as bulky as the Blitz gundam, she wondered what precisely it could do.

"Here we are, Ma'am, hope you enjoyed the ride," DaCosta kindly told the Eternal's newest crew member as he turned and looked back at the green-haired woman, only then noticing what her eyes seemed to be stuck on. It was so obvious that she was curious about the machine.

"That's the Gaia gundam, Ma'am"

Letting out a deep, thoughtful sound. "Hmm, Gaia, judging by that name, I assume that it is made for ground warfare. If you do not mind me saying so, I don't believe this is the best place for it. Would it not be a lot more useful down on Earth, on board the Archangel?" Romina calmly asked, finally tearing her deeply focused brown gaze away from the Gaia gundam and taking a thorough look around the large hangar. There were three other mobile suits in there, two black GuAIZ and a CGUE. She wondered a bit if they only had older types of mobile suits, but perhaps it was simply easier for the Clyne Faction to get their hands on those.

Romina did not get much time to wonder about that when a loud, but friendly voice called out to her. "Yeah, I am abundantly clear on the fact that the Gaia is not well suited for space combat, but I do kind of like it! You take what you can get!" Andrew said as he flew towards his best friend and the green-haired woman.

Immediately comprehending who this man was, Romina quickly threw up her left hand, giving the Desert Tiger a respectful salute, only seconds later recognizing her foolish mistake. With her being left-handed, it had only seemed natural for Romina to salute the Commander with that hand, yet before she could apologize, Andrew just waved it off.

"Welcome on board the Eternal Miss Romina Amalfi; we got bad coffee and food, not to mention the cramped living spaces; it's pretty much a five-star hotel visit, except for all the luxury. I hope you enjoy your stay here with us," Andrew playfully told her, then leaped up and caught a blue soft ball that came flying in their direction, quickly hurling it off after another crew member.

Honestly, kinda astonished by the Desert Tiger's playful nature. Romina again looked around the hangar, there were quite a few women and even more men flying around, throwing the ball after each other. From what she could tell, they were playing dodgeball. That was not something Romina had not tried for years, not since her middle school days, it had never been something she had cared overly much about, but she simply had to admit that it looked a great deal more fun and entertaining with no gravity. She kind of wanted to ask if she could join in, but she quickly decided that could wait for another time.

So, while doing her best to conceal her small smile, Romina again turned her attention back towards the Commander. "Um, sir, if you do not mind me asking, is it common to play dodgeball on a spaceship?".

"Hmm, probably not. But there isn't overly much to do around here these days, and we all figured that getting in a bit of exercise wouldn't hurt any of us. Besides, pardon the expression, but this is funny as hell," Andy said with a small smirk, quickly catching the ball once again, then turning and hurling it up after a blue-haired young woman, dressed in a pair of long shorts and a loose, baggy red T-shirt.

It was only then that Romina noticed that not one single person in the entire hanger was dressed in a military uniform, each one of them was dressed in their normal everyday clothes or what one would usually wear when exercising.

'What kind of weird, bizarre ship did I join up with? If this had been my ex-husband's Nazca-class, he would definitely have flipped his lid if he had seen his soldiers running around being silly and playing dodgeball like this. But maybe that's what makes Miss Lacus' ship so incredibly special' Romina thought, enjoying the sound of the loud, cheerful laughter down there. She could so very easily see herself participating in this at a later time.

It was then that Andy loudly clapped his hands, calling out to the people down there. "Listen up, kids! I have to go show our newest crew member to her quarters, and I expect you all to play a fair game once I am gone! No cheating here; otherwise, you will be tasked with going outside to wash all the Eternal's windows; they are pretty dirty!" The Commander called out to them all.

Of course, knowing that was nothing but a load of bullshit, another round of happy laughter echoed through the hanger as the blue-haired girl flew in and caught the ball. Quickly leaping off one of the Gaia's legs, she hurled it full force down at DaCosta, who was simply standing there minding his own business.

Getting hit by the ball was instantly enough to snap the sleepy DaCosta out of his thoughts about grabbing a long shower and then sleeping the rest of the day away. Taking a hold on the ball, he glared up at the giggling girl. He was not really in the mood for this, but simply letting such an obvious challenge go unanswered was not really his style. Kicking off his shoe, he leaped up into the air.

"Why you! Get back here, Meia, I'll teach you to make a sneak attack on your Commanding Officer when he is standing there daydreaming about a nice bath and sleeping," he called out after her, strongly flinging the ball after her. Unfortunately, she was quick to take cover behind one of the CGUE's legs, and as the ball bounced off that, Meia leaped out and snatched it once again.

Knowing that he was in trouble, DaCosta changed direction, flying towards one of the GuAIZs, hoping that could serve as cover before Meia made her next attack.

Watching the 'kids' play, Andrew was kind of tempted to tell DaCosta and Meia to get a room already, since it was so very obvious that the two of them found each other attractive and enjoyed spending their free time together. On more than one occasion, he had seen them playfully joke around, play board games, or just talk flirtatiously with one another until they reached the point where it got annoying. He even remembered Lacus mentioning something about them, reminding her of how lovey-dovey she and Kira would behave at times.

Yet as much as the Desert Tiger would like to see his longtime best buddy get a girlfriend after he had been single for such a long time, Andy, with some reluctance, decided not to interfere in their relationship, believing that it was for the best that they worked things out on their own. But Goddammit, if the two love-struck numbskulls did not figure something out soon, he might seriously consider locking them in an empty room somewhere, then just leave them there until they either confessed their feelings, kissed, or did something else.

'Ohh, man, I wonder if Aisha and I beat around the bush this much before we got together. I seeeriously do hope we were not this stupidly awkward and dense!' Andrew thought with a frown before he yet again turned his attention back towards Romina Amalfi, who was also watching DaCosta and Meia fool around, she obviously had some thoughts about that.

Loudly, clearing his throat, and stretching his neck a bit until it made a light cracking sound. "Anyway, Miss Amalfi, let's leave these crazy kids to play and have fun. If you would, would you please follow me? Then I will show you to your room and answer whatever questions you have about the Eternal and its everyday functions," Andrew said as he took off and flew slowly towards the exit of the hangar.

While Romina would have been perfectly content with just staying there a bit longer watching this young yellow-eyed woman and DaCosta play around and flirt with one another like this, in her mind it was always such a delight witnessing love in its earlier stages. Romina wondered a bit when she herself had last felt such intense emotions, she vaguely remembered having them for Yuri at some point in the far past, but now those feelings of love and care had been completely overshadowed by the immense distaste and hatred she felt towards her ex-husband for chasing their beloved son away in his hour of need and putting him on his destructive path of devastation where he was willing to kill even the people he used to care so sincerely about.

Yet, as the green-haired woman kept on watching DaCosta fling the small round ball after the fleeing blue-haired girl, who seemed to have taken up shelter near the Gaia gundam, and thinking so intensely about her own totally messed up love life, her beloved son, and so many other crazy weird things, Romina was abruptly pulled out of her deep nagging thoughts by the sound of a kind voice calling out to her.

Immediately upon realizing that the Desert Tiger was standing directly in front of her, she realized that apparently the man had returned there to get her. Romina let out a small squeal as she leapt backward in mild fright.

Quickly seizing her hand before she could fly too far away, Andrew pulled her back down onto the floor. "Easy there, Miss Amalfi. Are you doing all right?" He kindly asked her.

Nodding her head a bit, Romina took a couple of deep breaths. "Yes, I am fine. I apologize for that, Mr. Waltfeld, sir. I guess I was just kind of lost in my own thoughts there".

Again, the Desert Tiger casually waved off her actions. "It's fine, Miss Amalfi. You are probably exhausted from your long journey; here, you should get some food in your belly, then get some sleep. I'll tell you all about your responsibility on the Eternal later when you are properly rested," Andy told her, having of course noticed the huge tired bags under the woman's brown eyes. With how much stress she had likely gone through, this last week to get there, she could no doubt use a good eight hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Just the mere mentioning of the word sleep was all it took for Romina to remember how unbelievable exhausted she felt. The woman could hardly keep her eyes open. "Yes, sir, I could definitely use some rest, along with a huge cup of steamy black coffee," she told him, reaching up to rub her eyes a bit, hoping that would help lessen some of the tiredness she felt.

"A good cup of coffee is definitely something I can offer later, when you have gotten some rest, Miss Amalfi. I got a fresh batch of coffee beans with the supplies the Jiraiya brought us yesterday," Andrew thoughtfully stated, giving a great deal of consideration to how to best prepare the coffee. Considering how incredibly busy he had been recently, it had been quite a while since he last had a chance to make some experiment with his coffee, maybe he should try adding some chocolate powder, that was something he knew that Jirauya had also brought them.

"Excuse me, Sir? The Jiraiya, what precisely is that?" Romina curiously asked as the two of them finally left the Eternal's hangar, flying slowly down one of the hallways.

Taking a brief glance back at her, Andy smiled a bit at the green-haired lady before answering her question. "It's one of our three Laurasia-class ships. These days, we usually use her to make supply runs. It's a good old ship; it's actually one of the first Laurasia-class ships ever built. So its crew has seen its fair share of hardship over the years, which of course means that they are a pretty tough bunch, that I trust completely to have our backs out here, especially if we get into trouble," the Desert Tiger calmly explained, stopping mid-flight by a window, finding his mind briefly flashing back to how his friend Mars' had lost his life during their encounter with that evil son of a bitch Tsuwabuki. He still missed Mars so damn much, just the thought of it was almost enough to make him feel like crying a bit.

Noticing the immense amount of pain the large, friendly man seemed to be in, Romina, with a bit of hesitation, slowly reached out and gently patted his right shoulder. "Are you doing all right there, sir?" She softly asked him.

Reaching up, Andrew rubbed his face a bit, then, with a long, drawn-out sigh, he gave Romina a response. "Yeah, I guess I was just a bit lost in thoughts there, about the past and a certain good buddy of mine who is no longer among us," Andrew said.

Nodding slowly in understanding, Romina rubbed his shoulder and gave it a soft, comforting squeeze. "I see. You know, Commander Waltfeld, if you ever need someone to talk with about that, I am always willing to lend a friendly ear," she softly told him.

Sincerely grateful for her thoughtfulness, Andrew smiled a bit at the kind woman. "Thank you, Miss Amalfi, I really do appreciate that. By the way, you do not have to speak so formally to me when we are not in combat; just call me Andrew or Andy; the whole Commander Waltfeld thing is quite the mouthful," he told her as he took off again.

Quickly heading off after the Desert Tiger. "Yes, sir, then, if you do not mind, I insist that instead of calling me Miss Amalfi, you simply call me Romina. Thanks to my moron of an ex-husband, I sort of hate my last name these days. So whenever someone calls me Amalfi, it always makes me flinch just a bit," Romina hesitantly admitted.

"I guess that's understandable," Andrew said back.

With that said, the two of them traveled quietly down the empty hallway for a bit until Romina broke the silence. "By the way, Andrew, sir, can I ask something else?".

"Of course, ask away".

"Um, DaCosta and that nice blue-haired Meia girl, they-they are in love with each other, ain't they?" Romina asked.

Stopping right where he was, Andrew slowly turned and looked back at Romina. "Oh, good God, if even you, a person who hardly knows them, is able to tell, those two blockheads either need to hurry up and confess their feelings already or get a lot better at hiding them," Andy growled out in mild annoyance.

Chuckling ever so slightly when hearing that. "Hm, well, I, for one, think it's quite a bit marvelous to see such deep, intense emotions develop between the young ones, especially during these difficult times," Romina thoughtfully stated.

Reaching up, Andrew ran his fingers through his messy hair while letting out a thoughtful. "Hmm, I do see your point, Miss Romina, but even so, it does not change the fact that watching them beat around the bush is just so goddamn annoying".

"Heh, judging from their love-struck behavior, I am certain that sooner or later we will reach the moment where they can't keep their emotions for each other in any longer, so try to be patient, Mr. Andy" Romina calmly said, finding that calling him that sounded a bit strange, but she assumed that she would eventually get use to it.

Following that, the two of them continued onward down the long, mostly empty hallway, Romina asking next about how many crew members were on the Eternal.

000000

At the same time, down on Earth, on board the Archangel, Lacus Yamato ever so slowly opened her heavy blue eyes, blinking rapidly a couple of times. The young woman sat slowly up on the bed, using the bedsheets to hide her naked breasts, as she looked around hers and Kira's room. Once her gaze found its way to her sweet, beloved husband, Lacus blushed severely when she remembered what exactly the two of them had done throughout the night.

Like Kira, softly, gently pushing the straps on her black dress away from her shoulder, affectionately kissing and licking that certain sensitive spot on her neck that only he knew about. Once her dress fell to the floor, he moved up and placed a deep, passionate kiss on her lips while removing her bra. Following that, he had picked her up and carried her to their bed, where he had soon been gently sucking, licking, and kissing her hardening nipples, which Lacus had found to have enjoyed quite a bit, yet even as he was doing that, he had pulled off her wet panties, then made tender, passionate love to her. Kira had pretty much been worshiping her entire body the whole night, making her feel so incredibly special and loved. Lacus could not even remember how many times he had made her climax.

"God, Kira was so passionate with me last night... I am so relieved that our room is soundproof; otherwise, we would definitely have disturbed our neighbors," the pink-haired girl mumbled under her breath, knowing full well what sort of stupid comments and lewd remarks Dearka would make to her intense cries of pleasure.

While Lacus truly did appreciate and value the deep friendship she and Kira had with Dearka Elsman, there were times she sort of wanted to put the Yami pilot's head through a wall, especially that one time he caught her in that pink nurse uniform. That had just been so awkward and embarrassing, it did not help much that he had been unwilling to stop teasing her and Kira about the cosplaying until Miriallia had made him sleep on the couch for a few days.

At that moment, she felt a small vein appear on her forehead when she thought about how many great costumes she and Kira had lost when their house had been reduced to a pile of rubble by those stupid ASSH type mobile suits. Well, at least they still had that adorable purple sexy bunny girl costume up on the Eternal. Lacus practically beamed with delight when she thought about Kira's cute, dumbfounded reaction to seeing her in that, and she could not wait to show it to him again.

Shaking her head a bit, the naked Lacus got up from the bed, stepping wobbly over to the small closet in there to find something to wear for the day. Yet a frown of mild annoyance soon appeared on Lacus' forehead when she begrudgingly perceived that the only clothes she currently had in there were an old gray bra and a matching pair of panties. Staring quietly at the underwear, the slightly bewildered young woman wondered when exactly she had purchased them. Gray was, to put it mildly, not really her color; it seemed kind of dull compared to the sexy black and purple underwear she had been wearing yesterday before sleeping with Kira. And there was simply no way she wanted to put on that underwear now, for obvious reasons; they needed a good, thorough wash before she would even consider it.

"Ahh, damn it, where the hell are the rest of my clothes? Oh, right, I put it all in the wash yesterday. Um, I guess back then, I did not expect Kira to seduce me the way he did. I have to make the big sweet dummy pay for that later," the young, displeased wife mumbled under her breath, taking a glance over at the man she loved. Seeing that certain things could now be seen from him moving around a bit in his sleep, Lacus' face immediately turned bright red as she hurriedly moved over and placed the cover gently back over him, not at all sure why, precisely, she felt so embarrassed and shy about seeing Kira in the nude now, considering everything they had done just a few short hours ago.

While the naked Lacus Yamato was in truth perfectly content with just staying put there, watching her precious Kira sleep so soundly, he looked so cute like this that she was actually sort of tempted to raise up the cover and crawl into the bed beside him. The young wife wondered if she and Kira could get in another quick round of lovemaking before it was time for them to get to work or any of their friends or family could show up to disturb them.

However, knowing that today was the day, Mayu was supposed to return from her week-long trip to Reverend Malchio's place, there was a high chance that her younger sister would at some point show up to greet her and Kira after saying hello to her mother and Mu. Even with the door to their room firmly locked, Lacus realized that Mayu would not hesitate to go find Haro, then use him to unlock the door and thereby gain access to their room, and if she were to find her and Kira naked together having sex, it was doubtful that they would ever hear the end of the teasing, not just from Mayu but the rest of the crew.

'Hmm, perhaps it's about time I speak with Kira about removing Mr. Pink's locksmith abilities. I can definitely see its uses if I got caught by an enemy ship, like the Minerva. But there are other times when I really do wonder for what purpose Athrun even programmed that into Haro in the first place. Especially when a certain prank-loving girl uses it to enter whatever room she wants'.

Still with that thought in mind, Lacus brushed a bit of pink hair away from her eyes, then stepped back over to the closet, where she hurriedly picked up the gray bra and panties. Quickly putting them on, she glanced down at the adorable black, pink, and purple kimono-like dress she had been wearing yesterday. It was all wrinkly from having been left lying on the floor through the whole night; it was definitely something she needed to put in the wash and maybe even iron afterward. Yet as Lacus stood wondering what had happened to the detachable sleeves that were a part of that dress, she reached in and grabbed a pair of Kira's pants and a red t-shirt that had a picture of the Straw Hat Pirates logo on the front.

'Where does he even get t-shirts like these? It's not like the two of us have had the chance to go out clothes shopping these days, much less go out looking for anime stuff. We still need to send Miss Nakano some flowers for opening her bookstore for us the day after the attack,' Lacus thought as she quickly got dressed in Kira's clothes, knowing that her very first goal of the day was to see if any of her normal day clothes were dry, then grab a long bath or shower.

So after putting on a pair of comfy slippers, Lacus moved over to the bed, where she placed a light, affectionate kiss on Kira's forehead, softly telling him that she would be seeing him later. With that, she swirled around and finally left their room.

Once the door flew shut behind her, Lacus let her gaze wander around for a second, only to let out a deep sigh and roll her eyes a single time at the sight of Miriallia and Dearka slowly approaching her. She knew what sort of comments this was going to lead to.

"Wow, Lacus, look at you! You look great! I like your new, more casual style of clothing; it reeeally suits you. I especially like the red One Piece t-shirts! Where did you get that? I might want one of my own," Dearka said with a mischievous smirk on his face, the sarcasm just dripping from his voice.

Yeah, that was pretty much what Lacus had expected; there was simply no way the dunderhead, that was Dearka Elsman would let a chance like this pass him by without at least getting in a bit of playful teasing. Truth be told, Lacus might actually have worried a bit about him if he had restrained himself and not started with cheeky bantering.

Unfortunately, much to Lacus' deep dismay, the Yami pilot was, of course, far from done. "So Lacus, mind satisfying mine and Miriallia's curiosity, and tell us why you are all dolled up in such extremely sexy clothes? Are you going on a hot date with Kira? And if you are, shouldn't you be wearing a bit of makeup too, to really top things off?" he cheekily asked, winking and pointing finger guns at her.

"Ugh, will you just shut up already, Dearka?!" Lacus loudly told the blond, grinning man.

"Aye, aye, my pirate Captain!" He immediately answered with a mocking salute, with the captain comment obviously referring to the Straw Hat t-shirts she had on, which immediately earned him a displeased glare from the pissy Lacus.

Chuckling a bit into her hand at her boyfriend's good-natured bantering and her best friend's reaction to it. Miriallia moved a bit closer to Lacus to get a better look at her. When one considered how stylish and colorful Lacus' clothes usually tended to be, even something as simple as the pajamas she used when back home had a great deal of color in them. So seeing the pink-haired woman dressed in a pair of pants and a t-shirt was pretty unusual. Truth be told, Miriallia sort of liked seeing her best friend dress up so casually, this choice of clothes seemed a lot easier to relax in than anything else Lacus would commonly wear during the day. Yet even so, one look at Lacus' expression made it abundantly clear that she was far from pleased about walking around in these clothes.

"While I have to admit that there is a part of me that is sort of tempted to join in on the teasing, Lacus, I am actually a lot more intrigued by why exactly you are dressed like that. Did something happen to your dresses?" Miriallia curiously asked.

Running her fingers through her long pink hair a single time. "Well, you see, Mir, all my dresses are in the wash, so I was forced to borrow some of Kira's clothes. I was actually on my way to the laundry room to see if one of my dresses is dry. I really hope so, I do not want to walk around in this for the rest of the day," Lacus said, annoyed by how tight this t-shirt felt around her chest. She really hoped that nobody would notice that. It was sort of embarrassing.

It was then that Dearka, unfortunately, felt the dire need to once again chime in. "Oh, really! Those clothes belong to Kira, we would never have been able to figure that out!".

That comment immediately earned him a glare from both girls. "Oh, shut up, Dearka!" Lacus and Miriallia shouted at the exact same time, which only served to make him smirk even more mischievously about the whole thing.

Of course, noticing him doing that, Lacus looked back at Miriallia. "Can't you make him sleep down in the Yami tonight?" She asked in the same sweet tone of voice, Mayu would use when she was asking for something she wanted, like a new video game or a Pokemon toy.

Pretending to thoughtfully rub her chin for a few short seconds, Miriallia tilted her head from side to side a few times. "Hm, yeah, Lacus, that might very well be an idea worth considering. It might do him a world of good to sleep in there for a few days".

"Wow, wow, let's not overreact here, girls! Let's all take a deep breath and calm down here. Let's not do something we, or, to be more specific, I'm going to regret! You girls have no idea how uncomfortable it is sleeping in a mobile suit, the fact that Kira can do it is beyond me," Dearka said in a bit of a panic.

Knowing that Dearka was the sort of person who struggled to sleep other places than his bed or on the couch, Miriallia felt just a bit curious about that. "When did you sleep in a mobile suit?" She softly asked him.

"Shortly after, me and the others stole four of the original gundams. We were still chasing the Archangel around back then, so we were forced to stay on standby for quite a while, so I ended up grabbing a small nap inside the Buster. That was until you guys went and took shelter inside Artemis. You two have no idea how freaking much my back hurt when I woke up," Dearka told them, stretching his back and neck a bit until a small cracking sound could be heard.

Nuzzling up against him, Miriallia reached up and gently rubbed his hair a bit. "Oh, poor baby, I can not believe you had to go through something so awful. I feel so sorry for you," she said with a great amount of sarcasm in her voice.

Grinning and rolling his eyes a bit. "Thanks Mir, your compassion is just heartwarming, it hits me right here in the feelings. But you know, when I think back to those days, Mir, I kind of want to say those were the good old days. But considering how much you and everybody else here on the Archangel mean to me, I think I'll go with those were the shitty, idiotic old days," the young man said, looking up at the ceiling. Dearka really didn't understand why he and the others had been so utterly fixated on chasing the Archangel back then. Perhaps it was because he could sense the love of his life was on board this ship. God, that sounded cheesy, but it helped the blond man feel less guilty about the entire thing.

Feeling a light kiss being placed on his right cheek, Dearka jumped slightly in mild surprise. "Oh, you say the sweetie things, you big softy," Miriallia softly told her boyfriend, then after placing another kiss on his cheek, she once more turned her attention back towards her pink-haired friend, who was just standing there watching her and Dearka with a gentle smile.

"By the way, Lacus, where is Kira? It's pretty uncommon for you guys not to be up and about at the same time. Usually, when the two of you get the day off, you stay in bed till about ten o'clock," Miriallia asked.

"Still sleeping, Mir," Lacus answered, trying not to make her mind wander back to the night's activities, just the thought of it was enough to make a light, embarrassed red glow appear on her cheeks. Fortunately, neither Miriallia nor Dearka seemed to notice it as the brunette-haired girl continued their conversation.

"Still? Hasn't he been sleeping a lot lately, Lacus? I hope he is not getting sick," Miriallia stated, feeling a bit concerned about her longtime friend's well-being. If Kira ended up ill and bedridden now, she sincerely hoped that it would not take long for him to get well again and that nothing bad happened while he was out of commission.

Noticing her friend's obvious concern for Kira, Lacus gave the matter a bit of thought before slowly shaking her head. "No, I do not believe that he is sick, Mir, he has just been working pretty vigorously these last few days, since the last battle. If he is not messing around with the Freedom, he is helping out around the Archangel, and if he is not doing that, he is outside training either against Mu or Dearka, or both of them at the same time," Lacus explained honestly, a bit concerned about Kira collapsing from the massive amount of work he had been putting in these last few days.

Having also observed Kira's increasingly rapid work effort these last few days, Dearka had, in all honesty, not given it all that much thought, he just thought that Kira was making preparations for the next encounter with the Minerva and her forces, or whatever else trouble they might run into along the way. Yet if the nincompoop's actions were causing both his wife and Miriallia to worry, then something was definitely wrong.

"Hm, now that you girls mention it, I guess Kira has been working pretty hard recently. Hell, yesterday, he even took my good old blue Murasame out for a sparring match against Kazuma in his green Murasame. The two of them sparred for almost three hours. You know, Lacus, if you want, I can try to talk with Kira about taking it easy and making sure to get plenty of rest. We can't have him collapse from exhaustion now," Dearka said, with a hint of a concerned frown on his face.

Sincerely grateful for Dearka's thoughtfulness, Lacus smiled softly at him, as she nodded slowly a single time. "Yes, thank you. I would very much appreciate you talking with him, Dearka".

Immediately giving her the thumbs up. Following that, Dearka reached up and rubbed his chin a bit. 'Hmm, I do wonder if Kira's fiction on working so much these days has anything to do with the whole sensing Rau Le Creuset thing. I know he has his fair share of issues regarding that, and I would be lying through my teeth here if I said that I was perfectly okay with it. I have also been having a few downright creepy nightmares about that mask-wearing freak show since Kira mentioned that he had sensed him. I so hope it's another clone. I really don't think I could handle having to deal with the real Rau Le Creuset's crazy schemes to wipe out all of humanity while trying to stop Durandal at the same time. Maaan, I really hope there ain't even more bad guys waiting in the wings; we've got enough running around already'.

Dearka was instantly pulled out of those deeply serious thoughts by the sound of Miriallia's voice calling out to him. "So, let me get this straight here, Dearka. Even though you've got an awesome mobile suit like the Yami now. You still consider that blue Murasame yours?".

Folding his arms around the back of his neck. "Of course I do, Miriallia, I even got my name written on it and everything," Dearka said with a proud smirk.

"What? Seriously?" The slightly astounded Lacus asked next.

Nodding confidently a single time. "Try taking a peek under the left wing girls, there you will find the words, 'The Property Of Dearka Elsman'" he said, still thinking back to the displeased scolding he had received from Murdoch when he had found those words there.

Sighing loudly in utter exasperation over her boyfriend's overall childish antics. "I don't even know why I am surprised here, it seems like such a typical thing for you to do, Dearka." Miriallia groaned loudly, running her fingers through her long brown hair and down over her face.

"Heh, well, what can I say, Miriallia? I did the same thing with the Buster gundam, when I first stole it. You never know when some wicked character tries to nick your stuff without asking. Just look at Kira and my blue Murasame, he has already made a mess of that poor thing once"

Gazing silently at him through her fingers, another long-drawn-out sigh left, Miriallia. "And you are certainly not the type of childish person who would hold a grudge over something like that".

"Yeah, as a mature, well-mannered person, that is certainly not something I would do, I certainly wouldn't bug Kira about it from time to time," the blond-haired man said, still smirking flippantly over the whole thing.

Again, rolling her eyes. Miriallia and Lacus glanced at each other before Miriallia continued. "Oh, dear God, just what am I going to do with you? You big silly dummy. So out with it, where exactly did you write it on, the Buster? I have seen that mobile suit so many times, I don't remember seeing anything like that on it"

"I would honestly be surprised if you did, Mir. Back then, when I first got the Buster, I was afraid to get into trouble with either Commander Le Creuset or Captain Ades if they found out I did something like that. So I wrote it in very small letters on the upper left shoulder. The wording is a bit different, but not by much," Dearka said, thinking back to how Yzak had called him childish and an idiot when he had found out about it.

"You know, Dearka, I kind of want to go check out the Buster to see if you really are telling the truth here. But since it's stashed away in Miss Erica's laboratory, I think I'll save that for another time. It's eye-rolling stuff like this that makes it so obvious to me that I should NEVER ask you if you want to get a couple of tattoos together," Miriallia stated, finally lowering her hands.

Still grinning like an idiot, Dearka tilted his head a bit to the side. "Why? I would love for you to have those exact words written on your back, Miriallia Haw, or your left leg or perhaps shoulder. That way, I know that we can never be separated and that we will always be together," the young man said, the look in his purple eyes turning more soft and caring than mischievous.

Narrowing her blue eyes slightly at that. "Humph, I see. Well, if that's your game here, Dearka Elsman, you just have to think of something else that goes on the left side. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a few things I need to take care of. I'll see the two of you later".

With that said, the red-faced Miriallia swirled around, then practically ran away from her boyfriend and best friend, with the now totally bewildered Dearka looking after her.

"Wha... What? I don't get it. What did she mean with that?" Dearka asked nobody in particular, even though Lacus was the only one there.

Glancing away from the direction her friend had disappeared so quickly in, Lacus almost found herself about ready to give the blond man a hard smack at the back of his head, but she was somehow able to resist those intense urges.

"It's such a good thing you are cute and friendly, Dearka. Try and think a little about what Miriallia said just now, then do something about it. And if you still don't get it after a few days, then come ask me, I'll make sure to give you a hint or two," Lacus told the confused man in a slightly harsh tone of voice. Then, after giving Dearka a friendly pat on the shoulder, the pink-haired woman turned around and walked away, leaving Yami pilot there by himself.

'Left side? Left side? What the heck does that even mean?! Ahh, damn it all! I really-reeeeally, do wish I wasn't so goddamn dense when it comes to stuff like this...Emm... Maybe I really do need to ask Lacus what Mir meant with that...! What goes on the left side?' Dearka growled angrily to himself in his confused mind, then began making his way towards the mess hall. He needed to get a cold cola and a couple chocolate bars to help him think, preferably something with nuts in them.

000000

Arriving at the laundry room, Lacus stopped in the doorway, completely lost in her own thoughts. 'Oh my, I can not believe that Miriallia gave Dearka a hint like that. I knew their relationship is going well. That they sincerely love each other, just as much as Kira and I love each other. Yet, I never thought I would hear Miriallia fish for an engagement ring like that. I wonder if Dearka will be able to figure things out on his own, or if he is going to come to me for help in the end. It would definitely be best if he worked things out himself'.

Practically dancing with glee and delight while still thinking about those wonderful things, Lacus spun around herself a single time in pure and utter happiness, then stepped further into the laundry room. Reaching out to touch her long white and blue dress, she was greatly pleased to discover that it was indeed dry after hanging there all through the night.

Lacus kept on merrily singing and elegantly dancing around the large laundry room as she carefully gathered together her numerous pretty dresses. Neatly folding them and putting them in a white laundry basket that she knew could be used to bring them to her and Kira's room. Once she was done with that, there were two dresses left that still felt slightly damp. Leaving them to dry a bit longer, she moved on to gather her other clothes, which consisted mostly of her pretty night clothes, stockings and underwear.

Unlike her dresses, folding any of those items was not something Lacus bothered taking the time to do; she had never in her life seen the point of folding one's underwear. Yet, as the pink-haired woman picked up one of her black bras, she stopped and stared intensely at it. It had clearly seen better days, perhaps it was about time she, along with Murrue, Cagalli and Miriallia, went out shopping for some new lingerie. Lacus could not even remember when she, and the other girls in the family, had been able to do that. Yet if she had to try to make an educated guess, Lacus would say it was around that time when she had purchased that sexy green bikini she never had a chance to show Kira. She most definitely needed to get a new bikini or two once this war was over, so Kira and she could go out for a romantic moonlight swim. She was certain that that was going to be quite an enjoyable experience.

Yet as she kept on working, Lacus mind wandered back to their last trip to the mall. She remembered during that time when Mayu had tried to get that stuffed Glaceon out of the claw machine, spotting a sexy red-orange bikini in one of the windows. Lacus had really liked that one, it truly had been a shame that shop had been closed during that time. She hoped that the shop still had that cute bikini the next time she went there and, of course, more importantly, had it in her size.

Hearing the distinctive sound of singing in the distance, Athrun stopped in his tracks for a moment, wondering where in the world the happy song was coming from, yet as he moved a bit closer towards his destination, he immediately recognized the song. There was simply no mistaking, In The Quiet Night. He had heard it so many times over the years since he had gotten to know Lacus.

Yet as Athrun approached the entrance to the laundry room, he stopped again, content with just staying put in the doorway, quietly listening to Lacus sing. She appeared to be in such a blissful happy mood, which was of course such a joy to see, and as she spun around holding the filled laundry basket, she placed it on one of the large empty dryers. Then, with a few light ballet-like steps, she danced over to a couple of t-shirts, that judging from the ghost Pokemons printed on them, likely belonged to Mayu, carefully folding each one of them.

'Incredible. Even though she is just dancing playfully around with a filled laundry basket and folding clothes, she is still somehow able to make it look so graceful and elegant. It's just as awe-inspiring as always. If Lacus truly wished to be a pop idol again and sing in front of an audience, she could so very easily do so. Mm, Cagalli and I truly need to do our utmost to somehow convince Lacus to sing at our wedding, it just won't be the same without that,' Athrun thought, leaning against the door frame, as he listened quietly to the last verse of the song.

"I want to send my feelings to you. To the place where stars fall. I will always be at your side. We are in the quiet night. Dreaming in the quiet night," Lacus sang, finishing up her favorite song with a sincerely happy smile on her face, thinking about Kira, her husband, the man she loved so sincerely with all of her being.

Hearing a bit of light clapping behind her, Lacus, of course curious about who had been watching her, hurriedly turned around, seeing Athrun standing there leaning against the door frame.

"Beautiful performance, Lacus, impressive as always," Athrun praised her with a small smile.

Bowing slightly to her, one audience. "Thank you, Athrun. It's good to see you up and about. Are you finally feeling better?" Lacus softly asked him, tilting her head a bit to the side.

Stepping further into the large laundry room, Athrun pulled down his red space suit, which, like Lacus' many beautiful dresses, had likewise been drying in there since yesterday. "Yeah, after getting a whole week of well-needed but overall dull bed rest, my ribs have finally stopped hurting so damn much, Lacus, which means I can finally get around the ship without that annoying wheelchair. I just have to remember not to do a few certain actions, like bending over too much, and to be extra careful not to overexert myself. That can still make it hurt, at least a bit. But I think with a few more days of rest, then the stupid pain will be completely gone for good, which means I can finally go out and get in some good, thorough training in the new Justice gundam" the blue-haired man said with a hint of a smirk, obviously looking forward quite a bit to taking his new mobile suit out for another spin and getting more familiar with it.

Giggling slightly into her hand upon hearing those words. "Teehee, you know, Athrun, when you phrase it like that, you are kinda making it sound like it's a new toy or car you are going to mess around with. Just try not to go totally overboard, just because you don't feel the pain any longer does not mean your ribs are completely healed," Lacus said in a serious, almost motherly tone that was simply impossible to disagree with.

"Heh, you know, Lacus, Cagalli said pretty much the exact same thing to me when we talked on the phone not that long ago. But the thing is, I need to get a lot more proficient at piloting this new Justice, so I am fully prepared to face off against Shinn the next time I encounter that little rat bastard. With all the horrors I have already seen him do in the Destiny, I am so going to send that ugly ass gundam, straight to the scrap heap the next time I see it," Athrun said, finding his mind briefly flashing back to that very moment, when Shinn, over the stormy sea, had aimed and fired the Destiny's powerful long-range beam cannon after his and Meyrin's fleeing GOUF. The fact that Meyrin and he had both survived that was only thanks to Rondo Mina Sahaku being there to pick up the GOUF's half-wrecked cockpit. Otherwise, they would each have drowned in the dark, gloomy sea, their bodies likely never to be found again.

Staring intensely at him for a long, silent moment, Lacus did her utmost to try to figure out what thoughts were presently going through Athrun's mind. His expression and green gaze showed an unbelievable amount of pure determination, but also a hint of sorrow and bitterness.

"Does that mean, Athrun, that you-you have figured out what to do about Shinn?" Lacus softly asked him.

Lightly biting his lower lips, Athrun slowly shook his head, staring at the floor with a faraway gaze in his green eyes. "No, Lacus, I don't have the foggiest idea how to settle things with that stupid fool other than beating him up. But I thin-think I've made the decision to kill Rey if I get the chance to do so, there is simply no way Shinn, or Nicol for that matter, is ever going to snap out of their crazy delusion of grandeur with him around to tell them whatever dumb nonsense they so desperately want to hear".

Stroking her chin a bit, Lacus nodded slowly in understanding. "Rey, you say? That's the Legend pilot, ain't it?".

"...Yeeah, he is the one inside that damn mobile suit. The sheer amount of mindless crap and bullshit he is spouting even on a good day is almost as bad as the Chairman's, if not even more so in some rare cases" the blue haired man explained, wondering how he in the Justice, could best take on the Legend gundam, if he could only find a way to get past the gray mobile suit's massive arsenal of long-range beam weapons, then get in close to slash open the cockpit and finish off Rey Za Burrel once and for all.

Another reason why Athrun figured that killing Rey was the best course of action. Was to deal with the whole Al Da Flaga clone bullshit. Athrun knew full well how much pain the last close had caused his childhood friend, he did not want to see Kira suffer through such intense pain ever again. Rey had, after all, done nothing at all to hide, during Athrun's time on the Minerva, just how much he detested Kira and wished to see him dead and gone, mostly likely because Rey wished to get revenge on Kira for killing his genetic 'older brother', Rau Le Creuset.

'God, this whole clone thing is just such a mess. No offense to good old Mu, but I really am grateful for the fact that I neeever got to meet his colossal moron of a father. Hmm, I wonder if it is normal for clones to be completely crazy and insane in the end. Thinking back, I don't even think Le Creuset cared about anybody on board the Vesalius, even when it was destroyed. And Rey pretty much seems to only care about Durandal and whatever stupid shit he says. Ahhh damn it all, I am seriously starting to hate clones, why the heck can't any one of them be at least somewhat peaceful in nature instead of only focusing on all this mindless death and destruction?' Athrun mentally asked, once again wondering how he could best rid this world of Rey Za Burrel.

Still completely lost in thought, thinking about and considering all those things, Athrun jumped a bit in surprise when he felt a hand gently rub and pat his shoulder, making him look over at Lacus, who, judging from her expression, was obviously concerned about his wellbeing.

"Just do your best, Athrun, not to do something you will end up regretting in the end," Lacus gently told him in an almost motherly tone.

Sincerely grateful for her concern, Athrun let out a long, tired sigh as he nodded slowly. "I'll try Lacus, even though I doubt Rey is going to give me much of a choice in the matter. He has made it abundantly clear, on more than one occasion, that he wants all of us here on the Archangel dead, especially Kira".

Frowning a bit at that piece of information, Lacus quickly stepped in and gave Athrun a quick hug. "I see. I'm so glad and relieved that you are out there fighting alongside and looking after my sweet, precious Kira when he goes up against a dangerous foe like that. Please keep him safe for me, Athrun, I can not live without him anymore," Lacus requested softly before breaking the embrace and moving back away from him.

Nodding slowly but confidently a single time. "You got it. You can count on me, Lacus, I will keep an eye on him, plus Dearka and Mu too, for that matter. I'll make certain that we all get back here, so we can all live together in peace again," Athrun said, now finding his mind flashing back to when he had returned to the Archangel after the battle at Jachin Due two years ago. Seeing Murrue's sad, heartbroken expression from losing the man she loved had just been horrible. He was absolutely determined never to see her or anybody else he loved and cherished have such an expression on their faces ever again, even if it meant that he had to live with having Rey's shitty, worthless life on his conscience.

"Just make sure that you do not get yourself killed in the process, Athrun Zala; you've got two little ones that I do not want to see grow up without a father to look after them," Lacus said in a slightly demanding tone that left no room at all for disagreement.

Again, Athrun answered with a nod. "Yeah, you are right, Cagalli would probably kick my ass if anything bad happened to me. But you know what, Lacus? The funny thing is, I am even looking forward to getting up late at night to change their diapers. Something like that seems like such a calming, peaceful thing to do, compared to all this crazy mayhem that's happening these days".

Immediately, those words made Lacus giggle softly. "Heh, you are going to make such a wonderful father, Athrun. I'm sure that Cagalli is going to be thrilled when she finds out that you are willing to do that. But not to burst your bubble here, there might be certain other things she will need to get up to do at night".

Feeling a bit bewildered over that statement at first, it took Athrun a few short seconds to figure out what precisely Lacus meant. "You-you, mean breastfeeding, don't you?" He asked, his mind wondering to how Cagalli would look when she was doing that. It was a pleasant image, which he could so very easily have found himself getting lost in, until Lacus' kind voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Yeah, the two of them do need to be fed at times, and Cagalli is the one carrying around the food," Lacus said with a small, cheeky grin.

"Yeah, she is. Oh, man, she is going to be pissed as hell when she needs to get up to do that," Athrun said, likewise easily able to imagine just how incredibly angry his fiancée would be when she needed to get up at three o'clock in the middle of the night to feed their children. He definitely needed to have a talk with Cagalli about finding a solution for that, she had already told him twice now that she refused to use formula since she remembered reading somewhere that that stuff was not nearly as healthy for kids, and she wanted them to get their nutrition from her. So the way Athrun figured it, their only option was to get a breast pump, so Cagalli could put some milk aside, so it would be possible for him to give them a meal during the night or when she was caught up at work.

Yet Athrun of course, realized that suggesting to Cagalli that they got a hold on such a device would likely lead to what could only be described as a pretty awkward and embarrassing conversation, especially when one took into consideration Cagalli's increasingly crazy mood swings. Athrun would definitely need to gather quite a bit more courage before he would even dare to bring up a sensitive subject like that with the mother of his children.

'Oh, good God, I would rather fight the Forbidden, Calamity and Raider all on my own, then talk with Cagalli about buying a breast pump; I'm relatively certain that's just another one of those things, she is going to be mad at me for,' Athrun thought with a light shiver, sincerely hoping that nobody would ever realize that he was actually afraid to step on Cagalli's toes these days. If Kira or Dearka were to ever find out about that, the two of them would likely tease and make fun of him to the end of time.

"If you want Athrun, I do not mind being there to back you up. When you talk with her about all the stuff you guys need, it's not just a breast pump you guys are going to need for the kids, you are also going to need a twin stroller, beds, chairs, and a lot of other stuff. Hmm, we might need to get some of those things at our home too when we babysit for you guys. I'm sure that Mayu is just going to love having her little sister and brother around," Lacus calmly stated while folding one of Kira's t-shirts.

Tilting his head a bit to the side in slight bewilderment, Athrun wondered a bit if Lacus had somehow been able to read his mind. "How did you know I was thinking about suggesting to Cagalli that we get a hold of a breast pump?" He hesitantly asked, his face turning completely red in utter embarrassment.

Again, Lacus' light, cheerful giggling ran through the laundry room. "It's only logical, Athrun, considering you said you want to help by taking care of the children at night, you guys are obviously going to need one of those things".

For the briefest of moments, Athrun mentally cursed the fact that Lacus could be so incredibly sharp and clever at times, that was definitely one of those things she and her doppelgänger Meer Campbell did not have in common. If Athrun had to be completely honest, Meer had actually been quite a bit dense from time to time, if not downright naive. But despite that, the young blue-haired man was still genuinely worried about the fake Lacus, she had not been on TV since the real Lacus had so 'rudely' interrupted her broadcast. And while it might be considered a good thing that Meer was no longer out there polluting the stratosphere with the Chairman's stupid bullshit, it still led Athrun to seriously wonder where in the world she could be now.

However, after giving that matter a bit of thought, Athrun quickly shook his head a bit to get his mind back on the business at hand. "Yes, if you do not mind, Lacus, I would very much appreciate you being there when I bring up that subject with Cagalli".

"Of course you can count on me, Athrun. I, for one, do believe Cagalli will be far less inclined to completely blow her top when discussing such things if another girl is present to make her see reason. But you do know Athrun, I believe her mood swings are getting a little less frequent these days, now that she does not have to worry so much about the Seiran family screwing things up here in Orb," Lacus thoughtfully stated.

Nodding slowly. "I agree, Lacus, all the stupid bullshit Unato and Yuna pulled to make the Seirans the top political family in all of Orb, definitely did a number on Cagalli's stress and mood. I'm glad that she doesn't have to deal with those two power-mad tyrants any longer. Even though I admit, how Yuna went and died kinda shocked me," Athrun said, while he simply could not deny the fact that from the very first instant he had the immense displeasure of meeting Yuna Roma Seiran, Athrun had disliked the purple-haired, self-centered imbecile. Yuna had done little to hide his intense racism and hatred towards all Coordinators, and even more so the intense hatred he felt towards the close, intimate relationship Athrun had with Cagalli.

The stupid son of a bitch had obviously seen Cagalli as his woman. Not that Cagalli had ever shown the least bit interest in him, she had made it abundantly clear, on more than one occasion, that she hated Yuna with an almost blinding passion.

"I think I heard from Miss Erica that Yuna tried to escape during the battle, but how exactly did he die, Athrun?" The curious Lacus asked beside him.

Shaking his head a bit to get his mind back on track, Athrun glanced over at Lacus. "Well apparently, during his desperate attempt to get away from all the fighting Lacus, he encountered an M1 Astray, going up against a few ZAFT mobile suits. From what I was told, he got crushed to death by that very M1, when one of its legs got blown off, and it toppled over," the Justice pilot explained to the pink-haired woman.

"Ughh! I might never have ever liked Yuna Roma Seiran; I always found him to be quite a bit creepy and disgusting. He would always glare with such utter contempt at me and Kira whenever he saw us. But that's a pretty nasty way to go," Lacus said, her face turning slightly pale.

"Yeah, him glaring at you does not surprise me one bit, that seriously does sound like something that idiot would do. Yuna was one of those people who had his fair share of crazy, delusional issues with Coordinators, and despised each and every single one of us. But despite that, Lacus, I would much rather see him, along with his shitbag of a father, rot in a jail cell for all eternity for their many crimes, like allowing Djibril access to Orb and for losing the Takemikazuchi, along with all those brave men and women that went down with that ship. But at least with the two of them dead and gone now, I... We do not have to worry about them getting freed by their last few supporters. Knowing Yuna's overall monstrous personality, I am relatively certain that he would not have hesitated to try to get revenge on Cagalli and the kids for his wound pride and for losing control of Orb for good," Athrun said with a thoughtful, faraway expression on his face.

That was the truth, there was simply no denying the fact that that was the God honest truth. If Yuna Roma Seiran, when he had run off, had, by some small miracle, managed to survive the massive amount of chaos that was happening all around him from the battle, there was no doubt that, with him being the sort of person who was completely incapable of letting go of a grudge, he would have tried everything his altogether twisted mind could come up with to get some sort of revenge on Cagalli for the humiliation she had inflicted upon him and his likewise twisted father, no matter how low and petty it would end up being in the end.

"Hmm, I see your point, Athrun. But you know, I do sort of wonder a bit if the rest of the Seiran family were as selfish and deranged as Unato and Yuna appeared to be," Lacus thoughtfully said, with a small humming sound.

Shrugging ever so slightly at that, Athrun reached up and rubbed his chin a bit. "That's not something I have much knowledge about, Lacus. I never had the misfortune of meeting Mrs. Seiran. Thank God for that, I have met all the Seirans I can handle in this lifetime. But you know, Cagalli once mentioned to me that Mrs. Seiran was a pretty stuck-up, arrogant old bat who was completely obsessed with money and getting a hold on as many valuable antiques as possible, their entire mansion was supposedly filled to the brim with that stuff. At one point, I heard speculation that they were actually using taxpayer money to pay for some of their more expensive antiques. But unfortunately, Cagalli was never able to confirm those rumors. But if they do turn out to be true, I think it's somewhat safe to assume that Mrs. Seiran shared her family's crazy self-centeredness".

"Oh, Jesus Christ, what a bizarre, messed-up family! But you know, if they really had that many antiques, it really is a shame that their mansion went up in smoke during the attack. I would have very much liked to see some of the old paintings they might have accumulated over the years. I know about a few rare ones that somehow disappeared from a museum in Paris," Lacus said. What not many people knew was that Lacus actually had a pretty keen interest in art, especially paintings, she had even painted a few herself over the years, but that was yet another thing that had been reduced to ashes when their home had been destroyed. Lacus sincerely hoped that she could somehow recreate a few of those lost paintings of hers, especially the last one, which was a self-portrait of her and Kira standing together on the beach.

"Heh, yeah, at this point, I don't think it would come as much of a surprise to anybody if there were quite a few stolen paintings among the Seirans belongings. I'll try and see if Cagalli can get some pictures of the inside of the Seiran mansion, so you can take a look at whatever artwork they might have had," Athrun thoughtfully stated.

Nodding rapidly a few times. "Great, I am so very much looking forward to taking a look at those. I think playing master detective for a bit would be sort of fun. Anyway, Athrun, to get back to the matter of the twins, if Cagalli and you ever need a helping hand with them, you just say the word, then Kira and I will definitely be there," Lacus promised in a soft tone of voice.

Sincerely grateful for that, Athrun bowed a bit to Lacus. "I can not even begin to describe how much that means to me, Lacus, and I knew Cagalli will feel the same way when I tell her. Truth be told, Cagalli and I had a pretty lengthy conversation about which rooms to put the kids in. It took quite awhile before we reached an agreement. However, there is a small problem with each of those rooms we decide upon, they both need a new coat of paint. We were each kind of hoping that you, Kira, and the rest of the family might be willing to help out with that".

"Hmm, well, you know, Athrun, free pizza and soda is a great motivate for that kind of work," Lacus informed him with a small smirk.

"Yeah, that really does sound like a pretty reasonable salary for that sort of work, Lacus. Cagalli and I will pay for however many pizzas, sodas and even sushi you guys want if you help out with that task," Athrun promised with a grateful smile, knowing that even though they would be working hard to paint the two rooms, one blue and the other pink, it still sounded like such a fun and enjoyable day that the soon-to-be father was already looking forward to a great deal. It would be so nice for the whole family to hang out together without having to worry about all the crazy fighting or putting an end to this war.

Yet, his thoughts of that were interrupted by a light giggle from Lacus. "I do hope you will not come to regret that, Athrun. You know, with Dearka's massive appetite".

"Ohh, it's perfectly fine, Lacus, even if Dearka eats twice as much food as the rest of you combined, I seriously do not mind paying for it. I know for a fact that he does not care much for sushi. So if he gets a whole pizza all to himself, that should be more than enough to satisfy even his insane appetite," Athrun thoughtfully stated, knowing that despite Dearka's huge love for stuffing his face and filling his belly, the former Buster pilot could at times actually be somewhat of a picky eater, even more so than Mayu.

A burst of amused laughter left Lacus' mouth at that, as the grimace on her face grew slightly bigger. "While it's true, that one pizza might under normal circumstances be enough to tie Dearka Elsman over after a day's work. However, since you are offering to pay for his meals, Athrun, you should probably expect him to be fully determined to take advantage of that, so if I were in your shoes, I would get two pizzas for him," the pink-haired woman advised him.

Frowning slightly and rolling his eyes a single time, Athrun after giving it some thought, realized that Lacus was right, Dearka had never been one to say no to free food.

"Fine, fine, I'll get him two pizzas. God, he can be such a glutton at times, please don't tell him I called him that, Lacus. I'll never hear the end of it. Anyway, I am kind of amazed by how much you know of his eating habits".

Those words were met with a soft smile. "Yeah, well, Kira and I have been roommates with Dearka, Miriallia, Murrue, Andrew and Mayu for over two years now. So of course we notice certain things about each other's eating habits, like who puts what on their pancakes in the morning, who drinks their coffee black or adds milk or sugar, how each of us wants their eggs boiled, and how Kira, for some reason, does not like bell peppers no matter what color they are in—that's one of those small things I think I'll never be able to understand about him," the young wife said.

That immediately made a small smirk run across Athrun's lips. "Kira has always disliked those fruits, even during our childhood, he would always pick them off whatever food he was given. My mother would always find it a bit annoying that he would do that".

"Heh, that I can so easily imagine, Lenore was always the type of woman who disliked wasting food. So Kira must really have stepped on her toes back then," Lacus said.

"Ohh, that he did, Lacus, that he did..." Athrun mumbled, his mind now completely stuck in the past, as he reminisced about his dear mother's reaction to Kira not eating all the food she had made for them. Back then, it had actually been sort of terrifying for a small four-year-old child, yet now it was something Athrun thought back to with a certain amount of fondness. He really did miss his mom, this world really wasn't the same without her.

Yet before he could get too disheartened and sad by her absence, Athrun quickly shook his head a bit to get his thoughts away from the past. Once more, turning his attention towards Lacus to continue his conversation with her.

The two of them kept on talking back and forth like that for a few short minutes longer, until they finally left the huge laundry room, both of their tasks in there now done.

Once out in the hallway, they were, much to both of their surprise, joined by a certain pink Haro, who happily called out both of their names as he kept on jumping up and down on the floor. Lacus quickly used her filled laundry basket to catch the small, noisy robot in midair.

"Hey there, Mr. Pink, what have you been up to?" She softly asked him.

"Lacus! Lacus! Mayu! Mayu!" That was the only response she got out of him as he rolled around on top of her neatly folded clothes.

"Ohh, I see. You have been playing with Mayu, then?"

"Lacus!" He happily yelled, which, quite frankly, was not really much of a response since there was no way of knowing if that meant yes or no.

Quietly watching the two of them talk like that, Athrun found it to be sort of amazing that Lacus seemed to understand the meaning of every word Haro was saying, even if it was just some peculiar noise or somebody's name.

"I'll see the two of you later," Athrun hastily told them when there was a break in their so-called conversation, then he turned slowly away and began heading off down the hallway.

Yet immediately upon him doing that, Mr. Pink leaped out of the laundry basket, then hurriedly went off after him, happily calling out Athrun's name again and again as he kept following him, which served to make Athrun turn his head to glare in annoyance at the small robot, but even so, he did not have the heart to tell it to go away.

Watching with mild amusement as the two of them disappeared down the long hallway, obviously judging from that direction heading towards the hangar, Lacus let out a light giggle, then turned around and started making her way towards her next destination, which just so happened to be the hot springs, which fortunately was not that far away from her present location.

Arriving at the hot springs, Lacus entered the female changing area, where she immediately put the laundry basket down on the floor. Then started pulling off her clothes. The pink-haired girl could barely contain her excitement, it was going to be so nice to soap herself in and wash off the sweat on her body after her and Kira's heated activities last night. The thought of their tender, passionate lovemaking instantly served to make an intense red glow appear on both of Lacus' cheeks.

Yet upon hearing the all-too-familiar sound of childish laughter from inside the bathing area, followed by the loud sound of splashing water, Lacus quickly shook all thoughts of that out of her mind, making her long pink hair fly around a bit. Following that, she hurriedly picked up a small white towel and then entered the bathing area, where she found Murrue and Mayu already in the hot water.

Smiling happily at the pleasant sight of the mother and daughter relaxing together, even though Mayu obviously had a lot of energy at the moment, she spoke in pure delight with her mother about the intense football game she had had with the other kids at Reverend Malchio's place.

"You should have seen it, mom! Me, and the other girls were so close to winning. But Casper, that big dummy, just happened to cheat because he could not handle losing to us girls, but we will get him next time," Mayu stated determinedly, still not too overly pleased with the loss of that game, yet as she stopped to take a breath, Lacus called out to the two of them.

"Good morning, you two. Do you mind if I join you?" The Pink Princess softly asked.

Letting out a loud, cheerful shout that could be heard far and wide. "Hello there, big sis. It's good to see you! Did you miss me?!" Mayu immediately asked, splashing even more water around as she excitedly moved around in the small hot spring.

Smiling tenderly at her highly enthusiastic little sister. "Yes, of course I missed you, Mayu, the Archangel just ain't the same without you running around causing all sorts of pranks, trouble, and mayhem, especially when your targets are Lieutenant Amagi and Mr. Murdoch," Lacus gently told the girl.

It was then that Murrue decided to cut in. "Of course you are welcome to join us, Lacus. But please don't give her any ideas, dealing with Mayu's weird pranks can be such a hassle at times".

Letting out a loud insult humph, Mayu crossed her arms as she sent her mother a displeased look. "Mom, what do you mean weird pranks? What you apparently fail to understand is that my so-called weird pranks are true works of art, but like with so many other great artists, nobody appreciates what I am doing".

Rubbing a bit of hot water away from her eyes, Murrue looked straight into her daughter's pink eyes. "If you don't mind me asking, Miss Artist, can't you just cut off an ear or something like that instead of racing around the Archangel hurling water balloons at people?".

"Absolutely not! No way, I'm doing that! Cutting off my ear would hurt so badly, mom! I do not want to do that. I prefer making my own kind of art instead of copying another!" Mayu yelled loudly, splashing a handful of water at her mother.

Quick to respond, Murrue immediately splashed an even bigger handful of water back into Mayu's face. "I am honestly kind of glad that you are so determined to follow your own artistic path, sweetie. Knowing you, it would probably get even more difficult to get you to clean your room if you only had one ear," the young mother said with a grin as she reached out, affectionately stroking her child's wet hair.

Sourly pouting and glancing away, Mayu hurriedly reached up and brushed aside her mother's gentle hand. "Mm, I'll have you know, mom, that as of right now my room is completely spotless! You can not find one speck of dust in there, since big sister Lacus and Meyrin helped me clean the place before I left on my week-long vacation, to Reverend Malchio's place," the girl said with a cheeky grin.

Slowly turning her gaze away from her daughter, Murrue looked over at Lacus, just as the young pink-haired woman sat down on a small wooden shower bench, where she poured a small amount of blue liquid soap into a thick washcloth, then started rubbing it into her left arm.

"Lacus, I get that Meyrin did not know. But you should know better; then to help out Mayu with such things, she needs to be able to clean her room on her own," Murrue softly scolded the songstress.

Thoroughly rubbing the soap-covered cloth underneath her armpit, which was one of those spots the young married woman was determined to get clean, Lacus looked over at Murrue with an apologetic look in her bright blue eyes.

"I apologize, Murrue, it was just that when Mayu was packing up all the clothes, toys and other stuff she wanted to bring to Reverend Malchio's place, Meyrin and I ended up lending her a helping hand, which resulted in us cleaning her room in the process. But if it's any consolation, I am altogether certain that it will not take overly long before her entire room looks like a total disaster area again," Lacus said, having little difficulty imagining that once Mayu started unpacking her large backpack, most of her clothes would be left lying in a heap on the floor.

Rubbing her forehead in pure and utter frustration, Murrue let out a tired sigh. "Oh, jeez, I guess you are right, Lacus. Why does she have to be so messy? Why can't she pick up after herself once in a while?" Murrue asked no one specific, feeling more and more certain that telling Mayu to clean up after herself was something she would be doing for the rest of her life.

Glancing sourly a few times between her mother and sister. "Humf. You two are so mean right now. But just SOO you know, I can clean up after myself. I just don't want to," Mayu said with a deep huff.

Sighing even more loudly at those words, Murrue looked straight at her sulking, displeased daughter. "You know, Mayu, sweetie, that's not really much of an excuse".

Shrugging a bit at that, Mayu finally looked away from the wall and back at her mother. "Well, what can I say, mom? It's all I can come up with. If you want a better excuse, you'll have to give me a bit more time to come up with one," the child said with a grin. That frankly reminded Murrue of the one Dearka and Mu would commonly use when they were bantering and causing trouble around the Archangel, perhaps Mayu really was spending too much time with those two dunderheads, not that she would ever keep her from doing so.

"I'll keep you to that promise, Mayu Ramius, if you ever do come up with a better excuse for not keeping your room clean other than being lazy, I am all ears, sweetie," Murrue told the smirking girl as she reached out and took a sip from a can of orange soda standing nearby. Yet before she could put the can back down, Mayu reached out towards her, obviously wanting a taste of the soda too.

Handing the orange and yellow can over to the girl, Murrue observed her daughter drain the soda from the rest of its contents, then look at the can with a hint of disappointment.

"Aww, mom, you could at least have saved me a bit more, I am still kinda thirsty here".

"Sorry, sweetheart, I'll make sure to bring you a can the next time we go in here together. But you do realize that there is a vending machine in the changing area, if you are really that thirsty, you could easily go get a new soda without having to dry off too much," Murrue said, brushing a bit of her wet brown hair away from her eyes.

Rapidly shaking her head back and forth a few times, thereby making her own brown hair fly around a bit. "Nah, don't really feel like it, mom, I am perfectly comfortable right where I am. I am not moving from this spot anytime soon," Mayu answered in a content tone of voice, leaning back a bit to get into an even more comfortable position.

Those words were immediately met with a quick eye roll from Murrue, as she followed her daughter's example and likewise got into an even more cozy position in the hot, steamy water.

Quietly observing the mother and daughter's adorable interaction, Lacus felt the already big smile on her face grow even bigger as she moved the washcloth to her chest and started soaping in her breasts.

Occasionally glancing with cautious curiosity as Lacus carefully washed her two girls, Mayu was not totally certain, but in her mind, they seemed even bigger now than when Lacus had left so many months ago to join up with the Eternal crew, or perhaps her young mind was simply playing tricks on her. Taking a look down at her own chest, the eleven-year-old felt slightly disappointed that there wasn't really anything there yet. She wondered how damn long she would have to wait until her breasts really started growing.

"You know, Lacus, big sis, I really do hope that once I am your age, that my boobs will be just as big as yours or mom's".

The reaction was immediate on Lacus' part, she turned into a complete red, blushing mess, coughing loudly, like she was choking on something, while turning her back towards the girl in a somewhat desperate attempt to hide her breasts from Mayu's intriguing, curious gaze.

"Mayu for Pete's sake, it's fine that you wish for something like that, but it's kinda embarrassing when you voice it in such a way. What if anybody else heard you?" Lacus called out to the girl. Reaching back, she picked up the dropped washcloth and then continued washing her body.

While likewise totally red from her daughter's comments, Murrue was a bit quicker to get her embarrassment somewhat under control. It was not like this was the first time Mayu had voiced her intense desire to have a couple of big, round breasts. But even so, whenever her little girl brought up this sensitive subject, it so very quickly turned into such an awkward conversation for Murrue, since she quite frankly had no idea how she was supposed to respond to her daughter's question about how one got a bigger bosom. Pretty much the only advice the young mother could come up with was for the girl to drink plenty of milk and just be patient, which was not the sort of advice Mayu was at all satisfied with.

Finally able to regain her composure, Murrue cleared her throat a bit as she began talking calmly to her daughter. "Mayu honey, you should not bring up such a subject when others are nearby, you are making people uncomfortable. Just look how embarrassed Lacus is right now".

"Ahh, what's the big harm, mom? It's only us girls in here. And it sort of bothers me that my boobs have not started growing yet. I am feeling sort of worried here that my boobs are going to remain tiny forever," Mayu immediately answered.

It was then that a friendly, familiar voice called out from the male side of the small hot spring. "Ahem, major buzzkill alert from the other side of the fence, Mayu dear. But Kira and I are over here, and I think both of us are feeling a little uncomfortable with your current conversation. While I do not mind hearing about Murrue's boobs, hearing about yours and the Pink Princess is kind of awkward. You girls should see how much Kira is glaring at me, he seems about ready to go into that weird Seed mode thing some of you guys have going on," Mu said, then told Kira to please calm down already.

"S-so you-you, two weird perverts have been listening to us this entire time?!" Mayu asked, sounding downright horrified by that realization.

Kira was the one to answer her. "Hey, I, for one, take offense to the weird pervert comment, Mayu. It's not like we listened in on purpose, we were here before you girls showed up, talking about the 'good old days', when Mu and I were the only ones defending the Archangel," he told the three women on the other side of the fence.

Immediately upon hearing Kira say that, Murrue felt a hint of worry for the man she loved. "Are you sure that you are okay with that, Mu? Don't you usually get a headache when you try to remember?".

"I do, Murrue. But there are so many things I want to remember, especially what relationships I had with everybody on board this ship. So I was sort of hoping that talking with Kira about it in here, in the hot water, would help lessen those damn headaches and thereby help jog my memories. It hasn't really done much, other than that I now remember which one of the old Strike gundam's, Striker Packs, was Kira's favorite. But small steps, like they say," Mu said, a bit bothered by the fact that even with all this talk about the Strike gundam, he could still not recall which one of the Striker Packs he himself liked using most, which was, to put it mildly, God damn annoying.

"That was the Aile Striker, right?" Murrue asked, already knowing what the answer was going to be.

Quick to give her a response. "Yeah, it was, the fact that it was the fastest one and gave the Strike both long- and short-range weapons made it the best one in my eyes. Truth be told, after I blew that major hole in Heliopolis, I did not like the Launcher Striker all that much, and the Sword Striker I did not get to use overly much, it was mostly useful when fighting inside or in small spaces, which we rarely did back then," Kira explained, knowing that the only times he had really used the Sword Striker was when he had been fighting those GINNs inside Heliopolis and Nicol's Blitz gundam inside the Artemis Space Fortress. The purple-eyed young man really didn't like recalling any of these awful things, but if it helped his older brother recover his missing memories, then he did not mind.

Yet before they had a chance to continue their conversation, Mayu's loud, booming voice cut them off. "Time out! TIME OUT HERE! Just so you two blockheads know if you mention my boob issue to anybody! I will never forgive you! I'll keep playing pranks on you for the rest of my life!".

Not at all wanting to take that risk, Kira hastily gave the pissed-off girl the reply she was looking for. "Of course, we won't say anything, Mayu".

"Yeah, pinky promise," Mu promptly added, splashing a bit of the steamy hot water up into his face. While being in there did help lessen the headaches he commonly got when attempting to remember, they were not gone completely. Maybe he really couldn't force this; maybe all he could do was wait calmly and patiently until his overall broken mind was able to sort through his messed up memories and make sense of them all, but the fact that seemed to be all he could do, frankly, bothered The Hawk of Endymion to no end; he wanted to remember NOW, not wait for however long it might take, for his stupid mind to fix itself.

However, Mu was instantly pulled out of those dark, gloomy thoughts by the sound of Mayu's voice. "I'll keep you to that promise, boys, you better not break it. I know where you live," the girl said with a hint of mild hostility in her young voice.

"We won't," Kira and Mu answered at the exact same time. Following that, all five of them were quiet for a few long moments, as they each enjoyed spending time together and the peacefulness in there.

Yet as Lacus rinsed her body and moved to join Murrue and Mayu in the hot spring, she could not help but call out to her husband. "Umm, by the way, Kira, thank you for last night. Spending time with you like that was really nice. I'm sorry for leaving earlier without saying good morning to you, dear".

"It's not necessary for you to apologize for that, Lacus sweetheart. I very much appreciated getting a bit more sleep this morning. And yes, you are right, last night was really nice," Kira called back to her, fidgeting ever so slightly upon noticing the intense gaze Mu was sending him.

"Ohh, this sounds pretty interesting. What were you two crazy kids doing last night that was so nice? I think I speak for us all here when I say. Do share; don't keep us in the dark here; we need a lot more detail. So out with it already, tell us precisely what the two of you did." Mu said to the two of them, with a mischievous smirk on his face that promise a world of embarrassing comment and teasing remarks that would most definitely served to embarrass the young married couple more than ever before.

It hit Lacus and Kira simultaneously like a ton of bricks. They both realized the dire mistake they had made just now, they should never have talked about their long, passionate night with The Hawk of Endymion nearby. If Mu La Flaga were to figure out what they had done throughout the night, they would never hear the end of the teasing. But they had both been so immensely happy about being able to spend such sweet, intimate time all alone together that they both momentarily forgot all about Mu's presence, yet his deep, mischievous tone of voice was more than enough to remind the happy, shy couple that he was there.

Sharply biting his lower lips, Kira hastily spouted out the first excuse he could come up with. "Get your mind out of the gutter already, Mu La Flaga; whatever you are imagining did not happen; all Lacus and I did was spend some much-needed alone time together. Which consist of us watching an old movie, talking afterward, then falling slowly asleep in each other's arms," the Freedom pilot said, not feeling the least bit guilty about lying to the smirk Mu under these circumstances. He understood how incredibly embarrassed Lacus would feel if their true activities were revealed.

Raising a skeptical eyebrow at those words, Mu was not entirely sure, he actually believed that. He had this nagging suspicion that there was a lot more to it. "Aww, what a total letdown. I was sort of getting my hopes up to hear all about the crazy, sweaty, hot antics a newlywed couple in-love get up to throughout the night. But at least tell me this, how do you guys seduce each other? Do you wear any sexy lingerie to get Kira in the right mood, Pink Princess?".

Instantaneously, Lacus felt a burst of steam shooting out of her ears, with her entire face turning more red than it had ever been before, as she, for the briefest of moments, found herself imagining standing before the man she loved so dearly, dressed only in a sexy black bra, matching panties, a pair of stockings, and maybe a garter belt to top things off. All those images, combined with the thought of how her precious Kira would react to seeing her in such revealing, seductive lingerie, were almost enough to make Lacus feel like the already immensely hot water was reaching the boiling point.

Rapidly shaking her head in an attempt to rid her mind of those naughty flirtatious thoughts. The young pink-haired woman was simply unable to comprehend why precisely it seemed so very much like the people who were important to her seemed so determined to try to embarrass her right now. First Mayu, with the whole wanting bigger boob thing, and now Mu was asking such questions about hers and Kira's sex life.

Once Lacus felt somewhat in control of her immense embarrassment, she glared furiously in the direction of the male side of the hot spring, part of her hoping that The Hawk of Endymion was somehow able to sense just how incredibly pissed and annoyed she presently was with him. It did not help on her mood that he obviously suspected that there was a lot more to her and Kira's night than what had been revealed.

"Umm I-I... Tha-that's none of your business, Mu La Flaga... shu-shuuut up...!" She loudly cried out, sinking so deep into the hot water that only the upper part of her face could be seen, making a few tiny bubbles appear as she breathed out of her mouth.

"Yeah, I'm with Lacus here. Shut up, Mu La Flaga! And wipe that stupid, knowing smirk off your face, already! It's SO goddamn annoying!" Kira added only a brief instant later, splashing a huge handful of water into the blond man's face.

Wiping the water but not the mischievous grin off his face, Mu tilted his head a bit to the side as he looked straight at Kira. "Okay, okay, mum's the word here; I'll just sit here quietly and keep my trap shut," The Hawk of Endymion said, of course already knowing that he was far from done teasing the happy married couple about what they might have been doing throughout the night; this was going to be fun.

"Thank you very much!" The married couple said simultaneously.

"Oh, jeez, you two, please give a poor, tired fellow a break here. But you know, I am kinda amazed that you are able to say the exact same thing at times, it really does show what a great couple the two of you make. I'm sort of glad that I had a hand in setting you two crazy kids up," Mu told the young couple, flinching a bit in pain when a few brief flashes of that entered his mind, which resulted in him throwing a few handfuls of water into his own face.

Sitting a bit more upright in the hot, steamy water again, Lacus gave the blond man a reply. "I don't really think Kira and I speaking at the same time is that spectacular, but still, it's nice of you to say, Mu. And you are right, you did a lot in the beginning to help Kira and I get together. You have no idea how much we appreciate that, so thank you, Mu," Lacus softly told her big brother figure.

"Yeah, thanks, Mu," Kira added, thinking back to how totally crazy he had thought Mu was at that moment when he had suggested Lacus and him get married to hide her identity as Siegel Clyne's daughter, especially from Natarle Badgiruel who would definitely have reported Lacus' true identity to Earth Alliance high command, who would not have hesitated to use her as a hostage against ZAFT, and that was something Kira would never have allowed to happen. Yet his and Lacus marriage turned out better than anybody could ever have expected; they loved, cared, and got along so well. The two of them knew that they truly had married the love of their lives, thanks to none other than Mu La Flaga.

"Aw shucks, you're making me blush here. But yeah, you are welcome. I do enjoy seeing the two of you so happy together. I hope I get to see a lot more of that in a peaceful future," Mu told them.

"Oh, you will," the young wife and husband again answered at the exact same time.

Following that, there was a brief moment of relaxing silence, where all that could be heard were the sounds of dripping water and Lacus softly singing In The Quiet Night.

The overall calm, peaceful atmosphere surrounding them was something all five of them greatly enjoyed, along with each other's company. It was nice to spend time together like this, like the family they truly were. At this quiet moment, they each felt like they could put all of their concerns and worries about Durandal's crazy scheme for the world on the back burner.

And as Lacus finished up the last verse of the song, Mayu immediately called out to her in an excited tone. "I always love that song, big sis! One day, I really want you to teach it to me. By the way, once we are done in here, do you guys want to go play a few board games with me? When I left Reverend Malchio's place, Aunty Caridad gave me a brand-new game that I have never played before. I am sort of excited about trying it out".

"That sounds nice, I'm in, sweetie," Murrue said, sincerely pleased to see her daughter so thrilled and happy.

"I'm game too, I am always up for trying out a new board game. By the way, I think I am reaching the point where I need to get out of here. This hot water is kind of starting to get to me. But I am not leaving before I know if our cute married couple wants to join us," Mu said, sounding even more excited about playing this new board game than Mayu.

"We're in too," the married couple answered, again at the exact time, which made an amused chuckle run through the hot spring. As Mayu called out to Lacus and Kira, she could not get over how endearingly cute and adorable a couple the two of them were.

Mayu was still gushing all excitedly about that as she along with Murrue finally left the hot spring. It was then that Mu said that he would see Kira in a bit, then left too, thereby leaving the wife and husband by themselves.

"You know Kira, when they gush over us like that, I can not help but feel so shy and embarrassed," Lacus said to her husband, a part of her hoping that the next bath she took in there was one she could share together with Kira, it had been quite awhile since she had last had the chance to wash his back, and she really missed doing that.

"Yeah, no kidding. But I also really appreciate that they are so supportive of our relationship. Who knew how exactly our relationship would have turned out if not for Murrue and Mu's help? Those two did a lot for us in the beginning, when everything was still new, and we were getting use to each other," Kira said, looking quietly up at the ceiling as he thought back to when he had found Lacus' escape pod near Junius Seven, then brought it back to the Archangel. From the very first instant Murdoch had opened the pod and Lacus had leaped oh so gracefully out of it, he had found the pink-haired woman before him to be so incredibly cute and captivatingly beautiful. It had pretty much been love at first sight the moment he saw her, and that love had only grown deeper and more intense the better he got to know her and understood how sweet and loving a person Lacus truly was. Kira Yamato had so very quickly reached the point where he could not imagine his life without Lacus in it, he loved her with every fiber of his being.

Yet instantly, upon hearing Lacus' gentle voice call out to him, he snapped out of his faraway thoughts about the past. "Yeah, I will always be eternally grateful for everything Murrue and Mu have done for the two of us. That is also why I so sincerely hope that Mu will be able to recover his memories. Do you think there is any process with that, Kira?".

Running his hands over his face and then through his brown, wet hair. "I don't know Lacus, I wish I did, but I don't, honey. Things are definitely getting better since we found him at Berlin, back then, he insisted firmly on being called Neo Roanoke no matter what. Now, however, he seems a lot more comfortable being referred to by Mu, he definitely remembers something, but I think the way his memories are now is like a giant jigsaw puzzle that he is trying to assemble blindfolded without even knowing what the image is supposed to be in the end. I think his mind needs some sort of shock to really get his memories in gear, so he can figure out which memories are truly his very own and which ones are nothing but data put there by the Earth Alliance when they found him after he was shot down by the Dominion," Kira told her, staring down into the water, with the images of the Strike gundam blowing up hunting his mind.

Hearing a small, heartfelt sob from Lacus, Kira hastily shook all thoughts of the Strike's destruction out of his mind, calling loudly and anxiously out to her, asking her if she was alright, already knowing that if they had been on the same side of the hot spring, he would be wrapping his arms around her and holding her so tightly right now.

Wiping the few tears from her eyes. "Yeah, I'm alright, Kira, it's just that what you just told me was a lot to take. I'm so worried about him. What if his mind never gets that shock you are talking about, Kira? Do you think he will have to go through life with those intense headaches, never fully able to remember the family bond we all shared together?".

"I wish I could answer that, Lacus, I reeally do. But even if he never fully recovers, the both of us, along with Murrue and everybody else, will be there for him to lean on. Even if it takes years, we are going to help him through this Lacus, that is what family do. He is our older brother, after all," Kira determinedly told her.

"That he is Kira, that he is," Lacus immediately answered, sounding just as determined as her husband.

At the exact same time, out in the quiet hallway, Murrue felt a couple of tears run ever so slowly down her cheeks. It had never been her intention to eavesdrop on the married couple's private conversation, but she had. She had heard everything just now, and as she heard Mu, the man she loved, let out a small sob, she turned her head and looked at him.

"God damn it, I've got some great people in my life," he said, crying openly into his hand from what he had just heard the married couple say to each other.

Stepping over, Murrue reached out, gently wrapping her arms around the crying man, hugging and holding him tightly. "Yeah, Lacus and Kira have always loved you like an older brother, Mu, and like they said, we will all be there for you".

Letting out another sob as he felt Mayu take a hold on his hand and give it a small comforting squeeze. "I umm, you-you can count on me to help out too, I do not really know how much I can do, but I'll be there too," the child promised.

Reaching down, Mu gently patted and rubbed Mayu's small head. "Thank you, kiddo. You too, Murrue, I can not even begin to describe how much I appreciate yours and the married couple's help. Knowing that I do not have to struggle with this all on my own makes it a lot easier to bear," Mu told the two of them as another sob ran through his body.

Feeling sort of embarrassed by the almost fatherlike affection the blond man was showing her, Mayu instantly bashed his hand aside. "You are welcome, Mu, but please don't treat me as a kid, I'm eleven years old. So it wouldn't be long before I am a teenager!".

"Oh right, sorry kiddo." Mu sincerely apologized to the child.

Reluctantly breaking hers and Mu's tender embrace, Murrue turned her gaze and took a glance down at her daughter. Seeing her precious child squirming awkwardly around with her entire face more bright red than the Justice when it was powered up, the young mother instantly realized what was going on. Smirking ever so slightly at that, Murrue once again turned her attention back towards Mu.

"You do not have to apologize for that, Mu. She is just being shy because she is showing signs that she likes you," Murrue softly told him.

The sheer amount of annoyance Mayu felt over having such a vital secret revealed to the blond man resulted in her immediately spinning around on one foot to glare sourly at her mother. Seeing the small, knowing grin on her mom's face grow even deeper only served to bother the girl even further.

"MOM, for Pete's sake! Why did you have to tell him that? Tha-that was supposed to be a secret, the dummy was not supposed to know that!" The girl cried out in pure frustration at her mom for not keeping such a thing hidden from Mu La Flaga.

Again, Mu reached out and gently patted the sulking girl's head. "Thanks, kiddo, you know I like you too. And if you feel better about me knowing we can always keep it a secret between the three of us, nobody else needs to know," he softly told her.

This time around, Mayu allowed Mu to pat and rub her short brown hair a bit longer as she went over his words. "I guess I just have to settle for that, but you better not break that promise," the girl said with a displeased huff before finally bashing his hand away, again loudly telling him not to treat her as a small child.

Silently observing the interaction between her precious daughter and the man she loved, Murrue smiled as she moved in, pulling both of them into a tight hug and holding them close. "It's so nice, so great, seeing the two of you get along, you have no idea how happy that makes me," she softly told them.

Frowning a bit at those words, Mayu was somewhat tempted to protest and insist firmly on the fact that she and Mu did not get along at all. But the clever child, of course, realized how important this was to her sweet mother, and she did not want to hurt her feelings in such a mean way. So it was with a slight, reluctant sigh that Mayu hesitantly started sharing her thoughts about the matter.

"Mm, yes, I guess we kinda get along, mom, but I still think he is a bit of a dummy at times".

Letting out a short, amused laugh at that, Murrue nodded ever so softly in understanding while tightening her grip on the two of them. "Considering how incredibly childish and immature he behaves at times, I don't blame you for thinking that Mayu sweetheart, there are times when I also think he got a bit of a screw loose".

"Ouch! You girls are just so mean to little old me. I am not that childish. Immature, most definitely, but certainly not childish. As for the whole screw-loose thing, weell, I guess that might be up for a bit of debate," Mu said in a humorous tone of voice, which made it clear to the two Ramius that he did not take them serious at all, as he held and tightly hugged the two ladies back.

Yet the three's tender little moment was brought to an end by the sound of Lacus' loud, happy voice calling out to Kira, telling him that she would see him shortly. Following that, Murrue, Mayu, and Mu could hear a bit of noise and rummaging around inside the bathing area, which served as a pretty obvious sign that the two Yamatos were finally ready to leave the hot spring. Tightening his hold on the girls, Mu gave the two one last final squeeze before he somewhat reluctantly broke their tender, almost family-like embrace. Stepping over, he quickly shut the door to the male changing room so it would not be too obvious that the three of them had been listening in on the married couple's conversation.

With that, the Akatsuki pilot let out a long breath that made his blond hair fly around a bit as he again turned his attention back towards the girls.

"For now, let's just leave the fact that we 'accidentally' overheard their conversation between us. I'll show my appreciation for their concern later on, at a better time," Mu said, hastily brushing some of his hair away from his blue eyes, wondering for the briefest of moments if it was about high time for him to get a haircut; it was getting sort of long and annoying. It had certainly gotten in his way when he was facing off against Adamant gundam a few days ago.

Silently studying his face, Murrue could so very easily tell just how much craziness and mayhem were presently racing through his mind, which frankly seemed to be a pretty common occasion these days. Finally, after a few short seconds, she nodded slowly a single time.

"Um, truth be told, I still do feel quite a bit guilty about eavesdropping on their conversation. But, if that's what you want, Mu, we'll just have to make it up to them later".

It was then that Mayu cut in. "Heh, I think you guys are worrying a bit too much about this. Knowing how incredibly kind and forgiving the married couple is, I am relatively certain that it won't take long for them to forgive us for this little 'blunder', but like mom, I too am okay with keeping my trap shut. Hell, it can always be used as blackmail material later," the child said with a small, wicked smirk that made it outright impossible to tell if she was actually serious.

"Mayu, behave," Murrue told the girl.

"All right already, I'll do my utmost to behave like a sweet little angel, so please stop glaring, mom, it's sort of freaking me out. I was only kidding about the blackmail thing. By the way, I thought you were supposed to have a great sense of humor, Mu, you look even more weirded out than mom," Mayu told him with a mischievous grin.

Rolling his eyes and shaking his head a bit. "Oh, jeez, girl, you really are quite the massive mischievous maker, ain't you?" Mu asked the girl with a raised eyebrow.

Grinning even more broadly at that question, Mayu nodded vigorously a few times. "That I am. As an eleven-year-old girl, it's pretty much part of my job description, and since it's funny as hell, you should not expect me to grow out of that anytime soon".

Instantly upon hearing that, Murrue was unable to keep a sudden exhaust sigh from leaving her. "Oh, goody, it's always nice to have something fun to look forward to," the young mother mumbled sarcastically, her tired gaze now directed towards the ceiling. Murrue had hoped that at some point her trouble-making daughter would grow tired of pulling pranks on people, especially Murdoch, but evidently she was not going to stop with that anytime soon. She already felt sorry for the poor chief mechanic, he was definitely in for a tough time, along with whoever else Mayu chose to refer to with the title grandpa.

Yet before Murrue could give the matter all that much thought or say or do anything to at least try to reprimand her prankish daughter, she was interrupted by the sound of the door to the male changing room suddenly flying open, with Kira appearing only a brief instant later.

"I'm sorry for the wait, you three, Lacus and I had a few important things we needed to discuss," Kira said, rolling his head and rubbing his neck a bit. With the crazy amount of time he had spent inside the Freedom and Dearka's blue Murasame, training vigorously to be fully prepared for his next encounter with Rau, Rey, or whoever the hell was inside the Legend gundam his back felt a bit sore these days. Or maybe it had a little something to do with what he and Lacus had been doing throughout their long, passionate night together; he remembered standing holding her in a certain way; that might have been a bit hard on his 'old' already aching back, not that he regretted it in any way; quite the opposite, as a matter of fact, Kira honestly wouldn't mind doing that with Lacus again.

Hearing the ever-so-light cracking sound that emanated from Kira's neck and back as he stretched in a certain way, Murrue tilted her head a bit to the side.

"You doing okay there, Kira?" The Captain worryingly asked him.

Pressing down with his fingers on a certain spot on his neck until he felt a bit of pain, Kira rubbed and massaged that place in an attempt to get rid of some of the light soreness.

"Other than the fact that I could use an hour or two at a chiropractor to get some of the pain out of my back, I'm fine, Murrue. I've just been spending way too much time in the Freedom, but with how tense things are these days, I just find it so difficult to relax if I don't get in my fair share of training," Kira explained to her, as he mentally went over his highly intense sparring match against Kazuma. It had definitely been an interesting 'fight'. Kazuma's familiarity and experience with piloting a Murasame, gave him a slight advantage in the beginning of their friendly little sparring match, until Kira got more used to piloting a mobile suit that had a transformable mode. Once he had started utilizing that in the same manner as Kazuma, and how he had seen Dearka use it so many times in the past, they had ended up about even. If Miss Erica were to ever design and make another gundam in her secret lab, Kira already knew who he would suggest should be its pilot.

"You should not stress yourself out like that, Kira, it's not good or healthy for you. You need to take the time to take it easy, eat some good, healthy food, and get a proper night's sleep. The way you are doing things now is not going to lead to anything good in the long run, other than you wearing yourself out completely and worrying the little missus. And you do not want that now, do you?" Mu asked him in a slightly harsh tone of voice.

For the briefest of moments, Kira found himself considering whether he should let Mu in on it. Should he tell the mentor all about how he had sensed Rau Le Creuset during the last battle? Yet in the end, he decided that Mu already had more than enough to try to figure out and deal with without having to worry about his so-called 'father'. Kira would just have to come up with a way to deal with Le Creuset himself, shaking away the nasty images of Rau's laughing face as Naturals and Coordinators fought so vigorously to destroy one another.

"Ahem, no, you are right, Mu, I do not want to worry Lacus any more than I already do. So I'll try to relax a bit. It certainly helped spending all that time in the hot spring, and I do believe playing a few games with you guys will help me take it easy too," Kira thoughtfully stated, standing on his toes as he stretched his arms up over his head until he heard and felt a light cracking sound from his back.

Neither Murrue nor Mu had a chance to comment on that before Mayu's loud, impatient voice cut them off. "Speaking of playing games and big sister Lacus, what in the world is taking her so long in there? What is she doing, Kira?".

Turning his attention towards Mayu, Kira shrugged a bit. "To be honest, I am not totally sure, but if I had to make an educated guess, Mayu, I would say that Lacus is most likely drying her hair right about now, with how long it is, that always takes her a bit of time. But I know for a fact that she is pretty excited about playing your new game with you, so please be patient just a bit longer".

Slowly tilting her head from side to side a few times as she thought over and considered Kira's words, the eleven-year-old girl realized that they actually made quite a bit of sense. While there were times when Mayu thought that big sister Lacus' long pink hair just looked so stunning and beautiful that she, at rare times, honestly envied it.

Yet one thing she had never envied about it was how unbelievable long it took to dry, even with a hairdryer. It was pretty common that it took Lacus about twenty minutes to get her hair properly dry and a bit more to set it up the precise way she wanted.

Frowning ever so slightly, Mayu seriously considered the notion of going back into the female changing room to offer her big sister a helping hand with her hair, but before she could actually do that, the door to the room suddenly flew open, and Lacus stepped outside, wearing a long light blue dress with a slit on the left side, so a bit of her leg could be seen; she had on a pair of black thigh-high stockings; her dark brown high-heeled shoes making a bit of noise as she moved over the hard metal floor; yet what was even more unique about her current appearance was that she did not have in her usual yellow hairpin. Instead, her long pink hair was put in a neat ponytail, tied together with a dark blue ribbon.

Letting out a short whistle. "Damn, Pink Princess! You really don't look like one who is just going to sit around playing board games with us for a few peaceful hours. You look so much more like you and Kira are about to go paint the town red, blue, and green on a hot, steamy date that could, for all we know, very well last until tomorrow morning, if you know what I mean," Mu said with a small suggestive grin.

Immediately, Lacus felt her cheeks her entire face turn bright red at that comment. As she glanced down at the floor, the songstress was not really sure why she had felt the need to doll herself up like this. Maybe it was because she had been forced to wear Kira's One Piece t-shirt and pants when she had gotten out of bed this morning, or, to be more precise, this afternoon. Yet as she glanced down at the dress, Lacus begrudgingly had to admit that maybe, just maybe, she had taken it a bit too far, she really did look like someone who was about to head out on a date with her beloved husband. It did not help that this was one of her favorite dresses for when she and Kira went out to one of those more fancy restaurants to get a good meal, talk, and then slow dance to the live romantic music there.

The fact that Lacus could not recall when she and Kira last had a chance to do such sweet, intimate things by themselves honestly frustrated and bothered the young married lady to no end. She wondered when precisely the two of them would next be able to go out on the town and paint it red, as well as those other colors Mu had so joyfully described. She and Kira could have so much fun. While it was true Lacus very rarely touched alcohol, she could so very easily imagine herself getting just a little tipsy from drinking a good glass of red wine or two, as Kira likewise got just a little drunk from one or two glasses of rum and Coke, which he on rare occasions liked to drink. Following that, they could take a taxi back home from the restaurant, then head out on a romantic walk on the beach with the bright stars and moon shining above them.

Sincerely hoping that it would not take long before they could experience such things again, Lacus shook her head a bit as she looked over at Kira to see his reaction to the dress. He was simply standing there, completely and totally awestruck by the mere sight of her.

"You look so... So stunning, so beautiful and gorgeous, Lacus, I love you so much," Kira told her after a moment of almost drowning completely in her sparkling blue eyes.

Simply choosing to ignore the oohs and aws from Murrue and Mu, Lacus stepped over in front of Kira, looking oh so lovingly into his purple eyes for the briefest of moments. The young woman then placed both hands on his cheeks.

"I also love you, my dear precious Kira," Lacus softly told him back, then pulled him into a sweet, tender kiss that was filled to the brim with all the love and affection she truly felt towards him, towards her husband, the man she cherished so much more than anyone else.

Placing his hands on Lacus' soft, slender hips, Kira kissed back, his lips communicating the same sort of love, intense passion, and devotion right back to her, which instantly resulted in a soft moan and deep sigh leaving Lacus lips as she deepened the kiss even further.

Watching the happy married couple kiss in such a sweet, tender way. Mu awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck a bit, feeling a light blush appear on his own face as he moved over next to Murrue, who reached out and took a hold of his hand, giving it a light, affectionate squeeze, which he did not return, gently stroking the soft skin on her hand with his thumb.

"Damn... watching them like this really makes it clear just how much the both of them truly do love one another. I'm so glad things worked out so well for them," Mu said, actually feeling a bit choked up and touched by the adorable, loving display he was witnessing before him.

The immense amount of intense passion and deep, sincere love that Mayu was witnessing Lacus and Kira put into this one kiss was almost enough to make her feel like her entire face was about to burst into flames from sheer embarrassment. She had, of course, witnessed Lacus and Kira kissing one another before, but for some inexplicable reason, it felt extra special and wonderful now. It was like watching a newly-wed couple kiss at the altar on their wedding day.

Feeling her face turning more and more red as she occasionally glanced up from the floor at the married couple, Mayu likewise moved over beside Murrue, taking a hold on her mother's free hand.

"Umm, mom, I... I... watching them like this is really embarrassing. Do you thi-think they are going to keep kissing like this for long?" The girl hesitantly asked, once more taking a glance up at the kissing couple, yet the mere sight of Kira affectionately stroking Lacus' skinny waist and gently running his fingers over and through her long pink hair instantly made Mayu's already intense blush increase tenfold as she hastily looked down at the floor again.

Sensing her daughter's embarrassment, Murrue took a glance away from the married couple, looking at her child. "That's a pretty hard question to answer, sweetie. I am relatively sure that sooner or later they are going to run out of air, and since they know they have a bit of an audience, I doubt they are going to take things much further," Murrue softly reassured her red-faced child.

Despite being totally caught up in their own special little world, parts of Lacus and Kira's brains still somehow perceived Murrue's words, which led them to somewhat reluctantly break their passionate lip lock. Resting their foreheads against one another for a few precious moments, their eyes shining with the immense love they felt towards each other.

Finally, Lacus and Kira, with some unwillingness, broke their last bit of skin contact, breathing deeply. They stood there beside each other, and as Kira reached out and took a gentle hold on Lacus' hand, they both turned their gazes towards the slightly squirming Mayu.

"We are sorry if we made you feel uncomfortable, Mayu, that was never our intention." Lacus softly apologized to the girl.

Absentmindedly, Mayu slowly shook her head. "Umm, no, noooo, it's-it's fine, big sis, there is no need for you to apologize. I know I usually love watching you guys kiss and be all lovey-dovey together, but for some reason, this felt...Um, I don't know how to best describe it. But it-it was like it was a lot more special and meaningful, like it was something the two of you should be doing in the privacy of your own room with nobody else around, there was a much deeper and more intense passion there than usually. It was like you guys very souls and beings, were longing for each other, not that I really understand why," the eleven-year-old girl explained to them, obviously thinking very hard about why the kiss had seemed so different.

Immediately upon hearing the bewildered girl speak those words, Lacus and Kira exchanged a quick embarrassed glance. Each one of their faces turning brightly red, both of them understood perfectly well what exactly Mayu was referring to. With the pleasant, sweet memories of last night's lovemaking still fresh in both their minds, the immense hunger, love and passion they felt for one another might easily have been a bit too visible just now, but neither one could help it, they still felt the need to make up for the time they had been apart while Lacus had been out on the Eternal and Kira had been down on Earth.

"Um, that's weird, Mayu, sweetheart. While, I do admit that I might have put a bit more weight into the kiss after seeing how incredibly gorgeous and beautiful Lacus looks in that blue dress of hers, maybe that might be the reason why that kiss seemed to be so much more special and intense from your perspective," Kira suggested to the girl, sincerely hoping Mayu would buy this excuse.

Struggling vigorously for a moment to contain and conceal her immense embarrassment, Lacus, likewise determined to try to downplay hers and Kira's heated affectionate actions towards each other just now, quickly added in her two cents, even though she was still somewhat breathless from the kiss. Kira had put more than just a bit of weight into it; it had been totally amazing. He was just such an incredible, passionate kisser; he always made her feel so incredibly weak in the knees when he kissed her like that.

"Ahem, while I won't lie to you, Mayu, sweetie, and tell you that the kiss wasn't great, there really wasn't any deeper meaning behind it. It was just a normal kiss between a happy wife and her dear husband, who love one another greatly. So don't you think you are just imagining things?" Lacus softly asked the girl.

Rubbing her chin, Mayu glanced suspiciously back and forth between them a few times; she just could not shake away the nagging feeling that they were still hiding some juicy details from her, but despite however curious Mayu's intrigued young mind felt about knowing what was going on, the girl quickly decided that whatever the two were hiding wasn't really all that important; the five of them had something a lot more crucial that they needed to take care of. She could always grill Lacus and Kira about their secrets later if she was bored. Maybe she could even get big brother Dearka to join in, with him bugging and teasing them, she was sure that sooner or later they would buckle under the pressure and just tell her what she wanted to know. Besides, with him around, it would be twice as fun to pester the married couple about this.

"Fiiinnne, whatever, you guys can just keep your little secrets, for now at least! Now, enough chit-chat, let's stop burning daylight here and hurry the hell up and get moving already! My brand-new board game awaits our arrival down in the mess hall. I am sooo going to wipe the floor with you guys!" Mayu boasted loudly, then hurriedly pulled her hand free from her mother's tight grip, racing off down the hallway.

"Hmm, seems like we might be in for a tough time, do you want to make an alliance already? That way one of us is sure to win" Kira quietly asked his wife.

Glancing over at him with crossed arms and a fake, totally horrified look on her face. "That's cheating, Mr. Yamato, that's no fun at all. Besides, I think Mu and Murrue heard you back there, which means that if we join forces to create our own evil board game Empire, we can not complain if they follow our example and do the exact same thing. Also, I think it would be just a bit unfair towards Mayu, who would then be working all on her own in the game," Lacus said back, as they once more joined hands, then went off in the same direction as their dear little sister.

Bringing up her hand, Kira placed a light affection kiss on it. "I see your point, Mrs. Yamato; it will be all against all in this game; no carrying any grudges against the winner, ok?".

"You got it, Kira".

Observing the happy married pair playfully flirt with one another and small talk back and forth in a low whisper, Mu leaned in towards the brunette-haired woman walking just beside him.

"You know mine, Captain. My keen detective intuition tells me our sweet newly-wed couple lied to us just now. Despite them steadfastly insisting that all they did last night was watch a movie together, I think it's safe to assume they did a whole lot more, something that requires no clothes or at least very little of it, like long stockings, maybe a cute garter belt, and a pair of naughty panti-" The smirking Hawk of Endymion did not get a chance to finish that sentence when Murrue slapped his arm pretty hard.

"All right already, that's enough crazy nonsense out of you, you colossal dumbass! Jeez, what am I supposed to do with you? You do know that some people might actually consider such talk to be sexual harassment. I can so easily imagine just how incredibly pissed off Kira would be if he were to hear you asking questions about what lingerie his wife might be wearing for their fun alone time. Also, Lacus herself is not really the type of girl who appreciates lewd jokes directed towards her... despite hers and Kira's love of cosplaying at night," Murrue told the blond man beside her, saying the last part about the cosplaying under her breath, so it was impossible for Mu to hear her properly.

Sticking his index finger into his right ear, Mu poked it thoroughly for a few short seconds, then leaned in a bit closer to Murrue. "I did not quite catch that, Murrue. Could you please repeat it? It sounded like something pretty juicy".

Juicy? Yeah, that might be a pretty accurate description of what she had just said, but despite finding the intrigued, almost childlike expression on Mu's face to be sort of adorable in its own way, Murrue quickly decided against letting him in on the secret. The cosplay hobby was a private thing between Lacus and Kira, the only reason she, along with the rest of the family, knew about it was because Dearka had accidentally walked in on them when Lacus had been dressed up in a sexy nurse uniform. And the always loud, talkative Dearka Elsman had, of course, been incapable of keeping such a steamy thing to himself, so it had not taken long before the rest of the family knew about it too. It was only after Miriallia had made him sleep a few days on the couch that he finally stopped talking about it.

Shrugging ever so slightly while slowly shaking her head back and forth a few times, Murrue sent him an apologetic look. "Sorry, Mu, that's one of those spicy little secrets I'll keep to myself".

"Ahh, how dull and boring! I reeally want to know Murrue. If I say pretty please, will that change your mind?" The man asked hopefully, sounding even worse than Mayu when she was asking for something she wanted.

"Nope, not one bit, Mu. It actually makes me feel even more determined to keep it from you. You just have to live without knowing," Murrue told him, with a small smirk she knew would only serve to make him all the more curious about the whole thing.

Not at all pleased to hear that, Mu grumbled a few displeased words under his breath. "Uggh, that's not fair, Murrue, how am I even supposed to fall asleep at night when there are such juicy secrets going on around this ship that I of all people do not know about? It's downright torture".

Raising an eyebrow at the almost childlike pouting he was doing, Murrue rolled her eyes a single time as she let out a deep sigh. "I do believe you are exaggerating just a tiny bit here, Mu. As for your whole falling asleep dilemma, I heard some say that counting sheep helps with that issue. So why don't you try that?".

"I did once, but it only made me hungry instead. Which resulted in me having to get up to make myself a sandwich. The crazy thing is that I do not even like lamb meat all that much; it's way too tough and hard to chew, if you ask me," Mu mildly complained, thinking back to the last time he had eaten lamb meat. It had been during one of his meetings with Djibril, which had only soured the meal even further.

Letting out a thoughtful sound. "Hmm, if you found the meat to be that tough, it's either because the chef did not prepare it properly or cooked it wrong, which in my opinion is a pretty amateurish mistake to make. It's a waste of good, sometimes pretty expensive meat. If you want, I do not mind making you my lamb stew when the war is over and things settle down again. One thing I never got to show you during the last war was how good a chef I truly am, there was actually a time when I wanted to open my own little restaurant," Murrue said, wondering for a moment how her life would have turned out if she had actually followed through with that dream.

Yet before she could give that matter all that much thought, the sound of Mu's kind voice immediately pulled her back to reality. "I appreciate the offer, Murrue, I really do, but I still do not like lamb meat, so I think I'll skip it. But if you ever want to make something else for me, like lasagna, then I won't say no to that, it's been quite awhile since I last had a good piece of well-made lasagna".

"You've got yourself a deal, Mu La Flaga, my lasagna is going to knock your socks off".

"Great, I am looking forward to it, Murrue Ramius" Mu said back, as the two of them followed Mayu and the married couple into the mess hall.

Racing into the mess hall a few loud, excited steps ahead of the others, Mayu was in for quite the unpleasant surprise. Sitting at one of the tables in the middle of the room were her big sister Meyrin, the two DOM Trooper pilots, aunty Hilda, Shiho, and that Kazuma fellow, playing her new Ticket To Ride Space game, where one was supposed to build space routes between different planets and space stations. It was something Mayu felt pretty eager to play right then and there.

"Hey, hey! What are you guys doing?! That's mine!" The girl cried out in minor distress as she hastily stormed over to the four of them, looking down at the board. As far as Mayu could tell from a single glance, they were pretty far along with the game, which meant that it likely would not take all that long before they were done.

Turning her gaze away from the board, Meyrin sent Mayu an apologetic look. "Sorry, sweetie, the four of us just found it down here and thought it would be fun to play".

"Yeah, and I'm winning," Kazuma added with a small but confident smirk on his face as he placed three of his tiny green, weird-looking spaceships on a certain spot on the board.

Glaring up at him with her one blue eye. "Heh, I like your confident. But we do not know that yet, Kazuma Tokai" Hilda told him, as she reached out and picked up first a red card from the table, then a yellow one. With that, it was now Shiho's turn, who seemed to be thinking quite hard about what her next move should be under the circumstances as she moved a few cards in her hand around a bit before she hurriedly reached out and took two random cards.

Quietly watching the four of them play as it became Meyrin's turn, who hurriedly placed four red ships on another space route, they truly did seem like they were having quite a bit of fun, but still, trying to be patient right now was a pretty faraway concept for Mayu, she had been looking forward so unbelievably much to playing this new game with her mother, the married couple and Mu. Yet before the girl could start complaining and tell them to please hurry up, Lacus always kind and caring voice called out to her, telling her to get them some sodas and a few pieces of cake since it was pretty obvious, judging from the nice scent emitting from the kitchen, that something highly delicious was presently being baked in there.

The very notion of eating a freshly baked piece of cake and drinking a few sodas while playing the game was something Mayu found to be quite appealing, so after watching Kazuma make his move, which was to place a single ship on a route, the girl swirled around then quickly went off in the direction of the kitchen.

000000

At the exact same time, as the excited Mayu Ramius was getting cake from the Archangel's kitchen.

An enormous ring-like object was being moved through space, escorted by about one hundred or so Earth Alliance ships and over five hundred mobile suits in all shapes and sizes.

Meanwhile, an equally immense ZAFT fleet was approaching them, led by the Gondwana itself.

Something truly terrible was about to happen. Something that would cost a lot of soldiers and innocent people their lives.

To be continued.