Disclaimer: Um, let's see, GSD complete collection, check, TV to watch SEED on, check, the plot and characters… Damn, I knew I was missing something.

I'm not sure all the details are totally correct in this story. It's been awhile since I've seen the episodes this takes place in, and the episodes the story she tells takes place in, but I'll try my best, although I am changing some small facts. If you notice any facts I get wrong, please notify me.

If you haven't read my 15 Things to do in Wal-Mart When You're Bored story, this might not make a lot of sense.

Pairings: Shinn/Miriallia

Warnings: Spoilers for all of SEED and most of Destiny, but since I'm really bad with remembering episode numbers, I'll just leave it at that.

I tried to make the characters as in character as I could, but I think I may have messed up on Shinn a bit, so there will be a little OOCness.

Shinn Asuka sighed as he leaned back in his chair. Things had been rather hectic lately with him finding Stellar and everything. Stellar. He should go visit her. She'd like that, even if she was unconscious. He was about to get up when the door slid open. There stood Lunamaria Hawke. She walked over to the bed and sat down. It wasn't uncommon for her to come into his quarters without warning to talk to him. What was that in her hand though? She didn't usually bring things.

"I followed Athrun. It seems he's close to the pilot of the Strike." She told him. So that was what this was about. She felt guilty and felt the need to talk about it. She revealed what was in her hand. It was a photograph, and it had been enlarged to show the faces of the people in it. There were four people in total. He recognized two of them as Athrun and someone who appeared to be Attha. The other two seemed slightly familiar. The boy, he knew he'd seen him somewhere before, where though? He wracked his mind for answers. The memorial. He was the one he'd met at the memorial. But the girl, she had light brown hair and incredible blue eyes that seemed so familiar. Where had he seen her? For some reason, his subconscious told him not to get her mad. Why though? "Shinn? Are you okay?"

Lunamaria had gotten worried when Shinn had zoned out, almost as if the photograph brought back some memories. Did he know the other two people in the picture? "Oh, sorry. I was just, thinking." He told her, hoping his explanation would suffice. Accepting it, she continued telling him about what she had seen, but he wasn't really listening. He was trying to figure out who that girl was.

Much, much later:

Miriallia smiled as she walked through the small forest just outside of the city with her camera. Kira, Athrun, Lacus, and Meyrin had decided to stay in the city, but she had wanted to explore and take some pictures. It was nice, being able to disembark for a while, and she had a feeling that Mwu or Neo or, whoever he was would have quite a bit of fun with Murrue. She smiled at the thought. Murrue deserved this, after everything she'd been through. If anybody knew what it felt like to lose a significant other, it was Miriallia. She shook her head. Now was a time for her to have fun, not to be thinking of Tolle, but it was too late. She had started thinking about her past and nothing could push that away. Sighing, she thought back to all the good times she'd shared with her friends. She hadn't spoken to Sai or Kuzzey for quite some time. The Trouble Making Quartet had officially broken up. Miriallia was too lost in thought to notice the figure walking towards her. She gasped when she collided with someone. "I am so sorry. I don't know what happened I just-" She paused when she looked up into his eyes. They were a brilliant shade of red. Red eyes. A vision of a cute white hat popped into her head. How did she remember that face after almost three years? He was the one she'd met while she'd been shopping on Heliopolis. What was his name?

Shinn gasped at the face that looked up at him. It was the girl from the picture. What was she doing here? "Um, hi. Do I know you from somewhere?" He asked. He was sure he'd seen her before.

Of coarse he didn't remember. It had been so long ago. How could she have expected anything else? "I think we may have met a long time ago. Were you ever on Heliopolis?" She inquired. She could be wrong. There had to be tones of guys out there that had black hair that looked almost blue and red-. Right. How many guys had she met with red eyes? Only one she could remember, and if lady luck was on her side, he was standing right in front of her.

He remembered now. It had been around three years ago when he'd gone shopping with his family. He'd met her. She was the one with the dog leash around her feet, the one with the knife and scissors. What was her name? Mir- Miriallia! That was it. "Wow, this is… unexpected." He said after much thought. "What are you doing here?" He requested. He was intrigued. What were the odds they would have ever met up again, never mind in the middle of a war?

What should she tell him? She could be totally honest and tell him about the archangel, or she could be honest and tell him she was taking pictures, simply omitting the part about the Archangel. No, it didn't seem right to lie to him like that. But now she was faced with the problem of phrasing it correctly. "Well, we were aloud to disembark for the day so I decided I'd get some fresh air and take some pictures." She told him, pointing subtly to her camera. If he didn't catch the disembark he couldn't say she lied to him, that was, if they ever met up again which was highly unlikely, and if he did, well she'd just explain it to him.

"Disembark? You're in the army?" Damn. He caught it.

"Uh, yeah. We just stopped in for repairs." She explained, hoping he wouldn't ask for much more information.

"So you're with the Atlantic Federation?" He inquired, hoping against all hope that she would somehow turn out to be a coordinator.

"No, defiantly not." She wasn't? So there was another ZAFT ship in the area?

"So then ZAFT?" He inquired. She shook her head. She wasn't with the Atlantic Federation, but she wasn't with ZAFT. What else was there? Orb had joined the Atlantic Federation, right?

"Are you a soldier?" She asked. He nodded. "Who are you with?" She asked sounding genuinely interested.

"ZAFT." He explained.

There was a ZAFT ship in the area? Hopefully things didn't get too stirred up. "What do you do?" Maybe there was just a secret ZAFT training camp or something nearby.

"I'm a MS pilot with the Minerva." No way. The Minerva was in the area? This was bad. And he was on it? A pilot? This definitely wasn't the best situation for her to be in right now. She was standing on a deserted path, with a coordinator who was on a ship who's only mission seemed to bring down her ship.

"I… See." She said slowly. Now he would ask what she did, and then she was screwed. She needed a good excuse to get out of there and fast. If she didn't act quickly enough…

"What do you do?" She cringed. She hadn't been fast enough.

"I'm not sure you want to know." She told him, hoping he'd let it drop.

"Well I am. What do you do?" Okay. She took a deep breath. Maybe she'd be joining Tolle sooner than she'd expected.

"I- I uh, I handle the CIC on the- on the Archangel." She told him, not looking him in the eye.

The… Archangel? No way. What was someone like her doing on a ship like that? And what was it doing in the area? Shinn was faced with a difficult decision. He could let her walk away and hope that nobody would learn about this encounter, or he could take her back to the Minerva as a prisoner. He didn't want to put her through the pains of military prison, but if he let her walk away he would be risking his own life. She was a crewmember of an enemy vessel. How did he get himself into a situation like this?

Miriallia wasn't sure what to do. Running would be futile. He was a military trained coordinator while she was an untrained natural. Staying probably wouldn't be the smartest thing to do either. What else could she do? Stay and hope he let her walk out of there alive? Run and hope he wouldn't chase her? Either way she would be risking her life. Why had she told him? It wasn't like he would have known the difference if she'd just told him she was a photographer. Why had she felt the need to be honest? Miriallia cursed he stupidity.

Shinn had always hated awkward silences. They always seemed so… awkward, and he tried his best to avoid them at all costs, but this was one he couldn't ignore. She was obviously waiting for him to make a move. He held the situation in his hands; he held her life in his hands. It would probably be better for his conscience if he let her walk away. What were the odds somebody was eavesdropping anyways? But there was always that small chance. He bit his lip. It was a small chance he was willing to take. "You should probably leave before someone finds you here." He told her.

He was letting her leave? She wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. She could walk away from this safely, but she would be facing him in battle. Miriallia was about to walk away when a thought struck her. "What do you pilot anyways?" She had to know. She wasn't sure why, but she had to.

The question caught Shinn off guard. She wanted to know what he piloted? Should he actually tell her? She would probably hate him even more if she knew. She had to hate him already. He was a member of a ship that was constantly trying to take her ship down. "ZGMF-X42S Destiny." Why had she wanted to know? It wouldn't change anything. "Why are you with that ship?" He had to know. He had to know her motives for fighting with something like that.

"Because those people on that ship, they're like my family." She said it like it explained everything.

"But how did you get involved with something like that in the first place?" He pried. How could somebody so seemingly innocent have gotten involved with something like that?

How should she answer that question? To fully explain everything she'd have to tell him everything that had happened since she'd met him in the store so long ago. But how did you explain being taken hostage by the Earth Forces, then being aloud to leave after nearly being killed an uncountable number of times, and refusing the opportunity, having your boyfriend killed by one of your best friends best friends, almost killing someone and then saving his life only to break up with him after the war, and many other events that somehow lead to her treating the crew on that ship like family? Miriallia wasn't even sure she could fully remember the order everything happened in. "That's an extremely long and complicated story." It was the best answer she could come up with.

"I've got time." Why? Why? Was there some deity that despised her for no good reason? There had to be. It was the only explanation.

"Why don't we do this over coffee?" She asked, figuring it would better than standing in the middle of nowhere. Shinn nodded his approval and together they headed down the path towards the town.

"So, how's the boyfriend?" Shinn asked, it being one of the few things he remembered about her. It was amazing he remembered anything at all. He watched her reaction carefully. A shadow of depression crossed over her face, followed by a few unrecognizable emotions before she answered.

"Don't have one." They broke up? So, she was… single? For some reason that made Shin extremely happy.

"What happened?" It was only right to seem concerned. He wasn't totally heartless. He noticed she wouldn't look him in the eye.

"Does it really matter?" She asked. Bad breakup? Maybe he cheated on her. They walked in silence until they reached a small café near the edge of the city. After placing their orders they found a table outside.

Where to start? The beginning seemed like the best place. She took a deep breath and began. "I guess it started the day Heliopolis was destroyed." She began. She explained how they hadn't been able to get to a shelter in time, and they wouldn't have made it if the Strike hadn't protected them, and how it had been Kira who had been piloting it. She told him how they had technically been prisoners because of the classified things they had seen, but how they decided to work with the crew to help Kira. She told him everything she could remember, how they'd saved Lacus, how Kira had defeated the Desert Tiger, everything up to that one day.

Shinn waited expectantly when she paused. She had a pained expression on her face, and she looked like she was about to cry. So far he had learned how she had been dragged into the war by force, and he'd learned how she'd decided to stay with the Archangel, and he had heard some odd little side stories that would have probably humiliated the characters had they been sitting with them. Why had she stopped?

Miriallia tried to calm herself. She couldn't cry. She had to stay strong. She had to. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "Tolle, he went out in a Sky Grasper to assist Kira." She began again. She explained with as much detail as she could manage how the Aegis had destroyed it, and how Kira had gone MIA.

So that was why it had been so hard for her. Her boyfriend hadn't cheated on her, and they hadn't gone through a rough breakup. Her boyfriend had been killed. But hadn't the Aegis been piloted by Athrun? Shinn could sense that this story was going to get a lot more interesting. Miriallia continued, telling him how they had captured Dearka, how she had almost killed him only to save his life, she told him about what happened at JOSH-A, how the Freedom had shown up out of nowhere and saved hundreds of lives. Shinn was starting to see the pilot in a whole new light.

Miriallia paused for a moment to glance at her watch. She'd been talking for over two hours, and her drink had long since disappeared. She had been so busy speaking; she hadn't noticed Shinn's reaction to the mention of Alaska. Taking a deep breath, she kept going, explaining how Athrun had joined them at Alaska, how they had left the Earth Forces, and how they managed to pull through so many other difficulties to the end of the war. She told of how so many lives had been lost throughout the war, and how lucky they were to pull through. After that, she gave some vague details about how she and Dearka had gotten together and broken up, why she had become a photographer, and how it had ultimately led to her meeting with Athrun, which led to her contacting the Archangel, and how she had decided to re-join them. She finished the story with how they had found Mwu, and how he couldn't remember anything.

By the time she had finished dusk was approaching. She was right; it had been a long story. Some of it seemed downright crazy and totally impossible, and some of it he just couldn't bring himself to believe. He should really be heading back to the Minerva, but he really wanted to stay with her. He felt like he had known her forever, like they were meant to be.

Miriallia felt strange. Enlightened almost. It felt so weird telling all this to somebody who was supposed to be the enemy. She had to wonder why they had to fight against each other, why things had to turn out the way they had. She knew this wouldn't change anything, that they would still be fighting each other, possibly taking the lives of the other's friends, or even those of one another. It felt so right, sitting across from him like they were old friends. Maybe they were in a sense, and maybe they had the potential to become more, if circumstances were different.

Shinn hesitantly stood up. He had to get going. "It was nice to see you again, Miriallia." He said with as much of a smile he could manage. She smiled back at him.

"It was nice to see you too, Shinn. I hope we can meet again some day, under different circumstances." He would like that. "Maybe then, you could tell me your story." She wanted to hear his story? He looked her in the eye. Yes, he would like to tell her his story as well.

"Until next time then." He said with a slight wave, before heading off down the street.

"Until next time." Miriallia whispered under her breath. She smiled. She would just have to ensure there was a next time. Slowly, she turned around and headed in the opposite direction.

A/N: It took me a while to decide if I should leave it there or if I should make a battle scene. Since I decided to leave it like this I may write a sequel, but I'm terrible with battle scenes.

I know I'm probably going to get flamed for this pairing, so I'd better go get my marshmallow roasting equipment as well as some chocolate and graham wafers. Until next time!