"That uniform looks good on you, Lieutenant," said the man who had snuck in the open door of the small office on Jachin Due.
"Sir!" The office's owner glanced up in surprise, and was halfway through the process of shooting to her feet and saluting when the fact that she recognized the face above the councilman's uniform - nearly as well as she would have known her own - managed to penetrate her conciousness and override the relexes her training had implanted.
"'Sir?'" the chairman of the PLANTS Supreme Council teased gently.
Lacus Clyne, ZAFT Space Forces, giggled and came out from behind the cramped desk to give her father a hug. "It's good to see you, Daddy."
"That's better," he said, and kissed her on the forehead, then gestured her back to her seat and settled into the visitor's chair himself. "Daughter, before the business that gave me an excuse to se you... I don't think I've apologised for aski-"
She shook her head and cut him off softly. "You didn't have to ask. Once that awful man started making those accusations about the Council protecting their own children but... Once he tried to capitalize on those people dying like that... You're a good leader, Daddy, and Athrun and the others were right; we can't, I can't let people make me into a weapon against you like that."
"You're more like your mother every day," Siegel told his daughter softly, and his eyes seemed like they were seeing something quite other than her face.
"Do I?" she asked, then smiled, trying to reassure him. "Besides, it's not so bad, helping protect my home."
He shook himself free of whatever memory was in his mind's eye and smiled, himself. "You'll have to tell me about it."
"I will," she promised, "but first...?"
Okay, disclaimer: My viewing was interrupted before I actually got to see how, or if, Lacus and her father interact in canon. This, and the pieces of their background, seem to make sense based on my reading of who they are, but if I missed - including terms of address - call me on it, okay?
Ja, -n
===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"