DISCLAIMER: Code Geass and its characters are owned by Sunrise, Inc.

01 - The Daughter

That was weird.

She watched as their mysterious last-minute guest left their home. The man was a stranger to her, but both her mother and grandmother treated him like an old friend.

Her thoughts went back to the hour previous. Her grandmother's centennial birthday party had ended hours ago, and the last of their guests even left over half an hour earlier. She had just been holding the sponge to the (twelfth? Twentieth? Hundredth?) plate she was washing when the doorbell came ringing. She had been more than ready to dismiss it as a prank by the neighborhood kids (never mind it's already way past their bedtime. Oh, wait, it's spring break), when the bell came again.

"Shirley, honey, could you get the door, please?"

"Yes, mother," she replied. After rinsing her hands she breathed a heavy (tired) sigh and walked to their front door (genkan, her grandmother always called it, the house being in traditional Japanese architecture). Grumbling about old people not having dishwashers (we're practically in the 22nd century!), she carefully stepped out of her slippers and into her shoes (so troublesome) before finally opening the front door.

She caught their guest just about to press the doorbell again. For a moment the man's eyes widened and stared at her for some moments before she decided nobody else was going to waste her time any further.

"Yes? Can I help you," she asked in a tone that might not have been appropriate because she was speaking to someone clearly her senior, but she was too tired to care.

The man blinked once and came to his senses. "Ah, yes. Good evening, miss," he said, in a voice that would have made Shirley melt like butter over hot coals had she not been in a somewhat foul mood, "I know I'm a little late, but I'm here to see Docto-"

"Sorry," she cut in, barely letting the man finish his sentence, "the party's been over for hours, and my 'baasan needs her rest. So, I guess you'll just have to go home now."

"Please," the man said as he propped his left hand against the sliding door's handle, preventing her from closing it completely, "I've come a long way, and-"

"I'm sorry," she said as she tried to put all her body's 110-pound-weight into sliding the door closed (strange, he didn't look that strong), "but my mother said no more visitors."

The man's barely-leaning-against-the-door stance didn't change while Shirley struggled. "Please, I just need-" he paused, and had seemed embarrassed when he noted that the she was really trying hard to close the door. He sighed before speaking again,

"Is her daughter here? She knows me," he explained. "Please tell her that Mr.-"

"I told you," Shirley breathed, taking an entire second for each word. She really just wanted the man to leave. So she could finish cleaning up. So she could take a hot bath. So she could finally get some sleep! An idea struck her, and she moved to put it into action.

"No," she took a step back,

"More," another step back,

"Visitors!"

"Who is it, honey?"

Mom! Shirley just barely managed to stop before hitting the door and turn around to face her mother. "Some man," she replied, careful to not let said man know that she was speaking to her mother (though 'honey' might already have given her away). "I said the party's over, but he wouldn't leave." She wanted to leave the next part out, but she never could lie to her mother,

"He says you know him."

"Does he," her mother replied. The confused frown on her mother's face as she answered confirmed her suspicion that the man was probably lying; they weren't expecting any more guests, after all. "Did he say what his name was?" That question caught Shirley off-guard, and a little ashamed. Not only did she not give the man a chance to introduce himself, but she was even intending on bashing his (good-looking) face (at first glance that is) with the front door.

"He, um..." she began. Chewing on her bottom lip, she thought of a way to salvage the situation. As things were, whatever she said next would probably start with 'where are your manners?' and end with another 'you're a woman now' speech after their guest left. That meant she eventually wouldn't be turning in early as she had hoped. Sure, she was turning twenty-eight next month. Sure, she was an adult now and should have already known those things. Heck, she should even already be married with her own kids by now (if only that stupid, stupid Rollie didn't...!).

She was just so tired.

"Josephine Faust?"

It was their guest who spoke, and she was just saved from the latter part her ordeal. Sighing in defeat (and some relief), she stepped aside and opened the front door further to reveal him to her mother. She guessed, compared to the double whammy she just got out of, one last guest to mind wasn't such a bad idea, after all.

"Yes," her mother replied as she approached, trying to get a better look at the man's face.

"It's been a while," the man said as he removed his hat, and for the first time, Shirley took careful notice of the man's features. He seemed to be around thirty, maybe thirty-five years old, was a head taller than herself and her mother, had dark hair, and had a very carefully trimmed beard and mustache. His clothes were classy, though old-fashioned (really, those shoes? So twenty-first century). He had some wrinkles around his eyes (hard to tell the color from this light) as he smiled at her mother with... fondness. Her mother, in turn, stared at him wide-eyed and had both hands covering her mouth.

"You came," her mother finally spoke, breathlessly but clearly happy. "You really came!"

In the next moment it was Shirley's turn to stare wide-eyed when her mother embraced the man like an old friend, which the latter gladly returned as they both laughed. Maybe they really did know each other. But how? Where?

Most importantly, when?

"Look at you," her mother was the first to speak when they broke their embrace. "I barely recognized you."

"And you," the man replied, "still as beautiful as I remembered."

"Liar," her mother replied, feigning anger. "Some things never change."

Did her seventy-year-old mother just give the man a noogie?

"Mom?!" Shirley didn't mean to sound so scandalized, but...

"Come in! Please, please come in," her mother went on, with the man nearly stumbling while he was being pulled into the house and into the corridor leading to her grandmother's old clinic. For a moment Shirley felt ignored.

"Shirley, honey, please be a dear and bring some refreshments for our guest." Okay, moment's over.

Shirley sighed. Might as well get it over with. She closed the front door then turned to walk to the kitchens.

After some refreshments and small talk, they finally led him to the garden to see her grandmother. Shirley was surprised by the sudden energy the elderly woman had when she said "You're late!" upon meeting their guest. Curious though she was, her mother waved her back to her chores and the two were left alone.

Now, about an hour later, the man simply left. but that wasn't the weird part. She could have sworn that he seemed... older, somehow.

"You're imagining things," she spoke out loud. "Must be more tired than I thought I was."

"Honey."

It was her mother. "Yes, Mom?"

"Baachan wants to see you."

A/N: This story is still not the sequel, but it is complete. I'll be posting one chapter a week, so you guys have something to look forward to. Please note that this story is independent from all my other stories.

As always, feedback is appreciated.

~ryder77