Thank you, all for the reviews, favs and follows in my absence. It means a lot to mean and is what keeps me going. Sorry for not posting in a while. Been busy with life stuff.

Please enjoy the story and please leave a review. Love to hear your thoughts and ideas.

Someone asked in the review if Diethard was dead the answer is yes Diethard is dead in this like in cannon.

Disclaimer: Code Geass and its characters Do Not belong to me.

Chapter 11

"Everything turns to Sand!" the assassin shouted as he took out his gun.

The assassination attempt was poorly executed, and Milly was certain it was a spur of the moment thing by the assassin. The assassin had not even been able to raise his gun before he was tackled by Kallen and then summarily captured and gaged while Milly's other guards formed a parameter around her. Ben, the squad leader for that day guard started giving out orders to find a securable building until backup arrived.

Milly had been stepping in her car after leaving the orphanage she was had been visiting when the attempt had been made.

Though the assignation attempt was foiled and was by no means the first assassination attempt on her, but it was what the assassin had shouted just before taking out his gun was what concerning to Milly.

Milly knew this would finally prompt Lelouch to actually execute his plan, a plan on which he had been working on for quite some time now.

Milly sighed.

She looked around her. The assassin was being tied up and searched for trackers and hidden weapons though Milly was certain they were unlikely to find anything. Her guards had set up a parameter around her. And Patricia was walking towards her.

Then dread washed over her. What if this was not a poorly executed plan but a wonderfully executed one. Make an attempt on her and distract everyone by focusing on her and then attack the real target, her husband.

Patricia handed he a phone and as soon as she held it to her ear, and relief flooded her she heard her husband's voice.

"Milly are you alright?" The concern in her husband's voice was heartwarming.

"I am fine Lelouch. Do you think this could be code Falk?" Lelouch went quite for a moment. Falk was code for diversionary attack that might happen. Just one of the many codes she had memorized in the months before she had married Lelouch. And still took time to go over just in case she forgot some.

"No, everything is quite here ad Jeramiah has put everything in high alert." Relief washed over her at hearing her husband's words.

Soon her guards dragged her inside the nearest securable building to provide them more cover while they waited for their Knightmare escort and a secure route to back to the palace.

Kallen stayed at her side while Ben gave ordered her other guards to spread around the building to secure look out points. Meanwhile her doctor, one accompanied her everywhere she went for the day, Amy, started prodding and checking her. She declared Milly to be well for now, but she wanted a full checkup as soon as they reached safety.

Soon she heard the tell-tale sounds of Knightmares, and her communicator rang again. It was Jerimiah.

"Your majesty." Jerimiah said. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, Jerimiah I am fine." Milly replied

She could hear Jerimiah give out commands about arranging the escort and the handling of the prisoner as the he cut of the connection.

Soon she was back inside her armored car with a Knightmare escort flying overhead led by the Knight of One himself. Her car, along with a prison van, carrying the assassin was also surrounded by land Knightmares.

"What do you think he meant by "Everything turns to Sand!?". Kallen asked her as they neared the palace.

Milly looked at her wondering how much she should disclose.

"Later." Milly said after a while. Kallen seemed satisfied with the promise of future information.

Soon she was in the safe zone, that is the imperial suite. The area where the imperial couple lived was the most secure place in the whole palace. The palace itself was built on the side of a small mountain overlooking the city of Neo-pendragon. It had been built by Lelouch's grandfather, in the last few years of his reign, as a vacation house. Lelouch had learned of the place and had decided to expand it as a crisis bunker even before seizing the throne. He had decided to expand and make the vacation house his palace after seizing the throne. The small town near the new palace had grown into one of the largest cities on the planet. The imperial suite, along with other rooms, itself was built inside the heart of the mountain. The suite was connected to the main palace via a maze of corridors leading to different areas and rooms. The maze would make it very difficult for intrudes to find anything useful. It had taken Milly embarrassingly long to actually memorize her way to the suite after her wedding. She had to rely on her gourds to escort her there or she would walk back with Lelouch. She preferred the second option. She now had the route memorized.

As soon as she entered the suite, she called home she found herself being wrapped in a hug.

She leaned against her husband.

"Are you alright" He asked again. She nodded.

He lightly placed his hand on her now obvious pregnant belly.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes, Lelouch I am fine" She gave him her best reassuring smile.

He looked at her, gave her a once over and then returned her smile.

"The doctors are going to look over you regardless." He said.

Milly got a twinge of annoyance at that, which was quickly quashed by the concern she had heard in his voice. So, she gave him a quick kiss and sat down on the nearest empty sofa.

Milly looked around the suite to see who else was present. Her doctors were getting their various medical supplies set up. Jerimiah was giving orders to a guard while looking over his tablet, no doubt managing the threat levels as was his job. Kallen and Ben had taken her guard position at the door. Milly's other guards had gone to their posts. Her and Lelouch's various secretaries were bustling about doing their various jobs, which included getting on top of the media. They would soon need to get a statement to the press, before the story of the assassination attempt got of control. Milly was all too aware how the media worked, being a part of it not so long-ago time wise but at the same time a whole lifetime ago.

"Kallen." She heard Lelouch say.

Milly could understand the look of surprise that showed on Kallen's face. Lelouch had not talked directly to Kallen since the day Kallen had started her new position at guarding Milly. Milly was glad. She had been trying to get Lelouch to acknowledge Kallen's presence, but he had been stubbornly treating her as just another guard. Milly supposed the saving his wife's life today played a large factor in finally trusting Kallen. If only just a little.

"Yes Lel… Your Majesty?"

"Patterson just arrived. Escort him here would you?"

"Yes... err.. .Your Majesty" With a salute and a very small smile Kallen left. It was a job that normally one of the secretaries would do but they all were busy.

As soon as she left Suzaku entered.

"Are you alright?" He asked her concern evident in his voice.

Milly contained a sigh with difficulty. She was getting tired of people asking if she was alright.

"Yes, Suzaku I am fine."

"We will be the judge of the that Your Majesty." Dr. Harold said kindly as he and his wife to check her health.

This time Milly did sigh but let the doctors do as they wished. Milly closed her eyes and relaxed while the doctors prodded at different parts of her body. Today had been a long day. The day had started with morning sickness and then It had been meeting after meeting and then she had gone to visit the orphanage. Visiting the young adorable children at the crown funded orphanage always cheered her up, but her mood had soured considerably. Which should not be surprising since someone had tried to kill her and more importantly her unborn child. She wanted to go to bed, preferably with her husband present, but she had known that being Empress was not going to be easy when she had agreed to become one. She opened her eyes when she heard Suzaku talking

"…like a spur of moment thing. An agent acting on his own." Suzaku was saying.

"I agree with Sir Kururugi, Your Majesty." Jerimiah said. "Our spies claim ignorance. But it could that they themselves don't know."

Her husband and his two highest ranking Knights had commandeered the large dining table in the dining area of the suite as their command table. While the secretaries were working in the back, standing.

"We won't know until we actually interrogate the assassin." Lelouch said. "Though before that we need to get on top of the media."

"I'll handle the media." Milly said standing as soon as doctor gave the all clear, much to Lelouch's satisfaction judging by the look on his face. "You guys continue."

She joined them at the table and Patricia handed her a tablet and Milly set to work as the three most powerful men in the world decided on which questions to ask the assassin once he was under Lelouch's Geass. While under Lelouch's Geass people would always give the answers, they believed to be the truth they never gave details, so it was better to always ask as many questions as possible.

Soon Milly had a statement ready for the media. She showed it to Lelouch who glanced at it and nodded his approval. Milly handed back the tablet to Patricia who would work on releasing it to the press. Essentially, they were portraying the assassin as an everyday terrorist and who was soon going to be executed.

They heard a knock and Kallen entered with Patterson and they both saluted.

Patterson was short man in his early fifties. At first glance he looked plump but closer inspection revealed his plumpness to actually be thick muscles. He was one of the best generals in the current Britanian military. Though his true talents lay in gathering intelligence and executing missions based on said intelligence. He had proven himself to be reliable and trustworthy.

Lelouch got up to leave to interrogate the assassin. Suzaku and Jerimiah following his lead. Milly remained seated.

Lelouch kissed the top of her head as he passed her.

"Oh. Before you leave Lelouch." Milly asked looking up at her husband, "Is it correct to assume that the plan for Australia will soon be enacted?"

Lelouch paused, probably wondering why she was asking this, then said "Yes, I was planning on calling a meeting to go over the plan after Marrybell gets here tomorrow."

Milly smiled and looked at Suzaku and said "Well Suzaku I believe congratulations are in order."

"Congratulations? For what?" Suzaku asked tentatively.

"Well if the plan is going to be enacted" Milly said grinning "You are going to be officially engaged to be married to the lovely princess Mari."

Suzaku blushed and spluttered while Jerimiah and Lelouch laughed. Hearing her husband laugh made up for her long day, even if the day had included an assassination attempt.

LBLBLBLBLBLBLBLBLBLBLBLBLBLBLBLB

Gino entered the barracks his squad had been assigned. He would be meeting his new squad today. He had gone through part of basic training over the past weeks (Gino had done his best to keep up his physical exercises while he had been in prison) until sergeant in charge of training had been satisfied and Gino had then shipped off to a Britanian military base.

When he entered the barrack, he was greeted by a sight he would not have expected in a million years but had sorely missed. There standing near a bunk bed unpacking a rucksack was a tall man with black hair.

"James!" Gino exclaimed at looking at his old cell mate and dear friend from prison.

"Gino!?" James responded.

"How…?" they both said together and then wrapped each other in a hug.

After letting each other go. They both told their tales. Gino went first telling James how exactly he had been recruited by the Emperor. Though Gino only was careful not to bad mouth the demon emperor even in front of James considering where they were. Also, despite James being Gino's closest friend he was not sure about James's loyalties.

"So what about you? How did you get here?" Gino asked James. "I thought they had taken you for execution!"

"I thought the same when the guards took me out of the cell that day." James explained. "Instead they took me to the visiting area where I met my mother. She told me that she went to the Empress to find out if I was alive or not. Instead the Empress arranged for my release. Though I was told I had to continue my military service for some time."

"Sorry." Gino said.

"Hey, I am not complaining. I am not in prison anymore and I am very grateful to the empress. And I will be able to visit my family."

They continued to talk while the other members of their squad came in and introduction were made. All in all, Gino was having a good time bonding with his fellow soldier's when he heard a sharp "Attention!"

And the whole squad went to attention position. The squad leader had entered the tent.

Gino's mouth fell open when he realized who the squad leader was.

"Rivalz!" Gino exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"That's sergeant Rivalz Cardemonde to you private Weinberg" Rivalz said in a tone of command Gino had never heard from the former jovial member of the student council of Ashford academy. Though Gino did notice Rivalz had a small smile on his face.

"Apologies sergeant Cardemonde. I was just surprised to see you here sir" Gino said

"Apology accepted since you just saved me from introducing myself." Gino said in a stern tone. "I am here to announce where we are going to be deployed."

"Where is that sir?" James asked.

"Australia." Gino said, "The Knight of Zero is getting married."

Boy this day just kept on giving surprises.

A/N:

That's it for this chapter.

Again, please leave a review they help me improve.