Three months later

They were laughing as they packed up their things. The front yard was a bit of a mess, but it had been a great cookout. Rivalz tried his best to operate the barbecue and while they weren't charcoal-like last time, the hot dogs were a little darker than normally desired. "Thanks for having us over Mrs. Fenette!"

Shirley's mom smiled sweetly. "Well come over again as soon as my little girl can get down out of that palace!"

"Mom, please," Her daughter groaned, not quite the fan of having her status touted outside of said palace.

"Oh just let me dote on you just a little! I hardly get to see you these days!"

A devilish grin crossed Milly's face. "Can we join too?"

Without really waiting for an answer, her and Rivalz all cooed at her, joining Shirley's mother as the squashed her in a massive bear hug. "G-guys..you're crushing me.."

"Fine. Have it your way." Milly and Rivalz let go, and her mother figured she should as well. The light was fading. Twilight was coming a little earlier as winter approached, and they would have to bring all the fun indoors eventually.

Shirley leaned down and started picking up the Bean toss target, taking note to get a bucket for all the bean bags. "Let me help you clean up. Jeez, Milly can get wild."

"I heard that!"

She frowned, shouting over to the news van. "Will you two just go and get that thing out of here already!"

"Mrowr! So catty!"

She glared at Rivalz and made a cutting sign across her own neck. He winced and decided to hop into the van. "So I take it I'm going to have to stay here again tonight." His question was enough to make Milly shake her head. Like a lot of things he did.

"It's getting cold, Mr. Cardemonde. There's plenty of room at my place. You don't have to stay out there like a savage."

Another mischievous grin. "I know. I was just fishing a little."

"Sneaky bastard.." She muttered. There was a smile on her face too. They pulled out, waving to Shirley and Mary as they drove out of the suburbs and into the night.

Her mom smiled, the darkness allowing her to look a little younger after having aged so much this past year. "I'm happy for those two."

"Huh? Those two?"

Her mom giggled to herself. "Sweetheart, you go on and on about love and it's wonders, yet you're the worst spotter cupid could ask for."

She protested, but in the end, they both laughed it off as they continued cleaning up the yard. Another fifteen minutes and the food, grill, and everything else had been moved back inside. They still had a little while before she had to be back, so the two grabbed a cup of coffee for each and sat out on the porch. "Ahhh...How long has it been since we've had time like this?"

She smiled, looking out at a few neighborhood kids riding into the night. "Since before school last year I think."

Her mother nodded, taking a small sip to make sure it wasn't too hot. "I just wish things moved a little...Less quickly.."

"Oh come now.."

"I mean it! Jessica's mother doesn't have to worry about, well...All of that over there." She was pointing at the black limousines at the corner, their drivers ever vigilant. "But I suppose it's necessary. My little girl she's..she's.." Mary began sobbing. She set down her coffee cup and clung to her daughter for the umpteenth time that month. "She's become the most famous woman in the empire! I brag about you everywhere I go!"

"You probably shouldn't do that, mom." Shirley lamented. Her eyes wandered the small stones and cracks near the porch. "Those guys could still be out there."

Her mom looked around, a bit warier now as she spoke. "You mean, your people haven't found them yet?"

"We caught most of them, but a small sect managed to escape. That's why those guys are there." Shirley gazed back over to the group of men, standing by to protect them in almost any scenario, with tech upgrades from Lloyd Asplund himself.

Mary nodded, a long breath escaping her lips. "At least you're alright..."

"Yeah." She leaned in, noting the flatness in her voice. "Shirley...You..Are alright, aren't you?" Once again, her mother was in pursuit.

"Mom, I'll be okay. Things are a lot better now.'"

"But just because they're better doesn't mean less work for an Empress. If anything, she has to manage all of that on her own...You even look tired on television."

"T-The camera does tha.." Shirley yawned, feeling her blood flow shift as she stretched. "Well, sometimes it does." Concern wore on her mother's face. There had been a lot of joy, explaining, and tears upon the revelation that her daughter had moved to the highest seat in Britannian society. But with that joy came work, and with that work, Mary called frequently to make sure she was taking care of herself.

It was difficult to worry about her mother worrying over her, but at least she had her. "Whatever may come. I know one thing. Your father is proud of you, Shirley. He always wished that the empire would let go of some of its ways. When we were younger, before we had you, he used to work at a local factory day in and day out. I watched him work there, day after day, killing himself just so we could live."

Shirley said nothing, letting the weight of her mother's words build on themselves. A swelling sense of pride rooted itself in her chest and grew as she continued. "But now, that doesn't have to happen. At least, not as often. I see you and that Nunnally girl on there, talking with the new Prime Minister. He seems like a good man."

"He is. He and his wife are about to have a baby!" Last she'd seen, Villetta was about to pop, and was happy for the family that awaited her.

Mary laughed. "Well, you can tell me all about it when you make me some gran..."

"..."

Her mother cleared her throat, then sighed again. "I'm so sorry, dear."

"We've gone over this mom...I'm going to be okay. The empire will get along just fine."

"I know. I just had some high hopes...That's all. But life is like that sometimes, isn't it? But we can't linger on sadness for too long. The world isn't going to stop because we want to. We have to keep going, even if it hurts."

She patted her on the back. "You're so much like Joseph. Such grit" Mary laughed, giving Shirley a hard pat on the back. They talked for a little while longer, arranging a time when Mary would be ready to move onto the palace grounds, gossiping about family and old friends, and then a farewell as Shirley walked down the street to her limo.

Waiting there, was a cyborg, dressed in a grey suit and black sunglasses. His eyes compensated for the faded darkness. "Ms. Kozuki called while you were gone." He opened the door, letting her in, shut the door, then moved to the driver's seat. "She wanted to know when you were going to go on that hike."

Shirley nodded. "I'll see her in about a week. I've wanted to go there forever!" Kallen had approached her with an offer to see the southern Appalachian mountains. It wasn't any big trip, but they'd both been talking about needing a break from their work and figured they could put some time aside to catch up.

"Just be careful about how you manage your time. Two weeks can go by pretty fast."

|"I'm sure I'll have plenty of time, Jeremiah. But what about you? Don't you plan on taking a vacation sometime soon?"

"Perhaps. That Anya girl and I do plan on starting an entrepreneurship."

Shirley raised a brow in the rearview mirror, one of the cuter expressions she had, if the loyal servant said so himself. "And what's that going to be?"

"An Orange farm. It turns out that this whole agricultural business may not be as difficult as I thought." A snicker. And at the wrong time, too. They hit a stoplight and the cyborg turned to face her. "Is something wrong, your majesty?"

She gave him a mischievous grin. "Nothing. I just think it's fitting." He shook his head as the light turned green.

"That's what they all say!" He managed to bring to her personal flight, Jeremiah waving her off as she went before he had to drive the limousine back and return to his duties. Once the plane had taken off, he sat down, put his key in the ignition, then scoffed. "Oh...Oh, I get it.."

She was back to the palace a little later than she would've liked. Not that it mattered, but she still felt bad for making the staff at the palace work long hours for her sake. C. C. was waiting once she'd left the hangar, walking abreast as they left the hangar and into the halls of the palace. "The progress on the reconstruction in Tokyo is going well, although they're having trouble with some flooding in some of the pipes that were cut off. They're going to go through with pumping the pool at the crater's center to the sea."

Shirley nodded, yawning and stretching. "What about the Damocles?"

"It went off without a hitch. The load was a lot to get into the atmosphere, but the station and any known FLEIJA weapons burned up into the sun today at around 9:00 am EST. And no, the Geass order still hasn't been found." The empress nodded once more, her mind at that special halfway point between dreams and reality, that haze when the lights and voices around you don't seem as real as they should. At last, they reached the indoor statue, standing in front of it as C. C. stopped and waved her back.

"Rolo Lamperouge, a protector of the throne and loyal knight," was etched into the plaque. "I apologize...I should've looked a little deeper into where they were stationed."

Shirley put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll figure it out. They're not nearly as strong as the used to be. You said so yourself."

"That's no reason to lose caution. We'll be doubling our patrols along the Aegean sea and along the coast of Greenland."

"Get some rest."

C. C. blinked. "Huh?"

"Look at that. And that!" Sure they were alone, but a sudden finger on her eyelid was jarring as all hell. "You've got bags under your eyes. I know you're.." Shirley looked around, a little girl telling some classroom secret to a friend. "I know you're invincible-"

"Immortal," C. C. corrected.

"Same thing! But you can't be going that long without sleep. Take care of yourself."

"I'll finish my vacation once you see yours through all the way." Shirley felt a little stifled. C.C. Gave a smug grin, and continued. "An all-expenses-paid vacation. My choice."

There was a mountain of paperwork on her desk at any given moment. Once she'd worked all of Sunday to make Monday a little easier, and it was simply replaced with a new pile by morning."But..Nunnally-"

"Has the training and guidance from Ohgi, Suzaku and her extended family to sit on the throne for roughly a fortnight." Well, she had her beat.

"O-okay...Just make sure it's somewhere nice, alright?"

C. C. just spun around and marched away. Beaming as she hummed a tune to herself. The empress went to take her leave, when the witch's voice yanked her back once more. "Also...I...I'm terribly sorry. I haven't said it yet, but."

She cleared her throat. Smugness washed away in favor of humility. "Some of the things I've done..They've hurt a lot of people these past few weeks. I'm sure you remember...Mao."

"...I do..."

"He's my fault. It's complicated. But that shouldn't have happened."

"Lulu told me, C. C...The past is in the past. There's no use worrying about it now."

There was apprehension in those golden eyes, a lingering cloud hanging over this brightly lit room. "He traumatized you and you're willing to let that go?"

Shirley shrugged. "Bad things happen every day. We just have to move forward, or else the past will tear us apart. You know all about that, don't you?"

"I suppose you're right.." There was a single tear down the witch's face. The thing is, all of the people she'd loved and known throughout her life were mostly gone, with a smaller and smaller fraction of them being with her for only so long. Regret and pain were natural parts of her existence Apathy and emotional dissonance only came from seeing the ugliness of the world in it's full and yet having to retain some humanity through it all.

"Still...I can't just let it go." She stormed up to the empress, grabbed her hand and lifted it to her cheek. "I want you to wind back and give me the hardest slap you've ever given." Shirley looked absolutely dumbfounded, just like she had in her first few weeks on her throne. Back when C. C. would roll her eyes at the girl's ignorance before she remembered that Mao had-GODDAMMIT

"Hit. Me. I'm Immortal and I won't break or anything...Well, permanently.." Perhaps there would be a bruise for a few hours, but this girl had been through far worse than looking ugly for half a day.

She raised a brow, leaning in to verify. "But it'll still be painful."

"Of course." Instead of complying with her, the girl put a finger to her lips as she pondered her next choice. C. C. was losing her patience and began thinking of a thousand people that would've done this a long time ago. Back in the days of sword and shield, it seemed like just about everyone had beef with her.

"I've got a better idea..." A few minutes later, the two had entered the personal kitchen of her majesty. A larger, more luxurious home kitchen that overlooked the Ares Villa. C. C. remembered a TV crew touring it on some cooking channel she saw back at Ashford. They had to be given special passes to come near this place and another pass to actually enter. Here, they just walked right in. Shirley reached inside the fridge, and C. C. was confused.

"I don't exactly know what you're trying to do you're hi-" A red object came flying at her, and the witch could only stand there and let it happen once her brain had fully processed what it was.

The object exploded in chunks across her face, and some pulp trickled down to her collar. "I think I like this a bit better," Shirley giggled.

C. C. glared at the bits of tomato. Her heart toiled she staved off both feelings of hatred and love, conflicting thoughts as she wiped it away from her. The fruit had brought her so much joy so many times, and yet, had tried to drown her at, of all things, a student festival. "What's the matter? Your face looks awfully red!"

One of them sniggered. Then Shirley started laughing. And bizarre as it was, C. C. couldn't help but smile too."I take it this is your form of revenge?"

"Something like that." C. C. shook her head. It'd been too long that someone had joked with her like this. She'd been crushed and broken so many times that

"Thank you, your majesty. Have a good night, and make sure to pack. You're leaving by noon." Her advisor left, and Shirley went to her room. The light flickered on, and the empress went about her evening routine. Bathing, brushing her teeth, checking over last-minute updates, before finally collapsing on her bed.

Her thoughts had started to drift away at last, the fresh smell of washed fabric in her face when she opened her eyes just a slit. His side of the bed was empty. A pang in her chest rippled through her. She supposed it was a sort of guilt that would never go away. That things would have happened differently had she not stayed behind.

There was a small chess board that sat on the small counter. A lone black king lied right in the diagonal path of a bishop three squares down. "Hmmm." A black queen, hard as it was to see, was diagonal of the bishop by four squares. After verifying that the move was legal she captured the bishop. With a yawn, Shirley decided to finish the game after she came back and fell asleep.

Takamaki Airport, Hokkaido prefecture.

3 miles outside of Utashinai, United States of Japan

It was funny how they almost lost this place. It was a simple matter of forgetting. They barely had the time to sit on the throne before the battle, and Shirley had nearly forgotten that they still owned the land. She made sure her payments were done in secret and had made some deals with the local government to make sure this could be a special little place.

Not so long ago, this was where she and C. C. had trained. Where she had loved Lelouch and where they had lived in relative peace during that single month that the world was falling into chaos. There was a security system installed now, and there was a fence that guarded the perimeter. Should something happen out here, multiple buttons were installed and a distress signal would be sent to their forces within minutes. A huff of breath escaped her lips. Better safe than sorry.

Better safe than sorry.

The limousine stopped, and a few men stepped out to make sure the coast was clear. When it was, Shirley emerged, thanked the drivers, and allowed them to begin their watch rotation. It was far from ideal, but necessary. A trot up the stairs, a knock on the door, and a young lady in a maid outfit answered, the sunlight illuminating her face. Sayoko let her inside, and she put down her bag. Immediately, she escorted Shirley to the back room. "Lulu..."

There he was. Still sleeping in that bed they'd shared together. His body was riddled with a few scars and it'd been a hell of a battle to keep him stable during the first week. But the worst was over. "He stayed up late last night, reading some of the books you've sent."

"Of course he did," She smiled. Always trying to keep occupied. So much like him. She leaned over and took out a scrunchie from her pocket.

"What are you-" She shushed Sayoko, smiling as she leaned over and managed to snatch a decent-length tuft of Lelouch's hair. Fingers swift, and the prince's deep sleep, she'd succeeded in giving him a side-ponytail. Not perfect, but just as she liked it.

He finally grumbled and awoke, a flowery scent catching his nose. And a brush of hair. And the ponytail on the side of his head being bobbed also helped a little. "Lulu...Good morning."

Lelouch smiled. "So...They've cut you loose long enough to come out here?"

"How are you feeling?"

Lelouch shrugged. "Just fine."

"Are you sure?"

"No. My name is Lelouch."

Shirley frowned but lit up again. "Perhaps it should be...Leloucha."

"Lelouch...a?" It was then that he felt the weight of the tail on his side, and let loose a long exhale. "Perhaps they should."

"I mean, you look so beautiful!" She played with it once again. In that house on the countryside of Hokkaido, the couple fooled around and bickered as the grass and trees were touched by the summer sun. Soon, his healthy state would be revealed to the public, and then everyone would know their emperor had returned.

But for now, they laughed and loved. Alive and happy.

"Guess what papa!? Someday when I grow up, I'm going to be your wife!"

"Oh, that's very sweet of you honey...But your teacher told you, didn't they?"

"Huh?"

"Someday you'll meet the man you really love."

"More than I do you?"

"Hm...It's hard to explain...Well...If you truly love that person, and he cares for you just as much, then that would make me the happiest father on earth."

And somewhere, that father was smiling.

The End.

NOTE: And with that, my epic ends. This story went through multiple drafts and revisions, leading to it taking just over a year to actually finish. Thank you all for reading this! It made the work worthwhile indeed. there are a few more stories on the way that will be set in this universe. Rivalz x Milly, Suzaku x Euphy, and a ship that should be an...Interesting match indeed. Code Geass has become my favorite anime of all time, and I wanted to do justice and make a happy ending for everyone's favorite mastermind, Lelouch, and best girl. Something to fill the gap of the sadness that the actual series brings about for them.

Again, thank you and have an awesome day~