"You know I'm not a saint." Squall replied quietly as Selphie smiled at him in the restaurant.

"I know you're not a saint." She returned quickly, shoving a fork full of pasta into her mouth. The candle in the centre of the table brought a subtle glow to the table as the two ate dinner together.

The two really hadn't had any time to themselves recently and felt that the escape was necessary so that they could spend some time together. As usual however, their conversations always seemed to end up being about SeeD stuff. Selphie hated it, but she knew that Squall needed the venting time. And so she sat there somewhat quietly, listening to the lament about how Squall had been attempting to explain something to a group of students who just wouldn't seem to stop talking while he was talking.

"The whole group?" Selphie asked quickly.

"Yeah."

The short, clipped reply was typical of the Lion as Selphie attempted once again to the change the subject. Since they had started dating, she had pretty much turned into Squall confidant which was perfectly fine by her. If he told anybody about the thoughts on his mind, the perky brunette was glad that it was her and not someone else.

"Wait wait wait," Selphie interjected during a particular loud part of their conversation in which she could detect Squall was getting angry. "You didn't just leave them alone in the training centre did you?"

Squall frowned as Selphie went back to eating her dinner. "No." he replied quietly, following the same suit as his dinner date.

"Then what did you do?" Selphie shot at him after a silence that seemed like an eternity to her. It was moments like this that made other people go crazy but with Selphie, she just wanted to leap across the table and hug the man that she cared for.

"I handed them over to a more experienced instructor." Squall dropped his fork onto the plate before him, hands weaving into his dark chocolate coloured hair. Stormy eyes went to stare at the plate of pasta in front of him. Feeling a familiar touch that he craved desperately, he looked up to see Selphie smiling up at him.

"You explain things just fine in a one-on-one situation and missions. The kids always try to disrespect their Instructors; sometimes they win, sometimes they don't. You have to earn their respect too or they're not gonna respect you in the long run. See, they think they know it all and that they're invincible and they will always question those who take up weapons and fights y'know what I mean?"

Squall nodded briefly. "But I'm not the saint that everyone makes me out to be. I hate it."

"You don't have to be a saint," Selphie replied before the brunet could wallow in his angst any further. "You just have to straighten those kids out and make certain that they won't get killed. That's what an instructor does;" she paused to look Squall in the eyes. "We save lives."