I spent ages on this one weekend and then finished it quickly tonight. Like all of my stuff, it's not betaed. Therefore, if you notice errors, they're all my fault and you can ignore them and whatever. I got tired of working on this by the time I decided it was done.

"Quistis," Seifer said, and his voice was very tired, and perhaps a little relieved, and maybe he was shaking a little. Though it wasn't fear, just exhaustion, he said to himself, and made himself believe it. He was tired, so very, very tired, and laying down would be a blessing right then.

"Seifer," she said, and she was surprised how much compassion leaked through the masks that she kept up for appearances. "Are you alright?"

"Do I look it?" he asked, a shadow of his former smirk there, and she had to admit it, he didn't look at all fine. "Fujin and Raijin went to Galbadia, but I… didn't want to. So I came here. Can you help me?"

"I'll have to talk to Squall," she said, with a small frown, but she was already moving to help him, taking part of his weight on her misleadingly thin shoulders. "Do you need to go to the infirmary?"

"Yeah. Stab wound… my left side." He gritted his teeth and started moving, forcing her to move with him. "Hate to admit it, but I'm going to pass out if we don't get there fast, and I'm not sure you could handle all my weight."

"I'm stronger than I look," was all she said, taking a little more of his weight, allowing them to go a little faster. She needed answers, so she talked as they walked too slowly towards the infirmary. And maybe it would keep his mind off his wounds, which would be a good thing, of course. "What's happened to you? Were you attacked?"

"I think that's obvious, isn't it?" He took a ragged breath, and the world swam in front of him. "Was in Balamb, some crazy bastard from Deling city… Fu and Rai tried to help, but I didn't want them full of holes too, so I told them to get somewhere safe. Why the fuck they decided Galbadia was safe I don't know, but… ah, shit."

Quistis didn't ask him more, sensing his mind focused on not passing out. She couldn't imagine how he must feel; after all, he was strong, and never needed to rely on anyone else, before this. A sorceress hater attacked him, she supposed, with a sigh, as they finally reached the infirmary and Doctor Kadowaki came out to help, taking some of Seifer's weight from her.

"What's happened to him?" she asked, all business, never caring who a person was until after they were treated. Then she would ask questions, but not before.

"He was attacked. He's got a stab wound in his left side, and I can tell he's lost a lot of blood. That's all I really know."

"You'd better go and talk to the Commander," she said, as she lifted Seifer onto a bed and stripped off his trench coat. She was strong enough not to need any help, so Quistis nodded and turned to go, heading outside. She wasn't surprised to see Squall already there, leaning against the wall, as uncaring on the outside as ever. He knew everything that went on in his Garden, to the point where students whispered that he was psychic.

"Come up to my office," was all he said, standing up straight and striding off. Quick and sure was Squall; authority suited him, sat well on his shoulders. People trusted him to make the right decisions, and even though he had protested against it at first, he handled his new role well. Commander of SeeDs, head of one of the most powerful military forces of the world, he fulfilled every requirement and steered Garden (and other organisations, too, though he wouldn't admit to it) in the right directions with a sure hand.

She had to admit she was a little jealous of him. She knew he didn't abuse it, but he had everything he wanted. People made too much of him; it hadn't been him alone that defeated the sorceress, after all. She could command Garden as well as he could, surely.

"Why is he here?" Squall asked, as she took a seat in front of his desk. Thankfully, he didn't sit behind it, just leant against his desk, facing away from her, towards the window.

"He was attacked. He came here for help."

"Does he expect us to protect him?"

"I don't know," she frowned a little, "It isn't Seifer's way, though, that."

"It isn't," he agreed. "I guess he can stay here as long as he needs to, if you can keep an eye on him."

That was something she still liked about Squall. He thought things out, he made his mind up, and then that was that, without any beating about the bush. He got the unnecessary uncertainty worked out in his head, and then he spoke.

"Yes, Commander," she said, stood, and left. She would go to see how Seifer was doing, later, after she had done her teaching.

-----

"I'm glad to see you're alright," Quistis said, and she really was glad. It showed in the gentle curve of her lips. She didn't smile much anymore, as her little fan club had noticed before they moved on to Squall. No reason to smile, really.

"Thanks, for getting me to the infirmary so fast," he said, awkward, but there was a little smile on his face, too. "Kadowaki told me that if you hadn't, I'd have been a goner. I needed a blood transfusion."

"Squall said you can stay in Garden," she said, quickly, the words spilling out unbidden. She didn't want him to even think about leaving, wanted him to stay and give some explanation for the time he'd spent away from them. She wanted to know, with some sick fascination, how he had felt when he fought them. How he had felt being the lapdog of a sorceress. Whether he regretted it.

He shook his head, "I don't know if I should. Rai and Fu…"

"You need to get better, and retrain. If someone managed to do that to you…" and she reached out to put a hand on his bandaged side for emphasis. He took in a sharp, hissing breath, and she snatched her hand away, giving him an apologetic smile.

"You're right, I guess, I should have been able to kick their asses. I just didn't… don't want to touch Hyperion again really, unless I have to, after all I've done." There was something naked and regretful and guilty in his eyes, and she regretted her own earlier wish to hear about how he felt. She had a feeling that that part of him at least had gone beyond her understanding.

"You can stay here for a while, at least while you recover," she said, and he smiled slightly.

"Yes, instructor," he teased, and she blinked for a moment before breathing a laugh.

"Did I sound bossy?"

"You always do. Is the cafeteria as bad as it used to be?"

She snorted softly, "It's tradition that a military school has a crap cafeteria, you know, that hasn't changed yet."

"Still, the coffee was always bearable when I was there." He smirked a little, just a shadow of his former smirk, but it was there. "Want to go and grab a coffee with me?"

"Why not?"

-----

It was night time. The air was cool, and there was a faint breeze as they sat out in the quad. Seifer had been silent for a while, looking down at his hands as if he could still see blood on them. Quistis watched him, memorised his silent profile. Traced each line of his strong boned body with her eyes, trying not to miss a single detail, until he looked up and caught her, smirking a little.

"Like what you see?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

If she was a little younger, or more like Rinoa or Selphie, she might have blushed. But they were more girls than women, and she'd been a woman a long time. "Why shouldn't I?"

He smirked even more. "I can't think of a reason; I am damn hot, if I do say so myself."

"Cocky," she murmured, smiling slightly. Later she would blame the night and the familiarity for setting the spell on her, but she leaned closer to him, her heart in her eyes, as naked and exposed as his guilt had been earlier. She let her professional mask down and she let him see the side of her that was lonely, that craved love. His love.

He kissed her. He couldn't really avoid it, with her wanting it so badly, and with a vague need for human contact within him. He knew it would probably cause trouble later, but he'd always been a magnet for trouble anyway and maybe this was worth it.

He kissed her for a long minute until she stood, taking his hands in hers and tugging him up, leading him to her room without a second thought. He wondered how she felt and found it written all over her; her body tense, nervous, but sure. She was strong, and smart, and maybe worth his attention. He followed her and didn't resist when she drew him into her room, kissed him, what she wanted plain in every action.

-----

She wasn't used to waking up with someone. Normally mornings were a cold, bare time filled with nothing but waking, cursing the sunlight, and getting dressed, building herself up for the day ahead. That morning she woke with Seifer's weight half on top of her and she had to laugh, pushing at his chest to make him get off her. "Get up," she told him, when he started to stir with a soft moan of reluctance.

"No. You're not going anywhere for at least another hour." He didn't move an inch.

"You're too heavy!" she protested.

"This from the woman who half carried me to the infirmary when I arrived?" he asked, but he rolled off her, trapping her with a warm, heavy arm instead. "You're still not going anywhere."

"Fine," she said, and nestled closer, resting her head against his shoulder. They stayed like that for a while, until she was almost asleep again despite herself.

He raised one hand and ran it through her hair, untangling it gently. "I love you," he said, quietly, taking her hand. She looked up into his eyes, surprised by the sudden words after a time of silence, and even though she was sensible, even though romance wasn't something she really wanted anymore now she was grown up, she believed him, felt her heart swelling a little at the tender expression in his green eyes.

"I love you too," she breathed, interrupting before he could say anything more, and he gave up on speaking and crushed her to him, his embrace tight and warm. She didn't let him say a thing, pressing her mouth to his, not letting a single 'but' escape him, a little greedy now that she had what she wanted. And wasn't she allowed to be greedy?

-----

He kissed her neck and ran his hands through her hair, both rough and gentle in the same moment, and she tilted her head to the side, letting him, enjoying it. He pressed her up against her desk, the edge digging into her back, and kissed her fiercely. They probably shouldn't have been doing it in a classroom anyway, so Quistis didn't mind so much when they were interrupted by the door opening and the Commander walking in. It was their own fault after all, she thought, as she stepped away from Seifer with only the faintest hint of a blush.

"There's something I want to say to Seifer," Squall said, looking between the two of them with sharp eyes that saw too much.

"You can say it in front of Quistis," Seifer said, narrowing his eyes at Squall. Wanted to say something? Wanted to say what? "Get on with it, Leonhart, can't you see we're busy?"

Squall nodded, accepting that, and met Seifer's eyes dead on, the old spark reviving between them in that moment. He didn't waste long on that gaze, simply lifting his chin, not even bothering to force a smile. His mouth was the same hard line he pressed it into when worried, when hurt, when trying not to show feelings. "I love you."

"You… what?"

"Love you." Squall crossed his arms in front of him, the sureness of his station and authority not fading in the slightest. "I know you don't love me. But I wanted to tell you."

"You… bastard," Seifer hissed, and lunged at Squall, hands outstretched. He didn't know what he was going to do; grab him, shake him, strangle him… But Quistis got in the way anyway, eyes still wide at what Squall had admitted so easily, right in front of her, even.

"Let him, Quistis," he said, his eyes narrowing a little, "It'll make him feel better."

Seifer gained control over himself, shaking his head. "How dare you assume shit like that?"

Quistis and Squall both just looked at him. Waiting.

"I only came to Garden when I was injured in the fucking first place because of how I felt about you, and you're stood there telling me that you 'know' I don't love you?" Seifer didn't spare Quistis anything. If she was a dramatic girl, like Rinoa, she'd have put a hand to her chest as if she'd been stabbed through the heart, but she didn't. She just stood, ashen faced, paler than death, while Seifer and Squall stared at each other.

So she meant nothing to him after all.

"I'll leave you to it," she said, quietly, and left the room, shutting the door behind her, trying not to think about how she'd been lied to, how she'd loved him; tried not to indulge in any wishful thinking that he'd really loved her, but loved Squall more. She just cauterized the wound, quickly and harshly, and told it not to bleed.

Always overlooked. That's what she was. She had been overlooked when they chose Squall to command Garden, and she'd been overlooked by even the people who had claimed to love her so, when they switched their attentions to Squall. She hadn't really minded it, then, but now, she saw it for the rejection it was. And now she realised that Seifer had never really loved her, that the 'but' she had refused to let him say might have saved her this heartbreak. That, once again, she was below Squall.

Seifer had been the one that arrived at Garden wounded, but his wound had been easy to stitch up. There was no doctor for Quistis, nothing that would ease the pain of the wound. So, as Seifer had come to Garden for the healing of his wounds, his presence was her wound so she left it, just walked out.