He looked into her bright green eyes, and smiled. Rinoa may have cracked his shell, but this girl had melted it with one single smile. She was the light that burned away his darkness. Since the day he had met her, he knew one thing.
"You're going to be the end of me, you know that?" Squall said to her. Selphie giggled.

"Yeah, and you'll love every minute of it." She said, bursting out in gales of laughter. Squall cracked another smile, which quickly turned to a frown as he looked at his watch.
"I have to meet Quists in an hour.." He said. Selphie giggled again.
"So go meet her. You don't have to stick around little ole me." She said, smiling gently at him.

"...But," He started, but Selphie put a finger on his lips.
"No excuses, mister. Go. GO!" She said, pushing him out forcibly out of the Quad. Others watched them and laughed to themselves.

"She's the only one that the Commander'll let do that to him." One of the students said to another, who laughed.

Squall sighed, leaning on his elbow staring at the Galbadian Minister of Trade, droning on and on about the prices of various fruit exports.

I've been sitting here for hours. Why on Gaia do I have to be here? Garden has nothing to do with trade. He though to himself, and, as if reading his mind, the Minister explained the reason.

"I was hoping that we could hire SeeD to cut down some of the smuggling rings? For a reasonable price, to be sure." He asked, looking pointedly at Squall, who sat up immediately.

"Hm.. 50,000 gil per smuggling ring." Squall had long since lowered the standard price for hiring SeeD. It required him to cut the pay rates, too, but nobody had complained. NORG's prices had been outrageous. Still, the Galbadian Minister frowned at the price.

"Isn't that a bit.." He started to ask, but Squall interrupted him.

"Would you rather let the smugglers do as they will? I can guarantee they won't bother you again. Besides, the price is nowhere near as much as it used to be. 50,000 gil, and you can get a highly qualified team of SeeDs. I'll even let you choose said SeeDs, if you wish." As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew what would happen. He regretted ever saying that. The Minister responded immediately.

"I want Tilmett, Dincht, and Almasy." He said, grinning at the Commander's mishap.

"Dincht is currently on a long term mission in Esthar, the details of which are classified, and not important anyway. Almasy can be spared, but Selphie.." He flinched as he used her first name. Not very Commander-like, now is it. "I mean, Tilmitt..being an S-Rank SeeD has her choice of mission. Rest assured I will inform her of your desire, but the final choice will be up to her."
Squall was not a praying man, but as the others filed out of the meeting room (Quistis giving him a worried look), he looked to the ceiling and whispered two words.

"..Please no.."

"...and that's the situation." He finished, looking at Selphie, who fingered the edges of her skirt.

"What do you think I should do?" She asked him, after minutes of waiting.

"It would be a good diplomatic solution to our problems with Galbadia, and would help solidify the peace treaty." She grimaced.

"I asked what YOU think. As the man I plan to marry one day, not as my Commander." She said, looking at him.

"...I don't want you to go. I..if I lost you I.." He couldn't finish, and sat on their couch, head held in his hands. She sat beside him, and embraced him.

"I've been trained for combat since I was a little girl..what happened to Rin won't happen to me." As soon as she mentioned the Sorceress's name, both her and Squall flinched. It was the first time either of them had mentioned it since...since that day.

"Lieutenant Mason, move your squad to reinforce the front! Don't let them get through!" Rinoa smiled at Squall as she gave the orders. She put the radio down.

"So? How am I doing for my first battle in charge?" She asked him. He started to reply when there was a whizzing sound, and Rinoa's mouth opened in shock and pain. She slowly looked down to her chest, where a dark hole had appeared. Blood pooled from the hole, as she looked back up to Squall.

She fell.

"Squall?" Selphie looked at him worriedly, "I shouldn't have said anything, I'm so sorry!" He shook his head.

"Don't worry about it...it was an accident." He smiled weakly at her. She fidgeted nervously.
"If..if you don't want me to go, I won't." He shook his head.

"No, no, it would be better for you to go." He grimaced. "But I'm sending Quistis with you and Seifer. I'll get another teacher, but I don't want just you and Seifer out there alone." Selphie nodded, and smiled.

"Don't worry, Squall. I'll be alright." She said. They embraced.

A/N: Phew. This was the secret project. It changed quite a bit (it was originally gonna be a D&D fanfic, but I changed it to this. And yes, this IS a Squalphie fic, and it WILL be focusing on the romance. Anyways, as usual, Read, Review, what you liked, what you didn't like, what you think I should change! And I hope you guys and girls enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it!