He sat at his desk, looking at all the work he had before him. Mountains of paperwork, a foot high, had been placed on his desk by his assistant. Form after form, request after request, thank you letters and even invitations, all required he's careful attention. The commander's work is never done.

The man let out a big sigh; he then looked at his watch. Almost noon, he thought, Rinoa should be here soon. Squall looked back at the paper in his hand. Let's see, the mayor of Dollet wants some SeeDs to investigate some monster activity in the mountains. I would rate this as a level 1 assignment. Some rookie SeeDs should be able to handle this job. I should send Quistis with them just in case. He started typing the details on the Dollet assignment into his computer.

"Squall?"

He looked up to see Rinoa's smiling at him. Hyne, she is beautiful…

"Squall, it is time for lunch. Are you busy?" Rinoa opened the door further and walked toward him.

"I am just finishing up. I will just need five more minutes. So, just go on ahead." He looked back at his computer and motioned her away.

"Oh no you don't Squall Leonhart, you told me the same thing two days ago and I waited in the cafeteria for you for three hours. I am staying right here for five minutes then I am dragging you out of here." She plopped her butt in the guest chair.

Squall raised his left eyebrow. "Whatever." I was hoping she had forgotten about that… He bit his lip. I better finish this quickly, or I will never hear the end of this. He concentrated harder on the computer screen.

"Man… this is boring" Rinoa looked around the office. The bird flying past the window caught her eye. It is so pretty outside. Her brown eyes scanned Squall's desk for anything interesting.

"You don't have to stay here; I will be down soon enough." It had been fifteen minutes, since she had let herself into the office. Squall picked up a manila folder to the right of him. Ah here it is the new SeeD list. Let's see, who would be the best for this job… He glanced up at Rinoa. She was pawing at some stuff on his desk. "You are distracting me."

"I was just tidying up some of these papers." Rinoa tried to look as innocent as possible.

"No need."

She looked at the clock to see that fifteen minutes have gone by. After she stood up, she walked around the desk. Grabbing Squall's arm she started to pull. Pull as she might she could not get the man to move, "Come on Squall, you have had more than five minutes, it is time to go to lunch."

"Just five more minutes."

The bottom of her lip began to pout, she let go of his arm and started to walk back to her chair.

She is so cute when she pouts like that. The corners of his mouth curled into a soft smile.

"What are you smiling about?" Rinoa started to look annoyed.

"Nothing." As he shook his head from side to side, his smile widened.

"Tell me."

"No." His smile turned into a light chuckle. He loved pushing her buttons

Rinoa's face was beginning to turn red. She plopped down in the chair with her arms crossed. "You are such a jerk sometimes."

"So I hear…" His voice trailed off into his work.

"I can be a jerk too!"

"Oh, really?" He was treading in dangerous water. "What are you going to do? Wave your arms and turn me into a frog…"

Her eyes met his gaze. "No, I am going to do this…" She stretched her hands out, "Aero!" Rinoa had never seen Squall's eyes open so wide. He reached out to stop her, but it was already too late. The spell whipped around the office with a break neck speed. Papers, folders, and writing implements flew in different directions. The desk was void of all it once held. Paper rained from the heavens.

He slammed his fists on the desk, "ALL MY WORK!!!" He combed his hands his hair and sunk forward. He could barely contain the rage he was feeling. Squall gripped his hair tightly, trembling with anger.

Rinoa looked around, the office was a mess. Crap, I over did it. She looked at Squall, "Well, I guess we can go to the cafeteria now…" She smiled sheepishly.

His head jerked up so fast it startled her. "Rinoa…" her name sounded like a growl. He stood up and walked around his desk. Squall grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.

"Ow…"

"Get out."

"I am sorry. I will help clean everything up. Please Squall." He gave her a stern look, "I was angry. You have been so busy lately. The only time I get to see you is at lunch and at night… And you are always sleeping at night." Tears began to appear and glide down her face. "I hate being second to your job."

Letting go of her arm, he turned away. I am an ass. Wait a minute SHE is the one who destroyed my office and I am the ass? But, I have been busy lately. His hand met his forehead. And she really does seem sorry. I was kind of egging her on too with the frog thing.

He knelt down and started picking up papers, "You can help me clean."

Picking up the papers was the easy part. Organizing them was going to take the rest of the day. Neither one of them spoke to each other while they picked up the mess.

"(GRUMMBLE GRRRUMB)" Rinoa thought her stomach was going to eat itself. Clutching her stomach, she attempted to continue with the clean up.

"You are really hungry aren't you?" Squall didn't look up; he just continued to pick up papers.

"Yes."

"Let's go get lunch then." He looked up to show a small smile, "I am hungry, too."

She nodded with agreement, "Should we finish picking up everything first? There is not much left."

"Sure."

The desk had stacks of papers on it. Only a few remained on the ground. Rinoa went to one of the corners still covered in paper. As she began to pick up some folders she noticed a hot pink letter on the ground. It was addressed to Squall and herself. "Squall, what's this?"

"Looks like a thank you letter. I stopped opening them because they all say the same thing.

"It has my name on it too."

"Take it then." Without another thought, he placed another stack of papers on the desk. Done, all that is left is the area Rinoa is in. He began walking towards her.

Rinoa looked at the letter in her hand. I rarely get thank you letters. Nobody ever wants to thank a sorceress. She closed her eyes and smiled. "Thanks." She placed the letter in her pocket gently. She looked around to see that Squall had picked up the remaining sheets. She got up and walked to the desk with her stack. "Finally, we are done."

Squall walked up behind her. Gently wrapping his arms around her, he thanked her for the help. Strange, he never really hugs me. Usually I do all the hugging. Rinoa sighed, perhaps it wasn't such a bad day after all.