Squall was lying on the sofa, in his room at Garden while he flipped lazily through various TV channels. He was bored. And not just minorly – his symptoms bordered on the extreme. It had only been a few days since Cid had "banished" the newly-promoted Captain to three weeks of vacation and in just that short time span, he had begun to go mad with the though of three weeks of idol nothingness ahead of him.

As he got to the end of the channel guide list, he threw down the remote in resentment before turning off the television. There was nothing on – or, at least nothing that he was interested in seeing. He sat up and sighed. 'Three weeks,' he thought bitterly to himself. 'Three weeks of this.' He could be doing better things, he told himself; in fact, he did have better things to do. Shortly before he had been locked out of his office – again, courtesy of Cid – he distinctly remembered a pile of paperwork, filled to the brim with SeeD requests and budgetary issues, which definitely needed doing. Of course, Cid had promised to take care of that as well.

'Yea right,' he snorted inwardly. Sure, he knew the job would more than likely be done, but somehow he couldn't see the Headmaster filling out any of those sheets. By taking care of it, he really meant hat he'd have those papers transferred to Xu first thing in the morning.

Suddenly he had a desire to call the petite woman, who served as his unofficial assistant. He started for the phone on the coffee table on his left but began to think better of it once he seized the receiver. He hesitated over the speed-dial button as a thought occurred to him. Today was a Wednesday, which meant that she was either overseeing the preparations for the field exams in Balamb, or she was extremely busy with other things her duties obligated her to. In that case, he better not disturb her. He put the receiver down and, with a sigh, resolved to look into it later.

As he threw himself into the leather confines of his sofa and closed his eyes, there was a knock on the door. "Squall, are you in there?" Selphie's voice called.

His blue eyes flew open as he heard Irvine, also outside, tell her, "Of course he's in there. The door's unlocked."

"Well, I know, but what if he's sleeping or something?" Selphie replied as Squall, annoyed, walked over to the door, turned the brass knob and opened it. He shot the two a nasty, agitated look as they instantly turned towards him, startled at his sudden appearance. Selphie recovered almost instantly and started grinning again. "Oh great, you're up!"

"Irvine, Selphie," he nodded to both of them. He realized he must have sounded angry as both their faces suddenly frowned. "What do you guys want?" he asked, though in a gentler tone.

"This," Selphie said as she handed him a letter. "Xu said you were on break, so Irvy, me and Zell came up with a great idea!"

"What is it?" Squall asked as he took the envelope and eyed the green, scrawled letters suspiciously.

The spunky brunette smirked mysteriously. "Open it and see."

Squall narrowed his eyes and ripped open the envelope. He pulled out the letter, his deep blue eyes scanning the neat, black letters suspiciously and frowned. He nodded, handing the letter back to Selphie. It was an itinerary for a vacation. "Sorry guys, but no thanks."

Instantly, Selphie's face fell. "What? Why not?" she pouted and Squall took a deep, controlled breath.

"Because I have no need for a vacation," he begun to explain, "There's only a month before winter break. I have a lot of---"

"Paperwork?" he was cut off by Irvine. "Come on Squall, be more creative, man. We already asked Cid and he said he gave you three weeks to do whatever you want with."

"Which is why I should stay here!" the brunette argued. "Even if I can't work in my office, that doesn't mean I can't work from here!"

"No, you can't!" Selphie piped. "You can't! Cid revoked your computer access from all the administrative files!"

Irvine nodded. "Yea, face it Squall," the cowboy said, "What are you going to do for three weeks? Stay in your room? Be serious, man!"

He was silent for a moment. Squall sighed, running a hand down his face. So Cid had banned him from literally everything relating to his work, which left him with the choice: Stay in the Garden and be bored or go on vacation with Selphie, Irvine and Zell. Frankly he didn't want to do either.

'Do you really want to stay here?' he asked himself. 'What would I do?' He thought for a moment. When no answer occurred to him, he finally delivered a weak deliberation.

"Fine…" he told them, though a bit reluctantly. Selphie pumped her fist triumphantly and Irvine smiled. He shot them both nasty looks. "Where are we going then?"

"The Winter Diamond," Selphie replied. She handed him back his vacation itinerary. "It's amazing! I hear Quistis and Seifer are even going up there early next week for the break!"

Squall rolled his eyes. He couldn't care less. "Whatever."

Selphie grinned. "That's the spirit!"

(~*~)

She waited by the railing, at the train station, two bags and a makeup kit beside her, battling Trabia's frigid, icy winds. Being December, the mountain region had accumulated a thick blanket of snow and extremely cold temperatures. She shivered as a fresh blast of arctic wind blew against her. Normally, she preferred her winters this way – freezing cold and snowy – since, living in Balamb, she rarely saw much of it; but not when she had to sit out in the cold, with little more than a pink duster and a red, woollen trench coat that did little to protect her against the frigid temperatures.

'Oh well,' she thought with a sigh. 'At least we'll be able to spend the weekend together without distractions.'

That thought warmed her up immediately. It had been months since she'd last seen him. His job was relatively high profile and kept travelling all the time. Because of this, they had to make their vacation plans in secret. As far as she knew, no one knew that they were staying at the Winter Diamond for three weeks, together, without any obligations. She was grateful to Cid that he had allowed her to leave a week early, so that she could go and be with him.

Suddenly, her phone began to vibrate. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the sleek, silver phone and put it up to her ear. "Hello?"

"Sorry it's taking so long, Quisty," a deep voice rumbled in her ear. She smiled, instantly recognizing it. "The traffic from the hotel was pretty thick."

"That's alright," she told him, understanding. She looked at the time on her watch, suddenly, and frowned. "How much longer will you be?"

"About ten minutes," he told her apologetically.

Quistis sighed. "Alright. But hurry up. It's freezing out here."

"Trust me babe," his voice suddenly took a husky edge, that made her wind chilled body go completely warm, "I'll be quick as can be for you."

She giggled. "Seifer. You're so---"

"Quisty!!" A voice shouted behind her. The blonde's head perked up and she turned around at the familiar gayety. She almost had a heart attack when she saw Selphie running towards her, towing a rolling, yellow bag behind her. "HEY!!!"

"Quistis? Are you there? What's wrong?" Seifer's deep voice asked.

"Umm… You won't believe who just showed up," she told him. "Can I call you back?"

"No need. I'm actually pulling into the lot right now." He said. On the other end, Seifer spotted her, standing in the snow, but not just her. It didn't take long to spot Selphie's bright, yellow snowsuit and the other three trailing behind her. "Quisty!" he nearly shouted into the phone, "What the hell are they doing here?!?"

Quistis winced slightly and looked behind her as Selphie drew nearer, spotting the black SUV and the familiar blonde sitting in the driver's seat. She shrugged at him and hung up as Selphie finally stopped in front of her.

"Hey! What are you doing here, Quisty? We thought you didn't leave for another week?" Selphie asked excitedly.

Quistis, still flabbergasted that the brunette standing before her was actually there could barely piece together a reasonable answer. "We changed our plans," She lamely responded. "What about you guys?"

Selphie grinned proudly. "Cid gave Squall, Irvy, Zell and me three weeks of break! We decided to stay up here and go skiing!"

"Squall?" Quistis asked, curious as to how they actually managed to pry the brunette away from his work. "How did you manage to get him up here?"

"I did," Irvine stepped up beside Selphie and placed an arm around the brunette's shoulder, who giggled slightly. "I told him that if he didn't go, I'd kick his ass!" the auburn-haired man grinned smugly. Selphie gasped.

"You did not!" she pulled away from him, and hit him on the arm. "Tell the truth, Irvy!"

Irvine frowned and raised his arms up defensively. "Alright, alright, I was just kidding!" He looked back at Quistis with a smug grin. "Squall wanted to stay at the Garden and do paperwork, so we actually told him that Cid changed the passcodes on the administrative files so he couldn't do any work even if he wanted to."

"You did not," Quistis gasped. "Has Squall figured out you guys tricked him yet?"

"No," Selphie responded, nodding. "But he probably will eventually so we might as well make this break good while it lasts."

She gaped at both of them for a moment, astounded. They hadn't changed much in the few years she'd known them. Usually, no one would dare mess with Squall – not even his best friends. Which brought her to the conclusion that Irvine and Selphie had either become very bold or were just very stupid. * Bold, * she figured. * Definitely bold… *

Her phone rang again, suddenly snapping her out of her reverie. She looked at the calling screen. It was Seifer. It suddenly occurred to her that she'd forgotten about him with the recent turn of events. She turned back to Selphie and Irvine. "I've got to take this." She told them, and turned away. "Hello? Sorry, Seifer. I just got distracted is all. I'll start walking to the car now."

"Hurry up, Quisty," he complained impatiently. "We've got a long drive back."

"Alright," she sighed. Effectively ending the conversation, she snapped the phone shut and turned back to her two friends. "That was Seifer. I've got to meet him now."

Selphie and Irvine nodded. "Alright, have fun!" she told her. "Hey! We're both staying in Trabia! Maybe we'll bump into each other!"

"Yea!" Irvine agreed as Quistis turned away from them and started walking. "Hey, Quistis!" he shouted after her as a thought reared it way up. "Where are you staying, by the way!"

Quistis turned around. Suddenly, her eyes filled with horror. She completely forgot! "Ooh… Umm…Where are you guys staying?" * Please not the Winter Diamond. Please not the Winter Diamond… *

"The Winter Diamond!"