To the readers: This takes place after my story Pieces, despite the fact that it isn't completed. It's just a short little ficlet about Laguna and Squall having a nice father and son moment.
Please review,
Kirux

Dedicated to Phil Davis
December 17, 1962 - August 6, 2007
I cannot say you were there whenever I needed you.
I cannot say that you never did me any wrong.
Nor can I say that we always got along.
I can say that you always loved me.
I can say that you tried your best, and it showed.
I will say that I could not have asked for a better person,
To be my one and only father.

It's the Little Things that Count

Swoooosh…splash. The sea hit the rocky shoreline and than receded only to repeat its endless fight against Gaia moments later. With the whole thing in Deling concluded, I finally had time to sit and reflect on what has happened in my life recently. It was a tangled web of deceit and trickery, but somehow it worked out in the end.

I sat on the old stone wall hugging my legs as my chin rested on my knees. It was a different setting than what I usually gaze at while trying to escape from my life. For some reason the endless plains of Winhill didn't seem all that alluring. I wanted something more familiar, something with more meaning.

Fourteen years ago I had been abandoned here with Ellone. A couple years later even she was taken from me, but in return I had acquired my best friend and true love. Than I had lost him too, thanks to my own stupidity. In the course of just over two decades, I had seen a lot of pain and suffering in my life. But now, it was all coming together. It was finally going to be okay.

"Hey Squall, " croaked someone behind me as they tried to whispered, but didn't quite pull it off. I turned around and Laguna stood behind me, hands shoved into his pockets.

"Yeah, Dad?" As hesitant as I was to accept him back into my life, I found myself loving the luxury of being able to refer to someone as 'father.'

"Erm," He fidgeted and I could tell that his was unsure of what to do or say, "Is it okay if I, and I totally understand if it isn't, maybe perhaps join you?"

"Sure thing," I laughed softly and reverted my gaze back to the waves ebbing and flow the way they has been for so many millennia. Laguna walked down the narrow path and stood next to me, also gazing out onto the water.

"Listen," he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I could feel all his inhibitions and doubts leave as he collected himself. He leaned against the wall; his hands still shoved in his pockets. "I know that what I did to you way back than was wrong. I never should have just left you and Ellone in an orphanage and disappeared. I'm not exactly sure what I was thinking except that Cid and Edea would be sure to take care of you guys while I dealt with Esthar. When the SeeDs came for Ellone I should have made them bring you as well. It's just; I couldn't look at you without think of Raine. Your eyes…your hair…they're both just like hers. Thinking back on everything, maybe a whole bunch of shit could have been avoided if I had raised you myself…."

"Or maybe," I interrupted him, "Or maybe they would have turned out for the worse. I wouldn't have grown up in Garden and became a SeeD. Than I wouldn't have been there to help Rinoa, which led to me being time compressed to help you, which led to you becoming what you are today. Whatever way we look at it, things would be drastically different than they are now. Who knows, maybe the whole mess would have been avoided. Than again, this entire conversation would never have taken place because the world would have been taken over by Ultimecia's time compression stunt. There are a lot of variables that have to be taken into account, and frankly, I don't feel like wasting time on figuring it all out."

There were a few minutes of silence as Laguna stared out into space. Finally he sighed and threw his arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze.

"You know what son, you're right. It's time I let go of all the what ifs and the how comes. I need to just deal with what has happened and make the most of what can happen. I just need to make sure to be the best dad I can be from here on out."

"That's all I could ask of you," I smiled, leaning my head on my father's shoulder, "and I'll do my best to make you proud of me as a son."

"Squall, I couldn't be more proud of you than I am now. You saved a lot of people back there, including me, without thinking about what harm could have come to you in the mean time. There is nothing more deserving of a father's admiration than seeing his son turn out to be such a fine young man, despite what has happened to him through out his life"

"Thanks, Dad, that means a lot to me."

With all that said we just set there and watched the sun set, both understanding that we can't change what has happened in the past. All we can do is to make up for lost time and do things in the present. It's never the big picture that tells us who a person really is, or what a relationship is really like. Its things like sitting on a beach after a short heart to heart, listening to the ocean's breaking onto the shore that matter. As anyone can tell you, it's the little things that count.