Author's Notes: Thanks for the reviews again! Hope to see what you think of this next chapter! Oh, and I think I'll need some information on Dr. Kadowaki (whoever that is... I told you I haven't played the game yet!!! *panic mode*) and any other doctors...or whatever...and maybe some info on the infirmary (is that what you call it???). Thanks!
PART 3 Soft All of the Sudden
'I can't believe this...' Quistis sighed and placed her hand on her stomach. 'I lied. I actually lied. And to Cid of all people. He's like family to me! And I lied to him! I can't believe this...'
She looked up when there was a knock at the door.
"It's 8 o'clock, Quistis!" Seifer's voice from behind the door called out. "Time to escort you to dinner!"
Quistis rolled her eyes as she opened the door. "I'm not hungry, leave me alone."
"This isn't for you, this is for the baby. Now come with me unless you wanna starve it to death!"
"It's MY baby, all right?"
"Yeah, but it's my responsibility to take care of you and your baby so it's just as much as mine as it is yours."
"Oh really? Were you there while I was fu--"
"I wish we could talk about your wonderful experience," Seifer interrupted. "But I've made reservations so we'd better go as soon as possible before we lose our table."
"Reservations?" Quistis inquired. "I thought we were just going down to the cafeteria."
"Oh, no! I would never allow my fair lady to eat somewhere so...so...blech. Now get dressed up so we can leave already!"
"Seifer, you're an idiot."
"Why, thank you. Now get dressed."
Quistis sighed. "Whatever." She walked over to her closet and started to get dressed but stopped when she realized that Seifer was in her room, on her bed, watching her.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? Get out!!!" Quistis exclaimed.
Seifer got up and left with a sly smirk on his lips.
'That man is just so impossible,' Quistis thought as she dressed up. 'Oh, Hyne... Just a few days and you're on your train to Timber...'
~*~*~*~
Seifer pulled a chair up for Quistis. "Care to take a seat?"
Quistis rolled her eyes and sat down.
"Like this place?" Seifer asked as he sat down across from the young blonde lady. "If you don't, we can always go somewhere else like the cafeteria, seeing that you love it so much."
"This place is fine, Seifer," Quistis replied. "I have to admit that it's very nice. Your taste in restaurants is better than I expected it to be."
"I'll take that as a compliment coming from you." Seifer took a menu. "Now, what would you like to order?"
"Oh, I don't know. Anything's fine."
"You sure? How about some champagne?"
"If that's what you want."
Seifer shook his head sadly. "Shame, shame, shame, Instructor Trepe. I would never have expected this from you."
"Expected what?"
"Don't you know that alcohol is not good for pregnant women?!"
Quistis seemed shocked at him.
"No wonder Cid chose me to take care of you," Seifer said. "He must've known that you wouldn't be able to handle being a teen mother."
Quistis glared at him. "I can handle anything! Besides, why do you care so much?!"
"I already told you, it's my responsibility."
Quistis briefly closed her eyes. "Let's just...not talk about this...all right, Seifer?"
Seifer sighed. "So your baby's not so important to you?"
"Can we please not talk about this?" She was already pleading. "Please?"
"Why? I'm only thinking about what's good for your child."
Quistis shook her head. "You've changed."
"Oh really? Look who's talking. At least I know how to get laid. You? You screw it up and get pregnant."
A small smile showed on the young lady's lips. "You couldn't get pregnant if you tried."
Seifer sighed. "Like I would even want to. You pregnant women get so moody sometimes, y'know. Oh! My bad. That's how you are all the time, isn't it?"
"You're just...impossible!"
"At least I'm not moody."
Quistis threw her hands up in the defeat. "Hyne!" She watched as Seifer sat there with that annoyingly annoying smirk of his and ordered for them. She couldn't help but smile. 'Hyne... Seifer's still as strange as ever but he's changed somehow. I actually think I'll have a good time with him.' Seifer caught her smiling at him and smiled back. Quistis snapped out of her daze and looked away. 'He's right. I HAVE changed! Hyne, if I start to actually like Seifer, the world is over as we know it... Just...think about that train ride. Yeah. I'll be gone in just a few days. Getting too attached to someone, especially Seifer, will just be a burden. Just try not to get too attached, Quistis. I'll be out here soon. Don't get too attached.'
~*~*~*~
"Hey! Let me close the door!" Quistis said.
Seifer opened the door enough to let himself into Quistis' room.
Quistis put her hands on her hips. "Seifer, I'm going to sleep. Get out of my room."
"I decided to invite myself in when you didn't. Apparently, you forgot about that part," Seifer stated.
"I didn't invite you in because I didn't want to," Quistis replied sternly. "Now get out of my room so I can sleep."
"Hey, I'm your bodyguard, aren't I? You should at least let me check to see if your room's safe."
"My room is perfectly fine, now get out."
Before Seifer could say a word, Quistis pushed him out into the hallway.
"I gave you a good time!" Seifer said. "You should at least let me in!"
"Good night, Seifer."
"Come on! Let's hang out for a while!"
"GOOD NIGHT, SEIFER."
Seifer opened his mouth to protest but Quistis went inside and slammed the door in his face.
"Sheesh..." Seifer turned away from the door. "Fine. Be that way. I'll see you for breakfast tomorrow then." He walked away.
Quistis was leaning on her door and she went over to her bed when she was sure that Seifer had left. She lay down and stared at the ceiling. 'Seifer. I'll never understand that man...'
In Seifer's room, the young blonde man was lying on his bed, staring at his own ceiling. 'Quistis. I'll never understand that woman...'
~*~*~*~
"QUISTIS!!!" Selphie threw her arms around the older teenager. "I'm so happy you didn't leave yet!!!"
"S-Same here," Quistis replied, feeling a little guilty because that was not the whole truth. "What's wrong?" she asked when Selphie's happy green eyes suddenly grew wide.
Quistis turned around when Selphie pointed behind her.
"There you are!"
Quistis glared at the man coming towards them. "What do you want, Seifer?"
"When did he come???!!!" Selphie exclaimed.
Seifer disregarded Selphie's question and faced Quistis. "I told you last night that I'd meet you for breakfast. Why weren't you in your room?"
"You were with him last night???!!!" Selphie cried as she turned towards Quistis.
"It's not what you're thinking!!!" Quistis replied.
"T-Then what was it???!!!"
"Seifer was ordered to follow me around, that's all!"
"But why?!"
"Because...b-because..."
"It's none of your business," Seifer cut in. "Now, Quistis, tell me why you weren't there."
"Maybe it's because I didn't want you hanging around me all the time!"
"Look here, I got my orders and I'm just following 'em."
"Seifer, who in here would attack me? Who? Tell me."
"I dunno, maybe one of your frighteningly obsessed Trepies?!?!?!"
"They're not going to kill me, Seifer! I can take care of myself!"
"You never know what's gonna happen! I don't want to risk it!"
"I know you were ordered to protect me and shit but it doesn't mean that you have to be there single second! I know you want to take your job seriously but this is too much! Why do you care so much anyway???!!!"
"Because I don't wanna lose another one!!!"
Quistis stopped and stared at him with wide eyes. 'Another one...? What does that mean...?' She then realized that everyone in the cafeteria was looking at them. She lowered her head. When she looked up to face Seifer, he was turning around and leaving. She glanced at Selphie who was staring back at her with a confused look on her face. "S-Seifer!" she called out as she ran after him. "W-Wait!!!"
She saw Seifer retreat into his room. She followed and was grateful to find out that the door was open. She found him sitting down on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands.
'Seifer...' Quistis walked towards him. "Seifer... What was that all about?"
"I had a kid once," Seifer blurted.
"WHAT?!" Quistis stared at him in disbelief.
"I had a kid once," Seifer repeated. He looked up at the dazed young woman. "Now I can't really say that, can I? Considering that I never had one to begin with." He lowered his head. "But I thought I had one. And then I lost it."
"How did that happen?" Quistis asked softly.
"It was with Rinoa."
Quistis hand flew up to her mouth. 'RINOA??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rinoa Heartilly???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'
"Yeah. It was Rinoa Heartilly. The innocent sorceress Rinoa. Last summer. I was her first and she was mine. We really didn't know what we were doing but we did it anyway because we loved each other. Then a couple of weeks later, she says she's pregnant. I was completely taken by surprise and at first, all I could think about was getting rid of the thing. I couldn't be a father so young! But then, when I started to think about it, it made me happy. All I wanted then was to be with Rinoa and OUR kid. That made me so happy..."
Quistis listened carefully to every word he said. It was unbelievable. She knew that Seifer and Rinoa were together once but she didn't actually think they felt that much that they wanted to be together and raise a family. Seifer, at least. It was strange, really. Why was he opening up now?
"But then... It was just a week before the end of summer. Rinoa came over to me and started talking about how people deserved to know the truth and crap like that. Then she told me she really wasn't pregnant." He took one deep breath and continued. "It really broke me. Every single waking moment, all I thought about was Rinoa and our baby. Ever since she told me she was pregnant, I did whatever I could for them. Well, Rinoa told me that her the test she took was defective. She found out it was bad the week before but she didn't wanna tell me because she was afraid to lose me, she said. She knew about my dreams, my goals and she knew she could never stop me from achieving them. She said she was scared of losing me. She said that if I had a family to worry about, I'd forget about my dreams and stay with her. I think part of the reason she told me she wasn't really pregnant was because I was going to go tell her father about it. I really don't know why but all I knew was that it hurt a lot. I loved her. And I loved that kid. I loved them so much."
Quistis was still in disbelief. Now more than ever. 'Seifer???' she thought. 'Is he even capable of loving?!?!?!'
"But how could you love an unborn kid?" Seifer said, interrupting Quistis' thoughts. "Especially a kid who wasn't even real? Well, I did. And this is the reason I don't want you getting hurt. I know how it feels like to lose a kid and I didn't want that to happen to you! So when I saw how you seemed not to care about the safety of your baby, I decided to make it my job."
'Seifer...' Quistis sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm really sorry for your loss. And thank you. For caring so much."
"It's nothing."
"Seifer..."
"What?"
"Look at me."
Seifer looked up at her.
"We can...take care of the baby together."
Seifer stood up and looked away. "It's your kid. Weren't you the one who said it wasn't my damn business?"
"Well, I've changed my mind. This baby's yours to take care of now. That is...if you want to."
"Orders are orders."
"No, I don't mean that. Do you want to take care of this baby? Do you want to call it your own?"
Seifer sighed and walked to the door. "I'm hungry. Let's go eat now."
Quistis rolled her eyes. 'Oh, what am I thinking anyway? Asking Seifer to take care of my baby. Damn, something must be wrong with me!'
"You coming or not?"
Quistis sighed and followed him out the door.
~*~*~*~
It was strange
When you opened up to me
I didn't know
what to do
So I listened
"You take care of me, I take care of you"
Why am I saying strange things, too?
Maybe it was because I was getting
Soft all of the sudden