Chapter 11: Questions, Answers and Plans.
Selphie stood with both feet braced shoulder width apart, arms extended, holding a 9mm semiautomatic pistol in a two-handed grip. She was wearing shooting glasses and ear protectors and behind her stood Irvine, adjusting her stance and as per usual, flirting with her in the process.
"Bend your elbows a little hon. I know you're familiar with this weapon, but you've obviously not been practicing with it much." Irvine coached, then reached out and bent her arms slightly at the elbow and placed his hand under the butt of the pistol, raising it up a little. Dropping his hands to her sides, he smoothed them down to her hips, adjusting them square to the target and sneaking a kiss to the side of her neck at the same time that made her shiver.
"You really like to live dangerously don't you?" Selphie said. Irvine laughed softly.
"As long as you keep that gun pointed over there, I'll be fine." He replied, indicating the target.
Then he stepped back and leaned against the wall of the indoor portion of Balamb Garden's shooting range, saying, "Besides, I wasn't the one playing with fire the other night."
Selphie smiled slyly and said, "yeah, and you loved every minute of it."
Irvine grinned broadly, "No denying that. But this time, I get to put the handcuffs on you."
"Don't forget the whipped cream." Selphie said, narrowing her eyes at the target.
"Damn, girl! Are you trying to kill me? You know how fattening that is? I'm thinking chocolate sauce." Irvine said.
"MMMMM.." Selphie groaned sensually, "I love chocolate.." Irvine sucked in a deep breath. She really was trying to kill him. He didn't care. He'd die happy.
He growled, "You'd better fire that damn gun before I drag you back home."
Selphie laughed and then took a deep breath, focused on her target, and shot all fifteen rounds in the pistol's clip. Irvine hit the button to bring the target back, and pulled it off the clip, looking at the cluster of bullet holes.
"Not bad. Nice, tight grouping. Not all of them dead center but pretty close." He commented.
Handing the target back to Selphie, he put another one up and said, "With a little more practice, you should be able to get them all pretty tight around the bulls-eye. You're only shooting 50 meters, so that shouldn't be too hard to do." Hitting the button, he sent the target back to the 50-meter mark and stopped it. Selphie dropped the spent clip from the pistol and slapped a new one home and cocked the gun.
Making sure his earphones were in place, Irvine nodded at her to go ahead and she started shooting again. Once finished, Irvine brought the target back and examined it. The cluster of bullet holes was much tighter, and more of them were in the center of the target than before.
"Much better. You want to do another round?" He asked.
Selphie shrugged, "I've got another clip loaded, so, sure."
"Alright." Irvine said, putting another target on the clip and running it back. Retreating back to the wall behind Selphie, Irvine watched her as she shot the next clip at the target.
It had taken a couple of weeks, more than three to be exact, but Irvine finally managed to make good on his invitation to take Selphie to the gun range with him. The day that he'd asked her, they'd gotten sidetracked and ended up at Selphie's place, making love all night. After that day, circumstances had conspired against them making the outing together until today. Irvine still kept up with his training in the meantime, along with his weekly sparring bouts with Zell and Squall.
He did manage a trip back to Galbadia Garden's gun range for some fine-tuning a week ago; unfortunately, Selphie had been unable to accompany him. It was however, a fateful twist that had worked in Irvine's favor. As he'd been strolling toward the train station, he passed the same jeweler's shop that he'd seen the last time he'd been in Deling City.
This time he went in for a closer look around. He was looking for a ring, but was frustrated at first at the rather pedestrian offerings that were in evidence. What he wanted had to be unique and special, as unique and special as Selphie was. A plain colorless diamond solitaire, while beautiful, was hardly unique. The problem was, he wasn't entirely sure what kind of ring he was looking for. It just had to be different.
It was when he was walking past a display of colored stones that he found it. He'd thought at first that the colored stones were just plain gemstones or possibly even manufactured semi-precious stones. Upon closer inspection, he discovered they were actually fancy colored diamonds. He'd never heard of colored diamonds, and learned that some types were actually very rare. Unique? Definitely. Special? Yes.
As he perused the stones they had available a brilliant flash of canary yellow grabbed his attention. The sales clerk took the ring out for him and he studied it carefully, a slow smile spreading across his features. It was perfect. Two carats. Square cut and flawless, set in silvery platinum. The stone was a brilliant, clear yellow color, accented with a smaller triangle-cut colorless diamond on either side. He didn't know Selphie's ring size, but he didn't care. He'd get it sized to fit her. He also didn't bat an eye at the princely sum he had to pay for it. It was worth it.
The ring sat in its velveteen case in his front pocket. All that remained was picking the right moment. As he watched Selphie shoot, Irvine enjoyed the view he had. Her stance was correct of course, but that wasn't what he was admiring. He was admiring the highlights in her auburn hair, her trim backside encased in denim shorts, and her long, slender legs.
But that wasn't all he loved about Selphie, just a small part of it. He loved her sense of humor, her intelligence, her spunk, her energy, her creativity… especially her creativity, he smiled privately. He loved all that she was, and she was everything to him.
When the last bullet was fired and Selphie's gun clicked empty, Irvine retrieved the final target, showing her the tight cluster of holes in the center with a smile. He laid it down on the board in front of her, removed both her and his ear protectors, and wrapped his arms around her from behind, holding her close. He nibbled at the side of her neck up to her earlobe, nipping lightly at it.
Her knees buckled and she nearly dropped the gun, but Irvine smoothly took it from her and laid it on the board on top of her targets. Then he turned her around and found her lips with his, tasting and teasing her, one hand in her hair at the back of her head, the other splayed at her waist, pressing her against him. He could feel her nails digging into his back and that sent a thrill through him from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.
He broke off momentarily to trail kisses along her jaw to her earlobe, nibbling at it yet again, whispering, "I'm really craving chocolate right now."
"We'd better go get it then," Selphie replied breathlessly. Irvine returned his lips to hers and continued to steal her breath until neither he nor Selphie could take it any longer.
He broke off the kiss to take a breath and smiled at her, brushing her a stray lock of hair away from her face gently. He'd wanted to set the scene a little differently, a candlelit dinner at a fancy restaurant in town perhaps or maybe something more romantic at home. But this moment in time, he couldn't think of anything better or more in line with who he was.
"I love you Selphie," he began quietly. "I've loved you my whole life, and I can't imagine what my life would be like without you in it. I know we've had our ups and downs, problems and disagreements, but I'd like to think we've learned from them. I certainly have." He took another deep breath, suddenly feeling nervous and shaky. Surreptitiously fishing the box from his pocket, Irvine knelt down on one knee in front of Selphie and took her left hand in his.
Her eyes went wide as he continued, gazing up at her, "What I learned was that I want you, and I need you in my life. I love everything about you Selphie, from your laugh to your temper, your incredible intelligence, your creativity and your unbelievable talents and abilities, not only as a SeeD but also as a person. I can't promise that I'll never hurt you, but I can promise that I'll never do so deliberately. Another thing that I can promise you is that if you'll have me, I'll be yours completely. Will you marry me Selphie?" He took the ring out of the box and slid it onto her finger, kissing it gently. It wasn't a perfect fit, but that could be easily fixed. Selphie gasped and her eyes filled with tears.
"Oh! Irvine, its beautiful!" She whispered.
Irvine smiled, "I saw it in Deling City when I was there last week and I had to get it. It was just so you."
Then his smile faded and he swallowed, asking, "So..?"
Selphie, her eyes streaming, whispered, "Yes. Definitely yes." Irvine stood and lifted Selphie up in a crushing bear hug. Setting her back onto her feet, he sprinkled her face and neck with kisses, causing her to giggle breathlessly before capturing her lips and kissing her senseless.
"Why don't we continue this at home?" Selphie suggested softly.
"Hmmm? Right. Chocolate." Irvine said between kisses. He quickly gathered everything up; making sure Selphie's gun was empty before handing it back to her. They ran out to his truck hand in hand and drove back to Garden, with Irvine congratulating himself for not exceeding the speed limit.
Later, they lay in bed together with Selphie's head pillowed on Irvine's shoulder, in the crook of his left arm. Extending her left arm, she laced her fingers through Irvine's and studied the ring as it winked brilliantly at them from her finger.
"This ring truly is stunning. And it's a diamond?" she asked.
"It is. Apparently, colored diamonds are all the rage now." Irvine said.
"My studly fashionista. Who knew?" Selphie smiled.
"I certainly didn't. It just seemed to fit you." Irvine commented. Selphie laughed softly.
Then she unlaced her fingers from Irvine's, and idly swirled her fingers through the sparse hair on his chest and belly. She smiled to herself as he caught his breath. Smoothing her hand over to his other side, she pulled herself close, rolling onto her side to look up at his face. Reaching up, she caressed his cheek. His hand came up and trapped hers against his cheek and he turned his face into it, kissing her palm and smiling down at her.
"In case you're wondering, I forgive you." Selphie said quietly. Irvine's hand tightened on hers and he pulled her closer with his other arm. Letting her hand go, he rolled onto his side, facing her and stroked her hair. He gave her a soft, lingering kiss, closing his stinging eyes and sighing, hugging her tightly.
"Thank you." He whispered.
The next morning, Irvine walked into the gym to spar with Zell and Squall, and saw him warming up alone.
"Where's Squall?" Irvine asked.
"He's coming, he's just running a little late this morning." Zell answered.
"Huh. That's a first." Irvine commented.
Zell shrugged, "He said Rinoa wasn't feeling well."
Irvine smiled to himself. He wondered if Rinoa had confirmed what he suspected the cause of her "illness" was and informed Squall about it yet. He suspected not, since no mention of it had come from Squall. He had to be worried by now however, since it was going on three weeks since she'd started feeling unwell with no evidence of her recovering from it. Clueless or not, Squall wasn't completely dense. He had to know something was up.
When Squall arrived a few moments later, Irvine greeted him, saying, "Mornin'. How's Rinoa doing?"
Squall shrugged with a frown, "I don't know. She says she's fine but she's still getting sick."
"Has she seen a doctor yet?" Irvine asked.
Squall nodded, "Yeah, she saw one last week."
"And…?" Irvine prompted.
Squall raked his fingers through his hair in frustration, saying, "The only thing she'll tell me about it is that eventually it'll go away, but she won't tell me what the problem is."
Zell had remained silent throughout this exchange and suddenly his eyes went wide. Irvine caught the look and realized that Zell had figured out what Squall had yet to put together. Before he could open his mouth, Irvine punched him hard in the arm and gave him a warning look.
Rubbing his arm and glaring at Irvine, Zell said, "Why don't you go and get changed and warmed up Squall? Irvine and I will start things off and you can jump in when you're ready."
"All right," Squall nodded, and started toward the locker room.
He got about halfway there when he paused and turned back, saying with a slight grin, "By the way, I hear congratulations are in order Irvine."
Irvine chuckled, "Thanks. I take it Selphie told Rinoa?"
"She did. At the top of her lungs. My ears are still ringing." Squall said ruefully, continuing toward the locker room.
Irvine turned back to see Zell still glaring at him, arms folded across his chest.
"What?" he asked.
"You bastard. When were you going to tell me?" Zell demanded.
"Dude, I just asked her yesterday. I haven't had a chance to." Irvine said.
"Well, now I'm going to have to hurt you. Get in the ring, cowboy." Zell said.
Irvine rolled his eyes, retorting, "You can try to hurt me. I'm getting better you know."
"Not better than me." Zell stated, getting into the ring and starting to dance.
"No," Irvine admitted, "but I am getting better at dodging." Making sure he was properly warmed up and ready, Irvine put in his mouth guard and got into the ring as well.
"Prove it." Zell said, putting his guard up and advancing.
"So, you went to the doctor last week…" Selphie began. She was worried about her friend. Rinoa looked pale and had lost weight; enough that she'd gone beyond slender to actually thin.
Rinoa nodded. She was curled up on the couch with Angelo pressed reassuringly against her, with his head on her lap. She smiled wanly. The poor creature knew something was up with his mistress and was trying to comfort her in the best way he knew.
"Yes." Rinoa answered, scratching at Angelo's ears.
"Well?" Selphie prompted.
"I'm pregnant." Rinoa whispered, swallowing. Selphie's first impulse was to jump up and dance around the room, yelling at the top of her lungs again, but Rinoa's considerably less joyful expression gave her pause.
"Okay, I'm happy for you, but you don't look happy about it. Why?" Selphie asked, concerned.
"Squall and I never talked about having kids. We just figured because I'm a sorceress, it wouldn't happen." Rinoa said, adding, "I mean, we never used any.. um…anything, after we got married. It's been almost a year, and nothing's happened until now."
"Really? Weird." Selphie said, adding, "have you told Squall yet?"
"I can't." Rinoa whispered, eyes filling with tears, "You don't know what this will do to him Selphie. He's got the games coming up and everything else; I can't do it. His mother died in childbirth. I don't know how he'll handle this."
Selphie frowned, "well, I can sorta see your point, but you can't keep this a secret forever, eventually he's going to find out. You'll have to tell him sometime, Rinoa."
"Not until after the games." Rinoa said firmly.
"But that's still three weeks away, are you sure that's wise?" Selphie asked.
"I don't know Selphie," Rinoa said miserably. "The doctor told me I'm perfectly healthy and she didn't see any reason why I shouldn't carry to term, but when I talked to Edea about it, she told me that I'm in uncharted territory. There is no record of any sorceress ever becoming pregnant, much less doing it successfully. It may not even take."
"Meanwhile, Squall is quietly going out of his mind, worrying about you. That's not terribly fair to him." Selphie said.
Rinoa sighed shakily and wiped at her eyes, "I know Selphie. But how much worse would it be for me to tell him and then miscarry?"
"You don't know that'll happen. Don't borrow trouble, Rin." Selphie chided her.
Then she asked, "Did you ever wonder what he'd be like as a father?"
"I'd never really thought about it. Like I said, we didn't think it would happen." Rinoa said, placing her hand over her midsection. The nausea was coming back. She sighed and reached for a cracker, nibbling on it in an effort to settle her roiling stomach. She'd learned there was a sort of pattern to it. If she went too long without eating she inevitably got sick. Another trigger, oddly, was working magic. The day she'd gotten sick while Squall was training was a direct result of her casting a cure spell to take care of the cut Seifer had given him. She'd taken to carrying healing potions after that. Squall looked askance at it but was satisfied when Rinoa had explained that her "illness" had weakened her ability to cast spells. It was plausible, and even partly true.
And Selphie was right; she couldn't hide this from Squall for too long. While he hadn't put all the clues together yet, mostly due to being preoccupied with his various activities, once he started paying attention it wouldn't take long before he figured it out. He wasn't stupid.
"Well I think he'd make a good father, if he's given a chance." Selphie said staunchly.
"Maybe." Rinoa sighed. Selphie gripped her hand tightly, giving it a squeeze.
"Well, give me a call if you need anything Rin. I've gotta go now though, Irvine and I are going to Deling City to get the ring sized so it won't fall off my finger." Selphie smiled, getting up to go over to Rinoa and hug her before heading for the door.
"Alright Selphie. Have a good trip." Rinoa said, smiling after her.
Selphie stood watching the countryside speed by on the train to Deling City about an hour after her visit with Rinoa. Irvine stood behind her, arms wrapped around her.
"So how was your visit with Rinoa? Is she doing okay?" Irvine asked.
"Yeah. Still getting nauseous, but at least we know why." Selphie answered.
"Oh? So what did the doctor say?" Irvine asked, curious.
"She is indeed pregnant." Selphie said with a sigh.
Irvine chuckled, "I thought so. When's she going to tell Squall?"
"She wants to wait until after the games. She's worried about how Squall will take the news and she doesn't want to interfere with his preparation." Selphie answered.
Irvine frowned, "This is already interfering. Squall's concentration is shot to pieces because he's so worried about her."
"I told her that. She's afraid, Irvine. Do you know that there is no record of any sorceress, good or bad, ever getting pregnant and carrying a child successfully to term? Plus, Squall's mother..." Selphie said, letting her voice trail off.
"Right. On second thought, that might freak him out a bit." Irvine observed, trying, and failing, to picture Squall's reaction to the news. The only thing about Squall that Irvine knew with any certainty was the fact that his friend's personality was complex and unpredictable. Not even "expert Squall observer" Quistis was right about him all the time.
"Well, I guess it goes without saying that we are keeping our noses firmly out of their business, correct?" Irvine stated.
Selphie sighed, "Yeah, that seems wise, at least for now."
Turning to face Irvine, she asked him wistfully, "What do you think about it? About fatherhood? Do you want any kids?"
"I haven't thought about it too much, but yeah, I do want kids." Irvine answered with a smile.
"How many?" Selphie asked.
Irvine shrugged, "Whatever you can handle. You're the one that's going to be doing all the hard work, so that part's up to you."
"Well, I personally think you'll make a great dad. You're wonderful with the junior cadets." Selphie smiled at him.
Irvine laughed softly, "Thanks for the vote of confidence sweetheart."
Pulling her close, he kissed her deeply, then asked, "Any ideas on when and where we should get married?"
"Not yet," Selphie answered. "I'm gonna need a little time to think about it. What about you?"
"Whatever you want, babe. This is your show." Irvine said.
"Not just mine. You do have a say in this too, you know." Selphie said.
"Well, as long as you don't go all bridezilla on me I'll be happy to follow your lead. If you leave it up to me, we might end up at the Shumi Village Casino in Trabia getting married by a moogle." Irvine said. Selphie giggled at this.
"A moogle?" She laughed harder as she pictured it. Irvine's next comment however sent her over the edge.
"Well, either that or a moomba. It would be a little weird though, since the only thing they seem to be able to say is 'Laguna.' " He replied, laughing. Selphie laughed so hard she couldn't breathe and her eyes were streaming.
"I can see it now," she gasped, "this little moomba standing solemnly between us squeaking "laguna" repeatedly, while everyone else tries to figure out exactly what he's saying. Meanwhile, Zell's demolishing the hotdog buffet, Quistis and Rinoa are scaring the patrons at the karaoke bar there, and Squall's losing his shirt playing triple triad against the house. And afterwards we ride off into the sunset on a chocobo with tin cans tied to its tail."
Irvine laughed so hard he almost fell over.
After regaining his breath and calming down a little, he said, "I notice you didn't have Squall in the karaoke bar in this little fantasy of yours."
"No. I think SeeD has classified his singing voice as a weapon of mass destruction. He'd be violating all kinds of security protocols if he ever attempted to sing in public." Selphie said, completely deadpan.
Irvine cracked up again, saying, "I'll have to ask him about that next time I see him."
"Let me know when you do, so I can start planning your funeral." Selphie smirked.
Irvine chuckled, saying, "Darlin', of all the things I love about you, it's your sense of humor I love the most."
Selphie smiled impishly and moved her hands, which had been clasped together behind Irvine's back, downward to grab his backside.
Giving it a squeeze, she said, "Well, aside from your sweet personality, the thing I love most about you is your tight, sexy ass."
"You had to go there, didn't you?" Irvine grinned.
"Yes I did. The temptation was overwhelming." Selphie grinned back.
"Minx." Irvine said, bending down to kiss her breathless. They were so preoccupied that they nearly missed the announcement of their arrival in Deling City.