Hey, so its time for the next chapter.

Any spoilers Niq?

No, no point seeing as they're about to read it. Quick thanks to Jebus Creiss for beta'ing this chapter.


Chapter 11 - Meet The Caraways

Rinoa's POV

Since Charlie went to visit her parents I had the pleasure of not needing to worry about her turning up with Squall in the house. Especially since Charlie's Mum and Dad were all the way over in Dollet, about a three hour drive away. If anything should happen, I had three hours to get rid of Squall anyhow.

The only problem I did have was getting Squall to keep hush-hush about my relationship with Zone. I decided to tell him that my Grandfather and Grandma were really conservative and didn't like the mentioning of mine and Zone's relationship until we were married. And seeing as me and Zone weren't at that stage yet, there was no need to upset them. Hmm, yeah that could work.

Then there were my parents; I just had to make sure Squall wasn't left alone with them, especially my Mum. I didn't want him asking her about Zone only to find out he was her brother-in-law. It would surely make things very difficult and I sure would need some counselling by the end of this façade.


The doorbell rang at three o'clock and I heard the voices of my grandparents below. I rushed down the stairs and greeted them with a hug and kiss. And a bright smile on my face which was made all the wider as I was presented gifts from their holiday at the Shumi Resort.

We all adjourned to the lounge, where my Dad was seated drinking some lemonade. My Mum went in to the kitchen to get the Chef to put the tea on and serve some biscuits and pastries.

My Grandpa was way over seventy, he walked with a walking stick most of the time and always had his hair neatly combed back. Though he slouched, you could tell he was very tall when he was younger and by his frail arms and legs now, he was quite muscular back then.

Grandma was around the same age as Grandpa, though she married him by the time they had neared forty. She didn't need to use a walking stick, nor did she tremble as she walked. Rather, she walked as if she was trailing by, her steps always silent and delicate. She always wore a smile and never spoke louder than need be. She was just a kind lady with a loving heart that immensely adored children.

I sat with my Grandma on one couch, with Zone next to her on the other side. My Grandpa sat on the single sofa with his walking stick in his hands staring at the TV screen.

"How was the drive here, Dad?" Mum asked as she sat opposite me, next to my Dad.

"Dry pear?" Grandpa asked, looking at my Mum confused.

"Drive here!" Mum asked loudly.

"Oh! It was bloody ridiculous. The roads are too bumpy and too much traffic. It's the young lot I tell you. They should move the driving age up to twenty-five," Grandpa complained.

"Hey, that means I couldn't drive anymore," I teased him back.

"Not you, princess. General's daughter would get special privileges," he replied.

"Father, Rinoa does not get any privileges that other girls her age aren't provided," Dad replied.

"And bloody why not? What's the bloody point of having a father in the Army if you can't bloody well take advantages of it?" he screamed.

"Sam!" my grandma moaned next to me. "Don't get so worked up, you'll increase blood pressure."

"Oh, Pearl! Stop fussing woman! My bloody blood pressure is just fine," he retorted.

"Well stop swearing, especially in front of Rinoa," she scolded him.

"Swearing? Who's bloody swearing? It's bloody not me." He shook his head seriously.

Zone and I were trying as hard as we could not burst into laughter as my Dad just sighed and continued watching TV. The doorbell rang and I jumped to go get it.

"That's Squall," I announced to my family before leaving the room and heading to get the door.

I opened the door to find Squall standing with a bunch of flowers and an assortment of Trabian dinner desserts.

"Hey," he greeted, smiling at me as I let him in.

"Hi, you look good," I said to him with a smile.

He wore black smart pants, with a black pinstriped shirt. His hair was slightly gelled back, keeping his sides tucked in and the tips of his bangs in place. I could smell his exotic and intoxicating cologne. I almost wanted to fall back from the aroma, if it wasn't for the coat rack behind me I probably would have.

"Everyone is in the lounge," I said to him and indicated for him to follow me.

I walked in to see Zone and my Grandma helping themselves to the newly served tea tray. "Gran, Grandpa, this is Squall, my friend," I introduced them to him.

"What?" Grandpa said, turning slightly to look at me and Squall.

"This is Squall, Grandpa," I said to him.

"Paul?" he replied.

"Squall," Squall replied, realising that my Grandpa had a slight hearing deficiency.

"That's what I said, Paul," he bumbled loudly.

"Not Paul, Sam! He said his name is Squall!" Grandma cried as she walked over to us.

"Hello, love," she smiled at him.

"Hello," Squall replied, before being startled by a kiss on the cheek.

"Rinoa sure does have very handsome friends," she commented and winked in my direction.

I immediately widened my eyes, I didn't want my grandma making such comments about

Squall when my boyfriend was sitting right there. She saw the look on my face and quickly recovered.

"If I wasn't a married woman…" she remarked through a giggle, making Squall blush from embarrassment. "Oh, I kid." She chuckled and sat back down next to Zone.

"Nice to meet you, Sir." Squall tried introducing himself to my grandpa again.

"Yes, yes!" he hastily replied. "What kind of parents do you have?"

"Excuse me?" Squall replied, perplexed.

"Father," Dad sternly warned him.

I skipped past my Grandma and pulled Squall to the couch along with me. We both sat down in between Zone and my Grandma on the long black leather couch.

"I want to know if his parents are hippies," Grandpa remarked.

"No, Sir. My parents aren't hippies," Squall replied, not bothered by his question.

"No I suppose not. They might have named you something more stupid than Squall. Like Rainbow, Sky or Cloud." He started cackling, only to be stopped by a fit of coughs.

My grandma got up immediately and started patting down his back.

"I'm fine! I'm fine!" he replied in between mild coughs, pushing her away and ushering her to sit down. But she stood to one side awaiting his coughs and soon enough he started coughing again.

"Where's your cough syrup?" she asked.

"I don't need cough syrup," he eventually said, clearing his throat.

"You'll die from all the coughing, Sam," she nagged at him.

"If anything, I'll die from all your fussing," he retorted and waved her away.

"Zone, could you be a sweetheart and fetch me some cough syrup," she asked Zone, who got up immediately.

"No! You sit there, son. Don't send out anyone for anything. I'm fine!" he replied more firmly and held his cane up to his chest. His coughing was now all but disappeared.

"How are you liking Deling City, Squall?" Dad asked Squall, who just noticed my own parents sitting across from us.

"Alright, very congested compared to Balamb," Squall replied honestly.

My Dad smiled back at him and nodded. Deling City always got that comment for being the city with the night life. It was like the city that never slept.

"Where are you from?" Grandpa bellowed, looking at Squall with squinted eyes.

"Balamb," Squall shouted.

"Pft. Balamb is full of convicts," Grandpa exclaimed.

"Dad!" Mum cried at him. "Balamb is not filled with convicts."

"Yes it is, Julia. I read it. Galbadia sent all the convicts to Balamb, they're all convicts, every single one of them," he replied with assurance. "Are you a convict?" he asked Squall.

I just started laughing at the bizarre comments, I never knew my grandpa reacted like this to non-family members. He was always so sweet on Charlie, I never knew he could be so negative to people.

"No Sir, I'm not. I'm a student at Balamb University," Squall replied, quite astonished at the remarks.

"You will be a convict one day," Grandpa remarked, nodding his head.

"Dad! Squall, ignore him," Mum tried to console Squall, but he didn't seem all that bothered.

Squall turned and looked at me with a weird look on his face. I could tell he was asking why I never told him about my deranged grandparents. Zone's phone went off and he took it out to check the caller.

"Er, I'm just making a call," he announced, and left the room.

"If it's Charlotte give her our love!" Grandpa shouted at him.

"Who's Charlotte?" Squall asked me in a whisper.

"Er, she's… Zone's niece," I lied.

"Your grandparents know Zone's side of the family?" he asked.

"Yeah… Zone's Dad is friends with… Grandma," I half lied.

Well, I'm sure Grandpa and Grandma were friends as well as an old married couple.

Squall nodded in understanding and smiled at me.

"What are you talking about? Let me in on the conversation!" Grandpa bellowed next to us.

"Sam, let the youngsters have their time alone," Grandma pestered.

"It's alright, Gran. Grandpa, Squall was asking what war you fought in." I decided to take the conversation to another subject, one which I had only heard of this year.

"Whore? I'd fight all the whores, women shouldn't degrade themselves like that," he replied, causing me to burst into giggles.

"War, honey. Not Whore," Grandma corrected him while patting his fragile knee.

"Ah, aye. Yes, war. I fought in the Dollet War. Never seen so many dead people in my life… bloodshed everywhere," he remarked sadly.

"How old were you, Sir?" Squall asked, taking an interest into my grandpa's life.

"I was twenty-five."

"You must have been very brave."

"I was! Not like you young people nowadays. You're all no-good drug using convicts," he cried out, and again went into another coughing fit.

"Oh Sam, your blood pressure." My grandma started panicking around him again.

"Don't blood pressure me woman, give me some water!" he scolded her.

"Is he ok?" Squall asked, a bit worried.

"Yeah, he just coughs himself into a frenzy. He'll be ok," I replied, not too bothered.

Had it not been Squall sitting next to me, I would have been very embarrassed of their antics.


Squall's POV

I had been in Rinoa's house for an hour, enduring her grandfather's grilling. It seemed I'd angered the man for no apparent reason. Whatever I said or whatever I did, he seemed to have some sort of comment for.

Once dinner was ready we all gathered in the dining room. Rinoa's father sat at the head of the table with his wife on his right, while her grandfather sat at the foot. The grandmother sat on the grandfather's left, and I was going to sit on his right when he shooed me away and called for Zone to come sit next to him. Rinoa just smiled at me and patted the seat next to her, so I sat next to her with the seat opposite me empty.

I watched as the grandfather piled food on Zone's plate, over Zone's protests of being given too much. But Zone smiled at him nonetheless and started eating. They made general conversation about buying some place in Winhill and Zone's capability of driving them to Deling whenever they wanted. Zone was very eager to please Rinoa's grandparents. He sure had won over her grandfather.

At least Rinoa's grandmother was nice to me, and constantly filled my plate with food during dinner. She was really pleasant and made conversation about my Mum and sister, and telling me I was a good friend to Rinoa to come and join her old grandparents for dinner. I felt touched by that; I guessed she didn't see that many young people at her dinner table. It was just as I finished my plate of food when Rinoa's grandmother heaped another spoon of rice onto my plate and a leg of chicken.

"Please, ma'am, I'm really stuffed," I tried to get her to stop.

"Nonsense! A big boy like you? I don't want you leaving this house unless we have to roll you out." She chuckled to herself.

"Don't feed the boy too much, Pearl. He's fat enough as it is," the grandfather said out of nowhere.

"Dad!"

"Sam!"

I looked to the side of me as Rinoa's fork fell to her plate and her hand went to her mouth to hide her amusement. She looked at me with sympathetic and apologetic eyes as her body shook from laughter. I guess she was enjoying the entertainment.

"I've seen it on the news, child obesity," the grandfather tried explaining himself.

"Yes, but Squall is an adult and a guest, he is welcome to all the food on the table!" Caraway spoke loudly from the other side of the table.

"It's all right," I said. "It's all right!" I repeated for Rinoa's grandpa.

"See? He knows I'm speaking for his interest." He nodded at me.


After the awkward conclusion to dinner, Rinoa's parents sat with her Grandma in the study to look at the pictures from their holiday. Her grandpa had fallen asleep on the living room couch, snoring noisily. Zone had gone out somewhere to pick someone up or something; so Rinoa and I sat in the living room drinking our coffee, and continued our conversation from dinner.

"I can't imagine you as a teacher," she said to me.

"I like learning, and I'd like the opportunity to start teaching what I've learnt. Besides, teaching is a rewarding job."

"Mhmm. Hence why I've always wanted to go into it," she replied.

"What?" I teased. "You always wanted to be a lawyer, a dancer, an astronaut, a race car driver-"

"Ha ha. I'm saying by the time I started doing my A Levels I knew where I was heading," she corrected herself.

She picked up her legs and buried them under her black tunic dress. I was wondering if she was feeling cold; the fireplace was lit and the windows were shut, but I guess having her legs bare she was colder than I was in my pants.

"So, what level do you want to teach?" she asked, resting her head against the back of the couch.

"I'm thinking secondary school, anything lower would drive me crazy. I'm not very good with children," I said, slightly scared at the thought of five year olds running circles around me screaming 'Mr Leonhart! Mr Leonhart!'.

"I think you'd be good with kids," Rinoa said, slightly dreamily.

I looked at her as she shook herself and giggled. I hesitated a bit before building up courage to take our conversation to another direction.

"So your grandparents really like Zone," I commented, to which she nodded.

"Yeah, he's like family." She chuckled, though it sounded slightly forced.

I guessed she didn't like me asking about him, but I needed to find out what I was up against.

"Well they all really like him," I said. She just looked at me, unsure what to say.

"Well, he's done a lot for this family. My Dad's accident and helping my Grandpa in his old age. He drives him wherever he wants to go," she replied.

"Wow." I was impressed. "Zone must really like you to go out of his way to do things for your grandparents."

"He… He doesn't do it for me. Zone is just a kind hearted person, he'll do anything for anyone without any reward for himself," she said emotionally. "He's been so good to all of us, he's… sometimes like an older brother."

"A brother?" I asked. This I could use. She smiled at me in reply.

"So you and Zone, have you… you know?" I asked awkwardly.

Rinoa frowned at me for a few seconds, trying to understand what I was asking, until her face came alight with realisation.

"Ew!" She hit me on the arm. "Squall, you can't ask me stuff like that."

"I'm your best friend." I tried playing cool and chuckled.

"So! Not even best friends ask about that stuff unless they're girls," she said sternly and looked away smiling.

I laughed and looked down, staring at her from the corner of my eye. But I still wasn't satisfied.

"But have you?" I asked, still pursuing the subject.

"Ew, no!" she replied, taken aback.

"Ew? He's your boyfriend, why be so dramatic about it?" I asked, playing it cool.

"So? Besides… you're my guy friend, it's just weird asking about my sex life," she remarked with a shudder.

"I'm just asking, Zone seems quite a few years older than you so I just assumed you'd have an adult relationship," I explained.

She thought about what I said for a while before replying.

"I like Zone, but I want to wait until I'm married for that type of commitment. I don't want to make love unless I am in love," she replied with a grin, as if her reply was flawless.

But I had found one.

"You're not in love?" I asked, and her smile immediately left her face.

"I mean… I…" She hesitated, looking around the room as if her sentence had fled her mouth and hid in some corner.

I didn't want to push it, I had a leeway in my plan and I knew Rinoa's feelings for Zone weren't as solid as I feared.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have pried," I apologised.

"No… It's fine," she replied.

"So, what else?" I asked, hoping to make the conversation move on to another subject.

"You," she replied.

"Me?" I asked in confusion.

"Have you and Quistis… you know?" She stuck her tongue out.

I shook my head and chuckled. "You're not going to let that one drop are you?" I asked, to which she shook her head.

"What?" Rinoa's grandfather suddenly started awake and looked at his grandchild sweetly.

She smiled back at him and waved across the short distance of the room. He smiled back and moved his sight across the sofa where his eyes met mine, his smile immediately dissipating. He looked at me with annoyance, narrowing his eyes.

"You still here, Paul?" his cracked voice asked.


After her grandfather's remark I was intending to head home, but since Zone had gone out somewhere to run an errand, Rinoa insisted I stay longer and sneak upstairs to her room to play some videogames.

Deciding that I could use the opportunity to make Rinoa reignite her feelings for me, I decided to go ahead and accept her offer. I had already gathered that her feelings for Zone were not really serious, at least in no way serious compared to what she might have had for me. I was pretty certain her feelings for me were still there, and maybe I could get her to open up again.

"Ok, what do you want to play? I have MSG, LBP and Beginning Reality XIII," Rinoa asked.

She sat cross-legged on the floor with her games basket at the foot of her, sifting through all her games. Seeing as she wanted to play her PS3, she had only three games to choose from.

"Let's play LBP, we can talk while we play so we don't need to concentrate," I suggested, and sat down next to her and leaned back onto my arms.

"Hmm, ok," she agreed and started to insert the CD.

I watched as she moved her body forward, the way her dark layered hair fell across her shoulders contrasting with her smooth fair skin. The black tunic dress, tight across her upper back and breast area, hugged her body while the rest of the dress flowed out past her thighs ending just above her knee. The material was unknown to me, but it swayed and hugged her curves, making her body all the more appealing.

I quickly looked towards her desk as she turned to look at me, hoping she hadn't caught my eye. I had to play this safe.

'You gotta find a flaw in her current boyfriend, something which she'll dislike about him enough to produce doubts.'

"So, Zone, he's a really good guy," I stated while getting Rinoa's SackAngel to jump over an electric pole.

"Yeah," Rinoa agreed nodding her head, waiting for me to continue.

"You made a good choice," I continued. "He's almost perfect."

Rinoa scoffed at that and rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't say perfect. Zone has his major flaws." She chuckled to herself.

I thought hard to myself why she was laughing, I came to one conclusion, but hesitated to ask her. Deciding against it, I went with another direction.

"Major flaws? What do you mean?" I asked, and handed her over the controller to concentrate on what she was saying.

"Well, he's… Zone's…" She thought hard, hesitating to tell me what was wrong with the guy. "Erm, he's… not always… around," she finished.

"You feel alone?" I asked soothingly.

"Yes!" she immediately confessed. "So alone, he's busy and he's always doing some kind of errand."

"Must be hard," I said to her. "I obviously can't imagine how hard it is, but personally, I wouldn't like to be in a relationship where I felt like I was doing most of the work."

She looked at me, a small smile at her lips. "Aw, Squall," she said and touched my cheek, "that's sweet."

Check.

'Then you gotta make sure you possess those qualities he doesn't.'

"I mean, personally again, if I had a girl in my life that I loved, I'd make sure to spend every bit of free time with her," I continued boasting about myself. I looked over at Rinoa who just smiled at me admiringly. "Well, not all the time like some over-possessive boyfriend, but you know, make sure there's never a doubt about me appreciating her."

"You know, I've got two really good guys in my life. You'd be surprised that Zone said the very same thing to me only a couple of weeks ago about Charlie," Rinoa replied, making her SackAngel* jump through various obstacles.

"Charlie?" I asked, a bit confused.

"Ah, yeah, like you know… how he just went off… and left me," she replied, keeping her gaze fixed on her videogame.

"Well, isn't he doing the very same?" I enquired.

"Not really. See, even though he isn't always around, he does so much for this family, it'd be a sin to hold things like his busy schedule against him. The amount of good he does doesn't equate to his absence."

What the hell was I doing? Trying to steal Rinoa away from a guy she clearly respected highly. How low did I stoop? I couldn't believe I was sitting here, trying to manipulate Rinoa into not liking Zone, all because I wanted her for myself; like she was some kind of prized possession. That was not cool.

I felt so disgusted at myself for even going ahead with this plan. I didn't want Rinoa to leave Zone for me. Well I did, but not because I was making him out to be a lousy boyfriend. I wanted her to forget about Zone because she loved me more than she did him. That even though we started out at friends, we grew to love each other and couldn't live without each other.

This was really stupid.

"Rinoa," I eventually called out to her, resulting in her turning away from the screen.

"Yeah?" she asked, looking at me with her beautiful chocolate brown eyes.

"Hold on to him, Zone's a good guy."


Aww that was very noble of Squall.

Yeah I agree, it's pretty lousy to try and steal someone away. If someone truly loves you, they won't let anything stand in their way to be with you.

Yeah, maybe.

You don't agree?

Erm, no not really. Sometimes you can love someone a lot, but the situation really isn't in your hands.

… I don't get it?

It doesn't matter, all that matters is, whoever you're supposed to be with, it'll happen in the end. So, there's nothing to worry about. :)