Author's Notes – Hoping to get back into the swing of things, but I'm not entirely sure if my schedule will allow for that completely. Nevertheless, I'll try my best! And…even if I fail miserably, at least here's a chapter with some Rinoa in it!
And no, I'm not purposely trying to keep her from you; it's just the way the story flows. Besides, I love writing scenes with her! ;D
Also, a fun tidbit to present to you all from Chapter IX (Falter); I would have had included it earlier but I didn't want my A/N to be a mile long with all that other stuff.
Anyway, there was another reason why Squall never indulged the actual date of his birthday when asked, aside from being…Squall, and that's because of the flashback in Chapter VI (Observe). That one took place last summer in August, making it a few months after the scene in Chapter IX. So putting two and two together…it wouldn't make much sense for Rinoa to 'blackmail' Zone for Squall's birthday if she'd known the exact date already. Ta-dah!
Now if you caught that when you read Chapter IX eons ago, you deserve an internet cookie. Mmm.. Fictitious internet cookie…
Also, I don't have to remind you guys to kindly review, now do I? I know it's been awhile, but cripes, it's no excuse not to leave a few words. Seriously, I don't expect a bucket of reviews, but getting absolutely none last go around? That hurts.
-—-—-—-—-—-
Chapter XI — Speak
("The proof is there…it just needs to be said aloud.")
-—-
Friday, July 9th (Late Afternoon, Day 2)
As he was lying on a stretcher with the folded towel strategically placed atop his hips for modesty, it wasn't long after the smell of anti-sceptic hit Squall's nostrils when he felt the pinpricks of the suture needle threading his split flesh back together.
"I don't know what in-" Stitch. "-Hyne's name possessed you to-" Stitch. "-attempt such a foolhardy endeavour with your current mobility issues, but from now on, I am not granting you any more favours, you-" Stitch. "-hear me? After this is done, you're confined to bedrest until further notice. One legitimately-ailing person is enough without your antics piling on the work."
…Not to mention the ones from Dr. Kadowaki's barbs.
He figured silence would be the best option to avoid incensing her further.
When the task was done for both wounds, the doctor wasted no time in asking, "Before you fell, how much movement could you manage with your right arm?"
"…Next to nothing."
"So is that why the door was open or did it just not occur to you to close it when you attempted this?"
Ignoring the jab, Squall uttered a monosyllabic, "Yes."
"Does it feel like your right leg's worsened in the same way?"
"No. I haven't noticed much difference there."
"Mm."
When she left it at that, the commander kept silent. The reasoning for his silence was immediately justified when the doctor began to manually dress him as if he was a life-size ragdoll; there was absolutely no point in asking a question with an already-apparent answer.
With his gown back on and properly tied again, Dr. Kadowaki pushed his stretcher towards the bathroom's door. As she wheeled him to his bed, he took note of the silence the stretcher wheels were effectively piercing with their squeaky whine and that her room's curtains were drawn. Once the doctor had rounded the corner and into the other half of the room, making the stretcher flush with the left side of the bed, his eyes drifted towards the window divider as he slowly inched backwards with a bit of the doctor's help, only to be rewarded with the sight of the opaque tinting.
When he slowly lowered himself to lie down on the bed, a shot of sympathy raced across Dr. Kadowaki's features. "Try to rest for as long as you can. If you have trouble falling asleep, I can arrange for a sleep spell to help."
"No need. I can do it myself." he told her. As good as his word, he muttered the necessary words under his breath and his eyelids slowly closed on their own accord. There truly was no point of being awake right now — there wouldn't be any answers to any of his questions until later…
-—-
It had been an uneasy several hours' worth of sleep but it was to be expected; Squall wasn't usually one to have dreamful sleep, the only instances occurring during spell-induced slumber. This was no exception. Though he couldn't remember the exact details of the dream, he definitely remembered being tethered in place by invisible straps and fighting for air in it as he woke up in a cold sweat, thoroughly drained.
After bringing back the pace of his breathing back to normal, Squall raised his left hand to rub his eyes and adjust them to the newfound lack of light. With the beams of moonlight softly shining through the windows behind him when he moved his hand and his eyes began to refocus, he figured that it had to be approaching night time though the exact hour was still anyone's guess.
"…Glad to see you're finally up Squall. It's just us right now."
He hadn't expected Rinoa to be that 'anyone,' however. Not by a long shot.
"…Where are the others?" he found himself feebly asking, his eyes temporarily flickering between the IV stand her right hand was currently connected to and his right hand that was currently being stroked by her left. Fortunately, it didn't seem like she'd noticed.
"It's after-hours now so Addison's gone for the night. Dr. Kadowaki's just out to get some coffee right now; she'll be back in a few minutes or so."
"…Hm."
She gave him a warm but weak smile. "So I bet you're wondering why I was being a creeper and watching you sleep."
"It wouldn't be the first time so no, not really. I'm already fully aware of your perverse habits." he dryly commented, earning a comically-raised eyebrow from her. "I'd rather know why you're not bedridden anymore, which is what I assume you were getting at in the first place."
"Fine, be that way and not indulge my silliness." she light-heartedly chided, her smile widening ever so subtly. "Dr. Kadowaki, she decided that it wasn't a good idea to let me keep on tearing my stitches like this so she had Addison use a Curaga to mend all the surrounding tissue. They're still going to do check-ups and tests every so often just to make sure I'm ok though."
Moving her hand off his and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she added, "Of course, I still feel like crap but…it's kinda nice to have a teeny bit of energy and be able to walk around a bit."
"I'm glad." Squall replied. Despite the brevity of the sentiment and lack of allusions towards their newfound swapped positions, the comment caused the upward pull of the corners of her mouth to dull a little, however.
"You…actually fell this time, didn't you?" she asked.
"I grabbed the handrail in time to lessen the impact but both sets of stitches still opened up." Squall raised his left hand to show her the long scrape on his palm. Once the commander lowered it, he asked, "Were you sick when I was in the washroom?"
"Yeah, it's why I had to get my stomach cured — I, they didn't want me to keep on tearing out my stitches whenever I threw up. At least this time, it wasn't blue." Rinoa suddenly stopped talking for second to shake her head. "But…don't change the subject. Are you ok?"
"As well as can be." he honestly answered. "But…I think I felt some of your pain all of a sudden and that's what caused me to fall."
Unsurprisingly enough, Rinoa looked at him quizzically.
"Just…hear me out. When it was happening, did it feel like stabbing pain?"
"Yes…" she solemnly replied. "Yes, it did. Hurt like hell too."
"Was there any reason why the pain went away shortly after, before the Curaga spell Addison performed?"
The moment she looked away, he knew something was up. "It hurt so much that I…suddenly didn't care about Dr. Kadowaki's plan for us and I used a Cure spell on myself to take the edge off." she began. Slowly but surely, she made eye contact with him once more. Biting her lip, she reluctantly added, "I don't know how but…the Cure felt like a Curaga. The pain went away completely and…I'm sorry for lying to you earlier."
He looked at her curiously. "I don't understand…what did you lie about?"
"About them deciding to cure me because I kept on tearing the stitches out. They…only did it because the damage was already done from what I did." she explained. "Dr. Kadowaki must have been as mad at me as she was at you when Addison told her what happened, even if she didn't say anything to my face. You know how she can just…express stuff with her eyes?"
Squall nodded; he knew the feeling all too well. "She's used to dealing with cadets and SeeDs who grit through the pain and listen to her orders without question. …We're not exactly the norm here."
"I'll say." Rinoa concurred with a slight chuckle in her lilt before turning serious again. "So…you think my powers had something to do with this?"
"I don't know for sure, but it'd make sense. A knight absorbing a sorceress's pain to protect her doesn't sound too impossible."
"But…the pain was tolerable and I basically threw up spit and some stomach acid. It only really hurt when I tore my stitches again from bending too far, too fast and I'm sure you would have said something before when it happened the first time." Rinoa froze for a second. "…What if you're feeling all of this because of something else? Or…what if I…what if I might be throwing up for a completely-unrelated reason?"
"Rinoa, you know it can't be that." he reflexively answered. "And I did feel this the first time you tore your stitches; I just didn't know what it was at the time. And if it was even possible, Dr. Kadowaki would have known from the start if you were. It's standard protocol to test samples for those specific hormones whenever a female cadet is admitted here. I'd assume she'd still do the same for you too."
Rinoa blinked.
"Um…I didn't mean that, since well, I did remember what the texts said, but I guess that's a relief to know there's a pattern to this. Now I have to ask though…why does she run that kind of test without saying, well, anything?"
"Because tests never lie, unlike people." he curtly stated, calmly trying to overlook his initial gaffe. "It…doesn't happen often, but it happens more often than you'd think. As Commander, I somehow got saddled with the dubious honour of confronting the female cadets who test positive since Garden still hasn't gotten around to replacing the old disciplinary committee."
"Oh…I see. Do you have to kick them out of Garden if it happens?"
"Cadets, yes, without a question; while there's a rule on sexual promiscuity, there's an unspoken rule about recklessly conceiving, regardless if the cadet had only been in very few relationships. With SeeDs…I punish as I see fit although it is not my choice as to what they do with the unborn child. Should they stay in Garden and keep the child, the mother is relegated to administrative duties indefinitely."
"So…not a wise career move, huh?"
He shrugged. "No, it wouldn't be. Then again, the average life expectancy of a SeeD is 22 so who am I to say what's a wise move?"
"True…" she quietly agreed, "Still, it must be really hard to have to break that kind of news to those girls."
Choosing to rub his eyes at precisely this moment, he simply uttered, "…You've no idea."
Within that very instant the words left his lips, he could remember that first time nearly two years ago in October with vivid clarity…
-—-
Without rhyme or reason, Dr. Kadowaki thrust a file into his hands not even two seconds after he'd walked into the infirmary after being summoned there. He looked down at it.
"This is a medical file." he said pointedly. "What does this have to do with me?"
"Something I need you to handle. Read the first printout in the file."
Opening the manila folder, he glanced over the first page as instructed and looked up at her. "All it's telling me is that she's pregnant. This is under the disciplinary committee's jurisdiction, not mine."
"Unfortunately, it's under yours for the time being. Garden hasn't had enough time to search for new members to replace the three vacated posts with so many more pressing matters currently at hand."
"…Fine. What is the exact procedure you want me to follow then?"
"Just inform the cadet in question that Garden is aware of the pregnancy and it's grounds for dismissal from the SeeD program. You'll need to recite the related regulations as well."
"…So am I to do the same for the would-be father as well?"
"Unfortunately, thanks to your…predecessor's predilection for taking matters in his own hands regardless of protocol, we are no longer able to dismiss the would-be-fathers without concrete DNA evidence after a few vengeful ex-cadets sued and won. All you can do is cite them with a general misconduct charge to punish them and toss in some remedial health lessons if paternal testing can't be done. There is different protocol at SeeD-level, but I won't get into that now.
"Regardless of all that, you'll generally see one of two cases — either the cadet knew of it beforehand and tried hiding it to avoid detection, or the blood test will pick up on the pregnancy before they do, usually anytime three weeks post-intercourse. It goes without saying that the latter case is far messier to deal with."
Squall furrowed his brows. "Why would that make a difference? Both cases lead to the same result."
Dr. Kadowaki smugly grinned. "Oh ho, you've never had the pleasure of experiencing two major life events happening at once then. Well, you'll learn fast. Cadet Vale is the latter case and she's due in your office in half an hour. Good luck."
As she handed him the dismissal notice meant for the 16 year-old cadet — it needed his signature —into his hands and sent him on his way, little did he know that it'd truly be the messiest thing he'd have to do since he had dismembered a Malboro for its tentacles.
When he laid out the situation in front of the cadet after she'd come up to his office, she instantly began to blubber and plead with him to reconsider, stating that it had been the only time she'd been careless with her boyfriend. No matter how many times and how politely he reiterated that the rules were non-negotiable, she would not listen, opting to cry and speak garbled words.
In the end, Squall couldn't take it any longer and left the room altogether, handing her the signed dismissal papers in his wake.
She hadn't even budged an inch from her chair.
-—-
"So…" Rinoa began, attempting to get back on topic, "...did you tell Dr. Kadowaki about your stomach pains at any point?"
"No. I wanted to talk to you first to see if there was anything coincidental about the timing."
A frown reappeared on her face. "You should tell her soon Squall. Whether or not I have anything to do with this, I think it's better to play it safe and make sure everyone's on the same page."
"I don't see the point in telling her something that could be explained away by your magic. …I'll look into this further with Cid to make sure this sort of thing is possible and then I'll relay that information back to Dr. Kadowaki after."
"Well, you might just have to tell her what you're guessing is going on with us still. From what I overheard, I don't think she'll let you leave the infirmary without a good reason. Besides, while you were asleep, she said something to Addison about putting all the wheelchairs and crutches in the locked storage room so you wouldn't be able to escape."
"…Liken me to a criminal in detention, why don't they." he grumbled, eliciting a giggle from the sorceress.
"Hey, you earned the prison sentence, Leonhart." she joshed, prodding his arm at the same time for added emphasis.
"If they didn't want me to attempt that, they should have dismantled the handrails."
Rinoa rolled her eyes as she moved closer. "Ugh, you're incorrigible. I hope they make you do hard time so you'll actually learn something from it."
Before he could even come up with a subsequent retort, she leaned over to softly kiss him on the forehead and chose to immediately leave after that, presumably so she'd have the last word. Squall also theorized that it was also possible that she had purposely left then to be able to eerily sync the sound of her ruffling her bed's sheets with that of the infirmary door hissing open.
Either were solid hypotheses, he thought.
Unsurprisingly enough, Dr. Kadowaki's figure passed by shortly after the door hissing and she stopped on a dime once she noticed his eyelids weren't closed.
"…I didn't miss anything, did I?" she asked, setting down her coffee mug on the desk. Luckily for Squall, he was pretty sure the third person in the room wouldn't be able to hear them from where she was so long as he was quieter than he had been with Xu.
"My right arm is completely numb now. It wasn't before I went to sleep." he deadpanned. The look on Dr. Kadowaki's face soured.
"This is not good." she mumbled, walking closer to his affected side. "Have you felt spreading numbness around your thigh wound as well?"
Squall shook his head as she stopped to look at his arm. "No, it seems to be the same as before."
There was a pause.
"I wonder...what was the order of shooting?"
"Shoulder, thigh and then Rinoa's abdomen." Skeptically looking at the doctor, Squall asked, "Would the order hold any significance?"
"It might." she replied. "If I were to make an educated assumption, taking in the locations of the wounds, the toxin's potency seemed to decrease with each shot taken, judging by the patterns I've noticed with the both of you. Of course there would have to be something particular about the gun for that to happen. Even then, there could be a chance that this is mere coincidence."
"…It might suggest that the gun overheated after the first round was fired, stripping away some of layers of toxin of the remaining bullets before they left the chamber." he offered. "Pulse rounds tend to do that with the gunblade models I've handled, but the different firing mechanisms might not produce the same patterns. Someone would have to talk to Irvine to know for sure...my mind's in a fog right now."
"It's already after-hours for visitors, but it's safe to say that an exception to the rule is necessary here. I'm sure you're aware that he's scheduled to leave for Galbadia early morning tomorrow."
Though he had not known about the sharpshooter's mission, Squall nodded, leaving aside what he and Rinoa talked about earlier for now.
One thing at a time would be best, he figured. At least he could pretend to have some semblance of control then.
