Disclaimer: Same!

Rating: M for language, violence, drug reference, and sexual content.

Author's Note: Ooooh dancing.

"Why is it that hate comes out so easily, yet…love? It gets trapped inside." – Unknown

"If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us."- Hermann Hesse

"The person that can bring the spirit of laughter into a room is indeed blessed." –Bennett Cerf

************

Squall grew rigid the closer they drew to the door that separated them from the occupants inside. He knew what was on the other side of the door. And it wasn't that he didn't like what was on the other side of the door; he just knew what would happen. And embracing wasn't exactly what Squall excelled in.

Jeremiah waited patiently, letting Squall come to terms with his mental demons. 'Good guy. I'll have to remember that.' Squall thought to himself before shoving the door in, watching as the jewels that littered the frame sparkled with the light from inside.

"SQUALL! MY BOY! It has been far too long since I have seen your face!"

The former Magic Military lieutenant grinned from ear to ear as he caught sight of a long haired man pull Squall into a tense hug. The giver of the hug seemed blissfully unaware by Squall's callousness.

The bouncy middle-aged man pulled away but kept his hands secure on Squall's shoulders as he tried to get a good look at him, "You're awfully thin. Are you eating right?"

Jeremiah had to stifle a round of laughter as Squall's face turned a crimson red, his brown hair falling in front of his face as he bowed his head. "I'm eating."

The other man snorted, "Well apparently they don't know how to cook because you've lost quite a bit of weight since I last laid eyes upon you."

The other two men inside the room were snickering towards Squall, prodding each other in the ribs. Jeremiah couldn't help but instantly feel welcome. He walked inside with the help of his crutches, plopping down into an overly large couch that seemed to suck him down into its depths.

"So my com technician told me that you needed to have an emergency meeting with me and my council. Is this true, my boy?"

"Yes Mr. President."

This earned a frown from the other man. Squall shifted uneasily. "It's Laguna or Dad, Squall."

Jeremiah's eyes rounded. 'Dad?!'

"It was indeed an emergency, Mr. President-"

Laguna cocked an eyebrow, crossing his arms defiantly as he waited for Squall to correct himself. Squall sighed. Apparently his stubbornness was inherited from this man, Jeremiah noted.

"-Dad."

The other two men snickered again. Laguna couldn't help but grin at them both widely, his face displaying his clear enjoyment of seeing Squall again. So Jeremiah wasn't the only one who thought that Squall was incredibly too serious for such a young man.

"You never did contact us about what you discovered in Centura Region. Was there nothing to report?" The thin man from the back of the room asked, stepping forward.

Squall hesitated.

Laguna glanced at his son and then back to the other two occupants in the room, "Oh come off it, Kiros. He was probably busy chasing around Rinoa. How is that lass of yours, son?" He asked, elbowing Squall playfully.

The look that came over Squall's face was obvious. The girl in blue was definitely not a subject to be touched. Laguna didn't seem to notice or care. "Well?"

"She's…I'm sure she is well."

The president of Esthar stared blankly at his son, "What do you mean 'you're sure she's well'?"

"She was sent to live with the occupants of the White SeeD ship for the time being."

Laguna Loire coughed, "So why aren't you with her?"

"I'm trying to protect her!" Squall shot back, irritation starting to surface in his tone.

"What are you protecting her from?"

"Ultimicia has returned."

The room fell silent as the weight of Squall's words settled upon everyone's shoulders. And then…

Squall's father snorted, "Well that's kind of a stupid way to protect someone. You protect someone by being with them, not by sending them away to cower in fear of what could happen. Minus five points for being an insensitive jerk, Squall."

If it were only possible for a person's face to look like a thermometer when it was as hot as it could possibly get, it would have happened to Squall right then.

"What do you mean? I'm keeping her away from Ultimicia!"

Laguna rolled his eyes, bending down to rub at his lower leg, grimacing slightly, "Well I think that Ultimicia is intelligent enough to know that you don't want her getting a hold of your most prized possession. So what would you think if you were in her shoes?"

Squall said nothing.

His father winked, clicking his fingers together in that 'Aha! Moment'. "That's what I thought. Poor judgment on your part, my boy. I really need to have a talk with you on how to deal with girls. But that's alright, continue on. Did you realize her return during your investigation on Centura Region?"

************

Selphie hummed to herself as she absentmindedly headed towards the Quad to continue preparing it for the Garden Festival.

"You seem to be distracted."

The voice tore through her like a cold wind. She looked over towards the stage to find Irvine sitting off to the side, his cowboy hat tilted ever so slightly. She wanted to scream for joy and run over and tackle him. But she also wanted to remain dignified. So she went for both of them.

She walked over to stand in front of him calmly, before letting out a slight squeal of joy. She leapt towards him and tackled him to the floor of the stage, planting quick kisses about his face before he pushed her away, laughing.

"I would like to be able to breathe, Selphs. Sheesh."

She giggled slightly before settling into a sitting position beside him. She continued to watch him as he readjusted his hat and then turned his attention back to her, "Where have you been?"

"Well I went to go grab Quisty for some brunch and I had a bit of a problem."

Irvine waited.

She sighed, "I was saying things I probably shouldn't about Squall and it turns out he was in the room and heard everything I said."

Her significant other groaned as if he were in pain, "Are you kidding me? No wonder he doesn't want to open up to anyone with people like you running around!"

Selphie rolled her eyes, "Well I mean c'mon, who thought he would be in there? He's been in hiding for over a week and all of a sudden he decides to start making a reappearance?"

"Well what did you expect him to do? Send letters that he intended to start going about life as normal again?"

Again she rolled her eyes, "Whatever Irvy. It was an accident alright? Well after he stormed out me and Quisty had brunch and then I hit up my rounds and prepared the Garden for docking procedures via a strict order from our friendly commander."

The sniper smirked, "Well I suppose that's what you get for bad mouthing Squall. He had a right to retaliate."

She frowned, "There you go worshipping him again."

Irvine's eyes bugged out at her comment, "Did we not just discuss this last night? I don't worship Squall, I admire him."

"Same thing."

Irvine's hands shook as irritation boiled through his veins, "Selphie…please can we talk about something else? I don't feel like fighting anymore, especially over Squall."

The brunette glanced up to see him genuinally panged over the current progression of their conversation. He was even adorable when his eyes were twitching, "Sure thing, Irvy. So how are things coming along here?"

He nodded to the stage and then towards the other decorations that were slowly being put into place, "Well the stage was finished today. We need to bring in all of the instruments and tables and all the decorations for that, but as far as the lights for the trees and spotlights, they still need to be assembled and distributed."

Selphie grinned, "Awesome. We'll have this place finished on schedule and it'll look better this year than it ever has."

Irvine laughed, "You're getting all starry eyed, Selphs."

Her shoulders nudged him playfully, "You should be used to it, Irvy."

His cheeks tinted red. Irvine chuckled nervously as he diverted his eyes away from her, "Yeah…"

'ADORABLE! HUMBLE TOO?!' His nunchaku expert slid her arms around his neck, pulling him as close to her as possible. "Irvine don't be shy."

"Well I don't know how you're supposed to act afterwards. Never gotten there."

She giggled slightly, nuzzling her face into his neck, "Irvy, you just act the same but only better."

He wanted to whimper. Could it be possible to be anymore confused than he already was? Sure it had been great, more than he had hoped for, but what to do now? They had seen and been with each other in a way unlike any other. He was supposed to pretend like it never happened and just go about life like normal? Impossible! Certain ways she held her mouth or batted her eyelashes or touched his skin made him want to decapitate her…and not in the bad way.

"I don't understand," he finally admitted.

Selphie kissed his cheek before pulling away slightly, "It's something that you're supposed to grow from. Especially if you really have feelings for someone, that's the ultimate form of expressing those feelings. It's a little awkward after your first time because you're not sure if you did it right-"

"Exactly."

She smirked, a hand grabbing his chin to force him to lock eyes with her, "Well you don't need to worry about that. You were phenomenal."

Again he blushed, "Of course you're going to say that, you don't want to hurt my ego."

Selphie smirked, "The way you act it's almost like you don't have an ego, Irvine."

He dared to throw her a devious grin, "Well I suppose-"

She raised an eyebrow, "Suppose what?"

"I suppose I could practice until I get an ego."

Did it just get it hot out here or was it just her? Her tongue automatically snaked out to moisten her lips, "When you say practice-"

"I mean do it until I know I'm the best."

"And when does said 'practice' begin?"

His eyes hinted with mischief as he grabbed her underneath her rear securely before jumping down. Her hands tightened around his neck as he carried her out of the Quad, "You don't really have to schedule a practice, it's just whenever you feel like it," he told her.

"I think I like practice," she told him, grinning wickedly.

************

Oh how he wished something would crash through the ceiling and kill him on the spot. This meeting was absolutely unbearable. Once Laguna got to talking there was no stopping him, now happened to be one of those moments. Nearly all the proper information had been relayed and most of the battle plans set, but still Squall was stuck inside this office with the three stooges and seemingly a fourth one. He glanced over at Jeremiah who seemed to thoroughly enjoy the pointless conversation commencing. 'And he seemed like an alright guy-'

"So I still try to eat lots of bananas but still I have cramps in my legs like crazy. I started getting them I was younger, close to Squall's age, maybe a year or so older. Do you get cramps too, Squall? I bet you will if you don't yet. You got most of your mother's appearance but you have some of my traits too so I wouldn't be surprised if chronic muscle spasms happened to be one of them."

Jeremiah, Ward, and Kiros sniggered.

Squall gritted his teeth together in an attempt not to yell at the top of his lungs. He didn't deserve a medal for defeating Ultimicia before, he needed one for this. This was far worse.

"Oh and they mostly come on whenever I talk to a really hot chick. I got it whenever I talked to Julia. Oh guys, remember her? Damn she was beautiful. Got married to that Caraway character. Poor girl. Julia Heartilly," Laguna got a humorous look on his face, "Remember you guys left me there, leg spasm and all, to go up to her hotel room?"

Laguna's two friends laughed. "Thought you might get lucky, but instead you talked about her music," Kiros said through laughter.

Laguna snorted, "Well I'm a gentleman is all. I wasn't about to take advantage on a lady the first time I had a chance to talk to her."

"Yeah a gentleman. Whatever. You were always undressing her with your eyes while you watched her perform. I don't know why you found it so difficult to do with your hands when you had the chance."

The president growled. He held up a hand and closed it to silence Kiros, "Shutty."

Again the other three men snickered. A misty look took form in Laguna's eyes as a peaceful grin came over his face, "Yeah well…it was worth it. She wasn't the one I was s'posed to be with anyways."

Their laughter began to die down, understanding coming onto their faces. "Everything works out the way it does for a reason. I met Raine and Ellone, and unbeknownst to me I had a son, Squall…my life changed for the better. Your mom picked a good name by the way…Squall, a storm, a tempest, a force to be reckoned with. Hell yeah!"

"You guys should have seen her! The way she looked that night…" His voice began to tremble until he cried out in pain and reached down to his lower leg, "CRAMP!"

Again laughter took hold of the room. Squall sighed, "Are we finished here?"

"Oh Squall, my boy, you were so quiet. I apologize. I'm sure you're bored outta yer mind."

"I just need to return to my Garden to tell everyone what it is we are to do."

"Well let's recap really quickly that way you don't go back and tell them about your mother and my fantasies instead of the battle strategy," Laguna teased, coming up to Squall and ruffling his hair playfully.

The Commander mumbled under his breath as he attempted to return his hair to its previous state. Laguna draped an arm lazily about Squall's shoulders, "Alright so Esthar City will assist in whatever it is that you need. We will let you take as many soldiers as needed. Just leave some for the city incase it's infiltrated. The Magic Military has not indicated any changes in the roles of their leaders yet, but that doesn't mean anything. Ultimicia could be keeping things quiet to keep us on our toes. Now as far as attacking Ultimicia, we will use a special ops form of SeeD to deal with her head on."

'Wonder who that is?' Squall thought sarcastically.

"And of course it will be you and your original SeeD unit, son," Laguna said, winking at him as if he had read his mind. Squall couldn't help but let a slight upturn of his lips form onto his face.

Laguna blinked, his face instantly brightening. His hand squeezed Squall's upper arm. He moved his mouth to whisper in his ear, "I won't tell anyone but I'm pretty sure I just seen a smile."

Squall's mouth quickly fell back down into a straight line. Laguna laughed, his voice sounding like bells, "I thought so," he whispered again before returning back to his previous position.

"Now Ultimicia will have the Magic Military at her disposal and so the rest of the branch of SeeD must be ready to defend and/or attack at any given moment. There must be several units of SeeD stationed on each continent, ready for action. We will all be using the same com frequency that way all orders may be given in one fell swoop. Squall, you are to give the universal orders until you and your unit are sent on your mission. In your absence another will be giving the orders."

Squall raised an eyebrow out of pure curiousity, "Who?"

Laguna nodded to Ward, "Hey Wardy, go get our guest would you?"

Ward made a grunting noise and disappeared from the room.

"Annnnyways, all supplies will be donated to SeeD from Esthar and any city that wishes to contribute. Now Squall," Laguna said, making the conversation into a two way instead of a group discussion, "You are going to be in charge of all of SeeD…you are their president sort of say."

"Isn't there someone else that can do it?" Squall hissed.

Laguna tapped a finger to his lower lip as if he were thoroughly thinking over Squall's question, "Let me think…who else has credentials of having defeated several sorceress' and corrupt political parties? Hrm…oh yeah, no one. Sorry, you're the Head Commander of SeeD. Plus-" He continued, placing his mouth close to his ear again for another whispering session, "the Head Commander of SeeD will always be in close contact with the President of Esthar City. I sense father and son dinner dates in the near future!"

Squall wanted to shoot himself in the face. Really, right through the temple, "Yes sir."

His father squeezed his shoulder again.

"Yes…dad."

Again his father beamed at him and turned back to the others once he heard Ward return, "Ah, Ward, thank you. Squall, this will be the person to give the orders for SeeD while your unit is dispatched. Your understudy, if you will."

Squall's heart rate intensified upon meeting a familiar pair of eyes, and a familiar scar that matched his own adorning the understudy's face. "Seifer."

Laguna grinned, "Seifer told me about your history together, and seeing as he's pretty experienced in combat as well I see no better man to take control once you are dispatched."

Squall's mouth uncharacteristically fell open, "Are you being serious? He was the knight to the world's most feared and hated Sorceress. What makes you think he won't use his power to turn all of SeeD upon our unit and help Ultimicia achieve our surmise?"

Seifer crossed his arms, glaring at Squall, "Um…like…I'm not a knight anymore, yo."

Squall crossed the distance between them. The two former classmates glowered at one another for the longest of times, "That doesn't mean anything. You can't stand to be on the same side as me. I'm fighting for SeeD, for the planet. Your obvious loyalties will lie with the sorceress."

Seifer growled at him, "Listen because I'm only going to say this once. A lot has changed since the last time I talked to you. I completely renounce the old ways. I want to move on with my life. I'm here to start that life over again. So please…"

'PLEASE? Did Seifer just say pleas? Laguna had to have brain washed him or drugged him…something!' Squall continued to glare at him.

"Can I just ask forgiveness and help you with your cause?"

Laguna walked over and clamped a hand on Squall's shoulder, "Listen to him, son. He's been a complete angel since he's been here. And this guy can really fight. Who better to place commands while you're out fighting?"

It was true. Seifer was greatly skilled in combat and making orders but that wasn't the issue Squall had a problem with. The trust issue was about to consume him.

Seifer held out his hand and waited for Squall to shake it, "I'm sorry for all that I've done, from the depths of my soul, and I beg you for another chance, a new beginning. Comrades?"

Laguna grinned at his son, almost as if begging him with his eyes to understand. Squall let out a loud growl of anger but snatched up Seifer's hand, giving it a shake. "Fine, but don't make me regret this because if you do, I'm personally going to destroy you."

A challenging grin came onto Seifer's face, "Understood, High Commander."

Laguna coughed in an attempt to break the silence, "Soooo…we need to change the frequencies of all SeeD bases to that of the universal com link. I will be announcing the newly formed and appointed position of High Commander."

The two former enemies continued to size one another up before Seifer broke the silence first, "So, you still friends with chicken wuss?"

Alright so there was 14. Dun dun dun! Poor Zell…flashbacks. Teehee. Well review. Chapter 15 up either later today or tomorrow. I'm on an updating roll, lol.

Much love,

~Nikki~