CHAPTER 26

When he awoke his internal clock told him that it was 10:00 a.m. Four hours of sleep, well he had survived on less, but found that he didn't want to get out of bed and snuggling deeper under the comforter fell back asleep. Too much had happened in the past couple of days and he was both emotionally and physically exhausted.

"Are you going to wake him up?" Ambyr asked Avalena. They were sitting out on the deck and having coffee. Victor had to make a run into town he had ran out of sheet music paper and was in the process of composing another song.

"No, he got home about 6:00 and so much has happened that he needs to rest. I'm going to let him sleep himself out. I see that you finished the talismans."

Ambyr smiled at her "Yes, I made an extra one. Somehow you need to get Cid to hold it. That will be the beginning of what binds his power."

Avalena nodded, "So you and Victor are leaving tomorrow?"

"Yes, I have a whirlwind tour of book signing, plus I have to get home and work on a wedding gift for you." Ambyr said and took another sip of her coffee. She was a little baffled about what had happened last night at the restaurant. Lena had said that she would really like this Seifer Almasy and she had even after he had turned into an obnoxious boor. "Is he always like that?"

"Who? Seifer?"

"Yes."

"No, he's not always like that. He just gets ornery sometimes. Besides I'm sure that he and Squall got it all worked out." Avalena replied with a smile, and took a swallow of coffee.

"I was really surprised that Squall didn't haul off and punch him." Ambyr said. Avalena had told her about what had happened at Seifer's then on the ride home. "Are you sure he's not laying dead in a ditch somewhere, I mean Squall appeared to be okay at the restaurant but I knew there was something bothering him."

"Moony, on our way home last night before the game of telephone insults Squall told me that it had really embarrassed and humiliated him. He thought that Seifer was doing it on purpose, but he realized that Seifer was just being Seifer. He also told me that for too long he cared what people thought of him and those people in Kingston's who pointed and laughed at him last night were the same people that called him The Lion of Balamb." She smiled at her friend "I'm positive that he didn't kill Seifer and leave his body laying in a ditch somewhere."

To prove that point her cell phone rang, glancing at the name she saw that it was Seifer picking it up and clicking it open, she answered, "Hi Seifer."

"So what ya wearing?" Seifer's deep gravely voice came over the line.

"Hip boots and a whip!" Was her pert reply "And you?"

"Crouchless panties and tasseled pasties!" He replied lewdly.

"That's just sick and wrong Seif." She snorted.

"Yeah I know! But you did ask. Good morning kitten." His tone changed to warm instead of being odious.

"Good morning my Golden Knight." She replied with a smile that traveled all the way through the cell phone.

"I was wondering if Squall made it home okay, I would have called when I got home last night but I didn't want to wake anyone up."

"Yes he made it home fine, he's still sleeping. Would you like me to have him call you when he wakes up?" She asked.

"No, that's alright. I have to go we're taking Tristen fishing today out on our boat. Don't worry kitten I have a life vest that will fit him. Since Raj and I run a charter service we keep different sizes of them on board." He paused and said, "Yes I know Raj, I'll be right there. Anyway kitten I'll talk to you later. Love ya, bye." And hung up before she could tell him goodbye.

Ambyr gave her a baffled look, "What's sick and wrong?"

"Crouchless panties and tasseled pasties."

"What?"

"Seifer asked me what I was wearing."

"The hip boots and the whip right?" Ambyr said with a smile.

"Yes so I asked him the same, and he told me crouchless panties and pasties."

"That's sick and wrong."

"That's what I said."

Ambyr started to laugh "Okay now I can see why you like him his sense of humor is as bent as yours is."

"How about you, what do you think about my Golden Knight?"

"I thought Squall was your knight?" Ambyr said.

"I am, but everybody knows that one knight is never enough." Squall said from the doorway. He had managed to fall back to sleep but only for about half an hour woke up and found that he was refreshed. He found that he was missing Avalena desperately and went to find her. Arriving at the kitchen he saw Ambyr and her sitting out on the deck, pouring a cup of coffee he went out to join them. Just in time to hear Ambyr's comment about him being Avalena's knight. He walked over to where Avalena was sitting and kissed her on the cheek. "Good morning sweetheart." He murmured against her ear.

She turned and gave him a quick kiss, "Good morning my love. Are you hungry?"

"No, just coffee for now, thank you anyway." He picked up one of the talisman that Ambyr had made the night before. He felt a surge of power from the shiny black stone that had a pale blue cord wrapped around it leading up to a longer length of the same colored cord that formed a necklace. In his mind's eye he saw Avalena and him many years from now walking hand and hand into the sunset and into paradise. Raising an inquisitive eyebrow at Ambyr he went to put it back on the table with the others.

"No Squall, it has chosen you. Don't wear it until you go to face that Cid person.

Avalena gave her friend an inquisitive look and ran her hand over the remaining talismans until she felt one tingle with hidden energy. She picked it and closed her hand around it and when she did she felt the warmth and comfort from it, and her vision in the future was sitting out on this deck with Squall surrounded by their family and friends. She slipped it into the pocket of her jeans and smiled at Ambyr.

"After everyone else's talisman had chosen them, each of you must hold the remaining one and let it feel the love and friendship that you have for each other. That is the one that must go to Cid." She put a lot of emphasis on the last.

"Is it okay for us to take them into the house, I wouldn't want anything to happen to them after all the work you put into them." Squall said softly. He had also slipped his talisman into his pocket.

"Yes go ahead." Ambyr replied.

Squall picked up each of the talisman handling each one reverently unlike the one he had picked up first the others lay still in his hand. He carried them into the house and upstairs to the bedroom he laid them on her dressing table.

When he got back outside he found the girls trying to coerce Victor who had just returned from town into going swimming. He was adamantly refusing. Squall thought a swim would be nice so he lopped back into the house and changed into a pair of cutoffs. Avalena walked in just as he had finished buttoning the fly.

"Are you going to swim with Ambyr and I?"

"Yes." He crossed over to where she was, and kissed her. "I'll meet you outside." He knew that if he saw her naked all thoughts of swimming would be forgotten and the fact that they had company be damned.

When Avalena and Ambyr rejoined him out on the deck he saw that Ambyr had dressed in a sleek little purple bikini. Where Avalena had dressed in a dark red one piece that was low cut in the back, the front cupped and lifted her breast and showed off her cleavage to an advantage. He licked his lips in appreciation. He saw the pile of towels sitting on the deck and knew that Avalena had grabbed them so water wouldn't be tracked into the house.

Victor glanced up from what he was doing and saw what Ambyr was wearing "You are not wearing that. It shows way to much skin."

Ambyr's response was thumbing her nose at him and stepping over the railing and taking off for the beach.

"Ambyr!" he yelled after her quickly retreating back.

"What about me? Am I showing to much skin?" Squall asked sarcastically. He put one hand behind his head, placed the other hand on his hip and took the classic supermodel pose.

"And me. What about me Victor?" Avalena asked. She had bikini's that made the one Ambyr was wearing seem very modest, but those she would only wear for Squall's viewing pleasure.

"At least you're covered more then she is. What she's wearing is indecent."

"Hyne! When did you become such a prude Mr. Flash the Faculty." Avalena said reminding him that he used to be as wild as she and Ambyr were. Squall lifted her over the railing so she could join Ambyr on the beach.

"She's right. I just wasn't expecting her to wear that particular swimsuit. I don't like other men looking at her."

"Victor if it makes you feel any better, I look at her like she's my sister." Squall offered helpfully.

"Then how do you explain you're friend Seifer Almasy? Asking if she was going to dance naked in the moonlight. That was not brotherly interest and you know it." Victor bit out. He hadn't realized that he was possessive of her until Seifer had made that comment last night. Who did he think he was he picturing what his fiancée looked like without her clothes on?

Squall shook his head and started laughing, "Seifer is a notorious flirt. What he said to Ambyr is tame compared to some of the things that I've heard come out of his mouth. He told Avalena that if she saw him naked that she would die of shock. He told a kitchen full of people about his um…attributes. When we we're at Garden together he would go up to girls and say 'Nice shoes let's fuck!'" He left out the fact that Seifer was a womanizer.

"You mean that actually line actually worked?" Victor was aghast he would never say anything like that to a woman.

"Yes, more often then not it did. One of his nicknames while we were at Balamb Garden together was Seifer Casanova Almasy. Victor, if Seifer had really been coming on to Ambyr you would have known the difference. I've seen him turn the charm on and off like most people do tap water. I don't know of very many females that could resist Seifer when he turned on the Almasy charm. Now why don't you join us since you are already wearing shorts?"

"I don't know. I have a lot of work to do."

"Oh for the love of Hyne!" Squall snapped picked Victor up and threw him over his shoulder and carried him off in the direction of the beach.

"Put me down! Put me down this instant Squall Leonhart." Victor ordered. Trying to struggle off of Squall's shoulder but to no avail.

"Very well!" Squall smirked he was now waist deep in the cool blue water. Grabbing the back of Victor's shirt back flipped him into the water with a resounding splash.

Victor surfaced spluttering, "Now look what you've done, I have no choice but to go put on my trunks and join you."

Avalena, Ambyr and Squall started laughing, what was the point of him changing into a different pair of shorts since he was already wearing a pair.

"What!" Victor yelled.

"Um! Victor in case you failed to notice you already are wearing shorts." Ambyr offered helpfully. And went off into more peals of laughter.

Victor finally seeing the humor in the situation joined in their laughter. They spent the better part of the afternoon swimming and playing in the water.

Avalena swam out to where Squall was laying on his back in the water. Treading water beside him ask him what he wanted for dinner.

"You!" He answered, and flipped over so he could tread water beside her. "Fried chicken sounds wonderful." He smiled at her and they swam into shore, where Ambyr and Victor were waiting.

"Ambyr and I decided that since you treated for dinner last night we would tonight. What would you like?" He offered with a smile.

"Fried chicken and potato salad." Squall answered quickly.

Ambyr smiled at him, "Do you want to go out or have delivery?"

"Delivery please. I want to stay home tonight." He didn't put to voice that he planned on calling Seifer and arranging for them to get together and do some practicing. It had been quite sometime since he had a partner and he had missed it. He knew it wouldn't be tomorrow. The rest of the world could go to hell. He wanted one more day of just him and Avalena.

When they got back to the house the two couples separated and going to their perspective rooms showered and changed clothes. Avalena and Squall went downstairs and found that Ambyr had just hung up the phone from placing the order for dinner.

"They said it would be here in about an hour."

After they ate dinner they sit around and talked until around 10:00 p.m. Squall let out a jaw-snapping yawn, he hadn't realized that he was so tired. After he and Avalena said goodnight to Ambyr and Victor they went upstairs undressed and crawled into bed with each other. Pulling her close against him he gave her several soft kisses, each one followed by him telling her that he loved her and her telling him that she loved him. They fell asleep safe in the comfort of each other's arms.

The next morning they awoke went downstairs and had breakfast with Ambyr and Victor who after they finished were going to have to leave for her book signing tour.

Walking them out to their car Avalena promised that as soon as she knew when the wedding was going to be she would let her know. And also promised to call her and let her know what happened with Cid.

Victor shook Squall's hand and gave Avalena a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. Then crawled into the driver's seat of their rental.

Ambyr gave Avalena a hug and kiss on the cheek, which was returned. Turning to Squall she also hugged him but kissed him on the mouth. She would never tell Victor but she had wondered what Squall's mouth tasted like ever since she had asked Avalena what his kisses were like. Now she knew, Avalena was right, his kisses were intoxicating and that was just a chaste kiss. Victor tasted like vanilla where Squall was something hot and spicy but also refreshing and cool.

She was glad that Victor was preoccupied with getting the car started and hadn't seen that kiss. Last night when they had gone to bed he had told her that he had discovered that he was possessive where she was concerned, and had also told her why. She and Victor had had a very rocky start to their relationship. At one time he had compared her to a cactus, saying that he was afraid to get too close to her because he was afraid of her thorns. She had retaliated by telling him that even though a cactus can hurt you it can also sustain you if you're in a desert. After that they had finally worked out their differences and were now together. Although sometimes he would revert back to his old ways of thinking, she still loved him and always would, even though he drove her crazy at times.

She smiled up at Squall and gave him one more quick hug then doing the same for Avalena, got into the car, promising to call soon. In just the few short days that she had known Squall Leonhart she knew why Avalena loved him.

After their guest had left Squall and Avalena went back into the house locked the door, went upstairs where they made love with each other for the rest of the day. Going downstairs around 6:00 that evening they raided the refrigerator and had a quick snack before retiring back upstairs.

"I'm going to call Seifer tomorrow and have them come out here. I need to practice with someone again. Practicing by myself is one thing but I haven't crossed blades with him in over four years. So I imagine that we both could use some training."

"Is it okay if I watch?"

"Of course."

Avalena cuddled in closer to him "I love you Squall."

"I love you too Avalena." He replied and kissed her.

"What was it like?" She questioned him.

"What was what like?"

"When Ambyr kissed you?"

He smiled at her and answered, "It was like biting into an apple. Cool and crisp but also sweet." He kissed her again and continued, "Where you, your kisses are like a fire that consumes me but also like the water of life that sustains me. Your mouth is sweet at times but spicy at others. And I find that I can't get enough of your kisses."

"And yours my lion, your kisses are like…" She paused, kissed him and smiled, "Your kisses are like peppermint. They can be sweet or hot and demanding but also so refreshing. Did you know that I find your kisses intoxicating?"

"Really?" He replied with just a touch of cockiness in his voice.

"Yes, there are times when your kisses leave me so light headed and breathless that I feel like I've gone on a three day binge in an oxygen deprived room."

They fell asleep kissing and wrapped up in each other's arms. Squall woke up the next morning to the sound of her giggling. "What?"

She looked at him her eyes sparkling happily, "Cartoons."

His response was jumping out of bed and throwing on the new robe that she had bought for him. "I'll meet you downstairs." He ran downstairs and poured them each a cup of coffee, silently thanking Hyne that she had a programmable coffee maker and that they had the presence of mind to set it up last night. He carried the two steaming cups of coffee into the living room just as she was pushing the buttons that made the wall fold back to reveal the television set.

They snuggled together on the couch and enjoyed watching cartoons together like they had done in the past. When that particular cartoon show was over she went into the kitchen to start breakfast.

"Do the people that make those cartoons think children are stupid?" He asked from the doorway.

"Why do you ask that?"

"They have this asinine cartoon on now that has these little blue fuzz balls and everything is just" he paused and raised his voice into a falsetto, "Everything is just smurfarific." His voice dropped back down to its usual range, "You can't even call that shit pre-school. It's prenatal!" He finished with disgust clearly in his voice.

"Tristen doesn't like that cartoon either, he watched it once at Drake's and said it was dumb. Drake's girls got mad at him when he started rooting for the bad guy." Avalena said with a smile. "I'm glad that he doesn't like it either, I tried watching it once and it made my teeth hurt."

"I can see why. That cartoon is an anorexics dream." He said sarcastically. Then walked over to where she was. Putting his arms around her he hugged her from behind, then leaned down and nibbled on the top of her ear. "I love you my sweetheart."

"I love you too honey. Why don't you call Seifer while I finish making breakfast? And would you mind going into town and picking them up? I want to do some more painting today."

"Not at all." He left the kitchen and went upstairs to retrieve his cell phone. He hadn't turned it back on since Avalena had turned it off, and he had several voice mails. Taking it downstairs he absently picked at the eggs that she sit in front of him listening to message after message of endless drivel from Quistis Trepe. For someone who was a god damned know it all she sure had a lot of inane questions.

He picked up his coffee cup and took a long drink finishing the cup, before he could even ask or do it himself Avalena had poured him another one. There was a message from Laguna saying that he was also staying in Dollet and would remain there trying to keep the idiot brigade out of trouble. That one he returned immediately.

"What?" Laguna's usual cheeriness was gone from his voice and he sounded very tired and frustrated.

"I suppose saying good morning is out of the question?"

"Hello son. Do you know what those morons have done? You told them, how do I know that you told them, because I was standing right there beside you when you did. You said be discreet. I swear to Hyne those three wouldn't know discreet if it kicked them in the ass."

"Fuck me! What have they done?" Squall groaned into the phone.

"You want to know what they've done? I'll tell you what they've done. Zell is going around shooting off his mouth about them being on a secret mission. Even if it were a secret it wouldn't be any longer. Quistis is at the treatment center almost all the time trying to tell them better ways to run it. Selphie is constantly barraging me with questions on what could have come over Irvine. Then there's the tattoo's that all three of them got." Laguna growled. He didn't tell his son that he had finally had enough of Selphie's questions about Irvine and had asked her what she saw in the annoying schmuck? Especially since she could do so much better then him.

"Tattoo's?"

"Yes tattoo's Dincht's idea."

"I don't want to know do I?" Squall groaned again, he rubbed between his eyes. He felt a tension headache coming on.

"Probably not. But I feel I should warn you ahead of time son. All three of them have tattoo's on their arms that say Lion's Pride."

"Father, could you bring them back here tomorrow?"

"Yes, I can son."

"Thank you, we'll see you sometime tomorrow afternoon. Bye dad." He clicked the phone shut.

"No common sense. None at-all for someone who is supposed to have a high I.Q. he could be out smarted by his shadow." Squall growled and threw his hands up in frustration.

"You're not talking about Laguna are you?" Avalena asked from behind him reaching out her hands she started to rub his shoulders.

"No! Zell is going around Dollet and shooting off his mouth that they're on a secret mission. Hyne, I should have just taken a front-page ad out, fewer people would have probably found out. Shit!" He said darkly. Flipping his cell open again he called Seifer.

"Hey Nicky what's up?" Seifer asked.

"I need you!" Squall snarled.

"Why Squall, I'm flattered. But I really don't swing that way." Seifer laughed, and then realized that tone of Squall's voice was really angry. "Forget I said that. What's wrong?"

"Could you rent a car and get out here. I need to practice and I need somebody to vent my anger on." Squall replied his breathing was getting more labored. The more he thought about what Zell, Selphie, and Quistis had done and were doing the angrier he got.

"So I get to be your punching bag huh?" He wondered what had happened to set Squall off this time. "Do you want me to bring Tris home as well?"

"Yes."

"We'll be there in about an hour." Seifer said and hung up the phone.