"You know, you're really not helping yourself by getting drunk." Rinoa said, confiscating whatever drink he had and putting her hands on her hips.

Squall sighed. Drunk? He hadn't even started. "She left."

"...We know. She left a week ago and all you've done is sit here and drink." The girl said quietly.

"But sitting here isn't going to fix anything!" She smiled, walking over out of the room with the bottle and coming back with the phone.

"Here. You have to start somewhere."

Oh, deja vu. He glanced at the phone before looking away. "…I can't. She'll never believe me."

Rinoa rolled her eyes before kicking his chair. "She's not going to believe you if you don't call!" The brunette flattened his eyes at the impact. "You love her, don't you? Or are you going to pull that I'm-macho-man Squall and I'm too good to go tell the woman I love it was a big mistake?"

He stayed silent and she sighed. "Look, you love her right? Don't be a jerk! Go tell her."

He looked away.

She frowned, kicking his chair again before leaning down to his level so they were eye to eye. "The woman you love is one of the nicest, smartest and wisest people I know. She won't stay alone for long. Are you really going to let her go just to save your ego?"

"Here's her number... I got it out of her jacket when I was doing the laundry." She paused a moment. "I think it's her number, anyway. But you can't just sit her and mope around! It's not-"

He stood up silently, cutting her off. "I've got a meeting, Rinoa. I'm going."

"You can't keep acting like this-"

He snapped around. "One more word out of you and you're fired."

"You're a coward!" Rinoa snapped. "You won't go after her because you're scared she's going to break your heart! That she's going to leave you and break your heart, and you can't bare the thought of that so you're not even going to try are you? Are you?! You're so scared of being alone that you're not even going to try to get her back! If people put up an umbrella all their life it's true they'll never get the rain! But you know what, Squall? They never get any sunshine either. Do you really want to be the man that lost the woman he loved just because he was scared? ...I don't think you do.. and I don't think you want to be that man either."

He stopped at the door way. "Get out, Rinoa. You're done working here."

[ o [ o [ o

She hadn't even been this rickety nervous when she first began teaching, but she was sure as hell glad there was a desk in front of her so no one could see how tight she was holding onto it.

Vacations, pregnancy leaves and sick days were one thing. Coming back after getting married to some hot shot author was another. She stayed silent as the students filed in one by one and took their seats. The silence in the room told they were thinking the same thing. What the hell have you been?

The blonde forced a smile. "I'm sorry I've been gone for the last four months, but I'll resume as your teacher for the rest of the year. ..I just hope you haven't harassed the supply teachers too much while I was gone. "

She vaguely saw a Trepie in the front row mouthing the words 'Thank you, Hyne' to the sky. She continued, "Alright, enough from me. How many of you have questions?"

All the hands in the class immediately rose to air faster than she could blink.

She sighed, supposing it would be a good time to specify. "Questions that relate to class, I mean."

All the hands went down. "Now that we've got that cleared up, who wants to tell me about what the supply has gone over with you?"

The red head in the back of the class waving her hands madly caught her attention, so she picked her. "Yes?" The name of the student suddenly just escaped her and she mentally kicked her self. Nice going. Forget all your students.

"Why did you get divorced? Don't you still love him? Why don't you love him! He's the cutest guy in the whole entire world! If I were you I'd totally stay married to him! Oh my gosh! He's so cute! You're so lucky to even marry him! Was he good in -"

She vaguely felt her eye twitch. "Class related questions, only please. Any more of these questions and you'll be having detention with Instructor Biggs."

The whole class shuddered, and she sat down slowly. "Open your texts books to page 101, and start reading."

The girl's words echoed in her head.

Don't you still love him?

...Don't you?

[ o [ o [ o

If the words on the page were any bolder, or any bigger, he would have put money on the fact that he probably could have smacked him across the face.

Because in front of him, was a dandy little slip of paper that oh so simply asking him to move to Esthar.

Permanently, yes, and it was a given that he was to live with all the benefits.. (Norg contrary to popular belief was not as stupid as he looked.) Added salary, book deals, free mansion - and car. …With the little (little because it was in very tiny small print) that he was so formally divorce his wife, and marry some woman he had never heard of in his entire life.

Not that it would be much of a challenge. He had done it before, after all.
He was sure it was part of some celebrity mastermind campaign to make the world a brighter, more beneficial place to be by making celebrities breed gorgeous, rich babies into the world. How exactly that would help, he didn't have any idea. If anything, it would result in a hell of a lot more toy poodles in the world. Not to mention, quite possibly, even more spoiled brats.

In silence, he contemplated this. And came up with one word to summarize the idea: Bleh.

Until the silence was broken.

By something that sounded suspiciously like rattling on the drainpipes, scrapping tin and an occasional curse.

He was used to noises going through the house. It was a half empty mansion, of course he would know every single thing that happened.

But unusual noises from the drainpipes and odd knocking noises from the window were a bit unsettling.

You know, just a bit. Thus, it gave him three possible outlooks on the situation a) he was going crazy b) someone was climbing up the drainpipe to sneak in or finally, c) that someone that was climbing up the drainpipe was actually just a rabid squirrel, and he really had nothing to worry about. Except for rabies.

He held back a shudder, leaning his head back against the chair.

And he could have sworn he heard the distinct noise of clanging against the outside drain pipe.

Just a squirrel. Just a crazy, suicidal squirrel.

The brunette opened his eyes lazily, and paused.

That was so not a squirrel.

"I've heard you divorced my granddaughter."

Sure. It was always his fault. So, fine. Maybe it was, but-

"How did you get in here?" He snapped, sitting upright.

The better question was probably, do you have more 'allies' waiting for me in the yard, though.

He was staring at the only woman on quite possibly the entire face of the planet that could unnerve him enough to actually do a mental shutdown.

It was her grandmother, appearing before him in black clothes; who, apparently, had just climbed up the drain pipers judging by the foliage all over her outfit.

"Up the drainpipes and through the window. You should really think about getting more security."

"…You climbed up the drainpipe." He repeated, deadpanned.

"Well, I couldn't very well go through the front door. Have you seen the lock on that door?"

He wisely decided to ignore the sarcastic comment in his brain, and went for the more suitable question. "…Why are you here?"

Apparently the whole concept of angry-grandmother-coming-to-assassinate-you hadn't quite filtered through the coherent part of his brain yet.

"I've heard you what you did to my granddaughter. How am I supposed to get my heirs, now? I'm getting up there, I need grandchildren-"

Gentlemen, start marking your exits.

"I'm not having this talk with you." He said, coolly.

Way to go. Provoke the bull, why don't you? Wave a red flag while you're at it, Einstein. But honestly, up the drain pipe-

"She's still in love with you."

Who hell goes up the drain pipe? She'd have to have magnetic shoes or something-

Waitaminute.

"…What?" he asked, after a long pause.

"She's still in love with you. It's my granddaughter after all, I would know these things. Her mother's been telling me she definitely hasn't gotten over you. Sure, she went on a couple of dates, but it wasn't the same. And there was a whole thing about some guy that had a dog or something, but we all know dogs are a bad sign. Look at ol' skippy there-"

"She signed the papers."

"Papers aren't everything. Maybe she thought it was a receipt or something. If I had a dollar for every time I've signed papers like that-"

If her Grandmother and Laguna were twins separated at birth, he wouldn't have been surprised. The brunette sighed, putting his palm to his forehead. This situation definitely deserved a face palm. "Can I have some time alone?"

Which translated to: escort yourself out just without the 'whatever' and a bit nicer.

"Only if you get me lots of grandchildren before I bite the bullet! Or kick the bucket, oh, speaking of which - guess what?" She didn't wait for him to reply, and giddily rubbed her hands together. "Quistis is pregnant."

Silence.

"Triplets. I'm convinced! Everyone else says otherwise, but I know. It's a grandmother's intuition!"

He was going to faint any second now. Or drop dead. He wasn't sure but either one of the two in roughly 3.00934 seconds.

Or maybe both. Was it even possible to spontaneously faint and drop dead at the same time? Sure it was. If he managed to faint, hit his head in the desk hard enough- It wasn't impossible. All those people on the medical dramas did it, though. Well, not exactly the same way, but still. So it was possible. Maybe. But then again, it was scripted-

She'spregnantwithyourchildandyou'regoingovermedicaldramasinyourhead.

Idiot.

"Then again, most of the times they said it will probably be four of six-"

What screwed up genetic family tree had he just bred into? Four or six?

"But then again, there've been cases of two kittens per litter. Who knows!"

Squall stared at the woman, clearing demonstrating his 'you-lost-me-three-sentences-ago' face. "…What?" Unless someone had managed to twist the plot on him, and the entire time he had been married to some genetically altered cat girl; he was fairly sure there shouldn't be any kittens in this equation.

"What?" The grandmother repeated, confused. "I was talking about my cat. Had to get over ol' Skippy eventually-"

"…You named your cat Quistis?"

Let me demonstrate my 'I am not amused' voice.

"I had my cats named after all my grandchildren! It's the only way I'm probably going to actual great grand children! Clearly, someone isn't helping the matter." She paused a moment before wheeling on him. "But this proves something! You're still in love with her!"

The brunette found himself torn between asking how many cats and or grandchildren she had, or the more obvious question of, what did or didn't you inhale/digest/walk through before this? "…I'm-"

Not going through this talk with you?

Going to call security?

Bang your head against the desk and pretend this is all a dream? Get your head in the game, man. Say something! It's called talking. Open your mouth-

"You haven't signed the papers." Okay. Who let the old grandmother at the papers? She skimmed over the papers and put them down on the desk. "Sign them. I dare you."

His brain came to an abrupt halt. And his mind slammed into it.

I dare you?

That was the card he wasn't expecting; from good ol' Skippy to daring him to sign the papers.

Wow.

And she was eyeing him down, waiting for an answer. One he didn't have. And he had a feeling that old point and run trick wasn't going to work. He wished it would though. He really did.

Because this woman was a ready for a smack down fest.

"What do you want me to say?"

Good. Be careful with what you said. Who knows what else she has in that purse of hers.

She raised an eyebrow in silence. "I'm not asking for what I want, I'm asking for what you need."

What he needed.

The brunette looked to his desk for moment before looking back up.

The room was empty.

Yes, indeed. He was wrong about her being a crazy Amazon. He knew now, for sure, he had been way out of line. There was no way at all she had ever been a crazy Amazon.

She was definitely an ex-ninja.

[ o [ o [ o

Mr. Leonhart, how nice to see you." Norg droned. "I almost didn't think you'd be here. I am glad to see you here though. Did you bring the papers?" Squall held them up silently. "Excellent." Norg said with a large grin, taking them.

"I'm here. …Start talking." He crossed his arms, looking to the board where various salaries were written on the board. The people in the room shuffled uncomfortably.

"Now that you've... rid yourself of that unnecessary item of yours, Mr. Leonhart. We can beg discussing the media involvement. We've decided to the let the Galbadia weekly and Esther Entertainment take the lead with it. And with this recent offer Ester is offering you, you can increase your salary tenfold, Mr. Leonhart... If you would be willing to work in Esther 350 days of the next year to endorse your divorce, that is."

The room went silent for a moment before starting up.

"That's an incredible option, Mr. Leonhart. Think about all the opportunities it would give you!"

"Esther is the publishing future!"

"That means you'd be making over 2 million gil every month."

I don't think you want to be the man that lost the woman he loved just because he was scared...

You still love her.

He drummed his fingers across the table. "What about my mansion?" He asked quietly.

"It'd be taken care of by the company, the cleaning people would still paid, of course."

You never stopped.

It's true that they'd never get any rain.

"And my agents?"

"They'd be paid in full to move with you, sir."

Why can't you admit it to yourself?

But you know, they never get any sunshine either.

Are you really that scared? Are you really going to become that cold man again?

Why can't you just go after her? What's stopping you?

"What about my wife?" The words came out before he even had the chance to think about them.

Norg sneered. "Thankfully, the divorce papers from that simpleton just came in the morning. You're at the top of the list in the bachelor magazines, Mr. Leonhart. Which means Ms. Galbadia and Ms. Esthar will be awaiting your phone call anytime."

It felt like his heart just plummeted from the top of the tallest building into the world to the ground.

She had signed them.

He clenched his fist tightly. She had just signed them this morning... he still had time. He still had a shot at getting her. Squall got up. "No." He said bluntly.

The man opposite of him dropped his coffee mug and became slack jawed.

"I don't need either of them." The author said sternly.

Norg was wheezing up a storm, flailing his arms about like a bird. "What?! How dare you refuse such an offer?! You're going to give all this up because... because of some woman?! She's a simpleton! A poor excuse for a woman? Think of what you're giving up?! How stupid are you?!"

Norg was doing a fairly good impersonation of a fish with his mouth hanging open as the rest of the chairmen sat and stared.

Squall shook his head, walked through the door.

And never looked back.

[ o [ o [ o

Xu sighed, rolling over to her back; starring at the ticking clock.

12:32am.

Then the damn phone started ringing. Because if there was anything Xu hated, it was phones ringing at midnight.

Even if she was up, Xu was not one for people calling in the middle of the night. She sighed, and settled back in to bed and waited for the annoying ringing to stop.

Only, it didn't.

Even after half of an hour, the phone continued ringing. Finally, on the edge of her sanity, Xu hauled the receiver up to her ear ready to scream.

"Who is this?!" She snapped.

"Squall Leonhart. Is this Xu?"

Is this Xu-?! Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. SQUALL LEONHART?!

"Squall Leonhart?!" She asked in disbelief totally disregarding his question. "You mean you're the-"

"Look, is Quistis there? I need to talk to her. ...Please."

"No." Xu snapped. "You don't need to talk to her. You broke her heart."

"Xu, please. I need to talk to her."

The woman rolled her eyes. If she had a buck for every guy who said he loved her - Was that her Grandmother in the background?

"You couldn't have loved her! If you loved her you'd be here trying to comfort her. She told me about you. How you used her and broke her heart."

"I didn't mean to. I never meant to hurt her."

"You didn't try too hard then, did you?" She accused. "Look, even if you do love her, it's too late. She won't listen to you, and neither will I. Besides, do you even know about the time difference here? It's one in the morning!"

"Xu, please. Just listen to me."

"Why? You're just off somewhere with your millions of dollars not caring."

"I don't care if you don't believe me, just listen to my side of the story. That's all I'm asking. At first I wanted to use her. I didn't care about her. I thought she was like the rest of the women I dated. I was wrong. I was wrong to think I could use her. But as I got to know her I fell in love with her. I don't know if you heard about the Galbadia press conference a few days ago but I got offered four trillion dollars to move to Esthar. ...I didn't take it. I couldn't. If I had moved there I would have never had a chance to see her again. I... I couldn't bare the thought of that."

Xu sat listening, silently. Would he stop harassing her if she let him talk to her?

"Please believe me, Xu. I love her. Is she there? ...Can I speak to her?"

"She's not here. She's in the dorm beside me. ...and she's not going not be happy about this."

"Please, Xu."

"...Alright, hold on a minute." She shifted the portable phone between her shoulder and head before stepping out to the left and knocking at her friend's door.

"She's not answering." She knocked again, trying to keep the phone balanced.

Finally the door answered, with a tired looking blonde on the other side.

Xu cleared her throat. "Phone call." She said flatly, handing it over.

The other woman looked from her to the phone. "Who is it?"

The brunette shrugged. "Don't know. It sounded very important though."

Oh, you're so dead Xu. She's going to hang you from the ceiling fan.

The blonde slowly put it to her ear. "Hello?" Immediately, her expression changed from shocked to angered, and she moved her finger to hit the off button. "I don't ever want to talk to you again." She said. "What do you have to do to make me believe you?" She laughed bitterly. "Turn back time, Squall."

Xu winced, still having her eyes glued to her friend's in some hope that she might be able to tell what was going on by body language. "…Fine." Quistis sniped at the phone.

She was getting the distinct reason it wasn't well.

Then suddenly, a smile crossed her friend's lips. And Xu was hopelessly lost. "What's going on?" She hissed, trying to get her attention.

The blonde turned around and grabbed a note paper quickly scribbling down something before holding it up.

Selphie.

Who the hell was Selphie? Xu made a face. She was so lost, she sighed, crossing her arms and tapped her foot deciding it was probably better for them both if she just tuned out to which she did.

Her friend's face faded from amused to annoyed. "I don't want to hear it, Selphie." She said coldly. "I don't care what he says. Or what the press says." A pause. "...He never loved me, Selphie."

Xu snapped out of her nice little day dream involving various good looking, muscled men when the phone was suddenly handed to her rather roughly and was pushed out of the room. The woman had her mouth agape when the door slammed in her face. She quickly brought the phone to her ear. "What did you say to her?!"

"Huh? Who is this? Where's Quisty?"

Someone new this time, she noted dryly. Oh snappity snap, Xu. You just got replaced.

"Xu." She snapped, tired of all these people she had never heard of asking her name. "Now what did you tell her?"

"Xu? Really? She always talked about you! I'm Selphie. Nice to meet you!"

"Yes, yes. It's a pleasure." Xu grumbled. "Now what did you tell her?"

"The truth."

Xu rolled her eyes. "What's the truth?" She might as well ask her horoscope while she was at it.

"Look, Xu. He really never meant to hurt her. We know he didn't."

Yeah, yeah. And the chocobo jumped over the moon. "I keep hearing that, but I don't believe it."

The woman on the other line of the phone sighed. "The truth is Mr. Leonhart... he was going to propose to her. For real. Rinoa and I found the engagement ring yesterday... he was going to ask her to marry him the day she left."

Holy shit.

Xu dropped the phone.

…GAH. I had such an awful time writing this chapter. The only think I like from this chapter is the Grandmother's scene. I really should make up a name for her sometime.

Also, I'm so incredibly sorry for the delay. Thank you all for being so patient, and wishing me good luck on my trip. Everyone should visit Florence, it's an amazing place! (But try to avoid Alitalia. They delayed my flight three days.) I'll try to update soon, but college is keeping me very busy. I'll try my best though. Also, thank you very much to the wonderful Quallistic, who betaed this chapter! Everyone, go review her fan fiction, it's adorable.

PS: Anyone here play Hack//GU? I kind of need a beta reader/guinea pig for a Pi/Haseo fic. …Yes. You read right. Pi/Haseo.