Balamb Garden's Yuletide Vacation

Chapter Twenty-six

Friday, December the Twenty-second

Reconciliation

Every time Squall crashed into someone during his run through Garden he hugged the person and belted out, "Merry Solstice! I have to find Rinoa!" Left behind in his wake were frightened stares and whispers of, "The commander has finally lost it!" "Did Rinoa hit him with confuse?" and "I wonder what this new alert system will be called?"

It was only through pure luck that Squall ran into Nicole, Quistis and Ellone outside of the cafeteria, for he certainly would have continued to run haphazardly around the building until he collapsed had he not. "Sis!" he cried out sweeping Ellone into a hug so hard it made her eyes bug out. "I'm so glad you're here! Merry Solstice!" He repeated the performance for Nicole and Quistis.

"Uhh, are you feeling all right, Squall?" Quistis asked as he hugged her.

"Yes, I'm feeling wonderful!" He threw up his arms and began to twirl about. "It's Solstice! It's not too late!"

Quistis raised an eyebrow. "Too late for what?"

"To change the future- Oh Hyne!" he burst out, "I have to find Rinoa!"

Nicole flushed. "Rinoa's gone, Squall, she left about a half hour ago."

Squall began gesturing wildly. "Yes… know this… not too late, can catch Rinoa. I… go… run now to Balamb!"

"Wait, Squall," said Quistis grabbing his arm. "Let me drive you, you'll never catch her if you run all the way to Balamb."

Squall nodded hard, his hair flopped around his head. "Yes… Quistis drive me."

The commander was completely silent on the way to Balamb, until they were within the town. It was then that he pulled out his wallet and withdrew a small clipping. Turning to Quistis he said, finally speaking normally again, "Quistis, I want you to drop me off at the train station and run to Balamb Jewelry and buy this… I have an account there. Just show your SeeD ID…"

Quistis agreed and briefly glanced down at the clipping. "Uh, Squall," she searched for the right words, "are you sure about this?" She pulled the car to a stop.

"I've never been so sure about anything in my life!" he said as he jumped out of the car. "Meet you back here as soon as you get it!" And then Squall was gone, lost in the crowd hurrying into the terminal.

Wind ruffled her hair as Rinoa waited patiently for her train to arrive. The scene before Squall seemed almost surreal as he stood a mere twenty feet away as he vacillated between plans on how to approach her. She looked so beautiful in her black coat, the fur collar framing her face giving her an ethereal softness.

For what seemed like forever the commander stood there just watching. He knew he did not deserve her, but he had realized he could not live without her. It was the announcement that the train bound for Deling city was boarding that kicked Squall into action.

Tucking the magazine she'd been reading into her bag, Rinoa stood. She screeched when Squall caught her off guard and swept her into a tight hug.

"Don't go, Rinoa," he whispered.

She stared at him incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to bring you back to Garden."

She twisted out of his embrace, her chocolate eyes boring into him. "I don't think so." Picking up her tiny blue suitcase she began to walk toward the line boarding the train.

Squall grabbed her arm. "No! I will not let you go!"

Trying to pull her arm from his grasp, Rinoa looked up into Squall's face and was surprised to see tears in his eyes. "Have you been… crying?" She brushed away one tear with her fingertip.

"I love you, I won't let you go. Not like this."

"But… there is something you don't know. I-I have to go." The sad woman looked away, closing her eyes tightly to hold back tears of her own.

Tightening his grip on her, Squall shook his head. "Whatever it is, Rinoa, we can work it out."

Rinoa glanced up at her boyfriend then looked away again. "I want to believe you, but…"

"Just one more chance, Rinoa. Please?" His voice sounded weak, desperate. "Please? Don't make me beg," he whispered. Then he pulled Rinoa closer to him and pressed his lips against hers. At first she did not respond and stood there statue-like. But the young beauty had more passion in her than stubbornness and she soon wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed her true love in return.

"So you'll come back with me?" The young man asked when the kiss broke.

Rinoa smiled coyly, though it was plain from the look in her eyes that she was not entirely convinced. "Um… you said something about begging?"

"You want me to beg?"

"Well…"

"Fine!" he said getting on his knees. "I'll beg!" It appeared that for the moment he had lost all of his self-consciousness, for the commander was obviously oblivious to the circle of spectators that had gathered around.

Flushing bright red, Rinoa beckoned for Squall to stand. "Will you get up? I was just kidding!"

"Well, I wasn't! Please forgive me Rinoa, please? I'm so sorry for acting like such a jackass. I'll do anything if you'll come back! I'll pay for those art lessons you want, I'll even go to counseling if you think we need it. But please, please come home! I know I'll never be able to live with myself if I let you get on that train!"

Rinoa gazed at her boyfriend with tears running down her face, her lips slightly parted. She tried to think of reasons to mistrust him, excuses not to go back, but she couldn't. Something deep down inside told Rinoa that he was being honest. They had much to work out, but deep down her heart told her it would somehow work.

The crowd was completely silent. Tension hung in the air so thick Rinoa could scarcely breath and she was sure that every onlooker could hear her heart pounding away in her chest. "Yes, I'll go back with you."

With a broad smile Squall jumped up and pulled Rinoa into his arms. They kissed as applause and cheers broke out around them, their tears intermingling as their lips met.

" I love you, Rinny, I love you so much," he said into her ear.

"I love you too, Squall! So very, very much!"

~*~

"Zell, are you alright?" Nicole's high-pitched voice came through the door. "Who are you yelling at?" She pounded hard on the door.

Opening the door with a swoosh, Zell scooped Nicole up in his arms. "You're not the Toilet Girl!" And he kissed her.

Laughing, Nicole said, "Toilet Girl? Zell, what on Hyne's green earth are you talking about?"

Zell blushed and set her down. "Uh… nothing… so, like, what's up?" Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he tried to appear casual. He was surprised to see the bracelet he'd given her for her birthday dangling from her wrist.

Seeing where his eyes were, Nicole smiled. "It's beautiful, Zell!" She fingered the tiny book of love charm and then opened it up and read aloud what he'd had engraved within. "Zell and Nicole forever…" She threw her arms around his neck and covered his face with tiny kitten-kisses. "I'm so sorry for acting so mean," she murmured between kisses.

"So does this mean you forgive me?"

"It's me who needs the forgiveness! I was just awful!"

Zell cuddled his girlfriend close. "Awww, Nicole, I love you… I can't stay mad."

"Oh!" The pigtailed girl reached into the pocket of her skirt. "I found this in the gift bag with my bracelet. Is this what you've been freaking out about?" She held out a wad of money.

"You should've said something, you know. We are your friends!"

Holding the gil notes in his hand, Zell wondered, If this is my money… then what's this? He touched the gil in his pocket.

Seeing her boyfriend's expression, Nicole asked, "Is everything okay?"

"Um, yeah! Everything's fine!" He grinned.

"Okay… so you're gonna start getting ready, right?"

Zell glanced at his watch. "Uh, Nicole, the ball doesn't start 'til eight!"

Nicole shook her head. "We are all supposed to meet in the Secret Area at five, Zell! Didn't Selphie tell you?"

"Uhhh…" the young man scratched his head, "she may have…"

"Oh you silly thing!" she kissed him soundly on the lips. "You get yourself dressed, and I'll call you when I am ready, okay?"

He smiled. "Okay."

After another kiss Nicole bounced out of the room.

~*~

Selphie stood back surveying the work she'd done on the Secret Area with Irvine's help. The Garden Festivals were important to her, but there was nothing quite as important to Selphie as throwing private parties for her close friends. It made her so happy to see the pleasure on their faces as they enjoyed her affairs.

"It looks great, Sefie," said Irvine sidling up to her and slipping his arm around her shoulders. Selphie beamed.

"It does, doesn't it?" She giggled in her usual manner. "Startha Mewart's got nothin' on me!" They both laughed.

Irvine looked thoughtful. "You know, something's bothering me…"

"What? Oh! Yeah, I thought there were too many lights, do you think there's time-,"

"The lights are perfect," Irvine interrupted. "There's something else."

"Not enough mistletoe?"

"The mistletoe is fine, what I'm trying to-,"

"Holly!" Selphie chirped, putting her hands to her cheeks. "I forgot the holly!"

Irvine groaned. "Hey, Selphie! Hello?" he snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"What? Huh?" the bouncy perfectionist finally came back to reality.

"I need to talk to you about something really important," he said, leading her to a chair. Pulling up a seat next to her, he took her tiny hands in his.

"What's wrong, Irvy?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I'm worried about us."

"How so? Everything's okay now, isn't it?" The young woman looked at Irvine with a worried expression.

"I don't know…"

Selphie bounced up from her seat. "Who is she? I'll kick her a-,"

"Selphie! There is no one else!" Irvine pulled his girlfriend back down and drew her into a hug. "Calm down and hear me out, will you?"

When Selphie nodded Irvine continued. "This is exactly what I mean. You lose your temper so easily. Why don't you trust me?"

"Why do you think I don't trust you?"

Irvine looked away. "I know why, but still… It's not like I'm a male slut and mess with every girl that catches my eye."

The bouncy young woman snorted. "Irvy, you're a virgin!" She burst out laughing.

"Sh-h-h-h…" He waved his hands about and looked around to make sure no one was in earshot. "Not so loud! Someone might hear you! I have a rep to protect!"

"Oh Hyne! Everyone knows you're a virgin!"

"They do?"

"Uh-huh."

"Man… that sucks." He sighed heavily. "Anyways, why do you think I am still… you know…"

"Because you keep making a fool of yourself?"

How embarrassing, Irvine thought to himself. "Maybe that was the reason before I met you," he admitted, "but-," he stopped speaking suddenly and looked at the floor.

"But?" Selphie asked with a wide smile. "What's your reason now?"

Irvine mumbled something in response.

"What?" I can't hear you?" Selphie leaned her ear closer to her boyfriend.

"I said," he whispered, "because I'm saving myself."

Selphie giggled, putting her fingertips to her lips. "What are you saving yourself for? Marriage?"

Irvine shuddered and began to cough. "Marriage? Hyne, no! I'm only eighteen!"

"Well, then what ARE you saving yourself for?"

"For you, Sefie. I'm completely in love with you."

With a wide grin she said, "I love you, too, Irvy." Then she remembered the tiny blue nightie she'd bought at Frederick's the day she'd caught Irvine in the back room with the sales hussy. Snuggling close to her man, she said in a sultry voice, "We've got a long time 'til the party starts… how 'bout you come to my room, I've got a solstice gift that you'll never forget."

Irvine gave one of his goofy chuckles. "What is it?" He was clueless as always.

"Oh, you'll find out."

~*~

"Oh, it looks beautiful, Selphie," Rinoa gushed about the secret area as soon as she and Squall arrived. That alone told Selphie that she had overdone things with the lights.

"Thank you, Rinoa," Selphie murmured and smiled at the newly reconciled young couple. "It's so good to see you two together again."

"Blessed be the mysterious ways of Hyne," Rinoa intoned almost sounding as though she was reciting from rote. The dark-haired beauty quickly turned and offered Squall a kiss on his lips to quell his obvious verbal protest. His normally taciturn expression broke into a bishonen smile.

Shattering the mood as always, Matt asked, "What are these things, Selphie?" He was holding up one of the hors d'oeuvres.

Zell laughed. "Those are little hotdogs, Matt."

"No, they're not!" Selphie contradicted just barely being able to control not stamping her foot. "They're very expensive Shumi sausages."

Matt popped the miniature sausage into his mouth and then exclaimed, "Easy come, easy go."

Amidst the general groaning, Squall pulled out the gift for Rinoa that had been beautifully wrapped at the Balamb Jewelry Consortium (if it's from Balamb Jewelry, then it's for life) from where he had stashed it earlier and presented it to her.

Unwrapping the package so carefully and meticulously that Quistis wanted to slap her in exasperation, Rinoa finally discovered the bouquet of hand blown crystal roses. "Oh Squall," she cooed. "These are beautiful. Thank you so much." The young sorceress offered the commander another kiss.

After Rinoa had handed her roses to Selphie to show everyone, she reached behind her for the Solstice present she was giving Squall. Amid the amid the oohs and ahs of the young women present, Zell quipped, "Heh, I didn't know you had in you, Squall."

When the commander shot an angry glare at him, Zell fell silent. Squall opened the gift bag that his fiancée presented him and pulled out a new jacket. "Oh, that looks great, Squall," Selphie enthused.

"But I'm just getting this coat broken in," Squall complained.

"Give us a break, Squall," Quistis complained. "Only dirt is holding that jacket together."

"Cleanliness is next to Hyneliness," Matt informed him. Quistis slapped her forehead and downed a shot of Trabian Vodka.

Rinoa pulled off his old coat and helped him don his new one. "Besides, you know Laguna has been bugging you to give him that jacket for the Estharsonian Museum."

"You know," the dark-haired woman went on, "they have something of mine in there too."

"Oh what is it?" Irvine asked. "A blouse or a coat?"

"No, it isn't any kind of clothing like that," Rinoa answered.

"Rinoa!" Quistis exclaimed, scandalized, fearing the worse.

"What? It's my shoes, what did you think I was talking about?"

Amid the general laughter, Squall lowly intoned, "Well, thank you," while kissing the ebony-haired woman on her cheek. She turned and clutched him while planting a long sensual kiss on his lips. "Oooh," everyone present began saying. When she had finished and came up for air, it was quite obvious that the commander was blushing furiously.

"No need to be embarrassed anymore, Squall," Quistis quipped. "You're practically an old married couple." This remark caused him to blush even more.

"By the way," Irvine asked, "where's Ellone?"

"She said something about being exhausted from using a lot of power, whatever that meant," Selphie answered. Squall ducked his head.

Next Quistis offered Matt his Solstice gift that turned out to be several extremely attractive, expensive silk shirts. "Oh Quissy," he said in a smarmy voice. "These are wonderful. Thank you so much and here's yours." He handed her a small CD shaped gift that was wrapped in white tissue paper. Quistis unwrapped it and stared blankly at it.

"It's a CD I burned for you, it has all the love songs that remind me of you on it," Matt told her in an excited voice.

"So I see," she said, trying to generate enough energy to be able to convince everyone she was excited about the gift. Seeing Matt's expectant expression, the blonde woman finally muttered, "It's great, thanks!" in an unconvincing way and kissed him on the cheek.

Irvine rolled his eyes and whispered something to Selphie who laughed out loud. Nicole shot them a warning look to be polite and Zell, noticing it, asked, "What's going on?"

Rinoa kicked Zell sharply in the ankle. "Ow!" he protested. "I think this was meant for you," Zell explained while kicking Squall who responded with a confused glower.

"Huh? Oh," the prospective bridegroom said, realizing he'd missed something.

The gift giving continued on for the better part of an hour. After all the couples had exchanged their gifts, the rest of the group gave each other their gifts of friendship. It was an altogether pleasant time for everyone involved, mainly due to the copious amounts of alcohol being imbibed.

When the party was drawing to a close, a semi-drunk Squall stood up and announced, "Everyone gather 'round, I want you all to be witnesses!" When the group gathered in a circle around the knight and his sorceress, he pulled out a black velvet box and slipped to one knee before her.

"Rinoa," he began.

"Yes, Squall?" She put a hand to her chest in an attempt to calm her pounding heart.

Squall took her left hand. "I have something to ask you."

"Uh huh!" The young woman looked about to hyperventilate.

Squall flipped up the lid of the box to reveal a huge emerald cut blue diamond surrounded with tiny white diamonds. It had cost him two months salary, but he didn't care. "Rinoa Penelope Julia Caraway Heartilly, will you marry me?"

"Penelope?" asked Matt in a loud whisper. Quistis punched him on the shoulder and he shut up.

Rinoa squealed, then quickly recovered her poise. "Yes, Squall Seigfried Leonhart," she said formally, ignoring Matt's snort at hearing the commander's middle name, "I will marry you." When he slipped the ring on her finger, she pulled him to his feet for a passionate kiss. Their comrades let out a burst of applause and cheers. Even Quistis who was obviously holding back tears of self-pity joined in.

Turning to his friends and raising his bottle of Shumi Beer (from the land of ice blue waters), Squall toasted, "Happy Solstice!" which was echoed by everyone present.