~~~Part 2~~~

"This isn't fair!" Zell whined. "You both know I suck at this!"

"So," Irvine shrugged. "Don't use your good cards."

"Irvine," Selphie drew the tall cowboy's attention to the board. "Practice as you preach." He looked down, an heaved a sigh as he saw his own card and Quezacotl flipped by a Diablos card Selphie won from Zell minutes before. The idyllic little scene was shattered when Rinoa burst in, and, rather unceremoniously, said:

"Zell, we need to talk."

"Uhm, sure," Zell said, not certain if the brief respite from getting his ass kicked was worth a repeat of this morning's confusion.

"Looks like Selphie and Irvine are playing anyway," she remarked. "Zell will be back in a minute." /If he has remotely human intelligence./

Selphie coughed, and Irvine winced at the rattly sound, but Selphie had other things on her mind.

"What's goin' o--" she began to ask, before interrupted by Irvine.

"Seffie," his eyes sent her a message: not right now.

/Thank you, Irvine./ Rinoa thought.

"See you two later," Zell said uncertainly, as he followed Rinoa out of the room.

"'Bye, Zell."

"Later, Dincht.."

"Uhm," Zell started as the door closed behind him, "this about what what you were talking about earlier?"

"Yeah," Rinoa nodded. "It's really, really important that you don't tell anyone at all about that."

"What's wrong," he asked, frowning. Things like that were usually bad news, that much he knew.

"It's. just some medical stuff. It clicked with something Dr. Kadowaki told me, and, well.. I just need some time to sort things out with myself," Rinoa winced at how awkward she sounded, but knowing Zell he wouldn't notice. "Don't even talk to Quistis about it, OK? It's confidential stuff, and Dr. Kadowaki probably wouldn't be happy if she knew I'd told anyone at all."

"Uhm, you're not...." He trailed off and let the half-question hang, not sure if asking about it would be taken well.

"Pregnant?" she finished. /Hyne, of course he thinks of something halfway logical and doesn't take it back when I'm trying to keep him quiet./ "No, of course not-- Would I be that upset? I mean, Squall wouldn't abandon me." /Unless he doesn't take this news well,/ her mind reminded her grimly.

"Uhm, uh.... Well, don't worry about it, I won't tell anybody," Zell said quickly, trying to cover how badly he didn't want to answer that question.

"'Kay, that's all. Have fun, Zell!" she forced her typical happy expression onto her face, but added: "Look, just remember to keep quiet for a few days, OK?"

"No problem," he said, cocking his usual grin. "You can count on me."

"See you," Rinoa called, turning left and heading to, Zell assumed, the infirmary, while he turned and walked back into the dorm, still trying to figure out just what was going on.

~~~===~~~

"Come on.... How hard can it be to get a priority com-line to Esthar, for Hyne's sake!" Quistis had been trying to reach Kiros for almost thirty minutes now, and she was getting tired of the bureaucratic runaround.

"Maybe if I told them Squall had a message for Laguna I'd get through faster," she grumbled.

"Aide Seagill will be just a moment, Miss Trepe," the operator informed her.

/Only the tenth time I've heard that in the last twenty minutes,/ she thought. /Time to play hardball./

"Listen to me, you reject from a telemarketing firm," she growled in her best Instructor Trepe tone. "I am not using a priority one communication line to deliver Father's Day greetings to your president. This is a critical matter, and if you don't get Aide Seagill on the line *now*, you *will* be held accountable."

"Aide Seagill speaking," Kiros' calm, collected voice replied, a hint of amusement in it.

"Glad to finally speak to you, Kiros," Quistis said with a slight sigh. "Sorry about the temper back there."

"...No real problem. As for problems, what might yours be?"

"Possibly good news and definitely bad news for Laguna, and all those involved who know about it thought it should be delivered through you," she said matter-of-factly. "Not critically bad news, but one of those delicate issues."

"...Keep going," Kiros wasn't used to having to urge people to keep talking, it seemed. Laguna needed to be told when to stop and he seemed to read Ward's mind.

"The good news, depending on how he takes it, is that Laguna has another child. We don't have definitive test results yet, but there are several rare traits in common - his blood type, for example. There is also a fairly detailed journal explaining the situation." She paused, not quite sure how blunt to be with the next part.

Kiros hesitated a moment before speaking.

".Whose, and who is it?" Obviously he wasn't as calm as he'd been moments before, but maintained a professional tone.

"Julia's, the entertainer from Galbadia. And that's the bad news," she hesitated for a moment, and then said it. "I'm afraid it's Rinoa."

"...Hang on, Laguna, ask Ward," the voice on the other end snapped, a disbelieving, quiet tone replacing the annoyed one seconds later. "How can that...? What about General Caraway?"

"According to the brief look I had at the pages Rinoa showed me," Quistis explained quietly, "she slept with General Caraway shortly after the three of you left. When she found out she was pregnant, she blackmailed him into marrying her, rather than try to raise a child alone, or waiting for the off-chance Laguna might come back. Given her career, I have to admit that I can't really blame her."

".Yes, that's true," he admitted. "But the real problem here is Rinoa and Squall.. And keeping Laguna from tearing himself to shreds over it, which, if you'd seen him after he found out about Commander Leonhart-- Squall, I mean-- isn't as easy as it sounds."

"Especially since Rinoa has mixed feelings about him at this point," Quistis agreed. "There's still a chance that Julia was mistaken, albeit a slim one - we're going to have Dr. Kadowaki run some tests to make sure. That's why we wanted to let you know before Laguna - so you were ready for any fallout if you waited to let Rinoa tell him, or so he could hear it from somebody he trusted first."

Kiros sighed. "Laguna would trust Ultimecia on a whim, so that's not saying much.. Though I do see your logic."

"Kiros, there's a difference in the sort of trust involved. You're close to him - he might trust a stranger, but he trusts you enough to rely on you. And that's the sort of person he'll need."

"I know, I know.. Look, Laguna will be there within at the most a few hours once someone tells him-- and job be damned. But this *is* more important. How are Squall and Rinoa taking it?"

"She hasn't told Squall yet, but she's not taking it particularly well," Quistis sighed. "She wants to be the one to tell him, but she's afraid to do so."

".Proof in itself she's at the least related to him," Kiros mused aloud. "Maybe she should get Ellone to help? I know it might seem farfetched, but I think between the two of them they could calm him down."

"I think Ellone could calm Squall down if Seifer tried to take over the Commander's seat," Quistis chuckled. "I'll suggest it to Rinoa. Do you think you can keep Laguna from spilling the news to Squall before she's ready?"

".I think I might have to come up with an excuse to get him to Garden, then tell him once Rinoa's told Squall," he confessed. "But, then.. He *might* keep quiet if I tell him how important it is."

"Which means that Rinoa's going to have to tell Squall quickly," she frowned. "Even if you do that, I don't think it'll last long."

"Thing is, Ellone should be there, and even if she says it something as simple as a visit, Laguna will want to come-- he really, really hates his job lately."

"And that's proof that he's related to Squall, as if we needed anything more. You're right, though - I don't think Ellone's been over here without Laguna coming with her since everything got back to normal. At least as normal as things ever are around here."

"No. Laguna knows she can handle herself, but. I guess he has trouble not thinking of her as the little girl he knew. And, as I've already said, any excuse to leave Esthar works for him."

"And you can't come up with any excuse to keep him there?"

"Not really. He'll use some lame excuse, then Ellone'll take pity on him and tell me to let him come," Kiros sighed. "No one seems to complain about how he's doing his job, though."

"That's because you and Ward are doing at least two thirds of it," Quistis pointed out. "And he's popular, that always helps when you have elections," she sighed.

"Maybe we could keep him distracted long enough for Rinoa and Ellone to break the news to Squall. It wouldn't be that big an issue, I just can't see Squall taking it well if Laguna tells him first."

"We could try that," he agreed. "If Rinoa and Ellone can talk to Squall within two days. And that's if we're lucky."

"I don't know if the tests will be done that quickly," Quistis sighed. "I think you know as well as I do that Squall will probably either go into denial if he doesn't have proof, and I don't like thinking about what that would do to Rinoa. At least if he just shuts down she knows how to handle that."

"We're going to have to get Laguna to give a blood sample then, so there goes just telling Squall then bringing in Laguna."

"Unless you just happen to have a genetic report on your president," she asked hopefully. "Though I don't imagine he'd have been too crazy about that."

"We do-- If you're up for going through twenty year old military files, and even then I think those got burned in a fire at the medical base in the war against Esthar."

"Wonderful," she sighed. "I don't suppose you know if it would be possible for Kadowaki to compare Rinoa's file with Squall's, see if they're close enough to be half-siblings?"

"Not without Laguna's files, and quite possibly Julia's and Raine's."

"And if those two existed it would be a miracle. So I suppose we'll just have to find some way to distract Laguna until it's all over. Think that if we told him we needed a sample to compare to Squall's, but that our fearless commander doesn't want to talk about it, he'd keep quiet?"

"Worst comes to worst we'll strap him to a table," Kiros grumbled, Quistis wondering for a brief moment if he was serious. "And a maybe is the best I can offer."

"Well, I'll leave you to handle your end. Wish I could help more, but I'm going to have my hands full over here, either way. At least Rinoa thinks she can keep Zell quiet about it."

"Honestly? I think Zell forgets everything but his own name, from what I've heard."

"In which case it's a question of whether he forgets that Rinoa was upset before he forgets that at least one person would probably be willing to kill him if he blabbed about it," she said seriously. "Good luck, Kiros."

"...We'll probably show up soon," he responded grimly. "Good luck to you, too."

"Thanks," Quistis nodded. "Balamb Garden, signing off," she said, before closing the com line and going through to erase any signs of the message going through.

That'd almost be worse than Laguna letting the cat out of the bag early....