Disclaimer:  I don't own the FF8 characters.  Squaresoft does.  So you should know that by now so, yeah.

~*~ Next Day ~*~

~*~ Chapter 8 ~*~

Seifer woke up to find Quistis was no where to be found. He remembered that after his shower last night, he found a restless Quistis unpacking her stuff. When he claimed his side of the bed, Quistis was not pleased, but eventually she gave in and let him share the bed with her since she was preoccupied with looking for something at the time.

Seifer quickly got dressed. As he pulled on his grey trench coat, he was surprised to find Quistis's scent still lingered on his coat. He shook the thought and quickly slipped the rose cross necklace into his pocket and walked out in search of Quistis.

~~~

Quistis lost in her thoughts, slowly strolled down the Deiling Downtown. She was still baffled by the dreams she kept having. She thought of the possibility that the images were from Ellone, but a gut felling told her otherwise. Quistis had unconsciously stopped in front of a bridal boutique window display. She stood there observing the cascade of white satin material that swirled around the lifeless model. The gown itself was very simple and elegant princess cut gown with small ribbons forming a vertical line down the front of the bodice.

"That is a lovely gown isn't it?" Quistis turned to face the owner of the comment. The woman was a stout middle aged woman with chestnut brown hair. She had a loud boisterous voice, which embarrassed Quistis. She was sure everyone on the street could hear her voice.

"So young lady are you getting married? You were looking at the gown with longing in your eyes," teased the older woman. Before Quistis could reply the stout woman was joined by her companion, another middle aged woman that was nearing the stout side, but she seemed more calm then the first. Quistis assumed that they were both sisters since they looked alike, but didn't bother to catch their names.

Before Quistis could make her escape the two clucking women returned their attention back to her. Quistis gave a dry smile as she was being introduced to the second woman. Still not catching their names Quistis continued smiling.

"Oh Carman, this young lady is getting married! Don't you think she would make a lovely bride?" The two women continued to talk. Then Quistis finally seized her chance to speak.

"Um…I not getting married," she quickly spitted out, trying to not sound rude at the same time.

"Oh!" exclaimed both women, "So you're single?" Quistis quickly shook her head. Both women looked at Quistis as she was their trapped prey. Quistis frantically tried to find a good excuse to get away from the women, but nothing came to mind.

"No, she's not single. She's already married." Just before Quistis was about to spit out any excuse, a gloved hand wrapped around her waist protectively. "She's married to me, right hon." Seifer gave the women a wink and smirked. Quistis looked at the smiling Seifer with relief and smiled back bitterly.

"Oh, that's too bad Carman she's already taken," said the second women.

"Darn, I was hoping you were single, so I could introduce you to my son, but it seems to me you've got yourself a nice catch here," both older women eyed Seifer. Quistis could not help but blush at their comment.

As soon as the two women walked off. Quistis let out a sigh of relief. Seifer could no longer contain his laughter.

"Why are you laughing? That was not funny." Quistis crossed her arms and waited for his reply.

"You should have seen your face when those women hounded you. You looked like you were about to cry. If it wasn't for me you'd be off marrying that old wing bag's son." He continued laughing.

"Well it's not like I wanted to be hounded, by them. They just attacked so suddenly. I was caught off guard." Quistis said in her defense.

"Yeah sure and their double windbag attack stunned you, and you needed me to save you didn't you? Admit it Quistis. You needed me." He sneered.

"Double windbag attack?" Quistis looked at Seifer and laughed.

"Don't you go changing the subject on me." Seifer frowned.

"Who is changing the subject?" she said between her giggles.

"You are."

"I'm not. You are." Quistis still couldn't control her laughter.

"Quistis, you look beautiful when you smile. You should smile more."

The young woman looked at him. His emerald eyes were filled with sincerity in his last comment. Suddenly Quistis remembered the fiery green eyes she saw the night before and her smile faded.

"Oh so you're not going to smile anymore just because I said that, right?" Seifer frowned and crossed his arms.

Quistis snapped out of her daze, and noticed the irritation on his eyes. She decided to quickly change the subject.

"So why are you here? I figured you'd sleep in or something," she said.

"Well Ms. Trepe, I was looking for you, and I figured you'd want to go and get lunch before we headed out to Caraway's place,' he said with a hint of irritation still lingering. "And I noticed you forgot this," he held out her Save the Queen.

"Oh thanks," she took her whip and hooked it on to its usual place on her hip.

"So what brought you out so early?" he asked.

"Well I was planning to come out and see what kind of information I would find about the wedding. Then I would go back to the hotel to change and get you to go eat, but instead I was apprehended by the 'windbag sisters." She explained.

"Change?" Seifer looked at hers she was wearing a black shirt and blue jeans. "You look fine."

"No look at the sky, "she pointed up to the grey clouds quickly forming overhead. "It looks as if it might rain or something, so I wanted to get a coat or something just in case," she explained.

"Its not going to rain, "he stubbornly said. "Besides you're with me, there is no need to worry. I won't let the rain hurt my little wife here." He teased.

Quistis rolled her eyes and walked into the diner across the street.

A/N:  Sorry for the delayed update! I've been so busy with school its been preventing me from writing = (But here it is!...Thanks for all the reviews guys I really appreciate it.  Don't forget to R&R too.  Thanks. Love you guys!!