Disclaimer: you all know the drill by now. I do not have any claim on FF* or Squaresoft AT ALL. I just worship them as the creator of my sad little world.

~*Chapter 3*~

It took only a matter of hours for the posse to find themselves in the Presidential Residence awaiting Laguna's arrival. When he did make an appearance it was late and energetic as usual. Squall held his tongue as Rinoa squeezed his hand sympathetically.

"Hi guys! Whoa, what a great job you all did on that Ultemerica thing!"

Kiros interrupted, "That would be Ultimecia, Laguna."

"…" Ward gave Laguna the pitying look he had perfected for moments where he despaired at his friend's idiocy.

"Yeah, that's what I said Kiros. Jeez! Anyway, how's everyone?"

"You're late. We have more important matters to attend to than this little soiree." Squall stated coolly.

"Yeah, um, sorry 'bout that." Laguna shifted uncomfortably. He wasn't making this easy for him. Just like his mother. He smiled a little remembering her; the smile froze when his leg started cramping up. He started hobbling to try and shake it off.

"Sir Laguna, you ok?"

"I, I'm good Selphie! Squall, can I maybe have a moment of your time? Privately?"

He opened his mouth to say no, to tell him where to go, but a reassuring smile from Rinoa and, "Please?" from Laguna coupled with his pathetic puppy dog eyes closed it again.

"Fine. One moment. Hurry up." He growled through gritted teeth.

Laguna looked to Kiros and Ward, whom were both grinning inanely and giving him the thumbs up sign. He coughed and smiled nervously before leading Squall to his drawing room. Squall perched on the edge of a chair, as if eager to leave, and looked expectantly at him. Laguna smiled at him and twiddled with his hair, looking around the room he knew so well. Finally, after an uncomfortable silence,

"Squall, I, uh, I don't know how to tell you this but…"

"If this is about payment for the Ultimecia mission, don't worry. We guessed there might have been problems due to the cost of rebuilding. You can pay us when you have the money."

"No! No, it's got nothing to do with Garden. It's about us."

"Please don't tell me you're gay. I'm not interested. I'm with Rinoa."

"Hyne, no! For Hyne's sake can you stop jumping to conclusions and let me finish? Jeez, you're so like your mother it's unbelievable."

"What do you know about my mother?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you. I knew your mother. I, I wish she was still here. If she was, none of this would have ever happened."

"Tell me Laguna! Stop beating around the bush for once and just tell me!" He exploded.

"Fine, you want it straight to the point? Damn me for trying to soften the blow! I know you don't think much of me, so I do myself an injury trying to think of a way to tell you that you could handle, but, oh no! Not Squall! He won't let this be easy on either of us! Too much of Raine in you…"

"Laguna…" Squall interrupted menacingly.

"I'm your father. Raine Loire, formally Leonhart was you mother. She died giving birth to you while I was trying to save Elle." Laguna blurted it out in a rush. His son slumped forward, his head in his hands and Laguna pressed on.

"I knew she was pregnant. We were so happy, the three of us. A new addition to our perfect family. You were conceived a year or so after our marriage.

Me and Elle, we were so excited! Someone new for us to play with! Raine was just in a dream, the happiest I'd ever seen her. She even calmed that famous temper of hers down a bit." He laughed softly at the memory.

"The residents of Winhill weren't impressed though. Me, a stranger had come into their quiet little town, fell in love with one of their own, married her, and now she was pregnant with my kid. Nope, they hated me.

I didn't care anymore though. I had the two people I loved most in the world, and I would soon have a third. Life was perfect. But then, Esthar soldiers kidnapped Elle. Raine persuaded me to go, that she'd be fine, "You'll be back with Elle before I notice you're away," she'd said. "He'll wait till you're back home with his big sis till he makes his appearance, don't worry! This little guy's gonna be just like his Daddy, but he won't be as stupid!"

She'd kissed me then and sent me on my way. I convinced myself she was right, she was only six months gone. You would both wait for us. But, I was longer than we'd anticipated. You know what happened, Hell, you were there! After the entire hullabaloo, I lost track of time. I'd sent Elle back to take care of you and Raine, I'd been made President and time just flew. There was so much to do.

Before I knew it, three years had passed. I wrote to Raine every day since the day I left, but I never got a reply. I had to go see you all, bring you back to me. So after more than three years away from my loved ones, I returned to collect my family. You weren't there. None of you were. From the villagers who would lower themselves enough to give me a little information, I gathered that Raine had died in childbirth, you had died with her and had not been named, and that Elle had been sent away to keep her from me. Apparently, I was a threat now Raine was gone.

I was handed a stack of letters that I'd sent to her, all lovingly tied up to the date of her death, muddied and torn after that date, and shown unceremoniously to her unmarked grave. They didn't want to put my name on the gravestone, didn't want to acknowledge an outsider as her husband or a son fathered by that husband. She didn't want to be buried with her maiden name on her gravestone. So they didn't give her a gravestone at all. It saved them a lot of hassle.

I carved her gravestone myself. I worked day and night for weeks so that it was perfect. "Raine Loire; beloved wife and mother. Sleep well amongst the stars, my love." It, it was the least I could do. I failed her." He paused, wiping away a lone tear.

"That necklace you wear, that's the symbol for your mothers family name. Leonhart. Greiver was the GF that watched over them long ago. I guess it deserted them when Raine got involved with me. She'd have been so much better off without me. She'd be alive."

A sigh, then, "I threw myself into my work. When you came to Esthar with Rinoa, I knew it was you. No one could be so like Raine in nature and look so similar to me without being my blood. Elle confirmed it for me, as did Ward and Kiros. I didn't want to tell you before time compression. It could have thrown you off your game. And I wanted a chance to tell my son about his lineage, even if he wanted nothing to do with me after it.

I guess you realise that Rinoa is the daughter of Julia? We Loire men have great taste in women…Anyway; I wanted to let you know all this. I want you to know that your mother loved you so much, I love you Squall. I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you when you were growing up. But it's made a stronger person, because lets face it; I'm a goof. You wouldn't be where you are now if I had been there.

But I want to be a proper father to you if you'll let me. But I'll understand if you don't want anything more to do with me." Laguna sank heavily into a plush red couch, exhausted by his revelations.

Squall cleared his throat nervously, "Did, did you tell Cid you were going to do this?"

"No. He thought I wanted to talk about Garden."

"Right."

"Right."

"Laguna?"

"Hmm?"

"I've never had a family. I don't know if I'd be any good in one."

"You've always had a family. You just didn't know about us. You did just fine back when you were part of Raine, I bet you'd do even better now that you're, well, you.

Besides, you'll have a family of you own one day with Rinoa, so you'd better get some practice right? Get up to speed?"

"Ok. Ok. So, what do I call you now? President Loire seems a little formal…"

"You can keep calling me Laguna if you want. Or idiot, Kiros calls me that a lot, Ward implies it. If you feel like it ever, you, you could call me Dad…"

Laguna smiled wistfully, thinking of all that he'd missed, looking forward to what he may gain now. Grandchildren, Rinoa as a daughter in law, Caraway as an in law. The last part wasn't as good, but hey; you had to take the rough with the smooth he conceded.

~*~*~

Squall thought for a moment and inhaled sharply, "I think I'll stick with Laguna at the moment, if that's ok with you?"

"Sure, sure! I'm just glad you don't hate me!"

"I don't hate you. It's just a lot to take in you know? I need some time to try and see if I can piece this all together. I've got some things I need to work out."

"I understand. If you want, why don't you stay for a while? I have a feeling you might not be up to a long journey right now. You and the others can stay right here, sport!"

Squall rolled his eyes. "Laguna, you might be my father, and I'll probably learn to accept that and love you as a son, but I will never, ever forgive you if you call me sport again."

Laguna blushed, and stammered, "Right, just uh, getting a bit carried away. I'm new at this too."

"Thanks for your offer. We'd be glad to stay. If you don't mind, could you show us to our quarters? I feel like I need an early night."

"Of course. Do you and Rinoa, do you…y'know?"

"What?"

"You know, do you do the thing with the same room and the bed and…(oh my Hyne, Laguna stop talking, he's only known he's you son for five minutes and you're asking him about his sex life? Shutupshutupshutupshutupshutup!) Hey look, there's Kiros!

Hey Kiros, could you take Squall and the others to their rooms? They're staying the night and I just remembered I have to go see Doc Odine about getting my foot removed from my mouth. Please excuse me Squall."

With that Laguna limped painfully off while Kiros and Squall looked on in disbelief.

"So I take it he's told you then?"

"Yeah."

"He can be a bit of a moron Squall, but he's a good guy."

"I know. I just wish I'd figured that out sooner. I wish I'd figured a lot of things out sooner."

"Well, don't waste any more of your life on regret. Laguna wasted years of his life on regrets and look where that got him."

"In a big Presidential Palace with citizens who love him?"

"You've got your mothers smart mouth. But no, it left him emotionally retarded, which really fits in well with the rest of his persona, but still, it's a bad thing."

Squall smiled a little, "I'll bear that in mind. Thanks Kiros."

"You're welcome. The others are already settled for the night," Squall opened his mouth to question if they knew what had transpired this evening, but Kiros continued smoothly,

"And they haven't got a clue why you are all staying or what you and Laguna were discussing. That's up to you. Rinoa's very anxious to see you. She's waiting for you in the room we prepared for the two of you. Good night, Squall. Don't be too hard on Laguna."

He winked and left him staring at the door of the room, slack jawed and reeling, both from what he'd just discovered and the fact that they had assumed he and Rinoa shared a bed.

"Hyne, what a day."