Disclaimer: see previous chapter ^.^ hehehe don't own anything except unfamiliar characters…namely: the Sullivans.

- - -

Chapter 16-False names

- - -

Rinoa opened her eyes to the morning light. Where's Squall? She had a moment of panic until she heard the toilet flush. Squall came back after a few minutes of walking slowly. He took his place beside Rinoa facing the ceiling.

"I thought you'd gone," she whispered as she moved closer to him, resting her head against his chest.

"I can't really do that."

"I know, I know. Everything just seemed so like that morning when you left. I mean, with last night and everything, I couldn't help but feel a little scared that it was all happening again."

Squall felt for her hand. Taking it in his grasp he replied, "Don't be scared. I'm here, I'll always be here."

Rinoa smiled, "how long you been up?"

"Umm…I'd say about half an hour. It took a while to find my way in the bathroom. Though I did have a mental image of it all."

"You should've woken me up. I could've helped."

"Nah, its okay. I have to learn my way around sooner or later, figured it may as well be sooner."

"Alrighty, well its 9, you wanna get dressed?"

"Sure."

"What clothes do you want me to get for you? The usual black pants and white shirt, I presume."

"Yeah, thanks." Rinoa went over to the unpacked bags and took out the attire, a light blue polo shirt grabbing her attention. She quickly took it and head back to Squall who was still lying on the bed.

"get up. Here's your stuff," she said handing him the pants and shirt. "I also want you to wear this blue polo I found."

"Oh…that." Squall pulled on his pants and shirt. "Mrs Sullivan told me she bought that. It was a Christmas present from last year, I think." Rinoa slipped it on, leaving it unbuttoned, the white shirt showing slightly.

"You wait here a sec, I gotta go and get changed in my room. Then we can go and get some breakfast."

- - -

The couple sat alone in the cafeteria, Squall carefully eating his toast. "Two days in a row I'll have seen Cid. This is getting really weird."

"Tell me about it. I've only been back a day and I'm already seeing him for a second time. Wonder what he wants this time. Probably another surprise visit from Laguna."

"That'll be interesting. I haven't seen him in a while."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Squall you said you'd give him a chance."

"Fine, fine," he replied munching on his toast. "We should go, huh?"

"Yeah. Come on." It was Monday morning so SeeDs were busy rushing around the corridors.

"Rinoa!" a voice called.

Oh Hyne, not today. I don't have the patience to deal with him today.

"Rinoa please, I need to talk to you." Brendan caught up with them, slightly out of breath. "Could I talk to you alone?"

"Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of Squall."

"Uhh…ok then," he started slowly. "Listen I'm really sorry about yesterday. I had no right to say what I said to you-I'm really sorry for being a prick."

"So you should be."

"Can you ever forgive me?"

Squall shifted uncomfortably.

"I'll have to get back to you on that, Brendan. I'm really in the mood right now." She grabbed Squall's hand and walked away.

"What exactly did he say?" Squall inquired when they were alone in the elevator.

"Ugh, he got pissed at me for not telling him I was engaged. he was practically blaming me for his making a fool of himself in front of you."

"Serves him right. Rin…" he started slowly, "What's he look like?"

Rinoa smirked, "Oh he's drop dead gorgeous." She saw his face tense. "Kidding, he's got brown hair, hazel eyes, but not a scratch on you." The elevator doors opened and Xu's place was empty.

"May as well go in. we did have a 'requested meeting' anyway." Rinoa proceeded to open the door and stepped through. "Good morning He-" she stopped in her place, turning around. Shit! That's two irritating pricks I've run into this morning! This is not my day!

"Rin? What wrong?" Squall whispered, sensing her change of direction and mood. He realised when the cause of her distress spoke.

"Rinoa…please, let me explain," the familiar voice of her childhood chimed. General Caraway...my father. She had no intention of staying until Squall's words from the previous night echoed in her mind. Give your father a chance and I'll give Laguna a chance. Reluctantly she turned back around and headed towards the empty chairs, throwing Cid a rather unpleasant look.

"Squall! Its good to see you alive and well."

"Yeah he is…no thanks to you."

"Rinoa, you don't understand-"

"I understand perfectly. You wanted more power, you've always wanted more power. So you go and try to kill Squall under that false name Theodoric Sewell so that you can have my powers. Well guess what, father dearest, you weren't very successful were you!"

"That's not what happened at all!"

"Well it seems pretty plausible, considering it is you we're talking about."

"Damn it Rinoa, stop being unreasonable. Let me explain."

"If you two are done," Cid's voice calmly revealed itself, "I'd like to continue with today's plan. I'd like to wait for our other guest though. He'll only be a couple of minutes." As if on cue there was a knock on the door, followed by the door squeaking open. "Ah, President Loire. Right on time."

"What the hell is this?! Some kind of family reunion or something?"

"Squall, this is totally necessary if we're to find out why you suffered."

"Yeah, but does Laguna have to be here?" His response was a nudge, probably from Rinoa.

"Well, "Cid ignored Squall's stubbornness, "now that we're all here, please continue General Caraway."

"Alright. I must say though, I'm not proud of anything I have done to lead to this moment in time."

"Sure you are," Rinoa muttered under breath.

"You want me to be blunt, Rinoa? Fine, I'll be blunt. About three months before the attack on Squall, I was hired by a, "he hesitated slightly, "…by a Mr Damaris. I wasn't hired, I was…I received several threats from him regarding your life Rinoa. I had to co-operate with him. If I didn't help in his plan to kill Commander Leonhart, he would've killed you."

"Yeah like you ever cared about me-"

"Rinoa don't you understand?! I had to follow his orders, or else he would have killed you! I'm sorry, I know you love him, but you're my daughter-my daughter! And if I had to choose between the Commander Leonhart and my own daughter, I would've chosen my daughter; any father would choose their child."

"So who is this Damaris guy anyway? He seems to play a big part in your scheme."

"I told you, it was his scheme, not mine! He owned one of the smaller weapon companies. He needed some help from me because he needed some means by which to launch he attack away from land. Threats were a very large part in this, nothing I did was from free will, I assure you."

"So what happened to Damaris? I'd like to have a word or two with him," Laguna stated rather forcefully.

"He disappeared, I haven't heard from him since, and for that I am grateful."

"I still don't understand." Cid frowned in thought. "If Damaris owned a weaponry company, even if small in size, why was I unable to attain information on him."

"Ah," Caraway bit his lip. "You see, Damaris wasn't his real name. Another alias, like my Sewell one. I'm surprised you remembered that Rinoa. Anyway, yes. We both had false names, he made up his and I made up mine."

"Dad…I mean, Caraway, we don't care about the actual false names you used. We want to know who Damaris really is." Crap! I said 'dad'!

"Well, his real name was Gilroy Sullivan."

"Gilroy Sullivan?" Laguna asked in confirmation. That's Adeline's husband...

...That's Brendan's father!

- - -

A/N-OoOoOo…what will happen next chapter?! *shock horror* Oh my goshness! What could it be ;) hehehe….why of course *I* know, but you won't know for about two weeks. Sorry if this was a long update gap or whatever you wanna call it, I've had assessments due and everything! So I won't be updating next for two weeks maximum (hopefully). After this week I have holidays, so I'll be able to catch up on some writing! Alrighty…that said, please R&R this chappy! This fic is getting harder and harder to write…I kinda don't wanna stop, but I know it'll end soon =(….oh well…yeh, please tell me what you think and where I could improve. As to the people who reviewed last chapter:

JerseyGirl03: thankyou for reviewing! Answering your questions in order: this chappy shoulda told u, u find that out in this chappy as well, maybe if he swallows his pride, soon. This is the best story? Wow! I'm so proud of myself! Thank you for the compliment, you made me really happy ^.^…hope you like this chapter!!

Angelicwingedprincess: Well, I'm glad you're enjoying my fic, makes me feel like my hard work isn't in vain…hehehe, thanks for your kind words and I hope you like this chapter as much as last. Thanks again!

Angelprinczess29: OMG! One of my favourite authors has my fic on their favourite's list. OMG!!! That is so exciting!!! Thankyou for reviewing!!! Hope this update was soon enough and sufficient until next update.

Mariko: totally understandable…sleep is good XD. Anyhoo, thanks for reviewing despite your tiredness, means a lot. Glad you approved of the proposal! Hope this chappie was good!

Shadow: you have no idea how much I value reviews, despite their length. Here's the "more" you asked for…was it worth the wait? Hope so…thanks for reviewing!

Lionhearted/nuaro: I'm so happy you approved of the proposal! I really was clueless about it and everything, except for what I've read and seen in movies, so thanks for reviewing and telling me! No problem about the spelling. Hope you like this chappy!

Ima hopeless romantic: m'dear, I simply couldn't go into any details…I just couldn't find it in me…not that kind of fic, so I'm glad you thought it was cute! Sorry if this wait was a little longer than last time…you're not dead are you?

Freelancer47: thanks for the review and your kind words. Hope you liked this chapter as well!

Sefran: I'll do what I can about Squall's site, I mean, I'm no eye surgeon or anything, but I'll do myself…I blame you if I make it worse though-for pressuring me and everything ^.^ hehehe, don't worry…all in good time. Thanks for reviewing!

Silver Rune: yay! I'm glad I made someone laugh!!! Woohoo! I liked that line as well ("Environmentally conscious"). I enjoyed writing that bit, so I'm glad you liked it as well. Thanks for reviewing!

Trekken46: I will finish this fic hehehe, don't worry. You have my promise that this fic will be finished ^.^! anyhoo, I don't know why your review doesn't show, but thanks for reviewing anyway!

CharlieGirl: ahh, my very loyal friend. I assume your exams are now over! I congratulate you! I have one more assessment before I'm free so that's something to look forward to. Anyhoo, thankyou for your *three* reviews which didn't end up showing, but I, nonetheless, received very happily. I feel as if I should reply all three of them, but I won't XD! I'm glad you like the proposal, like mostly everyone else!!! Anyhoo…thanks for the review and as a random thing…is your name erica/ka? Just curious…if so then "SO IS MINE!" if not then "MINE IS!" hehehe thanks again!

Seifer's incarnate: I'm working on getting Squall's sight, truly I am. But as to writing a lemon…I don't know if I can give you one. Sorry if you anticipated it, I'll have to think it over a bit more. Thanks for the review though!

Digininga: thanks for the review! And I'm glad you like my fic! Hope you liked this chapter and that all is going well with ff8 ^.^

The wise: to my 100th reviewer!!!! You don't know how happy I was to receive your review the other night!!! OMG! I was so happy! When I got to school the next day I told all my friends! Erm…yeh…anyhoo, I'm glad you liked my fic! Hope this update was soon enough and don't worry, there'll be far more Squinoa action in the future ;). Thankyou again! you made my day!

That's right folks! I got 100 reviews!!!! That is such an accomplishment for me!!! Thank you all for your support through these 16 chapters! Don't worry, I'm not finished yet, there is still plenty more to go. Until next time, take care!