Authors Note: I have to apologise again for the long wait it took me to update. I've been trying to write this for ages and it would have been done sooner but we had to format the computer, so I lost this entire chapter. I've also got exams coming up which doesn't help (5 days until my 1st exam!). Anyway here it is…

Disclaimer: Square-Enix owns everything from this story. I own nothing apart from a fried egg….

Chapter 5 - Double Dating

"What do you think you was doing?" Quistis screamed at Squall.

"I don't know, it just kind of happened," Squall said.

"You could ruin this whole operation, if you get emotionally attached it could jeopardize this whole thing," Quistis yelled.

"You told me to get close to Rinoa-" Squall started.

"I didn't mean start a relationship," Quistis interrupted him.

"I think this will actually help the case. Rinoa could trust me more and we could finish this quicker."

Quistis looked at him in disbelief. "Squall, I just said to stop this. You are not to get attached to Rinoa," Quistis said with authority.

Squall couldn't believe this woman. Squall had enough experience on cases to know that after kissing her if he backed off he could ruin the whole operation. Quistis was one of the many officers now being promoted to positions with high authority without any case experience. "So, what should I tell her?" Squall asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Tell her whatever you want," Quistis answered. "Just make sure you get across the point that there will be no relationship."

Squall silently sighed. She had no experience of how to handle operations and so she had no idea what he should say to Rinoa. Squall shook his head. "I don't think I can do that," Squall told her. "I think the best way we can proceed is to let me get close to Rinoa." With that he stood up and walked from Quistis' apartment.

"Squall, get back here," Quistis shouted from behind him, shocked in his defiance.

Squall ignored her, quickly increasing his pace to get away from Quistis. I know what I'm doing, Squall told himself. Getting close to Rinoa is what I need to do. I need to do it for the mission…or maybe for myself. Squall shook off the last thought. Squall found Rinoa attractive but this was a job. He didn't really have feeling for her, he told himself, or did he…

~*~*~*~*~*~

Rinoa sat in the office bored, her head rested against her hands as she struggled even to stay awake. She found herself thinking back to the kiss between her and Squall. Goosebumps still appeared over her body every time she remembered that moment.

Rinoa felt a connection between her and Squall, she had never believed in 'love-at-first-sight' but all she wanted at the moment was to feel Squall's body close to hers, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, his warm breath against her skin as the stood only centimeters apart.

Rinoa sighed, she was beginning to doubt if Squall felt the same way. She had only seen him once since that kiss and he had ignored the entire subject of it. She knew she had to confront him if she was to find out how he felt for her. She decided she would try to see him as soon as possible.

Just as she thought that there was a knock at the door. Rinoa rushed up from her seated position to get the door, almost completely expecting it to be Squall. Her heart dropped as she saw who it was.

"Hi Irvine," she said hiding her disappointment.

Irvine seemed to be completely oblivious to the tone of Rinoa's voice. He walked in holding a large stack of papers in his hands. "Hey Rinoa, these are the new contracts that need signing," Irvine said with a teasing smile.

"Great," Rinoa half joked. There must be at least 50 pieces that need signing Rinoa sighed.

When Rinoa looked back to Irvine she saw him trying to mask a wide smile on his face. Rinoa didn't like the look of this face and suspected something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" Rinoa asked.

Irvine shook his head. "Nothing," he said, before letting out a small laugh.

Rinoa placed her hands on her hips. "Tell me," she demanded.

"Fine," Irvine said walking over to the door. He placed his hand on the handle, then turned back to Rinoa. "Introducing the one, the only…Miss Selphie Tilmitt," Irvine announced throwing open the door to reveal the young brunette woman.

"Selphie," Rinoa shouted happily as she ran towards her before hugging her.

"Hey," Selphie replied with a wave once Rinoa had let go.

"Wow," Rinoa said in shock. " I haven't seen you for ages…"

"Almost six months," Selphie told her.

Irvine smiled at the two women. "Well I'll leave you two ladies to catch up," he said before walking out of the room.

As soon as he had left Selphie turned to Rinoa. "So, tell me all the gossip…"

~*~*~*~*~*~

Squall walked down the streets of Deling City. He was going nowhere particular, he just started walking since he left Quistis' home and he had carried on walking ever since. He stopped at his phone began to ring from inside his pocket. He pulled it out, half expecting it to be Quistis trying to order him around again, but was happy to see Rinoa's name flash up on the screen.

"Hello," he said answering the call.

"Hi Squall," Rinoa responded from the other end of the line. "How are you?"

"I'm alright," Squall said lying, still annoyed by Quistis.

"Good. Well do you want to come to dinner with me later?" Rinoa asked. She knew this was the perfect opportunity to confront him about his feelings for her.

Squall was happy to be able to see Rinoa. "Yeah, that'll be good. What time?"

"Eight at the Golden Phoenix. Oh and one more thing…" she said, trying to sound as pleasant as possible. "Irvine and one of my old friends will be coming with us as well. Is that okay?"

Squall silently sighed. He was perfectly happy to have dinner with Rinoa alone, but he knew dinner with Irvine would be a disaster, he could sense a natural hatred growing between them already although Irvine tried to hide it around Rinoa. "Yeah, that's fine."

Rinoa smiled at her success. "Thanks Squall," she said before hanging up.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Squall arrived outside the restaurant; he stepped from his car looking around for Rinoa. There was no sign of her so he decided to go inside. He walked through the door, still no sign of any of them inside, so decided to buy himself a drink while he waited.

Rinoa, Irvine and Selphie walked into the restaurant a few minutes later. "There's Squall," Rinoa said motioning to the figure at the bar. She quickly left the other two and ran over to Squall to talk to him.

"What's he doing here?" Irvine asked Selphie, once Rinoa was out of earshot.

Selphie shook her head. "Rinoa likes Squall," she said. "She said you was going to act like this."

Irvine stared at her. "You were talking about me behind my back?"

"I don't see what the problem is. He seems quite nice," Selphie said ignoring the question.

"Well why don't you go out with him then," Irvine said pulling his arm away from Selphies.

Selphie pulled a sad face. "Please Irvine, don't ruin this night for us…otherwise I won't sleep in the same room as you."

"Fine," Irvine said quietly, upset by this threat. "I just thought Rinoa could do better…"

Selphie kicked Irvine in his leg. "Come on, let's go."

Selphie and Irvine walked over to where the other couple was stood. "This is Selphie," Rinoa said introducing them. "And this is Squall."

The four finally got a table; it stood beside a large window of the restaurant, looking out over the streets of Deling. Squall and Rinoa sat on one side of the table, Selphie and Irvine on the other. A waiter soon came by and they ordered their meals, as well as a bottle of wine. Once they had received their orders Irvine poured a glass for each person, as they commenced their meal.

The two girls enjoyed the night, excitedly talking throughout the meal as they caught up on all the gossip. At first Irvine and Squall sat mostly silent, although after a few glasses of wine even they became more open and actually started a conversation. Rinoa and Selphie noted this, although not saying anything they were glad by the success of getting the two men to talk to each other.

The night ended a success and all four left the restaurant happy. Selphie and Irvine parted from Squall and Rinoa, leaving in Irvine's car. Squall and Rinoa was now alone, this was the opportunity Rinoa had waited for all night. She moved in front of Squall smiling, the alcohol stopped her from hiding her actions. She moved closer to Squall, much to her delight he didn't step away and she took this opportunity to close in to Squall. "Remember this?" she said. She moved her face closer to Squall her lips locking on to Squall and began to kiss him. Squall knew she was drunk, but he couldn't resist the opportunity to kiss her again. Her began to kiss her back, much to the delight of Rinoa.

Maybe this is more than a job… Squall thought.

Authors Note: Well that was it. Sorry if the end seems rushed but I wanted to get this uploaded. Please review and tell me how it was and I'll try to update quicker this time. Now just gotta pass these exams…

Thanks to Mariko, Paper-Doll, The Angel of the Lion, litoblueanjel, Sammy-Chan, Billie the Wild Angel and my lil sis for reviewing!