Disclaimer: And God said to me… 'Thou shall not own Final Fantasy VIII' and so I obeyed him.  This would explain why I'm so poor …

Chapter Eight

His eyes followed her as she bustled around the kitchen, preparing lunch for the both of them.  Examining her, he wondered if he would ever believe that she had given birth to two kids.  It seemed impossible to him that her figure had stayed virtually perfect however, he had seen the proof so there was nothing left to ponder.

He heard her curse under her breath as she struggled with a jar of pickles.  Immediately, being the proud male that he was, he offered his services. "You want me to open that for you?"

"No." Her voice detained a certain edge of anger. "I've dodged bullets, fought eight hundred pound guys, underwent harsh training… pissed off the two most dangerous people on this planet, Caraway and Ackroyde, and I'm alive, just fine… this jar of pickles… is not a worthy opponent…" As she said this, the lid jerked off, and she was finally able to access the pickles.

"You know, I'm rather flattered that you remember that I like pickles on my sandwich." Squall bit his lip to retain a smile. "Because I remember that you don't … so you opened the jar just for me?"

"Don't get your hopes too high, Leonhart." She answered coldly.

***

The kids had come home, the 'peaceful' family had eaten supper, and Leonhart's doom seemed to be handed to him.  After Rinoa had whisked off her beloved husband and children, she had decided to relax by the TV.  Squall, however, had more hellish matters to deal with.

"Ok… we need to buy chocolate!" Riana exclaimed as she saw the mountain of chocolate bars on display in the grocery store. "Lots and lots of it!"

"Uh… I'm not sure if that's such a great idea…" Squall tried to put in uselessly.

"And marshmallows too!"  Alex suggested, holding up an extra large bag of marshmallows.

"Let's all calm down and think rationally…" The unsuccessful father tried once more.

"Oh, and Daddy, I want some candy…" Riana smiled, dumping a whole lot of chocolate in the carriage.

"Wait, sweetie, hang on!" Squall smiled gently at his daughter. "I've got a favor to ask you guys…" The two little kids huddled around their father excitedly. "We need to work together to do the groceries… because we all want Mom in a good mood again right?" Silence followed suite. "Right?" He inquired, now slightly afraid.

"Well… you know, she's only angry at you," Alessandro pinpointed innocently. "She actually helped me to do math yesterday morning…"

Squall's mouth hung slightly open. "But… but… guys, please!  You kids need to help me or else she's going to end up killing me!  Please… can you make the groceries easier on me so that she won't try to poke my brain out with a fork?"

"Mommy wouldn't do that…" Riana gave a wave of her little hand. "She loves you really, she told me so." Squall wouldn't have known the guilt that his daughter was feeling at this moment since it was supposed to be a secret however she did think that her father had a right to know.

Squall grinned, a wonderful feeling washing over him. "Well… we still have to do the groceries, don't we?  So let's all try and make her happy… and I'll take you guys out for ice cream later."

Alex and Riana nodded their heads in anticipation. They were a helpful bunch and Squall was especially happy that they had come along and made the trip a little easier on him.  For one thing… they knew the brands of merchandise better than he did.

"She always buys this kind…" Riana pointed at white bread. "She doesn't like the brown bread very much."

"And she buys butter, not margarine," Alessandro pointed out as Squall had reached for the artificial butter. "I think she gets that from grand-pa."

The grocery had been done and over with in a very smooth manner.  Now they needed to pay a visit to the mall for Alex's sneakers, which didn't exactly turn out the way Squall had anticipated.

"Ok, does it fit?" He asked his son and received a nod. "Comfortable?  You like it?"  He received two more nods. "Ok, good we're buying 'em.  Next stop is for ice cream…"

They had paid the pair of running shoes when Squall had the misfortune of passing by… a pet shop. "Oh my gosh, daddy!  Daddy!!" Riana had grabbed her father's sleeve and had literally dragged him in the shop.

"I want this one…" She pointed a nice looking puppy, a German Shepard looking dog.  "Could we buy it, please, please, please?  Mommy said we could if you said yes… please daddy?  Please?"

Squall Leonheart learned quickly that his wife was right.  Saying no to his daughter was much, much harder than he had predicted. 

***

"Mom!!  Mom!!  We did the groceries and I got cool new shoes and-" Alex started but never finished as his mother's eyes traveled to his shirt.

"Is that ice cream?" She pointed at a brown splotch on his white t-shirt and she received a nod as an answer. "Your father took you out for ice cream?"

"Un-huh!  And not only that but-"

"Mommy, guess what?" Riana bounced in the room happily, obviously under some effects of the ice cream's sugar. "You'll never guess what, guess what!"

"What?" Rinoa asked slowly, unsure if she really wanted to know. "What is it?" Her eyes trailed her ecstatic daughter that was jumping up and down.

"WE-GOT-A-DOG!!!" Riana bounced some more as her mother's eyes went wide like saucers. "We named it Angelo, and it's cute and furry and-"

"I'll be right back, honey," Rinoa shushed her daughter suddenly. "You can tell me all about it right after I go and kill your father."  At that moment Squall walked in, his arms full of grocery bags.

"Hey Rin, we got a dog…" He smiled at her, setting the bags down on the kitchen counter, "You told me saying 'no' to Riana was the hardest thing in the world so I thought, 'Hey, who said I had to say no?'.  So we got a leash, food and everything …"

Squall was about to go on but his wife cut in with an icy tone, "Yes, that's astonishing.  Just about as amazing as you, you know I'd never thought it was possible for a man's brain to be no larger THAN A PEANUT!!  No really, it's fascinating!" She slapped her forehead in defeat, "You have just taken twenty years off my life, Squall!"

"That's not true, Mom.  You're still very pretty and you'll still be for a long time," Riana spoke up suddenly, her bouncing had now terminated. "And now we're going to have a dog and it's name is Angelo and we'll be happy and you'll live twenty years more…"

Rinoa was silent for a moment and when she spoke to her daughter it was in a calm, gentle voice, "It's nice that you think that, Riana.  But I need to talk to your father…"

"Yeah, you guys better go to bed," Squall interrupted and then corrected Rinoa's previous sentence innocently. "Your mother needs to bitch at your father.  I'll go put you to bed."
"What makes you think that you can?" Rinoa turned towards him, glowering. "Your thick head?"

"Yes that would be it…" Squall kept smiling slightly at her.

"You know, I was looking up some words in the dictionary yesterday because of the spelling bee and school and everything and I was in the 'i' section and I was reading …" Alex interrupted suddenly, "And I thought that the word 'imbecile' really described you guys well because you tend to fight for no reason …" The poor child didn't really know he was offending anyone however, he thought it impressive that he had actually looked up some words in the dictionary.

His mother's reaction wasn't the one he was expecting, "Imbe-what?"

"Alex, Riana… bed… now." Squall shot worried glances towards his wife, trying to make sure she wasn't going to hit the roof. "I'll be up there in a sec…"

Once both kids had left the room, Rinoa turned her menacing glare towards him and demanded him in a low hiss, "He looked up in the dictionary… holy shit, he's seven!  Explain that!"

Squall shrugged, "My thick-head and I have no conclusion, he must get it from your side of the family!  Anyways, I'm going to go put them to bed…" Squall exited the room.

Rinoa stood there for a moment, looking slightly perplexed.  Finally she began rummaging through the grocery bags.  "This is amazing…" She said aloud to herself, "He's even got the brands right!"

Setting down the food she moved upstairs silently, like her training had once taught her, and poised herself outside her son's room, where the door was semi-closed. 

"I'm always scared when you aren't home," She heard her son say to Squall. "The monster in my closet comes only when you aren't around to beat him up…"

"Why is he scared of me?" She heard her husband ask in a low voice.

"Because he knows how strong you are.  He knows that if he bugs me while you're around, you're going to beat him up and stuff…" Alessandro's voice was small and weak, "He's a big bully…"

"I think he should be scared of your mother more than he should be scared of me," Squall answered, "because you're mother is a much stronger person than I am."

"Mom's stronger than you?" Alex seemed surprise.  Rinoa's heart softened a little for the man she loved.  'A strong person?  I wouldn't think that…' She thought and she listened on.

"Yeah, you're mom's way stronger than me.  She's a better parent then me… she's a better person.  She's incredible…" His voice was soft as he continued. "I bet the monster doesn't know that… and that's why he picks on you when I'm not here.  But lemme tell you this, when your mother gets a hold of that monster… he's not going to bother you anymore…"

"You think?  Mommy is strong… which is why you always lose when you two fight, right?" She felt a pang of guilt suddenly loose in her stomach.

"No, the reason that I always lose is that I'm always wrong," He answered slowly. "Here, about that monster… you know that baseball bat that I gave you for your birthday?  Well, let's put it under your bed so that way… you'll always feel safe."

"Thanks dad… good night…" Rinoa snapped back into reality.  She noiselessly opened the door and entered the room herself.

Squall attention snapped towards her but she didn't look at him. "Hey… I've come to say good night…" She approached her son's bed slowly.

"Night mommy…" He reached out for her and she understood the gesture.  Bending down she kissed him on the forehead. "Love you, Mom…"

"Me too… night…" She closed the light and shut the door softly as she exited, ushering Squall out as well. "Is Riana asleep?"

"Uh… well… probably not… she… uh… did you hear what I was telling Alex?"  Squall finished nervously.

"I'll go see her…" She said suddenly and pushed her way past him into her daughter's room.  The dog Angelo had been snuck up there along with his food bowl, his leash and many other dog-related items.  He lay, curled up, at the end of Riana's bed.

"Mommy, look… see?  It's Angelo…" Riana introduced. "He's cute, no?"

"Yes… he's cute…" Rinoa scratched the dog behind his ears and the puppy licked her fingers. "Are you happy?"

"Yes…" Riana looked at the puppy from the head of her bed. "He's good… I like him."

Rinoa smiled. "Good.  I'm happy then." She bent down and kissed her daughter on her forehead, just like she had with her son, "So then good night…"

"Good night… I love you, Mommy… and I love Daddy, too…" Riana turned over on her side to face her mother.

Rinoa flicked off the lights. "I… I love you too… and Daddy loves you too…" And shut the door behind her.  She turned to face a puzzled-looking Squall. "Come on… let's go evaluate how great you accomplished your task."

So the two 'adults' descended down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Why did you buy this kind?" She asked, holding up a specific brand of coffee.

"Uh… well… I asked the kids and they didn't know what kind you liked… so… I looked on the package and it was the cheapest one there… and… also… the coffee looked better on the picture than it did with the rest of them."

Rinoa rolled her eyes. "Why do I even ask?" She double checked her list and stated simply, "I think you're missing something…"

"What?" Squall now had the look of a frightened child.

"I just don't know what…" She crumpled the list and began putting the rest of the groceries away. "Help out… come on…"

In less than five minutes they were done. "I want my kiss now …" He leaned towards her, wrapping his two arms around her waist and drawing her closer.  To his surprise (and great bliss) she didn't push him away.

Instead, she positioned her hands at the back of his neck, pulling his face closer to hers.  He leaned over more and kissed her deeply.  Finally, he felt at home.  They broke apart and she whispered something barely audible in his ear, "Let's go disconnect the phones …"

"Now why would you want to do that, Rin?" Squall asked, grinning slightly.

And for once in a very long time, she smiled at him, "I'm sick of embarrassing interruptions, aren't you?"

So they pulled the plugs to disconnect the phone, closed the door of their bedroom and to their great happiness, they weren't interrupted.

Sammy: I'm so sorry, that was so pathetic … *is laughing hysterically* I'm reeeeaally, really sorry!  Thank you to all of those who reviewed last time.  Thank you all, you guys don't know what it means to me.  Please review this chapter as well (even if it was a tad bit pathetic) and yeah … UPDATES WILL COME SOON!