DISCLAIMER - I don't own Final Fantasy VIII but I do own Toby and no one can legally take him from me! *sticks out tongue at no one in particular*

Author warning - I may not be able to update for a while.....my monitor is seriously at the end of its life. It didn't want to come on this morning and is blinking on and off as I type this. hope I can get this updated. I'll try and find another to replace it as soon as possible, but there are not guarantees. I suppose its served me well considering the monitor's so old its labeled low radiation. *shrugs*

Author's notes - I'm half asleep and somehow I managed to put out a chapter. This is also a direct result of another snow day. Be forewarned that this chapter is what I call a jumper. It goes back and forth between a few different characters many times. So if you're going to understand what's going on just remember that ____is a differing pov or situation. Enjoy I hope.

Butting Heads

Irvine supported his head with his arm as he listened to Quistis lecture about junctioning GF's. He checked the clock on the wall again. It had only been twelve minutes. Damn it!

"Um," Irvine waved his hand to get her attention.

"What?" She asked as she leaned on her desk and gave him her undivided attention.

"Instructors get to choose what they teach right?" Irvine asked. She nodded to him, but her eyes were wanting an explanation. "Well, no offense Quisty, but I don't want to teach junctioning or magic."

She shook her head and chuckled lightly. "I figured that much. Unfortunately for you, you have to have at least a basic comprehensive study of both." Irvine laid his head down on the desk and groaned. "I would like to keep this simple, but the exam will be rigorous, and so must I. For your own good," She stated.

"What happened to the sweet caring Quisty from the orphanage?" Irvine asked under his breath as he looked in one of his manuals.

Quistis crossed her arms at the comment. "I care! I'm going to make sure you know all of this so that you'll pass this exam without a problem! I care because I don't want you to struggle with it and you're going to learn it if I have to beat it into you." Quistis took a deep breath and then stared at Irvine who looked as if he were afraid to breath.

A crooked grin crossed his lips as he began to laugh. "Geez! Now that's what I call tough love." Quistis rolled her eyes at the comment. "I didn't mean it! We all know ya care." Irvine leaned back in his seat. Quistis began laughing as well as she tucked her hair behind her ears and looked towards the clock.

"All right," she sighed. "Turn to page 7, junctioning a GF." Irvine closed his eyes as he rubbed his temples.

"Can I just demonstrate?"

"No Irvine."

"Ughh," Irvine collapsed on his book in exaggerated exasperation.

Quistis smiled to herself as she waited for him to get focused. "I love my job."

Irvine looked up at her voice. "You're a cruel woman." She shrugged her shoulders and then walked over to the chalk board. Irvine reached over and took her coffee off of her desk. This was going to be a long session and thanks to Toby he'd gotten four and a half hours of sleep.

"Irvine!" Quistis rested her hands on her hips when she realized what he was drinking.

________________________________________________________________________

Selphie stood in shock although she didn't let it show. Being a SeeD she theoretically had the ability to mask her emotions. Now it was going to be put to the test. She'd never seen a picture of Toby's mother, but it was obvious he had her cheek bones. She looked the taller more attractive girl over. A sudden possessiveness came over her. This girl had given him up. She was no longer his mother legally and Selphie wasn't about to yield anything to her. On her hip Toby was trying to stay wide awake despite his droopy eyes. It was obvious he was tired and it was nearing his nap time. She looked down at him lovingly. He was Irvine's baby. She'd seen the way he looked at him, and there was no way she was even letting this girl close to him. Selphie squinted her eyes and switched Toby over to her other hip. The small boy made a whining sound as he tried to nestle into Selphie's arm.

"Excuse me?" Selphie asked ready to prove to this girl as well as the rest of garden that she was not someone to contend with.

"You heard me honey," The girl stepped into the room.

"I don't have a clue who you are," Selphie said as she reached down and pulled her cell phone off her belt and deftly typed [911 Toby's mom!?] without looking. Selphie sent the message to what she thought was Irvine's phone on the top of the list. She then sat the phone down on the dresser and held Toby closer to her.

"Name's Nikki Gray," The girl looked Selphie over. "Who are you?"

Selphie didn't immediately answer. She wasn't sure if she should. What was she supposed to do?

________________________________________________________________________

Seifer stalked down the halls. He wasn't pleased with the previous events outside Zell's dorm room. It had been humiliating for Fujin to act like that. She never used to do that. Part of him imagined it was because she had once liked him. 'If she did, I blew her off so many times that she moved on. And to Chicken Wuss of all people,' Seifer thought to himself. He kicked the first trash can he found as hard as he could. Two students that were standing no more than twenty feet from it jumped in surprise. He looked at them as they stared back at him in fear. He ignored them and continued walking. If he didn't find that red head Zell had talked about he was going to tear him apart and he'd like to see Fujin stop him. He silently wondered where Raijin was. It seemed like he was spending more and more time without a posse or a disciplinary committee these days and he didn't like it.

"I'm the boy's motha," He heard a girl announce for the hall to hear. Seifer paused, there was technically only one boy that would be in this hall. What was going on? Clips of memories of the orphanage played through his mind. He remembered all of the kids who had been there; especially Selphie and Irvine. They had been different than the others. Irvine had been the one that could never make things work right. Seifer remembered his failed attempts to draw as well as Ellone, build sand castles like Zell, and to read as well as Quistis. It had earned him Seifer's pity. Whether or not that was a good thing, Seifer wasn't sure. One thing was though, it did earn him some level of protection. Seifer could see how he was trying to pull his life together. It was almost a comfort to know that he wasn't the only one with problems in his life. Luckily for Irvine, Seifer was going to see to it that this red head wasn't a major problem today. Personally, Seifer wondered how much more stress the cowboy could take. He knew quite possibly more than anyone Irvine's mental limits. He'd made the mistake of pushing him past them as a child and made it a point to never do it again. 'Just something else they'll probably never remember,' He thought to himself. His memories then shifted to Selphie. He remembered how he was always pulling her up in the tree with him so she could feel bigger, and the times he had to pull her out of the ocean's surf because she was too small to fight the waves herself. Matron always told them the story about the little engine that could. Selphie had always been that little engine; never acknowledging her obvious weaknesses and giving her all; just like the day she fell off the dock and into the sea's waves, she needed his help. Just like he dived in to save her that day because she was nice to him, he was going to get her out of this situation; she'd been the most open to his return to garden. As far as everyone else was concerned, Zell had always tried to get him in trouble and so Seifer had fought back, Quistis was always following him around wanting to play school, and Squall....well he and Squall had been best friends until Ellone left. He shook the memory from his head. He hadn't a clue what had happened between them, but he wasn't about to bring up the past if Squall wasn't.

________________________________________________________________________

Nida was lying in the tight grimy space underneath an offline piece of machinery whenever the phone on his hip vibrated. He excused himself from the presence of Fisherman's Horizon workers and carefully slid out from under the equipment. He would eventually learn what it was, but he couldn't if he kept getting interrupted. Then again, almost no one ever messaged him so he had to check it. He finally squeezed his way out and walked out of the way. He pulled off one of his gloves and flipped his phone open. He nearly dropped the phone whenever he read the message.

________________________________________________________________________

"Just what do you plan on doing here Ms. Gray?" Seifer stepped in between her and Selphie.

"I've come to pick up m'baby if its any of yur business," She looked Seifer over with a glance that made his skin crawl. He became enraged.

"Your baby!" He exclaimed as he turned to Selphie. An idea played in his mind. If only Selphie would go along with it. "How long has she been here Baby?" Seifer said as he stroked Selphie's cheek. At first she shot him a look that was quite possibly a cross between stunned and mortified and then she saw the glint in his eyes and grinned.

"Only a few minutes," Selphie made the words sound strained as her eyes teared up. "She's trying to take our baby," She succeeded in making a few tears roll off of her cheeks. Now it was Seifer's turn to be surprised. He recovered much quicker than she had and was determined to put his acting skills to the test. With his right hand he reached out and touched Toby lightly before he turned back to Nikki and practically snarled.

"Who the hell do you think you are, coming in my girlfriend's dorm room and trying to take our child!" He screamed at her, making her stumble backwards.

"Excuse me?" The girl in front of him crossed her arms in defiance.

"If I ever catch you near her dorm, or near her or the baby again...." He was practically seething in anger. Or at least it looked like it to Nikki.

"I'm sorry," She stuttered. "I was looking for Irvine Kinneas."

"SeeDs are acknowledged by their identification numbers here," Seifer lied.

The girl looked a little discouraged at first but then brightened up. "He was one of the six SeeDs that defeated Ultimecia. He was the sniper." Seifer squinted his eyes at her.

"Is that why you're here?" He asked. "For Daddy's fame not the baby's welfare?" The girl looked stunned at his accusation. "Even if I knew him I wouldn't direct you to him, you opportunist bitch."

"Hey!" She raised her voice to parallel his but silenced when he pulled out his gunblade and she realized who he was. Seifer smirked as he watched her retreat rather hastily and turned to Selphie.

"You should call security if Irvine has sole custody of him," Seifer nodded at Toby and then left feeling a lot calmer now that he'd been able to vent some frustration.

________________________________________________________________________

Quistis finally agreed to let Irvine have her coffee as long as he paid attention. It had worked, for a while. At least they'd gotten past the junctioning part. Unfortunately, he was now stuck on the magic part. But he was determined, she'd give him that. He motioned for her and was about to ask a question whenever the door was knocked open. Both SeeDs jumped up and turned quickly to see Nida standing in the doorway.

"What's wrong?" Quistis asked worried that someone was seriously hurt.

Nida momentarily froze, but recovered whenever he saw Irvine looking at him. "I just got a message from Selphie I know was meant for you. It said that Toby's mom is here." Irvine paled at Nida's words and pushed past the taller boy to hurry to the elevator.

************************************************************************

Ameli Stoncius - Gore's lockbox hah! I can break into anything! Especially for my baby...eh....Irvine's baby. *grins*

Dark Topaz - I updated I updated!

edenblack18 - ooh...you're new! Hi! Glad u like it!

Verdanii - Couldn't agree more with you. Don't worry....she and Irvine will meet and "discuss" the situation.

diamonddust1414 - are you new too? Forgive me if I'm wrong. Hope you like this chapter, it was hard to write.

Son of Sephiroth - I'm not sure that awkward is really an adequate word.

Aratcorien - You didn't think I'd let everything go perfectly smooth did you? As much as I like happy endings....I like a little drama. ************************************************************************

Chapter 7 is up. Do you guys realize how many chapters are left? Neither do I. Right now I'm winging it. I'm not sure how long this is going to be.....I'm not even entirely sure what'll happen next. As far as Seifer goes.......don't freak out on me if he seems OCC. There's a perfectly logical explanation for it.....you just can't have it yet. You'll have to wait for the story. *shrugs* Anyway, I know this is short, but I promise I'll try and update soon. In the mean time please review. It makes Toby happy.