Disclaimer - I in no way shape or form own final fantasy 8....

Phone Call

Irvine stared at the phone nervously. He didn't respond. How could he? What was he supposed to say? Should he act happy and welcoming and perhaps trick her into feeling sorry for him and giving him her permission to instruct? No, that wasn't an option. He swallowed as he tried to find his voice.

"Mr. Kinneas?" She asked. He stared at the white phone and tightened his grip on the countertop.

"I-I'm here," He answered quickly.

"Good. For a moment I thought I'd lost the connection," Her voice held a small amount of relief. "I am curious as to how well you think you did on your exam."

Irvine narrowed his eyes. 'What!" His mind screamed. 'Are you callin' to rub it in?' "Not too well. I didn't get hardly any sleep the night before because of..."

"Your son. Yes. We were alerted to the fact that there was a family emergency," She cut him off. He stood silent. She laughed lightly. "I'm just trying to figure out how you managed to score like you did under those circumstances. Most people would've just rescheduled."

"Score like I did?" Irvine asked. "You mean I passed?" The color returned to Irvine's face as he fought the urge to shout and jump around in excitement.

"Passed?" She laughed. "Mr. Kinneas, you passed the protocol and regulation section with an eighty-two out of ninety. Your essay lacked a little, but it was nothing detrimental. But it amazes me that you would have thought that you failed."

"Considering the circumstances," Irvine replied.

"You have no idea how well you passed the exam," She paused. "In the junctioning and magic section, you scored the only perfect in the test's history." Irvine froze.

"No way," Irvine corrected her.

"Yes way," She countered. "You scored a ninety out of ninety, and the only person to get close to that was Quistis Trepe who missed your record by one."

"But...how..is that possible. She's so much smarter than me," Irvine asked. "Half of those questions I had to use common sense to even begin to guess at them." Beside him Zell was now leaning on the counter listening in a wide-eyed fascination.

"The questions are designed to be tricky Mr. Kinneas. They are supposed to make you rely on your own experiences and judgment. We want more out of teachers than just library bound book worms without a grasp of the real world."

Irvine was silent for a moment. "So does this mean that I get to instruct now?"

"Yes Mr. Kinneas. It also means that your rank will go up three grades to increase your salary and you will gain all benefits awarded to all other instructors in Balamb Garden. The only restriction you have is that you will have to instruct your first six weeks under another instructor of our choosing. Its something all instructors have to go through and its just to help you learn to control your classes. Do you have any questions?"

Irvine grinned. "When do I start?"

"See your Headmaster for that information."

"Yes ma'am. Thank you. Bye."

"Good bye," She answered.

Irvine turned quickly to Zell who looked like he was about to burst in excitement. "Woo Hoo yes!" Irvine shouted loudly. Zell mirrored his excitement and began hopping around shouting exclamations.

"Yeah buddy!" Zell shouted. "I knew ya could do it!" Zell exclaimed as he continued to hop around.

"Wooyeah! I beat Quisty! Oh yeah!" Irvine stopped shouting and laughing only because of oxygen deprivation. He slowly sat down on the floor, and for the first time, noticed that Toby was hopping around clapping his hands joyfully. A large grin spread across his face. "Come here boy!" Toby turned quickly at his voice and hopped up in his father's lap. "Daddy passed his test," Irvine took Toby's small hands in his own and played with him.

"Papa!" Toby squealed. A few feet away, Zell had finally calmed down. He hopped up on the bar and slowly caught his breath. He smiled in- between pants for air.

"I don't think I've gotten that excited in...I don't know how long," Zell scratched the back of his head. "I mean come on...you're the one that passed the test," He took another deep breath. "Not me." He laughed.

"Just imagine if it had been you," Irvine tipped his hat forward, letting Toby take it off his head and play with it. Irvine sighed as he watched Toby climb down from his lap and drag the hat across the now slightly scuffed up floor.

"Me an instructor?" Zell raised an eyebrow. "Like that'll happen."

"Hey, if I could beat one of Quisty's scores, anything's possible," Irvine laughed. Zell laughed nervously.

"Don't get any ideas man," The blonde looked around. "So are you gonna tell anyone else or what?"

Irvine jumped up at his comment. "Can you watch him?" Zell nodded as he looked down at Toby. Irvine nodded in thanks and then ran into the living room and out the front door. Zell slid off the bar and picked up the phone. He quickly dialed Cid's room and waited impatiently for an answer.

"Hey Cid. This is Zell. You better have a job waiting for Irvine."

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Quistis leaned against the chalkboard as she quickly wrote down notes. Seifer had set a strict precedent for the younger classmen when he left. She frowned at the thought as she pressed harder on the board and ended up breaking the chalk. She exhaled loudly as she bent down to get it. There was one student that felt it his duty in Garden to be as difficult as possible. He even, ironically enough, sat in Seifer's old seat by alphabetical order. Too bad he was in the infirmary with chicken pox. She needed his distraction. The silence of the other students was driving her insane. She dropped the broken chalk pieces on the lip of the board and dusted her hands off. She straightened her glasses as she read her notebook and turned back to the board. Behind her, the door hissed open, and she heard an easily recognizable pair of footsteps. She placed her notebook on her desk and started to turn. She had to know how things went. Unfortunately for her; she hadn't the time to turn and inquire how things were going before she was spun around forcefully by the shoulder and wrapped in a tight bear hug. She reached her arm up to push her glasses back on her nose. He kept her in his embrace as squeezed her a little tighter. She could feel her face warming to a bright shade of red. From the pressure of his strong arms, or her immense embarrassment she wasn't sure. When he finally let go, he took a step back and smiled broadly.

"I take it you passed," She said as she tried to maintain what little composure she had left.

His grin only broadened and it was then that she could see where he and Selphie were a perfect match for one another. "Not only did I pass," He grinned even broader as he looked out over her class. "But I beat your junctioning score!"

Her face paled. "What! How is that possible? I only missed one!"

"Well I didn't," Irvine teased her. "I'm just playin' Quisty. Ya know that right?"

"I thought you were," She seemed relieved.

"No, I meant I wasn't tryin' to make ya mad. I did beat your score though."

Quistis crossed her arms. "Irvine, I am in the middle of class."

"Ya taught me well Darlin'," Irvine smiled again. "Thanks." Quistis let him hurry out the door and didn't move until she heard her class reacting to his visit with a series of awes. She turned quickly and glared at them.

"Get back to work," She said as she felt her face growing red again. Irvine was definitely going to pay for that.

~*~*~*~

Selphie abruptly dropped to her knees in the middle of his living room floor and allowed herself to fall backwards. Irvine stepped in the room behind her and paused. She looked up at him from where she lay and smiled.

"That was everything right?" She asked.

"Yeah," Irvine answered as he carried Toby into the smaller bedroom and placed him in his crib. He carefully tucked his son in and then came back to where she was still sprawled out on the floor. "Tired?" He asked.

"Yup," She answered as she looked around. "Moving that furniture was harder than I thought it'd be."

Irvine grinned. "At least Zell spared us the trouble of moving my bed up here. His mom had an old iron-framed bed in storage and he brought it up while I was gone."

"Does it have a mattress?" She asked.

"No," He shook his head. "Tonight it looks like I'll be sleeping on the floor."

Selphie looked flabbergasted. "No you will not!"

"What is so wrong with the floor? Hmm?" Irvine raised a brow as he tossed his hat a few feet away. He then stood up and walked into the kitchen. "At one point in Blue Gales, Max and I were both sleepin' on the floor. Its not a big deal here. I mean, that there's new carpet. Still nice and comfy," He said as he pulled down two glasses and walked to the refrigerator. Selphie leaned in the doorway and shook her head.

"Did you have to walk a mile in waist deep snow to get to school too?"

Irvine turned and looked at her. "I happened to have been home schooled. Thank ya very much." Selphie looked through the barren cabinets until she found a box of cheese crackers.

"Blue Gales didn't even have a school did it?" She asked as she hopped up onto one of the tall barstools.

"Nah it didn't. The nearest school..." Irvine paused. "Ya know, I'm still not sure where the nearest school was." Selphie rolled her eyes.

"So," Selphie started as she examined a cracker between her fingers. "Is this supper?"

Irvine looked down at the box sitting beside her on the bar and handed her a cup of sweet tea. "I guess so."

Selphie nodded and then pushed the box towards him. "I guess I better share then huh?" It was Irvine's turn to playfully roll his eyes. He grabbed it, and as if she were reading his mind, she jumped up and reached for it as well. He pulled it back just as she took hold of it, and pulled her up onto the bar. He stopped suddenly when he realized what had just happened. Selphie let go of the box and looked down at the bar on which she was lying on her stomach across. Her face turned a light shade of pink as she clumsily pushed herself up on to her arms. Irvine took the opportunity to have a little fun with her. He quickly sat the box on the bar next to her and hefted her up from under her arms. She squealed as he tossed her up and when he caught her. He held her close to his chest and she wrapped her arms around his neck. "So, have you heard about Squall and Rinoa's wedding yet?"

"Yeah. Squall told me this morning," Irvine answered. He noticed by the way her smile spread across her face that just thinking of it was getting her excited.

"I can barely wait. There's so much that I have to do," Selphie smiled. "Lets see; Quistis is getting the last of the invites out tomorrow morning, Rin and I are going tomorrow afternoon to decide on the flowers and decorations and I've got the committee working on the Quad. Have you seen it since it was repaired? Well I just know it'll look so beautiful." Selphie appeared lost in thought. As Irvine watched her he could just imagine all the little wheels turning in her head. She was so cute when she was lost in thought. He watched as she chewed her bottom lip lightly as she leaned back away from him just a few inches. "Edea always talked of how troublesome her wedding had been to plan. I guess she just had problems coordinating everything. I don't know..."

Irvine shrugged. "Ya sound pretty excited to be organizin' most of this. I mean its not even your weddin'," He joked.

She shrugged. "I know...but its exciting! And Rinny said she needed my help."

'Just do it, get it over with,' Irvine tried to encourage himself. He slowly lowered her to the floor and let her stand in front of him. She gave him a curious look as she stared up at him. "Would ya like ta organize yur own weddin' Darlin?" His voice cracked a little with nervousness as he slowly knelt. Selphie stood frozen as he slid his left hand alongside her arm to steady himself and reached in his pocket with his right. "I wasn't sure how things were goin' to work out, or even if they would at first. But ya stuck with me." He paused while he collected his thoughts and opened the battered velvet box. "Ya know more than anyone that almost everything I do now has to atleast consider Toby. He added complications to our relationship, and yet you took to him like he was your own. I've always wanted to be your husband; even when we were little and were just playing house. I love ya Darlin. More'n anything. Will ya marry me?"

Selphie stared at the delicate ring he held in his shaky hand. She took a deep breath and smiled weakly. "Irvy," She said softly as she covered her mouth. She then reached down quickly and took the ring. She slid it on her finger as she looked it over. Irvine sighed in relief and then smiled. He rubbed his left hand along her arm as he waited.

"Is that a yes? Please be a yes," He spoke softly.

Selphie took both of this hands and pulled at them to get him to stand up. "Of course it is!" She cried as she jumped up in his arms and hugged him fiercly.

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aratcorien - He asked! He asked!

Barrett Machain - Glad you like how I'm entertwining all of my stories. Thank you for such beautiful and encouraging reviews. I left out Irvine's reaction in Darkened Ice just so I could put it in this story and it not be a complete rerun.

element6 - I guess now Toby will go to bed, and at some point Irvine and Selphie will go to bed....er sorta.

Dark Topaz - here you go

Verdanii - You forgot! How could you! *smiles* Hope you didn't forget anything else...

diamonddust1414 - I'm happy to hear that.

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There's sixteen! Do you guys realize how close to the end we are? ...Neither do I. I'm still guessing lower twenties....but who knows.

Anyway, please read and review. It would really encourage me to update quicker...And thanks to all of you who reviewed my newest two stories. I'll let you guys decide which one you'd rather read first....just give me your votes before the epilogue of this one goes up.