Authors Notes: Yes! I know it took me a while to update! I was busy with exams and by the time they were over I wasn't sure how to finish this story of, (no this is not the last chapter,) because when I started out I had thought of about 3 different endings, so I've finally made up my mind and here it is!

Rinoa had slipped into a very uneasy slumber that night, Squall's inability to tell her he loved her had hurt her more than she could've possibly thought. Was their marriage over now? Or would they stay together for the sakes of their daughters and their image? She didn't know, no matter what she told herself she still loved him. Damn him, why did he have to make her life so hard? Why did she still love him? She didn't know. She knew she had to be strong though.

She heard familiar footsteps from downstairs, it was Squall he had come home again. She looked over at the clock, it was a quarter past ten. She had overslept, she hadn't even heard the alarm. She leaped out of bed and ran into Julia and Raine's room to get them up for school. Her heart stopped, they weren't in there. She ran down the stairs, to Squall.

"Squall! Julia and Raine aren't in there rooms! I over slept, I should've been up earlier to get them ready for school,"

"Relax. They're in school now, I took them this morning," Rinoa wasn't sure if she had heard Squall right, "I'm taking the day off, you're right, we need to talk." Rinoa sat down, she had a thousand and one things she wanted to say to him, but she couldn't find the words.

"Squall," She had to get in first, "I need to know now, where do we stand?" She asked hesitantly,

Squall sighed, "I honestly don't know." He said,

"Well that's not good enough, I need to know. I can't just keep waiting for you to come around."

"I know, and I'm not asking you to. That's why I want to talk, so we can figure out were we stand." Squall sat down next to her,

"Where did we go wrong?" Rinoa asked, although she knew the answer, she needed to hear it from him.

Squall took a deep breath, he knew Rinoa wasn't going to want to hear this, nor did he want to say it, but he had to. After ten years of not being around, he had to pay the price. "When Julia came along, I…I became jealous. I didn't know how to handle being a dad, and I was too fucking proud to admit it. I severely messed up,"

"That would be an understatement," Rinoa said bitterly. Her instincts had proved right, and she hated it.

"I wasn't ready to be a father."

"So what did you want me to do? Carry Julia inside of me until you were, she came and whether either of us was ready or not didn't matter, she needed parents, that's all that mattered. I'm not the best mother in the world, I know that, but I tried, and that's more than I can say for you! You were pitiable excuse of a father!" Rinoa yelled,

"I…I deserved that."

"No Squall, you deserve a lot more than that!" Rinoa shouted,

"Rinoa, I…" Squall paused, he couldn't fight back, she was right, there was no excuse for what he did.

"Squall!" Said in frustration, but she shook her head, "Just, forget it. There's no point." Her voice was barely more audible than a whisper,

"No, please…tell me." Squall said, he didn't want to hear it, but he knew that if he wanted to salvage anything, he had to be able to take the punches thrown at him, Rinoa squeezed her eyes shut as she felt them swelling with silent tears, she didn't want to let Squall see them though, he did though. "Rinoa…" He said sympathetically,

"No!" She shouted, "Don't you even think of trying to be my knight in shining armour! I've gotten this far with you ignoring me, I can manage without you! I've had to for the past ten years!" She said bitterly, Squall opened his mouth as if to say something but he didn't. "When I found out I was pregnant with Julia, I was scared, God I didn't know how I was going to handle it! Then you said that everything would be alright! You promised me that you'd be there! Maybe you were there for the first few months, but after that? No, you were working! Then when I realised I was on my own and I panicked, but I decided not to talk to you about it because I was scared of what you might do, but by the time Raine started to get bigger, I knew I had made a mistake. By then it was too late, I knew I wouldn't be able to get through to you, but I tried anyway, and of course, you ignored me. I keep thinking, maybe if I had pestered you earlier on, then maybe we wouldn't be in this situation now," Rinoa said with the tears flowing out of her eyes, even after all that Squall had done she was still punishing herself,

"Rin…this wasn't your fault, you're the one who was there for them, I'm the one who isn't. Don't you dare blame yourself for my mistakes," Squall said firmly,

"So you think by admitting it that it'll be alright now?" Rinoa asked silently, "We both made mistakes in the past, I've done all I can, now it's your turn." Rinoa said turning to Squall, "We're finished, we finished a long time ago, there's no point in trying anymore." Squall shut his eyes, as much as her words stung, they were true, the young star crossed lovers had grown up, the fairy tale was over, they didn't get the 'happily ever after' they had dreamed of. "But it's not too late to at least salvage some sort of relationship with your daughters."