Note: The last time we left off Squall was he in despair when Rinoa brutally dumped him over the phone. Because of that, he didn't even come home from his walk for dinner and he issued another fight with his mother. Poor Squall....when will Rinoa ever comfront him? I guess this chapter answers that question.... Enjpy! ^^
Chapter 15 - A Time To Heal
Monday came by quickly than he expected, which was all the better because Squall was never in school anyway. That night, he decided to walk around town, trying to re-evaluate everything going on with his life. He couldn't stay home and face his father, who would just ignore him anyway, or Cloud, who would talk so much about his upcoming championship game that even Squall was getting tired of it. He wasn't upto having dinner with him, because he didn't want to show his little brother that he wasn't interested. Squall couldn't face his mother either. She would ask questions about why he skipped school today, or what was wrong with him. She knew he would never answer anyway, but Squall also knew how persistent his mother was. He turned a corner, making a swift turn towards Driver Street, then stopped mid-step. "Dammit!" he swore under his breath. He was standing in front of the grocery store where Rinoa was working. 'How on earth did I end up here?' he thought to himself. Squall stuffed his hands in his pockets and grimaced. His mind was too focused on Rinoa that his feet ended up thinking the same thing and brought him here.
"Squall?" a female voice broke Squall from his reverie. He looked up and almost stumbled in surprise when he noticed Rinoa standing there, carrying a bag of groceries, which looked as though she was having trouble carrying. Rinoa approached him cautiously, but the items in her hands were too much to carry that she stumbled forward. Squall's presence had saved her, because he caught her in his arms before she felt her face flat on the ground.
"Are you all right?" he asked softly, helping her with the bags.
Rinoa smiled, adjusting the bags in her arms more comfortably. "Yeah, I'm fine," she answered.
Squall nodded. "Um...where do you want me to put these?"
The dark haired girl smiled again and turned around. She looked over her shoulder and said, "Inside at the back of the store. Just follow me."
Squall hesitated for a moment, then followed her inside the store. She led him at the very back and helped Rinoa put the things properly on one of the shelves. When they were done, they stepped back and watched the work they did. They were silent for a while, until Squall had the courage to speak. "So, how come you're working late again today?"
Rinoa sighed. "Well, my Manager called me in this afternoon, JUST when I came home from work and asked me to come in and do closing today. She told me that we had new products coming in and she wanted me to bring them in the store. And..." She gestured towards the items inside the paper bag they carried over. "These are the new products."
The brunette regarded the paper bag full of oriental chips, new version of the 'pocky' food and some more Asian foods that he was not familiar with. "Your new products are all Asian," he said a matter of fact.
The girl nodded. "Yeah, because Susan wanted something 'new' for a change in this store so there would be more customers."
Squall said nothing.
And for a while, both of them said nothing. Squall awkwardly stood there, staring at the new items for no apparent reason. He wanted to leave now, but there was something pulling him back. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and glanced at her. "Well, I uh...." he cleared his throat. "I better go."
Rinoa nodded. "Oh...okay..." She looked up and watched him go, but she turned towards him and called, "Squall!" before he reached the door. He stopped and turned to look at her, curiously. She walked up to him and felt her bottom lip being gnawed at by her upper teeth nervously. She couldn't even stop herself from clasping her hands behind her. Then, she couldn't stop herself from crying. She could feel stinging tears streaming down her cheeks. "I... I'm really sorry about everything. I should have told you the truth...about Diana and...about Ian and...about my past." Rinoa looked up with tear stricken eyes and stared into his blue orbs. "I WANTED to tell you...SO much, but....I just...couldn't and..." She looked back down, ashamed to look at him again.
Squall looked away. "Don't worry about it. It's okay." He turned around again and began walking away once more, but Rinoa's persistence stopped him in the middle of the store, just in between the shelves where the noodles and chips were held. He found himself suddenly face to face with Rinoa once again, her face red with anger.
"NO IT ISN'T!!!!" Rinoa yelled. "Don't lie to me!" Squall tried to move her out of the way, but Rinoa, was surprisingly strong. "Don't walk away from me, Squall! Don't try to walk away from this!"
Still, Squall would not answer.
"Answer me, Squall! PLEASE!"
Finally, he did. "Do you want to know what I think?!" He looked down at her, staring deeply into Rinoa's eyes. "If we are to be together, Rinoa, there should be trust between us! When I gave you that Promise Ring, it meant that we would promise each other that we would never lie to each other. It's a promise to tell each other the whole truth about EVERYTHING! When you didn't tell me about Diana and Ian..." He paused, taking a long deep breath. Being angry, he thought, was taking a lot of energy from him. "I felt like you didn't trust me at all..."
"That's not true, Squall..." Rinoa replied quietly. She reached and grabbed his hand, then squeezed it gently in between her palms. "I have always trusted you! You have no idea that I felt guilty about my past!"
Squall jerked his hand away. "I don't care!!!!" he yelled into her face. He bumped Rinoa out of his way and began walking off again. He was just about to step out of the door, when Rinoa's voice radiated in the store again. "I'M GOING TO LOSE MY BABY TO THAT BASTARD, SQUALL!!!! DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT THAT!?" He turned to look at her, his eyes widening in surprise. There was a mixture of confusion, anger and sympathy playing in his mind.
Rinoa pursed her lips together. She didn't know why she said that. It seemed like the right time to say. "Yes..." she said quietly this time. "I....Diana will be taken away from me. Ian threatened to call the social services and report me that I am living in a very unhealthy home if I don't sign the contract."
He felt his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. Why was he listening to this crap? What does he have to do with it? It wasn't his problem. It was hers! All hers! But then why...why did he feel bad? Why was he feeling so angry? Why wasn't he walking out? What was he doing standing there? "And what do you want me to do about it?" he asked quietly.
The dark haired girl looked away. "Nothing...I was hoping for a little help from you."
"What kind of help? What can I do?"
"This may be a stupid request, I mean why would you agree, since I lied to you, broke up with you and you found out about Diana the worse possible way but...your father is the mayor of this town and maybe...maybe if you could..."
"Talk to him?" Squall interrupted, bitterly. "I don't think any of that is happening, Rinoa. My father and I aren't exactly on speaking terms right now. He doesn't seem to realize that Cloud and I exist. So, do you really think he would realize that you exist as well? He didn't even know that I dated you..." The last sentence containing the past tense, made his lips dry when he said it, but Squall went on anyway. "He may be a good mayor, Rinoa, but he's not a good father to me..."
Rinoa nodded. "I understand...Well, anyway, I have to go and finish cleaning up." She turned and left without another word, whilst Squall said nothing either and walked out of the store, with a weary heart.
"Dammit!" Squall swore under his breath. He kicked a nearby rock out of his way as he walked back to the direction of his house.
************************************
A single knock on the door, brought him out of his reverie. Laguna looked up from his papers and watched as the door opened, revealing his wife carrying a cup of coffee in her hand. She smiled and approached him, setting the coffee down on the table. "I thought you might like some company, since you didn't come to dinner again tonight," Raine said. She walked over to him and began massaging his shoulders.
"Thanks," Laguna replied, looking at the papers that seemed to occupy his thoughts.
"Squall didn't come to dinner again either," Raine added. "He seems to be taking up your habit now."
Laguna looked up. "Are you trying to make me feel guilty again, Raine?"
Raine sighed, walking around the chair and in front of her husband. "Laguna, you spend your time in the office, than you do with your sons and me. Is that what a father is suppose to do?"
He nodded. "Yes, it's what mayors are suppose to do."
"Laguna, your eldest son is having problems which I don't even know what about and he doesn't seem to want to talk to me about it. He needs his father to talk to, someone he can bond with man to man." She sat on his lap and wrapped an arm around his tense shoulders. "Please do this...for me?" She gave him the most puppy dog eyes he dearly couldn't stand her doing.
Laguna sighed. "All right, all right. Where is he now?" He gently pushed Raine from his lap and stood up.
Raine was glad. "He came home just now and he's in his room, sulking. Are you really going to talk to him?"
The young mayor nodded. "I will, I will..." He looked down at the papers on the table, hesitant to leave it unread. He usually finished reading the depositions earlier than they were suppose to be finished reading. Laguna lifted his head back up at his wife, who knew what he was thinking and folded her arms across her chest. "Don't worry, I will!" However, before he had a chance to even walk out the door to his son's room, the telephome suddenly rang. Laguna stared into his wife's eyes. "I WILL talk to him Raine, but this call could be important and..." Just as he was about to finish his sentence, Raine turned and walked out of the room, fuming. Laguna sighed and picked up the phone. "Hello? What? Yeah, yeah, I'll be there. Bye..." He put the phone back on its receiver and grabbed his jacket from the coat rack and walked out of the room. Raine was gone by the time he reached the hallway and the front door, but Laguna didn't have time to realize that. He walked out of the house and drove off to his other office forty minutes away from where he lived.
Raine watched the limousine pull out of the driveway. Angrily, she closed back the curtains and sat on her bed, frowning. No longer able to stand it, she stood up and went into her son's room, knocking on the door as quietly as possible, because she was afraid he might already be asleep. "Squall?" she called quietly.
"Yeah..." Squall replied weakly.
She opened the door and stepped inside meekly, as if afraid to touch any private things in his room that Squall did not like touched." I told your dad to talk to you but..." Raine sat down on a chair across from his bed, which she was still trying to figure out why it was there in the first place.
"But he already left for the office? I know..." He looked up with devastated eyes. "I heard the limousine pull out of the driveway..." He sighed, plopping down on his bed. "You don't need to talk to him for me, mom...I know he wouldn't do it anyway." What were they going to talk about anyway, even if his father had time for him. Laguna Loir BARELY has any idea what's been going on with his son or what he's been doing for the past eight years that Squall's been living in his home.
Raine stood up and sat down on the edge of her son's bed. "Squall, you have to have faith in your father, that he will change. I know it's hard for him to just drop everything, but because of this, he's been supporting our family for many years. You'll have to understand that..."
Squall frowned, looking up at his mother. "I'm suppose to understand that for eight years!?" He slammed a fist down on his bed. "I've been waiting for so long. I even told myself before that he WAS going to talk to me, but he never did. He's broken many promises, ESPECIALLY to Cloud and has never been to any of the most important events other than his stupid political meetings! I'm SUPPOSE to understand that!?"
Calmly, her mother placed a gentle hand on his arm. "Squall, you and your brother have YEARS to relinquish your relationship with your father. Time heals all wounds."
"Yeah, well growing up... DOESN'T!" He picked up his pillow from above his head and buried his face against it. Squall gripped his hands tightly around the soft pillow and sighed. Remembering that his mother was still there, he removed the pillow and looked into her eyes. "I know you mean well, mom, but does dad even know we're hurting this way? He doesn't seem to see it at all."
Raine nodded. "Oh, he knows. He's just too blind to REALLY notice." She placed a small hand over his large ones. "Just have faith in your father. Do this for me, all right?"
Squall took a long deep breath, before finally saying, "Okay..."
"Good! Now, stand up and let me hug you!" She opened her arms for him and sat there waiting for him to take the embrace. Squall hesitated for a while, but finally nodded and wrapped his long arms around his mother's nimble body. They sat like that for a while, until Squall broke it off, laying back down on his bed. Raine stood up and bade him good night, before heading for the door.
"Mom?" Squall called. He looked up and sighed. He thought for a moment. His mother never asked what was wrong with him, not even once and he admired her for that courage. Usually mothers DEMANDED to be informed on what was going on with their children, but Raine didn't do such a thing. He could tell she wanted so bad though, but she never pushed it. "If you really want to know what's going on with me..." He took another long breath then said, "It's about Rinoa...she broke up with me because she didn't think I could handle it well if I knew about her daughter..."
Raine stared at him, then stepped back inside the room and closed the door. "Go on..." she urged him.
***************************************
Monday was a thing in the past now, but after that talk with his mother, Squall felt much better. He already knew that he didn't need to talk with his father about the problem and ask for HIS advice. His father would never understand anyway...even IF he tried to understand how Squall felt. After his usual routine in the mornings, such as taking a shower, brushing his teeth and getting dressed, Squall went downstairs to have some breakfast before he left for school. Cloud was already there, bright and early before his older brother, energetically eating a piece of toast and crunching on a strip of bacon and chatting away about his soccer game coming this week to his mother. She listened attentively, commenting on some of the more important things about the subject, especially about HOW he was getting to the other school across town to play the game there. Squall knew it was HIS turn to answer, but he was interrupted when his father burst in the kitchen, talking on the phone as usual. Squall watched as his father grabbed a piece of toast, holding it in his mouth, while his hands worked by holding a newspaper and the telephone, attached to his ears. Laguna gave his wife a quick peck on the cheek, then paused to give himself time to think about what to respond to the person he was talking to on the phone, which gave Squall a moment to glare at him from the corner of his eyes as he took a seat on the dining table. His mother eyed him, giving him warning looks and reminding him in that way about what they talked about last night. Squall removed his eyes from his father and sighed, grabbing the last piece of toast and taking a bite out of it hastilly. He looked back up again at his father, who now held a very serious look on his face.
"NO! What am I suppose to do with those!? NO! I said I don't want that! I can't handle anything like that! Just give it to one my secretaries! Is that so hard!?" This time, he gave his wife a loving kiss on the lips, grabbed his briefcase, waved at his two sons and left for work.
When they heard the limousine pull out of the driveway and out of sight, Squall finally looked up, folding his arms across his chest. "I never said I would START having faith in him right away," he said to his mother, recalling the warning look she gave him. He stood up and glanced down at his little brother, who was staring up at him curiously. Squall placed a hand on his dark hair. "Come on, squirt, let me drop you off at school." He glanced at his mother. "Bye mom," he said, helping himself out of back door where his car was usually parked. Cloud waved as his mother and followed his brother out the door and into the car port.
After dropping off Cloud, Squall decided to drive a little, since he was still half an hour early for class, and head out to where Rinoa lived. His mother convinced him to talk to her and resolve the problems they were having. He never really agreed to it, but the words his mother spoke really stuck in his head. 'If you don't solve this problem now, it will never be solved. You'll regret it for the rest of your life,' she had said. He hates it when mothers are right. After careful thought on what to say to Rinoa when he saw her, Squall parked the car in front of a small house situated in front of the small neighborhood park and slowly got out, stuffing his hands in his pockets (lately it's been his habit). He was just about to step into the driveway, when someone opened the door and without looking, bumped into him.
"Oh!" the voice spoke.
Squall hung on to the figure and finally had the courage to look up and realize it wasn't Rinoa. He let go quickly, apologizing to the middle aged woman. "I'm sorry. I was looking for Rinoa..."
The woman looked at him suspiciously for a few seconds, until familiarity dawned on her. "OH! You must be Squall! Come in! Come in!" She opened the door wider for Squall to go in. "Rinoa!!!" the woman called. She went to a room at Squall's left, which looked to be the kitchen. The young man followed her inside and, afraid to interrupt some more, stayed near the door and waited for Rinoa to appear. "Rinoa!!!!" the woman called again, her voice echoing the whole building.
"What is it, Patti? Are you looking for me?" Squall looked up at the sound of Rinoa's voice, which came from upstairs. She was just walking down the stairs, carrying a few months old child in her arms, when she noticed him. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Squall..."
Squall nodded, looking around nervously, afraid that if he looked into her eyes, he would hurt her some more. "I uh...I just came by to talk to you..."
The woman named Patti appeared a few seconds later from the dining room. Rinoa walked to the very bottom of the stairs to reach her mother-like friend and handed Diana to her. Squall watched as the baby was being passed. "Is that her?" he asked. "Diana?"
Rinoa looked at her baby. "Yeah," she replied. "What are you doing here?"
Squall regarded the look on Diana's face when she was held in her 'grandmother's' arms. She had the bluest eyes and the darkest hair, which took after her mother. Her smile was like Rinoa's as well, but the other features reminded him of a different man she was with when she was very young. He quickly turned away from the baby and looked at Rinoa. "I want to talk to you about Diana and the father of the baby...But I guess I came in a bad time and...this was a dumb idea...sorry..." He opened the door and quickly ran out, but Rinoa caught up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him from going anywhere.
"Squall, will you stop doing that!?" Rinoa said, getting frustrated by how he was handling things.
Squall stopped, turning around slowly. "Sorry..." he mumbled. He couldn't meet her in the eyes. His thoughts came back to Diana's face...one that reminded him of a man who was 'with' Rinoa. He couldn't get that thought out of his head!
The dark haired girl smiled, placing a hand on his face. "Squall, even if Diana is Ian's baby, that doesn't mean I still love him. I love you..."
"You love me?"
Rinoa nodded. "That's one of the reasons why I had to break up with you. I thought it was for the best that I stay out of your life because it would be more of a burden for you if you had any problems..."
Squall shook his head. "If you told me the truth, it wouldn't be a problem for me at all. I would have helped you..."
"That's very thoughtful but...they called last night..." Sudden tears became visible in her eyes.
"They, who?"
Rinoa turned away, not wanting to meet his face. But Squall would not let her turn away this time. He placed a hand under her chin and forced her to look at him. "The social workers... Even if I didn't sign the custody papers, Ian STILL called the social workers and told them about Diana... They're going to pick her up and take her away from me this weekend! I can't stand it, Squall! They're going to take away my baby! I won't be able to live with myself if she's gone!" Millions of tears fell at a very vigorous speed. She started to shake. So much pain was stabbing at her heart, forcing her to fall on her knees and cry, but Squall caught her just in time her knees met the ground.
He wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes. "No... that's not going to happen. I won't let them take her away."
"What do you mean?" she looked up with blood shot eyes.
Squall held her tighter in their embrace. "I'll talk to my dad....I AM the mayor's son, aren't I?"
***********************************
He slammed his hand down on the table, startling the occupant sitting on the leather chair. "Squall! Crap, you scared me!" Laguna gasped, pulling the phone an inch from his ear. "What is it?"
Squall took a deep breath and looked at his father with a very genuine expression. "Dad, I want Rinoa to keep Diana."
Laguna pressed his telephone close to his ear. "I'll call you back," he said, then put the phone back on its receiever. He turned the whole chair around to face his son. "What? What on earth are you talking about, Squall?" He began to open the folder in front of him and taking out some documents. He glanced at one paper, then turned the page over.
Squall was getting irritated as he listened to his father leaf through the papers. Angrily and impatiently, he grabbed his father's papers and threw them down the floor. "Will you PLEASE listen to me!? At least LOOK at me when I'm talking to you!"
His father looked up, angered by his actions. "Don't talk to me that way, young man!" He stood up and grabbed the papers from the floor. When he was finished, he glared at his son. "Don't you dare do that again! These are very important documents and-"
"I don't care!!!!" Squall yelled.
At that point, Raine burst through the door to see what the commotion was all about. "What's going on here?"
"Nothing, sweetheart," Laguna replied.
"It's not 'nothing!'" Squall yelled, his head turning towards his mother. "He won't talk to me mom! I have something VERY important to say about Rinoa and he's too DAMN STUPID to listen!"
"Now, Squall, what did I just talked about yesterday..."
"I DON'T CARE! I hate having to wait for him!!! He doesn't get it that Rinoa will lose her baby if I don't do anything about it!!!" Squall spat out, slamming another hand down on the table, forcing more documents to shake. "Rinoa's going to lose her baby, because of some stupid ass idiot doesn't think she's fit to be a mother!!!! Even if you don't care about your sons, the least you could do is help someone who needs more help than we DO!!!!" With an angry thought to choke his father to death, Squall turned and stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Laguna sat there, bewildered by Squall's angry words. Everything he said was true. He WAS too stupid to listen, too caught up in his own world to listen to his own sons' problems. Did his son really think he didn't care about him and Cloud? Of course he cared! That's why he's working so hard to make them happy, but he had no idea that they were unhappy because of his hard work. It was as if someone just slapped him across the face with a fly swatter.
"Honey?" Raine called, approaching her husband slowly. She looked at him sympathetically. Even if Squall's approach was a bit too much, she was surprised to see that it really worked.
"Is that what he thinks of me, Raine?" He looked up with sad eyes. "He thinks I don't love my sons?" He leaned against the chair and stared straight ahead, still remembering the look his eldest son had given him. Was that disgust? Disappointment?
"I know you do, but you NEED to show it to them, especially Squall..." Raine replied reassuringly.
"How?" Laguna asked, his voice hollow.
Raine kneeled down and placed her hands on his lap. "Do as he asks you to do...help Rinoa keep her daughter."
Laguna thought for a moment, then reached out to grab the phone. He dialed the number he needed to do and waited until a voice answered. "Hello this is the Mayor..."
GoodGurl: Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Raine is SUCH a loyal wife and mother! I REALLY like her in this story! She's soooo sweet! But then again in the game was probably REALLY sweet! So? So? What do you guys think!? Review please!! I need to hear from you guys! Aren't you happy that Squall and Rinoa 'might' get back together? Don't get your hopes up yet, because it didn't really say that they're officially back together...^^
Chapter 15 - A Time To Heal
Monday came by quickly than he expected, which was all the better because Squall was never in school anyway. That night, he decided to walk around town, trying to re-evaluate everything going on with his life. He couldn't stay home and face his father, who would just ignore him anyway, or Cloud, who would talk so much about his upcoming championship game that even Squall was getting tired of it. He wasn't upto having dinner with him, because he didn't want to show his little brother that he wasn't interested. Squall couldn't face his mother either. She would ask questions about why he skipped school today, or what was wrong with him. She knew he would never answer anyway, but Squall also knew how persistent his mother was. He turned a corner, making a swift turn towards Driver Street, then stopped mid-step. "Dammit!" he swore under his breath. He was standing in front of the grocery store where Rinoa was working. 'How on earth did I end up here?' he thought to himself. Squall stuffed his hands in his pockets and grimaced. His mind was too focused on Rinoa that his feet ended up thinking the same thing and brought him here.
"Squall?" a female voice broke Squall from his reverie. He looked up and almost stumbled in surprise when he noticed Rinoa standing there, carrying a bag of groceries, which looked as though she was having trouble carrying. Rinoa approached him cautiously, but the items in her hands were too much to carry that she stumbled forward. Squall's presence had saved her, because he caught her in his arms before she felt her face flat on the ground.
"Are you all right?" he asked softly, helping her with the bags.
Rinoa smiled, adjusting the bags in her arms more comfortably. "Yeah, I'm fine," she answered.
Squall nodded. "Um...where do you want me to put these?"
The dark haired girl smiled again and turned around. She looked over her shoulder and said, "Inside at the back of the store. Just follow me."
Squall hesitated for a moment, then followed her inside the store. She led him at the very back and helped Rinoa put the things properly on one of the shelves. When they were done, they stepped back and watched the work they did. They were silent for a while, until Squall had the courage to speak. "So, how come you're working late again today?"
Rinoa sighed. "Well, my Manager called me in this afternoon, JUST when I came home from work and asked me to come in and do closing today. She told me that we had new products coming in and she wanted me to bring them in the store. And..." She gestured towards the items inside the paper bag they carried over. "These are the new products."
The brunette regarded the paper bag full of oriental chips, new version of the 'pocky' food and some more Asian foods that he was not familiar with. "Your new products are all Asian," he said a matter of fact.
The girl nodded. "Yeah, because Susan wanted something 'new' for a change in this store so there would be more customers."
Squall said nothing.
And for a while, both of them said nothing. Squall awkwardly stood there, staring at the new items for no apparent reason. He wanted to leave now, but there was something pulling him back. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and glanced at her. "Well, I uh...." he cleared his throat. "I better go."
Rinoa nodded. "Oh...okay..." She looked up and watched him go, but she turned towards him and called, "Squall!" before he reached the door. He stopped and turned to look at her, curiously. She walked up to him and felt her bottom lip being gnawed at by her upper teeth nervously. She couldn't even stop herself from clasping her hands behind her. Then, she couldn't stop herself from crying. She could feel stinging tears streaming down her cheeks. "I... I'm really sorry about everything. I should have told you the truth...about Diana and...about Ian and...about my past." Rinoa looked up with tear stricken eyes and stared into his blue orbs. "I WANTED to tell you...SO much, but....I just...couldn't and..." She looked back down, ashamed to look at him again.
Squall looked away. "Don't worry about it. It's okay." He turned around again and began walking away once more, but Rinoa's persistence stopped him in the middle of the store, just in between the shelves where the noodles and chips were held. He found himself suddenly face to face with Rinoa once again, her face red with anger.
"NO IT ISN'T!!!!" Rinoa yelled. "Don't lie to me!" Squall tried to move her out of the way, but Rinoa, was surprisingly strong. "Don't walk away from me, Squall! Don't try to walk away from this!"
Still, Squall would not answer.
"Answer me, Squall! PLEASE!"
Finally, he did. "Do you want to know what I think?!" He looked down at her, staring deeply into Rinoa's eyes. "If we are to be together, Rinoa, there should be trust between us! When I gave you that Promise Ring, it meant that we would promise each other that we would never lie to each other. It's a promise to tell each other the whole truth about EVERYTHING! When you didn't tell me about Diana and Ian..." He paused, taking a long deep breath. Being angry, he thought, was taking a lot of energy from him. "I felt like you didn't trust me at all..."
"That's not true, Squall..." Rinoa replied quietly. She reached and grabbed his hand, then squeezed it gently in between her palms. "I have always trusted you! You have no idea that I felt guilty about my past!"
Squall jerked his hand away. "I don't care!!!!" he yelled into her face. He bumped Rinoa out of his way and began walking off again. He was just about to step out of the door, when Rinoa's voice radiated in the store again. "I'M GOING TO LOSE MY BABY TO THAT BASTARD, SQUALL!!!! DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT THAT!?" He turned to look at her, his eyes widening in surprise. There was a mixture of confusion, anger and sympathy playing in his mind.
Rinoa pursed her lips together. She didn't know why she said that. It seemed like the right time to say. "Yes..." she said quietly this time. "I....Diana will be taken away from me. Ian threatened to call the social services and report me that I am living in a very unhealthy home if I don't sign the contract."
He felt his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. Why was he listening to this crap? What does he have to do with it? It wasn't his problem. It was hers! All hers! But then why...why did he feel bad? Why was he feeling so angry? Why wasn't he walking out? What was he doing standing there? "And what do you want me to do about it?" he asked quietly.
The dark haired girl looked away. "Nothing...I was hoping for a little help from you."
"What kind of help? What can I do?"
"This may be a stupid request, I mean why would you agree, since I lied to you, broke up with you and you found out about Diana the worse possible way but...your father is the mayor of this town and maybe...maybe if you could..."
"Talk to him?" Squall interrupted, bitterly. "I don't think any of that is happening, Rinoa. My father and I aren't exactly on speaking terms right now. He doesn't seem to realize that Cloud and I exist. So, do you really think he would realize that you exist as well? He didn't even know that I dated you..." The last sentence containing the past tense, made his lips dry when he said it, but Squall went on anyway. "He may be a good mayor, Rinoa, but he's not a good father to me..."
Rinoa nodded. "I understand...Well, anyway, I have to go and finish cleaning up." She turned and left without another word, whilst Squall said nothing either and walked out of the store, with a weary heart.
"Dammit!" Squall swore under his breath. He kicked a nearby rock out of his way as he walked back to the direction of his house.
************************************
A single knock on the door, brought him out of his reverie. Laguna looked up from his papers and watched as the door opened, revealing his wife carrying a cup of coffee in her hand. She smiled and approached him, setting the coffee down on the table. "I thought you might like some company, since you didn't come to dinner again tonight," Raine said. She walked over to him and began massaging his shoulders.
"Thanks," Laguna replied, looking at the papers that seemed to occupy his thoughts.
"Squall didn't come to dinner again either," Raine added. "He seems to be taking up your habit now."
Laguna looked up. "Are you trying to make me feel guilty again, Raine?"
Raine sighed, walking around the chair and in front of her husband. "Laguna, you spend your time in the office, than you do with your sons and me. Is that what a father is suppose to do?"
He nodded. "Yes, it's what mayors are suppose to do."
"Laguna, your eldest son is having problems which I don't even know what about and he doesn't seem to want to talk to me about it. He needs his father to talk to, someone he can bond with man to man." She sat on his lap and wrapped an arm around his tense shoulders. "Please do this...for me?" She gave him the most puppy dog eyes he dearly couldn't stand her doing.
Laguna sighed. "All right, all right. Where is he now?" He gently pushed Raine from his lap and stood up.
Raine was glad. "He came home just now and he's in his room, sulking. Are you really going to talk to him?"
The young mayor nodded. "I will, I will..." He looked down at the papers on the table, hesitant to leave it unread. He usually finished reading the depositions earlier than they were suppose to be finished reading. Laguna lifted his head back up at his wife, who knew what he was thinking and folded her arms across her chest. "Don't worry, I will!" However, before he had a chance to even walk out the door to his son's room, the telephome suddenly rang. Laguna stared into his wife's eyes. "I WILL talk to him Raine, but this call could be important and..." Just as he was about to finish his sentence, Raine turned and walked out of the room, fuming. Laguna sighed and picked up the phone. "Hello? What? Yeah, yeah, I'll be there. Bye..." He put the phone back on its receiver and grabbed his jacket from the coat rack and walked out of the room. Raine was gone by the time he reached the hallway and the front door, but Laguna didn't have time to realize that. He walked out of the house and drove off to his other office forty minutes away from where he lived.
Raine watched the limousine pull out of the driveway. Angrily, she closed back the curtains and sat on her bed, frowning. No longer able to stand it, she stood up and went into her son's room, knocking on the door as quietly as possible, because she was afraid he might already be asleep. "Squall?" she called quietly.
"Yeah..." Squall replied weakly.
She opened the door and stepped inside meekly, as if afraid to touch any private things in his room that Squall did not like touched." I told your dad to talk to you but..." Raine sat down on a chair across from his bed, which she was still trying to figure out why it was there in the first place.
"But he already left for the office? I know..." He looked up with devastated eyes. "I heard the limousine pull out of the driveway..." He sighed, plopping down on his bed. "You don't need to talk to him for me, mom...I know he wouldn't do it anyway." What were they going to talk about anyway, even if his father had time for him. Laguna Loir BARELY has any idea what's been going on with his son or what he's been doing for the past eight years that Squall's been living in his home.
Raine stood up and sat down on the edge of her son's bed. "Squall, you have to have faith in your father, that he will change. I know it's hard for him to just drop everything, but because of this, he's been supporting our family for many years. You'll have to understand that..."
Squall frowned, looking up at his mother. "I'm suppose to understand that for eight years!?" He slammed a fist down on his bed. "I've been waiting for so long. I even told myself before that he WAS going to talk to me, but he never did. He's broken many promises, ESPECIALLY to Cloud and has never been to any of the most important events other than his stupid political meetings! I'm SUPPOSE to understand that!?"
Calmly, her mother placed a gentle hand on his arm. "Squall, you and your brother have YEARS to relinquish your relationship with your father. Time heals all wounds."
"Yeah, well growing up... DOESN'T!" He picked up his pillow from above his head and buried his face against it. Squall gripped his hands tightly around the soft pillow and sighed. Remembering that his mother was still there, he removed the pillow and looked into her eyes. "I know you mean well, mom, but does dad even know we're hurting this way? He doesn't seem to see it at all."
Raine nodded. "Oh, he knows. He's just too blind to REALLY notice." She placed a small hand over his large ones. "Just have faith in your father. Do this for me, all right?"
Squall took a long deep breath, before finally saying, "Okay..."
"Good! Now, stand up and let me hug you!" She opened her arms for him and sat there waiting for him to take the embrace. Squall hesitated for a while, but finally nodded and wrapped his long arms around his mother's nimble body. They sat like that for a while, until Squall broke it off, laying back down on his bed. Raine stood up and bade him good night, before heading for the door.
"Mom?" Squall called. He looked up and sighed. He thought for a moment. His mother never asked what was wrong with him, not even once and he admired her for that courage. Usually mothers DEMANDED to be informed on what was going on with their children, but Raine didn't do such a thing. He could tell she wanted so bad though, but she never pushed it. "If you really want to know what's going on with me..." He took another long breath then said, "It's about Rinoa...she broke up with me because she didn't think I could handle it well if I knew about her daughter..."
Raine stared at him, then stepped back inside the room and closed the door. "Go on..." she urged him.
***************************************
Monday was a thing in the past now, but after that talk with his mother, Squall felt much better. He already knew that he didn't need to talk with his father about the problem and ask for HIS advice. His father would never understand anyway...even IF he tried to understand how Squall felt. After his usual routine in the mornings, such as taking a shower, brushing his teeth and getting dressed, Squall went downstairs to have some breakfast before he left for school. Cloud was already there, bright and early before his older brother, energetically eating a piece of toast and crunching on a strip of bacon and chatting away about his soccer game coming this week to his mother. She listened attentively, commenting on some of the more important things about the subject, especially about HOW he was getting to the other school across town to play the game there. Squall knew it was HIS turn to answer, but he was interrupted when his father burst in the kitchen, talking on the phone as usual. Squall watched as his father grabbed a piece of toast, holding it in his mouth, while his hands worked by holding a newspaper and the telephone, attached to his ears. Laguna gave his wife a quick peck on the cheek, then paused to give himself time to think about what to respond to the person he was talking to on the phone, which gave Squall a moment to glare at him from the corner of his eyes as he took a seat on the dining table. His mother eyed him, giving him warning looks and reminding him in that way about what they talked about last night. Squall removed his eyes from his father and sighed, grabbing the last piece of toast and taking a bite out of it hastilly. He looked back up again at his father, who now held a very serious look on his face.
"NO! What am I suppose to do with those!? NO! I said I don't want that! I can't handle anything like that! Just give it to one my secretaries! Is that so hard!?" This time, he gave his wife a loving kiss on the lips, grabbed his briefcase, waved at his two sons and left for work.
When they heard the limousine pull out of the driveway and out of sight, Squall finally looked up, folding his arms across his chest. "I never said I would START having faith in him right away," he said to his mother, recalling the warning look she gave him. He stood up and glanced down at his little brother, who was staring up at him curiously. Squall placed a hand on his dark hair. "Come on, squirt, let me drop you off at school." He glanced at his mother. "Bye mom," he said, helping himself out of back door where his car was usually parked. Cloud waved as his mother and followed his brother out the door and into the car port.
After dropping off Cloud, Squall decided to drive a little, since he was still half an hour early for class, and head out to where Rinoa lived. His mother convinced him to talk to her and resolve the problems they were having. He never really agreed to it, but the words his mother spoke really stuck in his head. 'If you don't solve this problem now, it will never be solved. You'll regret it for the rest of your life,' she had said. He hates it when mothers are right. After careful thought on what to say to Rinoa when he saw her, Squall parked the car in front of a small house situated in front of the small neighborhood park and slowly got out, stuffing his hands in his pockets (lately it's been his habit). He was just about to step into the driveway, when someone opened the door and without looking, bumped into him.
"Oh!" the voice spoke.
Squall hung on to the figure and finally had the courage to look up and realize it wasn't Rinoa. He let go quickly, apologizing to the middle aged woman. "I'm sorry. I was looking for Rinoa..."
The woman looked at him suspiciously for a few seconds, until familiarity dawned on her. "OH! You must be Squall! Come in! Come in!" She opened the door wider for Squall to go in. "Rinoa!!!" the woman called. She went to a room at Squall's left, which looked to be the kitchen. The young man followed her inside and, afraid to interrupt some more, stayed near the door and waited for Rinoa to appear. "Rinoa!!!!" the woman called again, her voice echoing the whole building.
"What is it, Patti? Are you looking for me?" Squall looked up at the sound of Rinoa's voice, which came from upstairs. She was just walking down the stairs, carrying a few months old child in her arms, when she noticed him. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Squall..."
Squall nodded, looking around nervously, afraid that if he looked into her eyes, he would hurt her some more. "I uh...I just came by to talk to you..."
The woman named Patti appeared a few seconds later from the dining room. Rinoa walked to the very bottom of the stairs to reach her mother-like friend and handed Diana to her. Squall watched as the baby was being passed. "Is that her?" he asked. "Diana?"
Rinoa looked at her baby. "Yeah," she replied. "What are you doing here?"
Squall regarded the look on Diana's face when she was held in her 'grandmother's' arms. She had the bluest eyes and the darkest hair, which took after her mother. Her smile was like Rinoa's as well, but the other features reminded him of a different man she was with when she was very young. He quickly turned away from the baby and looked at Rinoa. "I want to talk to you about Diana and the father of the baby...But I guess I came in a bad time and...this was a dumb idea...sorry..." He opened the door and quickly ran out, but Rinoa caught up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him from going anywhere.
"Squall, will you stop doing that!?" Rinoa said, getting frustrated by how he was handling things.
Squall stopped, turning around slowly. "Sorry..." he mumbled. He couldn't meet her in the eyes. His thoughts came back to Diana's face...one that reminded him of a man who was 'with' Rinoa. He couldn't get that thought out of his head!
The dark haired girl smiled, placing a hand on his face. "Squall, even if Diana is Ian's baby, that doesn't mean I still love him. I love you..."
"You love me?"
Rinoa nodded. "That's one of the reasons why I had to break up with you. I thought it was for the best that I stay out of your life because it would be more of a burden for you if you had any problems..."
Squall shook his head. "If you told me the truth, it wouldn't be a problem for me at all. I would have helped you..."
"That's very thoughtful but...they called last night..." Sudden tears became visible in her eyes.
"They, who?"
Rinoa turned away, not wanting to meet his face. But Squall would not let her turn away this time. He placed a hand under her chin and forced her to look at him. "The social workers... Even if I didn't sign the custody papers, Ian STILL called the social workers and told them about Diana... They're going to pick her up and take her away from me this weekend! I can't stand it, Squall! They're going to take away my baby! I won't be able to live with myself if she's gone!" Millions of tears fell at a very vigorous speed. She started to shake. So much pain was stabbing at her heart, forcing her to fall on her knees and cry, but Squall caught her just in time her knees met the ground.
He wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes. "No... that's not going to happen. I won't let them take her away."
"What do you mean?" she looked up with blood shot eyes.
Squall held her tighter in their embrace. "I'll talk to my dad....I AM the mayor's son, aren't I?"
***********************************
He slammed his hand down on the table, startling the occupant sitting on the leather chair. "Squall! Crap, you scared me!" Laguna gasped, pulling the phone an inch from his ear. "What is it?"
Squall took a deep breath and looked at his father with a very genuine expression. "Dad, I want Rinoa to keep Diana."
Laguna pressed his telephone close to his ear. "I'll call you back," he said, then put the phone back on its receiever. He turned the whole chair around to face his son. "What? What on earth are you talking about, Squall?" He began to open the folder in front of him and taking out some documents. He glanced at one paper, then turned the page over.
Squall was getting irritated as he listened to his father leaf through the papers. Angrily and impatiently, he grabbed his father's papers and threw them down the floor. "Will you PLEASE listen to me!? At least LOOK at me when I'm talking to you!"
His father looked up, angered by his actions. "Don't talk to me that way, young man!" He stood up and grabbed the papers from the floor. When he was finished, he glared at his son. "Don't you dare do that again! These are very important documents and-"
"I don't care!!!!" Squall yelled.
At that point, Raine burst through the door to see what the commotion was all about. "What's going on here?"
"Nothing, sweetheart," Laguna replied.
"It's not 'nothing!'" Squall yelled, his head turning towards his mother. "He won't talk to me mom! I have something VERY important to say about Rinoa and he's too DAMN STUPID to listen!"
"Now, Squall, what did I just talked about yesterday..."
"I DON'T CARE! I hate having to wait for him!!! He doesn't get it that Rinoa will lose her baby if I don't do anything about it!!!" Squall spat out, slamming another hand down on the table, forcing more documents to shake. "Rinoa's going to lose her baby, because of some stupid ass idiot doesn't think she's fit to be a mother!!!! Even if you don't care about your sons, the least you could do is help someone who needs more help than we DO!!!!" With an angry thought to choke his father to death, Squall turned and stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Laguna sat there, bewildered by Squall's angry words. Everything he said was true. He WAS too stupid to listen, too caught up in his own world to listen to his own sons' problems. Did his son really think he didn't care about him and Cloud? Of course he cared! That's why he's working so hard to make them happy, but he had no idea that they were unhappy because of his hard work. It was as if someone just slapped him across the face with a fly swatter.
"Honey?" Raine called, approaching her husband slowly. She looked at him sympathetically. Even if Squall's approach was a bit too much, she was surprised to see that it really worked.
"Is that what he thinks of me, Raine?" He looked up with sad eyes. "He thinks I don't love my sons?" He leaned against the chair and stared straight ahead, still remembering the look his eldest son had given him. Was that disgust? Disappointment?
"I know you do, but you NEED to show it to them, especially Squall..." Raine replied reassuringly.
"How?" Laguna asked, his voice hollow.
Raine kneeled down and placed her hands on his lap. "Do as he asks you to do...help Rinoa keep her daughter."
Laguna thought for a moment, then reached out to grab the phone. He dialed the number he needed to do and waited until a voice answered. "Hello this is the Mayor..."
GoodGurl: Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Raine is SUCH a loyal wife and mother! I REALLY like her in this story! She's soooo sweet! But then again in the game was probably REALLY sweet! So? So? What do you guys think!? Review please!! I need to hear from you guys! Aren't you happy that Squall and Rinoa 'might' get back together? Don't get your hopes up yet, because it didn't really say that they're officially back together...^^