Author's Note: Hey guys! Watch out for the preview for Millenium Day Fantasy 8 on later chapters! Anyway, we last left off with Rinoa and Squall now on better terms than before. Squall storms into his father's office, planning on asking him to help Rinoa keep her baby, but because Laguna wouldn't listen, Squall gets easily frustrated and walks out angrily. Laguna, realizing what Squall thinks of him, decides to call someone on the matter of Rinoa. Has he really called to help Rinoa keep her baby? Or was it just another phone call from his office? Read on this chapter and find out! ^^
Chapter 18 – Doing Something Right
The clouds were now getting darker, the noise outside fading in the distance. There was nothing but the rain that was making all the noise. She sat down, afraid that when she gets home, there could be a possibility that Diana could be taken away from her. She's been having nightmares about it since Ian came to the store the second time, asking her to sign the damn custody sheet. The second time, Rinoa, of course rejected it, unwilling to give up her daughter that easily. Ever since those nightmares kept coming back to haunt her, Rinoa was always in a hurry to get home, hoping against all hopes that Diana was still there and to her relief, she would be there.
"All right, Heartilly, I think that's enough for the night. You can go home now," Alexander Fanning spoke, poking his head through the very back room. Rinoa looked up and nodded, stacking the last box on top of the boxes already on the shelves.
"Thanks Mr. Fanning." She stood up and went to the back room where her jacket and her bag was and got ready. For some reason, something was scratching at the back of Rinoa's heart that something was going to happen this afternoon. Something big… and Rinoa decided to leave in a hurry to find out what it was.
And just as she feared, when she arrived, Rinoa noticed a parked car right in front of Patti's house. She felt her hands start to shake, but she walked on ahead, hoping it was someone else, not someone whom she thought could end the rest of her life as a mother. "Patti? Are you home? Whose car is that at the front…" She paused as soon as she came near the living room. A woman, dressed in a black blazer and skirt, looked up from what appeared to be her clipboard resting on her lap. Patti was sitting on the couch, facing her and as soon as she walked in, the middle aged woman looked up in a sad looking face. The woman in the blazer stood up and held out a hand towards her.
"Hello, you must be Rinoa. My name is Xu Chang, from the Social Services and…!" She was startled when the younger girl's hand slapped the back of hers. Xu withdrew her hand quickly and looked at Rinoa in surprise. "And um… I'm here to…"
"You're not taking my baby away!" Rinoa yelled, clenching and unclenching her fists. She glanced at Patti. "Patti, tell them I'm a good mother! If Ian doesn't think so, then ask them how Ian could be a good father when he was the one who left me!?"
Patti didn't say anything, afraid that if she said something, she knew that it wouldn't help the situation. Rinoa looked back at the stranger of the house wearing the black blazer. Xu looked harmless, but Rinoa wasn't about to let her sensitivity get the better of her. She wasn't going to give up on her baby.
"Ms. Heartilly, I'm only here to evaluate the living conditions of the baby's mother, so that I can make sure that Diana will be all right with you. I never said anything about taking her away from you." Xu looked over her shoulder at Patti. "Is she always like this?"
Patti shook her head. "She is NEVER like this…" She smiled at Rinoa, who smiled back.
Xu began writing something down on her clipboard. After that, she looked back up again at Rinoa. "Rinoa, how old are you?"
"I'm turning seventeen in a few months," Rinoa replied, standing there awkwardly. She glanced at Diana with the corner of her eye, sitting in her crib and just playing with her toys.
"So, basically, you're still sixteen?"
Rinoa nodded.
The woman added more on her notes. "Could you tell me where you work, miss?" This time, she didn't look up, instead she kept writing on her paper.
The dark haired girl frowned. "What does this have to do with Diana?"
Xu looked up with a stern face. "Oh, it has EVERYTHING to do with Diana, Ms. Heartilly. Considering that you're a single mother, living with a middle aged woman who works as a maid, only part time, really affects the living conditions of your child."
Rinoa said nothing.
"So can I ask you again, Ms. Heartilly? Where do you work?"
"I work at a grocery store just a few blocks from here," she replied finally.
"Thank you." Again, she added more notes. "And how much are you making from work?"
The dark haired girl knew where this was going. "Min…minimum wage…" Ashamed, she looked away from the prying eyes of the social worker, not even wanting to look into Patti's.
"And how old is your daughter?"
"Almost a year old now."
The last one, she didn't bother to write down on her sheet, instead, she nodded and looked up, nodding her head at both women. "Thank you very much for your time, Ms. Heartilly, Ms. Grey… I'll just let myself out now."
Patti and Rinoa watched Xu leave and as soon as they heard the front door close, Rinoa ran to her baby quickly. The dark haired girl picked her up in her arms and began rocking her back and forth. "I'm sorry, Diana. I'm so sorry you have to go through this…"
"Rinoa, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. She just came unexpectedly!"
Rinoa smiled. "That's okay, Patti. Ian must have sent the woman to find out what I was up to so he could cry out wolf." She kissed her Diana's forehead and began stroking her soft, warm head. "I won't EVER give up on her and they have no right to take the baby from her mother. Besides, I have help."
"Help? From who?"
Rinoa looked up and smiled. "I have faith that Squall and his father will pull through in helping me keep Diana…"
********************
"I understand…" There was a moment of silence, before he put the phone back on its receiver. He sat there, thinking about what Squall said to him. Laguna felt saddened at the thought of Squall thinking of him as nothing more than a Mayor living in their house, not a father who would take care of his family. Isn't that what he's been doing all these years? He's been working as a Mayor, working hard to raise the family he has grown to love all his life. He knew that he hasn't shown that much compassion to his sons, to prove to them that he really loved them, but… Laguna shook the thoughts away mentally, sighing, as he reached for the pen from the right drawer of his desk. A unique, black, stylish pen, bought from England, gleamed attractively around the palm of his hands and he began to write on the piece of paper he took out from under his folders.
**************************
For three long weeks, he has waited for something to happen. ANYTHING-- to get his mind off of this. It was driving him crazy just thinking about it. The suspense was killing him. Squall ran a hand through his soft, brown hair and leaned back on his chair. It's been too long since Rinoa went to school. He asked her to come back at least, but she refused. She was still paranoid after a social worker came into their house, checking on things around the house that was 'suited' for Diana. Rinoa had told him that if she left again from school and work, she was afraid that Diana would be taken away from her.
"Mr. Leonhart?"
Squall looked up. Everyone in the class was looking at him now, especially the teacher standing, her eyes firmly set on him quizzically. "Yes, Mrs. Airen?" Mrs. Airen was his Physics teacher and since he was already getting a 100% at least in the class, Mrs. Airen had nothing against the boy. She was just worried about him. Of course, she HAS seen him thinking deeply in class while she lectured, but never this long. The middle aged woman would look up from reading after a long while and would catch him staring out the window, and then he would just go back to work as if nothing happened. But this time…this time his thinking was a lot longer than expected.
"Is something the matter?" Mrs. Airen asked.
Squall shook his head. "Nothing Mrs. Airen." He gave her a long, hard look, telling her with his eyes that it was none of her business. He hated it when people meddle in other people's affairs. What's so great about interfering in someone else's life anyway?
Moira Airen was the first one to break eye contact. Instead of continuing with her lecture, Mrs. Airen told the class to open their physics book and to start reading the fifth chapter. There were moans and angry snares towards the teacher, but Moira couldn't care less. They usually did that and it was just one of the ordinary things that happened in school everyday. She watched as Squall flipped to the chapter of his own text book and began reading it right away.
Squall sighed, resting his chin on his right upward palm. He glanced up at the clock. There was still half an hour left until school was over, but the young man could no longer wait. He had to get out and see Rinoa. From what Patti told him, Rinoa has never left her daughter's side. There was something concerning about that thought of Rinoa just hovering above Diana's crib and watching her without sleep. Patti was worried too. She was scared that Rinoa could have gone insane, but Squall didn't believe that. He knew Rinoa too well to think that way. Squall decided to rest for a while, so he buried his face in his hands and began humming a tune in his head to get his mind off of things.
He was relieved when the bell suddenly rang for him to go. All the students shuffled out of the room, but Squall was the first one to step out into the hallway and dash outside into the cool, November afternoon. A pair of girls, standing by the doorway, one blond and one brunette, handed Squall a piece of paper as he made his way into the parking lot. He glanced at it quickly and then stuffed it in his jacket pocket, before jumping into his car. "Probably another dance…" he mumbled, driving out of his parking space. As the car drove by, he saw a group of freshmen girls staring at a group of senior high school boys chatting amongst each other. They looked away quickly, then began giggling. Squall frowned. How on earth can they be joyful over one small dance? It was no big deal. Him, being a sophomore, it was just a waste of time. For him, a dance was just another excuse for the seniors to smuggle in alcoholic drinks while the principal wasn't watching. The first time he went to the Snowball dance was with Rinoa and she was the most important thing around the dance. Friends didn't matter to him, none of the jocks, or the popular girls. Rinoa, indeed, had a smile that outshined all the pretty girls around gym while they danced. When she smiled, it was as if, sunshine around him existed to brighten the darkest of his days. And has he drove to her house, Squall was shocked beyond belief to find her there, staring into nothingness towards a dark crib. Her baby was sleeping, but Rinoa seemed that she wasn't ready to leave her side yet, even though she didn't need to be there.
"Rinoa?" Squall called quietly, as he tiptoed slowly towards the living room. On a rocking chair near the fire place, sat Patti.
The raven haired girl looked up slowly, her eyes gleaming with tears. "Squall…" she whimpered. Slowly, she got up and ran into his arms. She buried her face in his chest and began to cry. "Oh, Squall! Please help me keep my baby!"
Squall nodded, wrapping his arms around her. "Who said I wasn't going to?" He placed a hand under her chin and forced her to face him. Her eyes, it held such sadness that it seemed she hasn't smiled in years. "What happened?"
"A social worker came," Patti answered from her chair.
The brunette looked up. "What?" He couldn't believe this. "I thought my father-" Squall stopped when he noticed Patti shaking her head. He frowned. He couldn't believe this! After what he said, his father STILL didn't get it through his head! "I don't believe THIS!" Angrily, he stormed out of the house, leaving behind two bewildered women.
*********************
A hard SMACK startled him from his work. He looked up, staring into the angry eyes of his son. "What is this about?"
"YOU SAID THAT YOU'D HELP ME!" Squall yelled. He shook his head. Tears were suddenly welling up in his eyes. In disbelief, he slammed his fists down again on the table. His father didn't even try to stop him. He just sat there, staring as if his son was a helpless person with no hope whatsoever. "You didn't…!" SLAM "Try.." SLAM "HARD ENOUGH!" SLAM. Squall stopped, his eyes full of tears, his hands and body shaking. He slid on the ground, kneeling, his forehead touching the edge of the table and his head bowed down. Squall's heart was pounding and his head was starting to throb in fury. Squall tightly closed his eyes. He knew he wasn't doing well just by yelling at his father like that all the time, but he couldn't help it.
Laguna gave his son a while to calm down, before he pivoted his chair around, facing the window. "Of course I did…" he replied quietly. Squall opened his eyes, tears still dropping on the floor. He forced his hard breathing to stop so he could listen to his father talk. "You don't think I tried? Yes, I am a mayor, but I don't have that much power to stop the social workers from checking up on the living conditions the baby was getting. Even if I am a Mayor, the Judge made sure that I didn't have a reason to stop the social workers from going to the house. You don't think I tried?" He swiveled his chair around to face him.
Squall looked up and slowly lifted up his head to look at his father in the eyes.
"Squall, I know you love, Rinoa, but what can I do?"
"Make them see how Rinoa loves her baby…" Squall replied quietly, wiping the tears away from his eyes, gaining back his composure. "Or make her stay here…"
"What?" Laguna looked at him in disbelief. "No… I can't do that."
"We have enough room to house a teenage girl and her baby, dad."
"But we don't have enough to help her on what she needs!" Laguna fired back. He stood up suddenly, his fists tightly clenched at his sides. "The money goes to the city, Squall. I am a mayor who brings money to the city to help the people of this city. And the baby's living condition IS very dangerous to the baby."
"You're also a mayor who helps out in charity. Dad, this IS charity!" Squall said. "Patti is there to help Rinoa raise her baby! Rinoa is a good mother!"
Laguna looked away. "I'm sorry, Squall. I just don't think it's suitable for the baby," he simply said.
Squall frowned and stood up. "Fine…For once in your life…do something right!" He turned and left, slamming the door once again behind him.
GoodGurl: Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!! Well, I guess their relationship got worse….@_@ I hope it gets solved soon! And poor Squall…he ACTUALLY cried! *gasp* who would've thought that Squall Leonhart would have emotions! LOL. Stay tuned!
Chapter 18 – Doing Something Right
The clouds were now getting darker, the noise outside fading in the distance. There was nothing but the rain that was making all the noise. She sat down, afraid that when she gets home, there could be a possibility that Diana could be taken away from her. She's been having nightmares about it since Ian came to the store the second time, asking her to sign the damn custody sheet. The second time, Rinoa, of course rejected it, unwilling to give up her daughter that easily. Ever since those nightmares kept coming back to haunt her, Rinoa was always in a hurry to get home, hoping against all hopes that Diana was still there and to her relief, she would be there.
"All right, Heartilly, I think that's enough for the night. You can go home now," Alexander Fanning spoke, poking his head through the very back room. Rinoa looked up and nodded, stacking the last box on top of the boxes already on the shelves.
"Thanks Mr. Fanning." She stood up and went to the back room where her jacket and her bag was and got ready. For some reason, something was scratching at the back of Rinoa's heart that something was going to happen this afternoon. Something big… and Rinoa decided to leave in a hurry to find out what it was.
And just as she feared, when she arrived, Rinoa noticed a parked car right in front of Patti's house. She felt her hands start to shake, but she walked on ahead, hoping it was someone else, not someone whom she thought could end the rest of her life as a mother. "Patti? Are you home? Whose car is that at the front…" She paused as soon as she came near the living room. A woman, dressed in a black blazer and skirt, looked up from what appeared to be her clipboard resting on her lap. Patti was sitting on the couch, facing her and as soon as she walked in, the middle aged woman looked up in a sad looking face. The woman in the blazer stood up and held out a hand towards her.
"Hello, you must be Rinoa. My name is Xu Chang, from the Social Services and…!" She was startled when the younger girl's hand slapped the back of hers. Xu withdrew her hand quickly and looked at Rinoa in surprise. "And um… I'm here to…"
"You're not taking my baby away!" Rinoa yelled, clenching and unclenching her fists. She glanced at Patti. "Patti, tell them I'm a good mother! If Ian doesn't think so, then ask them how Ian could be a good father when he was the one who left me!?"
Patti didn't say anything, afraid that if she said something, she knew that it wouldn't help the situation. Rinoa looked back at the stranger of the house wearing the black blazer. Xu looked harmless, but Rinoa wasn't about to let her sensitivity get the better of her. She wasn't going to give up on her baby.
"Ms. Heartilly, I'm only here to evaluate the living conditions of the baby's mother, so that I can make sure that Diana will be all right with you. I never said anything about taking her away from you." Xu looked over her shoulder at Patti. "Is she always like this?"
Patti shook her head. "She is NEVER like this…" She smiled at Rinoa, who smiled back.
Xu began writing something down on her clipboard. After that, she looked back up again at Rinoa. "Rinoa, how old are you?"
"I'm turning seventeen in a few months," Rinoa replied, standing there awkwardly. She glanced at Diana with the corner of her eye, sitting in her crib and just playing with her toys.
"So, basically, you're still sixteen?"
Rinoa nodded.
The woman added more on her notes. "Could you tell me where you work, miss?" This time, she didn't look up, instead she kept writing on her paper.
The dark haired girl frowned. "What does this have to do with Diana?"
Xu looked up with a stern face. "Oh, it has EVERYTHING to do with Diana, Ms. Heartilly. Considering that you're a single mother, living with a middle aged woman who works as a maid, only part time, really affects the living conditions of your child."
Rinoa said nothing.
"So can I ask you again, Ms. Heartilly? Where do you work?"
"I work at a grocery store just a few blocks from here," she replied finally.
"Thank you." Again, she added more notes. "And how much are you making from work?"
The dark haired girl knew where this was going. "Min…minimum wage…" Ashamed, she looked away from the prying eyes of the social worker, not even wanting to look into Patti's.
"And how old is your daughter?"
"Almost a year old now."
The last one, she didn't bother to write down on her sheet, instead, she nodded and looked up, nodding her head at both women. "Thank you very much for your time, Ms. Heartilly, Ms. Grey… I'll just let myself out now."
Patti and Rinoa watched Xu leave and as soon as they heard the front door close, Rinoa ran to her baby quickly. The dark haired girl picked her up in her arms and began rocking her back and forth. "I'm sorry, Diana. I'm so sorry you have to go through this…"
"Rinoa, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. She just came unexpectedly!"
Rinoa smiled. "That's okay, Patti. Ian must have sent the woman to find out what I was up to so he could cry out wolf." She kissed her Diana's forehead and began stroking her soft, warm head. "I won't EVER give up on her and they have no right to take the baby from her mother. Besides, I have help."
"Help? From who?"
Rinoa looked up and smiled. "I have faith that Squall and his father will pull through in helping me keep Diana…"
********************
"I understand…" There was a moment of silence, before he put the phone back on its receiver. He sat there, thinking about what Squall said to him. Laguna felt saddened at the thought of Squall thinking of him as nothing more than a Mayor living in their house, not a father who would take care of his family. Isn't that what he's been doing all these years? He's been working as a Mayor, working hard to raise the family he has grown to love all his life. He knew that he hasn't shown that much compassion to his sons, to prove to them that he really loved them, but… Laguna shook the thoughts away mentally, sighing, as he reached for the pen from the right drawer of his desk. A unique, black, stylish pen, bought from England, gleamed attractively around the palm of his hands and he began to write on the piece of paper he took out from under his folders.
**************************
For three long weeks, he has waited for something to happen. ANYTHING-- to get his mind off of this. It was driving him crazy just thinking about it. The suspense was killing him. Squall ran a hand through his soft, brown hair and leaned back on his chair. It's been too long since Rinoa went to school. He asked her to come back at least, but she refused. She was still paranoid after a social worker came into their house, checking on things around the house that was 'suited' for Diana. Rinoa had told him that if she left again from school and work, she was afraid that Diana would be taken away from her.
"Mr. Leonhart?"
Squall looked up. Everyone in the class was looking at him now, especially the teacher standing, her eyes firmly set on him quizzically. "Yes, Mrs. Airen?" Mrs. Airen was his Physics teacher and since he was already getting a 100% at least in the class, Mrs. Airen had nothing against the boy. She was just worried about him. Of course, she HAS seen him thinking deeply in class while she lectured, but never this long. The middle aged woman would look up from reading after a long while and would catch him staring out the window, and then he would just go back to work as if nothing happened. But this time…this time his thinking was a lot longer than expected.
"Is something the matter?" Mrs. Airen asked.
Squall shook his head. "Nothing Mrs. Airen." He gave her a long, hard look, telling her with his eyes that it was none of her business. He hated it when people meddle in other people's affairs. What's so great about interfering in someone else's life anyway?
Moira Airen was the first one to break eye contact. Instead of continuing with her lecture, Mrs. Airen told the class to open their physics book and to start reading the fifth chapter. There were moans and angry snares towards the teacher, but Moira couldn't care less. They usually did that and it was just one of the ordinary things that happened in school everyday. She watched as Squall flipped to the chapter of his own text book and began reading it right away.
Squall sighed, resting his chin on his right upward palm. He glanced up at the clock. There was still half an hour left until school was over, but the young man could no longer wait. He had to get out and see Rinoa. From what Patti told him, Rinoa has never left her daughter's side. There was something concerning about that thought of Rinoa just hovering above Diana's crib and watching her without sleep. Patti was worried too. She was scared that Rinoa could have gone insane, but Squall didn't believe that. He knew Rinoa too well to think that way. Squall decided to rest for a while, so he buried his face in his hands and began humming a tune in his head to get his mind off of things.
He was relieved when the bell suddenly rang for him to go. All the students shuffled out of the room, but Squall was the first one to step out into the hallway and dash outside into the cool, November afternoon. A pair of girls, standing by the doorway, one blond and one brunette, handed Squall a piece of paper as he made his way into the parking lot. He glanced at it quickly and then stuffed it in his jacket pocket, before jumping into his car. "Probably another dance…" he mumbled, driving out of his parking space. As the car drove by, he saw a group of freshmen girls staring at a group of senior high school boys chatting amongst each other. They looked away quickly, then began giggling. Squall frowned. How on earth can they be joyful over one small dance? It was no big deal. Him, being a sophomore, it was just a waste of time. For him, a dance was just another excuse for the seniors to smuggle in alcoholic drinks while the principal wasn't watching. The first time he went to the Snowball dance was with Rinoa and she was the most important thing around the dance. Friends didn't matter to him, none of the jocks, or the popular girls. Rinoa, indeed, had a smile that outshined all the pretty girls around gym while they danced. When she smiled, it was as if, sunshine around him existed to brighten the darkest of his days. And has he drove to her house, Squall was shocked beyond belief to find her there, staring into nothingness towards a dark crib. Her baby was sleeping, but Rinoa seemed that she wasn't ready to leave her side yet, even though she didn't need to be there.
"Rinoa?" Squall called quietly, as he tiptoed slowly towards the living room. On a rocking chair near the fire place, sat Patti.
The raven haired girl looked up slowly, her eyes gleaming with tears. "Squall…" she whimpered. Slowly, she got up and ran into his arms. She buried her face in his chest and began to cry. "Oh, Squall! Please help me keep my baby!"
Squall nodded, wrapping his arms around her. "Who said I wasn't going to?" He placed a hand under her chin and forced her to face him. Her eyes, it held such sadness that it seemed she hasn't smiled in years. "What happened?"
"A social worker came," Patti answered from her chair.
The brunette looked up. "What?" He couldn't believe this. "I thought my father-" Squall stopped when he noticed Patti shaking her head. He frowned. He couldn't believe this! After what he said, his father STILL didn't get it through his head! "I don't believe THIS!" Angrily, he stormed out of the house, leaving behind two bewildered women.
*********************
A hard SMACK startled him from his work. He looked up, staring into the angry eyes of his son. "What is this about?"
"YOU SAID THAT YOU'D HELP ME!" Squall yelled. He shook his head. Tears were suddenly welling up in his eyes. In disbelief, he slammed his fists down again on the table. His father didn't even try to stop him. He just sat there, staring as if his son was a helpless person with no hope whatsoever. "You didn't…!" SLAM "Try.." SLAM "HARD ENOUGH!" SLAM. Squall stopped, his eyes full of tears, his hands and body shaking. He slid on the ground, kneeling, his forehead touching the edge of the table and his head bowed down. Squall's heart was pounding and his head was starting to throb in fury. Squall tightly closed his eyes. He knew he wasn't doing well just by yelling at his father like that all the time, but he couldn't help it.
Laguna gave his son a while to calm down, before he pivoted his chair around, facing the window. "Of course I did…" he replied quietly. Squall opened his eyes, tears still dropping on the floor. He forced his hard breathing to stop so he could listen to his father talk. "You don't think I tried? Yes, I am a mayor, but I don't have that much power to stop the social workers from checking up on the living conditions the baby was getting. Even if I am a Mayor, the Judge made sure that I didn't have a reason to stop the social workers from going to the house. You don't think I tried?" He swiveled his chair around to face him.
Squall looked up and slowly lifted up his head to look at his father in the eyes.
"Squall, I know you love, Rinoa, but what can I do?"
"Make them see how Rinoa loves her baby…" Squall replied quietly, wiping the tears away from his eyes, gaining back his composure. "Or make her stay here…"
"What?" Laguna looked at him in disbelief. "No… I can't do that."
"We have enough room to house a teenage girl and her baby, dad."
"But we don't have enough to help her on what she needs!" Laguna fired back. He stood up suddenly, his fists tightly clenched at his sides. "The money goes to the city, Squall. I am a mayor who brings money to the city to help the people of this city. And the baby's living condition IS very dangerous to the baby."
"You're also a mayor who helps out in charity. Dad, this IS charity!" Squall said. "Patti is there to help Rinoa raise her baby! Rinoa is a good mother!"
Laguna looked away. "I'm sorry, Squall. I just don't think it's suitable for the baby," he simply said.
Squall frowned and stood up. "Fine…For once in your life…do something right!" He turned and left, slamming the door once again behind him.
GoodGurl: Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!! Well, I guess their relationship got worse….@_@ I hope it gets solved soon! And poor Squall…he ACTUALLY cried! *gasp* who would've thought that Squall Leonhart would have emotions! LOL. Stay tuned!