DISCLAIMER- I could but only dream of owning Seifer.......

Aratcorien- Kiros and Seifer really have a lovely relationship. Tempest is a little cutie. He's modeled after Toby's character (who by the way was experimental) And does anyone really trust Caraway?

Ameli Stoncius- Seeing as you've already died of a coronary I guess this chapter won't really affect you....yeah right.

Dolletian Drinks

"Loire isn't dead!" He shouted at the man before him. "You'll get one more chance after your next mission. You fck it up and neither of you will see another day. That understood?"

"Sure thing, Gunther," He made sure to put emphasis on the man's name. His boss responded with a sharp blow to his head, knocking him down.

"You call me Boss or Sir. Nothing else is acceptable. I've been in this business too long to let some little nobody like you get too cocky. I've already been overly generous to your family and if I recall correctly you have a sister that has a little girl." There was a pause, "Got that, Lucas?"

From his place on the floor Lucas looked up at him and nodded. "Yes Sir. If I may?"

"You have ten seconds," His Boss snapped as he hauled him to his feet and pushed him up against the wall.

"You do realize she's your granddaughter because her father..."His quick spoken question was cut short.

"Blood is overrated. Blood is only worthy of value if its a catalyst for a business deal," He paused after his sentence. "Piper, I do believe you're a genius."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------

"You do realize that I'm not a heavy drinker," He said as he slammed his glass down on the counter. "In all honesty I rarely ever drink." Squall watched the man before him with doubt.

"Tell another one Almasy. You seem to be good at it," Squall said as he fumbled with the bottle. "This is the only...the only time I've dranked, drunk anything with alcohol." Seifer grinned from his seat on the stool next to him.

"I hadn't noticed," His grin grew wider as Squall turned to face him. His grin faded at Squall's serious reaction.

"You rarely ever drink," Squall said slowly as he leaned against the counter on his elbows. "What else did ya tell 'er?"

Seifer narrowed his eyes. "Hey!" He shouted as he stood up, knocking the stool over in the process. "I never told her any lies. Elle's my angel."

"It juss seems odd that you purpose after she's been knocked up," Squall swayed a little in his seat.

"I see how it is," Seifer growled as he snatched the bottle from Squall's hands and took a drink. "If I remember correctly though....a certain commander got his girlfriend pregnant and proposed later. Actually," Seifer took another drink. "You guys had the wedding in like a week so that no one would suspect she...was with child...as Matron put it." Squall narrowed his eyes as he swiped the bottle back. Seifer frowned as Squall took another drink. "I don't wanna drink after ya...ya damn hypocrit."

"I guess your not that bad...." Seifer watched as Squall swayed and looked like he was about to fall off his stool. "Yur still here."

"Damn straight I am." Seifer said as he leaned against the counter. "Actually I got sumthin for ya ta see," Seifer started digging through his pockets. "Hang on." Squall watched in a daze as the blonde before him shoved a reciept in his hand.

"What is it," Squall frowned as he fumbled with the piece of paper. "I can't read it."

Seifer laughed. "Its a reciept for Elle's engagement ring...I think. I can't read it either." Squall grinned as he placed the paper on the counter.

"So what exactly are we drinking," Squall fought off a hiccup.

"We are drinking," Seifer lifted up the bottle and staggered a bit as he studied it. "Ya know I'm not sure. Had ya asked me before we started drinking it I coulda told ya. Its Dolletian...I think."

"Ya bring out a bottle ta drink and ...ya don't even know what it is? Hic. Oww," Squall groaned.

"Maybe we've had enough. Yur not lookin' so good."

"But its so good," Squall protested as he reached for the bottle. Seifer laughed as he kept it away.

"Okay, okay," Seifer fumbled with their glasses. "One more drink and we'll call it a night."

"Shame," Squall mumbled as he took his glass from Seifer. Seifer nodded in agreement as he tipped up his glass and finished it off.

"Never worry cause I hava whole basement full of this stuff," Seifer said with an exaggerated hand gesture as he started to sit back down on his stool. Squall watched as Seifer fell to the ground, landing near where his stool had fallen over. There was a stunned silence as nothing in the house appeared to make any noise. The silence was finally broken by an alcohol induced fit of laughter. Seifer stared up at Squall in shock before starting to laugh himself. "You have such a funny laugh man!" Seifer blurted.

"At least I don't look funny," Squall said as he picked at a piece of broken glass on the counter. "You broke it."

"Wha?" Seifer said as he realised he only held the neck of the bottle in his hand. After another brief moment of silence they began laughing again.

Out in the hall Kiros shook his head as he looked at Ward. "It's not even noon yet." Ward shrugged his shoulders and made a facial gesture that few could read. "I guess your right. At least they're not aggressive drunks," Kiros chuckled at the thought and then frowned. "I wish Laguna could see this. We had a wager going about how Squall would act if he ever had to much. I would've won." Ward grinned but cast a worried glance towards the kitchen's door. "Don't worry. They'll be fine."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------

Ellone lay contently in bed while she watched Seifer lay down on the bathroom floor through the open door. Sighing she reopened her journal and continued writing from where she left off a few hours earlier when Seifer'd stumbled into the room.

"You shouldn't be drinking," She said plainly as she continued writing.

"You're tellin' me," His voice came out muffled as he rolled over on his back. "Squall started it."

"Can I presume you ended it?" She raised her eyebrow knowingly.

"I...I...I'm not sure," He laughed. "I can't really remember."

"You've been in there for over four hours are you done yet?" She asked as carefully rolled over.

"Four hours? Are you serious?" He asked as he raised into a sitting position and held his head.

"You blacked out," She stated. "Take a shower. You reek of alcohol."

"Sorry about that," He said as he carefully rose to his feet and staggered a few steps. "Give me a few minutes," He groaned as he pulled off his shirt and turned on the water.

"About your drinking," Ellone spoke unsurely.

Letting his shirt fall from his grasp he leaned against the counter. "I'm sorry. I went overboard. I promise it won't happen again." She nodded gloomly and then closed her book. "Give me a few minutes," He said as he pushed the door too and finished undressing. Now alone, Ellone let her journal fall to the floor as she stared at the clock mounted on the wall. Every tick of the second hand echoed louder as time passed....and then it happened.

Pulling the door open, Seifer emerged from the bathroom looking fresher than he had before. Clad only in his boxer shorts he crawled across their bed and lay down next to her. She looked uncomfortable and it troubled him. "Elle, Honey, I said I was sorry," He started to put his arm around her but she pushed it away. Hurt flashed across his eyes as he sat up and stared at her.

"Seifer," Her voice sounded winded. "My water broke."

"What?" His voice barely came out as he felt his face pale and himself nearly faint.

"Seifer!" She hollered at him. "Come on!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------

She carefully held him to her until she was sure he'd fallen asleep before she laid him down in the middle of their bed. Brushing his raven hair out of his face, she carefully rose to her feet and opened the bathroom door. He looked up at her from his place on the floor.

"Shower didn't work did it," She said as she crossed her arms. He shook his head and then grimaced as he realized his headache was still there. She left him alone knowing that she'd only make things worse if she made a big deal of the situation. Pulling the bathroom door shut she paused and read his emotions. 'Yeah he's learned his lesson,' She thought to herself as she opened up a notebook and began checking off items.

"What are you doing?" Squall asked as he leaned over her shoulder. She jumped at his unexpected voice.

"Since Ellone hasn't gotten a baby shower and hasn't anything for the babies, I managed to talk to a few people who are going to help her out." Squall looked partially interested as he sat down next to her. "I just have this feeling. Call it a sorceress thing if you want, but she's going to have those babies soon." Squall looked up at her as if to protest. "I don't care when her due date is, I'm telling you she isn't going to make it that long."

"What all have you got down?" Squall conceded defeat to her as he tried to make out her handwriting.

"Most of the necessities," She answered. "I got a call from Zell, he wants to bring Fujin and Canace to the rendevous. He's pretty nervous about the situation."

Squall stared at her in disbelief. "Do you even understand the situation?"

"I know that Audley, or whatever his name is, is still out. I've heard the things he's capable of."

"He's a monster and he's after Zell."

Rinoa grew quiet. "So you're bringing him here?" She asked. "I didn't mean it like that," She said as Squall leaned back in his seat and looked at her skeptically. "I meant is Zell coming here or are we going to meet him in Esthar in a few days like originally planned."

"They'll come here for now. When we leave for Esthar, whenever Kiros decides its time, they'll come with us. Right now we just have to keep a low profile and stay under the radar. I have Quistis and Xu charading like Zell and I are still at Balamb Garden. As far as Seifer goes, it seems like the few people that live in this area seem content with him being here. If I didn't know any better I'd think they liked him living in the area. If Audley has a reason to go after Seifer, I doubt he'd find his whearabouts from those people."

"Wait, Audley's after you?" Rinoa looked nervous.

"I don't think so. But he's obviously after our fathers and for one reason or another he's after Zell. I don't understand this guy really. All I can figure is that he likes attention. He's always doing something or running some ring. Anything to keep his name fresh in the public's mind. Its better he didn't know where we are. We could be targets because of our fathers' titles." Rinoa folded the notebook and sat it aside. A soft knock interrupted the conversation.

"Come in," Rinoa called out.

Kiros leaned in the door, "Seifer and I are taking Ellone to the hospital."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------

He watched as her face contorted as she contracted yet again. He'd heard stories of insanely long hours in delivery rooms and hoped for Ellone's sake that she wouldn't have to go through that. For the duration of time in which he'd known she'd been pregnant she had him worrying so much about the baby that they may loose that he didn't even think of the impact it would have on her. Now, after what he thought had been three hours of holding her hand and wiping the sweat from her brow, he was beginning to see first hand the drain the pregnancy had had on her body.

"Stay with me," He whispered in her ear. With her jaw firmly shut she squeezed his hand to let him know she heard him.

"You're almost there," Her Doctor encouraged her. Tightening her grip on his hand, Elle cried out as she gave one last push and fell back against her pillow. Completely drained, she leaned against his arms for support and then cried whenever she heard a baby's cry. "Relax some. You have a few minutes before the other one will come." Ellone nodded as she watched the doctor carry her first child to her. "Congratulations its a boy. Born at eleven-fifty eight p.m. on September first."

Seifer placed his hand lightly on the side of the baby's head as he studied him. "He's so small."

"Five pounds eight ounces," The doctor offered as she once again took her seat at the end of the bed.

"He's so small," Seifer repeated himself. "He needs something to give him an edge when he gets older. A strong name or something."

"Why do I have the feeling you aren't thinking of a normal name like William?" Ellone looked at him knowing he already had something in mind.

Seifer grinned. "Blade." The doctor looked up, surprised by his choice of name. Ellone just smiled to herself, not minding the unusual name the father of her child had chosen. She was happy and content until the second wave of her contractions came. Letting one of the nurses take Blade, she once again took hold of Seifer's hand. Much to her surprise, and most everyone else's in the room, the second came without much effort at all. Once she'd been told she could stop pushing Ellone once again leaned against Seifer and waited for the cries that had signified Blade's birth into the world. Hearing none she instinctively covered her face with her hands. The room would've fallen deafly quiet save for the rushed footsteps of the doctor who abruptly turned away from the parents, carrying the younger baby away.

"What's going on?" Seifer asked as he watched the medical team across the room cluster around the lead physician.

"He's not breathing. Just stay with her," The doctor told him as she then turned her attention back to the infant they had yet to see. In his arms he could feel her crying as she gasped for air in between sobs. Although Ellone had been worrying about this infant the entire time it never really dawned on him the reality of the situation until it started happening in real life. Leaned over the bed, he pulled her into a hug and held her there as he too begn to cry.