Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8 or any of it's characters...if I did then I would be on a private island sipping an erotic drink with millions of bucks! Tee-Hee! 

Chapter Two

Rinoa stared at her reflection in the small glass of vodka as she waited for Zone to fill the rest of the shot glasses for the small table that hid in the shadowy corner. The loud music was vibrating the ground and there was the sound of drunken men chattering to one another. Rinoa was glad that she would only be here for one night.

"Princess, can you please hurry it up? Watts and I can't hold these drinks for very long!" Zone shouted to her as he was pouring a brown liquid into a tall clear glass. Rinoa came out of her daze and quickly walked over to the drunken men with their vodkas. One smiled at her with a toothless smile and licked his lips with approval.

"Hello, Sweet cheeks, what are you doing after work?" He slurred, his filthy hand reaching out to take hers. But Rinoa was quick and put her hands behind her back and stared at the floor. She could tell she angered the older man, but she just continued to stare at the brown tiled floor. She had to make an excuse quickly before he tried anything funny. She blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.

"I have to visit my boyfriend in Balamb Garden, but thanks for the offer." And with that she walked off into the back of the bar and slowly sank into a chair. She had lied to at least a dozen men before, but she had never brought Squall into the conversation. She had left him eight years ago, but he was still the only thing that was on her mind, especially when she was in Balamb for a concert or vacation. Her heart was always painful for her mistakes that she had made, but she knew that she did the right thing by leaving. She could never face him with the truth.

"'Ello!" A bright and cheerful voice said behind Rinoa, making her turn around to face a younger version of her. Rinoa had to smile at the seven year-old girl in front of her; her face was so innocent and perfect, yet her eyes were something much like the stranger Rinoa once knew.

"Hello, Amall, what are you doing here? I thought that Aunt Selphie was looking after you in the hotel room." Rinoa said happily to the ball of energy that held a sense of maturity. Amall just looked at Rinoa with her wide eyes and looked right behind her a few minutes later. Rinoa followed her gaze and smiled warmly when she saw the red head standing before her.

"Selphie, I thought I told you to keep Amall in the hotel until I got back!" Rinoa sternly told her best friend. The only problem was that she could not keep a straight face while Selphie was looking at her so innocently and Amall was giggling behind her. She and Selphie embraced like they had not seen each other in over a year, even though they had seen each other a little over an hour ago.

"Amall kept screaming for you so I just loaded her up in the van and hauled her little buttocks over here!" Selphie laughed, forcing Rinoa to laugh, and before they knew it, Zone was coming to complain that they were being too noisy. This made the young women to laugh even harder before Zone told Rinoa that she was on in fifteen minutes.

"Well, I better get going, come on Amall." Selphie said to the child. Rinoa embraced her and sent them on their way. She took a deep breath and headed out of the back to the bar and found Galan. "Hey, Galan, its about time you showed up. I thought that I was going to have to perform all by myself." She joked around with her cousin.

"You knew that I would never miss a chance to come to Timber. I love this place to much." Galan's deep voice rang in her ears. Any woman with a mind would find Galan handsome. He had short black hair, green eyes that shown through his sunglasses, his shoulders were broad, and to top it all off, his voice could melt a glacier. "Come on, Rin, we are on in five minutes." Galan announced before he dragged her off to the back of the Lighthouse where they warmed up their voices.