Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII....

Author's Note: As some of you may know, I was on vacation this past week and I just got back Saturday. I actually wrote this chapter before I left, but I did not have a chance to start typing it until Saturday night. As usual, thank you to everyone that reviewed. I don't know if I've said this is an author's note, but this fic is going to be much longer than I had originally anticipated. Originally, I had figured it would be around thirty chapters long, but it looks like it's now going to be at least forty chapters. There are just too many things that I need to cover and thirty chapters would not let me do that sufficiently. Anyway, I just thought I'd let you know that. Oh, and I know many of you are asking when Selphie will reappear into the story. Well, that will be happening very soon, probably in the chapter after the next one. Selphie will actually have a fairly big role to play in this story, and in the revolving relationships.

Emina: The dress that Quistis picked out for Rinoa was actually inspired by a real creation. I saw it in the May 2004 issue of Teen Vogue and I loved it. According to the article, the dress is designed by Luisa Beccaria. Of course, I don't think my description did it justice at all. If you like, I could try to take a picture of the page with my digital camera and e-mail it to you.

Well, this author's note has definitely been long enough, so on with the chapter!

To Love You More

Chapter Twenty-One

"Tell me something I don't know

And I'll find that I'm always looking 'round behind me

You say that it's all been said before

Now I find that there's something I don't know...."

-"So Far Away" the Goo Goo Dolls

The oak door towered over Rinoa; a most formidable opponent. The young woman took a deep, steadying breath. She would have to face her father sooner or later. Still, the uncertainty of how her father would react to her sudden reappearance into his life scared her. She had no choice, though. She had made a bargain with Squall, and she was not about to back down.

"Rinoa?" Quistis tapped the girl on the shoulder lightly. "Are you going to ring the bell?"

Rinoa nodded and raised her finger to push the small button. She could hear the faint ding that resonated through the house. Minutes later, the door swung open, revealing an older man; the butler. Rinoa recognized him immediately.

"Albert!" she exclaimed. "It's so good to see you!"

"Ms. Rinoa?" Albert asked in astonishment. "My God, I must be seeing things!"

"You're not seeing things, Albert," Rinoa assured him. "It's me."

Albert shook his head slowly. "Look at you! Come in, come in! Your father is never going to believe this!"

Rinoa gestured for Quistis to follow her into the house. Albert led the two women into the parlor, where he told them to wait while he got Caraway. Quistis was amazed at how beautiful the room was. It was set in rich hues of green and blue. The couch she was currently seated on was just one of three in the room. A grand black piano stood in the right-hand corner of the room. A fireplace stood in the center wall, made entirely of marble.

"Wow," Quistis breathed. "This room is beautiful."

Rinoa nodded. "It hasn't changed a bit since the last time I was here."

At that moment, Caraway hurried into the room. "R-Rinoa?" he managed to stammer. "Albert told me it was you, but I didn't believe him..."

"Hello, Father," Rinoa said curtly as she stood up. "I take it that you remember my friend Quistis?"

Caraway nodded absently. "Do you mind leaving us alone for awhile?" he asked the blonde. "You may make yourself comfortable in the room across the hall."

"Certainly," Quistis said as she elegantly stood up and exited the room.

Caraway turned his gaze back to his daughter. "What happened to you?"

Rinoa frowned. "What do you mean? You must have heard about what happened by now."

"Rinoa, what are you talking about? Please, explain this to me. For the past three years, I have gone on believing that my only child was dead, and now here you are."

"Wait a minute. You honestly didn't know that I was back?"

"Back? Back from what, Rinoa? Don't play games with me, girl!" he said angrily.

"I'm not playing games. I've been back in Balamb for a few days now. I just figured that you would have heard by now, with all your connections and everything," she said spitefully.

"No," Caraway said as he collapsed onto an armchair. "I had no idea."

The silence hung between them uncomfortably. Rinoa looked down at her hands, unsure of how to respond to what Caraway had just told her. "Well," she said slowly, "I'm sorry that this comes as such a surprise to you. I honestly thought someone would have told you."

Caraway shook his head. "Tell me one thing, Rinoa. You say that you had no idea that I didn't know you were alive, yet you are here. Why?"

Rinoa shrugged. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Caraway narrowed his eyes. "Try me."

"Squall convinced me to come. We made a deal, actually. I would work on my relationship with you, and he would work on his relationship with his father."

The older man looked at her in disbelief. "Squall Leonhart said that? He convinced you to see me?"

Rinoa nodded. "I told you that you wouldn't believe it."

"He's married to Quistis, you know."
"Actually, I did know, but if I hadn't, thanks for telling me in such a caring way."

Caraway sighed. "He was never good enough for you, anyway. Didn't I tell you all along that he would break your heart?"

"Can we please not get into this right now? Don't you even want to know where I've been all this time?"

"Of course I do. I asked you, didn't I?"

Rinoa quickly recounted her story to Caraway. She told him about Nida and Zuwang, but cleverly chose not to mention her feelings of hurt when it came to Squall. Caraway had never liked him anyway, and would just use the situation to lecture her about him further.

"Where are your things? Balamb?" Caraway demanded.

Rinoa nodded. "I'm living at Balamb Garden again."

"Excuse me?" Caraway roared. "Why the hell would you live there?!"

Rinoa narrowed her eyes angrily. "Balamb Garden has served as my home in a way this place never could."

"You think I don't know the real reason why you went back? You went back for Leonhart! Rinoa, I want you to come and live here immediately. Squall Leonhart is married, which leaves no place for you in his life!"

Rinoa shook her head. "No, you're wrong. Squall asked me to come back to Garden."

"That fucking bastard!" Caraway could barely control his anger. "He thinks he can have you for his mistress now, does he?! I am going to show that boy what happens when he tries to use my daughter!"

"What are you talking about?!" Rinoa shouted. "Who said anything about being his mistress?!"

"All men have one thing on their mind, and one thing only. Rinoa, I demand that you move back here at once!"

"In case you forgot, Dad," Rinoa spat, "I am twenty-one years old and perfectly capable of taking care of myself. You can't dictate my life for me."
"Rinoa, I am your father! I don't care how old you are! You will do as I say!"

Rinoa shook her head in disbelief. I can't believe I ever though we could get along. I am such a fool. She stood up and quickly exited the room, ignoring Caraway's pleas that she stay. She hurriedly located Quistis in the study across the hall and mentioned that they were leaving. Once outside and away from the mansion, Quistis turned towards the brunette.

"How did it go?" she asked.

"Don't even ask."

Squall put down his pen and glanced at his phone for what must have been the twentieth time in the past hour. He knew that he should just call Laguna and get it over with, but he didn't have the faintest idea about what he would say. Squall wasn't the type of person to call someone for the sake of exchanging pleasantries. He had no choice, though. Never one to break his word, he couldn't just ignore the deal he had made with Rinoa. Although, he had agreed to call Laguna twice a month, so by no means was he obligated to make the call that day. Still, he had a pretty good idea that Rinoa had already fulfilled her end of the bargain. He rubbed his forehead wearily. What have I gotten myself into? Deciding that he could always make up some excuse about Garden, Squall picked up the phone and dialed Laguna's private line.

"Hello?" a cheerful voice answered after the first ring.

"Uh, hi," Squall said awkwardly. "Laguna?"

"Yeah, I'm Laguna. Who is this? Oh, wait, don't tell me! You're that plumber, right? Man, I'm so glad you called! Elle called you guys days ago! We've been having quite a situation with our plumbing system! Personally, I suspect it was Ward, my advisor, who caused the problem."

Squall smacked his forehead. This guy will never change. "This isn't the plumber. It's Squall."

"Squall!" Laguna exclaimed. "Squall, my boy! Why didn't you say anything? And here I thought you were the plumber!"

"Do you normally give your private number to plumbers?" Squall replied coolly.

"Ha ha, you got me there. So, how have you been? Anything interesting happening on that honeymoon of yours?"

"I'm actually back at Garden," Squall explained. "We had to come back from Dollet early."

"Oh?" Laguna said worriedly. "Is everything okay?"

"Fine," Squall said shortly.

"So, um," he gulped, "Anything interesting happen lately?"

Squall narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"N-nothing!" he stammered. "I was just asking!"

Squall sighed. "I suppose I should just tell you. Rinoa is back."

"S-she is?" Laguna said, pretending to sound surprised. The whole conversation was making him nervous.

"Yes," Squall said. "Turns out that out former pilot, Nida, was responsible for the crash. Rinoa was in a coma for three years in a place called Zuwang. Irvine went to pick her up there. It's funny, though," Squall said thoughtfully. "Since none of us had ever heard of Zuwang before, I wonder how Irvine was able to find it. I haven't had a chance to formally question him about it yet, but you wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"

"O-of course not. Why would you think that?"

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out the resources you have in Esthar. Tell me something, Laguna. Do you know where Zuwang is?"

"I-I..."

Just then, there was a knock on Squall's door. "Who's there?" he called irritably.

"It's me," a voice responded quietly; Quistis.

"Dammit," Squall cursed.

"Excuse me?" Laguna asked, clearly confused.

"I wasn't talking to you," Squall snapped. "Listen, I have to go. We'll continue this conversation some other time." He hung up the phone as Quistis walked into the office.

"Who was that?" she asked.

"Laguna," he replied shortly.

"Ah," she said. "What did he need?"

"Nothing. I called him."

Quistis's eyes widened in surprise. "You called him."

Squall nodded. "That's what I said, isn't it?"

The blonde sighed. "It's just...you avoid Laguna every opportunity you get. It's surprising to me that you would call him. Is everything alright?"

"Fine," he said once again. "How did shopping go?"

Quistis was once again surprised. Since when did Squall care about shopping? "It was nice," Quistis said. "I had a really great time with Rinoa."

Squall nodded. "Uh...thank you."

"For what?" Quistis asked, surprised once again. Squall seemed to be full of surprises today.

"For spending the day with Rinoa and not making assumptions about her. I know that the last thing she wanted was to lose her friendship with you."

"I know," Quistis said. "There were some awkward moments, but I think that we got the important things out in the open. However," Quistis said, chuckling, "I don't think the same goes for her father."

Squall's interest immediately piqued. "She went to see Caraway?"

Quistis nodded. "I can't imagine why she would want to do such a thing. I even tried to convince her not to go, but she wouldn't hear it. She wouldn't tell me about what happened, but she was quiet the whole way home."

Squall shook his head. "Maybe this was a mistake," he mumbled.

Quistis frowned. "What was?"

"Nothing. Listen, I'll see you later, okay? I have a lot of work that I need to finish."

"Okay," Quistis said, feeling somewhat hurt. "Just...one more thing. It's really foolish, but...we're not fighting anymore, are we?"

Squall shook his head. "Not for the time being," he said with a hint of a smile.

Quistis smiled back. "I'm glad."

Rinoa sighed as she surveyed the task in front of her. She hadn't even begun to sort through the clothes she had bought, not to mention the various undergarments and accessories. Her old clothes were also a mystery. She was still debating on whether or not to keep them. Judging from the outfit she was wearing, she assumed that most of her old clothes still fit her. The problem was that most of them were outdated. The even bigger problem was the memories the clothes brought up. Rinoa finally decided that she would only keep some of her old outfits that had been her favorites. Her eyes traveled over the items in her closet until they settled on a short ivory dress. It was the dress that she had worn to the SeeD Inaugural Ball the night she had met Squall. She knew off the bat that there was no way that she would get rid of that. She sorted through the rest of the clothes, choosing a few more items to keep, and then piling the remaining clothes onto her bed, figuring that she could donate them. She was just about to start unpacking her new things when Angelo began to stir.

"Hey, what is it, girl?" Rinoa asked as she approached her dog. Angelo continued to bark at the door, causing Rinoa to feel worried. What could possibly be causing Angelo to get so worked up? Taking a deep breath, Rinoa cautiously opened the door...and found herself staring up into Squall's icy blue eyes.

"Squall!" she exclaimed. "God, you almost gave me a heart attack!"

"I'm sorry," he said as he scratched the back of his head nervously. "I was about to knock, when I heard a dog barking..."

"Oh," Rinoa said, giggling. "That's just Angelo. She seemed to sense your presence there all along."

"Angelo's back?" he asked, feeling rather stupid.

Rinoa nodded. "I picked her up at Ma Dincht's on the way back from Deling City." Realizing that they were still in the hallway, she said, "Do you want to come in?"

"Okay," Squall said uncertainly as he followed her into the room.

"I'm sorry for the mess," she said apologetically. "I haven't had a chance to put these things away yet."

Squall nodded. "I, uh, came to ask you about your father. Quistis told me you went to see him."

"Yeah," Rinoa said. "Can't say that it went very well, though."

"Are you okay?" Squall asked, genuinely concerned. "I know how you feel about your father. I never should have asked you to go."

Rinoa shook her head. "In a way, I'm glad that I went. He didn't know that I was alive, you know. Despite that, he still found a way to push my buttons. He's always been good at doing at."

"If it makes you feel any better, things went pretty shitty with Laguna, too. The moron thought I was his plumber."

Rinoa laughed. "He didn't!"

Squall nodded solemnly. "He did."

"At least your father doesn't try to control your life. Caraway wants me to move back in with him," she said softly.

"Are you going to?" he asked quietly, part of him fearing that she would say yes.

"Of course not!" she exclaimed. "God, he makes me so mad! I'm twenty-one years old, yet he still treats me like a little girl. He just expects me to drop everything and obey his every command. When I told him that this was my home, he exploded at me."

"You told him that?"

Rinoa nodded. "It's the truth. Garden is my home; where I belong."

"Rinoa," his voice was so soft that it sent chills up her spine. "I meant what I said. I shouldn't have brought up going to see your father."

"It's nothing," she said as she played with the rings on her necklace.

Squall's eyes immediately shifted to her neck. "You have your necklace back."

"You put it in my safety deposit box." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I kept it for awhile," he admitted, "But then I realized that it wasn't mine to keep. I knew it would be safe at the bank."

"Squall..." Rinoa found that she didn't have the words to express how she was feeling. Without thinking, she grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly. A deep cut along his palm caught her eye. "You're hurt."

Squall shook his head. "It's nothing. I cut it in the training center, no big deal."

"It looks pretty deep to me." She gently examined the cut. "Did you have Dr. Kadowaki look at it?"

"No. It's fine. Really," he insisted, upon seeing her skeptical look.

Still holding his hand, she closed her eyes, drawing upon her sorceress powers. "Cure," she murmured. A faint glow appeared and then the cut was gone. "Better?"

Squall could only stare at her. The gentleness she was showing toward him just made all of his old feelings come rushing back tenfold. He suddenly felt an irresistible urge to kiss her. The feeling must have been mutual as they found their faces traveling closer and closer....

"Rinoa?" a voice suddenly asked.

The two of them jumped apart guiltily as Irvine entered the room. Squall stood up and headed for the door.

"Hey, Squall," Irvine greeted. "Sorry to barge in on ya. I didn't know you were here."

Squall shook his head. "I was just leaving."

Rinoa looked after him, an unreadable expression on her face, as he left. Irvine turned to Rinoa.

"I figured you hadn't eaten yet, so I brought you lunch." He handed her a bag.

"Thank you," she said absently.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly. "Did something happen?"

"No...nothing," Rinoa said quietly. She couldn't have been more wrong, though. Something had just happened. The question was, what?