Rinoa didn't want to let me go that morning. Her body curled around mine tightly, her arms, her legs, her whole body tangled with mine. I might have liked to stay there, some other morning, but I had work to do, so I gently forced her to let go of me, leaning down to kiss her as she stirred. "I'll see you later," I said, softly, and her eyes blinked open for a moment before she nodded, yawning sleepily and snuggling back into the covers.

I rolled my eyes at her laziness before going to get my shower.

She was sitting up in bed when I got back, running a hand through her hair. "Do you have to go to work so early?" she asked, yawning again.

I didn't see anything wrong with the time – still don't – but I nodded as I pulled on my uniform, fixing the little stripes to my collar and trying not to curse as I pricked my fingers. I hated formal meetings, but I had one in two hours and so, of course, I had to be looking my best, in that too tight, too stiff SeeD uniform. 'It's an honour to wear the SeeD uniform,' Quistis had insisted to us when we were in training.

An honour, and a pain in the neck.

Still, whatever, it was my uniform and if I had to wear it, I'd at least give in gracefully.

Rinoa sat back against the pillows and smiled at me, a pretty, coquettish smile. "You look great in that uniform, you know. Now I remember why you caught my eye that night."

I shrugged it off. I know that people considered me good looking or handsome or whatever, but I've never paid much attention to that. That's their problem, not mine. I don't want to know, or be bothered by it. It's enough to know that I look okay, and not as if I just got out of bed.

"I'll see you tonight," I said, and she nodded, laying back again. Normally, I didn't fully wake her in my getting up, showering and dressing process, so these somehow awkward mornings when she sat in bed and watched me were few and far between. I made a mental note to try and be quieter in future as I turned to leave the room.

"Have a good day!" she called after me as the door shut.

It was definitely an odd feeling, waking up to Rinoa in bed, being waved off, as it were, by a cheerful female on a morning. Normally, or rather, back when I was in training, the first voices I would hear on a morning would be Quistis' – a cheerful, friendly, 'good morning, Squall!' - or Seifer's – a gruff, perhaps amused, 'morning, puberty boy'.

The cafeteria was a buzz of talk that morning, which was odd, considering the time. Normally most people who were up at that time were quiet, murmuring to each other and drinking coffee and eating toast or whatever else was available – invariably, in Zell's case, hotdogs. Even the ladies who prepared and served the food seemed more cheerful, more awake, as if cheerfully lamenting some scandal or other.

Which turned out to be the case.

"Commander," one of them said, beaming at me as she handed me my usual cup of coffee – black, with some sugar. "Have you heard about Seifer Almasy?"

For a moment, I couldn't think what she could possibly be talking about. Then I remembered.

"His trial?"

"He's been acquitted!" she said, in an excited voice, as if it was the worst thing and the most exciting thing that had happened in months.

Women.

Nothing else really happened that morning, apart from the overly boring meeting with a client or two and the hours of quiet paperwork. I used to need perfect quiet while I worked at assignments and the like, but by then I welcomed almost any sound, unless it was Selphie's overly cheerful chirping. The tick of the clock sounded far too loud and I was almost glad for the interruption when Xu opened the door, a worried look on her face.

"Commander?"

"Yes?" I asked, looking up at her, tempted to remind her that barely months before she had been far superior to me and that, maybe, she didn't need to bow and scrape quite so much. But the rules of Garden are the rules of Garden and, I suppose, we should stick to them.

"Seifer Almasy is here to see you, sir."

I don't know quite what I felt at that moment. Mostly annoyance, that he should be back in Garden where he had no right to be. A little surprise, that he was here so soon after being tried in Esthar. Mostly just a blank kind of curiosity, wondering what the hell he wanted.

I realised that Xu was waiting for my answer. "...Send him in."

"Yes, sir," she said, with a brief salute, and went out again, the door sliding shut behind her.

The door swished open again barely a moment later and I heard heavy steps on the carpeted floor. I didn't look up, instead keeping my eyes on my work, waiting for him to say whatever he had come to say, or at least waiting for him to speak the first words. The silence stretched out between us, but whereas I am perfectly comfortable with these supposedly awkward silences, I knew that Seifer hated them.

"Squally-boy," he said, mock pleasantly, and I glanced up.

"That's Commander to you, Almasy."

"I'm not a SeeD," he pointed out, smirking a little.

I paused to let the stupidity of his comment sink in for him. Whether he was a SeeD or not, I was still Commander. And I had still been the one to defeat him in the war that was only just over. I looked him over as I sat there, leaning back in my leather chair with a soft creak of leather, but without putting my pen down. He was thinner than I remembered, and there were dark circles under his eyes, as if he had barely slept in days. There was something almost desperate about his expression, or maybe his face was just so much gaunter than I remembered that it appeared that way.

"Fine. Commander Squally-boy."

"What do you want?"

"You," he said, with an easy shrug, and then smirked down at me. "But I can settle for you letting me stay in Garden again."

"Why should I do that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. I didn't want or need to say much. He was edgy, though trying to hide it, and I knew that he was a little scared that I would do something to him. Perhaps he was scared that I wouldn't let him stay.

"Look," he spoke a little less arrogantly now, more of the tiredness creeping into his voice, "I'm not exactly going to beg for this. But I have no other home, especially not after everything I did during the war. I want..." he paused, and then carried on, speaking a little faster, as if he had been about to say something else, but had changed his mind, "I know I never treated you very nicely, and I know I never passed my SeeD exam, but fuck it all, I belong here."

"What makes you think that?"

He straightened up, rubbing the back of his neck as if his muscles ached, and sighed, looking out of the window behind my desk to avoid meeting my eyes. "I just... feel like I do."

"You want me to readmit you to Garden because you feel as if you belong here?" I asked, and my voice dripped disbelief and impatience.

"Please," he said, closing his eyes and allowing a little more desperation to slide into his voice, making it full of sincerity. I almost believed him. "Please, I have nowhere else to go. Give me a chance."

"I'll think about it," I said, simply, and turned back to my work. That was all. Seifer shifted for a moment, uncomfortably, and then cleared his throat.

"I... need somewhere to stay, while you think it over."

I took pity on him, a little. "Raijin and Fujin are living in Balamb."

"Thank you, Squall," he said, and I looked up in surprise at the sound of my name. He was smiling, a soft, not amused, but almost affectionate smile. "Thanks a lot."

His tone wasn't sarcastic at all.

He turned and walked out of my office, the polished metal doors swishing quietly shut behind him.