Fly like an Eagle

Chapter 7: Tender Embrace

For the next few weeks, Rinoa spent her time in Squalls hospital room. Every few hours she went next door to check on Zell, who was in even worse shape than Squall was. The SeeD patrol had retired to the hotel, advising Rinoa to do the same until orders came about the status of the mission. Rinoa assumed the whole thing would be called off, since West was dead and the others weren't much better off. The days seemed to pass quickly. Rinoa would wake up, often with her head resting on the side of Squall's bead, always tenderly holding his hand. She would go to the bathroom, shower, dress, and come back out. Squall's nurse would fiddle with the IV drip and feeding tube, bring Rinoa a simple yet adequate meal, and before she knew it, Rinoa would be asleep again. At the end of one such day, Rinoa gently kissed Squall's hand. She noticed it was slightly warmer than it had been. Not only that, but she felt something. As if, very lightly, he was squeezing her hand.

"Squall?" she asked. He grimaced slightly.

"..." hardly any sound escaped his lips. His eyes opened slowly, but not entirely. They were red with weariness. Rinoa was beaming at him, tears welling up in her eyes. She stood up, her hand never leaving his. Slowly she lowered her face over his and kissed him. As she stood up straight a single teardrop fell.

"Hey," she said, trying to regain her composure. When Squall next spoke, his voice was weak and feeble, but it had that tone that she loved.

"Hey,"

"You weren't supposed to wake up for another few days, you're so strong."

"..."

"I love you, Squall."

"I love you, Rinoa." His voice sounded stronger. She kissed him again, and when they parted, there was the faintest traces of a smile on his face. She smiled back at him.

She stayed with him, never breaking eye contact. They rarely spoke that day, or the next, but as his strength grew, he became more adventurous, first sitting up, then over the corse of the next few days, he even called the nurse to come in, unplug him, and switch him over to recovery rather than acute care. In the days following, he regained more of his stamina, up to the point where, aside from his wrists, he was nearly 100 percent. The nurse even brought the means for the personal treatment and protection of his burned wrists. She came in with a fresh set of bandages and two cylindrical metal-reinforced leather splints.

"You're remarkable, you know that? Not many people could survive being shot twice, stabbed, burned, and generally being beat up like this. I don't want to know what happened, but try to take a little better care of yourself."

"No promises." Squall replied.

"Well here, lets change your bandages. I'll show you how these splints work, they're pretty cool." She then proceeded to unwrap his bandages and replace them with a fresh set. "These splints are all purpose, they can be used for any injury that will take time to heal." She put them on Squalls wrists, and tightened them. "The leather prevents anything from doing any further harm to the damaged skin, and the metal keeps your wrists at least relatively still. Do be careful anyway, you're not fully recovered yet. Stay here tonight and I'll clear your release tomorrow.

"Thank you nurse." Rinoa said. The nurse nodded and left. She looked at Squall, who was examining his leather wrist guards. "Do they feel ok?"

"Too ok. I almost would forget I'm wearing them."

"Isn't that good?"

"Depends on if it's good to forget one's weakness."

"Fair enough." she said with a smile. He returned the smile, though it was more of a smirk. "I love you."

"I never thanked you for saving my life. Thank you." he said quietly, as though he were ashamed.

"You've saved my life many times since we've been together." she had meant since they had been on their mission, but she thought briefly of Squall being only hers, and a warm feeling grew in her heart. "We are... together, right? Like going out?"

"I suppose, if that's what you want to label what we have between us."

"Yes, that is what I want to call it, so now I can call you my boyfriend!" she said happier than she had been in quite a while.

"Whatever." he said. She leaned into his good shoulder and put her arms around his waist.

"I love you Squall Leonheart." she said softly to him.

"I love you, more than you know" he whispered in her ear, his arms wrapping themselves around her delicate frame. There was a loud knock on the door and they jumped and broke apart. "Come in." Squall said. In walked the four SeeD, one carrying a large bag, followed by Quisitis, Rinoa's boss.

"I don't believe it." she said looking at Squall sitting up on the bed. "I've heard what you've been through, I didn't think it was possible to survive. But here you are, fully recovered."

"Yes ma'am." Squall said.

"I hate to do this to you, but these SeeD here are already late for their briefing on another mission. Do you think it would be possible for you, if reequipped, to–"

"I suppose. We don't really have a choice do we?" Suddenly it occurred to Rinoa what was going on.

"NO! We have to regroup, we can't go right from here!"

"Why not?" Squall asked her. "Do you still have everything you need?"

"Well yes, but–"

"We'll need a great deal of equipment, as well as financial support."

"Not a problem." Quisitis said. She nodded toward the SeeD with the large bag. He walked up and emptied it's contents on the bed beside Squall and Rinoa. He began sorting and naming each object aloud so everyone in the room could hear.

"Standard issue Universal Service Pistol (USP), 5 extra clips and two boxes of 9mm rounds. Your SeeD uniform, I wouldn't wear it too much, we are in hostile territory. Car keys. There's a civillian model Jeep outside for you. M9 Carbine Assault riffle, plenty of ammo. 5 frag grenades. 850,000 gil cash. Two bullet resistant flak jackets. And just for fun, Balamb SeeD special sniper unit precision rifle."

"Will that suffice?" Quisitis asked.

"I suppose, I know how to contact you if I need anything else." Squall said.

"Very well. Good luck." Quisitis and the others left quickly. The rest of the day passed with only Rinoa counting their money, and Squall inspecting his weapons.

"It's getting late." Squall said. Rinoa sat in her usual place, Squalls hand in hers, but tonight Squall squeezed her hand and pulled her toward him. She smiled, understanding. She got up, crawled under the sheets with him, and held him close to her. His arms slid around her, pulling her even closer. There she fell asleep. A few hours passed like that until Rinoa woke with a start. She sat up quickly, breathing heavily. She looked around frantically searching for- She saw Squall laying beside her, looking up at her.

"I'm sorry." She said, trying to calm herself down, tears spilling from her eyes. Squall sat up, his arms went around her waist, and she threw her arms around his neck now crying.

"It's only a dream. It's ok, I'm here."

"I dreamed I was there, watching them hurt you and slowly break your spirit. In real life I ran to safety, but in my dream I watched you fight against hundreds of men. Every time you were hit, it's like I was hit too."

"It's ok, I promise you, I'm ok now."

"And worst of all," she said through tears "in my dream, I never told you how much I love you." Before Squall could say anything she had tightened her hold around his neck and pushed him back on the bed. She pressed her lips to his, kissing him passionately. Squall lay on his back, with Rinoa on top of him. Her lips left his. "I love you" she said no longer crying. She gently kissed down his neck and his bare chest. Squall gently tilted her face up back to his, and their lips met again. When they next parted, they had shifted so that Rinoa was lying on her back and Squall was lying on his side, facing her. He lay his hand flat on her stomach. Squall's hand slid gently under the fabric of her shirt, feeling the smooth skin underneath. His eyes met hers, and she nodded. His hand became more daring, venturing up her shirt, delicately caressing her curves. In exasperation, she quickly removed her shirt and undid her bra, exposing herself to him. His hand again began to roam over her warm soft flesh, just barely touching her at all. When his hand passed over her breasts, she would shiver in pleasure, inhaling deeply, getting more and more irritated by the lack of contact. Finally she grabbed his arm and pulled, forcing him to roll over on top of her. He leaned down and kissed her passionately, moving down her neck to her shoulders, and venturing down to her chest. As he took her breast in his mouth, she gasped with the amazing feeling. He slowly began massaging her with his tongue and hand. For some time he lay there teasing her, first one side, then the other. Her body was practically begging for him. Slowly she slid her pants down her legs. Now she lay naked underneath him. She was shaking, but could think of nothing she wanted more. She gently tugged at the waistline of Squalls pants, indicating that he should do as she did. He did. He aligned himself with her and looked into her eyes. "Take me" she said to him in a whisper.

"It's going to hurt." He said looking at her.

"I know, but I need this." She said. With one thrust he was inside her. His lips met hers, so any sound of pain or discomfort was muted. For a few minutes, they lay there, connected. When their lips parted Rinoa's focus returned. "I'm ok now, just, be gentle."

"I promise." He pulled out of her slowly, then reentered just as slowly. As they became more comfortable the tempo increased. Rinoa felt a warm feeling inside her begin to grow as the pace quickened, until finally, she climaxed. As she enjoyed her feeling of ecstacy Squall thrust twice more, and reached his own climax. After a few minutes of recuperation, Squall shifted off her and wrapped his arms around her waist, she rolled over to face him, and wrapped her arms around his neck, settling into a warm, comfortable, tender embrace.

A/N: There, finally the promised lemon. Review if you like, hate or are indifferent. Thx!

-N.F.