A/N: Back from the dead and terrorizing the readers! HAHA! Get readin'!

Questions, Answers, & Burning Something…?

- - - - - - - - - -

Squall sat in the kitchen, drinking down a glass of whiskey he had poured from another bottle out of his stash hidden in the loft. It was his second glass in two minutes, for good reason.

His father, active president and resident idiot, Laguna Loire, had snuck into his apartment late at night, and had sent everyone into a relative panic. Until Zell had flicked the lights on just in time.

Ellone sat with her adoptive father on the couch, Zell sitting close beside her, helping her help him calm down after Squall's abrupt 'pounce' upon the unsuspecting man.

Squall had just finished inhaling his third glass of whiskey before he began his interrogation.

"So tell me again why you're here so late at night. And picking locks and entering people's homes without as much as a notice?"

Laguna looked up from the floor where he had kept his eyes glued for a most of the time.

"I was coming over for a surprise visit—"

"Big surprise..." Seifer interjected. Quistis slapped him on the arm hard enough to make him wince a little.

"What the hell was that for?"

Quistis glared at him with icy eyes. He looked away before she froze him where he stood. Its best to let sleeping dogs lie sometimes. And in Seifer's case, life saving.

Laguna returned to his interrupted explanation. "But no one was home when I came around. I had supposed that you had gone out and weren't going to come back for a while so I went around the town for a little bit."

He continued slowly, so as to place the story as he remembered it. "When I had come back I found the van that Squall drives in the parking garage so I thought that he was home."

"He apparently was, as were the rest of us…" Seifer added nonchalantly.

"Yeah but I didn't know that part. So I came up and tried to open the door, but it was locked. I assumed that he was asleep in his room, so I picked the lock and came in on my own."

"Be thankful I wasn't in my room at the time, or else I would've had a gunblade with me." Squall glared all seven gunblades through his eyes and through his father's thick skull.

Laguna could imagine and feel all of the gunblades in his son's possession sudden carve through his head. Although it wasn't a welcome feeling, it was reassuring to know his son didn't need foreign protection.

Although the two even hardly got along, they knew each other and what the other wanted when they wanted it. Even if Laguna wanted to spend time with his son, he knew that all Squall wanted was to be his own person, with a family or not. When Squall decided to join his family in something, Laguna never wasted the moment.

Quistis didn't find something right about Laguna, so she decided to voice her mind.

"Why would the president of the most powerful country be picking locks in his son's apartment? And how did you learn to pick locks in the first place?" It voiced similar thoughts running around in the group's heads.

Squall looked back over to his father for clarification.

"Well when you get locked out of your own bathroom in the morning while everyone is still asleep, you tend to get desperate."

"Are you saying that is what made you start picking locks?" Ellone asked with a dropped jaw. Laguna started scratching the back of his head nervously.

'Crap! My leg's cramping up! Not now… Not now!' he thought rapidly.

Squall saw that his 'father' was acting more nervous than he usually was. It only meant one thing…

"Your leg's cramping up again…isn't it?"

- - - - - - - - - -

The rest of the night, or morning, depending on who you ask, went by rather quickly. Laguna sudden appearance and presence made Squall a little sour, seeing as how he was silent the rest of the time before going up to his room and bolting the door shut. Everyone could hear furniture being rearranged on the other side, more notably nearest the door.

The girls had retired back to their rooms after suddenly remembering the need for beauty sleep before work. The boys had each picked out spots on the sofa, Zell being the only one who slept on the floor of his own free will.

Laguna was also on the sofa, the only place he would be able to sleep without having to step on anyone's toes.

As everyone was getting to sleep in the own respective places, one solitary mind was wide awake.

- - - - - - - - - -

Squall shifted on his bed for the umpteenth time. He couldn't find a good position to get comfortable in his king size bed. He shifted around some more before giving up and sitting up.

He looked silently out his window, into the slowly growing morning. The black night was slowly becoming a lighter hue, until it eventually will become a bright red sunrise.

It had only been about 12 hours earlier that he had had what? Three attempts at kissing two different women? How much bad luck can one guy get in a matter of one day? Not to mention he had revealed that he was a heavy drinker on certain situations, more noticeably when the situation emphasized stress on his part. That and he had to share his hidden stash of 'goodies' with Seifer from now on.

He kept looking out the window. He noticed that several lights were on in the adjacent building. He thought of the people beginning to wake up and get ready to head off to whatever job they were going to.

He started to think about how his night was. He had started off his day cleaning off his gunblades, then he had begun to think about how two certain women were beginning to play certain roles in his life. First it was Quistis, with a Chinese noodle stuffed face. Then there was Rinoa, who had oh-so-innocently been dressed in a midnight black outfit.

Both had caught his attention, not only because they look damn good on their own, but they each had something that he had desired in a significant other. A sense of stability, the other a sense of spontaneity. Or however Xu had put it earlier.

He had a dilemma. Rinoa or Quistis. At least Seifer would help with Quistis. The guy had a type of infatuation with her, so it was easy territory. If Seifer kept Quistis occupied, he could deal with Rinoa. But then again he never really was that good with women.

Squall sighed heavily, the liquor he drank earlier beginning to take effect. Squall could be a heavy drinker, but when he drank, he usually became very sleepy afterwards. If Squall was a drunk, he was a sleepy drunk.

He sighed one more time before looking out his window to see the sun on its early rise. He turned to his bed and fell on it. He didn't care which direction he was pointing on that bed, he went out like a light.

As out like a light as it he could when the sun was bearing down on your face.

- - - - - - - - - -

Squall awoke a little later with a slight headache and a distinct smell running up his nose. He recognized that smell.

It was smoke.

Squall bounded out of bed and removed the large dresser that was against his door. He used that dresser for anti-Laguna purposes. Most notably to muffle out the sound of a knocking door and a screaming father telling you to come out of bed before he poured a pot of hot water on you.

'If he could ever figure out how to boil water in the first place…' he thought wryly.

He removed the dresser from the door and opened it, only to be blasted in the face by grey smoke and the very easy smell of burnt something.

"Are you trying to burn down my place or what!" Squall yelled, not realizing at who he was yelling at. Or whom.

"Sorry! I forgot all about the bacon on the stove!" a feminine voice cried.

"Well then hurry up and get them off the stove!" a male voice cried back.

Squall's eyebrows had furrowed as he heard not one, but many voices in one area. He heard approximately seven different voices coming from the kitchen. He decided it would be best to try and figure out who was there by opening the windows and airing out the damn place before someone called the fire department.

As soon as Squall opened the window, the smoke flew out, thanks to the kinda high altitude of the apartment, and the fact that someone had turned on a fan.

When Squall turned back to the kitchen, he saw four women, three men, and one old man standing around like they all had their hands in the cookie jar.

"First things first: turn off the stove and step away from the kitchen." Squall said. He said it rather reasonably, but everyone else took it like there was a death sentence waiting for them if they didn't.

Quistis walked over to the stove and turned it off, moving the pan with ashes to the back burner. That must've been the bacon they were screaming about.

Squall shook his head before ushering them all out of the kitchen and surveying the catastrophe that had taken place.

Dishes were piled three times as high as the sink could carry, pans littered the area around the stove and oven, the trash was overflowing with Hyne-knows-what existed in this apartment, and everyone who were responsible was standing on the other side of the counter-island.

He gave them all a quick glare before reaching up into his not-so-hidden spot above the pan rack, pulling down a bottle of Captain Morgan's, popping the top and taking a quick swig. Although a swig in his case was a quarter bottle. And the bottle was big…very big.

As soon as he was done, he replaced the cap, replaced the bottle, grabbed a towel, draped it over his shoulder, took the apron that Seifer was wearing, much to his refusal, and walked back to the kitchen.

"Everyone out. You two included." He pointed at Ellone and Laguna.

"Come back in around," he looked at the clock above the cabinets, "one hour. Until then: Avoid. That. Door." He pointed to the loft door and quickly kicked everyone out.

One thought went through his head as he cracked his knuckles and his neck, along with the rest of his body: 'You want something done right, you have to do it yourself.'

- - - - - - - - - -

One Hour Later

Seifer gently opened the door, not letting it make a squeak. His head peered around the door. No one was in sight, but something was off. It was quiet. Too quiet.

He brought his head back around the door and motioned for everyone to keep quiet. The others had stealthily crept through the door, each one tiptoeing as if their lives depended on it. When Ellone was through the door, she gently pushed it back into place, barely hearing the click the door made when it closed.

Seifer continued to creep around until he stopped dead in his tracks and his eyes went wide as if he had seen a Gold Chocobo. Quistis saw his expression and quickly went up to his side. She poked at his arm and took a glance at what he was staring at. Her jaw slackened to the point where she would like Zell on one occasion.

Speaking of Zell, he quickly crept over to where the other two blondes were. And his jaw slackened just like Quistis'.

Selphie, Irvine, Rinoa, Laguna, and Ellone each made their way to see what everyone was staring at. What lay before them.

The whole apartment was clean. Pans in their places, the garbage empty, counters and stoves spotless. But there was something beyond that.

A long, rich wooden table was before them, simple wooden chairs situated around it. The table itself was nice to look at, but what was on it was much better to their eyes.

Plates of different kinds of eggs, scrambled, fried, or deviled. Sausage, ham, bacon, grits, hash browns, pancakes, biscuits, muffins. There was even a plate of steaks sitting next to the ham! A plate of hotdogs sat next to the grits. At the end of the table was a large bowl of various fruits ranging from apples to kiwis and an entire set of plates, with silverware attached, enough for everyone to have a pair in their possession.

Atop the set was a note propped up like a little pyramid. Seifer broke out of his reverie, and moved towards the note. This brought everyone out of their own drool pools and walked after him.

He grabbed the note and read it loud enough for everyone to hear.

To the entourage that almost burned down my kitchen,

I regret to inform you that no one will be able to use that kitchen from now on. Only the microwave, refrigerator, and cabinets containing groceries and dishes will be available for use. The only time will anyone be able to use the stove or oven or any of the cookware, will be when I am available and willing to give supervision to the proper use of such items and utensils. If you feel as though you do not apply to this, think again. You are in my apartment, using my stuff, eating my food. You are in my good graces to even be here. I will not hesitate to use you to polish my gunblades. This little table of food I put together is so that you will not use my kitchen to burn down my apartment again. So enjoy and do not use my kitchen.

Squall

Seifer put down the note beside the stack of plates before shrugging and grabbing a plate and started spooning and forking food onto his plate. The others followed suit, each grabbing plates, although Zell just grabbed the whole plate of hotdogs and started wolfing them down.

Ellone set down her plate and walked up to her brother's room, stopping because she noticed the door was slightly open. She peered inside to see Squall sleeping on his bed, face towards the window. She pulled his door closed, but not before she thanked him.

Squall sighed in his sleep, "Your welcome."

A/N: Longlonglonglonglonglonglonglonglong overdue chapter I know. I'm late, but better late then never eh? I will be beginning to update like I usually did, now that I have found a solid source of inspiration nowadays. She knows who she is, so it's all gravy. Until next update! Read something else.