Chapter 11 – You're the Next Contestant on Family Feud
When Laguna stepped into the waiting room of the medical clinic, Kylah was standing waiting for him. She was leaned against a nearby wall, arms crossed over her chest.
"I guess he didn't take the news too well," she observed, taking note of Laguna's downcast expression.
He snorted. "That's an understatement. He told me to get out."
She looked sympathetic. "Did you really think he'd be all welcoming and happy about it?" she asked. "I mean, this is Squall we're talking about."
"I guess not, but I didn't expect it to hurt so much, either."
She patted his arm. "Give him some time. I'm sure he'll come around. It's quite a shock, though. He needs time to get used to the idea."
"Sure," Laguna replied, glumly. He jammed his hands into his pockets and strode out of the room toward his office.
Kylah watched him walk away, then turned back to Squall's door. Resolutely, she grabbed the knob and threw it open.
"I said, get out!" Squall said, from his bed. He was lying back against his pillows with his good arm slung over his eyes. She imagined that he had been deep in thought.
"No, actually, you didn't," she replied, lightly.
He looked up. "Oh, it's you." He eyed her suspiciously. "I thought you said you had some work to do."
"I lied."
"So you knew too?"
"Yeah, for a couple of days," she admitted.
"Then you get out," he said, draping his arm back over his eyes.
"Not a chance," she shot back, taking a seat on the edge of his bed. "I'm not leaving until you've heard what I have to say."
He raised his arm and glared up at her. "If I listen, will you leave."
She nodded agreeably. "After I'm finished, if you still want me to go, I'll leave."
"Fine," he said, dropping his arm again.
"Fine," she replied. "Look, I know that this is an incredible shock to you. But if it makes you feel any better, he didn't know himself until just before he met you. I know that he's still had six years to tell you, but you're both busy men. And, in his defense, you're not always the easiest person to talk to."
Stubbornly, he refused to answer.
"You were just saying yourself on the train ride here that you wanted more of a family than just you and Cassidy. Well, here's your chance. You have a chance to know your father, and to learn more about your mother. Don't throw it away."
She paused, trying to determine if she was getting anywhere, or just wasting her breath. Taking the chance that she just might be getting through, she plunged on. "Squall, he has been sitting up night and day waiting and worrying over you for the past two days. He was petrified that he might have blown his last chance to know his son. I know you're hurt and angry, but Squall he loves you. More than you even realize."
He peeked out at her again. "Are you finished?"
She sighed. "Yeah, I'm done."
"Good. Now get out."
She stood, strode over to the door, and flung it open. "Fine," she said, turning back to him, "I'll go. But I'll be back." With that, she slammed the door shut behind her.
Finally, he had peace and quiet so he could think.
He took several steadying breaths, trying to calm the rage that ripped through his already exhausted body. He felt abandoned. Rejected. Angry. He wanted desperately to hate Laguna.
Anger at himself quickly rose up to join the other emotions when he realized that he couldn't bring himself to hate him. Well, why not? Hadn't he walked out on his wife and son?
Raine. So, Raine was his mother. He closed his eyes and tried to picture her face as he had seen it through Laguna's eyes when Ellone had sent him back into his father's life over six years ago. She was beautiful, he remembered. Patient, kind…and not afraid to put Laguna in his place when he needed it.
How could Laguna just walk away from her, especially when she needed him more than she ever had? Obviously, he had found Ellone. Why hadn't he gone back to Raine?
He opened his eyes and glowered up at the ceiling. He realized that he was also angry with Kylah. She was supposed to be his friend and partner, and she had kept this from him! He scowled, remembering the kiss that they'd shared a few nights earlier. Hadn't that meant anything to her? Did she care so little about him?
With a cry of anger and frustration, he used his good arm to jerk a pillow out from under his head and hurl it against the opposite wall. Just as it hit its target and knocked down a picture that was hanging there, the door opened.
A very startled Ellone poked her head in hesitantly. "Are you okay?" she asked, giving him a concerned look.
He glowered back at her. "You knew too, didn't you?" he growled.
She quietly closed the door behind her and leaned back against it, hands folded in front of her. "I'm the one who told Uncle Laguna," she confessed, softly.
"How could you not tell me?" he exploded. "Ellone, you saw me before him! Why? Why didn't you tell me when you had the chance?"
Her eyes filled with tears. "Squall, I thought he should be the one to tell you. If I'd known he'd take this long—"
"Get out," he interrupted, turning away. "Just go!"
Ellone managed to get the door open before the tears fell.
She quickly fled the medical clinic, wiping her cheeks as she went. Her footsteps led her to her Uncle's office, where she hoped to speak with him. As she rounded a corner, she literally ran right into Kylah, who was moving as quickly as she was. She lost her balance, and before she could catch herself landed neatly on her backside in the middle of the corridor.
"Ellone!" Kylah cried, obviously startled. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to plow over you!"
Ellone struggled to her feet. "I'm okay," she managed to whisper.
It was then that Kylah noticed the older woman's tears. "I take it you've been to visit our favorite patient?" she asked, sympathetically.
She could only nod, mutely.
Kylah patted her arm. "I don't advise going to visit your uncle either."
"Why?" Ellone asked, giving her a confused look.
She smiled grimly. "Like father, like son. One is in his hospital room, sulking, while the other is in his office, sulking. As the expression goes, don't poke the behemoth."
"Great," Ellone groaned.
Kylah crossed her arms over her chest, contemplating the situation. She stared at the floor for a moment, deep in thought. Finally, she looked up. "Are you hungry?"
Ellone looked taken aback. "Excuse me?"
"Are you hungry?" Kylah repeated. "Cause I am, and I really need to get out of this place for a while. Let's go out to lunch."
"But aren't you supposed to see to Uncle Laguna's security?"
Kylah waved the question off. "I'll put Kiros in charge of babysitting duty for a while. He used to be a soldier. He can handle things for a while. C'mon," she tugged on Ellone's arm. "I need to place a call to Cid, and then we'll go hit the town."
"I'm glad you suggested this," Ellone said later that afternoon as they sat across from one another at a table in one of Esthar's best restaurants. The window beside of their table offered a breathtaking view of the Palace.
Kylah gazed out the window for a long moment. She almost dreaded going back. "I'm beginning to wish that I'd gone with Irvine and Selphie," she mused.
"You don't like being here?"
She shrugged. "It's not that. I like Esthar, I like the people, and I really like working with your Uncle. But this mission suddenly got really complicated, and I feel like I'm being dragged into the middle of a family conflict. Besides, I really don't feel like I'm doing anything. The rest of the guys are out there, putting themselves at risk to find out who's behind the attack, and I feel like I'm sitting pretty."
"You are not 'sitting pretty,'" Ellone insisted. "You're leading this mission, tending to the president's personal security, and serving as a central reference for the rest of your team to report information. You're delegating and overseeing the mission. You're doing your job.
"And as far as the family conflict goes," she shrugged. "Hopefully, that will work itself out."
"I wouldn't worry too much about that," Kylah agreed. "Once he calms down, Squall will be more reasonable and willing to listen to explanations. Or, you can bribe the nurse to give him enough drugs to put him in a really good mood." She paused, considering the situation. "Then again, there's always the option of tying him up and gagging him so he can't yell at you to get out again."
Ellone laughed. "I'll get the rope if you'll get the gag."
They were both laughing hysterically when Kylah's cell phone rang. "Deraldi," she managed to answer around her giggling.
"Ms. Deraldi, this is Nurse Bingham over at the Presidential Palace," came a cheery voice on the other end.
"Yes, Nurse Bingham," she replied, warmly. "Is there a problem with Squall?" Concern rose in her voice.
"Not at all. I just wanted to let you know that the doctor was just by and Mr. Leonhart is going to be released in a little while, barring the results of some tests that we need to run. He'll need some clothes, though, before we let him go. Can we trouble you to bring some for him?"
"No problem," Kylah assured her. "I'm out having lunch at the moment, but I'll be back to the Palace shortly. Tell Squall that I'll drop them by once I get back." And if he has a problem with waiting, he can go suck an imp's toe, she added silently.
"Thanks, Ms. Deraldi!" the nurse chirped, then hung up.
"What's up?" Ellone asked as Kylah hung up her phone.
"Squall is being released," she replied, a smile on her face. "They just need me to drop off a change of clothes for him, since the ones he was wearing are kinda bloodstained and shredded in places."
"Well, I'm all finished," Ellone said, pushing her plate away.
"Me too." Kylah sighed, looking back up at the Palace. "Lovely as this little escape has been, I guess it's time to go back to reality."
Kylah stepped through the door of her suite and quickly dropped her bag on a chair. She first went to her own room to check for messages or faxed reports. Disappointment crept up when she found neither waiting for her. With a sigh, she left her room and strode across the suite to take care of her task.
Hesitantly, she opened the door to Squall's room. Feeling like an intruder, she stepped through the door and looked around. His gunblade was leaning against the wall next to the bed, carefully loaded and polished. He had been wearing his SeeD uniform to the treaty signing, so she could see his leather jacket peeking out of the slightly open closet door. His boots were lined up right underneath the jacket. She closed her eyes and breathed in his aftershave that lightly scented the air in his room.
The room was a mirror of her own, so she quickly located the bureau. She opened one drawer, and found that it contained several pairs of jeans. Quickly grabbing one, she then closed the drawer and moved down to the next drawer. It was full of t-shirts and socks. She added a shirt and a pair of socks to the jeans and started to leave. Then a thought occurred to her. She sighed, then crouched down to open the bottom drawer. Crimson flushed up into her cheeks when she located Squall's underwear drawer.
Hmmmm…I never took him to be the boxer type, she thought, surveying the selection of boxers in the drawer. She grabbed a pair at random, hid them under the t-shirt lying on top of the stack. She then grabbed the entire stack, and fled the room.
Once in the sitting room, she breathed a deep sigh of relief. Snatching up her bag, she felt her pocket to make sure she had her keys, then strode out of the suite.
She wasted no time getting to the medical clinic to make her delivery. Smiling at the nurses as she passed, she walked quickly up to Squall's door and opened the door.
"Hey!" Squall's startled cry greeted her. She stepped into the room in time to see him quickly sitting back down on his bed and yanking the covers back up. "Go away!" he yelped.
Kylah blushed furiously. She had gotten a brief glimpse of his boxers before he'd dived back beneath the covers. Hesitantly, she stepped a bit further into the room. "The nurse asked me to bring these to you," she said, resting the stack of clothing on the foot of his bed. She refused to meet his eyes.
He ran his fingers through his hair nervously. "Thanks, I appreciate it. I, uh, hope it wasn't any trouble."
"No, none at all," she assured him quickly. There was an awkward pause. "Well, I'll be going now." Kylah finally said, and started out of the room.
"Kylah, wait," Squall stopped her.
She stopped at the door, but still wouldn't look at him.
"I, uh, wanted to thank you for sitting with me last night," he said, softly. "And to apologize for yelling at you earlier. None of this is your fault."
She slowly turned around, forcing herself to look at him. "It's okay," she replied. "You're frustrated."
He shrugged with his good shoulder. "Maybe. Anyway, I was glad you were with me last night."
"I understand. It's nice to have another person with you when you're feeling rough," she began.
"No, Kylah. I was glad you were with me. Not just another person."
The blush crept back up into her cheeks.
"Anyway," he said. "I'll get dressed and wait for the nurses to clear me to go. I'll catch you back at our suite later."
She nodded, flashed him a brief smile, then left the room.
It was late that night before Kylah made it back to her suite. She had gone to Laguna's office once she left Squall's room, so that she could let him know of Squall's release.
Laguna looked much older to Kylah that afternoon. She could tell that the investigation into the attack paired with the conflict with his son was weighing heavily on his shoulders. He'd been relieved to hear that Squall was to be released. He was still, however, in quite a mood. He had kept Kylah, Kiros and Ward all three hopping all afternoon.
Tiredly, Kylah opened the door to the suite, checking her watch as she did so. The rest of the crew should be calling soon to check in.
She found Squall lounging on the couch when she entered the room. He was wearing a clean t-shirt and his jacket, and had obviously showered. He had also taken the time to shave the stubble from his face. His injured arm was resting against his chest, carefully cradled in a sling that the nurses had given him to take care of it.
"Hey," she greeted him, looking him up and down. "You're awfully dressed for it to be so late at night."
"I'm not staying," he confessed, apologetically. "I just wanted to tell you good bye, then I'm going to catch a train."
"Oh, really?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. She had been anticipating this. "And where are you going."
"Home," he replied. "I'm really not needed anymore for this mission, so I thought I'd go home to finish recuperating."
She smiled sweetly. "Wrong. You're not going anywhere. I spoke with Cid just this afternoon. Your orders are to stay here and serve as an advisor to me, and oversee me in my first position of command of such a mission."
He looked outraged. "What?"
"I'm sorry, Squall, but you're not going anywhere."
He was so angry that he couldn't speak. He could only glare at her, mouth working as if he was trying to say something, but couldn't get the words out.
"Look, I didn't tell Cid what was going on. I simply explained to him that I felt that you might want to head home, but that I didn't feel that you were up to the trip, and that I needed you here. It's not my place to tell him what is going on with you and Laguna. If you want him to know, you can tell him. However, I'm not going to let you run away from your problems. You have to face your father eventually, and I'm not going to just sit back and let you run away like a frightened chicobo and hide in Balamb. You're going to stay here, with me, and help me with the rest of this mission." She held up a hand when he started to speak. "And I know that you're the leader of SeeD, but you still take your orders from Cid. If you have a problem with them, take it up with him."
"You had no right—"
"To meddle in your affairs? To stick my nose where it doesn't belong?" she interrupted. "Squall, I may have been meddlesome, and nosy, but I did what I thought was for your own good. I did it because I care about you, Squall, and deep down, you know as well as I do that if you run tonight, if you don't stay and face your father and find out what, exactly, happened to your mother, then you will regret it. You'll regret it for the rest of your life."
He didn't reply. Furious, he spun on his heel, stalked into his bedroom, and slammed the door behind him.
"That's right," she yelled through the door. "Go hide in your room! Stay in there all night for all I care! But you have to come out sometime! And when you do, I'll be waiting!"
Huffing angrily, Kylah flopped down on to the couch, arms crossed across her chest. She sat glowering at the coffee table. In complete frustration, she kicked the coffee table over and gave a long, angry cry. "Men!"
Squall sat on the edge of his bed, glowering at the closed bedroom door. He seethed as he replayed the encounter with Kylah over and over in his mind, furious that she would pull such a stunt.
It was bad enough that she had stuck her nose into his business once again. But to go over his head and pull rank on him like that… That was more than crossing the line. There was absolutely no point to him staying on in Esthar now, since Kylah had the help of the rest of their friends with this mission. He would much rather recover from his injury in Balamb than in Esthar.
He stood and began restlessly pacing the room. At the moment, he couldn't think of another time in his life when he had been more angry. He started to punch a nearby wall, but realized that he didn't want both arms to be injured. Instead, he settled for giving it a good hard kick. That made him feel a bit better.
He started to flop back down on his bed, but caught himself just in time. Not wanting to jostle his already aching left shoulder, he settled for gently leaning back against the pillows, keeping his arm as still as possible. Once he'd settled down in relative comfort, he resumed glaring at the door.
The scene kept playing over and over again in his mind. Kylah, arms crossed, standing in front of him, the crimson flush of anger creeping higher and higher in her cheeks. It reminded him of the warm flush in her cheeks that afternoon when she'd caught him in his underwear. And like the blush in her face the night he'd encountered her by the window. And the angry heat pouring out from her when he'd pinned her under him….
He let loose a frustrated cry and struggled to put those images out of his mind. He was angry with her. She was being nosy again. She had poked into his business. Why had she said she'd done it? Oh, yes. Because she cared.
Squall froze when he remembered Kylah saying that. She cared about him? He considered that for a moment. Shaking his head, he chose to ignore that for the moment. He rather liked wallowing in his anger for the time being.
He sighed and glanced at his bedside clock. Noting the late hour, and his fatigue, he decided to go to bed. Maybe he'd feel better in the morning. He dragged himself carefully off of his bed, and began getting ready for bed.
It took him nearly a half an hour, but he somehow managed to get his teeth brushed, and carefully undressed. He removed the cumbersome sling and slipped into bed. Tucking a pillow under his left shoulder to add support, he settled down in the darkness and allowed himself to slip into a restless sleep.