Author's Note: Okay, here's a bit more fluffy-ness for your entertainment. I'll probably have one more fluffy chapter before I get back into the drama. I thought I'd break things up with a little lighthearted humor before moving in to the really serious stuff.
Chapter 17 – Say It, Don't Spray It
"Exactly whose idea was it to take the early train?"
Irvine rolled his eyes. He'd heard nothing but complaints all the way from FH. "Can it, Zell," he growled, fed up with the grumbling. "We needed to get to Esthar to report to Kylah."
"We coulda done that over the phone," Selphie pouted, hoisting her duffel, which was slipping off of her shoulder. "You just wanted to get back to grill her."
All four SeeD members were strolling down the corridors of the Presidential Palace early in the morning. They had caught the first train leaving FH that morning, and had arrived in Esthar before the city was really even awake for the day.
"Irvine, will you slow down," Quistis cried, struggling to keep up with his strides. "Our legs aren't as long as yours are."
"Besides," Zell added, "what's the rush? Kylah's probably just getting up."
The smug grin returned to Selphie's face. "Maybe Kylah isn't there," she commented. "Maybe she's in with Sir Laguna!"
"Oh, knock it off, Selphie," Quistis scolded. "I'm telling you, if anything she's working as a double agent."
"You're both nuts," Zell argued. "There is a perfectly reasonable explanation. I mean it!"
"All of you knock it off," Irvine said, tired of listening to their theories on why Kylah so tired. "We'll find out soon enough. See? There's the suite."
He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out the key to the suite that Kylah had given him before they had left days before. Quickly, he unlocked the door.
"That's odd," Quistis observed, looking around the still, silent suite. "Kylah's usually a pretty early riser when she's on a mission."
Zell dropped his bags and walked over to poke around in the kitchenette. "Not even a pot of coffee brewing. That's really weird for her!"
"Come on," Selphie said to Quistis. "We'll go wake her up."
The two girls picked up their totes and headed to Kylah's bedroom, while the guys strode of to drop their stuff in the room that Squall occupied. They opened the door and peeked inside, expecting to see Kylah sound asleep in her bed.
"Well," Selphie observed. "We know she's awake. Her bed's not even made yet." She stepped fully into the room. "She's in the shower," she said, her ears picking up the sound of running water, and spotting the slightly ajar bathroom door. "I'll just peek my head in and let her know we're here."
Quistis turned around to put her things away in an empty drawer. Her back was to Selphie when the brunet opened the bathroom door. The blonde instructor heard Selphie's startled gasp, followed by Kylah's outraged cry.
"Excuse me!" Selphie cried, and slammed the bathroom door closed. She stood by the door, staring at it in horror, a crimson flush creeping up into her cheeks.
"What's wrong?" Quistis asked, bewildered.
"K-Kylah's in the shower," Selphie managed to reply.
"Yes, I gathered that. What, did she suddenly grow two heads?"
"What's going on?" Zell asked, entering the room, Irvine right behind him.
"I'm trying to find that out," Quistis said, looking at Selphie.
"K-Kylah's taking a shower," she repeated. "A-and sh-she's not alone!"
Zell's jaw dropped. "Was your theory about Laguna right?" he sputtered.
Selphie shook her head vehemently. Taking several deep breaths, she tried to calm herself and find her voice. Finally, she managed to push the whole story out in one big rush. "I didn't mean to! I mean, I've walked in on Kylah in the shower a hundred times! Girls don't mind that kind of thing. She doesn't have anything that I don't have. But I threw open the door and there was Squall in all his glory! Wearing nothing but a big smile! And Kylah!"
"Squall!" the other three cried in unison.
At that moment, the bathroom door cracked open. Kylah's head poked around the edge of the door, looking very annoyed. "Yes, I'm in the shower, and no I'm not alone. Now, could you people kindly step out of the room so that I can retrieve my clothes?"
"Actually," Squall's voice called from behind her. "Could you all leave the suite entirely? My nearest clean clothes are over in my room, and I just really don't want to walk across the suite in this condition with you standing there."
"Where are we supposed to go?" Selphie wailed.
"Don't know, don't care," Squall replied, firmly.
"Hmph!" Selphie huffed. "You'd think he'd be in a better mood after all that hot-"
"OUT!" Squall roared from the confines of the bathroom.
Without another word, all four of his comrades scurried out of the suite before he had a chance to turn Lion Heart on them. Once in the safety of the palace corridor, all of them looked at one another in bewilderment.
"Did that really just happen?" Zell asked, feeling a bit overwhelmed.
"I think so…" Quistis replied not sounding at all sure of herself.
Selphie was continuing to stroll down the corridor away from the suite.
"Where the heck you going?" Irvine asked her.
She stopped, turned and shrugged. "I'm gonna go find Sir Laguna," she replied as if it should be obvious where she was going. "I thought we should give a report to somebody, and Kylah's obviously occupied." She flashed a wicked grin.
The other three friends shrugged at each other, then followed Selphie down the corridor.
When they arrived at the Presidential Office, Selphie boldly breezed through the door without knocking. "Sir Laguna!" she cried, entering the room. "Good morning!"
Laguna had just seated himself at his desk to go over the morning reports. He stopped his hand just short of putting his coffee cup to his lips and looked up at the girl in surprise. "S-Selphie? Where did you come from?"
"From FH," she replied, cheerfully. She all but skipped into the room and plopped herself up on his desk. "We thought we'd drop in to say hello!"
Irvine clenched his fists at his sides and gritted his teeth. He hated the way his girlfriend acted when in the presence of Laguna Loire. It always seemed as if she suddenly said "Irvine who?"
Laguna peered past the SeeD members to see if anyone else had come with them. "Where are Squall and Kylah?"
"They're in Kylah's shower," Selphie replied, matter-of-factly.
Laguna, who had just gotten a large mouthful of coffee, immediately choked on it and sprayed it across his desk. "Together!" he managed to squeak.
"Yep," she said, cheerfully. "I walked into the bathroom to tell Kylah we had arrived, and BOOM! There they were! Squall threw us out so that they could get dressed."
"Oohhhkaaayyy…" Laguna said, staring at her in utter shock.
Ellone chose that moment to stroll into the room. "Hey guys!" she cried, delighted to see her friends. Catching sight of Laguna's stunned expression, she looked around. "What's going on."
"Selphie busted Kylah and Squall showering together," Zell replied mildly, flipping through a small notebook he'd pulled out of his pocket.
Elle appeared to digest this for a moment. "Well, I'm glad to see he took my advice," she finally quipped.
Quistis stared at her in amazement. "You TOLD him to sleep with her!"
Having recovered enough to take another swig of coffee for strength, Laguna immediately choked again. "Elle!" he sputtered.
She held her hands up in innocence. "All I told him was that he should move on with his life." An uncharacteristic smirk touched her lips. "Apparently he did. With gusto."
"Zell, what the heck are you doing over there?" Quistis asked, observing his wild flipping through his notebook.
"Well," he said, staring at a page in amazement, "I was looking to see how much I owe everyone from the betting pool, but as it turns out we actually have a winner."
"How did we do that?" Selphie questioned. "We were betting on which one would come out on top if Kylah and Squall tried to kill each other on this mission. They didn't kill each other!"
"Exactly," Zell replied, grinning. "Xu won the bet. She said they'd end up in bed together."
Irvine roared with laughter. He was still trying to catch his breath when Kylah stomped into the room, crossed her arms and glared around at her friends.
"Haven't any of you ever heard of knocking?" she demanded.
Irvine stepped over, draped an arm across her shoulders, and looked down at her with a smug smile. "Didn't I ever teach you to LOCK THE DOOR?"
"I wasn't expecting anyone until later," she huffed in annoyance.
"We caught an early train," Quistis replied, grinning mischeviously at her.
"Yeah," Selphie chimed in. "We came early 'cause Irvine wanted to grill you on why you've been so tired."
Kylah immediately stiffened. "I'm not at liberty to say," she replied, evenly.
"I think it's obvious WHY," Zell snickered under his breath.
She shot him a murderous look. "No, that's NOT why," she shot back. "I can't say why. Don't you guys have a report you need to give me."
"Yes, we do," Selphie replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "But we're not at liberty to say."
Before Kylah had a chance to retort, Squall stomped into the room wordlessly and glared at his friends.
Laguna looked up at him over the top of his coffee cup. "I guess I don't need to ask if you had a good night…." he mused,amusement tingeing his voice.
Irvine gave him a speculative look. "Why are YOU sointerested inthem sleeping together?" he questioned, suspiciously.
Selphie pointed at Laguna excitedly. "I knew it! You're having an illicit affair with Kylah, too!"
Laguna found his coffee sprayed neatly across his desk for the third time that morning. "What! That's crazy! She's young enough to be my daughter!"
The energetic brunette leaned over and looked at him suspiciously. "Is she your daughter?" she whispered, conspiratorially.
"No! Look," Laguna said, exasperatedly, "no one is sleeping with Laguna. Laguna is sleeping by himself! And Kylah is NOT my daughter!" he added, giving Selphie a pointed look.
"Why don't you guys just give me your report," Kylah interjected. "Whatever has been going on is Squall's business to discuss, and I highly doubt that he's ready to discuss it."
Four pairs of eyes swiveled over to look at Squall.
"Crap," he mumbled under his breath.
"We're not giving our report until Squall tells us what's going on," Selphie insisted.
"You can't do that!" Kylah protested.
"Watch us," Selphie replied, giving Squall a pointed look.
Squall looked thoughtfully at the ground for a long moment, his right hand resting on his hip. Finally he looked up and shot Laguna a questioning look. Laguna just shrugged as if to say "Whatever you want…"
"Okay," Squall finally said. "You know how we were all in the orphanage together because we had no parents? Well, it looks like for me that was only half true."
"Huh?" Quistis asked, confused.
"I've found my father," Squall continued, quietly.
"Reeeeally?" Selphie squealed excitedly. "Can we meet him?"
"You already have," he replied, taking a deep breath. "Laguna is my father."
Shocked silence filled the room. Selphie promptly fell off of the edge of Laguna's desk. Laguna, for his part, smiled up at Squall, grateful that his son was willing to admit that he was his father.
Quistis was the first to recover. She looked slowly back and forth between the two men. "You know, I do see a resemblance…"
"S-Sir L-Laguna is your f-f-f-father?" Selphie yelped as she struggled back to her feet.
"Woah," Zell breathed, amazed.
"It's not a big deal, okay?" Squall said. "Let's just get a report and get on with things."
His friends exchanged a quick glance. Obviously Squall was still coming to terms with some things involving his paternity. Irvine was the first to speak up.
"Well, um, so, like we did manage to get a possible description of two of the members of Punishment Syndicate," he said delicately, changing the subject and attention away from Squall andLaguna. "It's not very detailed, though."
"You could say that again," Selphie interjected rolling her eyes. "The description that we got is of a 'really big dude and a scary looking woman.'"
"Oh, great," Kylah snorted. "That could be any combination of instructors at Galbadia Garden."
"We also managed to find out that the members of Punishment Syndicate are forced to take a vow of silence when they join. So, if we're going to find any information out, it's going to be very difficult," Quistis added.
"There's more," Irvine continued. He glanced at Quistis. "There was an attempt on Quistis' life last night in FH. A member of Punishment Syndicate."
"What!" Kylah and Squall roared together. "Why didn't you call us last night?" Kylah added.
"Because we handled it," Zell piped up. "We took the guy down and sent him to the hospital. Unfortunately, he's unconscious now and can't tell us anything. He mentioned pulling Quistis' name off of a list."
"A list?" Laguna broke in. He leaned back in his desk chair, sipping his coffee thoughtfully. "None of this makes any sense. The bombing, the assassination attempt…. Who in their right mind would pull all of this stuff?"
"Look, we don't have any hard evidence on anyone yet," Kylah said, holding up a hand. "Let's allow SeeD intelligence to do their job and wait for their reports to come in. We can't do anything without good, hard, solid evidence."
"Meanwhile," a voice said from the door, "Galbadia is getting more and more pissed about the bombing."
Kiros, followed by Ward, stepped into the room and threw a stack of papers on Laguna's desk. "Latest reports on Galbadian military activity."
Laguna skimmed over it and frowned. "That doesn't look promising…"
"Don't worry, Sir Laguna," Selphie said, patting his arm. "We're here to protect you!"
"It's not me I'm worried about," he said. "It looks like I'm in good hands. It's the Estharian people that will have to go to battle if Galbadia invades."
Kylah sighed deeply. "Don't worry, Mr. President," she replied grimly. "We'll do everything in our power to prevent that from happening."