Author's Note: Again sorry about the delay. It's not as bad as some people who kinda let their story die but what can I say? I lost what happened next in this so I went out and rented the movie to get my bearings.Then realized I missed out on some big details in other chapters and went back and fixed those. Speaking of which. I want to apologise for the end of chapter 3. I kind of just took the easy way out of things and made him take a nap rather than come up with something more to say. I fixed that so there is more to that. I also fixed up chapter 4, made it better and the Quistis Apartment scene more involved. Anyway, next chapter will most likely be the last one so. Again a big thanks to Jesse Static for her fantastic beta-ing. And thanks to all of you who review and those who chose not to but add me/this story to their favorites/alerts. I always like it when people tell me how they like "my" story. I say "my" because I don't really own it and don't pretend to. Again thanks everyone and hope you enjoy this...

Chapter 5

Seifer entered the Caraway mansion a little after noon. The sound of the door closing echoed though the eerily quiet house. There was no sign of life anywhere in this place that usually had a dozen of servants moving around, cleaning this and dusting that. Cautiously, he looked around the foyer as he slowly slipped his coat off and hung it on the banister. The clink of his keys hitting the inside of decorative china bowl on the table in the middle of the room was louder than usual. As Seifer approached the stairs, his stomach twisted with terrible images of his family being tied up in the basement and people in black masks ransacking the rest of the house. He could hear his heart beating in his ears as he slowly climbed the stairs. There were faint sounds coming from his sister's room.

"Oh God," he thought, mentally preparing himself to walk into Rinoa's room and seeing the black masked men assaulting his sister. Quickly, Seifer threw the door opened, not even disturbing its occupants.

Angelo's head shot up at the sound of the door hitting the wall as it swung open. Seeing it was Seifer the collie placed his head back on its front paws and went back to watching his master. Rinoa continued throwing clothes into an already full suit case. She saw the door open but didn't bother to look up, she knew who it was and her scowl deepened.

"What do you want?" she scoffed, not looking at her older brother and walking back to her chest of draws to retrieve more clothes.

"What are you doing?" he asked stepping into the pink room, watching her cross back over to the case on the bed and stuff more into it.

"Are you that stupid?" she spat. "Packing." He could tell she had been crying. But she was fine when she left Quistis's apartment.

"I can see that. Why?" Seifer asked. She didn't stop or even look at him, just continued putting more things into her luggage. Seifer grabbed onto her arm pulling her to a stop.

"I am leaving," she said calmly, trying to fight back fresh tears. She forcefully pulled her arm away from Seifer and sat on the bed.

"Why?" he asked, taking a place beside her.

"That man. He's throwing me out. He knows… everything," Rinoa said looking at her feet.

"Yeah, he wasn't too happy when he found out."

"No kidding," Rinoa said, standing up and closing the bag. There was a loud honk of a car from the outside. "My taxi's here. I will send for the rest of my things later." With that Rinoa dragged the suitcase of the bed and whistled for Angelo to follow and left.

--

Squall sat at the table across from Seifer and between and old man in black clothes and Caraway himself. He eyed Caraway slowly. Every hair on his body stood on end as the older man returned his gaze. Squall found it odd to have a priest present; as one of the most relentless generals, he didn't seem like a religious man. Then again, he was against abortion. What a contradictory, Squall thought.

"Is there anyway you can force someone to get married?" Seifer asked the priest.

"No," Squall said, sitting up in his chair looking at the blond man. "There's no law saying you have to get married… I checked."

"I oughta check you," Seifer yelled, jumping from his seat and standing above Squall. Squall stood and matched Seifer's glare. Caraway stood and pounded the table.

"Seifer, sit down this instant," Caraway demanded. Seifer let out a low growl and reluctantly broke eye contact with Squall and resumed his seat. Caraway turned to Squall, his index finger pointed, when the priest stood.

"My son, although there is no law, it is often the will of God to do what is right," the old man said, placing a hand on Squall's shoulder.

Squall pulled away and held up his hands defensively. "Hey now, I wanted to get married, she didn't want me. It's not my problem anymore," Squall said walking to the office door.

"Young man you will sit back down this instant," Caraway yelled, pounding the table again. Squall sulked back into his chair. "Good. Now," Caraway said fixing his tie and calmly sitting back down. "Rinoa is a bit stubborn, but we will deal with this in a calm manner. Now here is what we are going to do, Seifer you will go talk some sense into her tomorrow."

--

Seifer didn't go the next day to see Rinoa, like his father had ordered. He knew that a week was more than enough time to let his hot headed sister cool down before talking some sense into her. Now he stood outside the intimidating building; his hands in his pockets watching the throngs of people pass by without a second glance to anyone. The doorman knew who he was and a vague idea of what he wanted so he left him alone. Caught up in his own mind, Seifer almost missed his sister as she made her way to a taxi.

"Hey," he called, pushing himself off the wall. She didn't hear him over the noise of the noon traffic. "Rin," he called again this time catching her attention.

"Hi," she said sounding less annoyed than she was.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to lunch or something," Seifer suggested as Rinoa began getting into a cab.

"Oh I would love to but I got an appointment," she said, going to sit down and close the door to the cab.

"Where?"

"The hair salon on Sixth Avenue. I got a date tonight."

"With who? Do I know him?" Seifer asked. Rinoa got in the cab finally and slammed the door.

"That's none of your concern," she called and the cab pulled away.

--

Rinoa sat in a dimly lit room across from two people, a bulky tan skinned man and a slim pale woman with white hair and an eye patch.

"Talk about opposites," Rinoa thought listening to the bigger man drone on. She moved the food around her plate, pretending to be interested in the man's speech about his work at Garden.

"So ya know the guy's all, 'I could take ya.' And I was like, 'Yo, punk I could take you with one hand behind my back, ya know," the bulky man said, flailing his arms animatedly. Rinoa smiled and looked to the kitchen door opened and Zell appeared. As her eyes traveled back down to her plate, Rinoa's eyes met with Ma Dincht, who glared at her. Rinoa smiled politely and turned back to the half eaten hot dog on her plate, then to Zell who sat beside her.

"So, uh, Rinoa how is your father?" Zell asked breaking the silence at the table.

"Yes," said Ma Dincht, slightly uninterested, "how is the General?"

"Oh, well, ya know as good as ever. I suppose," Rinoa said politely.

"SEIFER?" the pale woman asked.

"Yeah, yeah, how's Seifer, ya know?" said the burley man beside the woman.

"He's… Seifer," Rinoa answered with a smile covering the awkward feeling that she felt whenever talking about her brother.

"Yeah," the large man laughed aloud. "Sounds like Seifer."

"AFFRIMATIVE," the white haired girl agreed. There was a loud buzz coming from the kitchen breaking the silence that followed the conversation. Zell popped up.

"I'll be right back," he said.

"I'll help you," Rinoa said getting up, not wanting to be under the spotlight of Zell's overbearing mother and mismatched adopted siblings.

As she entered the kitchen, Zell was pulling a cake from the oven with what looked to be chocobo shaped oven mitts. She looked over his shoulder as he placed it on the stove to cool.

"It looks delicious, Zell," she said with a smile. He smiled back.

"Thank you," he said, moving over to the other counter to clear room.

"You haven't told them yet, have you?" Rinoa asked, leaning against the stove.

"About the baby?" he asked turning to her. She nodded. "Well no, not yet. But I was think, ya know, when I do, I could say it was mine," Zell said sweetly. Rinoa thought about it for a moment. But it wasn't his. But on the other hand, Zell was a really sweet guy. He was willing to take responsibility for a kid that wasn't his, unlike its father. Zell didn't think marriage was a prison. They wouldn't be miserable. But he wasn't the father. Squall was.

"Listen," she said, turning around to grab the cake, "I-" Rinoa instantly let out a yelp noticing her mistake dropping the cake to the floor. She shook her hands rapidly trying to beat out the pain that shot through them.

"Oh dear," Zell said grabbing her hands.

"Oh not it's-" She let out another screech of shock as Zell shoved her hands under cold water from the sink.

The door to the kitchen burst open immediately revealing Ma Dincht and Fujin and Raijin.

"What happened," Ma Dincht demanded stomping over to the cake, picking the plate off the floor with the mitts.

"She burned her hands it's no big deal, Ma," Zell said turning to the crowd that had gathered in her kitchen.

"Butter is better for burns," Ma Dincht said, ripping Rinoa's hands from the sink

"No, that's really not-" Rinoa protested as the older woman sliced two pieces of butter off the slab and slapping one pad on each of Rinoa's palms. She had to admit, the butter did feel better than the water, but it was so embarrassing.

"Okay now," Zell said over the confusion. "Everyone out so I can finish in here." He herded everyone back out into the dining room. Rinoa resumed her seat and began wiping the butter from her hands with her napkin.

Zell arrived back with a large hot dog shaped cake in hand. Rinoa's heart stopped, she knew he was going to trip over something in the tight area and the cake would go everywhere, but mostly over her. But to her surprise Zell expertly maneuvered his way around the room.

"Wow, Zell, that looks amazing, ya know," said his large adoptive brother.

"AMAZING," announced Fujin.

"Thanks, ya know, I try," Zell replied setting the cake on the table.

"Hey Rin, ya know, if you ever marry Zell here, you won't ever have to worry about cooking ever again," Raijin said. Zell looked up at the other man and shook his head, a silent plea for him to shut up about the marriage talk. Rinoa, too, looked uncomfortable at Raijin's mention of marriage, considering the conversation in the kitchen and the thoughts that followed. She grabbed her glass and took a long drink of the water inside, wishing it was wine. As she set the glass back down she hit the plate in front of her, chipping off a piece, earning a glare from Ma. When she tried to fix it, Rinoa knocked the glass, spilling water all over herself.

"Oh God," she said wiping at it quickly.

"Here let me help you," Zell said, coming at her with his napkin.

"Oh don't worry about the dress I'm more worried about the table," Rinoa said, wiping at the table. Ma rolled her eyes.

"Let's go get you cleaned up," Zell said helping her up and out into the kitchen.

"Good think it wasn't hot coffee, ya know," Raijin called.

"She is a pretty girl," Ma said. "Too bad she is such a klutz."