(12)

Of Bonds and Secrets

Squall smiled at Mary as there was a knock on the front door, "I'll get it."

"Thank you." Mary replied.

The brunet opened the door and his eyes widened as Raine, followed by Rinoa walked into the house, "Where is Seifer?"

Raine glared haughtily at him. Squall rubbed his nape in an absentminded fashion, "He's still sleeping."

Rinoa walked up the steps, "I'll wake him up."

'Perfect!' Raine sneered and grabbed Squall's arm as he turned to follow Rinoa, "Why don't you tell me who the hell you are? Seifer is my son, you know."

Squall cast an annoyed look up the stairs where Rinoa had disappeared into their room, "Seifer is my lover, I'm not sure if he shared that information with you yet."

"Actually, he did; and rather lavishly too."

Squall looked uncomfortable and Mary came to his rescue, "Mrs. Raine, isn't that a pleasant surprise so early in the morning."

Squall sighed as Raine pulled him in her wake to the living room, where she sat him down and worked to buy her daughter some time.

Rinoa looked at the sleeping form of her half-brother. Her dress fell to her feet, along with all her inner garments. Seifer barely stirred as she climbed under the blankets and pressed herself to his back.

Seifer sighed and came awake, "Squall, later…I'm sleepy. It's your fault…had to stay up and make love to you so that you wouldn't cry yourself to sleep."

Rinoa tensed and Seifer made himself comfortable but didn't bother to turn. She ran her hand across his broad shoulders and strong arms but said nothing.

Seifer sighed but something was wrong. The hands that caressed him were shaky and there was something with the small body pressed snugly against him.

The figure seemed to tense and Rinoa pulled away from the blonde, "I'm sorry."

Seifer bolted upright, "WHAT THE FUCK!" he roared.

Squall heard Seifer's bellow of obvious displeasure, "Maybe I should calm his nerves before something happens to Ms. Rinoa."

Raine looked terrified and she followed him out of the living room and bumped into him when he stopped at the foot of the stairs, clearly transfixed by something he saw there.

Denzel ran out of his room in his boxers, "What happened?"

His voice was clogged with sleep but soon even that disappeared.

Seifer was holding onto a woman's arm, a fierce glare on his face.

"Seifer?" Squall asked.

Rinoa was covering her apparently naked body with one of the blankets she managed to pull as Seifer dragged her out of the room.

"This is the last straw mother!"

Mary gasped at the scene unfolding across the stairs.

Rinoa was crying, Denzel was smiling, Squall was looking worried and Raine was shaking.

"Seifer…"

"No, Squall, don't Seifer me. This is the cheap trash mother had arranged for me to marry!"

Denzel whistled from behind him, "You sure didn't sleep well, Angel. You're hurting the poor thing, let go of her."

Rinoa fell to her knees as Seifer let go. Denzel helped her to her feet, a goofy smile on his face, "This is just not your day, lassie."

Rinoa was shaking with fear ad Seifer sneered.

Squall ran up the stairs to his lover, "Seifer, what happened."

"You want to know what happened…" Seifer laughed cruelly, "You can read it out of the Dailies tonight! Mary, have reporter Sam come over here immediately."

Squall looked thunderstruck and Raine just stared.

Rinoa began wailing and Denzel was laughing. "Shut up Dens, this is not funny." Denzel laughed, "Are you kidding…it's all becoming clear now. I assume this is Rinoa, right?"

Squall nodded.

"Well, it's easy, old pal of mine, Rinoa here would travel to great lengths to have Seifer as her husband, and being found naked on the bed would force any noble man into marrying her to protect her honor."

Squall pouted, "He's lying, right?" he asked Rinoa.

The brunette bent her head in shame.

"Bulls eye." Denzel whispered.

He pushed her away, "I'm sorry, but I don't feel like helping you anymore, after all Squall and Seifer are my friends and you tried setting them up. It'll be funny to see what the news would make of this."

Squall frowned. Seifer had already gone into his room and pulled on his robe. "Seifer, please calm down…it's not as bad as you are making it look like."

"Not as bad. You can at least pretend to get angry…she slept naked with me."

Squall chuckled dryly, "I know you love me, and Rinoa isn't exactly the kind of person I would get jealous of. She isn't brave enough for a Lion like you."

That seemed to somewhat soothe Seifer's frayed nerves. The blonde pulled Squall closer and ravaged his young lover's lips, "How you manage to pacify my anger is way beyond me."

Raine appeared in the doorway, "Please…no…no…"

Seifer ignored her but Squall pulled away form his lover's arms. "I'm sorry…I never thought you would go to great lengths to get what you want."

"If you post this in the Dailies…" Raine looked horrified, "No…"

Seifer frowned then a smile curled his features, "Why? You would become famous, mother."

"No…"

Rinoa appeared in the doorway, followed by Denzel, "Aren't you going to tell him, mother?"

Seifer's jade eyes widened, "Did she just say…"

"Mother?" Denzel finished.

Denzel grinned as Squall took control of the situation, "Let's go talk in the living room where we can all talk over cookies and cups of tea."

"Like hell…what the fuck is going on here, mother? I demand to know this moment!"

Squall pressed a kiss to Seifer's cheek, "Good morning, Angel. We'll be downstairs, come after you freshen up, okay?"

Seifer looked incredulous as Squall led his mother, Rinoa and Denzel downstairs.

Moments later, Seifer walked in, dressed in faded jeans and a turquoise shirt, "I suppose you are all settled and ready to explain."

Raine glared at her daughter, who had put on one of Squall's outfits.

Rinoa shrugged, "Raine is my mother."

"Since when?" Seifer spat.

He sat by his lover and glared daggers at the women, "Start from the beginning."

Denzel grinned, "Angel looks more like Lucifer at the moment. Seifer, you're scaring them already."

Rinoa glared at Denzel, "You are annoying."

"And you're going to explain." Seifer stated through clenched teeth.

Rinoa shrugged, "It's rather simple…on the day your father died"

"It's not like that!" Raine cried.

She looked pale and Squall feared she would faint at any moment.

Denzel stood and rolled his shoulders, "Comon, you don't have to let them explain what is already obvious, Angel. On the day your father died, your mother sought comfort in another man's arms and thus Rinoa came to be. Knowing that Rinoa is an illegitimate child, Raine sought to protect her and her own self, and the best way to do that was to keep the scandal within the family…the only eligible bachelor who would most probably ignore the fact that Rinoa is a bastard child is you. However, you enjoy giving women a hard time. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Raine forced Rinoa into pulling out the last scheme…Rinoa, dear, I didn't miss anything out, did I?"