008. family

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Squall's grip on the telephone progressively kept tightening. He was sure he was going to break it any second. "Xu, I'm already signing the paperwork for the new cadets-" He stopped, pulling the phone away from his ear a little when he heard her having a go at Nida for some reason. Seriously, what was with her all of a sudden? What was with everyone all of a sudden? Nobody wanted to seem to leave him alone and get on with the work he was supposed to do. What was the point of being a Commander with all these responsibilities when he could barely fulfill any of them without being constantly bombarded with annoying distractions?

Without saying anything more, Squall slammed the phone down onto the receiver and pulled the plug out from its socket because screw it. He couldn't take another stupid call anymore.

He shifted in his desk chair and focused back onto the screen of his computer, continuing to finish the reply of the email he was supposed to send out two hours ago.

Just as he hit the send button, a knock came through his office door which furthered his irritation.

Please don't let it be Xu. Hearing her complain through the phone was one thing, but in person was an entirely different thing.

When he was about to tell the person to come back later, the door had already opened.

Rinoa quietly came in, carrying their one year old daughter against her chest as she shut the door behind her. When the raven haired noticed his situation, she immediately winced. "I'm sorry, bad timing?"

Squall instantly relaxed, the stress and anger disappearing when he lay his eyes on the two of them. "No, no, it's fine."

Relieved, Rinoa started walking over to him, looking at their daughter with a laugh. "She wanted to see you. Do you wanna go over to daddy, Julia?"

Little Julia made excited breathing noises when she saw him, flailing her hands around to reach for him. The sight made Squall smile, his chest covering with warmth as Rinoa handed her over to him on his lap. "Missed me, didn't you?" he asked Julia as she started giggling. Squall let out a chuckle himself and left a soft kiss on her forehead, "I missed you too."

He heard Rinoa sigh and looked up to see her slumping down on the chair opposite his desk. "You look tired," he told her, noticing the light dark circles underneath her eyes.

Rinoa sent him a worn smile. "You do too."

Squall shook his head with a sigh of his own and stared at the state of his desk. "It's been busy."

"Yeah, I could tell. I walked past Xu without her noticing me and she didn't sound very happy."

"What else is new?" he snorted dryly, glancing down at his daughter who was idly playing with his jacket, "It's been like that for the last two years whenever we get new trainees. There's always a screw up in the system that's bound to happen."

"Mm," Rinoa hummed, "I mean, doesn't it get even worse when you're the headmaster?"

Squall grunted quietly. "Why do you think I'm still refusing Cid's offer? Looking at the monstrosity that's his office gives me the biggest headache."

"I guess so," Rinoa smiled at Julia, changing the subject, "She played with Angelo today and managed to tire her out that she fell asleep."

"Really?" Amused, Squall balanced Julia's feet on his lap so that she was standing on it, "And you haven't slept at all today? I can already tell you're going to be a bothersome when you're older, huh?"

Julia giggled as he left a few more ticklish kisses on her face before settling her back down again.

There was a moment of comforting silence between them, save for their daughter's baby babbles. Then Rinoa went on about the other things she did with Julia and how she was starting to say a few words. Walking wasn't far off from the equation either and Squall smiled, happy to know that their daughter was progressing well. He could still remember a month ago when they managed to make her waddle back and forth between them in the comfort of their living room. It was something Squall treasured dearly.

He and Rinoa were still young... a young married couple with a child at that. Having a baby at nineteen was unheard of in Balamb, especially in the centre of Garden and while Julia wasn't meant to be so early in their lives, nobody dared to speak up about it as well as their marriage. Laguna was more than happy to be a grandfather and Ellone was excited to become an aunt. Their friends practically threw a congratulations party for them. Then Selphie and Quistis hosted a baby shower for Rinoa later down the line.

Squall managed his time better than before, because there was no way in Hell he'd give up any time being with his wife and daughter. He was the Commander of Garden to many, but he was a father and husband to two people he cared about and changed his life the most.

"I was thinking," he said before he could stop himself. Rinoa blinked at him as he hesitantly continued, "Do... Do you wanna take a week or two off with me? We can bring Angelo along too and just go somewhere... as a family."

He didn't know why the last part sounded so foreign against his tongue. Oh yeah, maybe because it was.

Rinoa grinned gleefully at him. "You mean like a family vacation?"

Squall just nodded, ignoring the fluster on his cheeks. "Yeah. Anywhere you want to go," he smiled at the sounds of his daughter's excitement, "She seems to be on board with it."

"Of course she is," Rinoa laughed and nodded, "All right, that sounds fun! When do you want to start packing?"

He thought for a second, gazing at his work load and then at Julia chewing on the zipper of his jacket. "I'll get Quistis to fill in for me, she won't mind. We can start getting ready now and leave tomorrow?"

Rinoa beamed and practically jumped up from her seat. "No arguments there!"

Julia seemed to have shared the same enthusiasm as she started clapping her hands. Squall inwardly laughed at their similarities and stood up himself, safely holding Julia against him. He leaned down to place a kiss on Rinoa's lips before taking her hand into his free one. "Leonhart family trip is set."

"Squall," Rinoa snorted as they headed out the door, "You sound like such a dad."

"...Please don't tell anyone I said that."

"Oh, I won't."