Zell looked down at the woman whose head was resting on his bare chest. They now both resided in his bed upstairs. There had been no sexual encounter between the two of them the previous night.

When their lips had finally found a pause long enough for them to travel up the stairs, Quistis stated how tired she was.

So here Zell was staring down at the serene locks of hair that were blowing across her face, prompted to do so by the gentle breeze that floated in through his window.

If Quistis had been awake she would've been looking at what she came to find. The relief was so evident on his face and smiles nestled themselves into his eyes. He was so far separated from thejagged, hard man she had first witnessed upon her arrival.

Zell tried his best to keep completely still and just soak up the feeling of Quistis' body snuggled up next to his. However, his impulses finally won out and he planted a kiss onto her lips. He flashed a huge smile as the realization he could do that hit him.

Quistis was pleasantly surprised as she woke up. She kept her eyes closed as she smiled and then proceeded to pucker her lips for another kiss which Zell readily gave to her.

"Good morning beautiful." Zell said, his all-encompassing happiness obvious in his words.

Quistis' heart fluttered. (He's happy, he's truly happy…he just called me beautiful. That feels so…right to hear him say that.) Quistis' heart fluttered a second time as she pressed her head to his chest and breathed in his scent.

Quistis didn't realize how nice the hotel was despite having been there for a week. Each room was equipped with a personal answering machine. Quistis' was being put to good use as the phone in her room rang steadily. Someone had called 5 times in a row and the 6th set of rings started.

The machine clicked on, telling the caller that they had called the Winhill hotel and had reached room 103, whose patron was currently unavailable, and then beeped allowing them to leave a message.

"Hey Babe, it's me. Just wanted to call and surprise you but you obviously aren't there. I've called like 8 times for you now. Anyway, I've got something kind of important to tell you so call me back if you get this anytime soon. Love you Quist. Bye." The sound of a phone being hung up was heard and the message ended.

It wasn't long before Quistis got out of bed and began putting clothes back on. She giggled as Zell stared at her. It was nice having someone stare at her the way he did. It boosteed her self-esteem in a way she couldn't explain.

Zell sat there and stared at the absolutely gorgeous girl dressing before him. He knew it probably seemed like he was gawking but he didn't care. He had waited a long time for a moment like this to come. When she was fully dressed, he also got out of bed and put on his clothes.

"Well Quist if you like we can go get your stuff and move it in here so you don't have to stay at the motel any longer than you have to." Zell said, his smile lighting up the room around him.

"I kind of figured we'd go home now." Quistis said hoping for a favorable response.

(I have nothing left to stay in Winhill for, so why not) He reasoned with himself. "I guess I thought we would just ride out the rest of our 'vacation' together."

Quistis smiled at the thought. "You know Zell, that sounds amazing." She said sincerely.

She began to walk down the stairs and of course Zell fell in behind her stride. As she exited the house she turned and extended her hand towards him with a smile.

Zell beamed even wider. He reached out and gently intwined his fingers with hers and they walked together towards the motel.

Zell had never felt happier in his entire life. Here he was, walking hand in hand was an absolutely stunning girl who had confessed her love for him. He let out a sigh that was so satisfied, Quistis turned and laughed at him.

There before them was the motel, slowly coming closer and closer into view. The numbers on the doors became clearer as they drew close until they could see the numbers 103 on her door.

They were no more than 30 feet from the door when it opened. It happened so fast that neither Zell nor Quistis really knew what to expect.

But the gray jacket that flowed on either side of Seifer as he walked out of the room was unmistakable.

Seifer's arms opened wide as he stared at his girlfriend with an ecstatic smile blessing his face.

It took no more than a second for Quistis to rapidly drop Zell's hand and throw herself towards her boyfriend. The deep-seeded anger and scowl that had been so ever-present on Zell's face returned with all the fervor it had lost over the few previous days.

Zell didn't know what to think.

(I should've known this would happen. I mean what did I expect; for her to completely stop Seifer and say 'Seifer, I don't love you anymore, I'm with Zell now.'") However, in the deepest regions of his heart he had hoped that would be the case. That she would throw Seifer away and declare her love for him.

Yet, hope survived as Seifer spun his girlfriend around and moved out of the doorway. Another soul with a petite frame moved out into the foggy Winhill morning.

(Rinoa.)

Even just thinking her name brought utter joy to his heart. He didn't have time to place another thought before she had jumped on him and hugged his neck.

"Rinoa…I…" Zell stammered, the smile that had disappeared surfaced once more.

"Zell, I missed you too." Rinoa cried, stealing the words from Zell's stuttering lips. Zell grabbed her again and embraced her small body.

Quistis looked over to see her best friend holding Zell. It made her extremely jealous to see the display of affection between the two. She was being held in the arms of her boyfriend but the only thing she could think was how close Rinoa's body was to Zell's.

"Come on Zell, let's leave the two lovebirds to have their reunion in peace." Rinoa called out as she started dragging Zell away from Seifer and Quistis. Zell didn't protest, he just felt that fresh heartache sink back into his life as he watched the couple kiss zealously.

Zell and Rinoa reached the beach outside of his house in little time. There they started catching up on each other's lives. Rinoa couldn't help but make a comment on Zell's response to Seifer and her showing up.

"So, Zell, I saw that look on your face when Seifer appeared." Rinoa laughed as she questioned him about it. Zell couldn't help but laugh along with his friend.

"I couldn't help it, it was a visceral response." Zell defended.

"Oh yeah, right." Rinoa retorted with a giggle.

"Then I take it you also saw the smile that erupted on my face when I saw you?" Zell asked.

Rinoa's smile faded as she looked at Zell. Her tone became deadly serious.

"Yeah, I did, and it meant the world to me Zell. I missed you so much." Rinoa said wrapping her arms around him again.

"So, how long are you staying?" Zell questioned.

"Well, Seifer insists that Quistis will ask us to stay as long as she is going to. However, the truth of the matter is we'll be leaving two days from now. Both of us, she won't let us stay." Rinoa explained. "How have things been going with her anyway?"

Zell shook his head and paused a second before he began to speak. He chose his words carefully as he started. "Yesterday, things were great…she told me…she told me that she loved me. That that was her reason for coming here in the first place. Anyway, that lasted for about ten seconds before her ever-loving boyfriend traipsed onto the scene." Zell shook his head a second time and placed his face in his hands.

Rinoa placed a comforting hand on his back as she began to tell him why she had come all this way.

"Zell, I came all this way to tell you something. I wanted to apologize for causing this. It was my fault that Quistis went with Seifer and because of that I screwed up what chances you had with her. I'm extremely sorry Zell." Rinoa apologized.

Zell brushed off her apology with a wave of his hand. "Rin, if there's anyone to blame it's me. I was the one who told her to go with Seifer in the first place. So don't you dare blame yourself for something I did." Zell's voice quivered slightly as he spoke. "Thank you for coming to see me."

Quistis and Seifer had found their way into the motel room and the tone of their conversation was fundamentally different.

"Why did you come here?" Quistis asked Seifer, the irritation obvious in her voice.

"I wanted to make sure you were alright babe. That's all." Seifer said submissively.

Quistis lips were drawn and she spoke harshly. "Seifer, I am so angry with you right now. I was finally making progress with Zell and I think your appearance has ruined every single thing I worked for." Seifer wasn't able to hold back his explosive temper for long.

"So let me get this, I travel all the way to see MY girlfriend, something that should be a pleasant surprise, someone she should've missed this WHOLE time and you get piseed at me for ruining progress that you've made with CHICKENWUSS." Seifer yelled back at her.

Quistis' anger subsided as she looked at her fuming boyfriend. She put her arms around and pressed her lips softly to his. "I'm sorry Seifer, I did miss you, so much baby. It's just I've been working so hard and I'm worried this might have affected that." Quistis said apologetically.

Seifer's anger didn't last for long with Quistis' arms wrapped around him. "Well, I'm sorry too Quist. I just missed you so much and I wanted to come see you and Rinoa said she was coming too. So, here we are." Seifer's relief at Quistis' safety was physically apparent. "Now come here."

He pulled Quistis closed to him and began an assault on her lips.

"Come on Zell, we should probably go find them, I think we've left them alone long enough." Rinoa commented.

Zell nodded and realized how imminent a fight between Seifer and him was. He wondered how long he could postpone it before his pent-up anger overtook him.