A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you for the reviews and new alerts/followers! xoxox


Irvine glanced down at his watch. Again. He let out a sigh and looked up to see Squall lazily drum his fingers atop the bar counter. "Try calling her again," Squall said.

"It just goes straight to voicemail," Irvine grumbled. "She's never this late." He leaned against the bar, his chin cupped by his palm. "Thanks for staying with me though," he said. "You didn't have to."

"Of course."

The bartender approached them with a polite nod. "Still waiting fellas?" When Squall nodded the bartender pointed to their glasses. "Want a refill?"

"Uh…no, I think I'm ok for now. Squall?"

"I'm alright, thank you." He looked down at what was left of his beer and drummed his fingers against the glass. "Call her again."

"I don't know man…she has been avoiding me this whole time. Maybe I should just let it go."

"Say that shit again and I will jam this glass down your fucking throat."

Irvine's face shifted into a scowl and for a moment Squall thought that he would throw the cell phone at him. "Fuckin—What the hell man? I fucked up! I made a mistake, told her about it, and she dumped me. She's been avoiding my phone calls, barely answered any of my texts during the last bits of the tour…I was surprised as hell that she agreed to meet me today." He let out a long and defeated sigh before placing his elbows atop the counter, his hands scratching through his hair. "Maybe she got some sense knocked into her and saw that I'm shit. She deserves better. Maybe this is the sign I've been waiting for."

"What sign?"

"To let her go."

Squall kept his mouth clenched so tightly that his jaw started to hurt. He wanted to tell Irvine about the phone call with Selphie this morning, tell him that she was a bit upset thinking that he had flaked on her, but instead he stayed quiet. After a few minutes of silence, Squall finally said, "Call her again."

Irvine wasn't even able to pick up his phone. It started ringing.

"That her?"

"No, that's not her ringtone," Irvine said. His ringtone for Selphie was ACDC's "Shook me all Night Long," and the tone that was currently playing was Ozzy's "Crazy Train." Irvine frowned at the unknown number that flashed across the screen. "Hello?"

"Is this Irvine Kinneas?"

"Speaking?"

"Hi, this is Xu Rivers from Lady Adel's Memorial Hospital, you are an emergency contact of Selphie Tilmitt, correct?"

Irvine froze and glanced over to Squall. "Uh…yeah. Her parents moved to Trabia about a year ago…why? She's at the hospital?"

Squall's gaze shot into Irvine's direction and he frowned in confusion.

"Miss Tilmitt was in a car accident earlier today…"

"What?" he gasped, standing so suddenly that his bar stool circled and wobbled behind him, nearly crashing over.

"She's ok! She's ok Mr. Kinneas, she's not entirely ready to go home yet but we are required to alert her contact. Eventually she will need a ride home, the person she was with is not in condition to drive either."

Irvine's nails dug into the collar of his shirt. "Who was she with?"

"Rinoa Heartilly, we're trying to contact her father at the moment but you answered your phone first."

"We'll be there." He hung up and jutted his chin towards Squall. "Selphie and Rinoa were in a car accident."

Squall felt his entire body freeze up and Irvine quickly gripped his arm. "They're fine. But Rinoa's dad isn't answering his phone so they called me."

"Caraway's out of town for a training retreat," Squall answered, throwing down some cash onto the bar and following Irvine out the door.


The whole drive over Squall felt his body tense with every passing minute. His fists were tightly clenched, he had broken two cigarettes within his grip. It spoke volumes about how stressed Irvine was, he didn't even argue or protest when Squall lit up. He half expected Irvine to bum one himself.

"Fuckin' shit," Irvine finally said aloud, murmuring and muttering as if he were speaking to himself. "A car accident…a fucking car accident. So bad to the point that she can't drive…"

"Irvine. Shut up."

"How bad must it have been that she had to go to the hospital?"

Squall shut his eyes, his finger gripped the base of the cigarette and he felt the ashed tip crumble and fall onto his knuckles. "Shut up."

"But what if—"

"Irvine! Shut the fuck up and just fucking drive." Squall didn't think Irvine was in the best state of mind to drive them to the hospital, but the cowboy refused Squall's offer to take his Jeep. Irvine suggested that Squall follow him, to which Squall responded that he would rather pay the extra in cab fare back to Diablo's for his Jeep to make sure that Irvine was keeping his head the whole drive. Couldn't do that if they somehow got separated by a traffic light, could he?

Irvine barely put the car into park when he pulled into the visitor's lot of the hospital.

"Goddammit—Irvine!" Squall shouted, maneuvering himself so he parked the SUV and pushed the parking break. Grabbing the keys from the ignition, Squall raced after him.

Irvine was panting when he reached the information desk. "Yes, we're here to pick up my girl—um…" Irvine shook his head. "Selphie Tilmitt? She and her friend Rinoa Heartilly were in a car accident earlier."

The woman behind the counter went through the logs and nodded when she came across the names. "Yes, they're sharing a room. Upstairs on the seventh level in room number…" She squinted as she peered at the computer screen. "Room number 5388." She peeled off two visitor's stickers and handed them over. "Sign in here," she said, sliding a clipboard towards Squall.

"Thanks." He scribbled in his and Irvine's names and sent it back. "Come on." He slapped the sticker onto his chest and shoved Irvine towards the elevators.

Squall clenched his jaw as they crossed through the hall. Even though he had previously worked in the hospital, he could never get used to the smell. The wing where he had worked was away from the emergency section, away from the jarring scent of antiseptic and bleach.

The first half of the ward they walked by had open rooms with no doors, only curtains in place for privacy. He steeled himself as he walked by the sounds of terrified moans and whimpers of pain of patients waiting to be seen. Beside him he could feel Irvine's anxiety heighten, dampening the air around him like a drenched towel.

"What if—"

"Keep walking," Squall barked.

In the elevator, Irvine stared at his shoes. "That's blood," he whispered.

Squall followed his gaze and landed upon a small blood stain, a droplet of red that was barely even a half inch in diameter. "It's nothing," Squall said.

"That is blood."

"Irvine. We're in a hospital. There's going to be blood. Don't touch it."

The doors opened and Squall ushered him through to the 5300 hallway. As they came upon the door to room 5388 Squall hesitated. He hadn't heard any information about the state of the girls other than they were in a car accident earlier. Clearly if there had been any surgery involved it would have already ended since they were in a room. He had no idea what awaited him behind the door. Only that on the other side was Rinoa. And she was in pain.

He really, really did not like that.

When Squall saw Rinoa sitting in the hospital bed, he felt his heart stop. Around her head was a gauze bandage with a little spot of red seeping through. She turned to him, and he could see the beginnings of bruises forming above her right eyebrow and the bandaid upon her cheek.

"Rinoa," he gasped, crossing the distance of the room in quick strides. He wanted to pick her up into his arms, wanted to hold her tight against his chest to prove to himself that she was there in front of him, but when he saw her wincing in pain just to stand to her feet, he restrained himself. His fingers were outstretched for her but he kept his distance.

"I'm ok," she whispered, her voice hoarse. "I'm sure I look worse than I feel, promise. I'm ok." She tried to lift her arms to hug him but cried out and nearly folded into herself. "Shit," she hissed.

Squall carefully held her by the shoulders and leaned her into his chest.

"What happened?" Irvine asked, the words hardly able to come out as he watched her struggle to stand. "Where's Selphie?"

"They…they just took her away," Rinoa answered. "About ten minutes ago."

"To where?"

Rinoa paused, grimacing as she tried to form her words. "They just wanted to check something. She was having cramps."

"What happened?" Squall asked her.

"We were leaving…we were running errands," she corrected. "We were at a red light. Light turned green so Selphie started to go. Some asswipe ran the red light and slammed into us and made us crash headfirst into the hood of the car on the other side of the intersection."

Squall tenderly ran his fingers over the bruises along her brow, his graze so gentle that Rinoa wasn't even sure that he was touching her. "Window?" he asked her.

"Hm? Oh. Yeah. The impact caused me to jerk this way and then get thrown against the window." She held up her arms to show him the forming bruises along her forearms. "I managed to get these up before we crashed into the other car so my face wouldn't go into the dashboard."

A knock came at the door and a doctor gingerly poked his head in. "Hello," he said. "I'm Doctor Craven. Are you here to pick up these ladies?"

"Yes, where's Selphie Tilmitt?" Irvine asked.

"Miss Tilmitt will be back shortly," said Craven, who was now approaching Rinoa to check her bandages. "She was complaining of cramps because she got hit in the abdomen with the steering wheel. We're running an emergency ultrasound on her right now."

"Oh." Irvine nodded slowly and let out a slow breath. "To…what? Check for internal bleeding?"

Craven nodded. He gently rewrapped the bandage around Rinoa's head. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm ok. How are the other people?"

"They're just fine Miss Heartilly, you and Miss Tilmitt got the worst of it sadly. The driver of the third car has already been discharged and the driver who hit you is still making their statement. I apologize if nurse Xu's phone call has left you shaken, we just wanted to make sure these girls had a proper ride home when it was time for discharge," Craven said to Irvine. "The girls are just about home free but we thought it best to run an ultrasound to check on the status of the baby."

Irvine's head jerked, his blue eyes widened, and Squall could see the color drain from the cowboy's face.

"The…what?" Irvine gasped. Before the doctor could open his mouth to respond, Irvine turned to Rinoa, his eyes large and glassy as his mind tried to comprehend this new information. "Rinoa…she's pregnant?"

Rinoa shied away from him, half hiding behind Squall's body. "I…" she whispered, her voice trembling. "I…" The words that came from her were nothing more than crackling sounds of syllables that hardly made sense.

Squall stepped forward and hooked her behind him. "Selphie's pregnant, Irvine," he said.

"She's about seven weeks," Rinoa said quietly.

As the wheels started turning, Irvine slowly blinked. "Seven…but we've been gone five…"

"No!" Rinoa cried, instantly wincing when the sudden outburst caused her ribs to throb. "They start counting the week of her last period." Rinoa groaned and leaned against Squall when he reached behind him to place a hand around her back. "Don't ever think that of her…you were her everything!"

Irvine swallowed and looked back to the doctor.

Craven's jaw was set and his eyes darkened as he realized his mistake. "I'm so sorry," he whispered to Rinoa. "I thought…I thought that it was common knowledge." He looked back over to Irvine and nervously swallowed. "When the girls were brought in the first thing that Miss Tilmitt mentioned—quite strongly, in fact—was that she was pregnant."

"She's been refusing pain meds because she doesn't want it to affect the baby," Rinoa said softly, hardly able to meet Irvine's gaze.

"I'm so sorry," Craven said again. "I…I'm going to check on Selphie. I'll be back in just a moment."

After the doctor closed the door behind him, the room was filled with that sickening thick and tense silence. Rinoa kept her eyes glued to the floor, her fingertips tightly gripping the hem of Squall's shirt.

"A baby?" Irvine whispered finally. "A baby? What…I…the fuck…?" Irvine clutched his temples and wavered a step. "Squall…I can't be a father."

Rinoa was about to speak, or yell, or scream, or punch Irvine, she wasn't entirely sure what she wanted to do in that split moment because Squall cut in front of her.

"Yes, you can," he said, his voice rough.

Irvine shook his head, his eyes large and watery as his body trembled. "I'm no father! I don't know the first thing about how to be a father. My old man…all I learned from him was how to abandon a child—not fucking raise it! I can't—"

Rinoa stilled, she didn't know anything about Irvine's past, she hardly even knew about Squall's. She had no idea about Irvine's home life or if even such a life existed. She only knew that Selphie's parents had moved to Trabia a few years after Selphie went to college.

Before Rinoa could even put together a thought, Squall gripped Irvine around the collar and slammed him against the wall, causing Rinoa to jump in panic. "Squall!" she gasped, unsure of the scene unfolding before her. She thought about how he had punched Irvine the night of the infidelity…what would he do now?

"Don't fucking say that," Squall growled through clenched teeth. "Man the fuck up and be a father or at the very least be more of a man than your dad. Just because your old man was a piece of shit doesn't mean you have to follow in his footsteps."

Tears sprang to Irvine's eyes and his face contorted into a pained scowl. "I'll fuck it up," he whispered.

"You won't," Squall protested. "Because I'll be there. Zell will be there. Even though you feel that you won't be much of a father, Zell and I will gladly pick up any slack." Squall let go and watched as Irvine stumbled backwards into the visitor's chair. "I'm sure fatherhood isn't for everyone," he said. "But what if I told you that Selphie was planning on getting an abortion?"

"Squall—!" Rinoa shouted.

Irvine's face of pure horror prevented her from saying anything else. His reaction nearly broke her heart. She saw what Squall had intended. Even though Irvine was terrified of being a father after finding out that he was unexpectedly going to become one, he was more terrified at the thought of losing his child.

Irvine quickly glanced away. "Fuck…don't tell me that, man. I mean…it's her body, I will not tell her what to do." Despite his strong statement, Irvine's voice shook and he was hardly able to tear his gaze away from the ground.

"If she keeps it what are you going to do?" Squall demanded.

Rinoa squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her forehead into Squall's spine, her fingers clenching at his shirt as she tried to hold in a wail. Oh Selphie… she thought. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.

The door clicked open and Selphie was rolled in on a wheelchair by Dr. Craven. Her eyes immediate sought out Irvine and she tightened her lips. Irvine shot to his feet, his jaw aghast as he took in the sight of her. Her left arm was in a sling, a gauze square was taped to her left cheek, and her legs were covered in splotches of red and purple.

"Selphie…" he whispered.

She managed a slight smile. "Not broken," she said, gingerly lifting her arm in the sling that Irvine was currently staring at. "Sprained, but not broken." She took in a deep breath and looked over to Rinoa. "Go ahead and go home," she said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Selphie grimaced and made a move to stand from the chair. Irvine immediately came to her side and helped her up. "We…have a lot to talk about," she said quietly, speaking into his chest as she curled her fingers into his shirt.

"Yes, we do."

Selphie looked back to Rinoa and gave her a nod as well as an attempt at an assuring smile. "Rin, go home. Please."

"Selphie—"

Selphie groaned and aimed her gaze at Squall. "Squall," she muttered forcefully. "Get her home. Now."

"Will do." Squall gave Selphie a salute and gently took Rinoa by the shoulders. "Let's go."

Rinoa hesitated, resisting against Squall's pull as she glanced back and forth between the two ahead of her. "Wait…but Selphie—"

Squall leaned in closely to her ear. "I will carry you out of here," he said through clenched teeth. "This doesn't concern you. Let's go." He gave Doctor Craven a nod of farewell and ushered Rinoa towards the door. Completely ignoring her heated glare that was attempting to melt through his head, he pulled out his phone and dialed a cab.

"Where's your car?" she asked.

"Diablo's."


After retrieving his car Squall took Rinoa home. As he escorted her up the steps he wondered if she should pack a bag and stay at his place or if he should just stay there. Either way, he wasn't leaving her side, whether she liked it or not. He knew she was upset at him for spilling Selphie's secret, and it wasn't that he didn't care that she was angry at him, instead he had more important things to focus on.

Rinoa hardly said a word to him the entire drive home. She sat quietly in her seat and gazed out the window while Squall was forced into small talk with the cab driver. His Jeep became a quiet place of asylum on the drive to Rinoa's apartment.

At the top of the landing, Squall fished Rinoa's spare key from his pocket and walked her inside. "Are you hungry?" he asked her, maneuvering through the dark apartment with ease. Once he reached the kitchen he flicked on the light and looked at her.

She was pale. Around her eyes were dark shadows and the bruises along her face started to grow and form, exposing the point of impact of the window. It was then he was reminded of how small she truly was. She was fierce, she talked big, and she could certainly hold her own…but she was still human, still incredibly mortal. She was watching him, her body slightly shaking as her eyes started to grow glassy.

"Rinoa?" he whispered.

"My…my mom died in a car accident," she gasped.

He felt a pain in his chest. An ache that vibrated across his body at the sight of her, the terror in her voice, and the tears in her eyes that she was so strongly willing to keep in place. "Rinoa," he said again.

"As we crashed into the third car everything went black for a moment," she was saying, her eyes no longer looking at him but rather trailing off into the distance as she remembered. "I…I thought of her at that moment when I came to. How did she feel? How did…"

Squall was suddenly in front of her, his arms pulling her into his chest so that he practically engulfed her. His hand came over the back of her head, cradling her as she finally let the tears loose. He shut his eyes, squeezing them tight as she shuddered against him, her wails ringing in his ears. She had mentioned before that her mother had passed away due to a traffic collision, but she never said further than that. He had no idea if she was the one driving or if Rinoa's father was also in the car. Inwardly he winced. This woman meant so much to him and yet they were still getting to know each other and the secrets of their respective pasts. The last few months had been a whirlwind and he felt as if he had known her forever…and yet he felt he didn't know her at all. All he knew was that he was crazy about her and it tore his heart to pieces to hear her cry or be in pain.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, sniffling and wiping at her face.

"Don't be," he murmured against her hair, keeping his embrace tightly around her. "You were terrified."

Rinoa took a deep breath and moved her arms so that they encircled his neck. She leaned her forehead against his chest and bit back a groan of pain at the movement.

Squall swallowed and carefully detached himself from her hold. His palm came over her cheek and he gently brushed his thumb over her lower lip. "You're ok," he told her quietly. "You're both ok."

"But the baby—"

"It doesn't concern us," he cut in. Gently he shushed her when her brows knit into a frown and her mouth dropped open to argue. "That's all Selphie and Irvine. I hope the baby's ok but…that's between them. With that topic we're just going to have to take it day by day. We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, what their decision will be, or if they'll even have a chance to make a decision. Right now?" He brushed black strands from her face and leaned in to kiss her forehead. "Right now let me just focus on taking care of you. That's all that concerns me at the moment."

Before she could speak he reached down and swept her into his arms and carried her towards the bathroom. Gently he set her down and lowered himself into a crouch as he turned the knobs of the tub. "Your muscles are going to be incredibly sore tomorrow from the impact," he said. "Do you have any Epsom salts or anything?"

"Yeah, under the sink."

He filled the tub with warm water and tossed in a few handfuls of salt.

"Can you make the water hotter?" she asked, dipping her hand beneath the faucet.

"You don't want it too hot," he said. "It may feel good while you're in it but tomorrow you'll be feeling it even more. Hot water can cause inflammatory…"

"Got it," she said, waving his words away. "You don't need to use your fancy physical therapist know it all jargon with me." She smiled and leaned in to give a kiss to his chin. "I trust you."

Squall helped her remove her clothes, carefully as she started to wince from lifting her arms too high. As she settled herself into the water he undressed and was soon nestled in the tub behind her.

The water came over them and Squall leaned back against the tub wall, maneuvering himself so Rinoa lay against his chest. "Are you comfortable?" he asked.

"Yeah. Just waiting for the water to get a little higher." She raised her foot so that it rested beneath the faucet. Slowly she wriggled her toes and let out a soft breath as the water spilled over her foot. "Can I just turn it a little warmer? I won't make it too hot."

"Leave it," he ordered. "Any warmer and you will regret it in the morning."

Rinoa made a small grunt within her throat and leaned back so her head tilted back to look at him. "One of these days I will have my dream bathtub," she murmured. "It will be long and deep enough so that the water covers my knees and boobs at the same time."

Squall chuckled and shook his head as he watched her squirm beneath the water in an attempt to get as much of her body covered as possible. "You want an indoor Jacuzzi," he said.

"Yes." Rinoa nodded and then lifted her foot to turn the knob off. "That would be ideal."

Squall reached over her head and grabbed her loofah. Gently he started to rub it down the length of her arm, his thumb massaging over her palm.

"I am capable of washing myself," she grumbled, watching as he continuously dipped the loofah into the water to scrub along her arms and shoulders.

He responded with a slight grab to her stomach, subtle so as not to hurt her, but enough so that she squealed out in laughter. "Shut up and let me take care of you," he snarled, trailing the loofah back down the length of her right arm.

Rinoa pouted but leaned against his chest. She sighed and closed her eyes, relishing the feel of the warm water bobbing across her skin while Squall ran his hands over her body. Meekly she raised her hand and moved it along his arm so that their fingers entwined. "Squall?"

The tiny break in her voice hurt his heart. Her tiny fingers grasped his hand so desperately that her nails dug into his skin. He clenched his jaw and quietly waited for her to continue.

"You know how you asked what if it were us?"

Slowly he nodded.

"I…I would tell you," she whispered. "Even though I've never seen myself as a mother—and I still don't—I agree with you in that I should include you in the discussion."

With a sigh Squall turned her around onto her side and gently cupped her chin. "I would never tell you what to do with your body," he said softly, his lips grazing her forehead. "Ever. But…if we were ever in that situation I want you to be able to tell me."

"I would," she gasped. "I promise."


The next morning Squall was busy in the kitchen making Rinoa breakfast while she sat at the couch, obsessively looking at her phone. She had sent Selphie a text nearly an hour before and had yet to hear back from her. Granted, it was still considered fairly early—just after nine—but Rinoa found that she couldn't sleep and dragged herself out of bed. Unfortunately whip lash had hit her hard, and she practically crumpled to the floor in shock at the stiffness of her muscles, rousing Squall from his sleep. Instead of listening to her swear that she was fine, he got out of bed with her and forced her onto the couch to take it easy.

While Rinoa thought that it was very sweet that he insisted on taking care of her, she did not care for being treated like a child. When she loudly vocalized her opinion on the subject, Squall leaned in over her, his arms pinned into the couch's back on either side of her. "I am not treating you like a child," he said lowly through clenched teeth. "I am treating you like a woman who was just in a traumatic car accident. You're lucky you didn't have a concussion with how hard you hit your face against the window. Your body is sore. Your head is killing you. You can barely stand upright your muscles are so tight. Am I wrong?"

Rinoa scrunched her face at him but shook her head and admitted defeat. "I don't like being babied," she muttered, hardly able to look him in the eye.

"I'm not cutting up your damn food for you," he growled, his hand reaching up to firmly cup her cheek. "I am simply making you breakfast while you chill. How is that babying you?"

Dammit, she didn't have an answer.

A knock came at the door and Squall retracted to open it. Rinoa's teeth sank down into her lower lip. The heat from Squall's hand on her cheek was instantly missed.

Quistis and Zell instantly filled the entryway, a large bouquet of multicolored roses in Zell's arms. "Rinoa!" Quistis gasped, hurrying over to the couch where Rinoa sat. "Holy shit—I'm so glad you're ok! How do you feel?"

"I'm ok," she said softly. "Just really sore. And…a little cranky." She glanced over to Squall by way of apology, but he was in the kitchen with Zell, his back to her. "Did Squall call you?"

"Yeah, he called Zell last night. I think you might have been sleeping already. Then he texted Zell this morning when you guys woke up. Zell and I were at the gym so after we got cleaned up we came over." Quistis made a groan and carefully touched over the bruises on Rinoa's face.

Squall came by and set a plate filled with bacon, eggs, and chocolate chip muffin onto the table. Zell came in behind him and set down two full coffee mugs. "For the ladies," said Zell. He stepped in and gave Rinoa a brief hug. "Glad to see you're alright," he told her. "Eat up. You can't have any of your pain meds until you have something in your stomach."

"Yes, I'm aware," Rinoa said, picking at the muffin.

Squall tapped Zell on the shoulder and motioned to the patio door. "We'll be outside," he said, leaning down and scooping up his knapsack that he had left by the coffee table the night before.

As they crossed onto the patio, Squall closed the door solidly behind them. He dug through his backpack for his cigarettes, the lighter falling out and clattering across the concrete.

Zell picked it up and tossed over the lighter. "So…you thought that was Rinoa's test?" he asked, glancing back towards the closed door and keeping his voice down.

Squall made a deep grunt in his throat, pressed the open flame to the tip of his cigarette and took a long breath before speaking. "It was in her garbage can," he said. "What else was I supposed to think?"

"Makes sense," Zell said with a shrug. "So how'd you feel about that?"

"Aside from freaking the fuck out?"

Zell laughed. "Yeah. Aside from that."

Squall remained quiet for a moment, silently sucking on his cigarette before finally reaching over and grabbing hold of his backpack. With the cigarette dangling from his lips, he reached into the pack and pulled out a black plastic bag, crumpled from its time inside. He tossed the bag over to Zell. "Bought this."

Zell opened up the bag and looked at its contents. A frown washed over his face, creases forming over his brow. "What the fuck is this?"

"I had to clear my head," Squall muttered, crushed the finished cigarette into the ashtray and pulled out another. "Ran out of smokes so I walked to the convenient store down the block from here."

Zell nodded and pulled out the item inside the bag, held it in his palm. "And you bought this because…?" he pressed.

Squall glared at Zell through the smoke. "I thought Rinoa would like it."

Zell held out the item in his hand. "You bought Rinoa—a grown ass woman—a binky." Not buying it, Zell looked from Squall's face to the binky in his hands, simply decorated, clearly more focused on practicality rather than aesthetic. How very like Squall.

"Yes."

With a scoff, Zell dropped the binky back into the bag. "Bull fucking shit," he muttered. "You didn't buy the binky for Rinoa. You bought it for the baby. The baby you thought she was carrying. The baby you thought was yours."

Squall only crossed his arms and leaned back against patio gate..

"You really don't see it, do you?"

Squall just raised a brow. "What are you talking about?"

Zell groaned and rubbed at his temples. "Kendra?" he muttered.

A shadow crossed over Squall's features and he shot Zell a heated glare. However, nearly immune to Squall's venomous looks, Zell only smirked. "When Kendra thought she was pregnant you flipped out on her."

"I did not—"

"Well ok, you didn't like flip out on her in the sense that you made a scene but…" Zell knocked his knuckles onto the metal gate. "You were beyond freaked the fuck out. Don't act like you don't remember."

Squall did remember. With his teeth grinding and jaw tightly set, he waited for Zell to continue.

"Kendra told you that she was nearly a week late and you said to me that that was a real eye opener because it showed you that you didn't see a future with her."

Squall grimaced and lit another cigarette. "Oh, for fuck's sake," he muttered, releasing a stream of smoke out the corner of his mouth. "When you say it like that you make it seem like I left her because she said she was pregnant." Before Zell could say anything, Squall aimed a steely glare his way. "You ever word it like that to Rinoa I will kill you."

Zell winced but let out a chuckle. "Ok, ok…bad use of verbiage." He tapped his chin as he thought. "Ok…how did you word it…when it was made known that Kendra was actually not pregnant, the thought of the possibility that you would have had a permanent tie to her showed you that she was not the one you wanted to spend the rest of your life with."

"That still sounds bad."

"The entire situation itself can't be described as good. You cared for Kendra, definitely. Hell, maybe even loved her—who knows? But the point is that after the pregnancy scare ended and you guys went on with your relationship you realized that she was not the girl you wanted to marry, not the woman you saw as the mother of your children, and not the woman you wanted to grow old and retire with in an old log cabin in the woods."

Squall sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I think she felt the same way," he said. "Which is why she kept pressing me for answers about our relationship. I think she had an idea that she and I weren't forever compatible…she just wanted me to be the one to say it."

"You're probably right." Zell arched a brow as he watched Squall crush the cigarette into the ashtray and reach for another. "But…do you see where I'm going with this?"

"I'm a shitty boyfriend?" Squall muttered around the cigarette as he tried to light it, his eyes just barely glinting with humor.

"The shittiest. If I were a woman I'd stay as far away from you as physically possible. But no, I mean…with the incident that just happened with Rinoa."

Squall exhaled the smoke slowly.

"Kendra told you she thought she may be pregnant. During the few days that you two waited for her to get a doctor's appointment you realized that you were not meant for each other. It just took you over a month to act on it and end the relationship. You think that Rinoa is pregnant and what do you do?" Zell picked up the rubber binky and tapped it along the tabletop. "You go out and buy a gift for her that is specifically for a baby."

Squall only stared at the little object, his jaw tightly clenched.

"You're in love with her, man," Zell said, slowly leaning back against the balcony and resting his arms behind his head. A confident grin splayed across his lips. "And it scares the hell out of you."