Final Fantasy VIII 1. Default Chapter

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own FF8 or its characters never have and never will.

** Chapter 1 **

Quistis sat in the Quad reading a novel she found lying around in her room to take her mind off Squall and Rinoa. Ever since the end of the Sorceress War the two were inseparable, more like Rinoa had become permanently attached to Squall, Quistis thought bitterly. Quistis always thought Rinoa's childish temper was plain annoying, but she didn't rule out jealousy as a possible cause for bringing out the green-eyed monster in her kind heart.

Ever since Squall and Rinoa had officially become a couple, Quistis had been trying to get over him, but it was hard and each time she saw them together, she felt her heart being slowly torn asunder over and over again, like Prometheus having his liver picked by vultures daily, only to have his liver re-grow the next day for the vultures to feed on again. She constantly reminded herself she would be fine, and she would get over Squall in no time, but every time she saw him, she ended up forcing a sweet smile on her face as her heart cried. There were times she prayed and hope that Squall would do something that would make her angry so she could hate him. Then it would be easier for her to forget about him. As she read her book, she prayed to Hyne to grant her wish to do something that would help her forget about Squall.

"Trepe, sulking alone in the Quad over Puberty boy again I see." Quistis looked up from her book, and saw Seifer Almasy's tall frame standing before her. His arms crossed over his chest, and on his face was his usual condescending smirk. Quistis always had an urge to throw her book at him, but she never did, it just wasn't her way to dealing with trouble.

"Sometimes I wonder why they even let you back in the Garden."

"Let's just say Matron has a little soft spot for me, and I heard you have a little soft spot for me too," he said with a wink.

"If only," Quistis scoffed. She rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the book she was reading.

"Like it or not I'm here to stay." Seifer noticed that Quistis was still ignoring him, and he decided to sit down beside her. He started to look over her shoulder to see what she was reading.

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who was in love with an idiot prince who was in love with another idiot princess…" Seifer started to recite. Quistis slammed her book shut. She was about to get up and leave, but Seifer grabbed on to her arm firmly to prevent her from leaving and continued. "…and the idiot prince and idiot princess lived happily ever after, while the beautiful princess met a dashing…"

"What do you want Seifer?" Quistis asked angrily as she shook her arm free from his grasp.

"What? I just wanted to tell you a story, since you love reading so much." He leaned back on to the bench stretching his lithe body out.

"Oh how kind of you, I thought you were trying to drive me _insane_!" Quistis's face was starting to fluster from the bane of her existence. Seifer only grin at the reaction he was receiving from her. "Isn't there someone else you can annoy?"

"Yes, there are a lot of people to annoy, but you are by far my favorite victim."

"I'm honored. One day you won't have me to annoy, then you'll be sorry," she threatened. Just as she stood up and was ready to leave. She noticed a short brown-haired woman dressed in yellow running bubbly towards them. Quistis heard Seifer groan in irritation behind her.

"Quisty!" She yelled out. "Did you hear? Did you hear?" She kept repeating even thought she was out of breath from running.

"Take it easy Tilmitt or you'll make yourself pass out." Seifer told the over excited woman.

"What happened?" Quistis inquired.

"Oh! Great great! Wonderful news!" Selphie was now hopping up and down.

"Oh for crying out loud," Seifer muttered. He stood up and held Selphie down by the shoulders, and slowly asked her, "Tell us the news already, because I don't know about Trepe, but you are giving me a headache and I won't hesitate to knock you out."

Surprised by Seifer's grip on her shoulder, Selphie still retained her excitement. Her eyes were still sparkling with glee. "Squall and Rinoa are getting married! I just found out right now!" Seifer let go Selphie as he concentrated on Quistis's face.

As the words came out of Selphie's mouth, Quistis felt that her heart had been ripped out of her chest and stomped on with stiletto heels. Hyne had heard her prayer and she felt numb. Quistis realized that Seifer and Selphie were both watching her, and she some how managed to utter with false joy, "That's great news. I'm so happy for them. I'll have to go and congratulate Rinoa later."

"I know! You know what that means right?" Selphie clasped her hands together like a child. "Party! I love parties. I'm so excited! I got to go I need to go tell Irvine and Zell and everyone else! I'll talk to you later." Before Quistis had time to react to her farewell, in a blink of an eye Selphie was hopping up the stairs and out of sight.

"Trepe are you okay?" Seifer asked after a moment of watching Quistis stand before him in silence.

"Of course I'm fine," She looked him straight in the eye to prove that his assumption of her being hurt by the news to be wrong, but he was right and she just wanted to cry. She tried to blink back the tears as more lies spilt out of her mouth to comfort herself more then deny her pain to Seifer. "Squall and Rinoa are getting married and we should be happy for them."

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked again.

"Seifer please leave. I'm fine." Quistis knew if he asked her again she would break, and she didn't to be crying in front of anyone, especially Seifer. She lowered her head to break eye contact from him.

"Quistis are you really okay?" He question was genuinely asked, and that only made Quistis feel worse.

"What do you care?" Quistis asked weakly. "Now you have more material to make fun of me with like more spinster jokes or being a potential home wrecker."

Seifer was surprised at Quistis's comments. He knew she was hurt and now she pitied herself.

"Look Trepe I maybe an ass, but I'm not heartless. I know a broken heart when I see one, and you look like yours just broke into a million pieces."

"Well it feels like it," Quistis whispered. Unexpectedly Seifer pulled Quistis into his arms into a comforting hug. Quistis was surprised at the feeling of his strong arms around her. It definitely comforted her, she felt that she could remain in his arms forever, but her new found comfort only lasted for a couple seconds until she heard Seifer whisper in her ear.

"Trepe, you'll be all right."

"Thank you," she managed to return his kindness with a sad smile.

"And one more thing," he added. "If you tell anyone about this, I _will_ put you back on the list." Seifer's comment succeeded in extracting a laugh from the blond woman, and he left the Quad unsure of how to explain his own actions towards Quistis to himself. He decided to simply shrug it off as a moment of weakness.

While Quistis only sat back down onto the bench to collect her thoughts and heart again.

**A/N:** Okay I finally got my act together I started another fic. I'm sorry this first chapter is so short. I'm driving me self insane by working on four different fics at once. I'll try to update this fic next week. Merry Christmas everyone!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Bah, this chapter ended up being another short one. Anyways at least shorter chapters mean I can update quicker. ;) Enjoy!

**Chapter 2**

Seifer walked into the cafeteria expecting to find Quistis sitting among her friends eating and talking. Instead he only found the guys. Zell was busying eating his favorite food, hot dogs. Squall silently watched Zell eat as Irvine flirted with a girl sitting at the table behind them.

Though Seifer was still not complete comfortable around them, they didn't treat him any different then before the war. Everything seemed to go back to the way they were…almost. He nonchalantly marched up to their table and sat himself down by Irvine.

"So I see you guys have successfully scared off the girls," he smirked.

Zell stopped chewing for a second looked confused and started eating again. Squall just glared at Seifer in annoyance, and Irvine gave a pretty blond hair cadet walking by a wink.

"Damn, I'm not a girl, and I'm ready to leave," Seifer muttered.

Just then he could hear Selphie and Rinoa talking and giggling as they approached with shopping bags and sat down with the guys.

"Hi guys, miss us?" Rinoa asked, giving only a smile to Squall. Zell nodded and took another bite. Squall managed to return a smile for his fiancé, and Irvine just gave a wink to Selphie.

"Guess what we got?" Selphie asked with excitement.

"We don't care, but you'll tell us anyway," Seifer answered flatly. They other three guys glared at his bluntness. "What? I'm just saying what you wusses were thinking. By the way, where is Trepe? Didn't she go shopping with you two?"

"She said she was tired, so she went back to her dorm, I think," Selphie answered.

"I bet being around the both of you for extended periods of time can suck the life out of anyone." Rinoa stuck her tongue out at Seifer and giggled. "As a matter of fact sitting around these guys, sucks the life out of you too, and their technique is boredom." Seifer leaned back into his chair, but then changed his mind and leaned forward to address Rinoa. "You know what? You two are perfect for each other. You two can go forth and…" Both Rinoa and Squall gave Seifer daggered glares and Seifer smirked and stood up.

"As I was saying, I'm out of here. Have fun boys and girls." As he walked out of the cafeteria, he heard the two women ramble on about decorations and flowers. Seifer rolled his eyes at the absurdities of the woman insisting on involving men in wedding preparations. Hell, wasn't it good enough that the groom showed up on the day of the wedding?

He reached Quistis's dorm and gave it three firm loud knocks.

"Who is it?" He heard Quistis's voice come through the door a bit muffled.

"Prince Charming." The door opened.

"What do you want?" She answered with a sigh when she saw Seifer was at the door.

"Is that how you greet you're prince?" He asked and invited himself into her dorm.

"What do you want?" She repeated.

"I just thought you wanted someone to talk to," he answered frankly.

"How thoughtful of you," Quistis rolled her eyes, "but you are the _last_ person I would want to talk to. What ever gave you the idea that I'd rather talk to you instead of my friends?"

"Well, I figured you couldn't talk to Zell since he has the attention span of a three year old. You would have to get him a plate of hot dogs to sit still, but then he would be too busy eating to listen to you. Irvine would just hit on you until you hit him and knocked him unconscious. Selphie would keep asking you about party crap. Rinoa is just self-involved, especially now with the wedding crap. Squall, we all know the last time you tried to have a heart to heart with him you were better off talking to a wall," Seifer explained.

Quistis was surprised that Seifer new about her meeting with Squall in the secret area all those years ago. "How did you know?"

"Trepe, I _was_ the disciplinary committee. I threaten and people talk," he winked.

"Well I could still talk to Raajin and Fuujin," she said without really thinking.

"Of course you can, ya know. Now TALK, ya know," he imitated his two best friends.

Quistis laughed at his joke and closed her dorm room door, while Seifer observed her neat and organized room. He walked over to her bed and saw lying on the bed was a bright blue dress with white feather trimmings.

"Nice dress," he commented as he plopped himself onto her bed and made himself comfortable. His hand absent-mindedly rubbed against the cool material of the dress.

"_That _is the bridesmaid dress. It's lovely isn't it," she said with a forced smile.

"I think you paid too much for it," he said knowing she hated it. "Cut the crap, Trepe. I know you hate it, but hey it matches your eyes," he teased.

Quistis couldn't hold her frustration in any longer and words just started to spill out. "It's bright; no it's electric blue with feather trimming on the single strap and along the top of the bodice! I'll look like the swan princess that fell in to a vat of blue dye! And those stupid feathers tickle. What is up with Rinoa and feathers anyway?"

"It makes her feel like an angel," Seifer simply said.

"An angel would not make her bridesmaid wear this," she gestured to the crumpled heap on her bed.

"I said _feel_ not _is. _Besides she's afraid you'll look prettier then her."

Quistis snorted, "Whatever." She picked up the dress give it one last scowl and stuffed it into her closet.

"Don't wrinkle it now." Quistis ignored his comment and sat down on her bed next to Seifer.

"Two more weeks and it will finally be the wedding and this insanity will end," she sighed.

"How are you holding up?" Seifer asked.

"Holding up?"

He looked her straight in the eye. "I know you are dreading this."

She lowered her head to break contact with his critical green eyes. "I admit I am, but you know me."

"I know. You'll suck it up, go through with this, and repress all your feelings like you always do. You're always afraid to hurt someone else's feelings."

"How did you get to know me so well," she asked, as she started fiddling with her fingers.

"Let's just say I like to keep my eye on you," he winked as he got up and walked out of the door. "If you need anything you know where to find me."

"You'll probably be terrorizing a cadet or something right?" She teased.

"You know me so well," he smirked and left.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Squaresoft owns FF8 not I. 

_**A/N: PLEASE READ FIRST! **This chapter has mild sexual content and may disturb some people. If you have no problem with this please continue reading. If you DO have problems with sexual content DON'T read this chapter. Skip to Chapter 4. I'll have a short summary in the beginning for those who didn't read this chapter. I don't want to offend anyone. Thank you! _

_On the other hand, this is my first time writing anything with sexual content so yeah…bare with me if it sounds corny. _

**Chapter 3**

It was already quite late into the evening. Most of the wedding guests were drunk and enjoying themselves, while Rinoa and Squall were dancing lost in their own world as their friends and family celebrated their union.

Quistis's face hurt from pretending to be overly happy for the couple. She was truly happy from them, but she was still hurting from the past rejection. When given the chance, she stepped out of the ballroom and out into the balcony with another full glass of champagne in her hands.

The breeze outside was cool on her flushed skin. She could feel the affect of the alcohol numbing her mind and body. Everything seemed so far and distant. She took another sip from her glass.

Seifer spotted a blond woman dressed in a bright blue dress out in the balcony and figured it was Quistis, since there were only two bridesmaids subjected to wear the electrifying blue dress. Quistis had obviously been avoiding him all evening, but he figured she was probably avoiding everyone in general.

He arrived at her side to see Quistis leaning her arm on the balcony and staring off into the dark night not noticing his presence. Seifer looked at the blonde woman next to him, and saw that her cheeks were quite flushed. She was drunk. Just as she brought her glass up to her lips, Seifer intervened and easily took the glass from Quistis's hand.

Quistis looked at her empty hand confused. She finally turned her head and notice Seifer standing next to her.

"I think you've had enough tonight, Trepe," Seifer said.

Quistis glared at him, she was in no condition to argue with him. "For your information I am not drunk. I'm just a little flushed from the alcohol."

"Sure, Trepe. I know a drunk woman when I see one."

"I bet," she muttered. "Seifer please just go away and leave me alone."

"What's this? I come all the way out here for a dance and you reject me before I even ask? I'm hurt." Quistis rolled her eyes and was about to grab her glass of champagne from Seifer, but her reaction was too slow and Seifer moved it out of her reach and drank the rest of the champagne.

Irritated she walked away and took another glass from the tray of a passing waiter. From the corner of her eye, she saw Seifer still following her. She quickly gulped down the glass of champagne, and returned it to the waiter's tray before Seifer could reach her.

"Okay, no more for you." He waved the waiter off. "Trepe, you are going to end up bowing to the toilet bowl gods very soon if you keep drinking like that."

"Why do you care, Seifer?"

"Of course I care. I can't have one of those Trepies take advantage of you now." Quistis scoffed and walked back into the ballroom. She brought her hand up to her forehead. She could feel her head throbbing, and it was giving her a slight headache. That last glass of champagne she just had was not a good idea.

Seifer noticed Quistis's swaying and instructed her to sit down at an unoccupied table. He handed her a glass of water. "Have some water. It will help."

"Thanks," she managed to say and drank about half of the glass before she place the glass on the table. She was feeling slightly better, until her eyes wandered across the room and landed upon the newly wedded couple smiling in each other's arms.

Seifer followed her line of sight. "Trepe, you need to move on."

"I'm trying to move on. I just need more time." The sight across the room was depressing her, and was feeling like she needed another drink. She looked around and found a tray of champagne on the table and reached out for it, but Seifer moved the tray from her grasp.

"Seriously, Trepe, no more."

"Fuck off," she said irritated and got up.

"Foul language, Trepe? You _must_ be drunk."

"Fuck you."

"Really?"

Quistis let out a sigh of frustration and took a step forward and started to feel dizzy and blackness started to cloud her vision. Seifer got up just in time to catch her from falling.

"Looks like it's bed time for you, Trepe." He wrapped his arms around her and supported her. Quistis was too tired to protest and let him lead the way.

* * *

The halls to the dormitories were empty since everyone was either still at the wedding or passed out in their rooms.

Seifer carried most of Quistis's weight as he led her down the halls to her dormitory. Her eyes were partially closed as they stood in front of her dorm. Seifer propped her against one of his shoulders and fumbled through Quistis's clutch purse for her ID card. With a swipe, the door opened with a silent swish. He switched on the light and led her into her room.

He sat her down on her bed, and knelt down to remove her heels.

"Seifer, do you think I'm beautiful?" She asked.

Seifer stood up and pulled Quistis up to a standing position as he pulled back her blankets, and sat her back down.

"Do you think I'm beautiful?" She repeated.

"Go to sleep, Trepe." He lightly pushed on her shoulders to make her lie down.

Suddenly Quistis's arms came up and grabbed Seifer's coat lapels and repeated in a more demanding tone. "Almasy, do you think I'm beautiful?"

Seifer was surprised at her strength. Even though intoxicated, she held a very tight grip on his coat. He looked into her bright blue eyes, her perfectly shaped nose, and her smooth porcelain skin. His gaze lingered on her moist red lips. He could smell the scent of alcohol and perfume emanating from her, which seemed to intoxication him.

"Do you?" she asked more softly. Seifer remained silent, and was about to pull away from her grasp. Instead she pulled him closer to her as she crushed her lips onto his.

Seifer pulled way surprised. "Trepe, what are you doing?" He managed to say before she hungrily kissed him again.

"I want you," she whispered fiercely into his ear, and pulled him towards her again with all her strength causing him to fall on top of her.

Seifer took advantage of the position he was in and held Quistis down as he tried to regain his breath. "Quistis! You're drunk and frankly I don't think you know what you're talking about."

Quistis scoffed, "Seifer Almasy passing up a chance to get laid? Come on, Seifer, this is your only chance."

"My only chance?" Seifer smirked, "You are definitely drunk."

"I'm not drunk…not entirely," she thought for a bit. "I know what I'm asking you. I just want to forget, just for a moment. Please?" She looked him straight in the eye.

Seifer looked into her pleading eyes and saw her blue eyes clear and sober. He hesitated. He never dreamed he would be in this position with Quistis. She was supposed to be the prudish ice queen, but apparently when intoxicated, she was neither.

"So…I see you've heard the rumors about me," he said with a smirk. He had given in.

"Only the bad ones," she said with a devilish smile as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him towards her for another kiss.

He teased her lips for a moment. Then he let their tongues mingle. He left her lips and moved down towards the side of her neck and lingered on the hollow of her shoulder. His other hand caressed her other shoulder and pushed off the feather strap. His lips moved to the newly bared shoulder and moved back up her neck and to her lips.

Quistis hungrily kissed him as her hands traveled down his chest removing his coat. She then started to work on his shirt and tie.

Seifer's hands traveled down from Quistis's shoulders over her breasts and down to the side where the zipper of her dress hid. As one hand unzipped her dress, the other remained on her breast.

Quistis let out a soft moan as she felt Seifer's lips on her breasts moving from one to the other. His hands moved down along her body slowly peeling the repulsive blue dress off her, revealing her slim waist, curved hips, and long smooth legs. His lips lingered on her abdomen and trailed down the top of her underwear, then returned to her lips.

Seifer sensually played with her lips as Quistis continued to frantically work on the buttons of his shirt. She was desperate to feel his skin on hers. She managed finally to tear his shirt off. She felt Seifer's smooth and toned chest under her fingers. Her hands immediately moved down along his abdomen and towards his belt and pants.

"My, aren't we a bit hasty," Seifer said, as he placed his hand over hers to stop her from undoing his pants. Quistis only smiled and leaned up and gave him a passionate kiss, that caused Seifer to bring his hands up to cradle her face, as Quistis's hands continued working on his pants.

Just as she was about to remove his boxers, Seifer sat up and looked down at her.

"What?" Quistis looked at him confused.

"I was only admiring how beautiful you are," he said.

"Seifer cut the sweet talk, I'm already in your bed," she said with irritation and pulled him down onto her with another kiss.

Seifer managed to break the kiss. "If I remember correctly, I am in _your_ bed," he said with a devious grin.

Quistis smiled at Seifer's correction. "I stand corrected, but I didn't have to sweet talk you to get you into bed." She replied with a seductive smile.

Seifer gave her his trademark smirk. "You're just _that_ beautiful," he said and started to kiss and nuzzle Quistis's neck, causing another moan to escape her lips. He continued to kiss her has a positioned himself and entered her.

Time past and both had reached satisfaction and release in each other's arms.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Quick Summary for Chapter 3: **During the night of Squall and Rinoa's wedding Quistis drinks a little too much. Seifer decides to play the gentleman for the night and escorts her back to her dorm. While back at Quistis's dorm, she pleads Seifer to help her forget just for one night. After much thought, Seifer gives in, and they spend the night together. This chapter begins the next morning. _

**Chapter 4**

Seifer woke up the next morning with a massive headache. He was about to bring his right hand to massage his throbbing head, but realized there was something warm lying on his arm. After a moment of confusion, he remembered where he was. He turned his head to see Quistis's head resting on his shoulder and her hand delicately resting on his chest. He pulled the blanket up higher over Quisits's shoulder to keep her warm from the cold morning air. His free hand moved onto the hand resting on his chest. He slowly caressed the smooth skin on the back of her hand, causing the blond woman to stir, but she remained asleep.

He looked down at the sleeping woman. He never thought that Quistis would every let him near her, and now they were in bed together.

He knew she only came to him as a rebound, a one-night stand, to help her forget. The thought of this moment being a one-night stand brought an unexplained pang to Seifer. He shrugged the feeling aside as a side effect of his hangover.

Besides he was Seifer Almasy, he was independent. He didn't need anyone, especially a woman, but Quistis wasn't just any woman, he started to reason. She was Instructor number fourteen and a childhood friend. She was strong, beautiful, intelligent, patient, and still in love with Leonheart.

It looked as though both he and Quistis had something in common. They both wanted something they could not have. Maybe with Leonheart gone on his honeymoon, Quistis would finally let go and give him a chance. She did choose him of all the other SeeDs for a one-night stand after all. He smiled at the self-reassuring thought that there had to be an attraction on Quistis's part when she asked him to spend the night. He decided to wait to see her reaction to their night together, before his showed her his 'charming' side.

A knock came on the door, causing him to come out of his little fantasy. The knock continued incessantly and progressively became louder.

"Instructor," said a male voice through the door, as his knocking continued.

Quistis stirred and woke up. She groggily looked at the door muttering, "Isn't today Sunday?" Her head was pounding and the incessant knocking on the door was not helping.

"What do you want? It's my day off you know?" " Quistis snapped at the door. Suddenly the knocking stopped and there was only silence. Quistis groaned and lay back down.

"Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed," Seifer teased.

"Anyone would be cranky with the enormous headache I have."

"I told you not to drink so much last night." Seifer saw a bottle of water on her desk, reached over, and gave it to her. "Drink some water, it might help."

She took the bottle, drank from it, and gave the rest to Seifer, who finished the last half in a few gulps.

"Don't you have a hangover?" She asked.

"Nope, I just handle my liquor that well," he winked.

"Liar."

"Liar? Me? What makes you say that, my dear instructor?" He began to say, but after noticing Quistis's death glare, he thought it better to leave his comment for later. "It's obvious you are in no mood for morning after chatter," he continued, as he got out of bed reaching for his clothes lying about the room. He quickly got dressed, while Quistis remained sitting in the bed, pulling the covers tightly over her body, watching him.

She managed to tear her gaze away from Seifer's body and lay back down on the bed with her back facing Seifer. She heard the door open and Seifer saying "We'll talk later."

Quistis only sighed and shut her eyes trying to will away the terrible hangover she had.

* * *

After a nice refreshing shower, the hangover was still hanging over her like a gloom cloud. She wandered into the cafeteria hoping some hot coffee would help. As soon as she sat her tray down on one of the unoccupied tables, she heard the sound of familiar light footsteps of Selphie coming up behind her. Selphie smiled as she sat in a chair across from her.

"Good morning, Quistis!" Selphie greeted in her usual chipper tone.

"Good morning Selphie," Quistis managed to say with a forced smile despite her headache.

"So…," the browned haired woman started.

"So?" Quistis looked at her confused.

"So…how's Seifer?" Selphie asked with a grin.

"Seifer? I don't' know. I guess he's fine," Quistis replied all too nonchalantly. "Why?"

"Why?" Selphie repeated Quistis's question. "Are you hiding something?" she finally asked.

"What?"

"Well…last night at the wedding party there were several eye witnesses saying they saw you and Seifer dancing."

Immediately Quistis's thoughts flashed back to the night before. She started to blush at the memory, and decided to play dumb.

"Dancing? I don't k now what you are talking about."

"In the ballroom, something about you dancing with a glass of champagne."

"Oh," Quistis said with some relief. "If you call stealing my glass of champagne dancing, yeah, we did that."

"Well after your 'dancing', people saw Seifer taking you back to your dorm," Selphie reported with a wink.

Quistis sat up straight and eyed Selphie. "Yes…he did, and he was quite the gentleman, and walked me back to my dorm. It was actually quite surprising," Quistis said.

"Really?" Selphie eyed her suspiciously. "That's it?"

"What do you mean 'that's it'?"

"I mean…nothing happened between the two of you?"

"No…should there have?" Quistis was starting to feel guilty for having to lie to her friend.

"I guess not, but there was a rumor going around this morning that someone was at your door this morning, and they heard a man's voice in your room at around eight in the morning. A bit early for officer hours, I think," Selphie winked.

Quistis's eyes widened at Selphie's implications. "Are you implying that I—"

"Good morning ladies," interrupted Seifer, who decided to sit down right beside Quistis, which only increased Selphie's suspicion.

"Good morning, Seifer, how was your night?" Selphie immediately asked.

"My night was good, then again everything is good for me if you know what I mean," he said with wink.

Selphie giggled at Seifer's comment, while Quistis just glared at him trying to hide her reddening cheeks.

"No, we don't know what you mean," she snapped. "Will you please leave us alone?"

Selphie felt like she had just entered a lover's quarrel and decided it was her cue to leave. "Seifer doesn't have to leave. I need to go meet Irvine. We are going into town. Do you need anything there?"

"No, I'm fine. Thanks." Quistis's hope sunk as she watched Selphie walk out of the cafeteria doors instead of Seifer. She sighed and looked at Seifer. "What do you want?"

"I thought you might want to talk."

"Talk? You want to talk?" Quistis was still irritated by the questions Selphie was asking her earlier. "What is there to talk about? There are already rumors of us sleeping together," Quistis said lowering her voice almost to a whisper.

"Reality check, we _did _sleep together," Seifer said.

"I know…but…it was…" She was at a loss for words. "Sorry, but I can't do this right now." She quickly got up and left a confused Seifer sitting at the table as she went back to her dorm to sort out her confused thoughts and feelings.

Moments later Seifer was standing in front of Quistis' door. He was about to knock, but he thought that maybe Quistis needed a bit more time to think. He lingered at her door a while longer then started to wander off when he saw some cadets walking down the hall.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **FF8 is property of Squaresoft. I just write because I'm bored at work.

**Chapter 5**

Quistis stepped out of her dorm in her dressed blue SeeD uniform. As she walked down the halls, she was more cautious then usual. She was afraid that Seifer would find and confront her about their one night again. She spent most of yesterday trying to convince herself that it had meant nothing, but she kept feeling guilty for thinking that.

Before she persuaded him to come to her bed, he was a gentleman, to an extent. He knew she was in pain and he tried to comfort and watch out for her. On the day of the wedding, that was exactly what he did. This was a side of Seifer she had never seen before. She never doubted that it existed, but she never expected him to show it to anyone, especially her.

Quistis made her way into the elevator just as its doors were closing. Two other SeeDs were chatting as they waited.

"Aren't you going to the Galbadia mission?" One of the SeeDs asked the other.

"Yeah, I'm leaving after today's lesson. They already sent Almasy's team out this morning."

"Seifer Almasy?" The other inquired.

The first SeeD sighed, "What did I do to be on a mission with Almasy for two weeks. I'm still surprised he's even back as a SeeD."

"Well, he is the…" As soon as the elevator doors opened, Quistis stepped out and quickly walked towards her classroom. She was relieved that Seifer was gone for two weeks. At least now she had some more time to sort out her feelings.

She entered class finding all her students waiting patiently for her to begin. She inserted her disk into her computer and started to lecture about the finer points of junctioning and choosing the correct Guardian Force for specific combat situations.

The lecture helped keep her mind off Seifer until she found an envelope with her named written on top in Selphie's handwriting. The envelopes contained pictures from Squall and Rinoa's wedding. There were pictures of the whole gang dressed to the nines posing, pictures of the bride and groom, pictures of other couples, pictures of Quistis with various people. She kept flipping through the pictures until she came to one picture of her and Seifer standing together in the balcony. The picture immediately brought back her memory of that night, and she started to feel her cheeks fluster.

She quickly stuffed the pictures back into its envelope and continued on with her class, but her mind kept returning to Seifer.

As soon as her lecture ended, Quistis gathered all her things and rushed out the door. She planned to go back to her room and hide for the rest of the day, but instead she nearly ran into Xu.

"Quistis, I was about to go and see you," Xu said.

"Hello Xu, why are you looking for me?" Quistis asked.

"Well, the headmaster wants to see you."

Quistis nodded, "Thanks Xu, I'll head up there right now." Xu smiled and walked away.

Quistis stepped into the elevator and sighed as she pushed the level three button. In a moment, she walked out of the elevator and through the double doors into the headmaster's office.

"Headmaster, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes. Quistis, is something wrong?"

Quistis tensed, "Nothing is wrong, sir."

"That's good. I've been hearing people saying you've been a bit out of focus. I'm guessing the reason has to do with Selphie keeping you busy with the wedding preparations."

Quistis relaxed, "Yes sir, weddings can be stressful especially when they aren't your own."

"Yes, yes they can," agreed the older gentlemen. "So how are you coping?"

"Excuse me, sir?" Quistis was surprised by his question.

"Nothing I guess." The man waved the subject aside. "Well how is your instructing coming along?"

"It's coming along just fine, sir." Quistis was starting to wonder if she was still dreaming and needed wake herself up.

"Good. Good."

"Sir, is there a reason for my being here?"

"Yes, there is. I have just received a request for a team of SeeDs to accompany a research group to the Shumi village area. They found some ruins there and want some SeeDs there to help."

Quistis gave the headmaster a questioning look. "Are we supposed to protect them from snow?"

The headmaster chuckled. "Very funny, Quistis, you've been hanging around Seifer too much. He's starting to rub off on you." Quistis blushed.

"Well without any wars at peacetime the only services a mercenary school can provide is security and labor. Remember mercenaries are basically hired help," he explained.

"Yes, sir."

"So I was wondering if you could lead the Shumi team. The team will consist of ten people. I have yet to select your team members, but you won't leave until two weeks from today. So you'll have a chance to acquire some winter gear. I hear there is a bad storm brewing this time of year."

"If the weather is so bad this time of year, why won't the research team wait for better weather?" Quistis asked.

"Well, the Shumi residents aren't too fond of people digging in their lands, so they are only allowing the scientist to work on their lands, during the time they aren't needing it."

"Which is during the winter," Quistis nodded understandingly.

"I'll provide you the list of your team members and your departure date as soon as I get all the details. You're excused."

"Thank you, sir," Quistis said and left.

Quistis was still confused at the exchange she had with the headmaster, before he gave her next assignment. The questions he asked threw her off completely. She thought she did a relatively good job at hiding her feelings, but lately everyone seemed to be reading her like an open book.

Quistis sighed. At least she would be on a long mission way from everyone. She could use a break. She sighed again. Hopefully when this mission was over people would stop caring about her personal life.


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N:** Okay, I know this chapter is really short, but since I updated like four chapters at once…I think I've compensated for not posting in a month…hopefully it won't take another month to have another mass update. _

_But thanks for all of you who been reviewing and following my fics from the beginning!_

_And Thanks MadHattess, my beta, for giving suggestions, and betaing every chapter that I updated so far! _

**Chapter 6**

It was noon by the time Seifer drove into Balamb Garden's parking garage. He was glad to be finally back and away from the mindless task of patrolling and securing events. After two weeks of doing nothing Seifer needed to exert some energy. After unloading his things, he headed straight for the training center.

After about an hour of battling with Grats and a T-Rexuar, Seifer decided to take a break out at the Secret Area.

Since it was still early, there were no couples looking for some 'private time'. Seifer stood looking out the Secret Area balcony and noticed Ragnarok flying out to another boring mission, he assumed. He looked at his watch. It was nearly 14:00, classes should be about over. He figured it would be better to catch Quistis before she could hide in her room. He smiled to himself as he imagined the look of surprise on her face.

As he neared Quistis's classroom, he saw cadets trickling out of the room talking and laughing as they exited. Seifer smirked to himself as memories of him raising hell in class surfaced in his mind. He would have to ask Quistis if she remembered that one time when…

He stepped into the classroom to see a dark haired woman in a blue SeeD uniform.

"Hello Seifer. I see you're back from your mission," Xu greeted him with a smile.

"Isn't this Trepe's class?" he asked.

"Was her class," Xu corrected.

"Was?"

"Yes, she just left on a mission at Shumi. I'm substituting for her for the next couple months."

"Couple months?" Seifer furrowed his eyebrows. "Did she leave on the Ragnarok?"

"Yes, I believe she did," She replied. "Now if you'll excuse me I have a meeting attend."

Seifer was irritated. He had waited two weeks to talk to Quistis and now she was off on a mission in ice country. He decided that he needed to let out some more steam and headed back to the training center.

He was in the middle of battling another T-Rexuar when Raijin and Fuujin joined him in the fight.

"Seifer when did you get back for your mission, ya know?" asked Raijin as Seifer continued slashing at the T-Rexuar.

Seifer snorted, "Mission? All the 'missions' we ever get make tearing a wet paper bag more exciting."

"BOREDOM," Fuujin agreed, while Raijin was still a confused by Seifer's analogy.

"Well, it peace time, ya know," Raijin said as Seifer went in for another attack.

"Fuck that, all this stinking peace has made our job meaningless. What's the point of being a mercenary when there are no wars to fight?"

The threesome stopped and watched the monster fall dead.

"Ya know, that just sounds wrong, ya know," Raijin pointed out. Seifer ignored Raijin's comment and started to gather his things.

"SOMETHING WRONG?" Fuujin interrogated.

"Fuujin's right, ya know. We've been doing these boring missions for almost five years already, ya know, and you never complained, ya know," Raijin said.

"Maybe five years of peace is long enough, I need some action!" Seifer said striking a helpless tree.

"BULLSHIT," Fuujin said.

"What the fuck is that suppose to mean?" Seifer glared at her. "Never mind, I need to get out of here," he finally said and stalked off to the locker room to shower.


	7. Chapter 7

**_A/N: _**_I also decided to changed the title to "Unexpected" only instead, because to be honest I never really liked the first title. _

_I apologize for those who are actually still following this story and for the delays in updating. I am working on the next chapters and hopefully I can finish this fic soon. I think this has been dragged out for far too long. Again I am so very sorry to all my readers. _

_I admit. I have been slacking on writing this fic. I've been busying myself with too many other projects._

_I'm sorry about the weird formatting. FFNet decided to mess with it again, and I didn't take the time to check if they messed it up. Well I fixed the formatting errors; hopefully they didn't confuse you guys too much. _

**Chapter 7**

Quistis waved good-bye to the last members of her team. Their long two-month mission, during the coldest winter in Shumi history, was over. She didn't think she would ever feel warm again. She felt exhausted and nauseated as got on a snow speeder and told the scientist driving to take her to Doctor Sheppard's tent.

She had given an excuse to her team that she needed to visit to a Shumi artist she befriended years ago before she would head back to Garden. Her story wasn't a complete lie. She _did_ know an artist in Shumi, but she wasn't going to visit this friend of hers. She, in fact, had an appointment with one of the research team's medical doctors for her test results. Test results to confirm if she was pregnant or not.

At first Quistis thought her biological friend was late because of the stress from digging, long hours, and the cold weather. Then the nausea, exhaustion, and vomiting followed. Of course she shrugged it off as stress again, but one of the doctors on the research team took one look at her and said she was definitely pregnant. Quistis was horrified by the thought and didn't believe her, but she agreed to get tested. Now she was on her way to find out her results and her fate.

She arrived at one of the research tents at the dig site. Quistis told the young scientist driving the speeder to wait for her and walked into the tent.

"Doctor Sheppard," Quistis said when she walked into the warm tent and found a curly brown-haired scientist sitting behind a table typing into her laptop.

"Miss Trepe, you're early," the older woman smiled and gestured for Quistis to sit in the chair in front of her table. "Please sit. I have your results and congratulations. You are definitely pregnant," she said slowly.

Quistis didn't know what to say. Suddenly she felt sick. She wasn't sure if it was the confirmation that she was pregnant or the morning sickness that was making her sick. But she managed to force a smile and thanked Doctor Sheppard for the news.

"Miss Trepe, I know that you weren't planning for this pregnancy, but if you want someone to talk to. I have time," Doctor Sheppard patted the back of Quistis's hand in understanding.

"Thank you, Doctor. But I should get going. I believe the last research team transport for Esthar is about to leave."

Doctor Sheppard nodded, "Take care of yourself, Miss Trepe. It was nice working with you over the last two months."

Doctor Sheppard gave her a small smile. "Whatever you decide, Miss Trepe, I hope the best for you," she said and continued typing on her computer.

Quistis nodded and excused herself. She was relieved to see the scientist driving the snow speeder still waiting for her when she remerged from the tent.

"Sorry about that, let's get to the transport," she said. The man nodded and they rode off.

As the chilling wind blew past them, Quistis thought about returning to Garden and making up an excuse to quit and leave, but her thoughts returned to Seifer. She should tell him. He was the father of this child, and it was the right thing to do.

Quistis started imagining the worst possible scenarios. Seifer would hate her or worst laugh at her stupidity or even gloat at his virility of getting the prudish Instructor Trepe 'knocked up.' But there was also the possibility that he wasn't the jerk he made himself to be. What if he surprised her and accepted the child and maybe even married her? Quistis laughed at herself. There she was trying to see the bright side of things. She was definitely around Selphie too much.

Quistis sighed. Seifer hated being tied down to anything let alone a child. She didn't know what to do.

"Miss Trepe," the scientist driving the speeder called to her over the windy weather. Quistis noticed that they had arrived at the transport to Esthar. Quistis figured she would decide what she would do when she got to Esthar. She would either go back to Garden or hide away some where.

* * *

Seifer stood leaning against a wall as ten SeeDs walked down the hall still dressed in snow gear, which made them look out of place since the weather in Balamb was relatively warm. Seifer stood there staring menacingly at each person, since each person passing by wasn't the one he sought. 

"Hey!" Seifer called out to the last person heading down the halls. The person he called to jumped slightly. Seifer remained leaning on the wall and gestured for the young man to come to him. He saw that the young man he called was relatively young, probably a new SeeD. Seifer couldn't help but smirk at the thought that, even five years later, he was still intimidating newbies.

"Hey," he repeated. "Your team just come back from Shumi?" He asked.

"Yes, sir," the young man quickly replied.

"Where's your leader?" he asked, still keeping an eye on the hall in case Quistis trailed behind.

"She's still at Shumi, sir. She stayed behind to go over a couple more things with the scientists."

"Guess the ice queen found herself a new home," he muttered to himself and waved for the young man to leave.

At this point, Seifer was thoroughly irritated. He scowled at the empty halls as he continued leaning on the wall. Figuring out what he should do next.

"What's with the scowl, Almasy? Is that your new look to get the ladies with?" Irvine said placing has hand on Seifer's shoulder as he came up next to him.

"Fuck off, cowgirl," Seifer said shrugging Irvine's hand off his shoulder.

"Why are you so bent on finding Quisty?" Irvine asked.

Seifer scoffed. "Because she owes me something. _Everyone_ owes me something," Seifer said with a menacing grin. "You should know that by know Kinneas."

Irvine rolled his eyes, "That's right, because you are Seifer Almasy, and everyone owes you something."

"Damn right. Now why don't you go and find your cows, cowgirl, before I find them and turn them into a steak dinner," Seifer said and pushed himself off the wall. As he walked passed Irvine, he made sure to accidentally bump into Irvine's shoulder on the way.

Irvine only shook his head. Some things just weren't going to change. He then headed to his previous destination. The _opposite_ direction that Seifer was headed.

* * *

As Seifer walked back to his dorm, he let his mind wander. Seifer was irritated that Quistis wasn't back from her mission yet. He couldn't understand why he felt that the one night they shared together was something more. He was irritated with himself. Why couldn't this one night stand be like any other one night stand? The only difference he came up with was that Quistis wasn't just any other woman off the streets. She was Quistis Trepe, his former instructor. Someone he grew up with. Someone he enjoyed irritating. She was a friend. After that night, she was a friend with benefits. 

Seifer frowned at the thought of labeling Quistis as friend with benefits. That label just did not suit Quistis, in fact it was degrading. Seifer kicked the side of a wall in frustration. There was no point in denying it any longer. He loved her, and there was a high probability that she would never want to hear those words from him. Seifer opened his dorm door and slammed the door shut.

He walked across his room and plopped himself on his bed and just lay there. Thinking in silence. He stared at the ceiling tiles until they blurred together. Then he sat up remembering. He was Seifer Almasy. He always said things without caring what everyone else thought. He was going to tell Quistis his feelings for her if she wanted to hear it or not. It would be the first thing he would do when he saw her, he decided. He would only have to wait a couple more days and Quistis would be back. He had already waited two months a couple more days would be no different…

* * *

Twenty minutes later Seifer was marching down the halls towards the headmaster's office. Without a courtesy knock, he just pushed the double doors open and stalked in the room. He was ready to demand an explanation to why Quistis was still staying at Shumi, when clearly, the contract and mission was over. 

Instead of finding the peaceful old Headmaster Cid, he found a young man with blonde hair frowning at him. He was face to face with his former rival.

Seeing Squall on the other side of the desk, Seifer reverted to his cocky mode, and crossed his arms across his chest and smirked.

"Leonheart, didn't know you were back from your honeymoon. How's the Mrs.?"

Squall rolled his eyes at the unwanted confrontation before him. "What do you want Seifer?"

Seifer decided to get to the point.

"I want to know why Trepe was allowed to stay a few more days on Shumi, when I wasn't' even allowed to take a break after my last mission. I had accumulated vacations days too! I think you guys are playing favorites…" Seifer trailed off as he noticed Squall's lack of attention to his complaints. "What's going on?"

Squall slouched back into his chair and let out a breath. He gave Seifer another look, but this time the look he had was one of concern and worry.

"What's with the guilty look, Leonheart?" Seifer asked cocking his head to the side.

"Quistis was not authorized to stay a couple more days. She was ordered to come back with everyone else. In fact, she never notified anyone of her intentions. I just called the research team to find her whereabouts. They told me she left with the last of our teams, supposedly," Squall said.

"Supposedly? What is that supposed to mean? Are you suggesting that Trepe is playing hooky?" Seifer asked, unsure of Squall was implying.

"I don't know," Squall shrugged. "Maybe some of your bad traits rubbed off on her, but you and I both know that work is Quistis's life."

"Yeah, she's a damn workaholic if you ask me. So what are you saying? Trepe is missing?" Seifer asked still trying to comprehend Quistis's disappearance.

"Actually it doesn't sound like she's missing. It sounds like she left, without telling anyone," Squall clarified.

"You mean little Miss Follow-the-rules has gone AWOL?" Seifer furrowed his eyebrows.

"Apparently, Quisty has been surprising us all lately," Squall said, hinting something in his voice.

Seifer furrowed his eyebrows. He wasn't sure what Squall was implying, but he decided to ignore it and pretend that he didn't notice the hint.

"You can say that again," he muttered to himself. "Shouldn't we be sending someone to go after her?" he asked Squall. "She _is_ going against orders. I know if I pulled some shit like this, you'd send a whole brigade of SeeDs after my ass."

"We are setting up a group to find her, but that isn't our priority right now," Squall said flatly.

Seifer could no longer contain his frustration. "Not _our_ priority? One of your top SeeDs goes AWOL and you are not the least bit concerned? This is bull shit."

"Right now, I want you and Zell to go undercover for another mission.'

"Fuck you! Who they hell made you commander anyway?" Seifer said with obvious irritation.

"The Headmaster, remember?"

"No, I'm trying to forget," Seifer replied sarcastically.

"There have been reports of a secret resistance buried in Galbadia," Squall continued to explain.

"I guess they aren't that good at keeping secrets, since you guys know about their little secret," Seifer said.

Squall ignored Seifer's comment and continued. "From the intelligence we have received, the resistance consists of the rough and tumble type," he said reading from the opened file in front of him.

"I can see why I'm your first choice. But Chicken Wuss?"

"You have no choice in your partners," Squall said.

"Doesn't matter. I'm not going on this mission. I'm going to find Trepe," he declared and prepared to leave the room.

Squall stood up from his desk. "You are assigned to the Galbadia mission and that is an order," he said with a commanding tone. "If you refuse to comply with these orders, you will be discharged from SeeD again. And this time Quistis isn't going to be here to speak on your behalf again."

Seifer gave a death glare to Squall. "Fine," he said curtly, "as soon as this mission ends. I'm going to find Trepe, and when that time comes. You won't be able to stop me."

"Suit yourself; remember this is an _undercover_ mission. Don't blow it and put yourself in danger again," Squall reminded.

"Are you worried for my well being, Leonheart?" Seifer smirked.

Squall shook his head and ignored Seifer's last comment and sat back down on his desk. "You will leave for Galbadia next week. There will be a briefing that you are required to attend tomorrow. Don't be late." As soon as the last words came out of Squall mouth, Squall heard the doors to his office slam close.

Seifer stepped into the elevator and angrily punched the buttons for the doors to close. This was just his luck. Just when he realized he had found the love of his life, she disappears. To top it off, he couldn't go and find her. This had to be Fate's sick way of fucking with him. Fate was such a bitch, he thought as he walked out of the elevator.


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N: **I just wanted to thank everyone for the nice reviews! So Thanks!_

_I also wanted to let you guys know that. I'll be having updates more frequently and not months at a time. Hopefully I won't keep you guys waiting too long for the end of this fic._

_Thanks again!_

**Chapter 8**

Quistis was exhausted when she arrived at Winhill. She had spent the last two weeks traveling from place to place trying to hide her trail from SeeD if they decided to come after her. She was no longer Quistis Trepe, but Kristy Trent. She had thought about changing her name to something completely different, but she figured Kristy would be easier for her to adapt since it was similar to her nickname. She hoped that she had hidden her trail well enough from anyone seeking her. At least long enough for her to figure out what her next plan of action would be.

Winhill's atmosphere was as quiet and small as she remembered. She felt so out of place as she wandered around the town with her single bag of belongings in her hands. As she surveyed the Town Square, she saw an old couple walking around the square arm in arm. The sight made Quistis smile, but it also saddened her. She was going to be a mother, and she didn't have the nerve to tell the father. She pushed the thought out of her mind, for her main concern at the moment was finding a place to stay for the next year, at least until the baby was born.

She started walking along a path that led away from the Town Square and noticed some houses along the road. Each house she passed were nice and homely houses with their idealistic white picket fences surrounding the front lawns.

Even though she was tired, she continued walking further down the path since it was a nice day and the fresh air from the walk was making her feel better.

Near the end of the road she saw a small one story house painted a soft gray-blue surrounded by a white picket fence. The front of the house had a porch with deck that hung a cozy swing chair out in front. In between the rose bushes in the front garden, there was a "For Rent" sign posted.

Quistis smiled at her luck. She suddenly felt excited for the possibility that she had found the perfect place to be her new home for the next year. She gently pushed opened the small front gate and walked up the stone path up to the porch and rang the doorbell once.

Just as she was about to press the doorbell again, the door opened and Quistis was greeted by a man a couple years older than she was. He was tall and thin and the glasses he wore made him look scholarly. His short brown hair was a bit tousled, but the smile on his face made up for his unkempt hair.

"Hi, how may I help you?" he asked with a friendly smile as he pushed his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose.

Quistis was surprised to see the man at the door, for some reason, she was expecting an elderly woman or something, but she quickly regained her composure and held her hand out. "Hi, my name is Kristy Trent. I'm inquiring about the "For Rent" sign you have posted out in front."

The man shook Quistis's hand. "Right, come on in," the man said opening the door wider for Quistis to enter. "This is the place I'm renting out." He gestured two the interior of the house. "There are two bedrooms and one bathroom. A good size kitchen and a small dining room next to the kitchen, and you've already seen the front porch. So take a look around and tell me what you think. Also the house will be rented fully furnished."

Quistis smiled and nodded as she walked around the house peering into each room. He first showed her the bedrooms and the bathroom. Then he led her into the kitchen. The house was neat and clean, it was the ideal home that Quistis dreamt of having when she was a little girl. Everything in this place was ideal. A dream come true. The only thing that wasn't ideal was her present predicament of being a single mother. She quickly pushed the thought from her mind again and continued to observe the house.

"So far I like it. Why are you renting out this house?" she asked as she peered into another room. "It's liked in perfect condition."

"It is a charming little house isn't it? This place use to belong to my sister, but she recently got married and moved to Esthar with her husband," the man explained.

"How about you? Why don't you live here instead?" Quistis asked.

"Actually, I have a house down on the other side of town," he said pointing towards the general direction of the Town Square.

"I see," Quistis nodded.

"Besides the extra income would be nice, being a teacher in a small town doesn't pay much."

"Oh, you're a teacher?" Quistis asked intrigued by the thought that she might still be able to teach. One reservation she had about leaving SeeD was that she wouldn't be able to teach there again. She loved teaching. The first time they revoked her teaching license. She was lost. She didn't know what to do, but at least her mind was taken off her despair by a mission to save the world.

"Yes, I teach at the local elementary school," the man answered with a smile.

"That must be nice. Do you have your own children?" she asked without thinking.

The man shook his head, "No, not yet."

"I see. I use to be an instructor, but that was a different life. Now I'm just looking to start over," Quistis explained.

"I see," he smiled understandingly. "I won't pry. Everyone is allowed to keep some secrets. So what do you think?"

Quistis took another glance down the kitchen door into the living room. "I love it, when can I sign the lease?"

The man smiled, "You know what? I like you, and I think you would make the perfect tenant for this house." Quistis blushed at his comments. "Why don't we go into the living room and I'll let you sign all the necessary agreements and give you the keys, so you can move right in."

Before they departed from the kitchen, Quistis saw a lovely garden out the kitchen window and smiled to herself. Quistis felt odd that she was finally getting a place of her own, her own place with a white picket fence and a garden in the backyard.

The man stopped at a desk and pulled out a couple sheets of paper for Quistis to sign. "So is it just you moving in? Or is there going to be someone else with you?" he asked handing the papers and a pen to Quistis.

"It'll be just me, for now," she added.

"No problem, when do you want to move in?" he asked gathering the papers that Quistis just signed.

"As soon as possible," Quistis said slightly embarrassment.

The man nodded understandingly and smiled. "Do you have any other belongings with you?" he asked looking down at the one bag in her hands.

Quistis shook her head. "No."

"You must be the get up and go type of lady," he teased. Quistis blushed again. "I'm sorry I shouldn't tease you like that," he quickly apologized. "Anyways, here are the keys to the house." He pulled out a ring of keys and picked out two keys from the rings and handed them to Quistis.

"Thank you…" she began, then realizing that she didn't know her new landlords name.

"I'm sorry. I don't' think I've introduced myself to you. I'm Paul. Paul Davis." He held out a hand for a handshake.

Quistis shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, Paul."

"Nice to meet you to, Kristy," Paul smiled. "If you need anything, my contact information is here." He handed her a piece of paper.

"Thank you." Quistis's smile only widened as she felt the weight of the keys in her palm and the contract in her hands.

"I'll get out of your hair, and let you get settled in. You can pay me the deposit later. I trust you won't run off on me."

"Again, thank you. You are just too kind. Mr. Davis."

"Please call me Paul. I'll probably see you around. This _is_ a very small town. We are bound to run into each other," he said with a shrug. "If you need anything, please feel free to call me."

She thanked him again and followed Paul out of the house and watched him leave. Quistis saw the swinging chair on the porch and walked towards it. She sat down and gently swung back and forth enjoying the cool breeze that blew by.

She sat there thinking as she watched the blue sky slowly turning into layers of blue, orange, and purple, as the sun prepared to set.

Things were starting to look up. She was starting a new life for herself. She had accepted the fact that she wanted to keep her baby. She planned to be the best mother she could be for this child. She never wanted her child to feel the sadness and abandonment she felt when she was first sent to the orphanage. This child would be her new family.

She thought back to her childhood days back in the orphanage. Even though she didn't have any parents, she had a family. Matron was he best mother she could have asked for and everyone she grew up with was still with her. At least when she was at Garden they still with her, but now she had left the only family she had to start her own.

Quistis let out a heavy sigh and leaned back into the swinging bench and absentmindedly place her hand over her belly. Quistis felt that she had done enough today. She found herself a new home and she was content.

* * *

Seifer sat in a dodgy bar drinking his beer with an ever-present scowl that he acquired since the beginning of his undercover mission as a member the resistance group Darkness. Seifer scoffed at the name. Darkness was fitting for them since it seemed that most of the members were in the dark about pretty much everything.

The rebel society accepted him easily enough and they didn't suspect him or Zell for anything. He didn't think that changing his hair color, covering his scar, and changing his wardrobe would so easily disguise his appearance. .

Either these rebel guys were morons with bad eyesight, or they were oblivious to what was going on in the real world. Seifer didn't see much of a threat from this resistance group. They were unorganized and constantly squabbling with each other. Their main strength was brute force. The only thing intimidating about the Darkness was that they attacked in large packs. Even the best fighter, couldn't take on ten of these brutes alone. Seifer's only relief had was that they weren't organized enough to actually attack anyone…yet. He was sure Squall sent him on this mission to spite him.

One of the rebels, obviously drunk, bumped into Seifer. Seifer glared at the man with his piercing green eyes and scowled. The drunken man saw his error and apologized quickly and staggered off to a dark corner of the bar.

Though Seifer was relatively new to the resistance, the weaker men knew better than to mess with Seifer.

"Hey, Seth!" a hand clapped Seifer on the shoulder. Everyone knew to stay away from him, except for his partner, Zell.

"What do you want, Chicken Wuss?" Seifer said taking a gulp of his beer.

"So, mulling in a bar alone?" Zell said.

"That's the idea," Seifer said rolling his eyes.

"Come on, Seth. In no time, we'll have what we want and it will be over," Zell said vaguely in case someone overheard their conversation.

"It's been a month, _Zack_," Seifer said emphasizing Zell's alias. "We aren't getting anywhere," Seifer whispered harshly.

"This is our job."

"Well, this job sucks," Seifer growled into his glass.

"I know you want to go back. I know you want to go and find her."

Seifer pretended not to understand. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"You know they can't find her. She hid her trail pretty good, which isn't a surprise. She is one of our best," Zell said with a proud smile.

"Of course, those greens wouldn't find her. It's like using pigs to hunt instead of blood hounds."

"If I were on her trail, I'd find her," Seifer said. "I'm giving this job a couple more weeks then I'm out."

"Where would you start looking?" Zell asked plopping himself down on the seat next to him.

"I'll look in ever city in the world if I have to," Seifer said, more to himself then Zell.

"Why?"

Seifer narrowed his eyes and looked at Zell. "I don't have to tell you why. Trepe is our friend, and she doesn't just up and leave everything she's ever known behind. Something has to be wrong for her to leave like this."

Zell scratched the back of his head. "That makes sense. Anyway we've got another meeting for 'la resistance' in ten minutes," Zell reminded Seifer.

Seifer muttered a curse under his breath. Maybe Quistis did the right thing by disappearing. He should've probably follow her example and just disappeared. She was the reason why he was back at Garden. He was actually quite content with living the nomadic life before he even thought about returning to Garden. But Quistis was able to convince him to return; like she convinced everyone else he deserved a second chance.

He chugged the last of his beer down and followed Zell to their daily meetings.

"Hey, Seth," a dirty looking blond man came up next to Seifer and Zell. "Did you two hear? There is a rumor that tonight is the night."

"Night for what?" Zell asked.

"The big revelations of the resistance's plan and I think they are announcing the new leader."

"Really? A new leader? I wonder how good this guy is," Seifer muttered to Zell. This was interesting news and it amused him. Maybe he under estimated this underground resistance. This was taking an interesting turn. He couldn't wait until he had to chance to crush this resistance and get on with his life.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **

_**Kit Thespian: **I'm so glad that this story was able to get you to review again. I hope the rest of the story will live up to your expectations. Thanks!_

_I just want to thank everyone for the nice reviews. Now I bring you rest of this fic. _

**Chapter 9**

Quistis woke up the next morning refreshed and glad to finally have a full night of rest in a comfortable bed. The last couple weeks were tiring and took a lot out of her. She stretched her arms high over her head. For once, she felt free, and she was hungry. She knew there was probably nothing in the house. After all, she had only moved into her new home only sixteen hours before.

She pushed herself out of the bed and peered out of the window of her room. The sun was already out and brightening the new day. She picked out a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and pulled her long blond hair into a ponytail. With one last glance at herself in the mirror, she hooked her purse over her shoulder and smiled to herself as she picked up her new house keys.

She stepped out of the house and onto the same path that led back to the Winhill Town Square. She remembered yesterday that she had passed by a small quaint restaurant that sold gourmet sandwiches and salads. Just the thought of the possible items the restaurant might serve was making Quistis even hungrier.

Shortly, Quistis arrived at the town and found the small restaurant she remembered. After being seated by the waiter, she flipped through the menu and found that everything on the menu looked delicious and she couldn't decide on what to eat. She wasn't sure if it was because she was starving or the fact that she was pregnant made her hunger insatiable at the moment.

As she tried to narrow down her choices for lunch, the waiter came by and patiently waited for Quistis to decide. She finally settled for the Winhill Melt Sandwich. The description of the grilled sourdough with roast beef on melted cheese and lettuce made her mouth water. The waiter nodded and excused himself after he took her order.

When the waiter departed, Quistis sat back into the chair and watched the people strolling along outside in the square. She remembered the first time she came to Winhill, it was rather quiet then, and few people walked the streets. Over the years Winhill became a popular place for people to come and relax. Winhill had become the perfect place to get away from the busy life of the bustling cities.

After she finished her meal, Quistis decided it was best to get acquainted with the town. She started to wander into a couple stores before she came across a small bookstore. Posted on the bottom corner of the display window was a sign that stated a job opening.

Quistis peered into the window of the store and saw a young man, probably a couple years younger than her, stacking some books, and a middle-aged woman with red hair sitting at the counter by the cash register flipping through a magazine. Quistis glanced back down at the sign.

When she finally chose Winhill as her new home, she knew she would eventually need a new source of income. Being a clerk in a bookstore was nothing like being a mercenary or teaching, but it would be a nice change. For once she wouldn't have to worry about getting injured in a fight, or worry about being sent on a potentially life threatening mission. Now that she thought about it, there seemed to be more advantages to applying for this job than opposing it, she thought.

Quistis gave herself a shrug and pulled the brass handle of the door open and entered, as the little bell on the top corner of the door rang to announce her entrance.

The woman at the counter looked up at Quistis smiled a hello, while the young man only glanced in Quistis's direction and continued shelving the remaining books on the book cart next to him.

Quistis returned the woman's greeting with a small smile and started to browse around the store. She decided that it was probably better if she looked around to see if she liked the atmosphere of the store before she requested an application for a job here. So she started by walking through the aisle of books and glanced at the different titles and assorted colors of book spines. Every now and then a book would catch her eye and she would pull it from its resting spot and casually flip through it.

She continued browsing and walked passed a display of books stacked in a form of a circle and in the center two books were propped up to catch a passerbyer's attention. She absent-mindedly picked up a book, flipped it to the back, and started to read the blurb. Her mind wandered as she read the blurb. It finally struck Quistis that she now had the time to do the things she had always wanted to do, such as, reading a novel, instead of worrying about the next day's lesson plan and grading tests and papers.

She replaced the book back on the display and headed for the front counter.

"Hi," Quistis greeted the middle-aged woman. "My name is Kristy Trent. I believe I saw you have an opening for a job here."

The woman sat up straighter on the stool and closed the magazine she was reading. "Nice to meet you, Kristy," the red-headed woman said holding out her hand. "My name is Lynnette."

Quistis returned Lynn's handshake with a smile.

"Let me guess. You're new here and need a job," Lynnette said. Quistis blushed slightly. "Don't be embarrassed. Winhill is a small town. Everyone knows everyone else's business. When did you get here?"

"Yesterday," Quistis replied.

"That explains why there hasn't been any talk of you yet." Lynnette noted the surprise on Quistis's face. "Don't worry it's nothing bad," she assured her. "Everyone here is very nice. Because Winhill is such a small town, a new face in town is always hard to go unnoticed. Especially a lovely lass as yourself, people will be wondering if you have a beau or not," Lynnette glanced down on Quistis's hands, "and from the lack of a ring, it must mean you're not married," she winked.

Quistis stood there and started to wonder if her decision to settle at Winhill in the mean time was a good idea. From what Lynnette was telling her, the town's people loved to gossip, and in time she would be talk of the town or even the next scandal since she wouldn't be able to hide her delicate condition forever.

Lynnette noticed the anxiety that suddenly crossed Quistis's face.

"Don't worry about it Kristy. You'll fit in just find here. The town tends to pass around gossip to pass the time here, but everyone here has a good heart. But enough of this chatter. You came here asking for a job."

Quistis nodded with some relief at the subject change.

"This job is basically sitting here and watching the store, working the cash register, and helping customers if they have any questions. There would also be some shelving and rearrange books here and there. There will be times when I'll ask you to open or close the store, but nothing you can't handle." Quistis nodded as she listened to Lynnette give her the basically job overview.

"I'm just curious. What was your previous job?" Lynnette asked after she finished describing the position.

"I use to teach," Quistis replied.

"Really?" Lynnette asked with interest. "What did you teach?"

"Yes, I thought basic things…it was a training school of sorts," Quistis said vaguely. "But that was another lifetime ago, and working in a bookstore would be a nice change," she added.

Lynnette nodded and decided not to pry at Quistis's vague answer. "I'm glad to hear that. Just fill out this application," she said handing Quistis a piece of paper and a pen.

As Quistis started to fill out application, Lynnette silently observed Quistis.

"I like you," Lynnette finally said. "If you want, you can start working today."

Quistis looked up from her application surprised. "You mean I got the job?"

"If you want it, yes, you have the job," Lynnette smiled. "Do you want to start today?"

Quistis handed the completed application back to Lynnette and brushed a loose hair away from her face. "Sure, I don't' have any plans for the rest of the day. I guess I can start working today."

"Well, I don't think there will much work to be done, but you can get familiar with where the different genres of books are located." Lynette came from behind the counter to show Quistis around the small store.

Lynnette introduced Quistis to her son Rodney, who was shelving books earlier. She told Quistis about Rodney planning going to be returning to Galbadia Garden from his break, and she would need a helping hand while he was gone. Lynnette left Quistis with Rodney while she went to help a customer that had just entered the store.

Quistis picked up a book from the cart Rodney was still shelving books from started to help him out.

"When are you planning to go off to Galbadia Garden?" Quistis asked to start polite conversation with Rodney.

"Probably in a couple weeks," the young man replied. "I'm just back visiting my mom during the break."

"I see. Have you always wanted to be a mercenary?" she asked.

"Well, a SeeD isn't just any mercenary."

"No, it's not at all," Quistis agreed.

"You sound like you know some things about SeeD. Do you?" Rodney asked.

"No," Quistis quickly said. "I use to know some people who went to Galbadia Garden and they had to work very hard to become a SeeD."

Before Rodney could as Quistis another question Lynnette returned and started to continue going into more detail of what went on in the store. She showed Quistis around the store again and gave her some books to shelve to help her become familiar with the floor plan of the store. Then she instructed Quistis with the details of how to use the cash register. After Lynnette finished instructing Quistis, she left Quistis to man the counter as she headed to the back storage room to organize some shipments, while Rodney was done for the day.

Quistis was alone in the store, except for several people who entered the store to browse at the magazines. She sat at the counter watching the customers wandering around the store, as her fingers played with the jewels that hung from her earring.

An elderly man walked by the counter and smiled at Quistis with the daily newspaper in his hand and dropped a couple coins as payment for newspaper and left the store. Quistis pressed a couple keys on the register and the drawer opened for her to deposit the coins.

She sat there thinking how quickly her life had suddenly changed over the past couple weeks. As soon as she found out she was pregnant, she made a choice to start a new life, and so far her new life was starting out well. She had found a home and a decent job. She still could not believe her good fortune. As she sat there contemplating her next step to fitting in here, the bookstore door opened with the small tinkering of the bell. She looked up to see a familiar face.

"Paul?"

"Miss Trent," Paul said. "I didn't know you worked here."

Quistis smiled, "As of today, I do now."

"Wow, you surely do work fast. You just found a place to live and now you've got a job." Quistis only smiled at his comment. "Is Lynnette out?" he asked looking around the store.

"No, she's in the back room doing something," Quistis said waving to the general direction of the back room.

"I see. I asked Lynnette to reserve a couple books for me. Maybe you know where they are," Paul said.

Quistis thought for a bit. She did remember Lynnette mentioning reserving books for a couple days. Then she remembered. "As a matter of fact, I do," Quistis said and looked beneath the counter and found three books bounded by a rubber band with Paul's name written on a post-it note.

"Here you go," she said placing the books on the counter for him to look at.

"Thanks." Paul pulled the rubber band off and started to look through the books to make sure they were the books he was looking for.

"How do you like working here?" he asked Quistis as he flipped open on of the books.

"It's nice so far. This _is_ my first day."

"I'm sure you'll like it here," he said closing the first book. "Lynnette is a really sweet woman. She's always there for you if you need any help."

"Paul!" Quistis turned to see Lynnette walking towards them from the back room. "Did school just let out?" Paul nodded. "It's been a while since you've decided to come and visited me."

"It's only been a couple weeks, and I _did_ order some books from you, so I was bound to come by and visit you…eventually," he said to Lynnette.

"Yes, whatever, I'm sure you finally decided to come by because you spotted my lovely new employee, Kristy," she teased.

"Actually, I know Kristy."

"Really?" Lynnette narrowed her eyes.

"I rented out Marilyn's place to Kristy the other day."

"Is that so?" Lynnette asked and looked at Quistis, who nodded at her question.

"It's good to know you are settled in and I'm sure Paul will take good care of you," Lynnette said patting the back of Quistis's hand. "Paul, since you're here why don't you take Kristy out on a tour of the town."

Quistis furrowed her eyebrows. "Lynnette, don't you still need me here to help you?"

"Don't worry about it, love. I'll be closing in a little bit anyway. Go and enjoy the rest of the day. Go." She shooed Quistis out from behind the counter and handed her purse to her.

"Paul, take good care of her, and make sure you don't keep her out too late. She still has to come in early tomorrow," Lynnette said with a wink.

"Yes, ma'am," Paul said with a slight nod. He opened the door for Quistis to exit and waved good-bye to Lynnette.

"I'm so sorry about that, Paul," Quistis immediately apologized when they stepped out the door. "You really don't have to give me this tour."

"You don't need to apologize for anything Kristy," he said leading Quistis away from the bookstore. "Besides I came in for a couple books, instead I leave with a beautiful lady."

"Oh, your books. We should go back and get them," Quistis suggested.

"It's all right Kristy. I can get them tomorrow. It's not like I need them right away. They've been sitting there for two weeks already. They can wait another day," he said.

Quistis looked at him puzzled. "Is it true what Lynnette said then? You came into the store today because of me?"

Quistis's question caught Paul off guard. "No...Yes…sort of…" he trailed off brushing his hand through his brown hair.

Quistis couldn't help but giggle. "Which exactly was you answer?" she teased.

"I had been meaning to go and pick up my books at the store, but when I saw you through the store window I thought I drop in and say hello and see how your were doing," Paul explained.

"That's very sweet of you."

"Now that I've have gotten you out of work early. Why don't I take you around this very small tour around the town like I promised Lynnette I would? Is there any where you were planning to go before heading home today?"

"Actually, I was looking for the market, since there isn't any food in the house."

"All right, first the tour of town, then dinner, then to the market. I think I should be able to get you home before your bed time," he said.

Quistis chuckled and let Paul led the way.

* * *

If this were not an undercover mission, Seifer would have already told everyone to fuck themselves and stalked out of the meeting. Instead he sat at another 'resistance' meeting; at least he had a bottle of beer with him. But the alcohol wasn't enough to make this useless meeting interesting. For the past week, there have been rumors of tonight being 'the night,' but each night wasn't 'the night.' Seifer wanted them to tell him what the hell their plan was already, so he would have something useful to report back to Garden and they can get him out of this dump.

He took another gulp from his beer as woman dressed in a black pant suit appeared on the stage to address the group. The woman stood on the by the podium. Her long black hair swept into a tight single braid. She was strikingly beautiful and very much out of place as she stood on the stage before to group of animals hooting and hollering at her with wolf whistles.

Seifer sat there observing the woman. She was unphased by the crude attention she received from the men. She stood there with a stern look in her eyes watching and waiting for the crowd to realize she wasn't there for eye candy. She was here to play a vital role in this resistance.

The group started to quiet down when they realized that something was amiss. The woman raised an eyebrow as she glanced around the room and stepped up to the podium to speak.

"My fellow comrades," she began. Her voice was strong as her demeanor. Her light brown eyes critically looked at everyone in the room. "There have been rumors for the past week about a new leader for Darkness." Murmuring rose through the crowd. "I am that leader." She paused to watch the reaction of the men.

The initial reaction of the crowd was one of silence. Then a roar of voices began. Some applauding other's booed against the new declaration.

"I don't care if you approve or disapprove. I _am_ your new leader, and you will address me as so."

"Don't you have a name?" a voice called out from the crowd.

"That I do, but if you want to know my name. You will have to earn it. For now you can all call me Raven." More whispers dispersed through the crowd.

"I have watched this resistance group for a while, and you guys are pathetic," she said. "You guys can't even collectively kill a fly even if you wanted to, and you want to over throw a government? Your last leader was more interested in pandering and drinking instead of fighting for a cause."

A wave of angry boos arose.

"I ask you. Is this a resistance group or a band of thugs?"

The boos abruptly ended and someone yelled out. "A resistance group!"

"So you think you are a resistance group. That is a good start. With me in charge I'll make you into a resistance group, and to prove to the world that Darkness isn't just a corner of the room without light. We will signal our revival with something big. We will raise some hell in the upcoming anniversary of the Sorceress Wars."

Seifer listened to the words Raven spoke. Darkness wasn't a threat at all, but she was. With her in charge now, Darkness had raised in the ranks of dangerous resistance groups. This was the reason he was sent on this mission.

Zell looked over at Seifer. "What do we do now?" he whispered.

"We play along," Seifer whispered back and raised his hand. "So how do we plan to raise some hell?" he asked.

"How do you think we should raise hell?" she asked Seifer.

Seifer shrugged, "Kill someone important."

Raven folded her hands on the podium. "I like the way you think, Seth. We will kill the President."

"How are we going to assassinate the President? Snipe him from a roof top? Big explosion? Poison? Smother him in his sleep?" Seifer asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"You don't think we can pull this off?" she asked crossing her arms across her chest.

"To be honest, no, I don't think these guys can pull it off," Seifer said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Quite the pessimist you are, but you are right. These guys _can't_ pull it off. That is why I want _you_ to do it since you seem so sure of you skills. As to your question, there is no way we can get close enough to the President, with the secret service and the SeeDs as their person body guards. It is also unfortunate that we haven't been able to infiltrate the President's personal guards. At the moment—"

"Sniping him from a roof top is our best choice," Seifer interrupted.

"You are a natural at raising hell aren't you Seth," Raven said with a smile.

"If you only knew," Seifer smirked.

"I've watched you very closely this past month."

"Like what you saw?" Seifer said smugly.

"Yes, very much. That is why you will be our sniper," she said.

"Better and better," Seifer said. This was definitely better. With him being the one in charge of the mission. It was be easier for him to set up a trap for the entire resistance and still have the festival continue with out any incident. His main concern was with Raven. She was a very intelligent woman, if she had been watching him for the last month, she might suspect something. Seifer was going to have to be more careful from now on.

"For the next two weeks, before the festival, I want you and your team to survey the location. Understood? I don't accept failures."

"Don't worry boss, It don't fail," Seifer said with confidence.

In two weeks this mission would be over, and he would be free to find Quistis. At least he hoped in two weeks this mission would end. Seifer had a feeling that Raven arrival was another of Fate's way of torturing him.

The meeting adjourned and the crowd dispersed. Seifer headed back to the dodgy bar for another beer.

"Brooding over the mission?" A sultry voice asked him.

Seifer looked over to see Raven sitting at the bar next to him.

"Raven," he nodded and took a drink. "I don't brood over missions."

"Angry that you are taking orders from a mere woman?" she asked.

Seifer scoffed. This wasn't the first time he took orders from a woman. Quistis use to order him around when they were on missions. "Not at all," he smirked, "I love women who know what they want."

"Is that so?" she started to lean closer in to him. "I've watched you for a long time, Seth. You're not like the others. You're different. You seem to have a purpose. You seem like the type of man who gets what he wants."

"I can say the same for you, but I haven't been stalking you though."

"I only stalked you because every good leader should know her members, and you're still a mystery to me," she said narrowing her eyes.

"Let's keep it that way," Seifer said wink, finished his drink, and left Raven at the bar.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

With one eye, Seifer peered through the spotting scope of the sniper rifle he was given to execute his mission to assassinate the president. For the last two weeks under Raven's careful watch. They had found the perfect stake out spot that would give them a clear shot at the President and allow them a quick escape. But escaping wasn't Seifer's plan.

Even with Raven watching his every step like a hawk, Seifer, with Zell's help, managed to get the intelligence they received back to Garden. If everything went as planned, the police would be able to get to the Resistance before attempted the assassination occurred. Seifer glance down at his watch. There was still fifteen minutes before show time.

Seifer did not bother to turn around when he heard light footsteps come up behind him. These footsteps have been following him around for the past two weeks.

"Come to check up on me, Raven?" he asked still looking through his spotting scope.

Seifer suddenly felt something cold and hard pressed against the side of his throat.

"I know who you are," Raven hissed into his ear.

Seifer remained cool even when he realized that Raven held a knife to his throat.

"Of course you know who I am. You've been stalking me for the last two months," Seifer said coolly.

"Don't play dumb, Almasy. You may have changed your appearance slightly, but you're not an easy person to forget."

"I'm flattered. You think I'm Seifer Almasy."

She pressed the knife harder on his throat. "Don't fuck with me. You are here to ruin my group. I won't have that," she growled. "Tell me what your plans are."

"Look, you've been watching my every move for the last two months and you are assuming that am Seifer Almasy and betraying you. What proof do you have?" He felt point of the knife on his neck lessen for a second. He took that moment to react. With a quick sweep of his arm, he elbowed Raven hard in the gut causing her to double over and drop her knife. He quickly grabbed her knife and pulled her head up by her long black braid and placed the knife under her throat.

"I don't like it when people sneak up on me with a knife," he snarled. "If you think that you know who I am. Then you should be very afraid, because Seifer Almasy _will _hurt you."

Seifer look into Raven's icy stare. "It's too late," she said. Then Seifer saw what she meant. Four big burly men that had been designated as Raven's bodyguards entered the empty room.

"Is it smart to threaten me, when I have the knife to _your_ throat?" Seifer said tightening his grip on her. Then another man came in with a gun pointed at Zell's back. Seifer resisted an urge to curse under his breath.

"Let me go and I'll let him go," Raven bargained.

There was still at least five more minutes before they had backup arrive. Seifer would have to stall for five more minutes.

"You are using Zack as leverage?" Seifer scoffed.

"I believe this Zack is not Zack, but Zell Dincht also a SeeD," Raven said.

"Really? You think this chicken wuss is a SeeD? And I thought you were a smart woman."

"If you want to kill him, go ahead. I'm not letting you go, Raven. No one puts a knife under my throat and gets away with out an apology." He pressed the tip of his knife deeper on her throat. Raven gave out an involuntary whimper as she felt the tip of the knife prick her skin.

The police needed to get here soon. Seifer didn't think he could stall them anymore. Zell had to go and get himself caught; and now they were quickly running out of time.

"Did you hear that?" One of the guards as another.

"It's too late now, sweetheart," Seifer whispered to Raven.

Finally the doors burst open as the police made their move to surround them with guns pointed at them.

"You're all under arrest!" they called out.

Seifer raised his hands up in surrender. It was about time. Tomorrow he would be on his way to find Quistis, no matter what Squall said. His mind was made. He was going after her.

* * *

Quistis was still counting the money from the cash register when she heard a knock on the store door. She was about to point to the closed sign on the door, when she realized that it was Paul at the door.

She quickly finished counting the batch of money in her hands and wrote down the figure on the sheet and went to unlock the door for Paul.

"Paul, what are you doing here?"

"I heard that Lynnette was letting you close the store by yourself today."

"I know, can you believe it? I've only been working here for a couple weeks and she wants me to close the store unsupervised already. I'm afraid I might mess up or forget to do something," she said.

"I'm sure you'll do fine. Lynnette really likes you and she trusts you to do a good job closing the store by yourself," Paul assured her. "Anyways since you were here alone, I thought I'd come by and keep you company and maybe walk you home."

"You know you don't have to," Quistis said as she returned to counting the money on the counter.

"I know," Paul shrugged, "but I want to."

Quistis rolled her eyes. "Well, I still need to count the money then put it in the safe. I should be done in about fifteen minutes."

"Sure, no problem, I can wait." He placed the bag of groceries he carried on the floor.

"What's the bag of groceries for?" Quistis asked in between counting the bills.

"I'm going to make you dinner tonight," Paul said picking up a copy of the daily newspaper and started to read the headlines.

"Dinner?" Quistis looked at him with a raise eyebrow.

"Don't worry. I fed it to my students once, and they are all still alive," he said starting to read the front page of the newspaper. "Galbadia had its yearly festival to commemorate the end of the Sorceress Wars this past weekend."

"Really?" Quistis wrote another number down on the sheet before she looked at the article that Paul pointed to.

In the cover picture, Quistis saw Squall and Rinoa standing on the stage next to president. Quistis remembered the one year when they all stood there as a team, being honored with their achievement of saving the world. Now they were lucky if they could get one or two of the original team members to show up.

She glanced through the front page and another picture down on the bottom of the paper caught her eye. The headline was about an underground rebel faction known as Darkness was crushed over the weekend and a picture of the rebels being taken into custody was displayed. Quistis looked closer at the picture. One of the men in the picture looked familiar.

"Seifer?" she absent-mindedly whispered.

"Excuse me?" Paul asked.

"Oh nothing, that guy there reminded me of an old friend," she said pointing to the picture.

"Is that so?" Paul asked taking the newspaper and taking a closer look. "Is it your friend?"

"No, that's not him. He has a prominent scar on his face, but his guy does look a lot like him. But it's not him and he wouldn't go and join an underground rebel faction." At least she hoped it wasn't him. If it was Seifer there had to be a good reason why he was pictured with the rebel faction. It was most likely part of a mission. Whatever it was, she was no longer part of that life. For some reason the thought of that made her sad. She quickly shook the thought out of her mind and stuffed the rest of the money into the cloth deposit bag locked it and went to the back of the store to put the money away in the safe.

She came out minutes later with her purse in hand.

"Okay I'm ready to go. So what are you planning on cooking for me tonight?"

Paul quickly put the newspaper back on the rack and gathered the grocery back in his hands. "How does pasta sound to you?" he asked with a smile.

"Sounds good," Quistis smiled as she turned off the lights and locked the door to the store.

* * *

After the bust Seifer spent most of the day in jail giving reports and relaying other information about Darkness. By the time he was released from duty and reached Balamb Garden, the sun was setting. Instead of heading straight for the showers then his dorm, Seifer headed straight for the elevator, up towards the third floor into the headmaster's office.

Without warning Seifer pushed the door open and stalked into the office again.

"Seifer, you need to stop barging in like this every time," Squall said obviously irritated.

Seifer ignored Squall's comment. "I finished the mission. Now I'm going to go and find Trepe."

"How are you going to find her when a team of SeeDs can't even find her?"

"Because the pansies you sent to look for her are useless and they don't care enough to find her. I'll find her," Seifer said with determination in his eyes.

"We've done everything to find her we even checked her accounts to try and trace her. You have to remember she _is _a professional, and she obviously doesn't _want_ to be found," Squall said trying to explain their failure in find Quistis.

"Nothing stays lost forever," Seifer growled, "and I'm going to find her."

"You can't," Squall said bluntly.

Seifer glared at Squall, "And why the hell not?"

"Because you—"

"Don't even say it." Seifer dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope and tossed it onto Squall's desk.

"What's this?" Perplexed Squall opened the envelope.

"My resignation letter," Seifer said. "You're not making me wait another day. Trepe has been missing for nearly five months. And I'm going to find her. Even if I have to knock on every door, I'll find her. Have a nice life Leonheart." He stalked off again and slammed the door behind him.

After a quick shower, Seifer went back to his dorm and started to pack all his belongings. In a couple hours, Seifer was done packing everything in his room, which wasn't much. He didn't know where he was going to go, but he knew that Garden no longer welcomed him.

He pulled out of the parking lot and headed for Balamb. He might as well start with the closest town to him.

* * *

"Dinner is served!" Paul announced as he brought out two plates of pasta from the kitchen and placed them on the table.

"Smells great," Quistis said sitting down at the table. "I hope it tastes as good as it smells," she teased before taking a bite.

Paul was about to join her at the dining table when he stop in mid thought. "I almost forgot. Be right back," he said and went back into the kitchen and came back with two wineglasses and a bottle of red wine.

"Would you like some wine?" he asked.

Quistis shook her head. "No, thank you. I can't."

"You can't or you don't drink?" Paul asked puzzled pouring himself a glass.

"I can't," she repeated.

"Are you allergic to wine?"

"No, at the moment I just…can't," Quistis hesitated. "I'm sorry I should have told you this before."

"Tell me what?" Paul's eyebrows furrowed in concern.

Quistis let out a breath. "I'm pregnant," she finally said.

"I see," Paul said taking a gulp of wine as he let the news settle in.

"I'm sorry. I know I should have told you this from the beginning, but you were just so kind to me and I didn't want to hurt your feelings. I…I was wrong to wait until now, and I'm so sorry. If you want to leave or if you want me to leave, I'll go. I'm so sorry," she apologized.

Quistis felt guilty. Over the past couple weeks they had become friends. At least Quistis hoped that they were only friends, but she also feared that Paul might have considered her more than a friend.

"No, you don't have to leave," Paul said. "Is this the reason why you came to Winhill?"

"It's one of the reasons," she said vaguely.

"If I may ask, where is the father?"

Quistis took another deep breath. "The last time I saw him. He was away on a…business trip, but that was before I found out I was pregnant."

"He doesn't know?"

"No," she shook her head.

"Were you planning to ever tell him?"

Quistis felt even more terrible. For the past several months she had been trying to avoid the confronting question of if she should tell Seifer or not. Now the question she dreaded was asked and she didn't have the right answer.

"I don't know yet."

"Kristy, I've only known you a short time, but I like you. I _really_ like you. You are definitely one of a kind. I've never meet anyone like you. To be honest, it doesn't really matter to me that you're pregnant. I'm sure you will be a great mother. My main concern is do you still love the father of your baby? If you do, you should tell him," he said.

_Still_. The word caught Quistis completely off guard. It had never occurred to her that she might even love Seifer, and she didn't blame Paul for assuming that she and Seifer had been involved in a relationship. She didn't fit the typical one night stand description. But now that Paul had brought the question to her attention was it possible that the reason she felt guilty for being around Paul was because she had feelings for Seifer? Was it because of her feelings for Seifer, that she only considered Paul a friend?

She started to think back on her reasons for leaving Garden. She knew she was searching too hard for a simple answer. She was afraid of being rejected again. The last time she tried to talk to someone, he shattered her heart and now he was happily married. She couldn't know what Seifer's reaction would have been. Seifer was the complete opposite of Squall. He was unpredictable. She was never really sure what he would do. Maybe she should have talked to him first.

"I'm sorry." Was all Quistis could say to Paul as she kept her gaze on the plate of pasta in front of her.

"You know what? Forget about it. Everyone is allowed to have some sort of secret. Right now we have this delicious dinner that is going to go to waste," Paul said trying to ease the tension in the room by changing the subject.

"Please eat," he urged her.

Quistis obliged and tried to eat, but she had lost her appetite. But she ate anyway since she needed to eat for the sake of her baby.

"This is really great Paul. You should cook for me more often," she said trying to lighten up the mood.

"Anything for you, Kristy, Anything," Paul said with a sad smile.

* * *

Quistis was glad when her dinner with Paul was finally over. He was kind enough to stay and help her clean her kitchen before he left, but at that time she wanted nothing more than to be left alone.

For the last hour she sat by her phone, asking herself is she should call Seifer or not. Finally she picked up the phone and dialed the familiar number to Balamb Garden.

"Hello, Balamb Garden," the operator answered with an overly cheerful voice that reminded her of Selphie.

"Hello, I'm looking for a Seifer Almasy," Quistis said, hoping the operator was someone she didn't know.

"May I ask who is speaking?" the operator asked.

"This is…Kristina Dent. I meet him at a bar and he gave me this as his contact number."

Quistis could here the operator scoff and she was sure the operator was rolling her eyes at her. "I'm sorry you just missed him," the operated replied.

"I see. Do you know when he will be back?" Quistis asked.

"No, you misunderstood. I mean you missed him. He no longer works here anymore," the operator said.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean," the operator spoke slower in a patronizing manner. "He just resigned and no longer works or lives here anymore."

Quistis was getting annoyed by the operator's tone. "What do you mean by 'just' resigned."

"He resigned a couple hours ago and he just pulled out of the parking lot."

"And did he leave any alternate contact information?"

"Sorry ma'am, no. Thank you for calling Balamb Garden. Good bye," the operator said and immediately hung up on Quistis.

Quistis sighed. She couldn't believe that she had literally just missed him. Now that she had finally decided to tell him about her pregnancy, there was no way she could contact or find him. Fate had a terrible way of toying with her.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

It seemed that for the past several months, Seifer's day always ended with him sulking at a bar. Tonight he ended up in a bar in Galbadia. He had searched every school in every city, hoping that she might have wanted to continue teaching. He knew she loved teaching, but he also knew that if she was trying to hide and cut loose all ties from her past, she would find something completely different and out of the ordinary. The question he had to ask himself was how much out of the ordinary would Quistis go in order to change her identity? In addition to searching schools, he searched almost every possible job he could imagine Quistis working in. He had even looked in clubs, since every other idea that came to him was fruitless.

He was starting to question the reason for his search, if this search for Quistis was worth it. For all he knew, Quistis might have moved on or even gotten married from the past seven months since he'd last seen her. He stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out a photo.

The photo that he held in his hand was a candid photo of Quistis that was taken during one of the graduations. She was in her black SeeD uniform standing in the balcony alone. He didn't know who took the picture. He guessed it was most likely Selphie or Zell, since those were two click happy when a camera was placed in their hands.

Seifer remembered the day that he swiped the photo off Quistis's desk when she wasn't looking. He was sure she knew he took the picture, but she didn't bother to pursue. Nothing ever escaped Quistis's attention. A smile crept its way across his lips as he remembered the days when he would raise hell in her class by throwing bits of paper at Squall. Quistis would always pause a moment in her lectures, look at him at her over the top her glasses, and raise an eyebrow to get him to stop. That of course never got him to stop. Even when he was no longer a student and a full fledged SeeD, he still managed to get Quistis to roll her eyes at him every day.

In the picture, Quistis's hair was up in her usually way with her long golden hair cascading around her flawless face smiling beautifully. Seifer's gaze remained on her sad blue eyes. The photo didn't do justice to her beauty.

Each time he started to doubt his quest in finding her. This picture reminded him that it was worth it.

Seifer placed the picture on the table as he ordered another drink from the bartender.

"I know that girl," the man next to him said.

"Excuse me?" Seifer looked at the man skeptically.

"That girl in the picture, I seen her before. At least the she looks a lot like a girl that came to work for my mother, a couple days before I left to come here."

"Where was this?" Seifer asked.

"A small bookstore in Winhill," he young man said.

"Winhill?" Seifer wanted to kick himself. Winhill was one of the last places on his list. "Thanks." Seifer quickly stuffed the picture back in his pocket.

Now he had a clue and a destination. He was getting closer to finding her. He tossed a couple bills on the bar. "Your drink is on me. Enjoy." The young man was surprised at his generosity and thanked Seifer as he walked away.

Seifer pulled his coat tighter around himself as he walked out of the bar. The streets were empty from the late night. Seifer turned into the alley where his car was parked.

"Long time no see, Seth," a hoarse mysterious voice said out of the darkness.

Seifer gave a sidelong glance to the direction of the voice, "Seth? I think you've got the wrong guy."

"Seth or should I say Seifer Almasy? Do you really think that one little spy like you can crush our resistance group?" the voice said.

"Resistance group? Are you guys from Darkness? I heard that your little boss Raven is in custody now," Seifer said still pretending he didn't know what they were talking about.

"That is what you think," a familiar female voice emerged from the dark shadow in the alley.

"Why am I not surprised? So what are you going to do about it? Fight me?" Seifer said holding his hands out.

"You ruined my perfect plan to bring Darkness out of the dark," Raven said bitterly. "And you said so yourself. I'm a woman who knows what she wants, and I want revenge."

"So you brought your band of thugs to beat the living snot out of me?" Seifer asked as a statement more than a question.

"Precisely," the leader said. As more men stepped out of the darkness for Seifer to see.

Seifer cursed under his breath. He was immensely out numbered, and he didn't have his weapon with him. The one day he left his gunblade in the car was the one day he needed it most. From the look of these guys, they were out for blood, and Seifer knew it. He quickly surveyed his surroundings for a way of escape, but he found none.

"Is the great Seifer Almasy looking a way to escape?" Raven said in a mocking tone.

Seifer smirked, "If you know I'm so great, then why are you challenging me?"

"Because greatness doesn't last," she said and signaled her men to encircle Seifer.

The crowd of thugs encircling Seifer and drew in closer to him.

"Looks like you won't have any backup to help you out this time."

Seifer took a deep breath and squeezed his hands into fists. There was no way he could defeat this group of thugs alone. He was at a huge disadvantage. Right now all he hoped was that he would make it out of this fight alive. If he was going to go down, Seifer planned to take some of these guys down with him.

"So what are you guys waiting for?" Seifer challenged them back.

With a wave of the leader's hand, the thugs all charged at Seifer.

Seifer's fists were able to connect with several thug's faces and stomachs before they had a chance to land some punches at him. With his expertise and training as a SeeD, Seifer's street fighting skills were better than the thugs, and he was able to best several of them. But there were at least fifteen people in this crowd, and eventually Seifer's adrenaline was going to wear out and he wasn't going to be able to fight them all and survive.

Seifer threw another hard punch at a guy charging at him with a crowbar. His hands were hurting and he was starting to get tired, and the thugs could see it. They took this as an opportunity to all attack him at once. One of the thugs kicked him in the leg causing him to lose his balance. Seifer tried with all his might to not fall. He knew if he fell, this fight was over and his only hope was that Hyne would be kind and let him live. Seifer felt another very hard kick to his leg. He heard the bone crack as he felt to the ground. Seifer had a sick feeling as the punches and kicks rained down on him. Seifer tried his best to cover his face with his hand. He could taste his own blood in his mouth. The last thing he remembered before passing out in pain were sirens.

* * *

Quistis sat at the bookstore counter attempting to knit a blanket for her new baby. After she had finally told Lynnette that she was pregnant, Lynnette had been fussing around Quistis to make sure she didn't put her self under too much stress or do any strenuous tasks. Now that her belly was getting bigger, Lynette insisted that she should just sit and man the counter, while the shelving and things could be done by her or Paul. Since school was out for the summer, Paul was a frequent visitor to the store.

Quistis still felt guilty that she couldn't reciprocate the feelings that Paul showed her, but she was relieves that Paul didn't ask for her reciprocation, instead he was just happy that she accepted him as a friend and let him take care of her.

"I think your getting better at his," Lynnette said holding the knitted blanket in her hands.

Quistis smiled, "I'm still amazed how just simply looping a single strand of yarn together over and over again can produce these amazing patterns."

"The simple things in life are just amazing isn't it," Lynnette pulled a chair to sit next to Quistis. "So how is Paul?"

"Paul? He's fine. You saw him yesterday," Quistis said as she looped the yarn around one of her needles.

"Paul is a very good man," Lynnette said.

"Yes, he is and he is going to make some lucky woman proud one day," Quistis said trying to push away Lynnette's hinting.

"You know, being a single mother isn't easy. It's nice to have someone else there to help out. After my husband died, it was very difficult raising Rodney on my own," Lynnette said.

"I know, but you still managed." Quistis said and stopped knitting to looked at Lynnette. "I know you mean well, Lynnette, but this is my choice and I've talked to Paul about it already and we've come to a…understanding."

"Have you tried to find your baby's father?" Lynnette suddenly asked.

"I have," Quistis sighed, "but I don't know where he's gone to. I can't seem to find him."

"Do you really want to find him?" Lynnette asked.

"I've spent the last several months thinking about this and Paul was right. The father has a right to know" Quistis hesitated. "Even if he doesn't want the baby, I think he should know."

"I hope everything turns out well for you," Lynnette said with a sigh and patted Quistis's hand as she picked up to read the newspaper.

"My goodness, every day there is violence and killing in the streets," Lynnette said as she read the headlines. "I worry about Rodney being out there in the nasty city streets of the big cities. Look, another poor man beaten nearly to death by a bunch of thugs. But you shouldn't worry about that here. Winhill is the safest place for you to raise your baby." Lynnette placed the newspaper down on the counter and went to get something in the backroom.

Quistis continued to knit as she glanced over on the paper's headline. _Former SeeD Seifer Almasy Attacked by Recently Crushed Resistance in Galbadia._ Quistis's heart stopped. She quickly scanned to article to see if he was all right. She came across the words "beaten badly" and "broken bones" and "Galbadia General Hospital." This did not sound good. She needed to go and see him.

Quistis quickly blinked back her tears and tried to steady her voice, when Lynnette came back.

"Lynnette, I was wondering would it be all right if I took a couple days off, since it hasn't been too busy lately."

"Sure, you have any plans?" Lynnette asked, folding the newspaper back up.

"Actually I've wanted to visit an old friend of mine back at home," Quistis said making up a vague excuse on the spot.

"Is Paul going with you?"

"No, I'll be fine. I promise you I'll be careful."

Lynnette looked at Quistis skeptically. "All right, if you need anything remember to call."

"Thank you, Lynnette."

* * *

Galbadia General Hospital was like any hospital. It had the stark white feeling of sterile-ness. Quistis had been in going to hospitals so often, coming here almost felt like a regular check up. But this time it wasn't a check up.

She stepped out of the elevator to the fifth floor and headed to the counter.

"Hi, I'm looking for Seifer Almasy's room," she asked the nurse at the counter.

The nurse typed something into the keyboard and smiled. "He's in room 512. Just go straight along that corridor and turn to your right," she instructed Quistis.

Quistis thanked the nurse and followed her direction. She found his room relatively easily, and walked in slowly afraid to disturb him and she found he wasn't alone.

The doctor checking up on Seifer's vitals chart looked up and smile at Quistis.

"Hi, visitor?" Quistis nodded. The doctor looked at Quistis's growing belly. "Wife?"

Quistis didn't answer. "How is he?" She asked instead.

The doctor replaced the clipboard on the foot of Seifer's bed. "He was beaten up pretty badly, but he's out of the critical state. He's got a couple broken bones, internal bleeding, but he's strong. He'll live. I'm sure with you here. He'll make a speedy recover. I'll leave you two alone," the doctor said.

"Thank you," Quistis said as the doctor left.

Tears stung Quistis's eyes when she saw the sight before her. Seifer's leg was cast and propped up. His head was wrapped in a bandage. His face bruised and swollen. She could barely recognize him, if it wasn't for his scar.

Quistis carefully took his bandaged hands into her hands as tears streamed down her face. It pained her to see him like this. She could only imagine what had happen for him to be beaten to this state. She assumed he had to be outnumbered. Thinking about what the resistance thugs did only angered her. She hated being helpless, but now she could do nothing but pray for Seifer's speedy recovery.

She suddenly felt Seifer's hand squeeze hers. She looked through her tear filled eye at his face. She saw his eyes open a tiny slit. Then close again.

"Seifer? I'm sorry," she said squeezing his hand slightly and let go of his hand and rushed out of the room before anyone else she know saw her.

* * *

"Quistis?" Seifer said hoarsely as he tried to open his swollen eyes.

"He's awake," he heard a female voice say in relief. "Seifer can you hear me?" The voice was familiar, but it wasn't the voice he wanted to hear.

"Where's Trepe?" he tried again.

"Seifer? Did you just say Trepe?" the female voice asked again. "I'm sorry but Quistis isn't here. We still have found her yet."

Seifer painfully turned his head towards the woman and saw Edea and Rinoa standing beside him. At the foot of his bed he saw Squall and the Headmaster as well. All these people here were visiting him, and none of them were the ones he wanted to see.

Seifer shook his head. He knew he saw her. She was here. He remembered feeling her hands in his. He remembered he saw her crying. Seifer closed his eyes in frustration. He still felt nauseated from all the morphine they gave him for the pain.

"We should let him rest." Edea said. Everyone around nodded in agreement and left Seifer to rest.

Seifer was relieved to open his eyes to an empty room again. Fate was too cruel. He finally knew where he could find Quistis, and now he was bedridden for Hyne knows how long.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

After a being in the hospital for nearly a month, Seifer was finally released, and Edea and Rinoa insisted on bringing Seifer back to Garden. Here he was back in his old dorm room. Right back to where he started. Seifer had insisted to Doctor Kadowaki that he was fine and could travel, despite the fact that right leg was still in a cast and it was still be months before he could take it off.

He was frustrated about not being able to do anything, especially when he was so eager to find Quistis. Usually when he was frustrated he would take his anger out in the training area, but now all he could do was sit and scowl at everyone passing by.

"Seifer, stop scowling like that," the bubbly brunette said. "You know if you keep scowling like that your face will be stuck like that forever."

Seifer only responded by scowling at Selphie some more.

Selphie only rolled her eyes and giggled. "In no time, you'll be up and around terrorizing all the cadets again." She patted them on the head and skipped off.

Seifer brought his palm to his face. He had just reached a new low, Selphie just got away with patting him on the head. His leg needed to heal faster. Where was a fix broken bones spell when you needed one?

He vowed to himself. That as soon as he would walk unassisted no one was going to stop him from going to Winhill. He was determined to find her and he would.

* * *

Sweat plastered her blond hair to her flushed porcelain face as she winced from another contraction. Quistis was trying to follow the nurse's instruction and breathe, but the pain of labor was making her lose concentration. She didn't know how many hours had past since the moment her water broke and the contractions started to come. All she knew was that it felt like she was in an eternity of pain. She wanted the baby to come out now.

As doctors fussed around her, telling her that she was doing fine and that the baby was well on its way and that everything would be over soon, Quistis didn't hear a word. The only thing she knew in her world at the moment was the pain of impending motherhood. While Quistis was on her way to being a mother, Paul and Lynnette waited outside.

Paul and Lynnette sat in the waiting room waiting. Lynnette was calm and flipping through a magazine, while Paul sat next to her lost in thought, lost in concern.

"She's strong. She would be fine," Lynnette assured him.

"I know," Paul sighed.

"What's wrong?" Lynnette asked.

"I think Kristy is planning to leave after the baby is born," he said.

"Did she tell you this?"

"No, but I can sense it. She's always kept me at arms length."

"Does she know how you feel about her?"

"Yes, I've told her countless of times, but I think her heart still belongs to the father," Paul sighed hopelessly.

"You think she is going to go and find him as soon as the baby is born?"

Lynnette remembered the conversation she had had with Kristy several months before. She knew that Paul was aware of the fact that she wanted to find the father of her child, but Lynnette had always hope she would choose Paul, since the man obviously loved her very much.

"It's a possibility." Paul sighed. "Of all the women in the world I pick her to fall for."

"It's not your fault Paul," Lynnette said trying to comfort him.

"It _is_ my fault. Kristy told me that this relationship wouldn't work, and she wanted us to remain friends. It's my own fault that I let myself fall in love with her," he sighed again burying his head in his hands.

"Is it possible that you are thinking too much about it? Has there been any evidence of her trying to contact the father?" She said still trying to bring Paul out of his despair.

Paul shook his head. "That's the thing. It doesn't look like she contacted him, but do you think she can forget this guy, now that she would have a constant reminder of him in her arms?"

Lynnette knew that she did not have to words to comfort Paul instead she only gave him a supporting squeeze on his hands and remained silent.

Just then the door opened and a nurse came to them.

"Congratulations," she said. "You have a baby boy."

After giving Paul and Lynnette the news, the nursed returned into the delivery room to find Quistis holding her little baby in her arms.

Like any new mother, as she cradled her baby in her arms, the hours of pain seemed to fade away. Her beautiful baby was sleeping in her arms.

The nurse came to take the baby.

"Congratulations," the nurse said to her again. "He's beautiful."

"Thank you," Quistis said with a proud smile.

"Do you have a name for him yet?" the nursed asked as she held the baby in her arms.

"Yes, his name is Seifer," Quistis said.

The nurse smiled and carried little Seifer away to be cleansed, and allow Quistis to get her much needed rest.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Seifer felt out of place when he stepped into the quiet little Town Square of Winhill. Even though it was a hot summer day, he still wore his grey coat. The few people who ventured to take a stroll in the summer heat couldn't help but look at the statuesque man standing in the square with a gunblade propped on his shoulder.

He eyed everyone he saw in sight, hoping that maybe one of them was Quistis. He had no such luck as expected. He stood at the center of the square deciding where he would start first. Then he saw a small bookstore. He vaguely remembered that the man at the bar told him that Quistis was looking for a job at his mother's bookstore. This must be that bookstore.

Sticking his free hand into his pocket, Seifer headed towards the small bookstore. He pushed the door open and entered to find a red haired woman at the counter.

The woman raised her head, furrowed her eyebrows as she watch Seifer walk in with his intimidating gunblade over his shoulder.

"You should be careful with that thing," she said not looking up.

Seifer arched an eyebrow and head straight towards the counter and pulled out the picture of Quistis.

"I'm looking for this woman. I heard she came here looking for a job."

Lynnette looked at Seifer then back down at the picture and back at Seifer.

"She looks familiar," Lynnette said.

The three words from Lynnette made Seifer's heart race. He was getting close to finding her.

"Do you know where I can find her?" he asked trying to keep from sounding too eager.

"My question is do you really want to find her?"

"Excuse me? Of course I want to find her. I've spent most of the last year trying to find her," Seifer said slightly appalled by the woman's question.

Lynnette stopped what she was doing and leaned forward on the counter and looked at Seifer. "So it's been almost a year, since you've seen her, and for all you know she might be married with a kid."

"Excuse me? Why are you telling me this? I don't even know you." Seifer was getting impatient. "Could you please tell me where I can find her?"

Lynnette scribbled down an address on a piece o paper and gave it to Seifer. "Just follow that road," she said pointing to one of the streets that lead out of the Town Square.

"Thanks," Seifer quickly said and followed her directions.

* * *

Quistis used the back of her hand to wipe the sweat off her brow after she put little Seifer into his crib next to the swinging bench on the porch. The inside of the house was hot and stuffy, so she decided to bring out her current knitting project outside with her as she tried to cool off outside.

A light breeze blew by giving her temporary relief from the heat. She looked down at the sleeping baby and carefully caressed his skin as he slept peacefully. She sat down in the swinging bench next to him and picked up her knitting needles and continued knitting. She knitted for some time before she got tired and dozed off on the bench.

She did not know how long she had dozed off, but she woke up to what she thought was her baby's cooing. She turned to look into the crib to find something terribly wrong. Seifer was missing.

She stopped to think for a moment. Maybe Paul had come by early and was in the house with Seifer.

"Paul?' Quistis called into the house. Then she noticed the familiar sleek gunblade propped next to the empty crib. She looked up and saw the shadow of a figure on the other end of the porch. The man had his back to her, but silhouette of the man was very familiar. It was the silhouette of someone she had never expected to see here. She brought her hands up to her mouth as she uttered his name.

"Seifer…"

Seifer turned around to face her. She saw that in his arms was her baby.

"Hello Trepe never thought I'd see the day you would be sitting down and knitting. So Paul? Is that the name of the father?" Seifer asked carefully.

Quistis was speechless. She couldn't believe that it was really Seifer standing before her holding her baby, their baby in his arms.

"What are you doing here?" she finally asked.

"Isn't it obvious?"

Quistis furrowed her eyebrows. "No, it's not obvious," she said and got up from the chair and started towards him.

"You spend one night with me then disappear for almost a year. I guess I missed you. But you obviously you didn't miss me, since you went and got married and had a kid."

Quistis gave Seifer a perplexed look. "Can I have my baby back please?" she said reaching her hands out.

"He's a cute kid. I'll give you that. So who does he look like? Mother or father?" Seifer asked.

Quistis looked into Seifer's eyes. The last time she looked at his eyes, he was beaten and hurt badly. The memory of him lying in the hospital bed almost brought the tears back into her eyes. She quickly blinked them back.

"He looks more like his father," she replied and tried to reach for her baby, but Seifer moved away so she couldn't remove her baby from his arms.

"Seifer, what are you doing? You're going to make him cry," she said placing her hands on her hips.

"He's not crying right now. I think he likes me," Seifer winked.

"But he will. You have a tendency to make people cry."

"You make me sound like a bully."

Quistis rolled her eyes, "Because you _are_ a bully."

"I don't see you for a year and you're still snapping at me."

"I'm not snapping at you," Quistis argued, while Seifer gave Quistis a look. "All right I am snapping at you because you won't give me back my baby."

"Kristy?"

Both Quistis and Seifer looked at the direction of Paul.

"Kristy, is everything all right?" Paul asked again.

"So you are Paul?" Seifer looked at Paul's direction. "The kid doesn't look anything like him," he said to Quistis.

"What's it to you if the kids looks like me or not?" Paul asked defensively.

"I'm just pointing out the possibility that your little Miss Perfect wife might have been cheating on you."

Quistis was horrified and furious that Seifer would say such a thing about her.

"Seifer, will you ever grow up and stop being an ass? Now give me my baby now," she demanded.

Seifer knew that tone in Quistis's voice, and he knew better than to argue with her. He reluctantly obliged and let her take the baby from him. When Quistis was sure the baby was secure in her arms, she gave Seifer a death glare and went into her house.

"Seifer? Now I can see why she left you," Paul said smugly.

"What?" Seifer glared at Paul.

"Let's just say you wouldn't be nominated father of the year any time soon."

"Look, I've know, Trepe, longer than you have, so don't make assumptions about me, especially when you don't know what you are talking about," Seifer growled.

"Trepe? You mean Trent right? Kristy Trent."

"No, Trepe, Quistis Trepe. That's her real name, but I'm sure you didn't know that."

Just then Quistis came rushing out the door, her baby still in her arms.

"Seifer!"

"There's no point in keeping the façade. Your cover is blown. Tell the man the truth," Seifer said to Quistis.

Quistis bit her lips as she watched the different expressions cross Paul's face. He started with appalled confusion to being hurt.

"You're not Kristy Trent?" he asked more as a statement.

She took a step down the stairs towards Paul, who took a step back away from her.

"Paul, I'm so sorry to deceive you. Seifer, as much as you want to hate him, he _is_ telling you the truth. My real name is Quistis Trepe. Before I came to Winhill, I was an instructor at Balamb Garden, a mercenary school. At Balamb Garden, I taught people how to fight. Seifer, here, was one of my best students," she explained

"Your best student? Isn't he the same age as you?" Paul asked confused.

Quistis nodded. "I became a SeeD at age fifteen and an instructor at age seventeen. That is how Seifer was a student of mine," she explained.

"I see."

"I'm really sorry. I can't imagine how I've hurt you. I didn't mean to lie to you. I just didn't know what to do. When I found out I was pregnant, I don't know why, but I just ran. I ran and ended up here. I just couldn't face any of my friends again. I…I couldn't face you," she confessed turning to face Seifer.

"Paul, I'm sorry that you ended up in the middle of this mess," she apologized again to Paul.

Paul remained silent and looked at Quistis and at Seifer then back at Quistis again. He ran his hands through his hair and walked away. He was confused and hurt. He had a hunch that something like this would happen. But he didn't know what hurt more, the fact that Kristy wasn't Kristy but Quistis, or the fact that with the arrival of Seifer meant she would be leaving.

Either way it didn't matter to him anymore. He was in love with Kristy Trent, and she didn't exist.

Quistis felt terrible as she watched Paul walk away. This was probably the last time she was going to see him.

"Trepe?" Seifer came up next to her.

"Seifer, I'm sorry," she said her gaze remained on the floor.

"Why?"

"I'm sorry. I know I should have told you, but I was scared. Then when I was ready to tell you, you left Garden. Then I didn't know what to do," she said holding her baby tighter in her arms.

Seifer placed his hand under her chin and lifted her gaze to look at him. He could see her eyes were rimmed with tears.

"At Galbadia General Hospital, it was you wasn't it?" he said.

Quistis finally forced herself to look into Seifer's green eyes and found the sincerity she had always sought in his eyes.

"Yes," she said softly.

"Why did you come?"

"I don't know. I…" she trailed off.

When she heard the news of Seifer's attack, her immediate reaction was to go to Galbadia to see with her own eyes if he was truly alive. Now that Seifer had asked her the reason for her to go, she didn't have an answer. At least she didn't think she had the answer.

"Quistis, I love you," Seifer finally said. It was his mission for the past year to find her and tell her those exact words. Now he awaited her reply.

"What?" Quistis had not expected this sudden declaration.

"I've wanted to tell you since that night we spent together."

The gathered tears in Quistis's eyes finally fell down her cheeks. He loved her. She never thought she would hear anyone say those words to her. Now that Seifer had confessed his love for her. Then only did Quistis realize that she loved him as well, but her fear prevented her from letting herself admit her feelings for him.

"You love me?" she asked.

Seifer chuckled over Quistis's disbelief and nodded. "Yes and this time I'm not being a jerk and screwing with you. I really do love you."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Even now?" she said looking down at the sleeping baby in her arms.

Seifer looked down at the baby in front of him. "He's cute enough. I guess we can keep him," he said with a smirk. "What's his name?"

"Seifer."

"Good name."

"I thought you'd approve," Quistis said with a smile, "but what will we do now?"

"I was thinking about taking home with me a Mrs. Almasy, but I didn't expect to bring a Junior along. But why don't we worry about that later. I'm just happy to find you again," Seifer said and kissed her forehead.

Quistis closed her eyes as she felt Seifer's arms wrap around her and her baby. All her fears of being rejected from Seifer were gone as her heart leapt for joy. Seifer loved her and she the emptiness she felt before was filled now that Seifer had found her.

**---Finis---**


End file.

Final Fantasy VIII, Drama, Romance