-Part 2-

Kiros glared at Squall. "That was uncalled for."

"He ditched me." Squall refused to back down. He hated Laguna more than he had hated any man.

"He saved your worthless life." Kiros glared. "Do you know what he went through day after day? Do you have any idea how much he missed you? There wasn't a single night he didn't come to me and cry on my shoulder. How *dare* you treat him like you just did. Everything he's done, the Shumi village, the imprisonment of Adel, he did for you and Ellone. But maybe he shouldn't have done all that. Maybe he shouldn't have befriended the Moombas who were so helpful in your battle with Ultimecia? Maybe he should have kept you both with him in Esthar and tried
to raise you by himself while running a small country? Maybe he should have just handed your head to Adel on a silver-fucking-platter?"

Squall's expression slowly changed as he listened to Kiros. Was all of this true? He tried to think of something that would convince him otherwise. But the facts spoke clearly. Laguna Loire did not lie and neither did Kiros.

Squall was about to make a reply when they heard a noise outside. Jumping to his feet, he ran outside.

Laguna was lying on the sidewalk, curled up in pain. Blood mixed with the falling rain and rain down a nearby drain.

"Laguna!" Kiros ran past Squall and knelt by the injured President. "Sir, can you hear me?"

Laguna winced in pain and curled up more tightly.

Kiros looked up "Squall, get over here! *Now*." He looked back down at Laguna. "I'll get help. Squall, keep an eye on your father until I get back."

Squall knelt by Laguna. He knew what he had to say, but his pride held him back. The rain made the blood look more plentiful, so he didn't know how much Laguna was losing. Would the man
die before Kiros returned?

Would he die before Squall could make up for what he had said?

-Part 4-

There was a crowd of reporters already there when the helicopter made its descent toward the President's private hospital.

"Shit," the pilot growled. "Don't they know how much danger they're putting him in? He landed the helicopter and opened the doors. Squall helped them to move Laguna from the helicopter and onto the gurney that had just arrived.

"Is he going to be all right?"

"Can you tell us what happened?"

"Mr. Leonhart, is it true that you're President Loire's son?"

~Thank Hyne,~ The doctor thought as the crowd of reports turned their minds from the injured, possibly dying, President and began to focus on the young man now revealed as Laguna's son.

Seeing an opportunity to help the man who's life was now in danger because of his harsh words, Squall nodded. "Its true." he told them.

This pulled the few remaining stragglers over to the group that was floating around Squall.

With the crowd no longer a problem, the doctors raced Laguna into the operating room..

"Get him on the table, " the head surgeon ordered, his voice leaving no question as to his authority. "Restraints. " he said as soon as he saw what he was dealing with, a fragment of bone that was lodged, just so, in Laguna's femoral artery. The broken bone was, he knew, important, but the arterial damage had to be handled first. "I don't want him moving so much as an inch."

~Its a miracle he's still alive,~ he thought. ~If that bone fragment was a little further in or out he never would have made it here.~ "Arterial clamps, now!" He leaned back out of the way for a mere second to allow the clamps to be put into place. He was working against time, now. The artery had to be repaired fast. Too slow and President Loire could die, or at least lose his leg. Another assistant dabbed the sweat from the doctor's forehead, making sure to keep out of his way. With the utmost care, the doctor began the painstaking procedure of repairing the damaged artery.

*****

Squall was in the cafeteria, listlessly stirring a styrofoam cup full of coffee. The reporters had finally left just five minutes ago. He was sure they hadn't gone far. He could picture them. or rather their faces on the bodies of vultures, flying around and around the hospital, waiting for news on the President.

-Chapter 5-

A quick examination revealed the damage to Laguna's artery to be too jagged to repair properly.

"I'm going to do a femoral-popliteal bypass," the head surgeon told his team. "It's our best chance of saving him. "I need a scalpel, whole blood, and someone get those damned reporters away from the door. We need to be able to get that blood in here without a hassle. I'm not going down in history as the man who let Laguna Loire die."

*****

Drinking the room-temperature coffee in a single gulp, Squall crushed the styrofoam cup and tossed it into the trashbin. He wanted to know how his father was doing. The man had been
in surgery for hours.

Leaving the cafeteria, he found that he was not the only one. Several new reporters had joined the original cluster.

Selphie, Quistis, and Irvine were there, too.

"Major Bummer 'bout Sir Laguna," Selphie moped. "I hope he'll be all right."

"It's my fault," Squall put his face in his hands. "If I hadn't opened my big mouth and said such cruel things to him, he wouldn't have run out of that restaurant. Gods, I told him I wished he was dead. What if he dies now because I said that? What if I just murdered my father?"

"Your father's been dead for years," Quistis reminded him.

"Laguna's my father," Squall corrected her.

"Way cool!" Selphie cheered. Her look became more solemn as she remembered why they were at the hospital "He's gotta live! Squall can't find out he's got a wicked cool dad like that and then
just lose him again."

Squall walked away from the two groups and walked toward the door of the operating theater. He was half-way down the corridor when one of the doctors came out.

"You're his son?"

"I am," Squall nodded.

"Good. Come this way." he lead Squall to a room a few doors down. "Do you know your blood type?"

Squall shook his head.

"Damn, we'll have to do a screening," the doctor took a needle from his supplies. "Remove your coat. Roll up any shirt sleeves." he gazed at the tattoo on Squall's abdomen. "When did you get that?"

"When I was sixteen," Squall replied.

The doctor nodded. "Right," and took a sample of blood from Squall's arm.

"He's going to die, isn't he?" Squall asked.

"Not if we can help it," the doctor shook his head as he drew blood from Squall's arm. He ran a blood type test and frowned at the results. "Damn," he said. "We can't use your blood. If we can just find someone else with his blood type..."

"What is his type? I'll ask the others."

"I need to run tests," the doctor explained. "There's a lot we need to account for. RH-factors, antigens, and so on. We can't risk losing a patient, especially one as valuable as Laguna Loire." He turned and left the room while Squall busied himself with putting his coat back on.

The others were brought into the room and each was asked to give a sample of blood so that it could be tested.

Kiros had blood factors that made his blood unacceptable for donation. Selphie and Zell both had the same blood type as Laguna, but Zell's RH factor was incompatible with Laguna's blood, and Selphie had another reason she couldn't donate. She would have to have a long talk with Irvine. It seemed that nobody in the group could give the blood needed to save Laguna.

Squall stalked out of the hospital and drove to the diner where Laguna's accident had occured.

"Seifer. O negative."

Squall turned and saw Fujin and Raijin standing nearby.

"What did you just say?"

"She was sayin'," Raijin explained. "That Seifer's got O negative blood."

"Where is he," Squall didn't care that Seifer and he had a long history of animosity between them. A life was hanging in the balance. The life of the President of Esthar.

The life of his father.

-Part 6-

"Seifer. Mall." Fujin replied, "Posse. Go."

Squall shookhis head. "This is a private matter."

"He won't talk, like, without us, ya know," Raijn pointed out.

"Not. Like." Fujin pointed to out, poking Squall so he would know just who she meant.

"Then let's go." Squall agreed.

*****

Seifer Almasy leafed through his new copies of Pet Lover's month. During his last visit to Dollet he'd been adopted by the dog he'd encountered during his failed SeeD test. He'd come to love the
animal and had even taken to training it, feeling a sense of pride with each trick his new pet learned.

"Seifer. Urgent."

Seifer looked up from his magazine to see Squall standing there with Fujin and Raijin. "We have nothing to say to each other, Leonheart. Please go away."

"I don't have time to argue with you, Seifer," Squall told his rival. "I've come to beg a favor from you. I need your blood."

"You have some nerve," Seifer stood up, glaring at Squall. "You want *blood*? You expect me to give you my blood? You must be out of your mind! What makes you think I want any of my blood in *your* veins?"

"It's not for me," Squall pointed out. "It's for Laguna. He's in surgery and if he doesn't get blood soon, he'll die."

"Why the hell didn't you tell me that?" Seifer grabbed Squall and ran out of the mall, not stopping to engage in any battles as they went.

"Seifer," Squall panted as they convened with the hemotologist who was still trying to find blood for Laguna.. "Are you in love with my father?"

"Who isn't?" Seifer asked. "I'm here to give blood to Laguna." he told the doctor.

-Part 7-

The doctor made a thorough examination of the blood donated by Seifer. "Its good," he told Seifer and Squall, as he rushed the fresh blood down to the operating room, the two men following.

"You two should go to the waiting room," he told them. "we'll let you know how he's doing."

Squall started to protest, but Seifer led him out to the waiting room.

"They found a donor," Squall muttered to Zell, slumping into the chair next to the tattooed SeeD as casting a meaningful eye at Seifer.

"You're joking," Zell pointed at Seifer. "Him? I'm surprised they got it out of him."

"You know something, Chickenwuss," Seifer taunted. "I couldn't care less about your pathetic lot, but Laguna Loire is a man I can respect. If it were any of you, I'd let you bleed to death. So don't think I'm going all soft-hearted."

"I'm touched to know my father means so much to you," Squall said, evenly. "Just don't even *think* of trying to become my stepmother."

"I told you already," Seifer said, pointedly, "I respect Laguna. I'm not about to try to seduce him."

*****

With Seifer's donation flowing steadily into Laguna's hand, the doctors dilligently continued the repairs to the artery in his leg.

"Doctor," one assistant offered, "wouldn't it be easier to bridge the gap rather than do a full-on bypass?"

"You might have a point," the surgeon said. Now that Laguna was getting fresh blood, he was a bit calmer. "Okay, let's go with an arterial bridge."

With arterial clamps safely in place, the doctor began the painstaking task of attaching the synthetic bridge to Laguna's femoral artery.

"Done," he looked up, a smile of relief on his face. He looked up at the surgeon who was waiting to mend Laguna's broken bone. "All yours. I'm going to speak with his family, let them know he's over this particular hurdle."

*****

Squall grumbled as a hand on his shoulder shook him out of sleep. "Mmmumble?""

"Squall, I'm the surgeon who was working to repair the damage to your father's femoral artery. I just wanted you to know that part of the operation was a success."

"How is he doing?" Squall asked, blearily.

"He's still in surgery. They're working on mending the bone at the moment. He should be out of surgery in a couple of hours. Why don't you go on home? We'll call you in the morning when he wakes up."

Squall nodded. "Okay, okay..." he muttered as he fell back to sleep in the chair, his posture less tense than it had been when the doctor had come in.

The doctor smiled and returned to his office.

-Part 8-

"Squall?"

Squall opened his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Ten-thirty in the morning" Quistis smiled.

"I guess I dozed off," Squall muttered, sitting up.

"About time you woke up," Seifer joined, thwapping Squall upside the head in a manner more playful than aggressive. "your dad's been getting impatient. He's been asking for you since around nine."

Squall jumped to his feet, suddenly wide awake. "Take me to him."

Quistis and Seifer began walking down the corridor, Squall following.

At the third room on the left, they stopped and went inside.

Laguna was in bed in a half-seated position. His injured leg was in a cast which had already been signed by Kiros, Ward, Selphie and Seifer, who had written "take care of my blood. Try not to lose any." along with a smiley face.

"I never knew you had a sense of humor," Squall remarked to the rival who'd saved his father's life."

"There's a lot you don't know about me." Seifer replied as he turned to Quistis. "I think we'd better go. I suspect these two have a lot to talk about."

Laguna watched as everyone who wasn't Squall left the room. "I guess I don't blame you for hating me," he said, quietly.

"I don't hate you," Squall replied. "I was just angry. I couldn't understand how you could abandon me. But you didn't, did you?"

"No," Laguna shook his head. "I left to find Ellone just after you were conceived. When I went back all they told me was that Raine had died and that it was my fault. No one told me about you. No one wanted me around anymore. Just like you don't want me around now."

"I do want you around,," Squall corrected him. "I realized that when you were in surgery and I thought I was going to lose you again."

There was a long moment of silence between them.

"Dad," Squall finally said, part of him wondering if this weren't some fantastic dream.

Tears sprang to Laguna's eyes. "Squall," he held his arms wide and Squall embraced him, long-held tears finally breaking free from both father and son.

(OWARI)