Have I ever told any of you that one of my favorite Final Fantasy characters is Rikku? This is one of the longest chapters so far, and by far my favorite until the next chapter. You'll see why at the end of this chapter. Again, unbeta'd, but still hopefully enjoyable!

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Rikku was worried. She had every right to be, didn't she? Her boss was insane. Her boss was not only insane, but he was convinced that he could help other insane people. Rikku just didn't know what to do. Seifer could only be so much help if that maniac, Cloud, decided to ransack the office, because wasn't that what every insane person did - cause massive property damage? Mr. Strife was coming in to visit today. Today, of all days! Why couldn't today be a regular Tuesday, not insane cliental Tuesday?

Rikku needed time off. She needed a break, or hell she even needed a psychiatrist. Wait! A psychiatrist! There was one down the hall, duh. She couldn't help but roll her eyes at her own inability to come to that conclusion in the first place. Shoving all her papers in a corner of her desk, she hopped from her cushioned chair to make her way to Leon's office. She waved to Seifer as she passed by; he was on the phone, talking to god-knew-who, but she really couldn't care.

She had found where she could get some guidance for her problem with Mr. Cloud Strife. She shook her head at how silly she had been to not think of next door in the first place, especially since she had been there last week, and rested a hand on the door jamb as she knocked.

No response.

She knocked again and waited. She tucked a few loose pieces of hair behind her ears and then crossed her arms. After realizing that pouting at the door wasn't going to get her excused from her desk for a break – which she needed, 'cause after all, she was such a loyal secretary – she tilted her head at her other possibilities.

She could always bother Seifer. He was a bit more difficult to talk to, since, well, he talked more than Leon, and wasn't as lenient to her absences, but he was still another option. She uncrossed her arms and sighed, tip-toeing her way back to Seifer's door.

He was still on the phone. Rikku frowned. Why couldn't this just be easy? "Uh, Seifer?" she whispered, deciding not to stick to formalities for the moment and tapping at the door to get some attention. Seifer looked up from some papers and looked as if her were about to snarl at her.

Rikku brushed one of her hands through her hair. If she could deal with her ex, Gippal, than she could most certainly deal with another arrogant man. It was a specialty of hers really, and should have been listed in the job description; wanted: one woman that can work amicably with several sexually repressed, insane males. She mouthed, "Leon?" and pointed down the hall, shrugging her shoulders simultaneously.

Seifer pointed at the phone in his hand. Rikku rolled her eyes. Of course she could see that he was on the phone. It wasn't like she was blind. "Where is he?" she mouthed, placing a hand on her hips and pushing Seifer's door open more with the other hand.

A quick excuse and the phone clicked back in the cradle. Seifer lifted his hands slightly to his temples, almost as if he wanted to rub them, but it was as if he realized the unconscious action was unprofessional and they were quickly brought back down to rest on the desk. "Just what do you want?"

"Do you know where Leon went?" Rikku asked curiously.

Seifer's frown almost seemed to intensify. "It's not like I keep track of him."

"I know," she answered, pouting and well aware that Seifer wasn't Leon's keeper, "but I thought that since you knew all the rules and agendas of the office, that you might've known where he's gone off to," a little flattery never hurt, "and I wanted to ask him if I could take a small break." Rikku gave him a bright smile, bringing her hands up to her face and rocking on her heels, "But if he's not here, than that means that you're the boss. So, what do ya say, Boss?"

The frown seemed to become less severe as Seifer cocked his head in thought. "You take too many breaks, and, as your boss," he stressed the last word and the frown quickly morphed to a smirk, "I think you better get back to your desk and fill out those appointment cards."

"B-but, this is important, Seifer," Rikku huffed, "and I filled out those appointment cards ages ago."

"How so?"

"Well, I did them all in different color inks so they could be better organize-"

"Not that," and Seifer did rub at his temples, "but, how is it important that you have a break now?"

"Oh," said Rikku, titling her head just a bit. She pushed some more stray locks of hair behind her ears, wishing for a hair band as she did so. Just why couldn't Leon be in his office? It was such a nice office after all with a nice plush carpet, large leather chairs, shiny grey filing cabinets, and every hour, if you were really silent and you paid attention, bells from the nearby church rang. It certainly provided a lovely napping area, but Rikku was digressing. Again, just why couldn't Leon be in his office and save her the trouble of talking to Seifer? "To be honest, I'm going to go next door to ask about a problem." Seeing the look that Seifer was giving her, she jumped to her own defense and put her hands on her hips and stood a bit straighter, "But, it's not for me!" Seifer only cocked his eyebrow at that statement and Rikku went on, "It's for Leon. He's got, like, a humongous, almost titanic, problem!

Oh, and don't look at me like that," she whined at Seifer's expression. "It's true! He's become obsessed with one of next door's patients – or, would be patients, actually, and has regularly begun seeing him! What's worse," she brought her voice down to whisper, "is that I don't really think he understands exactly what –well, who, he's dealing with! That man, while very attractive," she said thoughtfully and then paused, looking wistful. Mr. Strife was very good-looking. Seifer's cough of annoyance brought her back on track, "which is a factor that isn't very important, could be a potential threat to this office. And I really like my job, even if I do work with you old men," Rikku finished, her voice back to its regular volume.

"And what exactly has the guy done?" Seifer asked with an almost curious sounding tone.

Rikku practically pounced through Seifer's doorway as she answered, "Leon thinks he's a stripper, or at least knows he's got some sort of psychological disorder, I think, and the guy thinks Leon's a doctor!" Rikku bit her lip in anticipation to Seifer's response to her reply. Seifer looked slightly shocked, but only slightly.

Seifer's smirk quickly turned to a scowl. "And you expect me to believe that?" Rikku nodded her head vigorously to his question. "Maybe you should seek help after all, Highwind," Seifer suggested as he shook his head in disbelief, "especially if you expect me to believe that."

"But, it's true!" Rikku whined and stomped her foot.

"Nice try, but get back to work and close my door," Seifer ordered, grabbing the phone once more. Rikku crossed her arms and huffed as she closed his door. "I'll just visit after hours, then!" she declared to Seifer through the door. She turned around and, just barely able to restrain herself from stomping, walked back to her desk. Rikku spun her chair a few times until her foot accidently hit the copier. Wincing, she purposefully kicked it and scuffed the white side with her black heel.

"That'll come out of your paycheck, Miss Highwind."

Huh? "Leon!" Rikku exclaimed, twisting the chair fast to see him standing at the side of her desk. "I mean, Mr. Leonhart," she corrected with a cheerful smile. "So, where have you been?"

Leon frowned and held up a plastic bag. "I went and got Chinese food."

Rikku clapped her hands together in glee. The clock next to her forgotten paperwork showed that it was nearing lunchtime. "Oh, you shouldn't have," she said, making grabbing motions to the bag.

Leon held the food out of her grasp. "What makes you think this is for you? You weren't at your desk when I went out to pick up the food."

Oh, so that's where Leon had gone to and he had brought back food, but none of it was for her. She pouted and smoothed down the pleats of her skirt. She was not going to show that the refusal of food and not being included was affecting her. "I see," she responded casually. Rikku picked up one of her many highlighters and pretended to emphasize an important sentence on one of the random papers she had laying around.

-

Leon really couldn't care as he walked to his office, checking his watch as he did so. Cloud's last visit had been two weeks ago and Leon was expecting him in another half an hour; just enough time to eat his lunch. He wished business wasn't this slow during this time of the year. It was boring and there were only so many fiction books he could sneak behind his law books on the bookshelf, not that he would admit to having any at all. Leon was far too serious for frivolous fictional books.

He paused by Seifer's door on his way there. It was strange that the door was closed, as Seifer left it always ajar unless he was with clients. Leon pulled out the two cartons of food that Seifer had requested and put them down in front of the door and went on his way to his own office.

Leon closed his door and went to raise the shades. He'd get comfortable in his chair, eat and then wait for his visit from Cloud. He knew that Cloud's situation was dire; especially it seemed, with financial aspects. Leon had money. Hell, he had a lot of money. Slipping a few hundred in the blond's coat pocket shouldn't be that difficult, but the question was, would Cloud keep them, or would he throw a fit at the financial assistance and throw the cash back? Leon wasn't sure, especially since he worked hard for that money, even if it was more than what he needed to live on.

Leon needed relatively little in his life. He and Griever, his growling, black fur ball of a cat, needed food of course. Then there was gas for his car. Plus the car's insurance. And then there was the rent for his apartment, but he certainly wouldn't miss a few hundred in his pocket.

He kicked the wall closest to Seifer's side and then threw his feet up on his desk. He normally wouldn't have, but Leon really didn't care at the moment as he got a good view of the sidewalk. One woman was trying to get in her car across the street, but kept fumbling for the correct key. Leon looked on, amused, as he opened up one of the cartoons.

Seifer's door could be heard opening and then slamming shut as the room's occupant took the food cartons. Leon gave a small smile as he heard his neighbor kick the wall. For once, everything was alright in his world.

An hour and a half later, Leon had finished his food, finished all his paperwork for the day, and even called his father, and yet, everything was still not alright anymore. In fact, it was anything but alright.

Cloud was an hour late. An hour and Leon felt like he was about to go out of his mind. His head throbbed from worry. He shouldn't worry about Cloud, especially since he never worried or cared about anyone except, maybe, Griever and he doubted that counted, but he was worried and couldn't help it. Didn't mean he cared though, because, no. He'd never care.

Leon had finished everything he needed to do today and he was bored. He leaned back in his chair and thought of what he could do, since Cloud obviously wouldn't be coming today. It wasn't like he could call the blond either or – wait. He could call Cloud.

-

Rikku had decided to get her own lunch by taking an unauthorized trip down to the vending machines in the basement to get a sandwich and a drink. She was sipping on her fizzy drink when her boss was at her desk again. "Can I help you, Mr. Leonhart?" she asked, trying to be polite. Her boss was so lucky that she was so forgiving, especially when it came to food.

"You have Cloud Strife's number, correct?"

Rikku blinked in surprise at what her boss seemed to be requesting. "Uh," she replied after a moment, "no?" She slowly tapped her heels nervously against the feet of her desk. She briefly wished that she had worn her more comfortable boots to work as her feet were throbbing from her heels.

Leon ran a hand through his hair in annoyance. "But haven't you been taking his card?"

His card? Card? Oh! Rikku nearly smacked her hand against her forehead. She could have totally looked up Cloud's number last visit on his health insurance card and could have even looked up his address. She felt that she was getting to something here. Something important. She tapped her nails on her desk in thought as her boss began to become impatient.

Phone numbers were important. So were addresses. Addresses were where people lived. You met people where they lived…and then it clicked. Rikku gave a sly grin to her boss who was still looking at her with barely concealed impatience. "I can do one better than a phone number," she said as she grabbed a pink pen from its holder. She nudged open her keyboard compartment to find one of the copies of Mr. Strife's health insurance card and wrote down the address on a business card of Leon's that happened to be around. "You should visit him!" she exclaimed gleefully handing the card over.

Leon took it and held it gingerly. It wasn't like he had anything better to do today. "I think I will, Miss Highwind," he said thoughtfully as he turned to the door. "I'd like to meet this Tifa." Leon slid the card in one of the pockets of his black slacks, making sure that it rested right next to his car keys.

"Bye, Doctor Leonhart!" Rikku waved from her desk as her boss left. Maybe now her boss would realize who exactly he was dealing with. She hoped he'd be alright though, 'cause, after all, the man was the one that made sure she received an end of the year bonus.

-

Again, next chapter is actually my favorite. It'll be up much sooner compared to the other chapters, because not only do I have the next chapter outlined, but I also have it partially typed up. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, even though there wasn't any interaction between Cloud and Leon, but there'll be plenty of action next chapter.