Chapter 4:
Paine pulled her hover up to the front of the Djose Clinic and parked. She had taken the day off to pick Rikku up and take her home despite the blonde's protests that she only lived right down the street. There was no way Paine was going to allow Rikku to walk even that short of a distance with a newborn baby in tow along with whatever belongings she brought in with her or received since her stay. As she walked away from the hover she had noticed several other hovers pulling up almost simultaneously around her with people either dropping off loved ones or picking them up and she smiled, thankful she had arrived when she did. Paine shaded her eyes from the sun and scaled the entrance, seeing if Rikku was among the crowd of waiting patients. She spotted her friend with her baby sitting in a wheelchair underneath the entrance canopy, pulled off to the side and out of the way of the busy area, waving her arm in Paine's direction.
Paine tried to read Rikku's face as she approached her, wondering if she was faring better than she was last night. She could hardy believe it herself when Rikku told her every detail about her experience on the comm. Sphere earlier that morning, and although Rikku did say she was 'okey dokey', Paine knew different. It irritated Paine to no end when she did that, pretending to be happy when she was not, especially around her or one of the others. It made Paine feel like she did not expect Rikku to have any other emotions aside from being so damn happy all the time. On the same foot she could also relate, knowing full well that she tried to pull the same bull when she had first met the girls, always acting stoic and serious even when her emotions tried to best her. The looks on their faces still amused her from when she actually laughed uncontrollably in front of them for the first time. They were eating around a fire when it happened, and Paine ended up having to give Rikku the Heimlich from the shock of her outburst of laughter.
"So, you ready to get out of here and go home?" Paine took Lelah from Rikku's arms so she could get out of the wheelchair. "Are you sure you don't want to stay at Yuna's? She's worried about you being by yourself as am I." She opened the back door to the hover, proceeding to fasten the baby into her car seat.
Rikku handed the wheelchair over to a nurse, thanking her for her help and the woman smiled, wheeling it away hurriedly for the occupation of another patient. She was glad to be out of that uncomfortable contraption, only riding in it because it was part of the clinic's policy or something else one of the nurses had told her about in passing. Lifting up her suitcase, Rikku headed over to the trunk and popped it, placing the bag inside. Paine went and retrieved the balloons, stuffing them into the trunk as well. The two strapped themselves in and Paine started up the hover, checking to see if it was clear to go ahead. Rikku looked behind her to make sure Lelah was secure, and noticed no one was coming.
"You're clear!" She held the vase of mysterious flowers in her lap and Paine drove on. "And no, I don't want to go to my cousin's. I need to get everything situated at home with Lelah and the house so I can get back to the Faction. I don't want there to be chaos when Gippal gets back, and if I leave everything to Slovak any longer there will be." The last of that sentence was said with annoyance; Slovak was not someone Rikku thought should be running the Faction in anybody's absence.
Paine picked up on said annoyance, turning the hover left onto Rikku's street. "What's wrong with Slovak, or whatever his name is?"
"I don't know, it's just…" The hover stopped in front of Rikku's house and she froze, staring at it through the passenger window. Suddenly the realization that Gippal was not in the driveway working on an old piece of machina he had taken home from the Faction like he usually did hit the girl like a ton of bricks and she gulped, wondering if she should have taken her cousin up on her offer after all. She thought after the last month of him not being there she would be used to things but for some reason the feelings had broken through whatever invisible inside barrier she put up. Rikku turned to Paine, her eyes instantly filled with fear at the thought of going in there. "Oh gosh Painey" her voice cracked as she gripped the vase tighter. "This suddenly got harder than I thought. What do I do?"
"Just calm down and relax." Paine turned the hover off and got out, heading over to Rikku's side. She opened the door, took the vase from her in one hand and stretched the other out to help her friend out of the hover. Paine was beginning to think she should have brought Yuna along with her for support but knew she could not come due to other pressing engagements. She watched as Rikku sat motionless, held captive by fear and doubt, afraid to go into the house she and Gippal shared. Paine did not envy her friend or try to relate to her situation in any way, not putting herself in the former thief's shoes. She could see by the look on Rikku's face that it was hard and nothing she would want any of her friends to have to experience. For what seemed like an hour but was really only a minute Paine finally felt Rikku grip her hand and she pulled her out of the hover, shutting the door behind her. "You ok?" At a loss for words, it was the only thing Paine could come up with.
Rikku took a deep breath in and leaned against the hover for balance; she stared up toward the house. In the back of her mind she could hear Gippal's words from the night before.
"You have to be strong. You can do this."
Her face frowned, and she cursed him internally for not knowing what he was talking about, but deep down she knew he was right. With a newly empowered glance at Paine, Rikku pushed herself off of the hover and went to the back seat, taking Lelah out of her carrier. Once again Gippal had given her strength despite his absence, and to thank him in some sort of way she kissed her daughter, making her squeal happily; her blue-green spirals sparkled, reflecting the morning sun.
"I'm fine! Now let's get inside before I lose this sudden burst of confidence." She turned her attention to her baby as she headed for the front door, Paine trailing behind her with the vase and suitcase in each hand. "Just wait till you see your new room! Now you won't be sleeping in there yet but you'll love mama's bed. It's the biggest there is!"
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The rest of the afternoon went swiftly by; Paine had done her best to help Rikku move most of Lelah's things into her master bedroom such as the bassinet, dresser, changing table, and helped hook up the baby monitor that Gippal had fashioned from two comm. Sphere's that went from the bedroom to the kitchen. There were many traces of the young man around the house; practically every appliance in there was either made by him from scratch or modified to suit their needs. It was a little hard at first for Rikku as she made her way up the stairs and along the hallway; there were framed pictures of the two of them from various events. In most of them Paine got a laugh noting Gippal's expression which she liked to call 'happy reluctance'. Happy because he was with Rikku, reluctant because he had begun not to like his picture taken over the years due to some appearing in Shelinda's tabloid, and none very flattering at that.
In the kitchen Paine glanced over at the clock on the microwave, shocked at the time it was. "I guess I should get back. Nooj can only take so much of Juin since he seems to be getting into practically everything these days. Will you be all right?" She felt guilty for having to leave, but Rikku assured her otherwise.
"Go ahead, we'll be fine!" Rikku walked over to Paine and gave her a quick hug. "Thank you so much for helping me get everything straightened out. If I was by myself it would have taken me a long time. I get so distracted." She had a tendency to start tasks and not finish them; something Paine had learned while she was visiting.
"I could tell!" Paine smirked. "How do you get anything done in this house?" She noted how Rikku would wash a dish and leave the rest in the sink with the faucet running to go fix the bed, only to leave the blankets on the floor as she went on to take the trash out. Paine followed behind her, finishing the dishes, fixing the bed and anything else the young girl left in her wake.
Paine stood up from her seat and made her way to the sink, placing her empty glass in the wash bin. "I'm going to go upstairs and see the baby one more time before I head out." Rikku nodded and Paine headed upstairs to Rikku's room where Lelah was napping.
Paine placed her hands to the side of the bassinet watching the little one snore and hiccup here and there for a couple of minutes; her hands were curled into tiny fists along side her head and she seemed content in whatever dream she was having.
"Where are you, Gippal?" She whispered into the air, pulling Lelah's baby blanket up to her waist. "Your ass better be alive somewhere or Yevon help me I'll beat you worse if we find you dead." Paine paused and took a breath in; a tear fell from her eye and she wiped it away quickly. She had not expected to get so upset, but thinking about that little girl in the bassinet growing up without knowing her sometimes crazy but mostly well meaning father gave her just an inkling of how Rikku must have been feeling for the past month and especially the past few days as well.
Downstairs Paine heard the doorbell chime and figured Rikku might have locked herself out or something so she headed out of the room. Standing in the doorway, Paine looked back toward the bassinet and imagined Gippal sitting on the bed in front of it, watching his daughter with silent excitement on his face. It made the warrior smile a little, giving her hope that he might someday return to them all safe and sound.
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When she reached the bottom of the stairway Paine heard another voice besides Rikku's coming from the kitchen. When she entered there was an Al-Bhed man about five foot ten standing by the island across from Rikku with his hands leaned onto the counter and a sphere sitting in front of him. His hair was shorter than Gippal's; blond with grease mixed into the tips possibly from running his hands through it while working. Paine did not go into the room at first, resolving to stand off to the side and observe instead of interrupting. It was probably some Faction issue that she did not have any business knowing.
The man handed Rikku the sphere, switching it on for her to view. Paine watched as Rikku's face drained of its color and her hands began to shake; tears immediately followed and fell faster than water from the tap. Rushing into the kitchen Paine made her way to the counter and looked at Rikku with worry in her eyes.
"Rikku what is it? What did you see? What the hell did you show her, you imbecile?" She glared at the man angrily but he just stood there with regret in his eyes.
"I'm sorry" He said solemnly. "She had to see it immediately." He held out his hand to her in greeting. "My name is Slovak. I've been taking care of things in Rikku's absence. You must be Paine."
She eyed him curiously, not knowing exactly how to take this man since Rikku did not tell her what she thought of him while they were in the hover but knew Rikku did not sound too happy mentioning his name. Reluctant at first, Paine finally shook his hand in return. "Why are you here and why is she crying?" Her eyes continued to fixate on him with distrust and irritation. "Why couldn't this wait? She just got home from the clinic."
"Paine…" Rikku sobbed softly, clutching the sphere with trembling hands. "G-G-Gippal…he…"
"What about Gippal?" Paine turned from Slovak back to Rikku. "What's going on?"
Rikku handed her friend the sphere and put her hands to her face, sobbing even harder. Paine felt instant fear and her own legs beginning to lose their balance at the prospect of the sphere's contents so she darted to a chair at the kitchen table, sitting herself down. Staring at the sphere for a moment she hesitantly turned it on and it glowed brightly. She could not see anything at first for all of the static, but as she strained her eyes a little to get a clearer view her breath caught in her throat. "This can't be…" she said in disbelief, fighting sudden tears of her own.
The sphere showed sand as far as the eye could see; wind whipped little tornadoes around the barren plain, tossing occasional tumbleweeds that blew through up into the air like blitz balls. As the sphere made its way across the desert it passed by what looked like a figure and quickly backtracked. It was a body alright, it was only half buried on its left hand side suggesting that the person had only recently perished there. The recorder of the sphere zoomed in on the unfortunate soul, revealing torn charcoal colored pants and an equally tattered violet cotton long sleeve shirt. The most distinctive of the clothing was the black and red epaulet that sat on its partially submerged shoulder. Paine brushed it off, thinking to herself that practically everyone had one of those shoulder protectors after Gippal was named a hero, but when the recorder moved in closer to view his face, the black leather eye patch fashioned to the man's right eye sealed the chest of any possibility that it could have been anyone but the person they were looking for. Deciding she had seen enough, Paine switched off the sphere and set it back onto the table.
She walked slowly over to Rikku who was leaning on her elbows against the kitchen island with her hands still in her face. "I'm sorry Rikku." Were the only words she could say and Paine wrapped her arms around her, sobbing quietly along with her friend for a few moments.
Slovak broke the silence that hung thick in the air. "Rikku let me be the first to give you my deepest condolences. I've known Gippal for as long as you have; we all grew up together, remember?" He picked at an indent on the island's surface with his finger as he struggled to word his next sentence properly. "I know this is sudden, but the Faction is going to need a new leader and I…"
"That's enough!" Paine snapped, lifting her head from Rikku's shoulder in surprise. "Can we not discuss this right now? She's just found out her husband is dead, and all you can think of is how quickly you can take over his job?" She quickly realized the wording she had used and looked at Rikku with remorse. "I didn't mean…"
Rikku, unable to hear anymore about Gippal broke from Paine's grasp and ran upstairs to her bedroom. She threw herself onto the bed, grabbed one of Gippal's pillows and broke down into it, sobbing and screaming inaudible words. Lelah woke suddenly from her nap and began to cry in fear of the unfamiliar sounds, wailing louder than her mother. The two downstairs stood across from each other listening to the entire scene; Slovak was uncomfortable, Paine was pissed. She eventually left him in the kitchen and went to the bottom of the staircase, deciding to check up on Rikku and the baby.
"I hope you're happy with what you've done here." Paine crossed her arms and burned through Slovak with her piercing red eyes, making the man even more uncomfortable as she ascended the stairs. In another place and time his words and actions would have introduced his inner organs to the blade of her sword, but six years and having a child could sometimes turn even the hardest of souls soft and unwilling to shed blood for no reason other than a temper.
"I had to come here and deliver this news." He pleaded up to her, slightly annoyed that he was getting such flack for bringing the sphere over. "And she does need to consult her father on the fate of the Faction. This can't wait. I'll come back when everyone is assembled. I left my number on the table. Goodbye." Slovak saluted Paine and walked out of the front door, slamming it behind him. Paine was left standing in the middle of the stairs trying to figure out how someone who had claimed to know Gippal and Rikku for so long could be so callous. The screaming and carrying on had ceased on both counts, startling Paine and she dismissed her thoughts, jogging up the rest of the way.
When she made it to the bedroom Paine saw Rikku lying on the bed with Lelah on her belly nuzzled into her chest. Her eyes were closed, not noticing her friend standing there, and she was rubbing her baby's back in tender circles while whispering words to her in Al-bhed that Paine could not quite hear. Whatever she was saying had obviously worked because the little one had fallen back to sleep fast and Paine was glad. She strolled over to the other side of the bed, situating herself next to Rikku and Lelah.
"I scared her." The blonde said-- her voice hoarse and regretful. "I forgot she was in here and I scared her. I feel so bad." Her tears returned and Rikku began crying again. Paine, not knowing what else to do hugged Rikku into her and they lie there together for a while, crying and comforting one another as they mourned the loss of a friend and lover. Paine decided Nooj would just have to put up with Juin's curiousity for just a little while longer. There were more important things to be dealt with now.
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Was that all right? I had several scenarios written down, but I wasn't sure which one was best. I hope this wasn't too bad. Sorry it's so long as well. There was no way to cut this chapter at all. Thanks for reading, btw.