A/N: Ah...finals coming up soon. So busy. Lesson plans, curriculum rationale, creating schedules, two papers and a...something or other for math. Grr...dear professors, you want me to asplode, don't you? But I managed to hash out this chapter.

To whirlingwind: Haha, I dunno about a quiet Sheba...more of, Robin doesn't spend much time around her.

To Roksu: I'm glad you liked it, it was fun to write. Unlike this...I'm just...nearing my wits end, perhaps. Aw, 3rd birthday is very...fanservice-y...and battle after intense battle can make your brain melt, but it's different (for me anyway) and it's rather fun getting advice on what guns to buy and upgrade from my dad and my fiancee. Yeah...000 is...intense. I've come to the point (for Yuna) where I need to buy better equipment but haven't the gil for it. If I could have transferred the gil/equips and such from the previous game...I wouldn't complain as much. Haha, even if Ivan and Robin aren't as hot and bothered as most teenage boys, sharing a bed is an opportunity hard to pass up. Can't say no to some innocent fooling around.

Right

This time is different. I have the luxuries that I didn't have the first time around—there isn't any rush and I know what I need to take and what I can get in other towns. This time I can say a proper good-bye to Mom.

I hear the floor creak behind me and square my shoulders, turning to see her standing there, drying her hands on her apron. I smile, relaxing slowly and crossing the room to her. There's a faint cloudy haze to her pale blue eyes, as if she was holding back tears but the bright smile that broke out across her face told me they wouldn't come while I was here. She had Dad this time. She wouldn't miss me terribly. "Running off again? It doesn't seem like you've been back for long at all…"

"It's been months, Mom. You've just been so preoccupied with your garden." I shrug my pack onto my shoulder, "I'm meeting Ivan in the square…do you want to come with me?" She wipes her hands on her apron again—more out of habit than anything else—and loops her arm through mine.

"He's a very good young man." She says at length, almost as if she's wanted to tell me for some time. I bite back a chuckle. I knew what she thought of him when she first laid eyes on him, it wasn't so hard to tell. Her initial reaction was confusion, but what mother wouldn't be puzzled when their son suddenly returns dotting over another boy. "I overheard Picard telling Garcia that Ivan's birthday is coming up soon."

I feel the blush rise in my cheeks and shift, bringing my scarf up to hide it, "Ah, yeah, he'll turn sixteen in two weeks. I'm hoping to be in Imil by then, but if we can't make it, I don't want to push."

She pauses before we reach the square, reaching up and fussing with my bangs, "Did you get him a present? I hope you don't expect to pass this trip off as his gift." She smiles.

"No, actually I…" I shift, reaching into my pouch and taking out a small velvet bag, passing it to her after feeling the small trinket inside. She loosens the drawstrings, tipping the bag's contents into her palm and a silver ring slips out, studded with an amethyst and an amber stone. "I'm planning on giving that to him. I might talk myself out of it if I think about it too much…"

She smiles more, holding the ring up to the light. The stones catch the early sunlight, the amethyst sending flecks of multicolored light dancing across her hand. "A stone for Venus…and a stone for Jupiter." She laughs gently, returning the ring to the bag and placing it in my hand, folding my fingers around it. "Who taught you to be so sweet?"

"You have only yourself to blame for that, Mom…" She slips her arm through mine again, patting my hand.

"Are you worried he'll turn you down?"

"The thought hadn't crossed my mind. Until now." I tease with a faint smile and she pulls me down, placing a quick kiss to my cheek before rubbing her thumb against the spot.

"Ah, have you been waiting long?" I turn to see Ivan running over, adjusting the strap running across his chest.

My mother meets him first, cupping his cheeks and fussing with his hair before giving him a lingering hug. The tips of his ears colors and he tries to tell her not to worry so much but he's smiling, touching her shoulder gently as she pulls away. "We just arrived a moment ago. Lady Layana and Lord Hammet aren't seeing you off?"

He smiles, shaking his head, "No, they're far too busy for that. We said our farewells already." He glances around before turning to me, "Where's your father?"

"He's meeting us at the gate with the others."

Mother smiles, taking Ivan's arm and then mine, "We mustn't keep them waiting, you were both raised better than that." I chuckle, meeting Ivan's gaze over her head and smile softly. I can't say for certain what lies in wait for us over the horizon, but as long as I take my steps forward with him, nothing else matters.

Garcia leans against the gate, arms folded across his chest and speaking with Picard quietly as he shuffles his feet. He lifts his head at our approach, nodding to me. "We're planning on heading out soon as well. You're planning to head for Imil?"

"Someone needs to get Gerald out of there." I grin, "I'm sure he's following Mary around like a puppy. Where do you intend to go?"

"South, most likely, but we'll return as often as we can." Picard smile, glancing at Garcia, lowering his voice slightly, "I think if I let him stay away for too long, he won't ever come back."

Garcia scoffs half-heartedly and shakes his head, "You should probably leave now, my sister was planning on making some sort of grand declaration at your departure."

I frown faintly, resting a hand on my hip and glancing over my shoulder, "A grand declaration? I can't imagine…I'd want to stick around for that." I clasp his wrist, him doing the same with mine, "I hope your travels fare well."

"And yours." I turn to my father in time to see him pulling away from Ivan, patting his back and whispering something that makes them both smile. I shake my head, hugging the man. We're practically the same height now, but his strong arms and familiar scent still make me feel like the kid I was when he'd disappeared.

"Come visit whenever you head past this way and don't travel so far that you go a year without coming by."

I smile, "We'll try not to."

Sheba steps up to Ivan with a sense of hesitation about her and he turns, tilting his head slightly. "I know that you care for Robin, but Jasmine…she's a woman and…"

"Is just a friend. Thinking that she's more than that, is only hurting herself." I say, slipping an arm around Ivan, "And you shouldn't encourage it." I try to keep the edge out of my voice but I hear it towards the end, as sharp as any knife in my possession. I turn to the others, smiling, "Well, I guess this is good-bye, for now anyway. We'll be back before you know it."

We're through Goma Range as the first week melts into the second, well past Bilibin and camping near the river. I stoke the fire absently as Ivan rolls out the sleeping blankets, dropping onto his once he's finished and letting out a relieved sigh, stretching his hands to the fire and yawning, "It's already getting chilly. It seems like forever since we were in Imil."

"A lot has happened since then." I smile softly, glancing at him, "Hopefully, with the Lighthouse lit…there won't be any snow storms this time around."

"Well, Mary said they haven't been causing problems. If luck is on our side, the weather will hold out." He rests his cheek against his arm, playing with a blade of grass, "We've made good time, I'm a little surprised myself."

"The snow will slow us down, but not by too much." I toss the stick into the fire, moving close to him and sweeping his bangs from his face.

He blinks, "It sounds like you're racing against a deadline." He smiles softly, "Are you planning something, Robin?"

I smile, closing my eyes, "I wouldn't say that…more of I've already planned something."

"Honestly…" I lean down, pressing my lips to his, successfully ending any protest he was hoping to make. He relaxes slowly, slipping his arms around my shoulders and drawing me close. I pull back, just barely and he whispers my name, his lips brushing against mine.

"Don't worry, you're in good hands."

TBC

One more week of classes, then finals. Then to my hometown for a week (ah, I get to see my friends again), then service learning...then surgery. I'll be off my feet for a month, maybe more. I'll probably get to finishing the seventeenth (are we up to 17?) chapter for Mui by then. ...And I've got like three new stories waiting to be worked on. But not until I finish Mui.

Happy Earth Day.