Chapter Twenty Five
Paine sat down with the folder at her desk and didn't look up until she heard Elma coming home. The shades she had yet to close told her that it was late now and her eyes hurt from reading page after page of Bart's school boy script.
"Fuck." She cursed as she turned around in her desk chair and leaned over to her bed where her cell phone sat. She groaned when she noticed the time.
Yeah she was in trouble.
She dialed Rikku's number quickly and held her breath as it rang. She'd be awake still right?
"Oh hey." Rikku mumbled when she picked up the phone. "You're not dead or anything, that's good."
"Did I wake you up, Princess?"
She was on damage control.
"Yeah."
"Oh, I'm sorry…"
"About what?"
"About…" Somehow Paine felt like this was a trick question.
"I'm going back to sleep, Paine."
"Oh… Okay."
That was it? Oh, Okay? Rikku shook her head. "I've had a long day, not that you would know..." She would admit to being cranky, but still!
"That's not fair, Dona came over and—"
"Oh great, so you forgot about calling me back because your ex was over, that makes me feel a whole lot better."
"Ex?"
"That's what you call someone you slept with right, because that's what you guys did, you had sex."
"I was always high!"
"So how can anyone else compare?"
Paine stared at her cell phone. What the hell? "Rikku—" She shook her head. "I never let her hold my hand, I never let her kiss me just because, I never let her wear my hoody. I never wanted to share with her, or be close to her. She was never my girlfriend, and I'd trade all the times we hooked up for one of your kisses any day." Paine stood. "It pisses me off that you would even think to compare yourself to her." She was genuinely upset that Rikku would go there. Didn't she know how she felt?
Rikku wanted to be mad, but damnit Paine and her speeches! "Her boobs are bigger…"
"I like yours better… I mean I'd like them even more if you let me…."
"Paine!"
Paine calmed down. "You're my girlfriend. You."
"I know… It's just that sometimes…."
"You're my girlfriend."
##
"So everything is right with the world then?" Yuna asked as she reached for a box of cheesy flavored popcorn.
Rikku was leaned against the cart in the junk food isle. Yuna never came down this isle before. She noticed. "I need a vacation."
Yuna laughed pushing the cart and Rikku along with it. "We are on vacation."
"Not for long, and then when school starts it's going to be pointless assignment after pointless assignment… Not to mention it's going to be weird being back there with all that has happened…" She jumped off to grab a bag of stick pretzels. It had suddenly crossed her mind that maybe no one would believe her story. Auron was a well respected professor and a large giver to the academic community. She was still a pre law major, and a lot of them knew each other, what if she got one of his friends as a professor this semester?
That was a whole other bit of hell that Rikku didn't want to think about handling.
"Even more of a reason why you should enjoy it now."
Rikku sighed. "I know, it's just that… I'm like a rubber band ball."
"I can't wait to hear this one."
Rikku chuckled. "I'm all tense, ready for the next up and down, ready to be bounced off of walls and… I can bounce back, I know I can. It's just really stressful to be like that all of the time. That's how I've been all of this summer."
"Even when you are with Paine?"
Rikku blushed. "Especially then…. But in a different way."
Yuna laughed lightly and nodded. "I get it." They rounded the corner to the oils and vinegar isle. "Tidus is kind of a dork…"
"Kind of?"
Yuna got a little dreamy look on her face as she reached for a bottle of olive oil. "But I can't help my heart from wanting jump out of my chest when he smiles at me… Is that it?"
Rikku smiled at her cousin and then thought of Paine. "Yeah, that's it, Yunie."
"Rubber band ball."
##
"Hey."
Gippal looked over his shoulder quickly and then sighed loudly with relief. He waved his free hand about to help the thick smoke around him hurry up and out the window he had open.
"Y'know I got Rikku to smoke with me once… Well, I guess she got me to smoke with her…"
"She's not here." Gippal kept his posture on the defense; He did find it a little amusing that Cid's girl would light up, but right now wasn't the time.
"I know she isn't." Paine stepped further into the room. There were no lights on, but it was well in the day time. She didn't need the extra help to see that Gippal still didn't want to talk to her. "I came to see you."
He pulled the joint out of his mouth and blew the air out the window. "Why?"
##
"I would like to see him."
"I'm sure he wouldn't mind seeing you." Rikku teased.
Yuna rolled her eyes. "Oh c'mon."
"I wonder what Tidus would think if he knew Brother had a crush on you when he was little."
"He wouldn't like him." Yuna chuckled.
They were in line at the checkout. "Yeah well, he may not like me after this visit…"
"Tidus? Or Kirill?"
"Brother."
"Why is that?"
Rikku shrugged as she began to take things out of her section of the cart. They were buying a lot more food these days. It probably had something to do with Gippal being there and everyone coming over. It was a good thing her father never looked at the food bills.
"I'm going to tell him about Auron… Paine…"
"Oh." Yuna stopped picking up things in her cart when she realized the magnitude of the situation. Kirill and Rikku were inseparable as kids, even up until the point where he moved out and got signed to the blitz league. He had always been a little protective over Rikku, learning that not only had she been in a dangerous relationship with Auron Gaurrd; a man he called uncle, but in a current relationship with Paine Kerrigan; a woman, well Yuna thought it might be a little much. "Are you sure you want to do that?"
"What, should I just not say anything?"
"Well." Yuna chose her words carefully. "If it were me I would maybe tell him one…. See how he takes it. " Yuna went back to emptying the cart leaving Rikku to wonder.
##
"I never meant for this to get so far…"
She and Gippal were sitting shoulder to shoulder on the edge of the full size bed in the Bayla guest room. "I met Rikku and then a week later he just shows up, and then I found out you liked Rikku and well… I had to decide which was most important for you to know about."
"You didn't think it would be the fact that Baralai was going there? I mean… We used to be the three fucking amigos or something…"
"I knew how you felt about him… And I knew how I felt about Rikku…"
"Even if you didn't want to admit it."
"Well yeah, she was your dream girl, remember?"
"I'd still hit it if you two weren't a thing…" Gippal joked.
Paine laughed a little. "I'm gonna need you to stop talking about her like that."
Gippal smiled and nodded. Half the time he said stuff like that to get Paine in this protective mode that he rarely saw. His face turned serious again. "So what… Are you guys like friends or what?"
Paine shook her head. "Rikku talks to him more than I do." She thought for a second. "What is your problem with him, Gip? I never talk to him because you don't like him… and then I realized that was stupid of me, we were so young. Whatever happened? It can't be worth it."
Gippal was quiet for a while and then he looked down at his working man hands. "He got an easy out, when we had to go through hell. I'm jealous of that." He admitted. He looked up at Paine. Seeing his best friend, it made it easy. "I'm jealous."
##
"Gippal! " Rikku called as she pushed the front door open and struggled with her bags. "sa ramb sa fedr drec vuut. Sucd uv ed ec vun oui yhofyo. Oui'na milg—"
"I'm coming I'm coming, damn, Keep your bra on… " Rikku watched with a little surprise as he and Paine came down the stairs to help her with the bags.
"Hey." She smiled at Paine. "Did I miss a call or something?" Rikku asked as Paine took the bags out of her hands and they walked into the kitchen to start putting things away.
"No. I just came by to see Gippal real quick."
"Oh." Rikku looked behind her towards the front door and then ran up close behind Paine causing the taller girl to laugh a little. "Did you guys make up?" She whispered.
Paine shrugged. "I think so."
"Why are you guys whispering?" Gippal asked as he brought a few bags into the kitchen and placed them on the floor.
"We were just talking about…" Rikku began and looked to Paine for some help.
"Making our schedules…." She gave Rikku a look. "Because we still have to do that."
Rikku groaned. "Let's go to the beach instead."
"I'm down for the beach." Gippal nodded.
"Great, I'll go call Yunie!" Rikku took off before Paine could say anything. She shook her head. It was a good thing her bathing suit was still here from the last time they went to the beach.
"Are we cool?" Paine asked after helping Gippal put away some items.
Gippal paused. "Yeah P, We're cool."
Paine couldn't help but smile a little. "Good, cause I got something to show you…"
##
Rikku happily trotted down the stairs searching for Paine and Gippal. She easily found them in the den huddled over a bunch of papers.
"You guys didn't even put away the rest of the groceries?" She observed.
"I don't know where everything goes…" Paine dismissed as she showed Gippal another page.
"Shit, man." Gippal rubbed the back of his neck. He picked up the paper. It was a shame they weren't into this stuff anymore, they could be rich!
"Paine you're always here… in the kitchen, and Gippal you kinda live here, do I have to do everything? I need to go pick out my beach outfit."
Paine sighed and stood. "That's gonna take her an hour, we might as well do it."
"Fine fine."
"What is all that?" Rikku asked as they carefully put pages back into a file folder.
"What Dona dropped off last night…" Paine said. "Oh, and do you know where my bathing suit is?"
"It's in your drawer."
"You got a fucking drawer here?" Gippal asked looking at Paine. "You two been only dating for like three weeks."
Paine shrugged. "It's not all of mine." The other half was dedicated to Rikku's shorts; which really took up more than half now that she thought about it.
"Where else was she going to put all her stuff?" Rikku asked not seeing the big deal.
Gippal looked at the two of them. "At her house."
"She's always here though."
Gippal looked at Paine. He hadn't realized the severity of her problem. "Do you have a fucking toothbrush here?"
"Not my original one."
"You guys do realize that sometimes it takes years to get a drawer…"
"Half a drawer." Rikku corrected.
"A quarter of a drawer." Paine corrected her.
##
"I was thinking." Paine spoke loudly enough for Rikku to hear. She was in the bathroom changing into her bathing suit while Rikku moved about her room. "…About what Gippal said."
"Huh…" Rikku was by her dresser picking out a top to wear to the beach over her swimsuit. "Yeah, I don't know how that would taste with Dijon…"
Paine opened the door. "What?" She was wearing her bikini under her basketball shorts and an almost sheer gray tank top.
"The ham…" Rikku looked up at Paine. "Isn't that what you were thinking about?"
Paine shook her head slowly. "No."
"Oh." Rikku shrugged and went back to what she was doing. "What then?"
"About the drawer thing… You don't think we are moving too fast?" How was she supposed to know what was normal and what wasn't?
"Paine, it's not like you are moving in, but you live across town and as we know, are quite forgetful."
Paine chuckled a little. "Yeah."
"So where else am I going to put your things when you leave them?" She motioned to her chest of drawers. "I had room, its okay."
Paine nodded; she was being foolish to listen to Gippal. "You're right, I don't know…" She scratched the back of her head and then walked away. Rikku watched her walk over to her bed, sit down, and pull out her phone to text someone. "I'm ready whenever."
"Who yuh texting?" Rikku asked as she closed her drawer and went to set aside two towels for them.
"Em, I just wanna make sure the scar will be okay in salt water."
"Oh yeah." Rikku frowned. "Let me see? Have you been putting that cream on it?"
Paine stood up and lifted the back of her shirt a little. "It feels okay, kinda stings when I shower, which means I probably shouldn't go into the water…"
Rikku walked over to look at it. "When is your next appointment?"
"Tomorrow."
"You didn't tell me?"
"I was just gonna go by myself. Besides how could I remember to tell you with all this stuff that's been going on?"
"As much as it kills me to say…" Rikku pulled Paine's shirt back down. "You probably shouldn't take off your shirt."
Paine laughed. "Kills you to say that huh? Yeah I'll be okay though, probably a real bad idea to get sand on it… Maybe you guys should just go."
Rikku frowned. "Whhaaa? No you have to come, it will still be fun." It didn't seem to convince Paine. "Well what would you do?"
"Sleep." She had hardly slept after hanging up with Rikku. There was just so much to look at in Bart's notes. Paine sat back down on the bed.
"Here?"
"I'd go home."
"You could sleep here and then when we come back you and I could do our schedules." Rikku rubbed Paine's shoulder with one hand. "But I mean if you want."
"What do you want?"
"I want you to come, but it makes no sense if you can't do anything…"
Paine thought about it. "I'll let you know."
Rikku nodded. "Okay."
##
"Yeah, let's plan it for tomorrow or something. Paine and I still need to make our class schedules, and a lots going on around here with Gippal and some folder so…" Rikku nodded again as she went down the stairs to the kitchen. "Right, okay Yunie… Mhm, bye." Rikku hung up and poked her head into the den where Paine and Gippal were with Braska on speaker phone.
"I'll be right back." Paine jumped up and went into the kitchen with Rikku. "What did she say?"
"She said it was cool, she was over at Lulu's and it would have taken her an hour to get here and stuff so, its okay." Paine nodded and turned around to leave. She had already changed back into her normal clothes. "Hey."
"Yeah?"
"So you're really not going to tell me what's going on here?"
Paine sighed and turned fully around. Last night she had let Rikku talk about how it went with Cid until she was blue in the face. She recognized where she had messed up before, not calling Rikku back on something important like that wasn't cool. They were in a better place now though which was good. Paine leaned against the counter. It was still difficult to remember she had someone in her corner though; someone who wanted to know everything. Not because they were nosy, but because they genuinely cared. "So Dona came over and gave me this folder…"
"Mhm." Rikku nodded as she took a seat in the breakfast nook.
"It has all of Bart's information, y'know like drug shipping and dealers under him, enough, in fact, to trace everything back to whoever is running things. Had the list of witnesses too, so now Braska is getting some info to get the ball rolling and Gippal is just going to drop off the thing to Braska's when he goes to work later."
"And she just gave all of this to you?"
Paine nodded and walked over to sit across from Rikku. "Yeah."
"How do you know it's all true? I mean that means she's turning in her brother." She couldn't wrap her head around this Dona chick, and her relationship with Paine confused her even more.
"Well it's Bart's and some of Shu's handwriting for sure and…" Paine shrugged. "I don't know I just believe that she's tried of the crap too, y'know?"
Rikku nodded. "Yeah, I guess."
"Tell me." Paine said when she noticed a look on Rikku's face that said she was biting her tongue. She walked the small distance to sit across from her.
Rikku shook her head. "It's nothing I just thought that… Being with you would be enough?"
"It isn't?" Paine asked feeling the small pang of hurt. She didn't like it.
Noticing the look on Paine's face Rikku reached out and grabbed her hand. Paine flinched involuntarily. "No, no, that's not what I meant. I meant that… I didn't want to jinx this if it's the end; I want to just be boring with you, Pypo. I thought the world would stop, but it hasn't. I just want to enjoy us." Rikku reached for her hand again.
Paine nodded understanding now. She upturned her hand letting Rikku's fingers slide between hers. "I know, after this? No more drama."
"You could say that again."
"What do you want to do? After all of this?"
"I want to take you out on a date." Rikku smiled sweetly.
##
The week had passed and Paine had been avoiding Rikku's house like the plague.
"You're being ridiculous." Rikku reminded as she rounded the corner of her street to find Paine waiting for her.
"No, I'm not."
"All he wants to do is talk to you!"
"About my intentions and five year plan and… A whole bunch of personal shit." Paine shook her head as Rikku grabbed her hand and they began walking to Yuna's.
"What, you don't have any?"
"I haven't exactly figured it out, what do you want me to say to him?" This conversation was getting old.
"Whatever you feel, you're making this so complicated." Rikku shook her head. Paine could be real stubborn if given the opportunity.
Paine shook her head again. "No, Rikku."
"So you're just going to avoid my father forever?"
Paine nodded. That sounded like solid idea right about now. "Yeah." She would be lying if she said she hadn't let her roommates' words get to her.
Flashback
"You're going to sit down and talk with her father?" Elma looked surprised.
Paine shrugged from her seat on the couch. "Said he wanted to talk to me."
Gippal laughed. "Yeah, about fucking his daughter."
"C'mon, Gip" Paine gave Gippal a warning look.
"Well he's got a point. What else will you guys talk about?" Nooj piped up from his spot on the opposite couch. His hairy legs well exposed with the shorts he was wearing.
Paine shrugged starting to feel a little nervous. She and Rikku hadn't even talked about that stuff yet…
They had been only dating three weeks!
"Best to keep a low profile ya?"
"Look who is talking." Paine shook her head.
Wakka laughed. "But yeah Lu's already pregnant ya? I'm screwed. That's why you gotta avoid it now."
"It's not like I can spontaneously get her pregnant." Paine reached for the bowl of popcorn in front of her. Elma made a noise. "Em?"
"I work at a hospital, I've seen things."
End Flashback.
"You're sending the wrong message." Rikku said as she rang the Shaw doorbell.
Paine groaned. "I don't want to talk to him, and I don't want to talk about talking to him."
"Well you should have never asked me to be your girlfriend."
"Well you should have never said anything."
"Well you should have—"
"Hey guys." Yuna smiled at the two to get their attention. Only Paine and Rikku would be holding hands and arguing at the same time.
"Yunie!" Rikku grinned.
"Hey Yuna." Paine offered a small smile.
They entered the house for their now weekly cooking session.
"I'm guessing Tidus isn't here." Paine said as Kimahri tried to tackle her with kisses again.
"No he has to be on campus early tomorrow for some blitz thing." Yuna explained.
Rikku took off her small jacket and hung it up as Paine played with Kimahri a little. "Can you please tell Paine that she needs to go talk to Pops?" Rikku asked after she placed a hand on Yuna's shoulder as they walked into the kitchen together.
Paine groaned and followed after them, Kimahri after her. "Ah Bayla, give it a rest huh?"
Yuna laughed. "I thought you already talked to him Paine?" She had already started cooking the brown rice since it would take the longest to cook.
Rikku went over to the sink and washed her hands before peaking into a brown paper grocery bag that Yuna had on the counter. "She's afraid… Did you get the tomatoes?"
"I'm not afraid." Paine sighed. "I just… y'know, what am I supposed to say?"
"What has uncle Cid said about it?" Yuna asked Rikku.
"He said he just wanted to ask her a few things and talk, that's it. Nothing serious."
"How does that not seem serious to you?"
"Uncle Cid can be rather intimidating…" Yuna rationalized.
"Yes but Paine hasn't been over my house in like five days, and Pops doesn't want me over at hers for a little while after tomorrow so where does that leave us…?"
"It's a big city." Paine shrugged going over to the sink to wash her hands before reaching for a knife to cut things up for the vegetable rice.
Yuna chuckled. "So tomorrow is the day then?"
Paine nodded. "Yeah."
"I'm nervous." Rikku admitted.
Paine looked over at her softly. This was the first time she was hearing this. "Gip and I will be okay… We've been okay." After turning in Dona's file to the authorities, a full investigation was launched into Paine's neighborhood. They found that there was one big shipment coming in soon from a foreign supplier, meaning that everyone in the crime family would be there to make an appearance. The New Luca Crusaders were planning on forming a raid and confiscating everything and locking up everyone in sight. Paine had wanted to warn Dona, but word on the street was that she and her little sisters' hopped town that same night she handed over the folder. It was probably for the best, but still she couldn't help feel something. Anyway, the tricky part about tomorrow was that they needed everyone who was supposed to be present to be there, and that couldn't be so if some of the man power was spent looking for Gippal Trent. So Gippal was asked to move back into his apartment and try and keep a low profile. After almost killing a kid even the bad guys tended to take it easy.
Paine and Gippal had to be home during the raid, it would look suspicious if they weren't. So naturally Rikku was a little worried about their safety. Whoever wanted Gippal dead knew where he lived, so they knew where Paine lived. Joyce and the rest of the hospital staff were nice, but she didn't want a reason to see them. That's why it was of the upmost importance that no one left those shipping docks.
"I know I know…"
"I have my doctor appointment that morning…"Paine explained to Yuna.
"How is your back feeling?"
"A lot better. Sometimes though I feel this pinching?"
"The stent?"
"Yeah that's what Em said it was…"
Rikku remained quiet as they spoke. She was glad that Paine and Yuna were friends and could hold a steady conversation without her. Rikku just couldn't keep up with school around the corner and her brother coming into town soon, and Paine and Gippal, tomorrow.
It didn't help at all that the bad dreams had started up again.
The ones where Paine never came running in the door that day.
Or the ones where she was driving the car that killed her mother.
It had to be stress right?
Noticing Rikku getting quiet Paine asked her to help her with the oven "Just hold it open for me?"
Rikku nodded. "Okay." Yuna had left to answer the house phone.
Paine placed the tray of chicken thighs in the oven to bake. All she really wanted was a burger, but she couldn't yet. Not until tomorrows tests came back good. "You okay?" Paine asked standing back up and placing a hand on the small of Rikku's back.
Rikku nodded. "I wish you could sleep over."
Paine sighed. She had wanted to as well. She had a particularly bad night the other night. It never happened when she was with Rikku. "I can't."
"I know." Paine had to get up really early, it just made no sense.
##
"Goodnight." Paine repeated. Rikku had her arms around her on her porch and was trying her hardest to prolong the inevitable. Paine paused briefly before leaning down a little and kissing her softly.
"Call me when you get home?"
Paine nodded. "I will."
"Gimmie a hug." Rikku tugged on Paine a little and Paine chuckled but complied.
"What happens when school starts and I can't see you every day?" She asked after wrapping her arms around Rikku fully. She made it seem like they were not going to see each other for weeks.
"Did you make your work schedule yet?" Rikku asked just enjoying the closeness before Paine released her from the hug.
"I'm doing that tomorrow." Rikku nodded. Paine motioned to the door behind them. "You have your keys?"
"Yeah." Rikku finally let go of Paine and began looking through her bag. "Pops is home anyway so I'll just kn—" Rikku turned around. "Paine really?"
Paine was already at the bottom step. "I don't want to miss the train." She lied.
"You are so crazy." She pulled out her keys.
"I'll call you." Paine waved as she headed onto the street.
Rikku giggled. What was she going to do with her?
Paine waited until she was sure Rikku was inside okay, and then a second or two after. She would never be able to get the sound of Rikku screaming for help out of her head, and hoped that she would never have to hear it again.
Paine took a small breath of the cool summer air, turned around and started walking east.
##
Usually she was okay with her money, she spent, and did whatever and budgeted it in well enough to be able to spend again. However this next semester would be tight, really tight. Especially since she had been dipping into savings for the majority of the summer vacation to pay bills. Not to mention that with Wakka moving out soon, rent would go up again, or the fact that she had hospital billing agencies already calling and asking for their money.
She ran a hand through her hair and looked at the other two pieces of paper on her desk. It was her class schedule and her blank request for hours form at the rec center. The university was finally extending their hours and they all had to put in requests for new times. This was amazing for Paine because she could bank a lot more than she had been, however that meant less time for anything else. She had a girlfriend now too. Time was increasingly becoming the one thing she wished she had more of.
Forget even going to the gym anymore.
The doctors said with the stent she could work out and lead a normal life.
Which was total bullshit.
Paine was all or nothing. She hated seeing people at the gym just taking their time. She was an intense trainer, and that was just out of the question.
As a result of not being able to just beat the hell out of a punching bag, she had noticed how she had to put more effort into controlling her emotions. More effort meant more energy. Less energy meant that by the time the holidays came around she would be a walking zombie.
Paine checked the time and sighed before looking back down at the schedule. She and Rikku had already talked about how hard the upcoming semester would be. Rikku was taking several more courses than she was last semester, and Paine was taking a class less, but working more. They decided that having lunch together would be the best options for Tuesdays and Thursdays when they both had class all day and Paine worked till 11 at night. Wednesday's and Friday's were up in the air, but Monday's? Monday's Paine made sure that after a certain time, her schedule was open, and so was Rikku's. Paine sat back in her desk chair and reached for her cell phone.
Eventually they had made it to the beach with just Yuna and Tidus. Rikku had taken a picture of them with her cell phone and sent it to Paine the other day randomly. It had definitely brought a smile to her face and she found herself looking at it randomly from time to time. It was silly, and she would never admit it to anyone of course.
Paine was looking at the camera with a little smile on her face. She didn't need to be smiling to seem happy though, one could just tell that the girl nuzzling her made her happy. Their cheeks were touching as Rikku smiled in that goofy, yet adorable way of hers.
She wanted to do something nice for their one month, but that fell on a Thursday, the first Thursday of the new semester. She already had an idea but it wasn't anything big, and it definitely wasn't anything expensive, Paine just hoped that Rikku wasn't expecting anything grand.
##
"Alright." Gippal sat down on the couch beside Paine and handed her the second gaming controller. It was one in the afternoon, which meant the shit was going to hit the fan in thirteen minutes sharp. They wouldn't know if it was successful until around two thirty though. It was Gippal's idea to do something mindless and not think about goons coming to their home and beating the hell out of him and then taking him somewhere to shoot him
Yeah video games were good.
"Best 75 out of 100?"
Paine nodded. "Sounds good."
And that had worked for about a half hour.
"We could work on the car." Paine suggested.
"Outside?"
"No we'll just bring it in here, of course outside."
Gippal seemed a little off about the idea.
"Listen." Paine began as she stood to go change into her oily clothes. "We have to act normal right?" Gippal nodded. "Normally we would be out doing something right?" He nodded again. "Plus, I need that thing running before school starts."
Gippal stood. "You're right, fuck living like this. That's all I been doing for the past three weeks!" Gippal stood abruptly. "C'mere." He motioned for Paine to follow him.
"Do you ever clean this room?" Paine asked as she followed him into his room. It was bigger than hers but that was fine with Paine, she only needed a place to sleep, and besides, her room was the cheapest in the house. Gippal bent down at his bed and pulled out his tool box.
"Just in case…" He moved around a few things and then pulled out a deep silver and black berretta.
Paine shook her head. "Gip, what the fuck?"
He handed it to her. "You're probably a better shot than me anyway, and I'll be the first if they come."
Paine weighed the gun in her hand. She felt powerful with it in her hands, but she didn't like that feeling. It made her stomach hurt a little and she knew Gippal wouldn't have given her this to hold unless he really thought about it.
Gippal closed his tool box and carried it with him. "Let's go."
Paine was pretty sure she was having an acute anxiety attack at every car that drove by. She was under the car with the silver berretta tucked out of sight under a few oily rags beside her. She glanced above her a couple of times to make sure Gippal's dirty sneakers were still in sight as he worked under the hood.
"I think we might just be able to get her running today…" Gippal said as he worked. "She didn't have much interior engine damage, just the look of this thing…" He chuckled.
"Yeah, that's good…"
"Aye and don't worry about all that, I got a guy who works at the tire shop who could easily forget to count a few seat covers…"
Paine squinted at his tone, he was so fucking calm.
It bothered. Any minute now someone could come creeping up the block like the last time, put a few in his back, and then drive off.
Gippal began to whistle.
Paine nodded to herself. It wasn't his usual playful tune; it was the one he said his mother used to whistle. The tune she was whistling when she nearly killed him. When they were younger he had told Paine that it was his way of calming himself down, because no matter the situation, that had been the scariest thing that happened to him.
Everything else was just gravy.
"Bam Bam Bam!"
Paine jumped and instinctively reached for the pile of oily rags at her left. Her body began to jump into fight or flight.
Under the grace of some divine being, Paine hesitated, and then cursed when she heard the childish laughter and the tiny footsteps running by.
"I'm gonna get you!" A little boy yelled as a group of little kids playing some version of cops and robbers ran by.
"Fucking kids." She heard Gippal grumbled.
She sighed heavily let her body grow limp before pushed the oily pile as far away from her immediate reach as possible.
##
Rikku jumped up from her seat in the den and ran to get the door. She hesitated, calmed herself, and then checked who it was before opening it.
Paine was standing there with her hands in her pockets. "Hey Princess." She smiled.
Rikku pulled Paine inside and fussed over her appearance. Paine chuckled and pushed her away. "You're making me nervous, was there a frickin' dress code?"
"No no no." Rikku stopped and smiled. "How yuh feeling?" She checked. She knew it had been a long two days for Paine.
Paine sighed heavily. "Content."
"Happy?"
Paine nodded. "Happy."
"Okay well, I will be ready in a little bit.."
Paine quickly became panicked. "Wait you're not ready? Rikku... Rikku!" Rikku was running up the stairs with a little grin on her face.
Paine groaned and looked around the still downstairs.
Maybe he wasn't here…
Just then Cid walked around the corner with the morning paper. "You made the morning paper."
Paine sighed. "Good morning."
Cid nodded and smiled a little. The look on Paine's face was worth this. "Where is Rikku?" He started walking into the kitchen making Paine follow after him.
"Upstairs…"
"Do you want some tea?" Cid offered as he poured himself a cup.
"No thank you." Paine slowly followed after him. She was going to kill her girlfriend. This had Rikku written all over it.
"I haven't seen you around here in a while."
"I've been y'know…"
"Scared?"
"Excuse me?"
"Sure?" Cid smirked. This had to be his favorite part about being a father. He motioned to the tea pot on the stove. "Are you sure?"
Paine nodded. "Yeah, I ate before I left the house…"
"How is everyone?"
"Good, Good. Things are calming down…"
"That's great, I was going to call Gippal today, see how things are. Do you get the paper? This really is an amazing article." Cid motioned to the folded up newspaper with title on the front page reading…
New Luca's Biggest Bust
Paine only nodded.
She had read it, sure, but she had also lived it too.
"C'mon sit down Paine, don't act like a stranger. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. There is no need to beat around the bush."
"Same page…" Paine sat down at the breakfast nook as Cid stood.
He was fucking tall.
"Right, Rikku told me that you and she were… Together. Am I wrong?"
Paine shook her head. "No sir."
"So you asked her to be your girlfriend, as in lover?"
"Lover?"
Cid nodded. "Well eventually, that is where all relationships go in time, right?"
"I guess but—"
"Good, so what are your intentions with my daughter?"
"Intentions…"
"She's my only daughter you know. And given that I haven't been doing such a good job of protecting her in the past, I want to insure that whoever she is with now understands I mean business. I can't just have anyone taking up her time, especially someone with the wrong intentions. Understand?"
Paine nodded. "I like her…"
"Well I would hope so, Paine." Cid said sipping his tea. "But what do you want from her?"
"I don't want anything from her."
"So, why date her?"
Paine grew confused. "Rikku's my first girlfriend sir. I don't know what to say..." Paine didn't know you were supposed to want something in particular, she just liked Rikku, spending time with her was what she wanted she guessed.
Cid looked at Paine differently. "Really?" He had this image of Paine, and it was constantly changing with the truth.
Paine shrugged. "I never wanted one before."
"But you want Rikku Milan?"
Paine nodded. "I like her."
"Just?" He was pushing to see that emotion he saw in his daughter. Paine was a hard read.
"Well." Paine scratched the back of her head. "I mean we've only been going out for three weeks, isn't saying anything but that bad?"
"Tell me how you really feel."
"I really feel like I don't want anyone else." Paine said honestly. "She makes me really happy, and I want to do that for her." She shrugged. "I don't want anything from her, not really… I guess I just want her around?"
Cid nodded. He cleared his throat. "Now I think I know, but I'm not to sure on how two women…"
Paine groaned.
##
She was stuffing something into her jeans pockets when Rikku finally made an appearance. "I'm ready." She announced.
"You look nice, Milan, where are you two headed?"
Rikku was dressed casually in shorts and a random top. She supposed he just said that because he was a dad and it was kind of his job. "Can't say, it's a surprise." Rikku looked over at Paine. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah."
"Remember what we talked about Paine."
Paine nodded. "Yes, Mr. Bayla."
"Stop calling him that." Cid heard Rikku chide as they left the house. He shook his head and smiled. He liked Paine, maybe even a little more now.
"So what did he say?" Rikku asked as she ran to the passenger side door and opened it for Paine. She was finally taking her out on their date.
Paine smiled at the gesture but then frowned at the topic. She waited until Rikku was in the car with her.
"Rikku, he gave me condoms."
Rikku snapped her head around to look at Paine, she didn't know if she wanted to laugh or be horrified. "He didn't."
Paine nodded. "He definitely did."
"You don't have a stick though, what's Pop thinking?" Rikku shook her head rubbing a hand on her left temple.
"Female condoms." Paine corrected with a dry tone.
Rikku couldn't help it now; she chuckled softly and reached a hand over to touch Paine's. "I'm sorry, Pypo." She looked at Paine with wide puppy like eyes. "Forgive me?"
The other woman sighed. "Yeah." Rikku leaned forward and pecked her cheek. "That was fucked up though." Paine reminded. "You should have waited till I was ready."
"You're really upset?" Rikku asked pulling her hand away.
"No, it's just that I wasn't expecting it at all. I wish I saw my face when he pulled them out. Fuck. I mean… How the hell do you even use these things?" Paine rubbed her face making Rikku laugh a little.
"But you did it, and now he knows, and obviously approves, and—"
"You think he approves?" Paine asked.
"Well he gave you condoms Paine, and he let me leave with you. Trust me if Pops didn't find whatever you had to say satisfactory you would know."
Paine nodded. She had to be an okay person. Better than okay, she had just gotten permission to date Rikku Bayla. Paine smiled a little "One down, one to go?"
Rikku was starting the car with a smile on her face; it fell through when Paine mentioned her brother. "Yeah, one to go."
##
"It's under R. Bayla." Rikku smiled.
Rikku liked to think she knew her girlfriend just a little bit. That's why she knew she couldn't just take her out on some boring dinner date. Paine would like anything, she was sure, but Rikku really wanted to do something fun and stress free to kick off the school year, and ultimately their new relationship.
"Here you are." The man behind the ticket booth handed her two reserved tickets.
That's why she had taken her to the zoo.
Rikku turned and smiled widely "You ready!" Paine nodded coolly, which meant she was actually pretty damn excited. Rikku smiled to herself.
It wasn't just any zoo. This was a traveling one that Rikku was lucky enough to snag tickets last minute. They were leaving for Besaid in a day. She was up all night bidding with some asshole until he finally gave up. Spira Travels had all sorts of cool exotic animals and fiends on their showcase. She remembered going once as a little girl and being scared to death of everything. Rikku was completely sold on the idea when she read that they had a chocobo exhibit. Paine loved chocobos'! The other day they were talking on the phone while Paine was watching some documentary on the food service industry. She got all pissed off and moody after a particularly graphic scene involving a baby choco.
It was proof that there was a very soft side to her hardened exterior, and Rikku liked that, she liked to think that Paine could be that way around her if no one else.
"Okay so first let's get some waters and ooh my digital camera right?" Rikku asked as she handed Paine the map of the fair grounds. "You can be the navigator."
"Alright." Paine was actually pretty surprised at Rikku. This was an awesome idea, one that she would have done for her if the blonde hadn't beaten her to it. "You left it in the car I think." Paine said when she noticed Rikku was looking for something. "I'll go back for it."
"Do you remember where I parked?" Cause Rikku sure as hell didn't.
Paine took the keys out of Rikku's hand. "Yeah."
"Okay, I'm going to get the water."
##
"Hey, Rikks, check this out, they have—"
"S-Snakes!" Rikku jumped behind Paine and buried her head against her back.
Paine furrowed a brow and turned around only to have Rikku turn with her, staying behind her. "Ri… Rikks." Paine chuckled at her girlfriend's antics.
"Mommy look, that lady is afraid of a little snake." A little chubby boy with pasty skin and freckles laughed. His mother was on her cell phone.
"That's nice Luis." She waved him off.
Rikku poked her head from behind Paine and glared at the little boy. "Did you know that snake bites account for 78 percent of all childhood death in New Luca alone? Deaths."
The little boy all of sudden looked like he wanted to cry.
Paine looked over her shoulder surprised at Rikku. "My girlfriend is a bully." Paine laughed as she ushered her away.
"He was making fun of me."
"He's like what, seven? How old are you?" Rikku mumbled her response. "What? I didn't hear you."
Rikku laughed. "Twenty! Gosh."
Paine shook her head and was a little surprised when Rikku just took her hand. They had never held hands so publicly before. Paine held hers back and dared someone to look at them the wrong way.
##
"Paine!"
Paine turned around; Rikku had run off to the bathroom before they left the fairgrounds where the zoo had been put up. It was around four in the evening and Paine was bushed, but happy. She smiled as Rikku walked up to her with her hands behind her back; she was wearing this shy sort of girlish smile.
"You ready?" Paine asked wondering what she was up to.
Rikku nodded. "I got you something."
"I thought you said you were going to the bathroom?"
"I lied." Rikku shrugged and pulled out a small bouquet of purple and yellow flowers with one hand, and then a chocobo plushie with the other. "I hope you had fun today, Pai." She said as she outstretched her hands.
Paine smiled as she took them both from Rikku. "Aw, Rikks." She suddenly felt very girly and tried to hide her blush. She chuckled at the chcocobo plushie. It was wearing a little dark blue hoody with the hood up. "Is this me?"
Rikku laughed and stepped closer to her. "Yeah, they didn't have any leather jackets…" She shrugged cutely. "... Do you like it?"
Paine nodded and pulled Rikku closer to her not caring who saw the kiss she laid on her. Rikku was surprised at how quickly her heart had picked up. Usually it would take a second or two, but this was instant. Rikku put her left arm around Paine's waist and tried not to smash the flowers in Paine's other hand as she pulled her closer. Paine must have realized where they were because she pulled away prematurely. "Thank you."
Rikku was grinning like she won the lotto. "You're welcome."
##
The overwhelming emotion he felt when she walked into the room in her loose business suit and worn heels compared to nothing else. How many years? Her beauty was timeless, but oh how he longed to hear her voice.
The room was quiet as crimson eyes gazed fondly at maple brown.
He hated himself, but he hated her more.
She placed the old edition of The New Luca Times style section on his desk.
"It isn't." He dismissed.
She nodded. "I would know that face anywhere, Paul."
"It isn't, it can't be."
"Pa, I—" Lulu paused when she realized her father wasn't alone in his office. She had traveled all this way just so she could speak to him privately, so she could tell him. Lulu couldn't deal with the weight anymore.
She stood and grabbed the newspaper off of his desk; tucking it closely against her side. "Lulu…" She seemed impressed.
"Do we know each other?" Lulu asked politely. Why was she looking at her like that?
She shook her head and glanced back at Paul Moore. "No, we've never been introduced."
"Oh." Lulu nodded. She glanced at her father too. He wasn't looking at them. "I'm Lulu Moore… I suppose you knew that though…"
She simply nodded. There was something vaguely familiar about her silence. Lulu arched an eyebrow softly.
"You've grown up quite a bit."
Paul stood and cleared his throat. "Are we done here?" He asked, it was just too much seeing them together like this.
She turned to him wondering how after all these years he could still be the same person; change was constant. Change was what brought her back here. "I won't bother you again."
Lulu watched as the strange woman left her father's office in that ill fitting suit. She furrowed her dark brows at the walk, she knew that walk.
"Lulu dear, come please, sit down."
AN: Review!
KathleenDee