And Baby Makes Three
Chapter Two - Picking Up & Moving In
By: Digi-Esca Girl
Disclaimer: FF X, or anything associated with it, isn't mine!
********************************************************************************
"Alright Class! Now that you've all been given your partners, I will give you the rest of the class to
talk with them and decide who's going to do what etc." Miss Nialla finished after calling all the names.
Tidus stood right away and knelt by Yuna's desk. She was writing something down and didn't notice him,
so he cleared his throat, making her jump slightly.
"Oh, sorry....I can go to the Orphanage tonight if you're busy..." She said quietly.
"Yeah, I have practice tonight, so I can't make it. The kid's staying with you right?" Tidus replied,
not being able to look away from her eyes. Sure she didn't date but damn, he thought, she should!
He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he did think she was quite attractive, as did three quarters of the
school's male population.
"Yes, I assumed so..."
"What do you mean?" Tidus asked, raising an eyebrow.
"W-well I know that you're....occupied a lot with blitzball and stuff so I just thought it would be easier
if I took care of the child." Yuna answered, carefully avoiding eye contact.
Tidus was about to reply, but the bell rang, signaling a ten minute break for the students to gather
their books for the next two classes. He just stood up without a word and, grabbing his bag from his
desk, walked out of the room. Yuna sighed, picking up her own bag and leaving.
As she walked out, she couldn't help but overhear the conversation going on between Wakka and
Lulu...
"I can't come with you, ya? I got practice tonight!" He argued. This girl just couldn't understand, he thought.
"Can't you skip the first half an hour to at least meet the child?" Lulu argued back, her eyes flashing
angrily as she walked with him down the hallway.
"No! Sir Jecht said this was an important practice okay? Jeez, what can you understand 'bout that, eh?"
"Fine! I...I don't care, do what you want...." The mage's voice lowered from a yell to a defeated tone
quickly, as the realization that it was always going to be like this fully hit her. Wakka just smiled
and headed for his locker, catching up to Tidus on the way.
"Piece of cake ya?" He said, watching the smirk that crawled onto the blitzer's face.
"No kidding..." He answered, reaching down to slap Wakka's awaiting hand in a triumphant gesture as
they approached the lockers.
Rikku's eyes narrowed as she watched the two open up their lockers, and she stormed over to her
own after a second of glaring at them. She turned her gaze to Lulu, who had just opened up her own
locker, mechanically turning her own combination with out even looking as she spoke.
"Are you two really going to tollerate that kind of treatment from them?"
"What other choice do we have if we want that scholarship...." The mage replied, stuffing her Biology
textbook into her bag and closing the locker.
"She's right Rikku." Yuna added, coming up behind the Al Bhed as she too closed her locker.
"You guys are such pushovers, jeez!" Rikku laughed, linking arms with the two as they walked to class.
"I'm open!" Leathen shouted, waving his arms in the air briefly before watching Wakka send the blitzball
hurtling towards him. When he caught it, it was actually pushed backwards a foot by the impact.
"Wow Wakka! Your PA has definatly increased since last month!" He praised, passing the ball back
equally as fast. Wakka caught it with ease just as Jecht blew hard on his whistle.
"Everyone in!" He shouted, standing on a wooden box for height over the players. Auron stood on the ground
to his left side, watching silently as usual.
"Alright, our first regular season game is next week Wednesday against Luca. It's a home game, and I want
you all here an hour and a half before blitzoff, alright?" Jecht ordered, getting nods and affirmative sounds
from the players around him.
Tidus checked his watch, wondering if Yuna was at the orphanage yet or not. Jecht waved a hand in front of his
face, and he noticed that the entire team had already headed off to the showers.
"What's wrong with you, kid? You've been lookin at your watch the whole night!"
"My wife's at the orphanage picking up our kid..."
"WHAT?!?!?!?!" Jecht shouted, his eyes bulging out of his head. Tidus suddenly broke out in laughter.
"No no Dad, not seriously. Remember that Health project I told ya about?"
"Oh...alright then. Yevon, boy you tryin to give me a heart attack?!"He answered with a smirk, clapping
Tidus on the back as he jogged past him towards the showers.
'Maybe I can beat her there...' Tidus thought with a smirk, 'I'll show her I can handle being a parent......
From what I've heard from other guys it's easy!'
"Wakka!!" He called, running into the locker room.
"Ya?" He answered, pulling a clean, white T-shirt over his head.
"I'm just gonna shower quick, then we can head over to the Orphanage, okay?" Tidus replied, not waiting
for a response before disappearing around the corner to the showers.
"Sounds good to me..."Wakka replied, sitting down on the bench to put on his sneakers.
He had just begun to fix his hair when Tidus came around the corner again. He glanced at the blonde several
times through the mirror to check his progress, and by the third check, he was already pulling on his
trademark yellow and black sneakers. Wakka tucked the last runaway strand of his hair into the
backwards wave style, and turned around to find Tidus staring him in the eye. He jumped slightly,
before smirking and lightly smacking the blonde over the head.
"Hey! Watch the hair man!" He joked, smiling and grabbing his shoulder bag, tossing it over his
shoulder and following Wakka out of the locker room.
Meanwhile, Yuna had just gotten into Lulu's car, taking a seat in the back, seeing as Lulu was driving and
Rikku had taken the front.
"Hey Yunie! So," Rikku chattered immediately, turning around in her seat to talk to her cousin,
"do you hope you get a boy or a girl?"
"I'd prefer a boy actually." Yuna replied quietly, staring absent-mindedly out the window. As
Rikku blabbed on about how a girl would be so much better, Yuna found herself wondering
which one Tidus would prefer.
'He'd probably want a boy so they can play blitzball all day...' She thought out of nowhere,
an equally surprising smile appearing on her face suddenly, causing Rikku to pause in her
verbal assault and blink.
"I don't think she's listening, Rikku." Lulu said with a smirk, keeping her eyes planted
firmly on the road.
"Yunie!!!" Rikku yelled, waving her hand in front of her cousin's face exuberantly.
"What?" She answered quietly, watching Lulu turn right onto the old road that lead to the Orphanage.
"You just dozed off when I was talking!"
"Oh...sorry Rikku. My mind is somewhere else right now...."
"Gee...I never noticed." Rikku replied sarcastically, muffling a giggle.
Ten minutes later, Lulu's car rolled to a halt in the Orphanage parking lot, and the three girls
piled out, anxious to find out what children they would receive.
As they approached the building, they noticed three men standing by the doors, looking like they
were waiting for something.
"Carter?" Rikku called out. One of the blonde men waved and jogged up to them, stopping in
front of Rikku.
"I left my house early so I could meet you here. Shall we go in?" He asked, offering his arm comically.
Rikku laughed and took it, heading inside with her partner.
"Lulu?" Yuna said suddenly, focusing her eyes on the remaining two men by the door.
"Yes?"
"Please tell me I'm seeing things....." She replied, gesturing with a nod of her head to the two guys currently
walking towards them.
"Wakka? Tidus? Can't be....Why would they....?"
"Ladies! What's shakin?" Tidus asked, coming to stand beside Yuna.
"Uh....." Yuna was speechless. She never expected him to even come HOME tonight, let alone meet her here.
"Why are you two here?" Lulu asked, shaking Wakka's arm off her shoulder.
"We decided that the first night the kid's home we should be there, ya?" Wakka answered, replacing his arm
on her shoulders.
"Besides, we're going to a party at 10:30 anyway, so they'll be in bed...no harm done, right?" Tidus finished.
"Whatever you say...." Yuna replied quietly, re-adjusting her bag on her shoulder and heading inside.
Upon entering, all of the teenagers felt slight sadness at the sight of all the young children in the building.
The fact that they had no families to love and look after them was saddening in itself, but the hope that
appeared in their eyes at the sound of the doors opening was too much.
Lulu, trying to remain in control of her emotions, stepped forward and approached the desk.
"Are you more kids from the high school with the program?" The receptionist asked, glancing at each
of them in turn. Lulu nodded.
"Go down that hallway and take your first left. There'll be another desk there where you can find your
names and ask for your child, alright?" She explained slowly, indicating directions with her hand.
"Alright." Lulu said with another nod, walking off down the hall.
"Hey!" Wakka said, noticing her departure and heading after her.
"Thank you very much." Yuna said, nodding politely and looking to Tidus. Not much to her
surprise, he was already across the room, flirting with a girl from their school who was just arriving
with her partner. She rolled her eyes and walked over to him.
"I'm going to get our child now." She said simply, not expecting him to hear her or care.
On the contrary, he dropped the conversation immediately and followed her into the room.
Once they entered, they walked towards the desk and fell into line behind Lulu and Wakka, who were about to
go up. The couple ahead of them finished, and they stepped forward.
"Wakka and Lulu," Lulu offered, watching the computer screen blur with names and numbers that ran across
it so fast she couldn't make them out. It finally stopped, displaying her and Wakka's names, and the name and picture
of a child.
It was a little girl, whose tousled, auburn hair looked as if hadn't been combed in a while. Lulu secretly hoped
she was better taken care of than the picture depicted. Her hazel green eyes seemed dulled, but not quite lifeless,
still holding a sparkle that only a child's eyes could possess. Her name and age stood out next to the picture.
"Jade Alexandria Thompson, age 4...." Lulu read out loud quietly, looking briefly at Wakka to see his expression.
As predicted, he seemed generally uninterested.
"Let's go find her then...." Wakka sighed, glancing at his watch, "we're pushin it with time here, man." He said to Tidus
as he and Lulu walked by, heading for the room adjacent to the one they currently occupied. He nodded in
reply as Yuna stepped up to the console and said their names.
Once again the screen blurred, but stopped this time on a picture of a young boy.
He had dark brown hair that fell over eyes that were so dark a blue, they matched the night sky before the sun's
light disppeared completely, turning it black. Twilight, if you will. He had a scar on his right temple and he looked
as if he'd lived a lifetime in hell, but as Yuna discovered, he hadn't been around long at all.
"Kieran Anthony Carson, age four-and-a-half. His eyes....." Yuna mumbled, completing the thought in her head.
"C'mon, let's go already." Tidus said, half-way to the door as he spoke. Yuna sighed, following him with slight hesitation.
They stepped inside, once again seeing children everywhere, most of them playing on a large jungle gym set in the middle
of the room. Yuna approached the nearest worker and asked about Kieran. The young man pointed over to the far corner
of the room where the aforementioned boy was seated, watching everyone else play.
"Great....of all the kids here, we have to get stuck with the anti-social-four-year-old...." Tidus muttered, sarcasm
practically dripping from his mouth. Yuna simply sighed, walking over to the boy and kneeling down to his height.
"Hello Kieran. I'm Yuna, and this is Tidus.....We're here to pick you up, okay?" She said quietly, watching with a smile
as a slight warmth sparked in his eyes at her comments.
"I....I get to.....live with somebody?" He asked in a tone so quiet it was almost in-audible. Yuna nodded, smiling
even more warmly.
'She's good with kids....' Tidus thought, looking down at her with a small smile, 'All the better for me....'
"How about we get going?" Yuna said, standing up beside Tidus and extending her hand.
Kieran looked at it suspiciously for a moment, as if expecting her to yank it away and laugh, not actually being serious.
"Is something wrong?" She asked, not lowering her hand.
"It's just that....all the other kids said no one would ever want to take me home......" Kieran replied after a slight
hesitation, his voice still very hushed.
"Well they were wrong, okay? Let's go home."
The boy noticbly perked up at this, reaching up and taking her hand. Her parental instinct kicking in already, Yuna
bent down and picked him up, balancing him on her hip. Kieran enjoyed this, and it was how he was carried out of the
orphanage and into the parking lot.
"My car's over here," Tidus said after they'd exited the building, pointing at the red sports car parked a few stalls from the door.
Yuna nodded, stopping at the car door when she reached it, waiting for him to unlock it. He pushed a button, and the doors
all unlocked with a click. She pulled the back door open, buckling Kieran in before climbing in herself.
*******************
"I don't see her yet." Wakka drawled, scanning the room for the little red headed girl they were supposed to be picking up.
"Leave me alone!!!!!" Came a shriek from the other side of the room, which sent the two workers present rushing over to the
jungle gym.
"Daniel! What have we told you about hitting girls!" The female worker scolded, watching while her male co-worker picked
up a crying girl.
"That's her!" Lulu exclaimed, noticing the red hair and the puffy green eyes. She walked over to him, Wakka in tow. He
recognized her and got the girl's mind off of crying long enough to speak.
"Jade, these are the people who are taking you home." He said, getting her attention right away. Her eyes darted
between the two people in front of her for a minute, before she stretched her pale arms out towards Wakka.
The blitzer's eyebrow raised, but after receiving a nudge from Lulu, he reached out and took the girl into his arms.
Holding her was like holding a feather, he concluded instantly, handling her with an unusual gentleness he himself didn't know
he possessed. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and buried her head in his shoulder, sighing lightly and relaxing.
"Her father was your age, sir," the worker explained, "and he was killed in a case of mistaken identity a few months ago.
Her mother was just a teen herself, and died giving birth to her. She'll probably be more attached to you for a while,
but not to worry, I'm sure she'll warm up to you, miss."
Lulu nodded, thanking the workers and walking towards the doors.
*******************
About an hour later saw both children tucked into their new beds, sound asleep.
Just as Yuna closed the door to Kieran's room, she heard a loud honking coming from outside. She looked out the window
to see Tidus jumping into the backseat of a yellow car with Wakka, laughing loudly and looking drunk already.
Shaking her head with a sigh, she headed into the living room and grabbed the phone, dialing Lulu's number.
"Hello?" The mage answered.
"It's going to be a very long year........"
************************************************************************
Well what did ya'll think of this one? I know it's taken me awhile to come out with, but I just was swamped with my
other fics, which I took down today. There was just too much for me, so all that's left is this one, a GW/SM Crossover,
and my other FF X fic, Much Needed Closure.
Anyways, I hope you like!!
Love yaz,
Digi-Esca Girl
laurie_22@hotmail.com
Chapter Two - Picking Up & Moving In
By: Digi-Esca Girl
Disclaimer: FF X, or anything associated with it, isn't mine!
********************************************************************************
"Alright Class! Now that you've all been given your partners, I will give you the rest of the class to
talk with them and decide who's going to do what etc." Miss Nialla finished after calling all the names.
Tidus stood right away and knelt by Yuna's desk. She was writing something down and didn't notice him,
so he cleared his throat, making her jump slightly.
"Oh, sorry....I can go to the Orphanage tonight if you're busy..." She said quietly.
"Yeah, I have practice tonight, so I can't make it. The kid's staying with you right?" Tidus replied,
not being able to look away from her eyes. Sure she didn't date but damn, he thought, she should!
He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he did think she was quite attractive, as did three quarters of the
school's male population.
"Yes, I assumed so..."
"What do you mean?" Tidus asked, raising an eyebrow.
"W-well I know that you're....occupied a lot with blitzball and stuff so I just thought it would be easier
if I took care of the child." Yuna answered, carefully avoiding eye contact.
Tidus was about to reply, but the bell rang, signaling a ten minute break for the students to gather
their books for the next two classes. He just stood up without a word and, grabbing his bag from his
desk, walked out of the room. Yuna sighed, picking up her own bag and leaving.
As she walked out, she couldn't help but overhear the conversation going on between Wakka and
Lulu...
"I can't come with you, ya? I got practice tonight!" He argued. This girl just couldn't understand, he thought.
"Can't you skip the first half an hour to at least meet the child?" Lulu argued back, her eyes flashing
angrily as she walked with him down the hallway.
"No! Sir Jecht said this was an important practice okay? Jeez, what can you understand 'bout that, eh?"
"Fine! I...I don't care, do what you want...." The mage's voice lowered from a yell to a defeated tone
quickly, as the realization that it was always going to be like this fully hit her. Wakka just smiled
and headed for his locker, catching up to Tidus on the way.
"Piece of cake ya?" He said, watching the smirk that crawled onto the blitzer's face.
"No kidding..." He answered, reaching down to slap Wakka's awaiting hand in a triumphant gesture as
they approached the lockers.
Rikku's eyes narrowed as she watched the two open up their lockers, and she stormed over to her
own after a second of glaring at them. She turned her gaze to Lulu, who had just opened up her own
locker, mechanically turning her own combination with out even looking as she spoke.
"Are you two really going to tollerate that kind of treatment from them?"
"What other choice do we have if we want that scholarship...." The mage replied, stuffing her Biology
textbook into her bag and closing the locker.
"She's right Rikku." Yuna added, coming up behind the Al Bhed as she too closed her locker.
"You guys are such pushovers, jeez!" Rikku laughed, linking arms with the two as they walked to class.
"I'm open!" Leathen shouted, waving his arms in the air briefly before watching Wakka send the blitzball
hurtling towards him. When he caught it, it was actually pushed backwards a foot by the impact.
"Wow Wakka! Your PA has definatly increased since last month!" He praised, passing the ball back
equally as fast. Wakka caught it with ease just as Jecht blew hard on his whistle.
"Everyone in!" He shouted, standing on a wooden box for height over the players. Auron stood on the ground
to his left side, watching silently as usual.
"Alright, our first regular season game is next week Wednesday against Luca. It's a home game, and I want
you all here an hour and a half before blitzoff, alright?" Jecht ordered, getting nods and affirmative sounds
from the players around him.
Tidus checked his watch, wondering if Yuna was at the orphanage yet or not. Jecht waved a hand in front of his
face, and he noticed that the entire team had already headed off to the showers.
"What's wrong with you, kid? You've been lookin at your watch the whole night!"
"My wife's at the orphanage picking up our kid..."
"WHAT?!?!?!?!" Jecht shouted, his eyes bulging out of his head. Tidus suddenly broke out in laughter.
"No no Dad, not seriously. Remember that Health project I told ya about?"
"Oh...alright then. Yevon, boy you tryin to give me a heart attack?!"He answered with a smirk, clapping
Tidus on the back as he jogged past him towards the showers.
'Maybe I can beat her there...' Tidus thought with a smirk, 'I'll show her I can handle being a parent......
From what I've heard from other guys it's easy!'
"Wakka!!" He called, running into the locker room.
"Ya?" He answered, pulling a clean, white T-shirt over his head.
"I'm just gonna shower quick, then we can head over to the Orphanage, okay?" Tidus replied, not waiting
for a response before disappearing around the corner to the showers.
"Sounds good to me..."Wakka replied, sitting down on the bench to put on his sneakers.
He had just begun to fix his hair when Tidus came around the corner again. He glanced at the blonde several
times through the mirror to check his progress, and by the third check, he was already pulling on his
trademark yellow and black sneakers. Wakka tucked the last runaway strand of his hair into the
backwards wave style, and turned around to find Tidus staring him in the eye. He jumped slightly,
before smirking and lightly smacking the blonde over the head.
"Hey! Watch the hair man!" He joked, smiling and grabbing his shoulder bag, tossing it over his
shoulder and following Wakka out of the locker room.
Meanwhile, Yuna had just gotten into Lulu's car, taking a seat in the back, seeing as Lulu was driving and
Rikku had taken the front.
"Hey Yunie! So," Rikku chattered immediately, turning around in her seat to talk to her cousin,
"do you hope you get a boy or a girl?"
"I'd prefer a boy actually." Yuna replied quietly, staring absent-mindedly out the window. As
Rikku blabbed on about how a girl would be so much better, Yuna found herself wondering
which one Tidus would prefer.
'He'd probably want a boy so they can play blitzball all day...' She thought out of nowhere,
an equally surprising smile appearing on her face suddenly, causing Rikku to pause in her
verbal assault and blink.
"I don't think she's listening, Rikku." Lulu said with a smirk, keeping her eyes planted
firmly on the road.
"Yunie!!!" Rikku yelled, waving her hand in front of her cousin's face exuberantly.
"What?" She answered quietly, watching Lulu turn right onto the old road that lead to the Orphanage.
"You just dozed off when I was talking!"
"Oh...sorry Rikku. My mind is somewhere else right now...."
"Gee...I never noticed." Rikku replied sarcastically, muffling a giggle.
Ten minutes later, Lulu's car rolled to a halt in the Orphanage parking lot, and the three girls
piled out, anxious to find out what children they would receive.
As they approached the building, they noticed three men standing by the doors, looking like they
were waiting for something.
"Carter?" Rikku called out. One of the blonde men waved and jogged up to them, stopping in
front of Rikku.
"I left my house early so I could meet you here. Shall we go in?" He asked, offering his arm comically.
Rikku laughed and took it, heading inside with her partner.
"Lulu?" Yuna said suddenly, focusing her eyes on the remaining two men by the door.
"Yes?"
"Please tell me I'm seeing things....." She replied, gesturing with a nod of her head to the two guys currently
walking towards them.
"Wakka? Tidus? Can't be....Why would they....?"
"Ladies! What's shakin?" Tidus asked, coming to stand beside Yuna.
"Uh....." Yuna was speechless. She never expected him to even come HOME tonight, let alone meet her here.
"Why are you two here?" Lulu asked, shaking Wakka's arm off her shoulder.
"We decided that the first night the kid's home we should be there, ya?" Wakka answered, replacing his arm
on her shoulders.
"Besides, we're going to a party at 10:30 anyway, so they'll be in bed...no harm done, right?" Tidus finished.
"Whatever you say...." Yuna replied quietly, re-adjusting her bag on her shoulder and heading inside.
Upon entering, all of the teenagers felt slight sadness at the sight of all the young children in the building.
The fact that they had no families to love and look after them was saddening in itself, but the hope that
appeared in their eyes at the sound of the doors opening was too much.
Lulu, trying to remain in control of her emotions, stepped forward and approached the desk.
"Are you more kids from the high school with the program?" The receptionist asked, glancing at each
of them in turn. Lulu nodded.
"Go down that hallway and take your first left. There'll be another desk there where you can find your
names and ask for your child, alright?" She explained slowly, indicating directions with her hand.
"Alright." Lulu said with another nod, walking off down the hall.
"Hey!" Wakka said, noticing her departure and heading after her.
"Thank you very much." Yuna said, nodding politely and looking to Tidus. Not much to her
surprise, he was already across the room, flirting with a girl from their school who was just arriving
with her partner. She rolled her eyes and walked over to him.
"I'm going to get our child now." She said simply, not expecting him to hear her or care.
On the contrary, he dropped the conversation immediately and followed her into the room.
Once they entered, they walked towards the desk and fell into line behind Lulu and Wakka, who were about to
go up. The couple ahead of them finished, and they stepped forward.
"Wakka and Lulu," Lulu offered, watching the computer screen blur with names and numbers that ran across
it so fast she couldn't make them out. It finally stopped, displaying her and Wakka's names, and the name and picture
of a child.
It was a little girl, whose tousled, auburn hair looked as if hadn't been combed in a while. Lulu secretly hoped
she was better taken care of than the picture depicted. Her hazel green eyes seemed dulled, but not quite lifeless,
still holding a sparkle that only a child's eyes could possess. Her name and age stood out next to the picture.
"Jade Alexandria Thompson, age 4...." Lulu read out loud quietly, looking briefly at Wakka to see his expression.
As predicted, he seemed generally uninterested.
"Let's go find her then...." Wakka sighed, glancing at his watch, "we're pushin it with time here, man." He said to Tidus
as he and Lulu walked by, heading for the room adjacent to the one they currently occupied. He nodded in
reply as Yuna stepped up to the console and said their names.
Once again the screen blurred, but stopped this time on a picture of a young boy.
He had dark brown hair that fell over eyes that were so dark a blue, they matched the night sky before the sun's
light disppeared completely, turning it black. Twilight, if you will. He had a scar on his right temple and he looked
as if he'd lived a lifetime in hell, but as Yuna discovered, he hadn't been around long at all.
"Kieran Anthony Carson, age four-and-a-half. His eyes....." Yuna mumbled, completing the thought in her head.
"C'mon, let's go already." Tidus said, half-way to the door as he spoke. Yuna sighed, following him with slight hesitation.
They stepped inside, once again seeing children everywhere, most of them playing on a large jungle gym set in the middle
of the room. Yuna approached the nearest worker and asked about Kieran. The young man pointed over to the far corner
of the room where the aforementioned boy was seated, watching everyone else play.
"Great....of all the kids here, we have to get stuck with the anti-social-four-year-old...." Tidus muttered, sarcasm
practically dripping from his mouth. Yuna simply sighed, walking over to the boy and kneeling down to his height.
"Hello Kieran. I'm Yuna, and this is Tidus.....We're here to pick you up, okay?" She said quietly, watching with a smile
as a slight warmth sparked in his eyes at her comments.
"I....I get to.....live with somebody?" He asked in a tone so quiet it was almost in-audible. Yuna nodded, smiling
even more warmly.
'She's good with kids....' Tidus thought, looking down at her with a small smile, 'All the better for me....'
"How about we get going?" Yuna said, standing up beside Tidus and extending her hand.
Kieran looked at it suspiciously for a moment, as if expecting her to yank it away and laugh, not actually being serious.
"Is something wrong?" She asked, not lowering her hand.
"It's just that....all the other kids said no one would ever want to take me home......" Kieran replied after a slight
hesitation, his voice still very hushed.
"Well they were wrong, okay? Let's go home."
The boy noticbly perked up at this, reaching up and taking her hand. Her parental instinct kicking in already, Yuna
bent down and picked him up, balancing him on her hip. Kieran enjoyed this, and it was how he was carried out of the
orphanage and into the parking lot.
"My car's over here," Tidus said after they'd exited the building, pointing at the red sports car parked a few stalls from the door.
Yuna nodded, stopping at the car door when she reached it, waiting for him to unlock it. He pushed a button, and the doors
all unlocked with a click. She pulled the back door open, buckling Kieran in before climbing in herself.
*******************
"I don't see her yet." Wakka drawled, scanning the room for the little red headed girl they were supposed to be picking up.
"Leave me alone!!!!!" Came a shriek from the other side of the room, which sent the two workers present rushing over to the
jungle gym.
"Daniel! What have we told you about hitting girls!" The female worker scolded, watching while her male co-worker picked
up a crying girl.
"That's her!" Lulu exclaimed, noticing the red hair and the puffy green eyes. She walked over to him, Wakka in tow. He
recognized her and got the girl's mind off of crying long enough to speak.
"Jade, these are the people who are taking you home." He said, getting her attention right away. Her eyes darted
between the two people in front of her for a minute, before she stretched her pale arms out towards Wakka.
The blitzer's eyebrow raised, but after receiving a nudge from Lulu, he reached out and took the girl into his arms.
Holding her was like holding a feather, he concluded instantly, handling her with an unusual gentleness he himself didn't know
he possessed. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and buried her head in his shoulder, sighing lightly and relaxing.
"Her father was your age, sir," the worker explained, "and he was killed in a case of mistaken identity a few months ago.
Her mother was just a teen herself, and died giving birth to her. She'll probably be more attached to you for a while,
but not to worry, I'm sure she'll warm up to you, miss."
Lulu nodded, thanking the workers and walking towards the doors.
*******************
About an hour later saw both children tucked into their new beds, sound asleep.
Just as Yuna closed the door to Kieran's room, she heard a loud honking coming from outside. She looked out the window
to see Tidus jumping into the backseat of a yellow car with Wakka, laughing loudly and looking drunk already.
Shaking her head with a sigh, she headed into the living room and grabbed the phone, dialing Lulu's number.
"Hello?" The mage answered.
"It's going to be a very long year........"
************************************************************************
Well what did ya'll think of this one? I know it's taken me awhile to come out with, but I just was swamped with my
other fics, which I took down today. There was just too much for me, so all that's left is this one, a GW/SM Crossover,
and my other FF X fic, Much Needed Closure.
Anyways, I hope you like!!
Love yaz,
Digi-Esca Girl
laurie_22@hotmail.com