Disclaimer: See chapter 1.

Author's note: … I say nothing, because I don't want to jinx it. Hope you enjoy. (Oh, and thank y'all for all the reviews. You don't know how much that means to me. Never before has anything I've written been so well received. And Tormented-Raven? I, uh, I'd be honoured, not to mention it'd be a first. If you wanna do some fanart, you're more than welcome to. Do you think if you did I might take a look at it? If not, that's cool, but I can't get enough of fanart.)

Chapter summary: Vacation time! Gippal makes an appearance, immediately catching on that there's something going on between Paine and Rikku. But Brother's not so lucky; he mistakes the 'oddness' for something else…

Chapter 9: Know What You Mean

Paine and Rikku struck up a routine of sorts. Their mutual agreement to slow down a little and get to know each other better had them shifting into a schedule that pleased them. Despite misgivings, Paine allowed Rikku to sleep in the same bed with her; they'd wake up in the morning, have breakfast together, then go off and do their own thing. Throughout the day, but never for any long amount, they'd spend time together. Mostly talking (well, Rikku talking and Paine making an occasional comment though she was slowly opening up) and sparring, but simply resting each other's presence wasn't out of the question.

The rest of the crew, Brother unknowing, Buddy and Barkeep happy and Shinra just not caring, adjusted their own schedule accordingly.

But Brother had the strange inkling that something was going on. He couldn't goad Rikku into fights as much as he'd been able to; Paine was generally unaffected, as usual. When he asked Buddy, his friend merely shrugged it off and told him it was none of their business. Brother, however, was naturally curious. Plus, not being the center of attention always got on his nerves. It was as if everybody stopped hanging around him. Surely it had to be something with them and not him? He was determined to find out.

"What say we go somewhere?" Rikku proposed. She was currently hanging out in the lounge with Paine, the warrior's lanky form draped along the length of the couch, Rikku sitting on the floor in front of it.

"Mn," Paine mumbled, opening an eye to peer down at Rikku. "Why?"

"'Cause…" The blonde turned around and folded her arms on the couch, resting her chin on her hands and smiling. "Don't get me wrong, I… I like this. It's just… Brother's startin' to bother me."

Paine's other eye snapped open at that and she scowled, pulling her hands from back behind her head. "You want me to hurt him?"

"No! Well…" Rikku laughed. "Nah. I just wanna get away and hang out with you. Ya know… don't have to worry about Brother stalkin' me and Buddy keepin' an eye on me."

"He's been keeping an eye on me, too…"

"He worries more than he should." Rikku smiled and reached up, tapping Paine on the nose. She giggled as her friend snapped lazily at her finger. "Like someone else I know."

"Hmn." Paine frowned a little. "I think Barkeep's been watching us as well, in that laidback way of his."

Rikku nodded.

"…Where would you want to go?" Paine asked, pushing herself up into a sitting position.

"I dunno! Where's the least likely place we'd be bothered?"

They both fell silent, trying to think of a place where they wouldn't be recognized immediately and hounded.

"…I could always call up on Gippal," Paine finally said, running a hand through her bangs. "I'm sure he knows more than a few places."

Rikku scrunched up her nose and stuck out her tongue. "He'll wanna tag along."

A small, slow grin was Paine's only reply.

"Ahhhh… or maybe not." The thief jumped from the floor and hopped up onto the couch beside Paine, folding her legs underneath her. "This is gonna be fun! Just you an' me on a vacation!"

Paine folded her arms over her chest. "Weren't we just on a vacation?"

"Yeah, but that was for Yunie and Tidus."

"Regardless… you bought a lot of stuff. …We're going somewhere that doesn't require you to buy everything in sight."

As Paine expected, Rikku turned on the puppy dog look.

"No," she said, quite firmly. "You're not gonna waste gil on things you aren't even going to wear except once in a blue moon. …Why don't we rent a cabin or something…?"

Rikku laughed. "'Rent a cabin?'"

"Whatever. You know what I mean."

"We could go to the beach…"

"We've seen our fair share of beaches."

"Desert?"

"…You're kidding."

"Yeah. Ummn… snow resort?"

"I didn't know they had them, but I guess I wouldn't be surprised…"

Rikku pouted, mimicking Paine and crossing her arms. "You're so difficult."

Chuckling softly, the taller woman stood and stretched, glancing over her shoulder. "Now you know how I feel. …Hey!" Paine barked a short laugh as Rikku made to tackle her. "…Come on, I'm hungry."

"I swear you have a bigger appetite than I do," Rikku teased, joining her.

"It's your bad influence, that's all," Paine smoothly replied. In a move that wasn't at all accidental, her fingers brushed against Rikku's wrist, briefly encircling.

It was the Paine equivalent of a hug when she didn't feel comfortable with an honest one, Rikku had learned over the past week. She let a few moments pass before she returned it in kind. Though she doubted that Paine would ever be as physical affectionate as she herself was, Rikku also knew that Paine was slowly opening up. She didn't smile very often, if at all, but the tightness around her mouth had loosened slightly, and sometimes the girl caught some sort of indefinable-for-now emotion in the warrior's eyes when Paine looked at her.

Love… or something like it? Rikku wondered, laughing when she felt Paine shove at her back in a signal to hurry up. Maybe…

"So I'll get a hold of Gippal," Paine said as they made their way down the stairs.

"Sure… okay." Rikku tilted her head, jumping off the last few steps. "But he better not come with!"

"Like I'd let him," Paine snorted, folding her arms over her chest and sneering unconsciously.

"You are pretty intimidating," Rikku agreed, speeding up her pace. Just in time, because she heard Paine growl, 'I'll show you "intimidating,"' and set after her in a chase.

Not too long afterwards, when Barkeep returned from a food supply trip, the two women were side by side in the kitchen cooking. Paine was leaning against the counter, arms crossed over her chest and streaks of flour over her cheeks and nose. Her expression made her look like a hosed-down cat, but there was something in her relaxed stance that suggested that she wasn't as annoyed as she might have been. Rikku was beside her, bouncing around and humming a song purposefully off-turn. A wry grin tugged at her mouth, flour down her oversized shirt (which happened to be one of Paine's), marking her as the likely culprit.

In Barkeep's eyes they looked calmer, happier than he'd seen them since Yuna had been reunited with Tidus. He wasn't about to say this, though. Sure, he was known to be a romantic at heart and was often teased for it, but he was smart enough to know that there were some things you just didn't say around Paine.

Not if you valued your head remaining above your shoulders.

A couple of days later, a cheerful and mischievous Gippal was hanging out on the bridge with the rest of the crew. Surprisingly, Paine had little to no trouble getting Brother to swing by Bikanel Desert to pick the guy up. They were now cruising on their way to Luca at Gippal's request.

"So what's this I hear about a vacation?" Gippal asked, hands on his hips and a grin on his face.

Paine sighed and folded her arms across her chest while Rikku laughed nervously and leaned against her momentarily. Brother looked curiously at the two.

"What is this about a vacation?" he asked, beginning to frown. "I gave no permission!"

"Brother…" Buddy started but was stopped by a look from Paine. He nodded a little.

"Last I checked, we weren't under your employment anymore," Paine said, turning all of her attention on Brother. She stepped between him and Rikku, knowing that Brother would happily turn all the blame onto his younger sister. If someone's going to be blamed, it'll be me.

"What! How can you say this? I am the leader! This is my ship!"

"Whoa, settle down, Brother." Gippal held up a hand. "What's your problem, man?"

"My problem is she has not asked permission! If she does not like the rules, she can jump off ship! Right now!" Brother gestured angrily.

"Put a sock in it, Brother!" Rikku chided. "Your 'ship' would be a hunk'a metal by now if we weren't around to take care of it."

"Shinra can handle it," Brother argued. He spun wildly to point at the young boy, sitting at his station. "Isn't that right, Shinra?"

Surprising no one but still getting eye-rolls, Shinra mumbled, "I'm just a kid."

Brother pouted. "Buddy helps!"

"Whoa, hey, keep me out of this," Buddy said, throwing up his hands and returning to his station.

"Man, what is your problem?" Gippal repeated, tilting his head and leaning forward towards his friend. "They just wanna a little vacation. What's wrong with that?"

"'They?' Who is 'they'?" Brother asked.

"Umn… I'm going, too," Rikku said, holding up a finger.

"No! Absolutely not!"

Paine rolled her eyes in Gippal's direction as Rikku and Brother proceeded to argue like, well, a couple of siblings. "You refused to tell me on the commsphere. Why are we going to Luca?" she asked. Again, Paine thought. She was starting to get sick of that place. But they do say that all roads lead to Luca…

"I gotta surprise for ya," Gippal replied, grinning again and gesturing excitedly. "It's a project of mine. Since Vegnagun…" He trailed off and glanced away before shrugging it off. "Well, at any rate, I've been dividing my time between it and the desert. You're gonna love it."

Paine's right eyebrow lifted slightly, but she said nothing.

"What's this for, anyway? I mean… no offense, Dr. P, but you're not exactly the vacation type." Gippal laughed. "Don't get me wrong. Ya need to relax, just like the rest of us. You work too hard."

"I could say the same about you," Paine countered.

Gippal looked down as his boots, reaching up to rub the back of his head. "Yeah… well… my people need me, what can I say?" He looked back up, smiling a little.

"Hmph," Paine grunted, but her eyes told him she understood.

Gippal smiled again before gesturing with his chin. Paine followed him as he moved to a more secluded part of the bridge. "Hey… Paine…"

Having some idea of what was coming next, Paine just stood there, eyebrow quirked again.

"You and Rikku… you two seem pretty close," Gippal continued, hands falling back to his hips.

"Observant of you," Paine drawled. She couldn't help but be amused. Is it that obvious? …Well, he is good with these things…

"Yeah, well, hey. I know you. I know her, too." He tilted his head. "What's up?"

The warrior eyed her old friend quietly for a few minutes, debating over whether or not she should tell him. She knew Gippal would never betray her trust and, besides, he wasn't the type of guy to run around gossiping anyway. She sighed, eyes drifting over to rest on Rikku who now had her brother in a headlock. Without her permission, her mouth twitched into a small, proud grin.

Gippal whistled lowly then chuckled. "Ahh…"

Paine jerked, looking at him sharply. "What?" she hissed, sounding harsher than she intended.

But Gippal just laughed quietly again, holding up his hands. "I gotcha, I gotcha." He grinned widely. "Dr. P's become a looooove doctor."

"Gippal," Paine growled.

"Heyyyy, I'm happy for you! Settle down, man. Sheesh." He waved an arm lazily. "You two make a cute couple." He smirked. "Though you're gonna make a lotta guys jealous…"

Paine sighed, taking his teasing easily. Gippal always received a greater amount of tolerance and respect from her. And, if she were completely honest with herself, she'd admit it felt kind of nice to have his approval, so to speak.

"She wanted to get away," Paine said, "because Brother's been, I don't know, stalking her or something. I'm sure he'd be pestering me, too, but…"

"He knows better than that," Gippal finished for her, nodding wisely.

"Yeah."

"Well… hey. I could talk to him, if you'd like. Get him to back off. He always was a little…" Gippal paused, unsure of how to describe his friend.

"Yeah," Paine repeated, though this time with a small smirk. Then she shook her head. "No. He'd just be more interested in… whatever. It's best if we just bail for a while. Besides…"

Gippal tilted his head, waiting patiently for Paine to voice her thoughts.

"…Besides, I don't know if this is what I want to do." She scowled, unhappy at how that sounded. Gippal gave her a sympathetic look that didn't feel at all contrived to her. She nodded and continued, "Yuna's gone. We're happy for her but our purpose is obsolete, now."

Just as he was about to say something, Gippal was interrupted by a yowling Brother, the tattooed pilot running around like a chocobo with its head cut off.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" he babbled. "Must you bite so hard?"

Rikku sat on the ground, leaning back on her arms, pouting. "You're the one who cheated." She scrunched up her nose and adjusted her top. "You're gross."

Immediately, Paine's attention fell away from Gippal and turned to Rikku. Easily affecting a lazy gait, she wandered over to the blonde Al Bhed and offered her a hand. Rikku took it with a bright, grateful smile and allowed her to pull her back to her feet.

"Dude…" Gippal had walked over to Brother, trying to get him to settle down. "You can't do that, man." He cuffed the other man's head. "We're not kids anymore, ya know."

Brother mumbled something under his breath; it was the closet he'd get to giving Rikku an apology.

"Hmph! Whatever," Rikku said, waving it off. As Brother returned to his seat with Gippal's urging, the thief turned to look up at Paine who stood watching her with a careful expression.

"Soooo? Why are we going to Luca?" Rikku asked.

Paine looked to Gippal. He strode towards them, smiling again.

"I told her it's a surprise," he explained. "You two? Are gonna looove it." He grinned.

"I hope it's not another one of your cracked-out boats," Rikku groaned. "You know the last one you made fell apart and we had to swim alllllll the way back to—mmph!"

Gippal had clamped a hand over her mouth and was chuckling nervously. "Heh, heh… don't, uh. Don't pay her any attention, Paine. We were kids."

"Uh huh," Paine replied, now highly suspicious. She folded her arms over her chest. "Gippal, if I have to swim anywhere, I'm gonna…"

"We've arrived," Buddy announced. "You guys gonna get off now?"

Paine looked down at Rikku, who had wiggled out of Gippal's grasp and punched him in the arm; he rubbed it, laughing.

"You packed like I told you to?" Paine asked.

Rikku nodded. "Yep! Did it just like you said."

"Good. It's not like we're moving." Paine turned to Gippal. "We'll grab our bags and meet you on the docks."

Gippal nodded and gave Paine a lazy salute. "Yes, sir." He slouched back into his regular stance. "All righty, see you gals in a few." He turned and walked off, waving over his shoulder. "I'll be back in 'bout an hour," he said, this time to the guys at the front of the bridge. He received acknowledgments.

"C'mon," Paine said, briefly resting a hand on one of Rikku's shoulders.

Rikku followed her eagerly. But not before turning around, knowing Brother was watching, and gave him a big ol' raspberry.

"Why, you…!" Brother made to get out of his seat, but by then, she was already gone.

Buddy sighed and shook his head. "You really need to calm down…"

"There is something going on, I know it!" Brother cried, waving his arms. "I will find out!" He slumped into his seat.

After a few moments, he leapt back to his feet, crowing triumphantly.

"They are fighting over Gippal!"

Both Buddy and Shinra turned spun towards him, simultaneously yelling, "What?"

"I shall question Gippal further once he returns," Brother said, mostly to himself. He fell back into his seat, expression smug.

Again simultaneously, Buddy and Shinra smacked their foreheads. But only Buddy mumbled, "Oh boy…"

This was going to be a huge mess. He just knew it.