I actually didn't intend to write any stories that contain sequels, but as I started to write this one, I started mentioning a lot of stuff from Doppelganger. Whoops. When you think about it, This Is My Story, Doppelganger, and this one kind of make up a trilogy. I didn't even do that on purpose...and I'm not sure if I'm going to make it that way! Lol. However, this is the sequel to Doppelganger...Only this is in Tidus' POV. (If you didn't read Doppelganger, you really don't have to. There isn't a CRUCIAL connection between the two fics) I'm not sure how this fic is goign to end up, so I'm kinda writing it blindly. I've just had the idea in my head for a while, so I'm obeying the muse. The first chapter is more or less introduction...I hope you like it so far...


1. Pretty in Pink, With a Dash Of Red

I almost had to shudder as I looked around the backyard. There were balloons, streamers, decorations, stuffed animals, a swing set, a tiny baby pool…and everything was pink. Even the tablecloths and the cake were pink! I mean, I guess it makes sense knowing that it was my only daughter's first birthday, but there was just so much pink that I thought I was going to nuts. I put my hand against my forehead and shook my head as I looked over at my beautiful wife, who was bending over the playpen, adding pink ribbons to our daughter's hair. Not that she had a lot of it, but there was enough to put the blonde, wispy hair into a single ponytail at the top of her head.

"Yuna, you don't think you went a little overboard?" I asked as I walked over to where the playpen was set up. "It's not like I have a problem with the color or anything, but there is just so much pink staring me in the face that I'm going to have pink nightmares until she turns 18."

She giggled as she picked up the baby and had a good look around. I gave her a playful glare when I realized that even the baby's dress was a light shade of pink. "Okay, okay, I went a little crazy, I'll admit it, but Ariana only turns one once! You have to agree that it does look very festive."

"Yeah, festive and pink," I added as I gave Yuna a small peck on the cheek. "You couldn't have added a little white or purple to balance out all the pink? Like say, white balloons or light purple streamers mixed in with the pink ones? I'm glad that I'm wearing blue, you know, so I can have some of my masculine pride."

"Whatever makes you happy, Tidus." She handed little Ari to me as she rushed over to the table, where some of the cups were tumbling over from the gentle wind. "I wish everyone would get here soon so we could get this party started!"

"Well, the last time I checked, Wakka, Lulu and their two kids were coming over at one." I looked over Ari's leg to see my watch. "It's about ten till right now, so they should be over any minute."

"Everyone else said that they would show up around one as well." She exhaled to calm herself down and smoothed her shirt against her body. "Why am I so nervous!"

I shrugged and walked closer to her. (Oh yeah, did I mention that she was wearing a pink skirt? At least her shirt was white!) "I have no idea, but you don't have a reason to be. It's not like these are going to be people that you've never met before! It's just a few of our closest friends getting together again."

"Yeah, I know," she said, fixing several of the decorations. They were already in fine condition, but she was just working out her nerves. "It's just that I haven't seen them all since the treaty signing, and that was the same day that Ari was born."

I was just about to speak before I heard a shrill baby cry. Instinctively, Yuna and I looked down at Ari, but she innocently had her fingers in her mouth as she looked in the direction of the sound as well. We should've known that it wasn't her cry to begin with, for this was a tiny baby cry, meaning one thing.

"Lulu!" Yuna cried as she ran over to the older woman and carefully hugged her, trying not to squish the tiny baby that was in her hands. She cooed as she gently kissed the screaming baby on the top of her head to calm her down. "Oooh! Lily, you're getting to be so big!"

"Hi to you too, Yuna," Wakka said quietly so he wouldn't wake Vidina, who was sleeping in his arms. I'm not exactly sure why he lowered his voice. If screaming Lily didn't wake up Vidina, Wakka's voice certainly wouldn't have done the job.

"Sorry, Wakka," Yuna apologized as she hugged Wakka quickly before adverting her attention back to the small bundle.

I shook my head as I walked over to shake Wakka's hand, but one arm contained Vidina, who had his head rested on Wakka's shoulder as he slept, and the other contained several pink presents. "Okay, how can I do this…"

"Take the presents first, ya?" I laughed at Wakka as I took the packages out of his hand and put them on the table so I could properly shake his hand. He looked at Ari and gently pinched her cheek. She took her fingers out of her mouth, grimaced, then grabbed my shirt with her tiny wet fingers. "So, she's one already, ya?"

"I can't believe it. It seems like only yesterday Yuna and I were bringing her out of the hospital. I really don't feel old enough to have a one year old," I replied honestly as I brought her higher on my side. It was true. I was only 21 years old, and knowing I was nonexistent for two years, I still felt 19. "Look at you though; you're a father of two."

"Ya, tell me about it," Wakka said, almost in disbelief as he watched Lulu expertly calm down Lily. "As great as it is having two kids, it's been three years since I've had a decent night of sleep."

I nodded in agreement as I leaned in closer to speak so no one else could hear me. "Yeah, It's been about a year for me and I know what you mean. The days where you are awake, you don't get any sleep anyway because you're in the mood to—"

"Tidus!" Yuna shrieked when she somehow managed to hear my sentence. I was speaking quietly and I thought she was paying attention to Lily, so I have no idea how she heard me. "As much as Lulu and Wakka want to hear about our sex life, I don't think we should be exposing this information to the tiny ears that are present!"

"Don't worry, Yuna, they won't remember," Wakka said as Lulu shot him a glare. "What?"

"Never mind," Lulu murmured with a sigh as Lily let out a hiccup. "Oh my. She cries and then she hiccups. Maybe I should heat up a bottle for her."

"I'll get some juice for Ari while we're inside," Yuna stated as she motioned me to give up Ari. When she had the baby, she turned on her heal and walked toward the back door. "Greet everyone who comes!"

"No, Yuna, I'm going to tell them to fork over the presents then leave." She playfully scoffed at me as she opened the door and walked inside. I knew she knew I was kidding, so it wasn't a big deal. I turned back toward Wakka and saw that Vidina was starting to wake up. "Hey, buddy!"

"Hi," he replied shyly as he squirmed out of his father's grasp. He looked around for a second and when he saw Lulu in the house, he quickly flung open the door and ran to her.

"He's still in the shy stage?" I asked as Wakka widened his eyes and vehemently nodded. "Aww."

As if on cue, I heard a very high pitched squeal, and this time it wasn't from a baby. This time it was from a 19 year old girl who was standing about twenty feet away from me. Yeah, a perfect example of someone who isn't shy…

Wakka didn't have to turn around as he said, "hi, Rikku." If there was one thing extremely recognizable from Rikku, it was definitely her shrieks and squeals. Maybe it was the fact that she did them so often…Hmm. It could be.

"Hiya!" She exclaimed as she carefully walked over to where Wakka and I were standing. She had about ten presents in her arms, so I have no idea how she was able to see over them as she walked. If it were me, I would've fallen on my face.

"Wow, Rikku, you look…pink," I said as I looked at the ecstatic blonde. She had on a dress, shoes, necklace, earrings, ribbon in her hair, and even the presents that she had in her hand—and they were all pink. As I looked closer, I realized that the eye shadow she was wearing was also the same shade of pink. She unquestionably was color coordinated to an extreme level. "You match the decorations."

"It's because I'm happy that the baby is a girl and I'm just getting into the spirit!" She curtsied the best she could as she frantically looked around the backyard. "Where is the baby anyway! Auntie Rikku is here to spoil her like she promised!"

"She's inside with—" Before I was able to finish my sentence, she squealed, threw the presents into my hands, and ran inside to the kitchen. I chuckled as I stole a glance toward Gippal, who only shrugged and followed his girlfriend.

"And to think I almost forgot how excited she was that Yuna had a girl," I quipped as I looked over at Wakka, who was pouring himself some lemonade—which was also pink.

"How could anyone forget the way she was at the hospital last year?" Wakka asked as he took a sip from the glass. "I'm just surprised she hasn't complained that Vidina is a boy, ya know?"

"I think the fact that Lulu had Lily made up for it," I mentioned as I looked over at the small baby in Lulu's arms. Lily was only a few months old, and I have no idea how Wakka and Lulu managed to take care of an infant and a three year old at the same time. "Yikes, I hate to think what will happen if Rikku ever has a boy."

"I hate to think of what would happen if she would have kids." I whipped my head over to the owner of the voice. It was Paine, but then again I shouldn't known it was by the smart ass comment. "They are going to be psychotic. Oh, and if Gippal is the father? Dear Yevon. "

I laughed as I shook Baralai's hand. "Yeah, I know for a fact that I never want to babysit them."

"Yuna will though," Baralai stated as he put his arm around Paine. "So I guess you're stuck with them anyway."

"Paine! Baralai!" Yuna ran outside again so she could greet them, handing me the baby before she could hug them. "Oh, Paine, come inside."

"Okay…" Yuna grabbed Paine's wrist, not giving her a choice. Baralai looked at me and smiled.

"So how are things running in Bevelle, Baralai?" I asked as Yuna took the Ari again before she and Paine walked over to where the other women were. I looked at my empty hands then shrugged as I poured Baralai and myself glasses of lemonade.

"Things have been okay," he started as he took the glass and furrowed his forehead slightly. "There have just been some rumors flying around lately, but we've pretty much shrugged them off and ignored them."

"Rumors?" I asked as Yuna walked back over to me.

"Here, honey, can you hold her for a second? I just came to the realization that everyone is here, so I need to go get the matches and stuff so we can light the candle." I nodded as I took Ari in my hands and motioned for Baralai to continue. Yuna and I had been playing Pass the Baby since the party started and I was worried we were going to give poor Ariana whiplash from being handed off so quickly. She got halfway to the door before realizing that the had the bottle in her hands still, so she turned back toward me and thrust it in my free hand. Ari reached for it, so I let her hold it with her own hands.

"Oh, you know, the usual threats toward anyone who has high ranking in Bevelle or people who are still partial believers in Yevon." Now it was my turn to furrow my forehead and run my fingers through my hair. Ari let out a giggle and threw the bottle onto the ground, so I bent over to pick it up, still listening to Baralai's every word. "Oh, it's nothing to be worried about, of course. We've been getting threats for years and it's nothing new."

That wasn't consoling to me, but I wasn't about ready to argue with Baralai, especially when it came to his safety. I'm sure Paine already was on his ass about it, so if I mentioned it, it would just make situations worse. The only thing that really concerned me was the fact that Yuna had been receiving warnings on her as well and she's been rolling it off her shoulders as if it were nothing. I looked down at Ari, who had managed to rip the ribbon out of her hair and was putting it in her mouth.

"No, no, no," I said as I grabbed it away from her. She protested, but instantly became more interested in the edge of her dress and promptly put that in her mouth. I let her be, for I knew that she wouldn't be able to swallow the entire dress.

"Something bothering you?" I looked up at Baralai to see that he knew that I was thinking something.

"Is it that obvious?" I asked with a nervous chuckle as Baralai nodded. "No, I'm fine. I'm just worried now, that's all."

"Like I said, there's no reason to be worried." He seemed nonchalant about the entire thing and I wished that would've calmed me down, but it didn't. "No physical attacks have been acted out or anything, so we're fine. Seriously, Tidus, nothing has happened. Not even any petty attacks like slashing hover tires. Verbal threats mean nothing in Spira."

"You're right," I pretended to agree with a shrug. Key word: Pretended. "Verbal threats are usually made by people who have nothing better to do with their lives then cause worry for innocent people."

I stopped talking when I felt someone tapping on my shoulder. I turned around to see Rikku standing there with a huge smile on her face, bouncing on her toes as she reached out for the baby. "Daddy Tidus, can I hold the baby?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." With one of her famous squeals, she practically ripped the baby out of my hands as she ran over to where Lulu was sitting with Lily, practically running over Paine in the process. I didn't even realize that the women all walked back outside. Well, with the exception of my wife, of course. I could hear her opening and shutting drawers in the kitchen.

"Is it just me, or does she make anyone else extremely exhausted?" Paine chuckled at herself as Baralai and I nodded.

Yuna emerged from the house with a knife and set of matches in her hands and I had to smile at her. She was so excited that she didn't realize that she was zipping around like a squatter monkey. "Well, what do you think? Should we sing to her now? I made the cake and I'm kind of anxious to try it knowing I made a huge mess of the kitchen as I mixed everything. I've never made a cake before, but I followed the instructions. I hope it's not too horrible."

"I'm sure it's awesome, Yunie!" Rikku exclaimed as she bounced the baby on her lap. "I'm not sure if I can say the same thing about your singing skills though."

"I was Lenne for a while, so maybe I picked up a thing or two from her," she said as she handed me the matches so I could light the single candle (pink, of course) that was on the cake. When it was lit, Yuna clapped her hands and motioned Rikku to give me the baby. I'm sure she would've held the baby herself if she wasn't holding a knife, so I put my hands out.

"Aww, no fair," Rikku mumbled in disappointment as she reluctantly handed the baby back over to me. "I get her right after the cake though! Wait, no…I get to feed the cake to her!"

"Ha! Sure, Rikku. I'll let you feed her the cake, but you have to agree to spend the time scrubbing cake and icing off of her dress and out of her hair," Yuna pointed out as Rikku made a face. "That's what I thought."

"Daddy, daddy, I can't see!" I looked over the table to see Vidina pulling on Wakka's pants. Wakka got the hint and lifted Vidina up so he would be able to get a good view of the cake.

"Maybe we should sing before the candle drips wax all over the cake," Paine suggested as we all nodded.

As we started to sing "Happy Birthday," Ari started to squeal with delight and reached for the fire from the candle. I held her out of distance, but I was so distracted by holding her back that I wasn't able to sing. Halfway through the song, a loud sound was heard, and before I was able to look up from the baby to see what it was from, Rikku covered her mouth and let out a blood curdling scream.

I looked at where everyone was looking in shock and almost dropped Ariana at the sight. Yuna grabbed at her midsection, blinked several times before her eyes rolled to the back of her head, then fell on the ground; her skirt quickly saturating with blood from the gunshot wound.