A/N: Sorry 'bout the wait for this chapter. School and other things have been keeping me pretty busy. -sigh- I'll try really hard to be faster for the next chapter.

Thank you once again to my reviewers! I hope everybody had a happy Valentine's Day. :)

Oh, and I apologize in advance for the ending. -smacks forehead- .

-

Gippal did a good job with the dinner. The table had a few candles that gave a dim light to the room which gave it a 'going to a restaurant' type of feel. I didn't know he had it in him.

"Since when did you learn how to cook?" I asked him after taking a bite of spaghetti. It was actually pretty good- better than my cooking, but of course I wasn't going to admit that. It's not like it was a huge accomplishment to cook better than me, anyway.

Gippal smiled. "I've known for a long time."

"Have not."

"Yes, I have." He gave me an evil sort of look.

"How come you never cooked for me before?"

"You never asked."

I stuck my tongue out at him and he just grinned. He always had to be the smartass.

We enjoyed our dinner in quiet for a little while longer. Rei was completely oblivious to us as she slurped up her spaghetti noodles, and I let out a little laugh when one hit her nose and she got sauce on it. She didn't seem to notice, however. That girl could be so cute when she wanted to.

"So... did you talk to the council guys?"

"Yeah." Gippal shoveled another huge bite into his mouth.

"Well, what did they say?"

He swallowed his food. "They said that I should formally introduce you at the next big event at Home. The closest thing we have coming up is a concert... I think it's in two weeks. They even asked Yuna to come and maybe perform if she wanted to, but I don't know if she will, being so close to having her baby and all."

"Yeah. I don't think Tidus would let her go. He's so overprotective." A small smile crept onto my face after thinking about them. I had been here just under a week but I missed them.

"So... is that all they said?"

Gippal paused for a moment, as if he was thinking about something. "Yeah."

For some reason I felt like he wasn't telling me the complete truth. I just brushed it off, however. If it was a big deal Gippal would tell me. "So they weren't angry?"

"Well, they were a little, but it's understandable. I guess they think that I'm going to make them look bad."

"I'm sorry, Gippal... I know this is hard for you."

"Don't be, Rikku. Don't worry about it." He gave me a reassuring smile, but I knew it was still difficult for him.

"Gippal... do you have a commsphere here somewhere?"

"Yeah, I have one right over there," he pointed to a blue orb near a desk. "Why?"

"If you didn't mind, I wanted to talk to Yuna."

"Sure. Go ahead." He smiled at me.

I finished up my spaghetti and I went to put the dishes away Gippal stopped me and insisted that he would take care of them. I gave him a smile and kissed him on the cheek before making my way to the commsphere. I shouldn't have been surprised that he had one. Since Shinra installed the first few the network had expanded tremendously. Every place in Spira had at least one and in a few places there were dozens. Shinra's dream was for every family in Spira to someday own one and that didn't look too far off.

I entered in the Besaid commsphere location and waited for a few minutes for it to connect. Pretty soon I was staring at the island of Besaid. It looked like the sun was starting to set and I didn't see anyone but a few children running around.

"Hello? Anybody there?" I moved the camera around to try and find somebody. Soon enough, a red-haired man approached the sphere. "Wakka? Is that you?"

Wakka's face appeared on the screen and he blinked a couple of times. "Rikku? Hey, Rikku, how ya been?"

"Pretty good." I smiled. "How's things going over there?"

Wakka shrugged. "Same as usual. I've been stuck on temple duty all week."

"Bummer. Hey, is Yuna around?"

"I think her and Tidus went for a walk or somethin', but they should be back pretty soon. Is Rei there?"

"Yeah." I turned around. "Rei, honey, do you want to talk to Uncle Wakka?"

Rei smiled and practically leaped off her chair. She ran over and sat on my lap before waving enthusiastically at the screen.

"Hey, Rei, have you been having fun?"

Rei just nodded and smiled. "Vidina there?"

"Um... I think he's out at the beach with Lu. Sorry, Rei. You'll just have to get your mommy to call again so you can talk to him."

Rei frowned and put out her lip, as if her pouting would bring Vidina back. I felt kind of bad for Wakka... the poor guy didn't know what to say.

He didn't have to wait long, however. Soon enough Yuna and Tidus came walking up behind him, and I heard Yuna ask him who he was talking to. Rei bounced off my lap and went to play with her bear.

Wakka looked at them then looked back at the screen. "She's back. You guys take care now, ya? And have fun."

"Thanks, Wakka. You too. Talk to you soon."

"Yup. Here she is." His face was replaced by Yuna's confused one.

"Yunie?"

"Rikku? Rikku, it's you!" She smiled and laughed. "How have you been?"

"Pretty good. And you?"

"Fine, given the circumstances." She just smiled. Her belly seemed to have grown noticeably larger since the last time I had seen her. "Tidus is being such a worrier that I can hardly leave the house." We both laughed and Tidus grumbled something in the background. "So... how are things with you and Gippal? Has Rei seen him yet?"

"Great, and yes. She adores him."

"That's wonderful!" She smiled. "So I take it you'll be staying there longer than planned?"

I paused for a moment. To be honest, I hadn't really thought about it. "I guess so."

"So, did you hear about the concert?"

"What concert?"

"The one in two weeks?"

Duh. Gippal had just told me about it. "Yeah... are you planning on going?"

"I think I will. I haven't done anything like that in a while, and it'll be nice to get off the island. I'll get to visit you guys, too. I just have to convince Tidus to let me go before I can give them a final decision."

"But aren't you due to have your baby pretty soon?"

"I still have over a month, Rikku. We'll be back to Besaid by then." She laughed. "You're acting like Tidus again."

I stuck my tongue out at her. "Am not." We both laughed.

"Well, I should probably let you go. I'm planning on going to the concert but if that gets changed I'll send a message your way."

"That's great. I can't wait to see ya."

"Me neither. Be a good girl, okay? And have fun." She smiled.

"You too. Take care of yourself."

"I will." She smiled and then the screen went blank.

I stood up from the chair I had been sitting in and stretched a little bit. I walked over to Gippal and ruffled his hair. "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah. Yuna's coming, that's great." He stood up and gave me a hug. "A concert with the Lady Yuna will be a great place to introduce you. The whole thing might go over better, with her there to support you and all."

I looked up at him, confusion evident in my face. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, um, you know..." Gippal ran his hand through his hair. He was searching for the words. "Not everybody is going to see this as a good thing, Rikku." He sighed. "In fact, most people aren't exactly going to be thrilled."

"So? That's their problem. It's not like they have any business in our personal lives, anyway." I crossed my arms and frowned. What was his problem?

"But that's not what people think. We're supposed to be people to look up to, Rikku. Not just me. You're Cid's daughter, remember? We represent the Al Bhed. If we look bad, then everybody looks bad."

I glanced at the floor. I could not bring myself to face him as the guilt of everything washed over me once again. I knew it wasn't going to be easy... but it was still hard, you know? "Is that what you believe, Gippal? That we have to be perfect?"

He sighed and looked at the floor. "No. But that's what others think. To them, any bad things we do make all of us look bad. It's not like the Al Bhed need another thing to make people hate us. When we make bad decisions, other people's wrong perceptions of us are just confirmed, and we're continued to be seen as everything they think we are. People are just... tired of it, you know?"

He glanced up at me and our eyes met. I bit my lip and walked over to him and his arms wrapped around me in a welcoming embrace. I leaned my head into his chest and sighed. "We're only human."

Gippal closed his eyes and kissed the top of my head. "I know... it's not fair. But that's the way it is." He ran his hand through my hair and sighed gently. "But we'll get through this. I promise." He kissed me once more before his arms released me, and I looked up to see him give me a reassuring smile. "We always do."

I smiled back and tilted my head up for a kiss, which he gave gladly. I could have sworn that Gippal either got taller in the past couple of years, or I had gotten shorter.

"When can you guys come see me tomorrow? I'm pretty much open, I just have to make a few commsphere calls in the morning."

"Whenever, I guess. I don't really have that busy of a schedule. I'm surprised Cid hasn't assigned me jobs to do yet." I laughed.

"Well, just come around sometime in the afternoon. I'll be here." He smiled and gave me another kiss. "I'm sorry to kick you guys out like this, but I still have some more work stuff to do. I have to meet a guy in ten minutes or so."

"You're not going to be late, are you?"

Gippal laughed. "No, I just have to go downstairs. I'll see you guys tomorrow, okay?" He gave me a smile before embracing me in a tight hug.

I gave him a kiss and turned over to Rei, who was playing on the floor. "Come on, sweetie, it's time to go." Rei looked up at me and frowned. She obviously didn't want to leave, but the look I gave her told her that it was best not to resist. She made a sort of pouting noise and stood up, grabbing Datto off the floor. She walked over to Gippal and gave him a quick hug before grabbing my hand. I gave Gippal a small smile and a wave before we walked downstairs.

We walked through the building and out into the open air. There were still a few people walking around and enjoying the nice and relatively cool evening. Rei seemed to be a little bit less angry about leaving, and she even managed a giggle when a small green beetle flew by. Most girls her age and even older were terrified of bugs like that, but not my Rei. She loved them.

My train of thought was interrupted when I walked into somebody, knocking him over and on the ground. I gasped in surprised. After I realized what happened, I apologized profusely and held my hand down to help him up. It was a tall man who looked to be in his thirties, with light sandy brown hair and small, blazing green eyes. He was familiar...

"Fydev! I'm so sorry! I almost didn't recognize you!" I laughed. Fydev was a friend of mine from childhood. His father worked for Cid for a long time and since Fydev was my age we often got thrown together to play when our fathers were busy with work stuff. I hadn't seen him since I left to join the Gullwings.

Fydev just smiled and took my hand as I pulled him up. He brushed some sand off his clothes and looked me over. "Why, Lady Rikku, it has been a while. Still your graceful self, I see."

I stuck my tongue out at him, as if I was ten years old again. "So... what have you been up to lately?"

He shrugged. "Not much. Just doing some repair work here and there, and then I started getting involved with reconstruction stuff. I'm on the council, now. I don't know why they'd want someone like me on there, but I'm not complaining." He laughed.

I gave him a blank look. If he was on the council, then he knew about... well, Gippal and me. "Guess you know what I've been up to, then." I looked down at the ground and pretended to be interested in my shoe. This was awkward.

"Yeah." He looked over to where Rei was playing with the beetle in the sand, out of hearing range. "I'm guessing that's her?"

I nodded, smiling at my daughter.

He laughed. "Yeah, she looks like she'd be Gippal's girl."

Rei turned around to face us, and smiled when she saw me. She walked over to us with the beetle in her hands, proud of her accomplishment in capturing it. After she showed it to both of us she ran back over to her spot and set it down in the sand again. I could see Fydev's eyes following her, and he smiled.

"I see you in her, too. She's a real pretty girl."

I smiled, not quite sure what to think of what he was saying. "Um... thanks."

We sat in silence for a moment while Fydev watched her play. "So, did you accept Gippal's proposal?"

My eyes widened, and I turned around to give him a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

Fydev also looked confused. "What... you mean, you don't know?" He ran his hand through his hair and looked at the ground. "Damn... um, this is... awkward. Forget I said anything."

I frowned at him and crossed my arms. "Oh no, you've got me interested. You have to tell me now." I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Well... uh, you know that Gippal met with the council about you guys, right?"

I nodded.

"What did he tell you?"

"That you guys wanted Gippal to introduce us at the next concert. And something else about them being a little angry."

"Is that all?"

I nodded again. I was getting impatient.

Fydev sighed. "This really isn't my place to say anything. Gippal would be furious with me if I..."

"Just tell me already! I'll deal with Gippal."

Fydev bit his lip and looked at the ground. "Well, the council told him that they wanted him to ask you something before the concert and he promised us that he was going to do it by now."

"What was he supposed to ask me?"

"I really shouldn't be telling you this..."

"FYDEV! Tell me already!" I didn't mean to yell at him like that, but I was getting tired of him avoiding the subject. I had to know.

Fydev cleared his throat and stared at the ground, his expression blank and unreadable.

"Well?"

"Rikku... he was supposed to ask you to marry him."