A/N: This chapter is kind of long and uneventful, but is needed to set the wheels in motion for the next few, which are definitely going to pick up. I thank all you guys once again for reviewing, and I hope you enjoy reading :)

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I returned back home early that evening to find the house empty and dark. Confused, I scanned the kitchen and found a note on the table.

Went for a walk- be back soon.

Yuna & Rei

I sighed and put the note in the trash. I couldn't blame her for not wanting to be cooped up in the house all the time, but I was pretty sure that somebody would recognize her. Everyone in Home would know that Yuna was in town by the end of the night. It was the life of a celebrity, I guess.

I wondered if that was what my life would be like once I married Gippal. I hoped it wouldn't be like that, I didn't know if I could handle it. Yuna is a lot more nice and patient than I'll ever be.

I plopped down on the couch and glanced over at the magazine that was still sitting on the end table. I thought about going though it again out of boredom, but I decided against it. I had heard too much about wedding planning today already, it was starting to make my head spin.

Gippal had told me that we would probably start making serious plans for the wedding after the concert, which was coming up within the week. We would probably hold it here, because of Gippal being the Machine Faction leader and all, but we hadn't decided where we wanted to go for our honeymoon or anything. He suggested Kilika and that seemed an okay deal to me. It would be a nice place where Gippal wouldn't be recognized as easily, and we could get a little shack for ourselves on the beach.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone coming through the door. I saw Rei bound in first carrying a paper bag that looked to be about as big as she was. Yuna waddled in after her carrying a few papers.

"Hey, Rikku! How's Gippal doing?" She asked as she set the papers down on the table.

"Fine. Where'd you guys go?" I stood up and took the bag from Rei, who looked like she was about to fall over.

"Oh, just to the store and back. We got some chicken and rice; I've had the weirdest cravings for it since I've been here. Oh, and some pickles. Those too." She laughed and started taking things out of the bag.

"So, did anybody recognize you?"

"Yeah, but I only stopped and talked to a couple people. They had heard I was having a baby but I guess they didn't realize I was this far along," she giggled, "and a teenage girl scolded me for wanting to perform while I was like this. I told her that singing wasn't going to hurt the baby," she laughed again, apparently in a pretty good mood.

"So... are you going to go back to Besaid to have the baby?"

"Well, I kind of want to, but Tidus would rather have me go to an actual hospital. We'll probably go to Luca after we leave here."

"He worries too much. Lulu was fine having her baby in Besaid."

Yuna paused for a moment, and looked at me sadly. "Yeah... but you almost weren't."

I looked at her for a moment, then realized instantly what she was talking about. "Oh... sorry... I didn't mean to..."

Yuna just smiled. "Don't worry. I didn't mean to bring it back up, it's just... Tidus worries. He knows things can happen."

We were silent for a few minutes while we put away the food. I honestly didn't know what to say, it was one of the very few times I felt awkward with Yuna.

"So... are you ever going to tell Gippal about that?" She asked quietly before sitting down at the table.

"I will someday. It's just... with all this stuff going on, that's not something you just kind of bring up, you know?"

We were silent again. I glanced over at the papers she had set down on the table and grabbed one of them.

Kilika's Tropical Treasures

Fresh and beautiful flowers for all occasions

"Oh, and I grabbed those brochures at the store... This one in Kilika has gorgeous tropical flowers, I think that's the one I got mine from. There's another one about a huge flower place in Luca, although I've never been there."

The one from Luca was pretty thick, so I decided that I'd look through it later. Rei came running in the kitchen from the bedroom, a piece of paper in her hand. She handed it to Yuna, and it had a bunch of crayon scribbles all over it.

Yuna smiled gently. "It's beautiful, Rei. What is it?"

"Besaid," she replied simply, crayons clutched in her small hands.

"Well, it's very pretty. Thank you." She gave Rei a small hug, who then giggled and ran back into the room.

Yuna glanced at the picture and let out a peaceful, contented sigh. "It's going to be really nice having a child... watching them grow up... it's a beautiful thing, you know?"

"Yeah." I replied, my finger tracing a pattern on the table. What was I supposed to say to something like that?

"You're so lucky, Rikku. You've got a gorgeous, smart daughter who obviously loves both you and Gippal very much. I can't wait until my child can tell me they love me, or draw me cute little pictures," she giggled and looked at me.

I gave her a small smile. "Yeah, I am pretty lucky."

"And she's very lucky to have parents who love her as much as you and Gippal do. I think he would do anything for that little girl."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I smiled at her and chuckled. "I don't want to see what he's going to be like when she's a teenager, though. That poor girl probably won't be able to even talk to guys," I laughed and shook my head.

"How do you think Tidus will be if we have a daughter? I doubt Gippal wouldn't even compare to him."

"I don't know... I think they'll both be pretty paranoid."

We talked a little bit more about Tidus and Gippal before getting started on dinner. I didn't know where Cid and Brother were or if they were going to be home by then or not but we made enough for them anyway, figuring Yuna wouldn't mind leftovers for later.

She must have been right about having those cravings, though, because she ate the most food I'd ever seen her eat in my life. I didn't worry about it, though, 'cause I thought she could stand to gain a little bit more weight anyway. Cid and Brother never did come home that night, and the evening ended uneventfully with all of us going to sleep kind of early.

The next few days were pretty much the same. Since it was now known that Yuna was in Home, she went to a couple of meetings and was starting her rehearsals. There would be a relatively unknown band from Luca performing before her, and they were all very thrilled to be opening for the Lady Yuna. I had stopped by one of the rehearsals and I was pretty impressed by their music. It was going to be one hell of a concert, that was for sure.

Gippal was so busy with Machine Faction stuff plus putting together the upcoming event that Rei and I hardly ever saw him, and when we did I could tell he wasn't getting that much sleep. There were different issues that kept coming up that he had to deal with. He wasn't getting all that stressed, however; he was so accustomed to it as it was a huge part of his job. If I was him, I would have been pulling out my hair.

Before I knew it, the day before the concert came. Tidus had arrived that morning and he and Yuna moved to a nice hotel near Gippal's office. The crews were starting to set up the stage and the people of Home were beginning to grow excited. People from other parts of Spira had steadily been pouring in for the past few days and it was starting to get crowded. Everyone was excited to get the chance to see Yuna's first concert in a long time. She wouldn't exactly be able to dance like she used to, with the baby and all, but I was positive she could make the show awesome nonetheless. Paine was supposed to arrive later that day with some others from her new crew; she was the captain of her own airship now and was having an awesome time flying over Spira and doing jobs for those who would pay. She never was one to settle down in one place, I guess.

I took Rei with me that afternoon and we visited Gippal and Yuna at his office. Gippal was running around like a madman trying to fix all the little problems that kept springing up and making sure everything was getting done. Yuna rehearsed a little before she tried on her dress; it was black silk that sparkled amazingly whenever she moved, and even in her late pregnancy she looked absolutey breathtaking. I knew that the crowd was going to be absolutely captivated by her.

I was informed by Gippal that our little engagement announcement would take place after Yuna's performance. He said that we should probably try and look nice for it, so he was sending Yuna to take me shopping for a nice dress after she was done with everything. I didn't really want to wear a dress, but I caved in after Gippal pleaded for a while. It wasn't fair, though... he used the damn puppy face.

Cheater.

So a few hours later, I found myself in a place I thought I'd never be (well, at least not for a while): dress shopping with Yuna.

To be honest, I felt completely out of my league with the whole thing. I tried to remember a single time in my life when I had bought a dress, and I couldn't come up with one. I decided that I'd just let Yuna chuck a few dresses at me and I'd try them on or something.

She walked around for a while before tossing three dresses at me that she thought might look cute. The third one I tried on was a strapless baby blue dress that came down to around my knees; it was nice but not too overdone. Yuna and I both agreed that was the one, and Rei even said it made me look "bootiful," which got a laugh from a nearby employee. We left the shop and went back to the hotel room for an hour or two before we went to meet Paine.

She visited Yuna, Rei and I in Besaid about a year ago, and that was the last we had seen of her. She had been pretty busy for a while, but when we last contacted her she said things were slowing down quite a bit. She had been informed about the wedding so at least I wouldn't have anything new to tell her.

Yuna and I just talked and played a couple board games for a while; we were pretty bored. Rei took a nap, but soon enough we had to wake her up so we could go get "Auntie Paine." I didn't think Rei remembered her at all, but she was excited to go nonetheless. Ever since we had been here she had slowly started overcoming her shyness.

It was hotter than usual when we walked outside, and I felt kind of bad for Gippal who was probably running around the stage that very minute, giving out orders and fixing stuff, and I giggled quietly at the thought.

We got to the spot were Paine's ship was supposed to land and we saw that she wasn't there yet. We waited for about ten minutes before we could see it off on the horizon. It flew toward us at a pretty fast speed, and made a quick, slightly rough landing. As soon as it had touched ground the door opened and we could see Paine's smiling face in the doorway.

"Fashionably late as always, huh, Paine?" Yuna shouted and laughed.

Paine just smiled and stepped off the ship. I noticed she had grown her hair out a few more inches, but other than that she looked like the same old Paine. Yuna and I looked at each other and grinned before we ran off and enveloped her in a massive group hug.

"Hey, I have to breathe you know," Paine muttered sarcastically and we let her go, smiles plastered on our faces.

Paine stepped back for a moment to look us over. She scanned over Yuna and laughed. "Geez, Yuna, you could hurt someone with that thing," she said as she patted Yuna's large stomach.

Yuna gave her a nasty look which quickly turned into a grin.

Paine gave her a look back and then turned over to me. "You cut your hair some, but you still look like little Rikku."

I stuck my tongue out at her. "Little, huh?" I walked over to her, "could little Rikku do... this?" I grabbed her and pushed her on the ground, where we wrestled for a few minutes before she had me pinned. Damn... I thought I was getting better, not worse.

"Still crazy, I see." She laughed before she got up and brushed sand off her clothes. She looked over to where Rei was standing and smiled. "Wow... she's grown a lot. How old is she now?"

"Two. She'll be three in about a week," I said proudly before ruffling Rei's hair, causing her to giggle.

Paine's eyes widened. "I hadn't realized it had been that long since I'd seen you guys."

Yuna just smiled and grabbed Paine by the arm. "Come on, let's go back to the hotel and we'll catch up on everything."

Paine just rolled her eyes. "Do I have to?"

"Yes." I said and grabbed her other arm.

We started walking back to Yuna's hotel and Rei came up and clutched my hand.

"So... where are the boys?" She asked, referring to Tidus and Gippal.

"Tidus is helping out with the concert setup, and Gippal is, well, trying to run it," I snickered, "and if not too much else goes wrong you should see him tonight or tomorrow morning. We can visit them now if you want, but don't expect to get much of a response from him."

Paine only smiled slightly and nodded in agreement. She knew, probably more than anyone, how Gippal could get when he was focused on his work.

"So, is your crew staying here tonight?" Yuna asked.

"I don't think so. Dael was going to take over the captainship tonight and they are going to Luca to run a few errands. They'll be back by tomorrow night for your concert, though. They're probably more excited about it than I am."

"Oh. Well, I'd like to meet the people who travel with you."

"Why? So you can tell them embarrassing stories or something?"

Yuna just laughed. "So, are there any guys that you like on the ship?"

"Like? You mean, more than just friends like?"

"Yes."

Paine rolled her eyes and sighed. "No. Just because you guys are getting married and going all mushy on me doesn't mean I have to."

We all laughed and approached the area where they were setting up for the concert. "So... want to try and find the guys anyway?" I asked.

"Sure," Paine just shrugged. We walked through a small group of people before we spotted Gippal. He was standing on the stage, scanning over a clipboard and talking to a man standing next to him. Paine smiled.

"Gippal!" She shouted, but he didn't look over at us. "Yo, Gippal!" Still no response. Paine sighed and muttered something about things never changing. "HEY, FATHEAD!" She screamed, and Gippal looked over at us and grinned. He caught sight of Paine and said something to the man before jumping down from the stage. He walked over and they hugged, both of them laughing.

"Didn't expect to see you here today," he said after they let go.

"Yeah, well, took you long enough to notice us."

"Er... sorry." He rubbed the back of his head. "You know how I get."

Paine just rolled her eyes. "So, how's it going, daddy?"

Gippal gave her a weird look and shrugged. "Same old shit, I guess."

"Language, Gippal." I warned, and he glanced over at me. "Oh, sorry... I didn't know Rei was there. She's being so quiet." He laughed, and Rei ran over and gave him a hug.

Paine watched the both of them and smiled as Gippal gave Rei a quick kiss before setting her back down. "She looks so much like you, you know."

"Um, thanks," Gippal grinned mischievously, "I never knew you were the sensitive type."

Paine glared at him and punched his shoulder, making him wince slightly.

"Ow. So... uh... how're things going in the world of adventuring?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it adventuring. Most of what we do is pretty boring. But it's going okay... it pays the bills, anyway."

"Wow, you make it sound like it's pure torture." Gippal laughed, then glanced over at me. "Well, sorry to do this but I should probably get back to work before my boss has my head."

Paine's eyes widened. "You? Have a boss? No!"

"Yeah, the council leader. You don't want to get him angry, trust me." He walked over to me and gave me a quick kiss before wandering back to the stage, and I heard Paine make a gagging noise, causing Yuna to giggle and me to roll my eyes.

"So, Yuna, I hear there's going to be a party tomorrow night after the concert," Paine said.

Yuna sighed. "Yeah, as usual. I think we're taking an airship to Luca afterwards to go. They're going to see the concert too; they're having commspheres broadcasting this all over Spira."

"You know, Shinra must be loaded with gil by now," I laughed.

"Probably. We should try and get some out of him. We were the ones that helped launch his career, you know." Paine commented. "So, am I staying in the hotel or with Rikku or what?"

"We're all staying in the hotel. Tidus will probably be staying with Gippal and the other guys, so it'll just be us girls."

Paine rolled her eyes. "I hope that doesn't mean you want us to do each other's hair and makeup and stuff."

Yuna stuck out her lip. "Oh, come on Paine, it'll be fun! Won't it, Rei?"

Rei just nodded in response. I was pretty sure she wasn't really paying attention to what we were even saying; her eyes looked droopy and she was starting to walk a little slower. I stopped and picked her up and she rested her head on my shoulder.

"Awww, she's such a cutie." Yuna smiled and lightly ruffled her hair.

We made it to the hotel and got ourselves settled in; we were all kind of tired so we went to bed close to midnight instead of staying up and doing "girly stuff." Paine and Yuna fell asleep pretty quickly, but I was too nervous to sleep. I kept thinking about a lot of things, mainly how people were going to react to what we were going to tell them... I knew I shouldn't have been concerned with what people thought, but now that I was getting married to Gippal that kind of stuff was going to matter now. I wondered if I would ever adjust to people watching me and judging me all the time, like Yuna had. Does a person really get used to that kind of thing, or do they just get better at handling it? These thoughts flooded my mind as I was taken into a dreamless sleep, blissfully unaware that the next few days would only bring a living nightmare.