A/N: Hey guys, here's chapter 12. Not much happens in this chapter, it is more like a transition chapter, but I hope you won't find it too boring. Enjoy it!

Chapter 12

Photographs and memories

Rain was steadily pouring on the outside. It had been like that for the last couple of days and there were no signs of the rain going to stop anytime soon. I looked through the window to the wet garden and to the grey sky ― it seemed like the clouds had come to stay.

"I hate rainy days…" I sighed, pulling my legs up and wrapping my knees with my arms, curling up in the couch.

"Yeah, me too…" Rikku agreed, holding the remote control and zapping through the TV channels.

It was a Tuesday afternoon and Rikku and I were both sitting on our living-room, lazily doing nothing. Uncle Cid was at work and Brother had gone to a friend's place. So, it was just the two of us. Or at least that was what I had thought…

The doorbell rang loudly and Rikku, who moments earlier had been bored to death, perked up immediately. "I'll go."

She got up and literally ran to the door. I heard her excited voice, but from my spot on the couch I couldn't see who it was at the door. I didn't have to wait long, though. Shortly after, a tall blonde entered the room following Rikku.

I frowned instantly. "Tidus."

"Hello, Yuna." he said, smiling a little.

It had been twelve days since Tidus had come back, but I still couldn't get used to his presence. When he had gone to Zanarkand, I had spent the first months seeing him everywhere in Besaid, feeling his presence all around me, hearing his voice in the distance… It was hard letting go, but time had passed and I finally had gotten used to live on my own, without Tidus in my life… And now that he was back, I just couldn't seem to come to terms with the fact that it was really happening ― every time I saw him it just felt like an illusion, a dream… It was so strange, because the next moment I knew it was real, that he was really there and then…

"I invited Tidus to come over… since the day was so rainy there was nothing else to do." Rikku explained, snapping me out of my deep thoughts.

Tidus was still staring at me. "I hope you don't mind, Yuna."

I shook my head and tried to smile "No, it's okay. Rikku really needs to keep her mind busy, otherwise she won't be leaving me alone."

"Hey, you meanie!" my cousin shouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Don't pout, Rikku; you know it's true." I told her, planting my bare feet on the carpet and standing up. "Anyways, I'm going to my room to give you guys some privacy…"

I bent down to grab the book on the couch but Tidus' hand was already holding my arm. I turned to face him, startled by his action.

"You don't need to leave." He said, looking deadly serious.

"I know." I tried to smile "It's just that I have things to do in my room, so…"

"Oh, Yunie, you don't need to make excuses." Rikku told me, patting my arm just above Tidus' hand "Tidus and I will go to my room. It' more comfy there, ya know? And I want to show him some stuff in the computer and all… So, no biggie ― go to your room if you want or just stay here; it's your call."

Well, Rikku was definitely not the queen of tact, and sometimes she could really embarrass someone with her very accurate comments. I felt my cheeks reddening and tried to act nonchalantly, thinking of a thousand ways to kill her later. Couldn't she be a little more subtle?

I looked up and saw Tidus staring down at me with those huge blue eyes of his. We hadn't looked each other in the eyes since that day in the restaurant, the day I had known about his 'friend' Dona.

"Oh, and by the way," she continued, not even realizing Tidus was still holding me and we were looking at each other deeply. "My room is totally messy, so I need to clean it up a bit before you enter there, Tidus. I know you know I'm messy and all, but I really don't want you to go and trip over one of my bras, okay? So I'll just go upstairs for a minute or two and Yuna can keep you company, isn't that right, cous?"

She had said all that in just one breath and she didn't wait for an answer; the moment I turned to reply she had already turned around and climbed the stairs that led to our rooms. She had just assumed I would tell her 'yes', like I always did. Why do I always let her win?, I asked myself, while I let myself fall back onto the couch. I hadn't realized that Tidus was still grabbing my arm, though; the minute he felt me falling he just held me tighter and pulled me to him effortlessly, putting his other arm around my waist.

"Are you okay?" he asked, trying to sound casual. But I knew almost everything about him and I couldn't stop noticing the subtle change of tone, the small shift in his breathing. The proximity of our bodies, our breaths mingling… It was all too familiar.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I whispered, my eyes traveling from his eyes to his lips. His warm body was pressed against mine and our lips were just inches apart and if I just lifted my head a little I could kiss him so easily… What the hell was I thinking? Reluctantly, I took a step back and this time he let me go. I sat on the couch and Tidus immediately took the seat next to me.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were gonna fall." He explained, suddenly feeling nervous. I was feeling kind of nervous too. We weren't as close as before, but still our knees were almost touching and just that made me lose all my concentration. All I could think about was the chills that ran through my body when our bodies had touched.

"Yeah…" I forced myself to answer "I was… gonna fall… I lost my balance for a moment there. Thank you."

He smiled sincerely, that boyish grin I loved so much. "No problem. I'm just glad I was there."

None of us mentioned the fact that if I was in fact going to fall, what was not exactly going to happen, I would fall on the couch and I would not hurt myself. Apparently, it was easier if we just forgot about that simple detail.

I changed my position and pulled my legs up again, wrapping my arms around them. That way I felt more secure, like I was protected from Tidus' control ― poor Tidus, I don't really think he was trying to control me back then; I think he was just as nervous as I was, not knowing what to do or say or how to escape my control over him…

A few instants had passed and we were still silent. It was becoming ridiculous; when was Rikku going to return? A minute or two in her dictionary meant at least half an hour. So that meant I was stuck with Tidus for thirty minutes and that sooner or later we would have to talk… about something… about anything… Or maybe I could just remain really quiet and he would just forget about me ― it couldn't be that hard, could it?

His voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "So, how's college going?"

I smiled inwardly. It was a safe question, the kind of thing you ask those people you don't know very well just because it doesn't imply a very long answer ― if someone's good at school, they'll just say that everything's okay; if someone sucks, they'll just don't want to be spreading it around and they'll just say that it's going as usually. Anyway it was a safe question with a safe answer. Except if I decided to reply the first thing that crossed my mind: It feels kinda empty without you.

But instead of that I just said "It's going well, I think. It's not very different from high school. Except that now I get to choose the classes I wanna take."

"Yeah, I thought it would be something like that." he looked down, as if embarrassed "I'd want to have gone to college, but when I went to Zanarkand I didn't have much time, so I quit. You cannot train and study at the same time, sooner or later you'll have to choose which one you want. You can see what my choice was…"

I narrowed my eyes, curiosity building up inside of me. Even though I shouldn't be interested in what Tidus had to say, the fact is that I was very interested ― I wanted to understand his life in Zanarkand.

"Have you ever felt sorry for dropping out?" I asked in a low tone. This was not a safe question.

He looked at me, his eyes bright and sad. Funny, before Tidus had left for Zanarkand it was really rare seeing him sad or depressed ― he was always the happiest, the funniest, the most optimistic… But now that he had returned I had noticed a shadow of melancholy covering his beautiful blue eyes… constantly. And even though he always tried to hide it from everyone behind a smirk or even a smile, he couldn't hide it from me. Like he had said to me a few days before, I could not lie to him, but he could not lie to me either. We were just bound to see the truth in the eyes of the other.

"I see it in your eyes…" I told him. Then, without even thinking, I leaned in and rested my hand against his face. He closed his eyes like he was enjoying my touch. "…some kind of heartache."

He sighed and put his hand over mine. Instead of being one of those awkward moments that should never have happened, it just felt comfortable and right, like that was the way it was meant to be. It just felt so good that none of us wanted to move or speak, too afraid that we would break the magic of the moment. Finally, Tidus opened his eyes and stared at me. "Yuna, I―"

"Okay, guys, I'm back!"

I rolled my eyes. Why had Rikku always to come in and interrupt us in the worst moments!

Tidus dropped my hand immediately and turned to face her. "Hey, Rikku, we were starting to wonder if you had been eaten by the vacuum cleaner or something like that…" he joked. There it was again ― the happy face that kept all his problems hidden inside.

"No!" Rikku laughed, coming to seat on the loveseat and stretching her legs over its arm. "It's just that Gippal called me. He said everything's ready for our trip to Luca in two weekends."

"Trip to Luca?" I repeated, not knowing what she was talking about.

"Yeah, isn't it great?" She squealed, clapping her hands excitedly. "Gippal and I are planning everything out ― of course I had to supervise his part of the work, 'cause I don't trust that idiot, but it's okay. We booked the hotel rooms, two for the guys and two for the girls ― Nooj is probably taking LeBlanc with him ―, for three days. We leave Besaid Friday morning and we spend the whole weekend in Luca, only coming back Monday afternoon. Isn't it great?" she asked again.

Tidus and I were both mesmerized. The first thing that came from my mouth was "When were you planning on tell us that you had plans for our weekend?"

"Eh… uh… that…" Rikku looked up "Maybe this weekend when we'd go to Nooj's get-together. Gippal would be there too and we'd both tell you. Yeah, that's it."

"Sure…" I said, not convinced. "Does Paine know 'bout this 'trip to Luca' thing?"

"Not yet…"

"I see. Who else knows about it?"

"Well. First there's me and Gippal and then… Gippal told Baralai and Nooj yesterday… Nooj was gonna talk to LeBlanc today…"

"You mean almost everybody knew about it except for me and Paine?"

"Tidus didn't know!" she defended herself.

"Wait, I'm invited too?" Tidus asked all of a sudden.

"'Course you are, silly." Rikku said, looking at him "D'you think I'd let my best friend behind? No, sirrie!"

He laughed. "Of course I didn't think that, Riks. I'm just honored by the invitation. A weekend in Luca… I don't even need to think about it twice ― you can tell Gippal that I'm in!"

I frowned. "Doesn't that mean that your friend Dona is going to want to go too?" Damn, why couldn't I control the rising jealousy? I shouldn't even be jealous in the first place! Besides, Tidus had told Rikku, who in turn had told me, that Dona was not his girlfriend ― Yeah, right, she's jut the girl he's screwing… ―; she was simply Auron's niece and a friend of his. According to him, she had been very supportive during his time in Zanarkand ― Yeah, right, I can only imagine how much supportive she can be… ― and they had become friends, nothing more. Like I believed that…

"Dona?" Tidus looked at me "I hadn't thought about that. You're probably right; she'll wanna go too… I think she's never been to Luca."

Did he really believe that would be the reason why she wanted to go? Or was he just pretending that that was the reason why?

"Well…" Rikku started, fidgeting with her fingers "Everything's already set… Unless we ask to put another bed in one of our bedrooms…" she continued, looking at us.

Shut up, Rikku, shut up!, I screamed inside my head. For those last twelve days I had been able to avoid Dona at all costs ― if I saw her on the street, I just entered the nearest café or drove by, pretending I hadn't noticed her; if we were all together and she made an appearance, I was leaving the next minute, pretending I'd received a urgent phone call or suddenly remembering a forgotten essay, test or visit I had to do… I really didn't mind doing all that to avoid her; just the thought of spending one single minute in her company was ten times worse than making up some lame excuses once in a while.

When it came to Tidus, though, things were completely different. I still couldn't name my feelings for him at this time, but I didn't loath him, like I did to Dona. With him, everything was more complex… Even though I couldn't forget what I had been through because of him, all the pain he had caused me, I couldn't also erase all the good things that had happened between us and somehow those things seemed to find their way into my heart and soften it a little bit, every time I was with Tidus. It was just like what had happened a few instants before, when I had talked to him like I had done so many times before, like someone who knew him better than he knew himself… I still felt a little awkward in his presence, but I think that was normal, after all we had been through a lot and now things were very different; even so, I somehow managed to enjoy his company when he was around. And he was around quite often lately, since Rikku was always inviting him to come over our house or to join our group every time we went out together. The rest of my friends had also welcomed Tidus with arms wide open ― even Paine seemed to like him, although she never said a word about it ― and I knew deep inside that if Tidus had stayed in Besaid instead of going to Zanarkand, we would've been very happy and he would've fitted perfectly in our gang's spirit.

"Don't worry about it." Tidus said "I'll talk to her later and then I'll tell you somethin'. Is that okay?"

The question was directed to Rikku, but still I heard myself saying a very clear and firm "No!"

They both turned their gazes towards me, surprise written all over their faces.

"I'm sorry…" I apologized quickly, realizing what I had just done. Averting Dona in the city was one thing, no one could really say anything about it, but saying loud and clear that I didn't want her going with us for the weekend was a completely different thing and Tidus would probably want to know why and I would be unable to answer him because not even I knew the answer to his next question. "It's just that… uh… I'm not sure if I can go… I mean… with school and all…"

"C'mon, Yunie!" Rikku almost pleaded, starting to use her 'puppy eyes' tactic. "You can't miss it ― this is for all of us, for our group of friends…"

Then why does that stupid little bitch have to go too?, I wanted to ask her, but I knew I would just sound silly and I was already silly enough, I didn't need to show it too. Someone would tell me later on that I could never be silly, but back then all I could think was that only a silly and foolish girl got stuck in my position, standing between my friends and the person I really didn't want to see, Dona…

"Okay, I'll go…" I ended up agreeing, knowing that otherwise I would make my cousin feel sad on her trip to Luca ― and maybe even the rest of the group…

"YAY! That's the spirit, girl!" Rikku jumped out of the loveseat and crashed on the couch over me and Tidus, holding both of us and squealing excitedly about how much fun we'd have, and so on and on and on…

-----XX-----

About half an hour later Rikku and Tidus went to her room ― she had said something about showing him some digital photos she had taken with her dad's camera ― and left me alone with my reading. I had read almost forty pages when the doorbell rang again, this time in the backdoor. I stood up and walked into the kitchen, opening the door without even checking who it was first. At that time, it could only be 1)Brother, who had forgotten his key at home, or 2) Paine, who had come to pay me a visit for some reason. And I was totally right ― it was Paine and she had come for a reason.

"I'm sorry to be disturbing you, Yuna, but I really needed to ask you a favour." She said, entering the kitchen while I closed the door.

"Sure, Paine, no problem. What do you need?" I followed her to the living room.

"You had White Magic in school last year, right?" she asked, turning to me.

"Yeah, I did. Level one. Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm taking that class and I'm having certain… issues with it. Let's just say that your advices could come in hand right now."

I grinned. "Okay, girl, I got it. I never pictured you as a white mage, but okay… Let's go to my room and maybe I'll find a book or two to help you out."

We went upstairs and into my room. I closed the door behind us and headed to my desk, where I usually kept my school books. Paine was just standing there, with her arms crossed, looking at my back while I searched the drawers. "Do you need any help?"

"Yeah, you can look for a book labeled 'White Magic for Beginners' in that trunk over there. I usually keep there the things I don't use anymore…" I said without turning.

"If you don't use them, why do you keep them?" she asked, moving towards the trunk.

I laughed and looked at her. "I don't know… I think I can't let them go because they mean something important to me. I don't know." I repeated.

We remained silent for a few instants, searching for the book. Finally, I found it between two other books of magic (White Magic ― Level 2 and Black Magic for Beginners). Grabbing it, I turned to Paine and saw her standing straight, holding something in her hands and looking at it attentively. I was facing her back but I instantly knew what she was staring at. I approached her silently and said quietly "Found it."

She turned around quickly and looked me in the eye, her expression impossible to read. I gently took the photograph from her hands and looked at it.

"I'm sorry", she mumbled as if she had done something wrong.

"It's okay." I said, not looking at her. My eyes could not turn away from the photo in my hands.

It was a photo from a time when everything was perfect. The couple in it looked like they were meant to be. She was sitting on his lap and had her arms around his neck, while one of his arms encircled her waist and the other hand rested lazily on her thigh. They were not looking at the camera but at each other, with so much longing and caring that even through the photo one could see that their love was very deep and intense.

It was a photo of Tidus and me, taken three years ago.

"I should've not been messing around with your stuff." I heard Paine saying, but I didn't need her to apologize. After all, if I had wanted that photo to be seen by no one I would have hidden it somewhere only I would know about.

"It's okay," I repeated, finally looking at her "It's just a photo."

"It's more than that, right?"

I looked away. How could I tell her what that photo meant to me and how it reminded me of a time when I had loved Tidus more than life itself? How could I explain the pain I had felt when I had lost him and every dream of mine had been shattered like a glass? How could I say that that photo was a way of preserving the past that I missed so much? I didn't think I could. Not to Paine ― she wasn't the most sensitive person and she would probably not understand. So I simply replied "It's a memory of love. But like Rikku once told me, memories are nice, but that's all they are. They'll never be real again…"

She stared at me as if she was going to say something but she changed her mind and shrugged it off. She then picked one other photo in which Tidus was swirling Rikku in the air and she had this huge smile on her lips. Paine stared at it for a few moments and then asked me "Rikku said that?"

"Yeah, she's a bit airhead most of the times, but she has some wise ideas in that little head of hers…" I giggled.

"I'm afraid I can't say the same when she and Gippal get together. Have you heard about their last little scheme?" Paine asked, sitting in one of the armchairs.

I sat in front of her. "You mean the trip to Luca? Yeah, she told me today. You going?"

"I'm still not sure. You?"

"I told her I'd probably go. How did you find out, anyways?"

"Baralai told me." she replied simply.

"Baralai, huh?" I asked in a casual tone.

"Yeah, I went to his place to talk to Nooj, but he wasn't around. Baralai was there and we started talking and so… he ended up telling me." She explained. I frowned a little ― Paine rarely gave explanations to anyone.

"Paine…" I started, carefully choosing my words "I've been wanting to ask you something for a while now, but you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

She frowned too. I bet she knew what was about to come. "What?"

"When Baralai first arrived at Besaid, we reacted in a way that made me wonder…" I paused "Why did you react that way? Now you two seem okay, even though there is some tension between the two at times." I added, playing with the photograph that I was still holding.

Paine remained silent and for an instant I thought she was not going to respond, but then she sighed and said "Yes, when Baralai arrived I was pretty rude with him." She smirked "But he caught me off guard; I wasn't expecting to see him here after so long and I didn't know if I wanted him here in the first place."

"And do you? Want him here?" I knew I was pushing my luck, but I didn't lose anything in trying.

She eyed me closely. "I still don't know. His presence does not bother me, and I even like to talk to him sometimes… as long as we don't talk about certain things."

"I see; certain things… of your past?"

She nodded. "But you're asking me why I reacted the way I did when Baralai arrived… I can ask you the same about Tidus."

I blinked twice at her subtle way of changing the subject. "I… uh…"

Paine smirked "I'm just kidding, Yuna. You don't need to answer that."

"But it's only fair; after all you answered my questions."

She laughed. "The difference is that I already know the answer to my question, Yuna. Between Rikku, Lulu and Wakka, I think I already know enough of your story with Tidus."

I lowered my head. "Yeah, well, it's a very long story…"

"I'm not saying I know it all. In fact, I'm sure there are a lot of things that no one knows, like the reason you broke up with him, for instance."

"Right…" I managed to say "Well, that's easy ― the distance was… I couldn't take the distance. The world was between us and…" I paused, remembering the first few months after Tidus had gone to Zanarkand. Everything seemed so different in Besaid, so empty. I just couldn't get over him leaving and I couldn't stop asking myself where he was, what was he doing, who was he with… And then, that doomed day had come and I suddenly realized I couldn't go on like that, no matter how much it hurt me. If I hadn't seen that damned magazine maybe things would've been different but…

"Believe me when I say that I understand you, Yuna." Paine said in a low tone "Love isn't enough in some cases…"

I smiled. "Unfortunately it's true. No matter how much we want it to work out… Maybe it's fate."

"Maybe it is."

I had never had a conversation about feelings or fate or love with Paine before and I was truly enjoying it. Apparently, she wasn't as insensitive as she wanted to look like. But I already knew that… Only sometimes I wasn't quite sure of it.

"Anyways," she continued "You've been great to him. I salute your strength in holding on so well." she stretched out her hand and took the photo in mine. She took another look at it and then faced me again "But you still haven't forgotten him, right?"

"Yes, I have." I replied, maybe too quickly "It's been two years, I'd be a fool if I was still attached to him in any way…"

"Yuna," Paine said in a motherly tone, the same tone I had heard Lulu use countless times "If you still have photographs of him, it's because you still haven't forgotten him."

I sighed. Maybe she was right. But I just wasn't ready to admit it… at least not yet.

Her cell phone began to ring at that moment, saving me from answering her. She looked at the display and her ruby eyes widened "It's Wakka!"

"Pick it up then…"

"Wakka?" she asked, putting the phone against her ear. "What?... No, I'm at Yuna's… I'm going right away… Calm down, Wakka!… I'm going, I told you… Stay put, you silly man!"

She closed her phone and turned to me, more agitated than ever.

"What?" I urged her, anxiety rising inside of me.

"Lulu's waters broke… She's having the baby… Now!"

A/N: Okay, first of all I want to say that I solved the 'inches/centimetres' issue ― an inch is equal to 2.54 centimetres.

Second of all, I want to say that I'm leaving on vacation tonight, so I won't be posting anything in the next four weeks, which leads me to another thing ― I ended this chapter with a cliff hanger and, because I don't want to leave you without knowing what's going to happen next, I just want to say that nothing bad is going to happen to Lulu and her baby. The child will be born healthy and strong and his mother, in spite of being tired from the labour, will be a very proud mum. So, don't sweat about it.

Third, I want to thank to:

Da KeR MysTeRr: I completely understand you when you say you're tired. Last night I stayed up writing till three a.m. when I needed to be up at seven this morning, but I wanted to update and today was my last chance… Anyways, I'm glad you liked the chapter; I hope you like this one too. And thanks again for the e-mail about Harry Potter.

Rachel XXX: Yeah, when everything seemed to be working out for the best, something had to ruin it all and it came in the form of Dona. But still, I think Yuna and Tidus are getting along, don't you? ;)

seelenspiel: Thanks, I hope you enjoy this one too.

kyritawuv: Well, thank you so much for the support, it means a lot to me. And thanks for understanding that Yuna and Tidus need time to adapt themselves to the new situation they're going through. If I put them back together now it would just be strange… at least I think so. Anyways, thanks again.

Duderman: Nope, I wasn't on vacation. But I hope you still love me when I tell you that I'm going on vacation for four weeks now… And please, don't give up on me ― I promise to have fresh news when I return. In the meanwhile, and because I read in your profile that you had never read a story about Rikku/Gippal, why don't you try Black Eyed Mistress' fanfics (they're all about Gippal and Rikku and in my humble opinion they're awesome). It's just a thought… ;) Anyways, thank you.

tidusXyuna637: Yeah, the end was funny ― Yuna could not simply let Dona walk away thinking she was all that, could she? I'm glad you loved it, I hope you think the same about this one.

Tidus + Yuna flamboyent: I'm really sorry, but I can't answer you that question without giving the plot away. All I can say is that I have some things planned for them that you'll like… But being together as a couple isn't in my plans… yet. Sorry, but I'll just have to ask you to stick around and see what happens. Thanks for reviewing anyway.

ANIMEGURL04: Well, according to Tidus himself, he isn't 'with the slut girl' (I liked this nickname, by the way. Mind if I used it?); but I bet Dona, a.k.a. the slut girl, would love if that ever happened. As for Yuna, I don't think she would be very pleased, don't you agree?

Thank you all and I hoped you enjoyed the chapter because I will only update againin the end of August/beginning of September. See you then and don't forget to review ― even if I won't read your reviews now, I will love to read them when I return…

Peace.