Hello! Just a quick note to say thank you to everyone for the wonderful reviews that you gave me. I will absolutely try not to let you down!

This chapter is dedicated to Shelliebelle, for making me smile a huge, ginormous, wonderful smile. Thank you again!

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Dirty Deeds

Chapter Two: A Gippaly Plan

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Gippal was angry.

And to make matters worse, he honestly wasn't quite sure why.

Maybe he had simply misread the situation. Perhaps it had only been a friendly hug.

But something in the way Dachi had grinned told him otherwise.

The son of a bitch actually had the nerve to smile and make freaking small talk while he was sitting there with his arm wrapped around his girl.

Okay, so maybe she wasn't quite his girl. But she sure as hell wasn't Dachi's girl.

At least, as far as he knew she wasn't Dachi's girl. How long had it been since they had actually kicked back and had a conversation about something other than work or the end of the world?

He realized with a frown that he honestly couldn't remember. And he was fairly certain that was mostly his fault. After all, earlier today hadn't she droppped by just to say hi? And what had he done? He had embarassed her, and snapped at her, and sent her running back to her airship, and straight into another guys arms.

He snorted then. Rikku wasn't the type of girl to get so upset over something so small. Which meant that if Rikku and Dachi were actually Rikku and Dachi then it probably wasn't something that they had just decided today.

Who knew how long they had been together.

And though he would never admit it out loud, the thought of her with anyone else made him physically ill. Contrary to whatever he might have told her, she had always been his girl. And he would be damned if he let someone else put his hands anywhere on her. At least, not if he could help it.

Her voice popped back into his mind and he gave a little wince at the memory, "I mean you don't have to go, we're pretty much done here anyway, right Gippal?"

His lip curled into a semi-snarl.

'Done, indeed.'

Not if he had anything to say about it.

"You're a complete lunatic." Rikku mumbled more to herself than the room's other occupant.

"Tell me about it. But that doesn't change the fact that you still have to talk to your dad." Dachi replied with a grin.

Honestly, Rikku had to give him credit. He was still managing to hold a full on conversation with her, regardless of the fact that he was currently dry docking an airship in a hangar in the middle of the desert. "Tell me again why I'm doing this?"

"Because I have absolutely no intention of showing up anywhere with you until your dad knows exactly what's going on."

"What does it matter who I show up with where? For Spira's sake, it's only a birthday party."

"And you're only the most important person in the world to your father. There is no way in hell I'm showing up at his birthday party and trying to make your boy jealous without Cid getting a head's up. I'm proud of my manhood. I would like to keep it, if possible."

She gave an angry huff. Dachi's reasoning was making more sense than she had either wanted or expected it to. "So, what? You want me to go see my dad, and tell him not to worry if I start kissing my brother's best friend at his birthday party, because I'm just trying to make Gippal jealous? Yeah, I totally see that one working." She rolled her eyes. "Can't wait to hear what he says."

"I say it's a damn fine idea, and it's high time you took matters into your own hands."

Rikku spun around wildly, eyes as wide as dinner plates. "Pops! How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to know that if you leave this entirely up to this moron," He gestured to Dachi, "You won't ever get your man. It's going to take more than a few kisses to make Gippal realize what he's missing." The Al Bhed leader nodded twice to himself before continuing, "Yes indeed, it's going to take much more than that. Matter of fact, I think I might know just what to say to nudge him in the right direction."

Rikku merely stared at her father, horrified. "Pops! You can't possibly be.."

"Damn skippy I am! It's high time that you settled down and stopped this sphere hunting business! And don't even get me started on Gippal! His mother would turn over in her grave if she saw him running around with some of the floozies I've seen him with."

Rikku didn't even bother trying to suppress her laugh, "Pops.. No one says 'floozies' anymore." She sat there for a moment before straightening back up and giving an indignant huff. "And I don't need to settle down! I'm only eighteen!"

"You don't need to worry about me causing a stir if you two show up together, if that's what you're worried about. If you ask me, you should've done this years ago."

"I was too busy trying not to die to do this years ago."

"Fair enough. I still think it's a damn fine idea though. I always did like to see that boy squirm."

"But.. Pops.. "

"What? Now you're complaining because I'm agreeing to help you? Is there no pleasin' you, girl?"

"No, it's not that.." She began again, only to, once again, be cut off midsentence.

"What is it then?"

"I just wanted to know what you were doing here..."

Cid just stared at her for a moment before answering, "This is Bikanel, Rikku. I live here."

She shook her head, "No, I meant, here, on this airship."

"Oh. That. I just wanted to remind everyone that my party's next week. Wouldn't want any of you to miss it."

Rikku slapped herself.

Gippal had a plan.

A nasty, dirty, Gippaly-plan.

If there was one thing that Rikku was, besides Gippal's girl, of course, it was Cid's girl. And there was no way in hell that Cid would ever ever everevereverever approve of Rikku dating Dachi. He was Anikki's best friend, after all.

The guy had to be insane to be able to handle being around the mohawked weirdo for more than ten minutes at a time. And surely Cid wouldn't let his daughter date someone that was a fruitcake.

At least, that was the hope.

All he had to do was put in a call to Papa Cid's commsphere, and wham, no more other guy. No more other guy's hands in places that other guy's hands shouldn't be, and no more worrying over where in the hell else those hands might have been.

Gippal shuddered. Yes, a phone call was definitely in order

Cid had been back in his office for less than twenty minutes when the commsphere buzzed. He checked the panel beside the sphere quickly, a slight smile creeping onto his face when he saw the red flashing light that indicated the call had originated from Djose.

"Gippal my boy! What can I do for you?"

"Well, I got word of something today that's got me a little concerned, so I thought I'd call you and find out if there was any truth behind it."

Cid nodded gravely. "Tell me boy, is this about my party?"

It was all Gippal could do to refrain from screaming at the older man, "No, it's actually about Rikku."

"Rikku? What the hell's she done now? She didn't blow anything up did she? Because if she did, I don't want to hear it. I warned you to keep that girl away from explosives..."

"No, no, nothing like that. I got word from one of my subordinates that he ran into her and Dachi earlier." 'Subordinates, my ass', he added silently.

"I'm not sure I see where you're going with this, son."

"Well, from what I understood, they were.. hugging." Gippal winced. Somehow it didn't sound quite as bad when he said it out loud.

Cid seemed to reflect for a moment. He scratched his head once, twice, three times. Then he rubbed his chin. Finally he looked back to the sphere, a look of puzzlement on his face. "I have to admit, I still don't see the problem."

For what was possibly the first time in his entire nineteen years of life, Gippal was struck completely speechless.

And Cid was trying his damndest not to die laughing. He covered the few giggles that threatened to slip out with a cough before regaining his composure and continuing. "To be honest son, I've known about them for a couple of months now, so this doesn't really come as that big of a surprise to me."

Gippal's mouth fell open another six inches. "You're not worried about the fact that your daughter is cuddling with Dachi? For the love of Spira, Cid! Just last week there were rumors flying around that he had a fling with a hypello!"

"I'm not worried. I'm pretty sure Rikku can attest as to his sexual orientation." He did his best not to chuckle at the other man's obvious discomfort at the thought, "Besides, he's got a fairly stable source of income, he treats her good, and she seems to think he's worth wasting her time on. I'm not going to be the one to question her on things like this. Hell, if it was up to me, she'd probably never date at all."

Cid could've sworn the other man mumbled something under his breath that sounded an awful lot like "Sounds like a plan", but he chose to ignore it. Instead he opted to rub a bit more salt into the wound.

"Besides, Dachi and I have already entered into talks negotiating her hand."

"You what?" Ah, there was the explosion the Al Bhed leader had been hoping for.

"Now, now, no reason to get your panties in a bunch. It's just something we've discussed once or twice. He hasn't even brought the idea up to Rikku yet."

"You can't be serious. Cid, look at me and tell me you're not serious. Fucking hell, you're serious, aren't you? This is insane!"

"I'm having trouble understanding your objections here, Gip. She can't stay single forever. Surely even you know that."

"I do know that. But I also know that she's still way too young for you to be marrying her off to the first guy who seems interested." Gippal was fairly certain that his head was going to explode any moment. Either that, or he would wake up to find that he had gotten horribly drunk the night before, and was currently stuck in some sort of hangover induced nightmare.

"Don't sell my girl short, boy. He's not the first one to be interested. I can think of at least one other." Cid leveled his gaze on the other man.

Gippal winced, "That was a long time ago, Cid."

"Not long enough, apparently."

"And what, exactly, is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you've been in love with my daughter since before you were old enough to know what love was."

Gippal made a little sound in the back of his throat, but made no move to deny it.

"Would it make a difference if she got married five years from now? Or would you still be objecting?"

"Yes! No! Hell, I don't know."

"Tell me Gippal, what business is it of yours who she's involved with? Last I knew, you hadn't done anything but make her cry." Gippal cringed a bit, but Cid was relentless, "And now, you've messed around for far too long, and someone else has stepped in to take your place."

"I get the point, old man. That doesn't change the fact that letting her marry him would be a mistake. You know that as well as I do!"

"I'm her father. I won't ever approve of anyone she dates. And honestly, I don't really like Dachi that much. But there's not a whole lot I can do in this situation. She's still young, but I'm getting older. I want to see my baby happy before I die."

Gippal opened his mouth to voice some sort of objection, but Cid once again cut him off at the pass, "Now, I'm not saying I'm dying right now. But I won't live forever. She's going to have to learn to live without me here, and I don't want her to have to do it alone."

Gippal was quiet for a moment, his gaze contemplative. When he finally spoke, his voice held a confidence that hadn't been there only moments before. "Tell me what I need to do."

"What do you want me to tell you, Son? That you should rush the airship, guns blazing, kidnap her, and demand that she break-up with her boyfriend because you're a screw-up?"

Gippal was silent for a moment, his gaze thoughtful. "Do you think it would work?"

"I'm not sure I would try it."

"There has to be something I can do, Cid. I'm not sure if you've noticed it, but I don't like to lose."

"And that's precisely why you can't win."

Gippal's eye widened a bit.

"You can't win because as long as you're going to treat my daughter like she's a trophy, I'll make damn sure that you don't get within ten feet of her."

The younger man winced, "That wasn't what I meant."

"I know very well what you meant. If you think you still care about Rikku, then by all means, please, try to win her over. If you don't, then just leave it be. She deserves to be happy."

"If I try to get her away from Dachi, will you back me up?"

"I've done enough by talking to you. But I tell you what, I can send her your direction if you want. Make her think it's something to do with a birthday present for me. I'll have to come up with something good, try to keep her stranded in Djose for a few days. But so help me, If she finds out I've interfered, I'm coming after you first. And while I might not dislike you as much as I dislike the moron she's dating now, I still don't like you enough to listen to her whining about what an unfair father I am."

"Fair enough. I promise you won't regret this, Cid."

"I promise you that I had better not regret it, Gippal." With that, the connection was broken, and the Al Bhed leader finally gave way to the laughter that he had been holding in since the conversation had begun.

Oh yeah, this was going to be good.