My Fair Lady

Fang took one look at the thing in Vanille's hands and went straight for her gun. "You drop that thing right this instant, Vanille," she growled. "Or by all that's good and decent, I swear I'll drop you instead."

To her credit though, Vanille just grinned and waved the thing she was holding about even more merrily. "Don't be like that, Fang." She thrust the thing at Fang. "Look how pretty it is. There's no two ways about it, you just have to wear it!"

Fang actually took a step or two back before she caught on to what she was doing and forced herself to square her shoulders and hold her ground. "It's a dress, Vanille." She jabbed at the dress with the barrel of her gun. "You know I don't care too much for dresses."

"Yes, yes, you've told me that plenty of times before," Vanille replied with a frown as she batted Fang's gun away. "You always say that pants are better because they're easier to move and fight in and all that sort of thing."

"Well, they are." Fang holstered her gun and smirked. "Besides, I look damn good in pants."

"Yeah, I guess you do," Vanille said. "But Fang, you do look… well… kind of a bit dangerous in pants." Fang's smirk became a scowl and Vanille held the dress up almost like a shield. "I don't mean dangerous in a bad way, Fang, but dangerous in a kind of 'I can handle myself and you'd be a damn fool to cross me' kind of way." She laughed nervously. "That's just fine out West, Fang, but I think it'd be better to look a little less scary when we drop by Cocoon today. A dress might help with that… maybe."

Fang turned Vanille's words over in her mind for a moment, trying to see a way to wriggle out of them, but she had to admit, the little red head had a point. "I guess you could be right, but you do realise that Estheim's already seen you and me kicking people around. Won't he be a little bit suspicious if we turn up looking all lady like?"

Vanille smiled. "Probably not. Everyone knows that out West a lady has to be able to look after herself." She struck a lady like pose. "Now that we're back in civilisation, it's only right that we handle ourselves all polite and proper." She stepped toward Fang. "And that means wearing a dress."

Fang took another step back, away from Vanille, and away from the dress. "Does it have to be that one? It's all… all… girly looking."

Vanille looked down at the dress in her hands and gave Fang a smirk of her own. "Girly, Fang? This dress isn't girly. It's all woman and I figure that should suit you just fine, seeing as how you're all woman and then some." She let her gaze wander keenly over first Fang and then the dress. "I'm telling you, Fang, it'll look just great on you. I got it done up so that it fits you just right and I know there's a lot of white, but that'll look so nice against the colour of your skin and there's a fair bit of green too that I just know will bring out the colour of your eyes." She giggled and it took every bit of Fang's courage not to bolt for the door. "You'll look so good in it that those jerks over at Cocoon won't know what to think. Why, you could probably start blowing things up and they'd hardly be able to take their eyes off you."

Fang looked over at the dress again and found her eyes lingering a little too long for her liking. It was very pretty, she realised, and she would look very good in it…. "Wait," she murmured, "How did you get it made up to fit me properly?" Fang growled. "I don't remember getting measured up or anything."

"Oh…" Vanille waved the dress about happily. "I just measured you up myself while you were sleeping."

"You what?" Fang wasn't sure whether to be damn impressed that Vanille had managed to do that without waking her, or downright terrified of what else her friend might have gotten up to without her knowing. "How'd you manage that?"

"Now that, Fang, is a secret." Vanille's smile was just about the evilest thing that Fang had ever seen. "So, are you going to wear it or not?"

Fang sighed. "I suppose there's no harm in wearing it… and it will help with the plan, so, yeah, I guess I could wear it."

Vanille gave a little cry of joy and lunged forward to hug Fang, the dress caught up between them. "Oh that's great Fang." Still smiling, she pulled back and called out toward the door. "Fang said she'd wear it, Lahna, bring in the rest."

"Huh?" Fang stuttered dumbly as the door burst open. Lahna strode in carrying a whole other bunch of… things. "What is all that?" Fang cried as she managed to pry Vanille off her and back away. That big grin on Lahna's face was definitely not a good thing. Unfortunately for Fang, she only managed to get a few steps away before her back met the wall. A quick, panicked glance around the room told her that she was boxed in good and proper. The window was on the wall opposite her, which meant that her chances of getting away were awfully close to nothing.

Vanille smiled like she'd suddenly gotten every wish she'd ever made granted all at once. "Well, Fang, you can't just wear a dress on its own, now can you?" She gestured at some of the things that Lahna held. "Why, there's the chemise to worry about, not to mention the petticoats, the garniture, the corset and all those other things!" Vanille took a step forward, her eyes aglitter. "So before we can even get to the dress, we've got to fix you up with all of those first!"

Fang pressed herself flat against the wall and wondered if there was anyway she could bust through it. "Where did you get all of this?"

Vanille paused for a moment, a thoughtful look on her face. "You know all those times I had to sneak into towns to get us supplies and things? Well, I kind of picked them up along the way and I figured I might as well get some stuff for you." She grinned. "We never did get to play dress up much when we were little, so it's nice that I'm getting the chance to dress you up now instead."

"What if I've changed my mind?" Fang said, sticking her chin out boldly. Times like this, a woman had to stick to her guns, really lay down the law. "What if I don't want to wear a dress anymore."

Vanille's eyes widened and for just a moment, Fang thought she might've won, but she should've known better. A devious sort of look came onto Vanille's face and she turned to Lahna. "You know, Lahna, I always thought Fang was pretty brave. Seems to me she's a little scared to wear a dress. Maybe, you know, she doesn't think she can pull it off."

Lahna nodded. "You could be right there, Vanille. It takes a real classy woman to wear a dress like this, a real brave one too. But we both know that Fang isn't like that…"

Fang felt her eye twitch. She knew exactly what those two were up to and she wasn't about to fall for it. They could say what they wanted, but there was no way she'd cave. She wasn't a coward and she was just as much a lady as anyone else and wearing or not wearing a damn dress wasn't going to change that. "Heh. I'm wise to your tricks, Vanille. I'm not falling for it." Her eyes flash emerald fire. "So put a stop it right now, you hear."

Vanille sighed and looked at Lahna. "Well, I guess we've just to do this the hard way." Her eyes narrowed. "Get her!"

Outside the room, Sazh stopped for just a moment as the early morning calm was broken by a shrill, terrified scream.

"Daddy, was that Fang?"

Sazh looked down at Dajh and patted the boy on the shoulder. "I reckon so, son, but I figure it's none of our business what's going on in there. We'd be better off just grabbing some breakfast." Yes, if there was one thing that Sazh had learned over the years, it was that messing with Vanille was a bad idea, especially once she'd gotten her heart set on something. That was doubly true when Lahna was in on it with her. On the upside, he was pretty sure that Fang would come through things alive, although in what sort of condition, he couldn't be sure.

"Are you sure, daddy?" Dajh asked. "Fang sounds like she's in trouble."

Sazh glanced at the door as another scream rang out. "Trust me, son, you don't want to go into that room right now."

On Dajh's shoulder, Chirpy could only nod, the little chocobo wincing as Fang let out another panicked wail.

X X X

An hour later, Sazh and Dajh were downstairs. They'd eaten a pretty decent breakfast and Sazh was just fine with idling the time away over a newspaper or two. It didn't hurt either that the windows were open, warm streams of sunshine coming through them as Dajh poked at some chocolate thing with far too much sugar in it. A lazy smile crossed his lips. Lahna might chew him out for it later – some talk about it ruining Dajh's teeth – but a bit of chocolate every now and then was good for a boy, although he wasn't so sure that feeding some of it to Chirpy was a good idea. If something happened to the bird, then Lahna wouldn't just yell at him, she'd probably strangle him.

Just then there was a commotion near the stairs. Sazh looked up from his paper and then stared. And then stared some more. Vanille, Fang, and Lahna were there, all three of them dressed to the nines. Vanille was wearing one of those sundresses she seemed to like so much, a light blue one this time that brought out the green of her eyes and went well with the sort of pale blonde wig she'd chosen. Lahna too was looking mighty fine in something a little more formal, and when their eyes met, he grinned, slow, and lazy to show just how much he appreciated her taking the time to look so pretty, although really, he'd have thought her pretty if she was just wearing a burlap sack – not that he'd ever be fool enough to say that. But the real surprise was Fang. It was the first time he'd ever seen her in a dress and he had to admit that it suited her real well. A quick look around at some of the other men lounging about for breakfast told him that he wasn't looking, though he didn't care too much for those whose eyes were dropping a little lower than her face.

"Well, now, what's this here?" Sazh said as he stood and waved them over. "You're all looking right beautiful this morning."

Vanille and Lahna both smiled, but Fang sort of fidgeted and went to adjust the golden blonde wig she wore before Vanille stopped her with a look.

"You're not looking so bad yourself," Vanille said before she had to stifle a giggle. Lahna had finally noticed the chocolate in front of Dajh and she did not look all that happy.

Sazh grinned at Fang. "Seems like all that screaming was worth it. You should wear a dress more often."

To Sazh's amazement, Fang actually blushed. "Not a chance, old man."

Sazh smirked. Well, he'd finally found something that could make Fang blush. He reached over to pat Dajh on the shoulder. "Come on, Dajh, take a look at these fine ladies we've got here. What do you think?"

Dajh looked up from his chocolate and smiled broadly. "You look really pretty, mommy. You too, Vanille." And then he sort of looked a little puzzled and tilted his head to one side as he pointed at Fang. "Daddy, who's that?"

That did it. Vanille had to grab a chair to keep standing as she burst out laughing. The light blush on Fang's face darkened and Sazh was sure that if it weren't for Lahna being around, Fang would have done something violent, probably to both him and Vanille. As it was, Fang just turned away with her arms folded over her chest, a most unladylike pose, and scowled.

"Son, that's Fang." Sazh's eyes narrowed. "Although I suppose you'll be going by Fran today."

Fang finally managed to get her blush under control. "Yeah, that's right. Vanille and I will be meeting up with the Estheims today, so it'll be Fran and Penelo. What about you three, what are you up to today?"

Sazh shrugged. "I figured we might head down to the zoo. They're supposed to have a pretty good one here and Dajh has been taking a pretty keen interest in things with teeth and claws. I reckon it'll be better if he gets a look at them when they're behind bars first, instead of up close and personal." He grimaced. "You saw how friendly he was with Nanaki back there at Cosmo Canyon. Most critters won't be so friendly as that."

"The zoo, huh?" Fang murmured. "Seems like a decent way to spend the day." She took a seat at the table. "Might as well get something to eat now that we're here." She frowned and looked around. "I just wish people would stop staring."

Vanille giggled. "They're staring at a very beautiful young lady, Fang."

Fang muttered something that sounded an awful lot like swearing and Sazh sat back down with a big smile on his face. Now this was a fine way to spend a morning.

X X X

If Fang had thought that Vanille might let up a little now that they'd finally gotten her into a dress, she was in for a nasty surprise. Most times, she was happy enough with a good warm meal, but she was having a hard time enjoying this one as Vanille continued to nag at her about how to hold herself like a lady. First it was the way she was holding her spoon, then it was about the size of the bites she was taking of her food and then…

Where in the world had Vanille learned all of this? It definitely wasn't from Sazh. Sure, he could handle himself well enough in polite society, but he knew just about nothing about acting like a lady. Lahna had probably helped, but that couldn't be the whole story either. No, if Fang had to guess, she'd say that Vanille had learned it the same way she'd learned most things: by watching closely and practicing a whole lot. She scowled. It was all those trips into town. Vanille would have watched all the ladies really keenly and then, when she was going around all dressed up to get supplies and things, she would have put all she'd seen to use. A grim smile crossed Fang's face. Vanille really was all kinds of tricky when she wanted to be.

"Come on, Fang," Vanille chided. "If you're going to dress like a lady, you need to act like one and that means not using your fork like you're stabbing someone."

Fang shot Vanille a dirty look and brandished her fork at her. She'd had just about enough. "You just keep talking, Vanille. I'll stab you if you're not careful."

Vanille paled a little. Maybe she had been a little too hard on Fang. "No you won't, you like me too much." All the same though, she scooted her chair just a little closer to Lahna. It was better safe than sorry, after all.

Fang found herself smiling for the first time in what left like a while. She leaned forward, fork pointed right at Vanille. "You do realise, don't you, Vanille, that the three of them are going to the zoo while the two of us are going to be spending the whole day together." She jabbed the fork down into a flannel cake. "The whole day."

Vanille squeaked. "I'll be good."

Fang lifted the flannel cake to her mouth and chewed it extra slowly. It was good to know she could still put a scare or two on Vanille when she needed to. "You better be."

After breakfast, Fang and Vanille headed off toward the big Cocoon place right in the middle of the business district. Along the way, Fang couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief that Vanille hadn't had the time to set her up with a parasol. As it was, the red head had one of her own and while Fang thought Vanille cut a pretty cute picture with it, there was no way that she wanted one of her own. Heck, if there were so many rules for how to hold a fork, there had to be at least twice as many for how to hold a parasol. It didn't help either that the parasol in question was frilly, with a great deal of pink.

They got to the Cocoon place pretty quick and for a few minutes they just stood out in front of it as people bustled past them on the sidewalk. It didn't look like such a bad place, not really. Sure, it was big, and there was a tall iron fence out in front, but the buildings had a sort of reserved look to them and the fence was painted a cheerful shade of green. It almost looked harmless, but Fang knew that looks could be tricky, and more often than not it was the harmless looking things in life that turned out to be the most deadly.

"You think they're running late?" Vanille asked as she looked around. "I don't see them anywhere."

On the train over to Eden City from Cosmo Canyon, they'd set things up so that they could come have a look around while Bart Estheim got his business sorted with Cocoon.

"Easy there, they'll come." Fang smiled ruefully. "They're good, decent folk, after all."

True to form, it wasn't more than a few minutes more before the Estheims showed up and for just a second, Fang felt a stab of regret. They were dressed pretty formally and it was clear to anyone with eyes that they were good, decent people, the kind of people who'd probably never done a wrong thing in their lives. She didn't much care for dragging them into her and Vanille's business with Cocoon, but right now, she didn't have much choice. Besides, if things worked out right, they'd never suspect a thing.

"Good morning," Bart said with a smile. "You're both looking very well today."

Fang inclined her head. "Good morning, Bart." Her eyes flicked past Bart and she felt a grin slip onto her face as Hope stared at her and Vanille before he caught himself and looked away. Well, well, well, wasn't that interesting?

"How are you and the family?" Vanille asked. Smiling broadly, she leant her parasol over one shoulder and sighed. "I will say, it is good to be back in civilisation. That was some tricky business on the trip over."

Bart nodded. "Tricky it was, but you two sure handled yourselves well. Still, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. The West is a tricky place for people who can't deal with surprises. Why, Nora here is no slouch with a frying pan when the situation calls for it."

"Bart!" Nora scolded, although the laughter in her eyes gave her away. She glanced back at Fang and Vanille. "But really, you two do look so very nice. Where did you get that dress, Fran? It looks lovely on you."

Fang flushed. "Well… you'll have to ask Penelo about that. She was the one who found it. I'm not much into fashion myself."

Vanille giggled. "I picked it up from a little place in Midgar Town. They're not a big place, and it can take a while, but they do good work as you can see."

"You'll have to give me their address," Nora said. "I'll be sure to take a closer look." She glanced over at Hope and her lips curved into a small smile. "Well, Hope, you're not going to say anything?"

Fang smirked as the boy fumbled quickly for something to say.

"Um… uh… you both look real nice," Hope stuttered.

"Why thank you, Hope, you're very kind," Vanille said with a sunny smile on her face that had Hope turning a very, very bright shade of red.

"Not bad, kid," Fang said. There was just something about look on Hope's face – a mix of embarrassment, happiness, and mild aggravation – that just made her want to ruffle his hair. "And you even managed to keep your eyes on our faces the whole time too, not like some of the people around here." She punctuated the words with a glare at one particular passerby who had most certainly not been looking at her face.

"Ahem." Bart coughed. "Well, we did raise Hope to be a gentleman." He shifted his gaze over to the Cocoon place. "It's just about time for my appointment with the folks from Cocoon, so why don't we head over? Apparently there's some sort of tour or something that they give folks who are curious, so I guess they could take you all on that while I talk business."

"That so?" Fang grinned. "That doesn't sound half bad." Really, it was just like Cocoon to have something like a tour going. They'd show people around, get them to think that everything was above board when really they had all the interesting stuff hidden in plain sight. It was downright devious, and just the sort of thing she'd expect from them.

They made their over to the gate out front and Fang wasn't the least bit surprised to find that for all its friendly image, Cocoon had a fair number of guards patrolling behind the fence and quite a few at the gate, as well. The guard in charge at the gate was a dour looking sort of fellow, the kind who took his job just a little too seriously for Fang's liking. Still, when he caught sight of her, Vanille, and Nora, he brightened up some, even had the decency to smile as he called another guard over to escort them to where Bart had his meeting set up. Heh. Maybe Vanille's plan wasn't so crazy after all.

They were led over to a stately white stone building set in the middle of a pretty decent looking garden. Inside, it was all rich oak panelling on the walls and finely kept antique furniture. The whole place just screamed money and for a moment Fang let herself imagine setting the whole place on fire. Of course, she couldn't do that, at least not until she'd found what she was looking for. However, her little vision did keep her occupied until they reached a large sitting room that looked out onto the garden. There were two men waiting for them there, and for all that they were dressed like businessmen, she could tell that they were dangerous.

One of the men rose, a real tall fellow, and stepped forward to greet them. He had black hair that was combed neatly and his suit was a sombre thing, all black and grey. There was a certain calmness to him that Fang knew well, the kind of calmness that a man could only ever get by coming through the toughest of times okay. His eyes were a hard colour to place, though she'd probably put them somewhere near amber. He took a second to look at each of them, not in a challenging sort of way, but more to try and take their measure, to see what he was dealing with.

"Good morning, Mr Estheim," he said at last. "My name is Cid Raines, and I will be speaking on behalf of Cocoon."

Bart stepped forward and offered his hand. "Good morning to you too, Mr Raines." His eyes flicked past Cid to the other man who was sitting pretty casually on one of the chairs by the table with his hands folded behind his head and his legs extended out in front of him. "And who is your friend there?"

"My… friend there is Zack Fair," Cid said. "He will be giving your companions a tour while we talk business." His gaze sharpened. "Why don't you introduce yourself, Zack, and please, try to keep things polite."

Fang watched carefully as Zack stood up. At first glance, he looked like a pretty harmless fellow, if a little laid back, what with his hair spiking up at the front and his suit just a bit rumpled, yet somehow still managing to show off his good looks. But that would have been selling him short. For all his laid back look, he moved with the ease of someone in good shape, and the guns he wore on either side of his waist had the look of long use.

"Howdy there," Zack drawled and Fang lips curled as he ran his eyes over them. His eyes drifted over to Nora, took note of the blonde's good looks, but also the boy at her side and then moved on. They stopped on Fang and Vanille and Fang could almost hear the wheels turning in his head as he began to plan how to get into their good graces.

"Well, howdy to you too, Mr Fair," Vanille said.

Fang's eyes widened just a little at the cheerfulness behind the greeting and she glanced over at Vanille. Sure enough, the little minx had the most devious little twinkle in her eyes and for a moment, she almost pitied the poor fellow, because when it came to playing games, there wasn't anyone in the world better than Vanille.

"Zack," Cid said. "Why don't you take them on the tour now. Mr Estheim and I should have things sorted out by the time you're finished."

Zack gave them all a winning smile. "I'd be happy to take these fine young ladies on a tour of the place, Cid." He paused and grinned at Hope. "I'll take the kid along too, of course."

Hope scowled and Fang had to pity him. The kid had a few years yet before he could hold his own against someone like Zack.

"Well, let's get going then," Zack said. "We've got a big place here, and it'll take a while to show you all around. Besides, on a fine day like this, I think it's much better to be out and about, rather than talking business."

"So, Mr Fair," Nora asked as they followed Zack out of the building. "What is it that you do for Cocoon?"

Zack smiled. "I guess you could say I work on the public relations side of things. You know, give a friendly face to the company and all that." He glanced over at Vanille. "Any place you'd like to see first?"

Vanille nodded quickly. "I've heard you've got a printing press set up somewhere around here."

Zack tilted his head to one side. "A printing press? We certainly do, after all, the company owns and operates a newspaper, which we print right here in this compound. You want to take a look?"

"Sure, at least, that is if we're allowed," Vanille said as she clasped her hands out in front of her and her eyes got real big and watery.

Zack chuckled. "Don't worry, little lady, there isn't anywhere in this place that I can't bring you folks. Just say the word and we're there."

Fang almost laughed. Perfect.

The printing presses were kept in a large brick building not all that far from where they'd started. On the outside, things didn't seem all that bad, but on the inside, it was horribly noisy. The printing presses clanked and rumbled and groaned and the air was thick with the smell of oil and grease and ink. Frankly, Fang couldn't wait to get out of there and from the looks on Nora and Hope's faces she wasn't the only one. Vanille though, had a great big grin on her face as she practically danced around the place, poking at the printing presses and yelling questions at anybody she thought might be able to answer them.

"Your friend sure likes machinery," Zack said as they watched Vanille lean over the railing to look right into the guts of one of the printing presses.

"Yes, she does," Fang said before she darted forward to grab Vanille by the waist. She might not know too much about printing presses, but she was pretty sure that falling into one wouldn't end too well.

"This is just incredible, Mr Fair!" Vanille yelled. "How many papers can you print a day? How long does it take the ink to set? How long does –"

Fang chuckled as Zack actually took a step back under the barrage of questions. None of the people Vanille had asked had been able to answer all of her questions, so it wasn't too surprising that she'd turn to Zack for some answers. Of course, the poor fellow didn't know all that much, although he did manage to answer a couple of the questions and even slip in a compliment or two.

"He's taken quite a liking to Penelo hasn't he?" Nora asked with a gentle smile as they began to make their way out of the building and back outside to where it was a good deal quieter.

"Penelo tends to have that effect on people," Fang replied. "She kind of grows on you, whether you want her to or not."

Nora nodded. "I can see that." She paused and then gave Fang a shrewd look. "You know, Fran, you seem awfully curious about this place. You've been looking around like you're trying to memorise the place since we got here."

Fang's eyes widened. She'd underestimated Nora, all right. Sure, she'd had the others to worry about – Zack was a sharp fellow, for all that he seemed to be making the moves on Vanille – but a woman didn't last long out West without a good head on her shoulders. "I just like to keep a handle on things, you know, keep my bearings wherever I am."

"That so?" Nora looked a little sceptical but let the matter drop. "So… you're not the least bit worried about Penelo? That Zack fellows going after her pretty hard."

Fang laughed. "Trust me, Nora, if there's anyone who needs looking after, it's Zack. He even thinks of stepping over the line, Vanille will knock him back over it." And if she doesn't, Fang added mentally, I sure as hell will.

"I don't know – he seems pretty shifty to me," Hope said, cutting into the conversation. "Fact is, I don't trust him."

Fang glanced over at Hope and was again struck by the urge to ruffle his hair. He was like an angry little puppy. Of course, she'd seen the little looks that he'd sent Vanille the whole time, and she actually thought it was sort of cute. Problem was, Hope was all of fourteen or fifteen, so while he wasn't a boy anymore, he wasn't quite a man either. From what she could tell though, he had the makings of a good man, but that was a few years off yet, and she somehow doubted that telling him that would make him feel any less put out.

"Well, Hope," Nora said gently, "Mr Fair has been pretty decent to everyone so far."

"I still don't like him," Hope muttered.

"All right," Zack said. "Where would you all like to head to next? We've got a good place to eat if you're hungry, or we could keep going, maybe take a look at some of the factories we've got here, or if that doesn't suit you, maybe some of the offices, you know, give you a glimpse of what it's like to push paper around all day." He grinned. "We've even got a couple of projects on display if you're interested, the very latest in Cocoon machinery."

"How about we take a look at the offices first," Fang said with a smile that was completely genuine. "You know, get the boring stuff out of the way at the start."

Zack grinned. "Sure, why not."

About half an hour later, Fang was pretty sure they'd hit pay dirt. The office building wasn't much to look at, but as Zack had shown them around inside, it had become pretty clear that most of the paperwork was handled right there. Naturally, he couldn't show them around the whole place, but she'd already gotten a pretty good idea of where everything was by then. Still, it wouldn't hurt to be sure.

"What through there?" Fang asked, pointing to a locked door at the end of one corridor.

Zack looked at her for a moment and she wondered if he'd seen through her. "Don't worry about that. There's just more offices through there, nothing interesting really."

"I don't suppose we could take another look around?" Vanille asked, batting her eyelashes. "I think I saw one of those new type writer things around and I'd just love to take a look at one up close."

Zack never had a chance. "Sure thing. In fact, I'll see if I can't maybe get you a couple of minutes on one of those things."

Fang grinned. Leave it to Vanille to make sure they had the whole place scouted good proper. Another look would be all Fang needed to get the whole layout of the building memorised and that would definitely come in handy when they came back to snoop around.

After that, Zack took them all over to the restaurant right in the middle of the place. It was nice enough, with a wide selection of food, and it didn't hurt one bit that Zack had offered to pay for everything. Somehow, despite eating in a way that was entirely ladylike, Vanille still managed to get through quite a bit of food. In fact, the only one who ate more than her was Hope, who seemed to be treating the thing as a strange kind of revenge. He didn't have much of a chance at hurting Zack in anything even approach a fair fight, but he could try to put a dent in his wallet.

After lunch, Zack showed them around the rest of the place and while Fang was careful to note the layout of everything else, it became pretty clear that what they were after was in the office building they'd gone into earlier. A glance at a clock over on one of the buildings told her that it wouldn't be too much longer before three o'clock when she and Vanille had to go meet with Lightning and Quistis.

"I'm afraid we're going to have to call it a day," Fang said.

"You're leaving?" Nora asked. "It's not even late afternoon yet."

Fang shrugged. "Unfortunately, we've got some other business to take care of." She nodded at Zack. "Thank you for showing us around, Mr Fair."

Vanille grinned. "It was fun. We'll be sure to come back some time."

Zack smirked. "Well, if you do, just ask for me and I'll be sure to show you guys around again."

"We'll been in Eden City for at least another week," Nora said as she produced a slip of paper from her purse and handed it to Fang. "This is where we're staying. If you want, we could meet up later, perhaps see the city together."

Fang took the piece of paper. "That sounds like a fine idea, Nora. I'll be sure to let you know if we can set something up." She sighed. "Well, see you all later then."

Vanille giggled. "See you all later, Nora, Mr Fair, Hope."

As the two of them made their way out of the Cocoon place and over to the southern entrance of the Eden City Gardens to meet Quistis and Lightning, Fang glanced over at Vanille.

"You looked pretty happy back there, Vanille," Fang said. "Pretty cosy with that Zack fellow, I think."

"Well, of course I was happy. Did you see that printing press? And then there was that factory. It was great." Vanille made a face. "And besides, you know I was just fishing for information." She smirked. "You memorised the layout of that office building, right?"

Fang chuckled. "I suppose I can't argue with results."

"Anyway, Mr Fair was kind of cute, don't you think?" Vanille said with a grin. "And he was pretty nice."

"Cute? I'm not so sure about that and sure he was nice, but you could tell just as easily as I could that he's dangerous." Fang paused for a second. "Now that I think about it, his name does sound kind of familiar." She grinned. "Anyway, he wasn't the only one eyeing you something fierce. That Hope kid was looking at you too, you know."

Vanille laughed softly. "I know." She grinned wickedly. "Who knows, maybe we'll run into him a few years from now when he's grown up good and proper. He looks like he could be quite a man someday."

Fang smirked. "Well, if you're going to go after the kid one day, you'd better get straightened out – I don't think Nora would like a wanted criminal going after that son of hers."

"Like you're one to talk," Vanille replied, "Little miss tease the sheriff."

Fang huffed. "That's different and you know it."

It was just going on three o'clock when they reached the southern entrance of the Eden City Gardens. She and Vanille took a seat on one of the benches out front and waited patiently for Quistis and Lightning to arrive. For Fang, it was definitely worth the wait.

"Well, look what we have here," Fang drawled as she stood and ran her eyes over Lightning. The sheriff's hair was a deep jet black instead of pink. Fang hoped it was just a wig, because really, the sheriff's pink hair was too lovely to ruin by dying it black. But what really caught her was the fact that the sheriff was wearing a dress, and quite a pretty one too, although she figured Lightning would probably look good in just about anything. The dress was a darker shade of blue, picked just right to really contrast with the ice blue of her eyes and the paleness of her skin. "Never thought I'd see you in a dress, sunshine."

Lightning flushed and fidgeted. It was pretty clear to Fang that Lightning hadn't worn a dress for a while now, because she kept tugging at it like she wasn't quite sure how it should fit, although from where Fang was standing, it fit just fine. "My sister forced me to wear it," Lightning muttered.

Fang grinned. "Don't worry, sunshine, it looks good on you, real good." She glanced over at Vanille. "Besides, I know how you feel. One moment I'm in pants, the next moment I'm getting ambushed and shoved into a dress." She tilted her head to one side. "I don't suppose you've got a gun on you?"

Lightning nodded and tapped the purse she held, happy to move onto something a little more familiar. "I sure do. And you?"

Fang nodded back. She had a small pistol on one of her garters – one of the few concessions she'd managed to wrangle out of Vanille and Lahna – and one hidden away in the purse that she carried just like Lightning. "I've got two."

"So, how did things go?" Quistis asked. "Did you find what we were looking for?"

"I think so," Fang said. "Although, you really should be thanking Vanille. She just about flirted her way to victory."

Quistis raised one eyebrow. "You'll have to tell us about that sometime."

"I fully intend to," Fang said before her gaze drifted over to Lightning. Should she or shouldn't she?

"Well, what's the hold up?" Lightning asked. "Aren't you going to tell us what's going on?"

"You know what, sunshine, I could really use a cup of coffee about know. You care to join me?" Fang asked.

Lightning's eyes widened. "Coffee?"

"Why not? It's not like we'll be doing anything until this evening anyway, and it would be better to talk about this in private, unless you want everyone else to hear what we're planning." Fang grinned. "Of course, Vanille and Quistis are coming too, unless you'd like me all to yourself. I certainly wouldn't mind."

Lightning growled. "What did you say?"

Fang smiled sunnily. "You know, if you wanted to get my attention, you didn't have to dress up. I liked you just fine the way you were, although I have to say, sunshine, you do look mighty fetching in that dress."

Lightning stepped forward. She'd be damned if she let Fang get the better of her again. "I think you've got it the wrong way round. Maybe you dressed up to impress me." She looked down her nose at Fang. "Well, I'm not impressed."

Fang's eyes narrowed. "What was that?" She gestured down at herself. "What's not to be impressed by?"

Lightning bared her teeth. "You heard me."

Fang paused for a moment and then smirked. "You say that, but don't think I haven't seen you looking a little lower than my face, sunshine."

"I have not!" Lightning insisted before, out of reflex her eyes did just that. "Gah!"

"Heh, knew you couldn't resist," Fang said before Lightning's eyes snapped back up to hers. "What, see something you like?"

Lightning response was an inarticulate sound that was somewhere between a swear word and a scream.

Quistis sighed and looked at Vanille. "Is she always like this?"

Vanille nodded. "Just about." She smiled. "But don't worry, it won't be as bad as last time even if Fang does keep teasing Lightning. After all, it's pretty hard to fight properly in a dress, so it's not like they'll kill each other or anything."

"Ah, good point." Quistis glanced at the parasol in Vanille's hands. "Although you should probably keep that out of reach. It's not a sword, but I'm pretty sure Lightning could stab someone with it."

"You mean Fang?" Vanille asked.

"Definitely."

X X X

Author's Notes

As always, I neither own Final Fantasy, nor am I making any money off this.

Well… here I am again. It wasn't my intention to have more than a month between updates, but real life decided to give me a bit of a kick in the guts and then a whack upside the head with a 2 x 4 just for good measure. For those who are curious (I'm not sure who is, but humour me, at least, for a moment) the delay is largely due to two things. One, I've been working on emendations to my thesis, and two, my mother has recently undergone major surgery. In any case, I haven't had much time to write, but I hope to get back on track with updates and the like as things settle down.

Anyway, I'd like to apologise up front for the quality of this chapter. I feel a little rusty because of all the things that have happened recently, and I'm pretty sure it shows. However, I really needed to get this chapter out of the way so that I could clear some of the writing rust off and get back into the story. So anyway, this chapter is pretty clearly a set up for the next one. It's also (hopefully) somewhat humorous. The main idea of the chapter (and the title) was something I thought up while wondering about just how Vanille and Fang could go wandering about Cocoon without being too suspicious because obviously walking in there toting guns and looking like bandits wasn't going to work. It helped, of course, that it wasn't very hard to imagine Fang being just a little bit reluctant to get all dressed up while Vanille really got into it. Also, I wasn't trying to bash Hope. As cool as he will be one day, the kid has got a few years of growing still to do before he can go chasing after anyone (romantically or with a gun – although the two need not be mutually exclusive).

For those who are not aware of it, Zack Fair is from FF VII and Cid Raines is from FF XIII.

As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.