A/N: That little event with Snow and Hope and that vender is a little something I saw on the Suite Life on Deck. It was so funny, so I thought I'd try it. Ah, I really miss the show. I sometimes wish it was still around. Anyways, now we're moving on to where Hope has a date...but with who? Let's find out.

As usual, Lightning was the first to wake up in the morning. Tomorrow is her birthday, and she's gonna take the day off like Serah insisted. Lightning sits on the table, eating her breakfast with her cup of coffee. After all that paperwork yesterday, she can't wait for her birthday, where she can rest and relax at home. Unless Serah has other plans.

Serah and Hope comes down the stairs. By the time they're down, Lightning is heading out the door.

"Leaving for work already?" Hope asks.

"That's right." Lightning says. Lightning looks at Hope, offers him a smile and ruffles the boys head. "I'll see you in the afternoon."

Lightning is out the door, getting into her hover car and taking off. Hope just watches Lightning leave, until she's long gone then Hope joins Serah in the kitchen.

"So, Serah. What are you gonna do today?" Hope asks.

"I don't know. If Snow's not busy, I might go out with him." Serah looks at Hope. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Hope says.

"If you want, you can come with us. We could make it a double date." Serah says.

Hope looks at Serah with a surprised look. "A double date?" Serah nods. "I-I don't even have a girlfriend."

"What about Vanille, you could ask her out." Hearing that suggestion surprised Hope even deeper. He even blushes at the thought of going out with Vanille.

Sure, he does think Vanille's cute, but he doesn't feel comfortable going out with her. Not in a he can't stand her way, just in a he feels embarrassed and he's too nervous in a way. Hope does have a crush on Vanille, of course he wonders how Serah find out. Was it too obvious?

Before Hope could say anything, Serah's already making him ask Vanille out. Already, they're walking up the sidewalk heading towards Vanille's house next door. Hope is holding a small bouquet of flowers.

Hope stops on his tracks, Serah stops as well since she's following him from behind. "I-I don't know about this, Serah. I don't feel so good." Hope turns to face Serah. "Maybe we shouldn't do this."

"Don't be silly. You just have butterflies in your stomach." Serah says. Hope seems confused hearing that. Serah cleared it up what she meant. "You're just nervous."

Hope knows his nervous, but is afraid to admit it. He's even surprised that Serah knows how he's feeling. 'How does she know how I'm feeling? Is Serah psychic?'

"You can do this. Just take a deep breath and say it." Serah says.

Hope gives a slow nod. "O-okay. Here I go."

Hope turns, but stops when Serah says, "Wait." Serah turns Hope back around. She fixes him up, brushing his hair, strengthening his clothes, wiping any dirty or dust that could be on his shoulders. You know, making him look more neat.

"There you go." Serah makes Hope turn forward at the house then gives him a shove. "Go on."

Hope takes a moment after the shoving, then he walks up the house. Hope knocks on the door, taking a deep breath afterwards. The door is answered, but it wasn't Vanille, which surprised Hope.

Instead, it's some tall women with black hair and wearing some strange outfit, a black shot top with some blue clothing. The women leans to the side with her arms crossed.

"You lost, kid?" The women asks.

"Uh..." Hope's speechless. He's not sure what to say. 'I would like to ask Vanille out on a date.' Like that'll work. Hope decided to start with a small icebreaker. "I take it...you're Fang?"

"Don't wear it out." Fang says. "What do you want?"

"Uh...is Vanille home?" Hope asks.

"Wait here." Fang turns around, walking back into the house. "Vanille. Door's for yea!"

Hope waits outside for Vanille. While waiting, he looks back at Serah. Serah smiles and gives Hope two thumbs up. Hope looks forward to find Vanille approaching.

"Hello, Hope." Vanille says.

"Uh...hey, Vanille." Hope says.

"What can I do you for?" Vanille looks at the bouquet in Hope's hands. "Are those...for me?"

Hope looks at the flowers. "Uh, y-yea." Hope reaches out the flowers to Vanille. "I got them for you."

Vanille smiles and accepts the flowers. "They're lovely." Vanille says with a squeal. She closes her eyes and sniffs the flowers, inhaling the sweet scent. "Thanks, Hope."

Vanille walks into the house, but only stops when Hope calls her. "W-wait, Vanille." Vanille looks back at Hope. "I was wondering...um..."

"Yes?" Hope couldn't find the right words.

"Well...I was wondering, um...W-would you?" Hope still couldn't say it. He remembers what Serah told him. He took a breath breath and just say it. "wouldyougooutwithme?"

Vanille just seems confused, he was saying it too fast. "What was that?"

Hope tries again, but more calmly and slowly. "Would you go out with me?"

Vanille is a little surprised to hear that, even though she's not showing it. "You mean...like on a date?"

Hearing that makes Hope nervous, but that doesn't stop him. "Y-yeah...Serah and Snow are going out and...they invited me and someone I'd like to bring so..." Hope looks at Vanille. "You wanna come?"

Vanille smiles. "I'd love to. I'll see you then."

Vanille walks back into the house, closing the door behind her. Hope honestly has no reaction. He's excited to be going with Vanille, but he's also nervous about how this will turn out, even since Snow's going to be around. He's still upset about what Snow did back at Market Row, even though he did manage to get the earrings in the end.

Serah heard the whole thing. Hope walks away from the house, approaching to Serah. Serah claps her hands together. "She said yes! Isn't this exciting?"

Hope looks up at Serah and smiles a little. "Yeah. It sure is."

It's around noon, and Serah and Hope are getting ready for their date. Snow is on his way and Vanille's waiting to be picked up. The group agreed to go have a picnic at the Central Park. It was a lovely out tonight, not a single cloud in the sky, so they decided to have some fun under the sun. Why not, that's what Bodhum is all about.

Serah gets to work putting together the picnic basket. Hope is just sitting in the living couch, waiting for time to fly by. By then, Snow walks in. Normally, he would go to see Serah, but instead, he goes to see Hope. "Hey." Snow sits next to Hope. "Serah told me you got a date." Snow gives Hope a hard pat on the back. "Way to go, man."

"Ow...thanks, I guess." Hope says.

Snow leaves the living room and goes to help out Serah with the supplies. When everything was done, the trio leaves the house. They make a quick stop at Vanille's place next door.

Serah and Snow stays behind while Hope approaches and knocks on the door. Hope prays that it's Vanille that answers and not Fang. He's not really afraid of her, but she does kind of remind him of Lightning. If she's anything like Lightning and she's pretty protective of Vanille...boy, he's dead meat.

Thankfully, it was Vanille who answered the door. "Hiya, Hope."

"Hey, Vanille. You ready?" Hope asks.

Vanille nods. "Yep."

Vanille skips out the door. Hope closes the door for her. Vanille joins in with Serah and Snow, then Hope and the four of them head out for their date.

Around town in Bodhum, a robby was made. The gang stoled money from the Bodhum National Bank. After loading up the truck, they make a getaway. Lightning, Amodar, Luke and Gus are chasing after those goons on Velocycles.

While giving chase, Lightning and Amodar starts shooting at the truck. One of the goons stands out the window, shooting back at them. The Guardian Corps takes evasion action from the bullets blasting at them. Gus gets hit and he loses control of his Velocycle.

"I'm hit!" The Velocycle crashes on the street.

Luke looks back seeing his partner in peril. "Gus!"

"Forget him! Focus on the mission!" Lightning shouts.

The chase goes on for miles around the city. The truck drives onto the bridge leaving the city. Lightning and her team is on their tail, shooting. Lightning goes for the wheels, trying to slow them down.

The wheels on the truck pops and the truck slows down, until it spins out of control and is forced to stop. The Guardian Corps lands their Velocycles, mounted off. Lighting takes out her weapon. "All right. Come out with your hands in the air!" Lightning orders.

Just like that, they did what Lightning demanded. Gus manages to catch up, but is disappointed that he missed out on the fun. The gang is handcuffed and ready to be taken in. Luke and Gus takes care of the stolen money. Lightning and Amodar watches over the criminals while waiting for the Guardian Corps van to pick them up.

When the van arrives, and it takes the criminals to the station. "You did well, Farron."

Lightning salutes. "Thank you, General."

Lightning and Amodar returns into the Guardian Corps. Lightning gets back to work on the paperwork. By the time she's almost done, she gets called into the General's office.

Lightning goes into his office, of course the news she received isn't really what she expected. She's being promoted to Lieutenant.

"Are you serious?" Lightning asks.

"I am." Amodar says. "You are a fine soldier, Farron. And you are due for a promotion."

Lightning smiles. "I...I don't know what to say." Lightning gives a small bow. "Thank you, General."

"Yeah, well, that's not all, Farron." Amodar says. "I got report from Admiral Raines in Palumpolum. The situation down there is getting a little out of control, and I'm sending you down there."

Lightning nods. "All right, sir. I'll do it when I get back on Friday."

Lightning makes her leave, returning to her office. Lightning thinks about the the General says about Palumpolum. She remembers Hope saying it's his home town. Lightning probably thinks she should take the kid with him so he can pick up the rest of his stuff...if he decides to stay that is.

She's gonna have to talk to him about the adoption when she comes home.

Meanwhile, the double daters arrive at the Central Park. Vanille happily skips up ahead, with Hope following her from behind. Serah and Snow are talking together, hand in hand. The group walks up to the bench and sits on it, using it for their picnic.

Serah takes out the food, a chicken sandwich for Hope with a side of chips, meat-lovers sandwich for Snow and a BLT for her, with a jar of pickles for both of them, and a fruit salad for Vanille. Vanille is sort of like a vegetarian, which is ironic since she's wearing like a small bear skin cloak attached to the back of her skirt.

The four of them eats their food, siting in silence. Hope tries to find the courage to start up a conversion with Vanille. What is there to say? What can the boy ask?

"Uh, Vanille?" Vanille turns to look at Hope. "So...are you and Fang visiting?"

Vanille shook her head. "No, we're moving in."

Now Hope suddenly feels stupid asking her that. It's pretty obvious isn't it? Hope looks away, blushing. Vanille just giggles at Hope's shyness. Serah and Snow feels bad for Hope. They can see he's having a rough time.

Hope looks at Vanille. "So uh...where did you come from?"

"Oerba." Vanille says.

Hope suddenly turns from stupidity to curious. "I've never heard of it. Where's that?"

"It's somewhere in the Sunleth Waterscape. It's a very small village." Vanille says.

"Well...I like to see it sometime." Hope says.

"Me too. Is it beautiful?" Serah asks.

"Very. There are flowers everywhere. Every kind." Vanille says.

"Sounds lovely." Serah says.

Vanille nods, then turns to Hope "So, Hope. Where are you from?"

"I'm from Palumpolum." Hope says.

"That's nice." Vanille says. "Are you moving in?"

"Uh..." Hope looks at Serah and Snow. They are looking at him, hoping for an answer. "I...I guess. I mean, Bodhum is a nice city and...Lightning and Serah here have been taking good care of me."

Serah smiles. "Don't you miss Palumpolum?" Serah asks.

"Well...I don't know." Hope looks down a little. "I mean, I do miss Palumpolum but...I just...feel sad living there."

Serah looks sadden. "Is it because of your parents?" Hope nods. "I understand. It was hard to keep living in Bodhum without mom and dad."

Everyone finishes their food. When they're done, they decided to have some fun at the park. Serah and Snow goes for a while, figured they would give Hope and Vanille some alone time. Hope and Vanille stays by the tree. Vanille is skipping around while Hope watches her.

Hope smiles and laughs, he thinks Vanille is real cute when she's innocently silly. "You having fun?" Hope asks.

Vanille stops to look at Hope. "Of course. It's just so beautiful outside!"

Vanille sits next to Hope on the bench. "So, Hope. You going to see those fireworks?" Vanille asks with a smile.

"Uh, I'm still not sure." Hope says. "Why? Are you going?"

"Of course. I hear it's going to be a magical night." Vanille looks up at the sky, imagining those fireworks, exploding in the darkness. Vanille turns her attention back to Hope. "How about we go there together?"

Hope is surprised to hear that. "R-really? ...Cause, well...Lightning and Serah already offered to take me."

"We can all go together." Vanille says.

"Oh...okay, I'll think about it." Hope says.

"Great!" Vanille stands up. "Well, I should be get going." Vanille takes Hopes hands and pulls him to a standing position. "We should do this again sometime."

"Uh...sure." Hope says with a nod.

Vanille smiles. She leans in and gives Hope a kiss on the cheek. Hope widens his eyes in surprise at that kiss, then blushes. Vanille let's go of Hopes hands then makes her leave.

Hope watches Vanille leave. As he does, he puts a hand on the cheek she kissed. "Wow..."

Serah and Snow saw the whole thing. "All right, man!" Hope was startled to hear Snow's voice. He turns around to find the older couple. "Way to go."

"You-you guys saw that?" Hope asks.

"Yep. You're first kiss." Serah says.

Hope seems a little nervous. "Wh-what? What makes you think that was my first kiss?" Serah just giggles at Hope's embarrassment. Hope isn't wrong, Lightning did kissed him on that night, even if it was a comforting kiss, on the forehead. Vanille's kiss was more like a relationship one.