Alrighty! Last chapter! I’m gonna miss you guys! BUT this is DEFINITELY not my last Rippal fic! I probably have fifty more coming… ANYWAY, I love you all, and I look forward to your reviews in my other fics :D Bye bye!

Ten Years After the Wedding

The little girl crossed her arms over her chest and huffed at her parents, her piercing green eyes nearly glowing with her anger. Her parents finally turned around to look at her and her father sighed, looking exasperatedly at her with his only light green eye.

“What is it now, Naeba?” He asked, the little boy clinging to his hand turning with him to look at his older sister. Her mother watched her daughter calmly, being sure not to bump the sleeping child in her arms awake.

“Why do you always hold his hand?” Naeba asked hotly to her father. Her father used to always hold her hand. Then Dreyv came along and stole her father from her. The three year old boy didn’t seem to comprehend what his older sister was so angry about. He was his dad too, after all. Her father grinned and held out his hand to her.

“You could have just asked, sweetie.” He said. Naeba smiled and grabbed her father’s hand, her other arm wrapping around his in content. She glanced up at her mother as she gave her daughter a dazzling smile and turned her face back to her baby son. Naeba stared up at her mother. She prayed that she would grow up to be as gorgeous as her mother was when she was all grown up. She had always used to tell her parents that when she grew up, she wanted to marry her dad. Her parents told her she would love someone else more than she loved them, but she didn’t believe them.

“Daddy?” she said.

“Hm?” he asked, squeezing her hand a bit.

“You are gonna marry me when I’m grown up, right?” she asked. Her mother laughed next to her. She wasn’t sure what was so funny, but her mother’s laugh was infectious, and she laughed too.

“Of course I am.” Her father replied with a slight laugh in his tone as well.

Rikku and Gippal finally got to Besaid and went to a small tent.

“Okay you two. Now stay together, play nice, do not go out of town and your father and I will be with aunt Yuna. Alright? Now give me a kiss-“ Rikku put her arms around her seven year old daughter and three year old son and they both gave her a kiss. “and we’ll come get you later. Vidina’s over there, why don’t you go say hi?” she said, pointing to a red headed child. He waved at Rikku and she gave him a small wave back, then turned and took Vecro from Gippal. They exited the tent and Rikku laughed.

“I hope she doesn’t really want to marry you.” She said. Gippal smiled.

“I seem to have that effect on people.” He replied. She gave him a light push and cradled Vecro.

“Three kids in ten years! I only got to have you to myself for three of em!” she said. Gippal grinned and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“You can have me aaany time you want.” He whispered to her. She grinned.

“Not when we’ve got a baby that starts wailing the second you take my shirt off.” She said with a laugh.

“Not as bad as tossing your thong into his cradle!” Gippal said, releasing her waist. She gasped and pushed him with her shoulders again.

“That was an accident!” He laughed a bit and then pulled back the rug to reveal Yuna’s tent, as neat as ever. Yuna jumped up.

“Vecro! Oh, he’s gotten so big!” she said, tugging the baby from Rikku’s arms. Gippal and Rikku just stared at her, dumbstruck, and she talked to the baby and made the baby laugh. Gippal finally let out a chuckle and Yuna turned and looked at them as if they were strangers.

“Rikku! Gippal!” She said, holding Vecro with one arm and hugging them both around the shoulders. Rikku smiled and took Vecro back as Yuna held him out. “And here I thought that I would be the one having children long before you two. And you’ve already got three!” she said, turning to a stove. “I just started making lunch, do you want some?”

“Yeah! We were planning to stay for a while.” Rikku said, setting Vecro down in Vidina’s old crib, which Yuna absolutely refused to give up, much to the now eleven year old Vidina’s embarrassment. Yuna hadn’t even though of getting married since Tidus had died. Rikku knew she was sad, but never? She looked to the couch to see Gippal already there. She grinned and set herself next to him and put her legs on his lap, leaning against the arm of the couch. He fingered at the toe of her boots.

“Are you ever gonna get new shoes?” he asked. She grinned.

“Nuh uh.” She replied simply, looking over at Yuna. Yuna sat in a chair across from them and looked at them thoughtfully. Rikku and Gippal stared back at her until there was a wail that made them all jump. They looked over at Vecro, whose face had gone red. He held up his arms, pleading for attention. Rikku went over and picked him up.

“Why did I have to have two boys? They’re so much more sensitive than girls are.” She said.

“Yeah, but think of it, now you’ll have two momma’s boys who will always buy you expensive gifts.” Gippal pointed out with a grin. She looked down at Vecro, then at Gippal, then at Vecro again. Then, she passed Vecro to Gippal.

“Go to your father. And don’t let him spoil you any more.” Rikku told Vecro as Gippal gathered him up. Rikku turned back to Yuna and proceeded to talk again, leaving Gippal to quickly soothe the crying baby. I was right. He is a good father. Rikku thought, not for the first time, and not for the last time.

Later that night, Rikku put Vecro to bed and turned to her dresser, slipping on a satin nightgown. Gippal had his dark rimmed glasses on with a thick book in his hands. Rikku had laughed at him the day he had come home with those glasses, but eventually started to like them, even though they were useless for one eye. She crawled in to the bed next to him and watched him for a few moments.

“What’cha reading now?” she asked. He grinned.

“One of your saucy romances that you never read. You should read it, it’s very stimulating.” He said. Rikku snatched the book out of his hands and put it on the other side of the bed.

“How stimulating?” she asked. He took off his glasses and put them on the bedside table, then kissed her lightly.

“Very.” He replied simply. He pushed her down onto the bed. “Maybe we’ll get lucky tonight and Vecro will stay asleep.”

“Don’t count on it.” She said before he kissed her again. She prayed that Vecro would stay asleep though.

Twenty Five Years After The Wedding (Gippy’s an old guy now :’()

Gippal stood up and walked to his daughter. She had grown up to be a spitting image of Rikku, except for her eyes. Her eyes were a light teal, as his were. She turned to him as he approached and smiled widely, hugging him with all her strength. When she pulled away, he said to her,

“So, I guess you’re not gonna marry your old man anymore, huh?” She gasped and pushed him.

“When did I say I would marry you?” she asked. He smiled.

“When you were around eight, you said you wanted me to marry you. But, that was back when you still liked your mother and I.” he said. She grinned at him.

“Don’t worry, dad. There’ll always be a place for you and mom.” She said, putting her hand over her heart. Gippal bent down and kissed his daughters forehead, then went back to Rikku, who sat waiting with a tissue to her eyes.

“You’re still crying?” he asked her. She nodded slowly, dabbing at her eyes. He smiled. “Don’t worry. We’ve still got two left.”

“Yeah but they both have girlfriends! You said they would be momma’s boys! And they don’t buy me anything!” she said in a squeaky voice. Gippal hugged her tightly. Women…

Twenty Six Years After The Wedding

“Mom, you know what you’ve never told me?” Naeba asked. Rikku looked at her daughter. “You and dad’s story!” she said. Rikku laughed.

“Oooh, it’s a long story, and we’d have to cut half of it out having your father in it.” She said, giving Gippal and light push. Gippal grinned. “But, I guess now that your older we can tell you exactly what happened. If I remember correctly, your father was quite the player.” She said. And so it began. Rikku told the story of her and her husband to her three children. They didn’t interrupt much, except to ask questions. Some of their past had been lost to their memories, as they had cleaned out the old to make room for the new. But it was still playing in their heads. Every word they had said to each other was still echoing in each others ears and hearts. It made Rikku’s bones rattle. It made Gippal’s heart melt. Twenty six years with each other. Many years to come.