Title: Poison and Wine

Summary: In the world of life, one has to know how to choose their battles and pick their poisons.

Pairings: Leon/OC, Sora/Kairi, Terra/Aqua, Riku/OC, Zack/Yuna, Cloud/Aerith

Warnings: Violence, swearing, minor drunkenness, pregnancy, mentions of murder, blood, and other possible things

Fandom: KH, AU

Disclaimer: See something you recognize? I don't own it

Prologue:

Leon's heart thundered in his chest, and he barely gave Angeal time to stop the car before he jumped out. He didn't bother to struggle with his keys – he knew his hands weren't going to work right – and decided to kick in the door in better thought. Sirens and Kei's car's alarm blared loudly in his ears, and Leon awaited the sight of blood and death.

Instead, Kei was sitting by her dog's side, putting pressure to a wound in the canine's side. Fenrir raised his head to recognize Leon's presence, but he whined lowly and laid it back down. In front of the two, with a large mark of proof that Fenrir had defended his mistress, was Xehanort. The man was breathing shallow, bleeding very badly, and Leon felt no remorse.

"Shouldn't have come after her here," he snarled, walking over and drawing out his gun. "Shouldn't have come after her at all."

Kei winced. "Leon, don't shoot him. Please. I… Leon, we need to get Fen help."

The police officer was torn between putting the criminal 'out of his misery' like the dog he was (no offense to Fenrir, of course, who he now owed his fiance's life to), or obliging to Kei's too-tiny spoke plead.

Angeal and Genesis came in behind him. "Leon," Genesis started, "we'll take care of him."

Leon sent them a look, one which Angeal echoed back. He nodded and turned then to Fenrir and Kei. "How bad is it?"

Kei was trying not to watch them pull Xehanort up and outside, Leon noticed. He reached over and shook her. "Kei? How bad?"

She shook her head, trying to break out of the daze. "Um, bullet to the abdomen. I'm not a vet, but I don't think it hit anything vital." She frowned before burying her face in her dog's neck. "God, Fen, you saved my life."

Fenrir gave a pitiful whine, and the officer decided he'd seen enough of the dog being hurt. Leon quietly apologized before he lifted the canine into his arms. Fenrir yelped, but quieted soon and watched Leon carefully.

"We're gonna get you fixed up."

The vet had kindly told Kei and Leon that Fenrir would need what was "really, honestly!" a minor surgery to get the bullet out. Kei had been less than excited to leave her dog's side, but Leon insisted upon taking her back to their home and letting her get sleep. He also used the excuse of having to fix the door to his advantage, because she sighed and nodded in defeat as soon as he'd mentioned. The vet then promised that he'd inform the two about Fenrir's condition directly after the surgery, and as soon as Fenrir woke up. That did ease Kei's fears a bit more.

When they'd gotten back to the house, Kei sank down onto the foldout couch and watched Leon work. Leon, a bit annoyed with how bad things looked, reminded himself to never kick in the door again. He looked after a few hours of trying to fix the door, to find that Kei had fallen asleep.

Leon was ever grateful to Angeal and Genesis, as both had promised that they would handle the police report. Angeal had also taken it upon himself to give Leon the rest of the day off.

He looked up as the phone rang and set down the tools he'd been holding, reaching to answer. "Hello, Leon speaking," he greeted.

"Hello, Leon. Is Kei present?" A male voice questioned.

"Fast asleep," he informed the person on the other line, "and I have no intention of waking her. If there's something she needs to know, I'll tell her later."

"Xehanort's dead. He bled to death by the time the ambulance got to your apartment," the man offered, voice cold and in no means welcoming any excuses. Leon knew it had been Fenrir who had delivered the blow – it had been too high up on Xehanort's leg to be anything but fatal, and all of the blood had been a sure sign.

The man cleared his throat, and Leon snapped out of his thoughts. "Yes, there were canine bites – and it does appear that the mutt could have been the final straw – but there are also gunshot wounds. I've checked your place of work, and the bullets match one of the guns kept in your home." Leon could see the man, leaning against his desk, smirking in quiet knowledge. "Correct me if I'm incorrect, but your wife and her pet were the only ones present when Xehanort intruded?"

"You're right," he affirmed, "Kei and Fenrir were here, no one else. To my knowledge."

"And would you say you're normally incorrect?"

The officer frowned. "I don't see how my luck in guessing games has anything to do with you claiming my wife had shot Xehanort before he could shoot her."

The other man scoffed. "Just answer the question, sir."

Leon opened his mouth to snap something, but stopped when he heard Kei muttering something. He put his hand over the speaker. "Hey."

She wiped sleep from her eyes and frowned. "Hey, yourself." She paused, eyeing the phone. "Who's calling?"

He took a sharp breath and slammed the phone shut. If it was important, the man would call back later – and Kei would be hopefully asleep again. "No one. I was going to call Angeal to help me with the door." He chuckled, "I'm not making progress."

Kei looked over to the still fallen door and laughed. "Oh, you poor thing. You should probably call before any bugs get inside."

Leon nodded and flipped open the phone. He pushed the other conversation out of his mind while Angeal greeted him. "Hey, Angeal? Can you help me with the door? I can't fix this one by myself."

He shut the phone once he got a friendly acceptance and saw Kei watching him. "Leon, is something wrong?" She asked, "you look really pale."

He walked over and shook his head. "No, nothing's wrong. I was just thinking about you."

She frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Kei, did you grab one of the guns?"

She sent him a look that made Leon feel like he had three heads; he wondered if, at that moment, he did. "No," she answered, voice firm and honest, "Leon, I didn't have time. I managed to slip my keys into my hand and hit the alarm just before he fired. Then, Fen was tackling him and the bullet missed. Xehanort's a terrible aim if he's not pushing the gun against you."

Leon nodded and kissed her forehead. "Good."

Kei paused a moment before nodding agreeably. Leon knew she was wondering what he was thinking, and he didn't blame her; he was questioning himself.

She winced quietly and settled a hand against her belly. "Seth," she muttered. Leon raised a brow and chuckled. His hand moved over, covering hers. "Three weeks," she sighed, "twenty-one days."

Leon let a small smile cross his face. "And Seph still isn't giving you maternity leave yet?"

"Sephiroth is determined to wait for a week remaining," Kei affirmed, "but he said I could work from home, as a secretary-type worker for him."

He nodded. "Better than you being there."

Angeal had come over around the same time as Yuki and Sora had burst through the doorway. Leon's soon-to-be brother-in-law sidestepped to avoid running into the two teenagers, who plopped down next to Kei on the sofa. Kei offered a smile in their directions before holding out the remote.

"TVs yours," she informed, "I can't find anything good. The food network looked interesting, but I'm trying to spare Leon the cravings as much as I can." She looked up. "Speaking of – Leon, do we have any salad?"

Angeal raised a brow. "I'm almost afraid to ask, but what has my sister been craving?"

"Kei, yes – in the fridge, all made," Leon answered, and then turned to Angeal. "Too many things to name. The weirdest was bananas, which I had to go all the way to Port Royal for, because she wouldn't let me buy any other ones."

Kei giggled. "Bananas are good for you, Leon!" She grinned as Sora went to fetch her bowl of salad.

Her brother chuckled and went back to helping Leon, while Yuki settled on watching some reality television show that Kei was only half paying attention to in all honesty. Angeal was happy enough to hear his sister chatting with the two teens, happy to hear her talking at all. It had worried he and Genesis that Kei's nightmares may have returned. By the look on Leon's face, he had to think they were wrong.

It took another twenty-minutes or so to get the door properly up and functional, but it went mostly unnoticed by the three television watchers. Leon found himself constantly returning to the conversation he'd had on the phone earlier, with the man who made him wonder if Kei had shot Xehanort or if someone else had been present to do so. He trusted his fiancé more than anything, and knew how he'd found her. She would have had no time to hide the weapon, when Leon could still have heard the single gunshot ringing off when he had arrived.

He wished he didn't have to force the small smile when he offered a quick "have a good afternoon" to Angeal, and then to Sora and Yuki when they left a few hours later.

When the phone rang again, he was happy to hear that Fenrir was out of surgery and that the vet was sure the canine was going to make a speedy, wonderful recovery. Kei was especially happy when Leon announced to her that they could pick him up tomorrow.

It was midnight when Leon's phone buzzed across the night table and woke him. He unraveled one arm from under his pillow and grabbed it. "Hello?"

"Mr. Lionhart, has anyone told you that it's impolite to hang up on people?"

"Has anyone ever told you that it's wrong to accuse people and not even tell the fiancé of the person you're accusing your name?"

The man chuckled. "Touché, good sir." He cleared his throat. "My name is Ansem, and I'm from the Hollow Bastion detective agency. The one, if I'm correct, you transferred from; it's gotten much better with me in charge. I was on duty the night that Xehanort was brought into town, dead on arrival, and worked with the mortician to decipher what had occurred."

Leon frowned. Kei was stirring beside him, and he waited with baited breath until she settled. "And you would have the nerve to say Kei tried to murder him?"

"I'm simply stating what the facts offer: he was shot, and your wife and her pet were the only others you claim were present." Leon could hear the shrug in the man's voice, "dogs, last I checked, don't have opposable thumbs – and therefore, the dog couldn't have done it. Which places Kei, in the house, with the gun."

He sat up. "Kei wouldn't have had the time to get the weapon hidden, and Xehanort only had the bite wound when I saw him."

"Perhaps you weren't paying attention, as you seem so focused on the woman you claim innocent." The man's tone went darker, stricter. "I have no reason to support a blind, biased claim, Leon. You are an officer of the law; you know better. Now, goodnight."

"I –" The line went dead and Leon groaned, resisting the urge to throw his phone across the room. He took a deep breath, laid down, and shut his eyes. If he got any sleep that night, it would have been a miracle.

A/N: I got the other one done last night and thought, hey, why not, I have time... and I said a week at most, so, I'll be early. Like with Vicious Cycles, I'm playing with this one a little. I'm... okay with how the prologue came out. I would personally have like more action, but it's a bit difficult to come up with "how would Kei and Leon act after Kei was almost shot", and it brought up my own memories of when my dad was attacked with a hammer by our neighbor, and how my parents tried to act like nothing happen. But, I couldn't have NOTHING happen - so I thought about what would add a nice twist. What better than having Kei start to be framed for something that Leon knows she couldn't have committed?

I wanted Fenrir to take the blow because I wanted to offer some sort of life line for Kei to grab onto, and her dog is just that... and because I never seem to mention Fen a lot. I want to focus on him some in this story.