Lightning Returns – Where I Belong
Chapter 3
As she got closer to the front porch, she could already hear the loud chattering coming from within. Among the loud noises, she could hear a familiar rough voice that caused the house to shake with laughter, and she couldn't help but shook her head with a smile. Some things never change. Lightning thought to herself as she went up the front porch and pressed on the doorbell.
With just only three seconds, the door was swung open and it revealed the younger Farron. And needless to say, the younger pinkette was beaming with happiness and her smile went as big as it could the moment she saw her sister. In a split second, Serah was already up and jumped at her elder sister for a very, very tight embrace. "Welcome back, Claire!" She literally squealed for the words that were coming out of her mouth.
Lightning was thankfully ready for this embrace and she had managed to stabilise herself when the younger Farron jumped onto her, she returned the embrace and tried to loosen the small yet surprisingly strong arms circling around her neck that was quite effectively cutting off oxygen from her, "I-I'm back, Serah. Please l-let me go a little bit… can't breathe." She struggled for her words to be out.
"Oh, I'm sorry Claire." She said with a sheepish smile as she loosened her grip and slipped off of Lightning. "I just miss you so much." She said with a warm smile.
Lightning returned the gesture, "I miss you too Serah." She said as she went in to gently hug the younger woman.
Serah returned the gesture, gently this time instead of strangling the other. "I'm so glad you're back." She said with a smile.
Just when the two broke apart from the sisterly embrace, the loud thundering voice from the living room entered into the hallway and immediately stepped up towards them. "Sis you're back!" He roared with glee as he welcomed the pinkette back with open arms.
Lightning smiled at the blonde as he approached and gave her a hug, which she responded in return. "Yes, Snow, I'm back so that I can keep an eye on you to make sure you don't mistreat Serah."
Snow pulled back immediately and a shocked expression was plastered on his face, "No way will I EVER mistreat my wife!" He said as he pulled Serah into a protective and precious embrace, causing the younger Farron to giggle at the action.
Lightning snickered at the sight, "I know big guy, just kidding. If you do…" She inched forward slightly as her gaze turned into a dangerous stare, "Remember that I was a soldier and a knight, and now… I'm a doctor, so I know exactly how to use knives to my advantage not to simply kill but to torture and then kill." She ended with a very, very, very threatening smile.
Snow gulped as he felt chills running down his back. Even though he had never and will never do anything to harm his beautiful wife, it was still difficult not to fear the awfully dangerous aura being emitted from his sister-in-law. "S-Sure sis, I sure remember that." He said with a shaky smile all the while clutching onto a still giggling Serah for dear life.
The pinkette's threatening aura lifted almost immediately and she resumed to her normal posture, "Is everybody here already?" She asked her sister.
Serah nodded, "Yes everyone's here except Fang…" She trailed off slightly as she eyed the other woman's expression carefully.
"I see, then let's get inside, I'm already late." Lightning said with a small smile.
Serah stopped Lightning in her tracks, "Wait- You don't seem surprised…?" She asked.
Lightning cocked her head to a side as a questioning eyebrow rose, "Why should I be?"
"Oh, erm… I thought since you and Fang always seemed to hang out together you'd ask why she isn't here tonight." Serah said with a sheepish smile.
The pinkette made a thoughtful look upon hearing that, "I already know that she won't be coming tonight, we were together earlier this afternoon." She explained.
The younger Farron made a long 'oh' as realisation fell in, and then a grin immediately replaced the 'o' shape. "That was fast." She said, indicating more towards Fang.
Lightning arched a quizzical eyebrow at the statement, "What do you mean?" She asked, clearly clueless.
Again, Serah giggled at her sister's denseness, "Nothing, it doesn't mean anything. Let's go in, everyone's waiting!" The younger Farron gently tugged Lightning along by the arm and into the house where everybody else have been waiting.
Lightning was immediately greeted by a whole lot of other visitors in the living room, where many of NORA's members made a rowdy welcome at the pinkette while the ex-L'cies made a gentler, softer, yet of course warmer welcome. The two groups of people which now Lightning had become closely acquainted with were obviously distinctively different in terms of behaviour, but after coming onto better terms with Snow, Lightning had managed to handle the rowdier group's antics and could manage to be on good terms with everyone. They weren't bad at all if Lightning was honest, but perhaps they were a bit loud for Lightning's liking, considering that the pinkette preferred some peace and quietness to herself being a bit of an introvert to a certain degree. Besides, they were Snow's best pals, it wouldn't do well to her and Serah's relationship if she didn't sit right with them. After having learnt so many lessons in life, she knew when it was alright to just let go and not to be so uptight any longer. They do make up a pretty good support team if any situation was to arise, and when you need them, just a word and they would already be at your back thus this, made Lightning nod her head of approval.
The pinkette went and sat closer to the familiar group that she had once travelled miles with. Upon sitting down, she was first greeted by Sazh and Dajh who were sitting on the couch next to her then followed by her once young apprentice that she had taken under her wing, Hope. Vanille was the next to make a bubbly greeting to which Lightning responded with a smile. They talked to each other casually though it was mostly the redhead posing questions to the pinkette and she would be replying to the loads of them while the other two mostly listened whereas Dajh played with his chocobo plush toy and paid the adults' conversation no mind. At the end of it, Lightning's throat was already feeling dry from answering the barrage of questions directed at her and she had to put Vanille on pause mode as she strode over into the kitchen to get a glass of water for herself. She turned to lean against a kitchen counter top as she watched the activity continue from where she stood and her eyes fell onto the young couple, namely Hope and Vanille, who were seated at another couch placed perpendicularly to the couch that she and Sazh were sitting on. Lightning watched Hope passed a glass of water over to Vanille with a gentle smile while the redhead gladly received the glass and thanked him with a quick peck on his cheeks, making him blush lightly. Watching the duo, she felt a certain hole in her heart, as if she felt that something inside her was missing from witnessing the scene unfolded before her. Lightning shook her head and dismissed the feeling, then she looked onto the others who were all apparently paired up with someone to spend the time with – Serah with Snow, Hope with Vanille, Sazh with Dajh, Lebreau with Gadot, and Yuj with Maqui. The only one that was alone at this point was her, and she couldn't help but felt like she missed something dearly. Sure, the rest were talking to her and kept inviting her into their conversations, but Lightning felt like she missed talking to a certain someone. The certain someone that would always be the one by her side and talking mostly to her, the one that Lightning knew had topics in common to talk about and the one that Lightning would always automatically go to and chat up something in a gathering together.
She… missed Fang. The certain someone, that always showed up next to her and would smile up at her as she talked with her melodic voice. The certain someone, that would show up at her door each day and spend time with her. The certain someone, that Lightning would more than often thought of in the midst of doing something other than Serah.
That certain someone was Fang. And even though it still didn't make much sense to her, Lightning realised that she really did miss the brunette already even though she had just only spent some time with her this afternoon. Somewhere deep in her heart, she silently wished for Fang to return soon even though it had only been a few hours after her departure.
XXX
Meeting up with Fang daily had become such an enjoyable daily activity that Lightning looked forward to, and now that Fang had gone elsewhere, she started to feel that there was this hole in her heart left unfulfilled whenever there wasn't a knock on the door at the time when the brunette usually arrived. Looking up at the clock hanging against the wall above the fireplace that read 5.08pm, she let out a small sigh – probably the sixth time in the week due to the same reason – at the lack of presence, even though she knew that Fang would only be back in about another week's time. For the first week that had passed, Lightning had managed to busy herself in her work at the hospital that had piled up a whole lot during her absence. In the pinkette's room, which the door read Dr. Lightning Farron, the load of paper work was as high as a mountain when Lightning returned to her post, but with only 3 days into the first week of her return, the piles of paper work were gone and the now surgeon's table was left with a neat, clean surface with only a personal laptop, a working desktop, a few picture frames standing on the table and a tiny pot of blue daffodil near the corner as decorations, as well as a few patient files. For the first couple of days where she buried herself in her work, her mind had remained relatively focused and still, except for the moments when she returned home and waited for a knock on the door only to realise that there wouldn't be any until a week or two later that her mind wandered off slightly to Fang. When she was done with her work and there weren't any more that needed her attention, her mind then started to wander off even more often to the brunette during the times she spaced out while thinking about little things and whatnot, such as groceries and cooking dinner which usually involved Fang. Since the brunette came by often in the evenings, they would often have their dinners at Lightning's place and occasionally dine out. As such, her mind had automatically related to Fang when she thought about these small little things in her daily life.
The following days when she was on her off days at home, she spent her time doing the things she liked, from playing her favourite music on piano and guitar, reading medical books to brush up on her knowledge and skills, exploring new recipes, hitting the gym and the sandbag to keep in top shape, to visiting the Guardian Corps and her ex-Commander, Amodar. As much as she had tried to spend time on doing things to pass her time and keep her mind occupied, her mind would still never fail to wander off to how was the brunette doing and where was she at that point of time in between the tasks that she was on, and that only made her feel even more miserable considering that she had already been missing the woman. Even the beautiful lake that usually calmed the pinkette with its beautiful scenery couldn't help Lightning take Fang off of her mind, simply because of one very ridiculous, yet heart-warming memory to Lightning. How they once challenged each other into a silly game and ended up breaking someone's window, then Fang took her hand and started running away instead of apologising and once they stopped, they looked at each other panting and laughing uncontrollably, just like kids. That one time was where Lightning remembered she laughed the hardest, not when she was with Serah, but when she was with Fang. Thinking back on it, a smile came creeping up onto her face and recalling on the memory of Fang taking hold of her hand as they ran away made her heart fluttered slightly and she couldn't help but grinned and chuckled softly at the memory. But when she was done recalling that fond memory yet the brunette was nowhere to be found, Lightning felt herself suddenly missing Fang even more. Lightning had tried brushing it off more than once at the thought of missing Fang that much, but her mind simply wouldn't let her rest, and she wondered why all of a sudden there was this persistence that even she herself couldn't brush it off. And this was why Lightning Farron was sitting in her armchair now looking at the clock and sighing as her feeling of missing her best friend continued.
Into the latter half of the second week, Lightning was getting a bit more agitated at how time was passing by so slowly while she was at work as she unconsciously stared at the clock and then at her phone. Her desire to see Fang again at this point was driving her slightly edgy, to the extent that she had questioned herself as to why she was missing the brunette so much. Eyeing her phone, she wished she could get hold of the brunette through the phone but unfortunately the area that the brunette was in on that expedition had no lines supporting communication, which drove Lightning slightly mad when her calls wouldn't get through at all. Why was it so difficult to simply even talk to Fang right now? It would be nice if she could hear Fang's voice for her to cope a bit with her feeling of missing her. Tearing her eyes away from the phone, she sighed for the umpteenth time as she propped her head up on her hand, a finger from another hand tapping impatiently on her working desk as she was also waiting for a report to be sent into her office. When her finger tapping became too extreme to ignore, Lightning groaned at her building frustration at the long wait for both the report AND Fang, though it was more due to the woman rather than the report, which only served as an irritation boost to her thinning patience spent waiting for Fang. She got up from her seat and put on her white doctor coat as she stepped out of her room and headed straight towards the MRI room, earning a few fearful stares due to the dark frown on the pinkette's face as she passed by the hallways and into the MRI room.
Lightning pushed past the door into the MRI room as the words already started to slip out of her mouth due to her impatience, "Anise where is my patient's re-" and then she was forced come up short when she saw a very, very surprising and rather inappropriate scene to be happening in a workplace.
The doctor of the same level as her, Dr. Lion, had her lips sealed tightly against Anise, the MRI equipment operator. Upon noticing the pinkette's sudden intrusion, Lion pulled away and a lazy smirk came up whereas Anise on the other hand blushed as red as a tomato and stuttered as she responded quickly to Dr. Farron's request, "S-Sorry, it'll be ready in just a minute."
Lightning crossed her arms as a response and then turned her glare to Lion instead of Anise, who she knew was the cause of the report's delay. The doctor knew her stuffs, she was one of the few renowned surgeons in the hospital and many paid her high respect, but then again that goofy and flirtatious attitude of hers in the workplace sort of put off some respect that she actually deserved. Lion could be considered as a rather close associate to the pinkette considering that they have worked together for most times, but then again even though she was very knowledgeable and Lightning did respect her for that, that attitude of hers simply didn't sit well with the pinkette. The pinkette frowned at the short-haired brunette who was still giving out that lazy smile of hers despite her very dissatisfied glare, clearly happy that she finally scored from Anise and it was definitely telling Lightning that she didn't care what she saw and what she thought about it. "Aren't you supposed to be on duty right now? Doing rounds instead of being here?" She asked sternly, frustration hinted in her voice
While Anise gulped at that tone, Lion paid no mind to it and waved a dismissive hand, "I've already finished my rounds, and we're on schedule still. Besides, aren't we pretty quick, Anise?" She nudged the blushing operator who chose to be wise and remained silent.
A huff escaped from the pinkette, "I've been waiting for the report and it's because of you and that flirtatious attitude of yours that caused me a delay."
"Why the stern and serious tone, Farron? It hasn't even been 15 minutes since the scan, normal prep time would be longer than that, why rush others just because of your own impatience? Quit being so uptight will ya?" Lion said as she crossed her arms with a disapproving eyebrow arched at the pinkette's lack of patience.
The pinkette frowned at the response, she knew Lion was right and that she couldn't counter the woman, it was her own thinking driving her up the wall and that bloody Fang that had to be away for so long. She released another huff, this time irritation directed more at herself for her lack of professionalism. "I want that report ASAP, please and thank you, Anise." Lightning said and turned to leave, but was then being stopped by Lion as she called out to her.
"You seem to be feeling rather… uneasy, upset even, Farron. You weren't like that the week before, and certainly calm and in control for most times. Why, fought with your drop-dead gorgeous lover?" The short-haired doctor asked, slightly teasing as she ended the question.
Lightning frowned at the question, "What do you mean by lover?" She asked.
Lion arched a quizzical eyebrow, "The tanned brunette that dropped by during lunch time occasionally to have lunch with you?"
This time, it was Lightning's turn to be confused at that statement. Since when was Fang her lover? "I do not have a lover." She replied as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.
Lion's eyebrows rose with mild surprise, "You mean that beauty is not your girlfriend?"
Lightning frowned slightly at the way the doctor called Fang with… inappropriate names, though correct, but that flirtatious accent was not appropriate, and she didn't like it one bit, "Her name is Fang."
Lion blinked a few times at the statement and then a chuckle escaped as she realised that the pinkette was actually showing jealousy that another person was appreciating the woman's beauty and calling her names, "Right, right, Fang it is. So, you're telling me that you two aren't together? That's strange."
The pinkette had a confused frown on her face then, "What do you mean by 'strange' here?"
"My sixth sense is usually very accurate, and I thought the two of you were together. I mean, how could best friends be so clear on every single detail of the other person and try to make sure everything's done according to their liking if they don't actually love the person to the core?" Lion said with shrug.
"Why do you say that?" Lightning asked slowly, feeling a bit curious to know more.
"Every single time I see that Fang of yours, she knew when not to disturb you. I've seen her multiple times stopping briefly at your door, yet she never knocked, because she knew it's not lunch time yet and you wouldn't appreciate disturbance while at work." The doctor explained.
Lightning looked intently at the doctor, remaining very silent as she silently urged the doctor to go on, which Lion took the cue and continued.
"She makes sure you get that favourite spot every time, makes sure you get that favourite meal and drink of yours, heck she even makes sure to put those utensils just like how you would like them placed. There was this one time she even asked the other person queuing before her if she could get that favourite sandwich of yours since it was the last one and in exchange, she would buy that person coffee if he's willing to go for something else. Seriously, if that's not love, I'm not sure what the heck that is." The short-haired doctor said with a bewildered smile.
Listening to how the doctor elaborated on these things that Lightning had no idea of, she could do nothing else but stood frozen in place, feeling extremely dumbfounded. She tried to search for words but she was simply to taken aback at the thought that Fang might possibly love her. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts off before she jumped to conclusion, she tried to counter – it was perhaps more appropriate to say that Lightning intended to find more convincing moments rather than actually denying it if Lightning was being very honest with herself – the doctor, "Maybe she's just… very considerate."
A laugh was heard, "Really now? That considerate? Look me and my bestie have been friends for like since forever and if her favourite dish was sold out? I'd laugh. And if it's the last one left? I still wouldn't go all the way out to buy another person coffee simply because she likes to eat that. The thing here is, why would your Fang go all the way out just to make you happy or well, please you? Is she really that much of a considerate person to begin with? Well only you can answer that." Lion said with a smug smirk.
Lightning looked away and bit her lower lip at the loss of words, and when she didn't speak up, Lion continued, "I've seen the way she looks at you. I know that look, I'm pretty sure I'm not wrong judging from my experiences."
The pinkette turned to face Lion again, confused as she didn't quite get what the doctor meant by 'that look', "'That look'?" She repeated in a questioning tone.
"That look that someone gives when he or she is totally head over heels for you. I could really see how gentle she was being with you, her eyes even sparkle for ya. Can't believe you're so dense to not notice it, I thought you were better than that." Lion said with a mocked sigh.
With so much information suddenly barging into her head, Lightning felt that she really needed some space and time alone to analyse and figure things out, was it really what Lion said so? Well, she wouldn't know anyway if she were to only question herself and not the person in question. Suddenly, she felt her desperation to see and talk to Fang grew even greater, and so did her frustration due to her depleting patience awaiting the brunette's return. "Nothing's for sure." She said frustratingly as she turned on her heels to leave.
"You've it too y'know." Lion interrupted halfway through the pinkette's departure, causing her to halt her footsteps. When the pinkette paused in her tracks, Lion continued, "That same look that Fang has for you, you've it for her too. Just in case you didn't notice it yourself, Miss Dense." She ended with an amused smile.
Lightning turned her head slightly, but she didn't counter the doctor. Instead, she continued on her way out of the MRI room and back to her own office. She was going to have a lot on her mind from this moment onwards.
Kindly R&R!