Disclaimer: I don't own any of these guys :)
The party didn't end until well after twilight, all of the gathered friends indulging themselves by telling exaggerated stories of their adventures for Terra. Each one attempted to outdo the other all in good fun, Cid being the winner with a comical account of stealing the Highwind from the Shin-Ra a number of years before, but while Terra was enjoying the old memories she found the atmosphere to be the real meat of the fun. Shera had built a fire in the middle of the backyard where the rest had helped in arranging benches around the flames, and as the sky had grown darker above them, each face glowed brighter. In Midgar Terra may have had friends but their idea of a good time was jewelry shopping with father's money or giggling over tiny puppies while the prospect of sitting on gnarled benches with "commoners" was horrifying. After all, their new dress for the week might pop a stitch. This…this right here, sharking jokes and good food, was freedom.
But by morning the feeling was gone, the group having to go back to their lives and as Terra stepped out of the guest bedroom, the cold reality of her decision settled over her like a dense fog. Cloud was gone leaving no trace of himself behind and all Terra had left of their trip were a few orbs of materia and a backache, but even his abandonment hadn't changed her mind. Midgar was the last place that she wanted to be right now.
Smoothing out the wrinkles of her dress, Terra drew in a deep breath to compose her bruised pride and made the short trek to the kitchen where Shera was frying up a modest breakfast of eggs and bacon while she whistled a tune from the radio. The thick scent of grease mingled with the lingering odor of freshly squeezed orange juice, and Terra's stomach growled loudly from its previous mistreatment of burnt hot dogs, but just as she chirruped a good morning and reached for a handful of bacon she stopped. Sitting at the table, his gaze affixed through the front window as he sipped at a steaming mug of coffee, was Vincent, and Terra felt her entire body grow cold. What was he still doing here?
"Sorry about the makeshift breakfast," Shera was apologizing as she set another helping of bacon on the table and motioning for Terra to take a few pieces. "Vincent's in a bit of a hurry this morning."
When Terra looked from him to Shera curiously, the latter bit her lower lip and her entire face cinched into an expression of regretful apology.
"Oh no…Cloud didn't tell you, did he?"
"Tell me what?"
Vincent rose slowly from his chair and straightened his cloak, his various effects and accessories chinking loudly, and he raised an eyebrow as he glanced over his shoulder at Terra. "Your cousin has graciously offered my services to babysit you and considering I have somewhere to be this morning, I would appreciate your haste so I can take you to your new dwelling."
"Babysit?" Terra spluttered heatedly, already imagining herself spooning a fistful of eggs into his face. "I don't need a babysitter."
"Oh? Then I'll simply take you back to your father's care," Vincent said as though merely commenting on the weather, and he began to buckle the tall collar of his cloak so it hid the lower half of his face. "From what I hear he's quite adamant in your retrieval."
He didn't give her a chance for a rebuttal. The front door was open and closed within seconds, Vincent already outside before Terra had even processed the entirety of the insult and she wondered what would be worse: a week or more with Vincent's resentment or going back to live with her father. So, refusing to relent in her resolve, Terra took in a quick breath through her nose and started after him, her breakfast forgotten on the table, and she marched through the front door in order to teach him a lesson or two about how he was going to talk to her. Only when she spied him standing next to a chocobo, the morning sun reflecting off of his raven hair and accentuating the sharp, angular features of his face, she found that she couldn't say much of anything. Her voice was lost somewhere between her throat and her mouth and all that seemed to want to come out was the tiniest of moans.
"I suggest you bundle up," he said without even looking at her as he adjusted the saddle on the chocobo. It waarked at him and nipped affectionately at his hand as he moved to stroke its long neck. "Anouk only knows one speed, and on a brisk morning like this it won't be a pleasant ride."
But just to spite her, it seemed, Vincent didn't bother to offer a spare jacket or cloak, or even offer a suggestion on where she might go about getting one. All she had bothered to bring with her on this half-cocked trip was a cocktail dress that was in desperate need of a washing machine and a thin scarf that was strictly for aesthetic purposes.
"I don't have anything to bundle up with," she said tersely, crossing her arms and leaning her weight on one hip.
This time Vincent did look at her and his red eyes were suddenly ablaze with an emotion Terra couldn't quite place but knew deep down was dangerous, and had she not been so irritatingly attracted to him, she might have just taken a few steps back. Vincent, however, was just simply irritated, and it was on the tip of his tongue to demand why she was being so difficult when Shera bounded down the front stoop of their home, a plate of bacon in her hands and a jacket slung over her arm, and Vincent's self-control seemed to find itself again. Chaos would have to wait another day…or hour; whenever Terra so decided to annoy him first.
"Here you are, dear," she smiled at Terra, glancing at Vincent out of the corner of her eye as she helped Terra slip into the jacket, but Vincent didn't share the look, instead turning toward the chocobo and scratching her ears.
"More women should be like you, Anouk," he said quietly, and she nudged him with her beak. "You, I understand, but women like Terra…Lucrecia…it's like trying to skate on water."
It was another ten minutes to get Terra mounted, more so because she was so fascinated with Anouk's feathers rather than having never ridden before. Only the most elite of society could afford to breed a golden chocobo since only about three people on the Planet knew how; even her father didn't own one, and she pestered Vincent endlessly about how he came across Anouk in the now-floundering economy only to receive no answers. The entire trip he held his tongue, even as she clamped her arms around his midsection when Anouk stepped off of the sandy shore and onto the crisp blue of the ocean, though he couldn't hide his sudden intake of breath upon feeling her arms. Inexplicably, she had managed to melt one more icy layer with a simple action, and it was one more reason he chose not to speak for fear he might just say something he wasn't quite sure he wanted to say. It wasn't until they reached a remote island that he finally spoke, but with restraint.
"Choose any room you wish. I should be back by nightfall to check on you."
"But –" Terra began as he dropped a house key into her hand. She glanced down to look at it then looked up a moment later only to be met with the broad landscape of the island, Vincent nowhere in sight.