Timeline: approximately 6 months after AC (May 3rd to be exact)
Vincent stood at the door, arms crossed, waiting patiently.
"Vincent, I have an order to finish for tomorrow. I really don't have time to go anywhere tonight. Can't this wait?"
"No, it can't. And you can afford to take a night off. This is a special night and you're going to come along. Besides, we're going over to Seventh Heaven. You haven't been to see Cloud or Tifa in almost two months."
Vincent watched the rebellion fade away when he mentioned how long it had been since she'd been to see the others. He knew it wasn't exactly fair to use that as coercion, but if it worked, he didn't care. His job was to make sure Morgan was at the bar tonight.
"Oh, all right!" Morgan cried, throwing her hands in the air. "But I need to get cleaned up. I've been working at the forge all this afternoon." He almost smiled at how sulky and put-out she sounded.
"That's fine; we have some time before we need to arrive. Don't get any ideas about disappearing though. I need to get something from my rooms in the meantime." He turned to climb the side staircase to the top floor where his apartment was.
It was odd how he'd ended up there. Morgan had been complaining about the previous tenant, and how difficult the person had been to deal with even after she'd kicked him out. So he'd offered to rent the upstairs rooms instead. It had been an impulsive offer and he didn't think either of them knew why she'd agreed to the arrangement.
"You'd probably just chase me down or something if I did try to disappear. Cha, let me get ready then." She pushed past him to head up the stairs to her own rooms on the second floor, saying as she passed, "Lock up then, so no one else comes in."
After getting the small package he needed from his own rooms, Vincent settled down to wait on the stairs. After a half hour, he heard her coming down the stairs again and turned to look up. He couldn't keep his jaw from dropping slightly at the sight of her.
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing, I just can't remember if I've ever seen you not wearing those brown leathers. It's quite an improvement." She was dressed all in shades of grey tonight: dark grey knee boots, pearl grey pants and a silvery turtleneck. The long coat swirling around her calves was a steel blue shade and her hands were covered by pearl grey gloves. All of it making her hair glow a deeper, richer shade of red. Suddenly he smiled, surprising her even more than the compliment did. "Are you ready?"
"Yes, let me just grab my own guns." She seemed almost hesitant, giving him an odd look. Walking to the locked cabinet where he knew she kept her personal weapons, she opened it to bring out two smaller revolvers. He hadn't noticed the holsters hanging on either side of her lower back until she moved the coat to put the guns away.
"Do you think you'll really need those tonight? We're only going to the bar, you know."
"And how are we getting there? Walking? Then I'm taking the guns. Besides, I hadn't noticed you taking off your hardware. Even though Kadaj and his gang are gone, that doesn't mean the other gangs disappeared as well. Thugs and bullies never seem to go out of style, unfortunately."
"That is true." Walking side-by-side, they headed out into the early evening.
