Note: Okay...hrmmm... It's starting to bog down...I think. I can't really tell. I like all this coming up here, but I wrote it. Anyway, I know it gets naughty from here on out, so...if sex offends you for some reason, you're about done. There's more than just that here, but it's strictly "M" rated. Sorry, but it's kinda how the story went...
9
When Owen comes up with our lunches a half hour later, we're both giving the impression that we've been reading and talking the whole time. "How is the invalid?" Owen asks Vincent cheerfully.
"Grouchy," he replies with a laugh for my expression. "But she's been reading for the last few minutes, so I've gotten some peace at least."
"If I didn't hurt, Vincent Valentine," I growl, "I would throw a pillow at you."
"I see what you mean, Vincent," Owen says. I pick my book back up, and make a great show of reading, muttering about stupid boys. "Fine, then," Owen teases. "I won't give you lunch. I am more than capable of eating more of Reeve's cooking."
"You're only making fun of me because I can't do anything about it," I grumble. "It's not fair, and don't think for a minute I won't remember this the next time you're laid out with something. I'll put frogs in your soup."
Vincent laughs, and takes my lunch from Owen and sets it gently on my lap. "Here. If you don't eat it yourself, Reeve might cry." I dig in. I know the fastest way to regain strength is to eat as much as I can, and to rest.
Owen eyes Vincent thoughtfully. "Vincent, can I talk to you outside the room for a sec?" I stop eating to glare a warning at him. "I won't hurt him, Captain," he says. "I just want to talk to him."
I sigh. "You may as well get the first one over with now. Scouts gossip like maiden aunties, and they all seem to think I can't take care of myself. You'll be getting variations on this theme for the next month or so."
Vincent only smiles at me and follows Owen out. I hear Owen's voice raise, but not the words. Vincent comes back in, looking the same, while Owen looks a bit shaken. "Okay," my second says. "I'm satisfied."
I cock my head at Vincent as Owen leaves. "What did you tell him?"
"Just the truth," he replies, and refuses to elaborate. Four more of my Scouts come by, haul him off, and come back saying that they were totally happy with his answer. Two even congratulate me.
I shake my head after the last, Eilen, leaves, looking like he's swallowed an eel. "Never mind; I don't really want to know."
Vincent touches my cheek. "No, you really don't," he says softly. For a minute his eyes look sad.
"You had better not be telling them that you're going to let me down gently the first minute you can!" I say, with more than a little heat.
He laughs. "I'm not suicidal, love. If you didn't get me, Tifa would." He kisses me. "I still can't believe this is real," he says. "I'm afraid I'm going to wake up."
I cuddle close to him. "I know how you feel." I frown for a minute. "Oh. Tseng might give you a bit more than the standard talk. We had a bit of a thing, and he knows me better in some ways than Owen does." I look off into space as I think of what Tifa told me. I ought to tell him, but I'm afraid to.
"Tera? What is it?" Vincent's voice cuts into my thoughts. I look up at him, and smile at the concern on his face.
I'm about to say, "Nothing," when Reeve comes to pick up our lunch trays.
"I hear congratulations and threats are in order," he says. "Since I don't know which one of you to threaten, because you're both close friends, please don't ever make me have to choose." He winks at me. "Don't let Vincent change too much."
Vincent watches him leave, puzzled. "What does he mean? Aren't these changes good things?"
"Mostly," I say. Reeve knows about Tseng. "But if you change too much, you're not the same person I fell for. It happened with Tseng. He made a lot of changes to make Elena happy, and she turned out to like the old him better. So did I, for that matter."
"Ah. But I don't want to shut you out, or anything." We're both so inexperienced at this. No wonder Tifa's been playing matchmaker.
I say something to that effect to Vincent, then add. "Just take one step at a time, like anything else, Vincent. We'll be fine."
He kisses me and says, "This, at least, is not at all complicated." He kisses me again, and then laughs. "Except knowing when to stop doing it."
"Never," I breathe, pulling him in.
"You realize my fangirls are going to kill you, right?" he says, some time later. "They all think they, specifically, are the ideal woman for me."
"What, all of them?" I retort. "Well, that's too bad for them that they're wrong, isn't it?"
Vincent laughs at the tone that has come into my voice. "Feeling possessive, dear?"
I growl at him, "Very. Don't tease me, or I'll mark you as mine for everyone to see." I kiss him again, fiercely. "I don't want to stop touching you," I say wistfully, "but I should, or the next person to stop by will find us in a compromising position."
Vincent laughs softly, then teases, "Do you want me to not change the fact that I almost never smile or laugh?"
"That's not personality; that was melancholy," I say. "I hope I've cured you of that." He solves the "compromising position" problem by snagging his book, draping an arm around me, and settling on the bed to read. I follow his virtuous example and pick up my own book again.
Cloud is the next person to come bother us, and he wants to lecture me. I laugh, and shoo Vincent out. "There. What phrasing did you plan to use?"
Cloud doesn't smile. "I'll stick with the basics: If you ever do anything to break that man's heart, I will rip yours out," he says quietly. "If you're just toying with him, so help me-"
I cut him off. "I'm not. I'm not even sure how this all happened, Cloud, but I promise you I am not toying with anyone. The last serious relationship I was in was almost seven years ago, and I'm just as awkward at this as Vincent is."
He scoffs, "You could have any man you laid eyes on."
"If I tried, maybe, but has it occurred to you that I might be afraid to?" I study him for a minute. "Tifa can't tell you what I told her because only two other people besides her and me know it. Don't be upset because she won't." He scowls at me, and I add, so softly he has to lean closer, "And I'd rather slit my own throat than hurt Vincent." I have a bit of thought to spare wondering if this is what Vincent's been saying about me.
He blinks at me. "That's rather more than I expected, but I believe you," he says.
As he turns to go, I look up and say, "Thank you for going after Hojo and letting Vincent get the last shot in." He stares at me for a long minute, but I'm looking at the bed again.
Vincent returns, and, seeing my expression, glares at Cloud. "What did you say to her?"
"It's not his fault, love," I reply. Cloud twitches at the pet name. "Come in and close the door. I have something to tell you."
I tell him even more than I told Tifa, forcing myself into revealing the details. Then I tell him about Tseng. "I was so totally lost," I say, "and he has been my friend since we were little. When he reached out to help me, I reached back."
"I'm glad he did," Vincent says, gently wiping tears away from my face with his hand. "You needed someone, and he was there for you. He's a good man, if a bit too committed to the corporation's causes."
"He still has lingering feelings for me, although you'd have to pull his fingernails off to get him to admit it. That's why I warned you about him getting all protective about me. Because he will." I chuckle. "Rude might, too, but that's just because he is like an older brother."
"We need to ask them about our master plan anyway, so we'll go see them when you're up and about again, just you and me, okay?" When I nod slowly, Vincent smiles. "They're important to you, even if no one else sees it. They are a happy tie to your childhood."
"What I had of it," I agree, and tell him about my family. Then I laugh, and describe Tiarnan to him. "That's my older brother. If he stops you in the street and lectures you, don't be alarmed. He tends to be abrupt, and he's in town every once in a while." I shake my head. "I swear, Owen is sending him secret dispatches; he's as well-informed as Tseng, at least."
"Well, you don't have to worry about my family," Vincent says. "They're all gone." He looks at me for a long minute. "You never ask about any of this," he says, gesturing with his gauntlet. "Why not?"
"Frankly, because I figured you're bloody sick of it by now," I reply. "You are not what most people think you are, and that," I caress the gauntlet, "is just part of you."
Vincent smiles. "That's part of the reason I like you," he says. "It doesn't sound all that romantic, but logical thought does have its charms." I laugh, and he kisses me. "That part of my life has made me into who I am, though, and you've just told me your whole life story, so I should do the same for you."
I am possibly the first person to hear the whole story from Vincent's perspective, and what he tells me about Hojo makes me even gladder the man is gone. Vincent suffered as much or more physical abuse than I did. Though she mostly did it for her own research, Vincent would have been dead if not for Lucrecia. "The last thing she said to me before I saw her in that crystal was, 'I'm so sorry,' but it didn't stop her from doing it."
I hold his face in my hands for a long moment. Soft, golden eyes gaze at me, and I realize that, while he's still bitter about it, it's not an obsession anymore. "Can I see that place?" I hesitate to ask, but it's an important part of who he is.
"If you really want to," he says. "All she ever talks about is her son. I told her what happened with all that, but she refuses to think that he could be evil." He shakes his head. "I think she really believed Hojo when he said they were bringing a bright new future in."
"She had to, or she would have to admit to herself that Hojo was a demented bastard, and that her child was going to destroy cities." I rub his neck. "I don't want to go if it's going to upset you."
"No. I go every so often, anyway. You can just come with me from now on." He smiles at me, and the shadows in his eyes clear. "Maybe she'll be jealous for a change." He suddenly pins me gently to the bed. "Enough about her." He kisses me for a long time, then moves his lips down my throat to my collarbone as I gasp.
"Slowly, remember?" I manage, and he laughs deep in his throat, and keeps right on, nibbling my collarbone and tracing his tongue back up my throat. I'm about ready to die from combined sensation and frustration on the spot. I free my hands and reach them under his shirt and brush his chest, feather-light, teasing his nipples with the edge of a fingernail. It is my turn to laugh as he shudders with pleasure. "Turn about is fair play," I tell him.
"True enough," he says, lying down next to me. "I'm caught between two extremes: One half of me wants to take this a little step at a time, savoring all the feelings, and the other wants to explore every inch of you right now." He laughs again as I whimper at both thoughts. "I'll probably do the first. I don't want to breeze past any of this."
I snort. "You breezed by just kissing pretty damn fast," I say hoarsely.
"Did I?" Damien walks in on us as Vincent's proving how wrong I am.
"Am I interrupting?" my Scout asks dryly. "So sorry."
"Are you here to threaten him with doom, too?" I ask. "If you are, can you come back later?"
Damien laughs. "No, or I would. I'm actually happy for both of you, and I know you can both take care of yourselves and each other. I came on actual business."
I pout. "Oh, bugger business," I grumble. "Okay, okay. What is it?"
"Lady Ileana is here to see you, and you specifically."
"Did you tell her I'm incapacitated?" I ask. When he snickers, I sigh, "For Scout missions, pervert. Because of my back, remember?" I add, acidly, "And for your information, I'm not even up to that, and you can tell that gossip Owen that, too. I still hurt, you know."
Damien says, "I'm sorry, Captain. You just left that wide open. I had to take it. Yes, I told her you had strained your back, and she said it wasn't an active sort of thing she wanted to discuss."
"Interesting. Will she come up here? I'm under threat by no less than four people not to leave this bed." I give him a look before he can snicker again. "To be honest, I don't think I can stand for more than a minute or two."
"I think so. I'll go get her, and you can make yourself presentable."
