11

I'm reading my book when Vincent returns, silently. "Um. . ." he starts, then drops into his chair with a thud. "Tera?"

"Hmm?" I don't look up. I hope like hell Tifa's right, though. I don't want to traumatize him.

"Are you, uh, mad at me?"

"I'm the one who said it was all right, Vincent," I point out. "I didn't expect you to be gone so long, but Tifa was here, so I was fine."

He winces. "I'm sorry. Lady Ileana, er. . ." he trails off awkwardly. I look over my book at him, and he flushes. "She has kind of a magnetic personality, doesn't she?"

"I hadn't noticed." He flinches, and comes over to the bed.

"Please put the book down and talk to me." He sits by my legs, but doesn't reach for me. "If you're mad at me, just say so."

I put the book down, and he gets the full benefit of Tifa's experiment. He flushes again. "Why do you keep looking at me like I've grown horns?" I ask.

"I've only known you for a few days. I've never had the opportunity to see you in makeup," he replies dryly. "And you let your hair down. You look very pretty."

"Thank you. Tifa did the makeup. She thought we'd have a bit of a girly moment up here, to keep entertained." I see him wince again, and sigh. "If I was going to yell at you, Vincent, be sure that I would have started by now."

He looks at me. "You're being kind of. . . different."

"I won't make any secret of the fact that Lady Ileana annoys me, but it has more to do with our past than today." That's not even a lie. "She's a good part of the reason Owen and Eilen won't talk civilly." See? Total truth.

"Oh. You could have told me she was that kind of person."

"She doesn't exactly hide it, Vincent. You were rolling your eyes when you were up here with me."

"She got more. . . subtle, I guess."

"She wouldn't be any good at it if she only had one approach." I'm being harsh, but his abandonment really hurt. I'm not trying to hurt him back, but I'm not going to make it easy on him, either. He hasn't mentioned my voice yet. Oh, gods. What if he wasn't enthralled, just startled by my new behavior? I hold that quivery thought inside.

As if reading my thoughts, Vincent says, "We really haven't had a chance to get to know each other properly. How could you know if you're changing me if you don't know me? And vice-versa, of course." It's the "vice-versa" that worries him.

"I don't have the opportunity to be girly that often," I tell him. "I'm in a dirty, nasty job, and what Lady Ileana would consider to be necessities would only get ruined with me." I shrug. "That doesn't mean I don't enjoy being actively female now and again."

"Of course not," he says. "I was just surprised. It reminded me that I don't even know what your favorite color is, for example."

I laugh and point to the bathrobe. "You guessed pretty well. Yours?"

He smiles. "Red, naturally."

"I like dark red, too," I say. "In fact I like a lot of colors, but dark green is my favorite." I give him a sudden, bright smile. "That robe is one of maybe three things I've ever gotten just because someone thought I'd like it, and the other two were Scout stuff." I kiss his forehead. "Thank you."

He smiles, and I see some of the worry leave his eyes. "I'm sorry, Tera," he says. "If she hadn't snagged Cloud, too, you would have been up here all by yourself. I told you I'd look after you."

I shake my head. "You're such a refreshing change over any of my Scouts," I tease. "I have to maneuver them into a corner to make them apologize for anything. With you, all I have to do, apparently, is thank you for something else entirely."

He laughs. "You're really not mad?"

"Not really, and more at her than at you. I made it clear that you were with me, and she went after you anyway." I narrow my eyes. "She's very successful and influential and really very clever, but she needs to learn to control her raging hormones, because she'll eventually do more than annoy me."

He laughs. "With both of you in the same room, I couldn't figure out why I'd been following her around." I look at him in surprise, then touch the eyeshadow. "No, love; it's not the makeup. You have such an alive personality. Tifa used the makeup to highlight your already radiant features."

I finger my nose and chuckle, "First time this as ever been called radiant."

"I'm being serious, wench," Vincent scolds, pulling my hand away and kissing me. "You are so vibrant, Tera. I looked at you, even on that first night, and realized how much I was missing out by not living every day to the fullest." He kisses me again. "Ileana is no more than a pretty doll next to you." I blush, and he laughs. "I take it I'm forgiven?"

"Oh, hush." When he retaliates by staring at me with his golden eyes glowing warmly, I throw my hands up. "How am I supposed to stay annoyed at you when you're so gorgeous? It's not fair."

He blinks. "Am I?" He seems genuinely puzzled.

"D'you really think legions of women and girls are following you just because you're mysterious?" I retort. After seeing his confusion, I say, "Great good gods, you haven't noticed? Vincent, Ileana was salivating at you before she knew who you were."

"Well, but maybe that was because I was with you."

I tease, "Are you questioning my taste, then?" He cocks his head at me. "Vincent, you set the blood pounding in any warm-blooded female, whether or not she has any idea who you are."

"Fat chance she wouldn't," he points out. "Besides, Cloud attracts much more attention than I do."

"You have entirely different features," I say patiently. "Some of the people after him are the same as some of the ones after you." When he stares at me blankly, I sigh. Opening the door, I call for Tifa, who trots up the stairs almost at once.

"What do you need?" Cloud is a bit behind her.

"Sorry, Cloud, but you probably won't like this discussion. Tifa can tell you about it later, if she wants. It'll only take a second."

She comes into my room. "I'm having self-esteem problems with Vincent," I tell her. "So, just between the three of us, what do you think of Vincent, physically?"

Vincent says, "You planned this, right?"

"Um, no, Vincent," Tifa says, startled by both my question and his accusation. "If it was anyone other than Tera asking, I'd tell them to go shove it."

I grin at her. "I'm just that charming."

"And I know you won't tell anyone," she adds, blushing beet red.

"Well? If this doesn't work, I'm going to have to steal an innocent bystander off the street, maybe a couple of them," I say, and I'm not entirely kidding.

Tifa looks at Vincent, who blushes. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to," he says, misinterpreting the speculative look she's giving him entirely, unless I've lost my edge. "Tera's just. . ." he trails off when she and I share a wicked grin.

"He probably won't believe me, either," she tells me.

"No, but it'll help," I point out. "And I really will grab random passersby, if I must."

"Whoa, wait," Vincent says. "You're not saying. . ."

Tifa laughs. "Yes, Vincent. I am saying that you are unbelievably attractive. I might even go so far as to say absolutely gorgeous."

"Really?" he croaks.

I smile at him. "See? It's not just me." I cock my head at him. "Would you like us to go out and try to find random girls of varying ages to ask? I can even send the Scouts. We've done missions like this before."

"Asking if someone is hot by consensus?" Tifa asks. "Maybe being a Scout is more fun than I thought."

I roll my eyes. "No, twit. Surveys for general information. All we'd have to do is surround it with related but innocuous questions and send a couple of cute Scout guys out with clipboards." Vincent blushes. "I can, if you'd like," I tell him. "It would be an excellent learning experience for some of the raw recruits."

"Really?" Tifa asks.

"Oh, yes. You'd be surprised how much information you can get by asking." I wink at Vincent. "I can even make it work for Reeve's cause, if you'd like." He gapes at me.

"If you could get a general idea of what people think of us and the services we were going to try, you could tell us what to start and where to put it," Tifa says, eyes shining. "That would just rock Reeve's world, Tera!"

"I already rock Reeve's world, Tifa," I say with a laugh.

"You rock mine, too," Vincent says softly.

I lean over and kiss him. "Thank you, love. That's always nice to hear." I ponder for a second, then smile. "I've been looking for something to start the greenies on."

"Finding out if the female population of the city thinks I'm attractive?" Vincent yelps.

"Oh, we'll have to broaden the spectrum considerably more than that," I reply absently. "I want them to be able to analyze data from multiple sources that evoke separate kinds of reactions."

"So we can take out that question?" Vincent asks, hopefully.

"No. The way people feel about leaders often meshes with their physical impressions of those leaders." I cut Tifa off mid-giggle when I add, "You're going to be the female for the male half of the questionnaire. She stares at me, and I sigh at both of them. "It will be anonymous, to keep the statistical data pure, so you don't have to worry about specific people finding you and bringing it up."

"What about your Scouts?" Tifa protests. "They gossip like washerwomen; you said it yourself!"

I frown. "Not about missions, they don't. That's Scout law." I roll my eyes. "It's not like I'm going to ask them flat-out if they think you're hot. In fact, it'll benefit more if both of you are on both." I have more in mind, but don't want to share it yet.

Reeve pokes his head in through the door. "Dinner's ready." He sees the sulky looks on the others' faces, and asks, "What's wrong?"

"I've got an idea to help you with your cause. They don't like some of the specific applications," I reply. "Hey, Reeve, would you mind if I asked some random people what their physical impression of you was?"

"No. Why would I?" Hearing the surprised exclamation from Tifa, he grins. "Politicians, and Scouts, I suppose, know that anything, even the set of their eyes, can affect a person's initial opinion of them."

As we go to dinner, I grab Vincent's arm lightly. "Are you okay, love? I didn't mean to embarrass you."

He smiles. "I'm fine. I think Cloud might kill you, though."

I snicker. "Wait until he finds out he'll be in it, too." When he raises his eyebrows at me, I add, "I was planning on this when I decided to use it to help Reeve. I just told Tifa what I did so she'd stop giggling at you. It makes much more sense for all of you to be in there."

"You might have trouble getting permission for that," he says. "Cloud can be a bit. . ." he trails off, searching for the right word.

"Snarky?" I supply with a chuckle. "Oh, I know. That's why I'm going to let Reeve do it. He's better at talking people into things, anyway."

Reeve, overhearing, snorts. "Not really. You could talk Rufus into buying his own shirt from you, if you wanted to."

"Yes, but you know these people better."

"True enough," he concedes.

When we reach the dining area, my two scapegrace lieutenants sit as close as they can to me without displacing Vincent. "Good," I say. "You're acting human again. I've got an idea of how to break in the new recruits and help Reeve at the same time." When they look at me questioningly, I say, "We'll do a statistical survey."

Owen says, "Good ol' statistics. I actually enjoy watching greenies find out how much people will brag to a man with a clipboard. Are we getting paid for this?" He winks at Reeve to let him know he's kidding.

Reeve scoffs. "How about you consider this your payment for the roughly ten tons of food I've given you?" Everyone laughs, and he continues. "Tera was telling me about this, and I wanted to ask you all myself about a certain part of it." Nice of him to take the responsibility. "Statistical inquiries can tell us a lot about how much progress we're making with my plans to rebuild the city. Part of that, of course is knowing what they think of us, in general. Here comes the part I volunteered to ask about: Almost all of first impressions are based mostly on physicalities. All of you are involved in this project, in one way or another. If it's all right, I would like the Scouts to gather data on all of you as well as myself."

Tifa asks, "Tera, will you ask them about yourself?"

"Yeah. I'm involved, aren't I?" I grin at her. "Trust me; I'm not going to make my friends do anything I wouldn't." I consider for a minute, then say to Demi and Owen, "I'll have to go with the greenies, won't I?"

"Unless you want to undo the changes you just made to our positions, yes," says Owen. "Since I doubt you do, you're the only one who's qualified to take them out."

"Well, bugger. It'll have to wait at least one more day, then. My back isn't up to it yet." I cock my head at the snickers from some of my Scouts. "If anyone else wants to threaten Vincent or me, please do it before too much longer, because I plan to have an early night."

Barret laughs. "I don't have to threaten either of ya," he says. "You're both old enough to look after yourselves. Jes' be careful and take care of each other." He grins at me. "And you can ask your questions about me, if ya want."

"Same here," Cid seconds. "I'm curious myself, to know what people think of me."

When I see how surprised Tifa and Vincent look, I chuckle. "It's mostly a context thing."

Vincent laughs. "True enough. I agree to it, as long as you use diplomatic phrasing." I grin at the faint pink spots that come into his cheeks.

"No worries," I reply. "I wouldn't get answers if I asked it the way you're thinking, anyway." He laughs again. "Right. Anyone else?"

Reeve and Nanaki both agree, but Yuffie just glares at me. "I'm not going to threaten you," she says, "because you won't last long enough for it to matter." I think to myself that I'll put her in anyway, for my own personal amusement. It's not like she's disagreed.

"Tifa? Cloud?" Reeve asks. "You're the only two who haven't responded, and I'm sure Tera would like to get started."

Tifa looks at me for a long minute, then nods. "I'll do it. I trust you, Tera."

Cloud blinks at her, then realizes he's the only one left. "Okay, fine. But you have to show it to us before you go out."

I snort. "Of course I will. You're my friends, Cloud. I like you guys enough to try to avoid offending you. Why do you think we asked for permission?"

After dinner, Vincent and I settle down with our books again, though this would surprise my dirty-minded Scouts. He's in his chair, deeply into his book when Nanaki walks silently in. "I would like to volunteer my services while you are injured," he tells me. "Vincent must sleep sometime, and you could use someone to prowl the halls."

"Thank you," I reply before Vincent can protest. "I've been worrying about what to do about him. Damien and my other Scouts need this rest as much as I do."

As Nanaki bows and leaves, Vincent gives me a hurt look. "I'll be fine," he tells me. "I don't need to sleep that much."

"Vincent, you fell asleep in that chair this morning," I remind him. I realize that he doesn't want to leave, and grin. "If you can behave yourself, you can sleep here. It's not like I haven't heard anything they're going to tell us millions of times before."

"Really?" His eyes clear. "I don't want to be too far away from you while Yuffie still has that look in her eye."

"I know. Now get ready for bed. I wasn't kidding when I said I want an early night. If I have to be stuck here, I'm going to get some extra sleep out of it!" He chuckles, and goes across the hall to change. I gingerly slip out of my pants and into some pajamas.

When Vincent gets back, he's pretty much dressed the same as he was, just in looser, more comfortable pants and no overshirt. He looks at me, and smiles. "As long as you don't wear a silk negligee, I will try to control any primal urges that come up in the middle of the night."

"Don't give me any ideas," I tease. I've just wiped my face clean, and re-bound my hair. "What if you walk off with her Ladyship again?"

"I won't. Tera, I didn't tell you this before, but. . ." He swallows. "When you were singing, earlier, I couldn't have moved if Lady Ileana had tried to drag me. Your voice is unearthly, and I've heard sirens. Your voice is more beautiful than any siren, or succubus, or anything I've ever heard before. If that's what you're going to do when I annoy you, I swear I'll annoy you every other day."

I let out a low laugh. He had noticed. "I'll sing for you whenever you want, Vincent. You don't have to annoy me. In fact, it's even better when I'm not annoyed." I lean forward and kiss him, pulling him closer. "If you keep telling me things like that," I whisper, "I definitely won't be able to hold on to my self-control."

He chuckles and picks me up and sets me on the bed. "I'll keep that in mind." He tucks me in, then settles in next to me. Even with as much as he's relaxed in the last few days, the word "snuggle" doesn't even remotely apply. He tucks his gauntleted arm gently around me. "Good night, kitten."

"Good night, Vincent."