29 Time
Tensions remained high in the senate as the two halves of the Pulse-Cocoon government wrapped themselves in politics and endless deliberation for a full week. Snow remained behind in New Bodhum to take care of the military branch there while Rygdea returned with three of the recruits to Academia. This time, he would act as head of the military, but not join in the deliberations unless specifically asked, so he expected to only serve as security and the occasional advisor when needed. He was gone for two weeks.
In the meantime, Snow kept patrols flowing almost constantly, with special watch to the north and south, and things were quiet. He sent his sister-in-law and her immortal companion out together as often as he could manage. They seemed to have trouble spending time together and things seemed awkward between them, and while it was none of his business, he still needed them to work together. While they had not seen combat together, if anything ever went wrong, they knew each other and their fighting styles well enough to handle it. When he couldn't send them out together, he sent one with one group and the other with another group. Things grew quieter as time went on, and Snow grew anxious.
Serah was less than a month from her expected delivery when Rygdea briefly returned to check up on things. Once seeing that everything was going alright, he promised to return when Lebreau's restaurant was finished before leaving again and taking an additional pair of recruits with him.
Monday evening, Snow returned home feeling two things at once: horribly exhausted, and more alert than he had been in weeks. "Serah?" he called out.
His wife looked more pregnant than ever, her entire body having completely settled into caring for a second. She had gained quite a few pounds to help out with that task, and her normally thin and bony figure had filled out, even getting a bit soggy around the waist. As far as Snow was concerned, though, he loved her no matter how she looked, and to him, it was just more to love.
"There you are." She sounded as though she were in one of her low moods. "Where have you been?"
"Busy again." He leaned on the counter, seeing her standing before a pot on the stove and staring into it. Her hair fell down her back, loosely secured at the top with a hair tie, and loosely braided as well. Only then did he see how long it really was, though she had gotten it cut a couple of inches a few days ago. Lebreau could cook a mean meal as well as show some skill with scissors. "Sorry I wasn't home earlier."
Her blue eyes resembled ice instead of the sky when she turned them on him. "You're never home anymore, did you notice that? On the weekends, you're too tired. On the weekdays, it's a miracle if I see you at all. Sometimes you get sent out to Academia and I don't see you for days. Or Shadowtown. Remember Shadowtown?"
Inwardly, he winced at her tone. "Really, I'm sorry, baby."
"Is it gonna be like this when the baby's born? What about my sister's birthday? Or when the restaurant opens?"
He stepped forward and reached for her. "No, of course not. Don't start that."
She snorted and backed away. "Don't touch me."
He stared at her. "Serah…"
"You're my husband. I know what you're doing is important, but–" Then there were tears in her eyes and her face fell into her palms, where she struggled not to sniffle. Snow ignored her protest and wrapped her in his arms.
"Don't stress. It's not good for the baby."
She moaned. "I know."
"Really, it'll be okay. I'll nag Rygdea about time off, alright? A night off for the restaurant, a day off for Lightning's birthday, and hey, why not a day or two off for the little one?" As she sniffled and tried to breathe normally, he laid a hand on her back and rubbed her spine, feeling slight kinks in it and knowing she was sore. "I'm really sorry this all had to happen now. Just don't cry, okay? It breaks my heart when you cry."
Inhaling, she took a step back and dried her face with her hands. This made her face red and raw. "I miss you, a lot."
"I miss you too. I really do. It bothers me, being away from you two."
"It'll get better, though, right?"
"Of course it will. Your hero will make sure of that."
She tried to look unhappy, but couldn't hold it and smiled. "Yeah, my big, blond hero."
He smiled back and gently patted her shoulder. "Alright, then. Just relax. I'll, uh, try not to crash out immediately when I come to bed tonight, okay? Just let me take a shower, have some of that–" He looked at the pot. "Uh, well, whatever you're heating up, and I promise I'll come relax with you a little while, okay? Don't you worry." He dropped his voice to the soft one he knew she loved and stroked her hair. "It'll be okay."
She rolled her eyes. "Hopefully the birthday's better than the last one."
Snow closed his eyes and groaned loudly. "I know. This time, I don't want her yelling at me. Or you. And no insults either. That– that whole thing was just–"
When he stopped and groaned again, she patted his chest. "She can yell at Caius this time."
"Oh, sure, he'll like that." Pause. "Did you notice anything?"
"About what?"
"Those two. It's like they're… like, uh, not wanting to, I don't know, spend time together."
Serah nodded slowly. "Yeah, I noticed. But I also noticed that they smile at each other a lot. And he likes to make fun of her sometimes. And they argue." She rubbed one eye. "When she was sick, he worried about her. When he was gone, she worried about him."
"Whoa, hold up. You're not implying what I think you're implying, right?"
Serah looked at him. "Maybe."
Snow stared at her with his mouth slightly open, raised both eyebrows, whistled softly, and went for the shower. Afterward, he came out to find Serah gone, so he helped himself to what turned out to be a reheated pot of stew before going into the bedroom. She lay on her back, propped up on pillows, the television on and the volume low, though she looked half-asleep.
He sat beside her. "Carrying around all that extra weight must wear you out."
She shrugged. "You get used to it."
Looking down into his bowl of stew, he prodded a piece of vegetable for a moment. "I'm worried about what's going to happen," he said, very quietly, almost in a whisper. "Things have been really quiet around here, but I have no idea what'll happen next. We're still working on getting people off Cocoon, trying to get the metashield accepted by Cocoon, trying to keep war from coming–"
She sat up a little. "War?"
Snow winced and focused on his stew. "Never mind. Why don't you get some sleep? We'll worry about this some other time, okay?"
His wife gazed at him for a moment before looking away and staring, without seeing, at the television.
Tuesday morning dawned clear and bright with a few clouds in the sky despite the warmth. Serah got up early, as she always did, liking to see her sister and husband off before going back to bed and taking a nap if nothing needed to be done. As she stared unhappily at the pot of coffee, wishing she could have just a tiny sip, she saw Snow come out of the bathroom, exhausted, and take a cup before filling it with the sweet brown beverage. She smiled at him as he took a sip, followed by a mouthful.
"Never could drink it plain," she said. "Too bitter for me."
He half-smiled at her. "Too bitter? I love it plain. That's the best way. Especially this stuff with all its fancy spices."
Serah inhaled the scent of the coffee and tried not to salivate.
Lightning was the next to join them, taking a fast shower before joining them in the kitchen. Foregoing actual food, she instead just took a mug of coffee, sweetened it with sugar and fresh cream, and made that her breakfast. Serah figured she got a taste for coffee from the military.
"I've gotta leave early," Snow murmured. "Got a couple of morning briefings and about… uh, ten million reports."
Serah groaned. "I'm so sorry, Snow."
"Don't start that, now. It's not your fault and you shouldn't apologize."
Lightning took a sip of coffee and stared into the creamy liquid without moving. As Snow held his coffee in on hand and opened the fridge with the other, Caius came in through the front door wearing yet another outfit, this one lacking purple in favor of orange and yellow hues accompanying the black. As he came into the kitchen, Lightning looked up into his eyes. Serah eyed them as she turned to stack and sort the dishes in the sink. Her sister's lips parted ever so slightly as she gazed into his eyes, making her look serious and confused at the same time. He returned it.
"This stew's pretty good cold," Snow said. "I'll have a little bit, if that's okay."
Serah said, "Sure it's okay, help yourself."
Her husband spooned cold stew into a small cup, then took it and his coffee into the living area and sat down on the couch to indulge in breakfast. Lightning returned to her coffee. Caius stayed beside her.
"Did you sleep alright?"
Lightning blinked and looked up at him. "Yeah, sure. Slept just fine."
"Better than the night before?"
Her lips twitched. "Don't worry, Caius, I got enough sleep this time. Did you?"
There were a few seconds of hesitation, and Serah saw his eyes search Lightning's during that pause. "Well enough, yes. Thank you, Light."
Again, her lips twitched. Serah focused on the dishes. Snow finished off his coffee and stew, dropped the dishes in the sink, kissed her on the cheek, and left. Serah growled at the dishes he had just added and began rinsing them out before stacking them.
"Think we'll be asked to patrol together today?" Lightning took a swig of her coffee after speaking.
Caius hummed softly. "I doubt it. Do you miss being with me?"
Lightning seemed to have some difficulty swallowing. "That's, uh, not…" Trailing off, she swallowed again. "I'm asking because Snow seems to assign us to patrol together at random. Don't get so full of yourself that you think it's all about you and me."
"Is that not what this arrangement means? We agreed to it."
Serah glanced at Lightning to see her fingertips squeezing the mug. "We've been over this already. Yes, we agreed to spend time together. How many times do you want to beat a dead chocobo, Caius? It's just, well, you remember the talk we had." Her voice grew quiet; Serah looked away again. "It's going to be tough to take on the future, even if we're together through all the trials."
Serah barely resisted looking over her shoulder again.
"We are strong, and you are with a man who has centuries of experience doing many things. We can do this."
"Right. Sorry." She cleared her throat. Serah finished rinsing and stacking. "I'm just nervous."
"About what the future might bring?"
"That, and, you know, everything else I've said a hundred times."
Just as Serah turned to go to the couch in the living area, Caius reached out to touch Lightning's forearm. Serah saw her sister's cheeks turn just a little bit pink as she took a breath, looking up and into his eyes again. He returned the gaze once more, his lips forming a faint smile, and after a moment, so did hers. This intrigued Serah in spite of her discomfort from standing all this time, so she stopped and leaned on the counter with her eyes narrowed.
Lightning noticed her. "Serah?"
The other woman only narrowed her eyes further.
"Uh…" Lightning looked at Caius, finished off her coffee, and half-smiled at him. "Can you, uh, give us a minute here? I think my sister wants to say something. Actually, why don't you just go on ahead? I'll catch up in just a little while, okay? Go on," she said when he didn't move.
"Are you sure?"
"It's the one time we don't walk together. I think I'll survive." Smiling at him, she tapped her fist on his chest and jerked her head toward the entrance. He blinked at her, shrugged slightly, and moved away from the counter to walk out the front door instead. Once he was gone, Lightning turned on Serah. "Alright. What's on your mind?"
"I've gotta ask: what's going on with you two, exactly?"
Lightning stared. "Uh…" She blinked. "…what?"
"I don't think I need to list everything I've been seeing, sis. Now, I'm a married, pregnant, full-grown woman, and I know what I see when I see it. So don't try to hide anything, don't lie to me, and don't give me any snide remarks of any sort. Tell me straight up: what is going on between you two?"
"We're just friends, Serah, so nothing."
"I said not to lie."
"But I'm not lying to you. I'm not!" she insisted when Serah straightened and crossed her arms.
"Then why do you act like this around him?"
"Like what, Serah?"
Serah couldn't believe what she was hearing. Either Lightning was lying to her, or she genuinely had no idea how she looked. "Like when he was standing next to you and he touched you and looked into your eyes. You had a little blush going on there." Lightning pressed her lips tight together as Serah cocked an eyebrow. "You guys look at each other like the other person's the most amazing thing you've ever laid eyes on. And when he touches you, you react, whether you mean to or not. And you missed him when you were here and he was in Shadowtown! You can't fool me. Fess up already."
Lightning looked at the floor, still scowling. As the silence went on, Serah felt her annoyance fade and wondered if she'd been too harsh.
"I'm trying not to let anything get in the way of our friendship. It's harder than it looks. We've been spending time together, a lot of it, and I've… told him things I haven't even told you, like my feelings about things and…" At her sides, her knuckles cracked as she clenched her hands into fists. "He was once a very dangerous man, and it's a miracle I was able to establish even a friendly relationship with him. I don't want to ruin it. We're friends. We have to be, or else everything will be made way too complicated."
Serah gawked at her sister for a few seconds as she tried to understand what she had just heard. She couldn't have heard right. She could not have heard what she thought she had heard. There was just no way. After all the awkward moments, Lightning's confession of missing Caius, her staring at him and obviously enjoying his presence–
She couldn't help it and burst out laughing.
Lightning looked up from the floor. "What the… this isn't funny!"
Serah covered her face with both hands. "Yes it is!"
"I'm talking about a friendship with a man who's really old but doesn't look it, or usually act like it. Don't you see the problem? I can't let–" Serah kept snickering, though honestly trying to stop. "Stop it. Right now."
"Lightning, maybe he's old, but like you just said, he doesn't look it and doesn't act like it. And come on, he's your immortal and eternal companion! You're bound together! You'll be together until the end of time!" She wiped the tears from her eyes. "What, you didn't even think about what that could mean? You share your emotions, feelings, and hearts, so I'd say this was bound to happen, sis!"
Lightning immediately turned pale, and when she spoke, her voice wasn't very strong. "No, I– I can't do–"
"Give me one, solid reason why not."
"There's so much baggage, and I don't want– I don't want to ruin–"
"Stop that." Finally getting control of her snickering, Serah placed both hands on her hips. "He's changed. And you didn't ask him to – he did it on his own. Everyone deserves a second chance, sis, and you forgave him. Forgiveness means it's like his past didn't even happen. And as someone who's very much in love and very happy, who's been beat up by Caius and yet still found it in her to trust and forgive him, I say it's okay for you two to… you know."
Lightning opened and closed her mouth several times. "But… we don't– but I can't– it's not–"
"Lightning, you're being silly."
The other woman choked softly and swallowed. "You don't get it. We'll be together forever. That's why I can't."
"Now you're just making stuff up."
Again she opened and closed her mouth before staring.
"You feel something for him. The way you act around him makes it pretty obvious. Don't be ashamed. It's normal and natural. In fact, I'd be worried if you didn't develop feelings for him."
The two women stared at each other, Lightning's eyes a bit harsh and unfriendly. Serah's good humor melted away as something cold settled in the pit of her stomach. All she had done was point out what she saw, and yet, the longer she met her sister's gaze, the more she realized that speaking about it had been a mistake. Making light of their relationship, which she didn't know the details of, had not been smart. If she wanted to maintain a simple friendship with him, encouraging her to try going a step further wasn't just stupid, but horribly improper and insensitive.
Then Lightning sighed quietly. "I don't think you understand."
Serah swallowed. "I don't think I do."
The woman checked her gunblade in its holster with one hand. "This was an interesting conversation," she said. A frown wrinkled her brow – not hard, as though she were upset, but soft, as though she were thinking. "I'll keep what you said in mind. I stand by what I said, however." She squared her shoulders. "A relationship with him would be difficult, not the least because of our pasts. We wouldn't mesh well, and then we'd have to mend our friendship and start all over. On top of that, I'm not girlfriend material."
Serah wanted to object, but kept quiet.
"I don't want to take that chance." Her voice stayed strong, but it was softer now, quieter, as though she dredged the words from the depths of her heart. "I can't afford to. It's because we're bound together that I can't risk anything of the sort. Do you understand, Serah?"
Serah's voice sounded small even to her when she said, "I don't think so."
Lightning audibly swallowed. "We'll be together forever. I need him for the trials ahead, and he needs me. If either of us slip up, we'll be left with nothing when times really get tough."
She pressed her hands to her belly and found no words.
"No matter what I feel, what's important is the big picture. Nothing else matters. Especially me. He matters."
Serah frowned, hands tightening.
"But like I said, I'll keep what you said in mind." Lightning headed for the front door. "Maybe, in a hundred years, when we know each other really well, just maybe, we can take that risk. By then, I'll know for sure whether we can stand each other enough to try." She left the house.
Serah gazed down at her belly, rubbing her hands across it, and frowned in thought.
The next morning, Lebreau dropped by the Villiers household to tell Serah that the restaurant would be finished in about a week – or, at least, finished enough to serve food and have places to sit and enjoy the view. The second building wasn't quite finished, but it wasn't completely necessary for a friends-and-family get-together, so they all got to visit the establishment a week earlier than the general populace. That evening, Serah relayed that information to everyone else, and all of them agreed that it was something to be excited about.
That same evening, she watched Lightning interact with Caius, wondering if anything would be different, but there was no difference except that she seemed more confident. If she had breathed a word to him, he didn't show it and seemed ignorant of her feelings as Serah now understood them.
With the press of the government on them, so far away yet foremost on her husband's mind, it was hard to think about it for long.
The week marched by very slowly, and Serah began to feel the baby for real for the first time as he, or she, began to settle lower in her womb, preparing for the final days. It became awkward to stand or walk for extended periods of time, so she sat whenever she could. Nervousness overcame her as she truly realized that this was it – this child, the son or daughter of her husband, the niece or nephew of her sister, was going to be born. In many ways, the thought frightened her. What sort of world would the child grow up in? She became restless, unable to sleep easily, and often had to huddle close to Snow just to fall asleep, much less stay asleep.
Throughout the week, Lightning behaved no differently around Caius, and finally Serah realized they had kept their relationship platonic and professional after all. She had to admire her sister for her tenacity: despite the longing she knew she felt, she wasn't going to ruin the fragile friendship they had created. It had to be hard. How did she keep it hidden from him? Caius treated her no different, content to continue his quick touches and smiles, and she wondered if he knew how much it not only got Lightning all flustered, but annoyed the daylights out of Serah as well.
She never said anything, of course.
Snow continued to go to work early and come home late. The stress became visible. Serah sensed it even if he did his best to hide it, feeling it ebb off him no matter what he did. Sometimes he hid the stress lines in his brow, but sometimes, they slipped through. He never spoke of what worried him. It was likely because it did not concern her, or was classified. Still, she couldn't help but worry.
Tensions remained high in the government, and the evening news sometimes broadcast bits about the deliberations still going, accompanied by stills or sketches instead of video. Shadowtown was mentioned in passing a couple of times as an "independent town" on the edge of the wilderness, left to fend for itself. Snow did tell her that nothing more had come out of the area and the residents seemed content to leave the rest of the world alone as long as it left them alone. With that, while he kept patrols going to the north, they thinned out to three a day of three soldiers each, and things grew even quieter than before.
"It feels like the calm just before the storm," Lightning said, Thursday evening. Caius, who stood beside her, nodded his agreement and looked thoughtful. "Like something's about to happen. The problem is, I can't tell if it's good or bad, and that worries me."
"Don't let it get to you," Serah told her. "Let's just take the time to relax at the restaurant and enjoy life a little before whatever is going to happen, happens, okay?"
"I know." Lightning rubbed her arms; Caius moved a little closer to her. "I'll do what I can."
Friday was fairly peaceful, and Serah slept through most of it. Snow came home in the evening and crashed into bed after taking a fast shower and choking down a quick dinner, but didn't fall asleep. As best as she could with her near full-grown baby and aching, exhausted body, she huddled up close to him and hugged him. While it didn't make his stress go away, she did feel him relax. Eventually, around midnight, he fell asleep, and only then was Serah finally able to do the same.
That Saturday, Rygdea returned to town, and Lebreau announced the restaurant would be opening for them to visit that evening at five o' clock.
For those of you wondering where the Caius x Light is, I absolutely and 100% promise you the next chapter has more than enough to make up for the dry spell that's been going on for so many chapters. Thanks for the MANY favs, follows, and reviews! I am very grateful for each and every one!
