Blind love, chapter 7:
Little Fingers Are Very Useful- If You Know How.
Vincent returned home with four things:
One, a little Cid action figure.
Two, a very shaken state of mind.
Three, severe muscle strain.
Four, a horrible prospect.
Elena wanted him to meet her parents.
Him.
Her parents.
She told him that since they were now officially Boyfriend (and here Vincent blushed) and Girlfriend, he should come to lunch sometime with her parents.
That sometime was just a couple of days from today.
Him+ Elena's parents= disaster.
'Can anybody spell C-A-T-A-S-T-R-O-P-H-E?' he cynically asked himself as he parked the car.
"K. A. T... Um... C. A. T. A. S.... Two S'?"
"Oh, shut up." Vincent mumbled angrily, crossing his arms rigedly across his chest.
"Just kidding..." Cid laughed.
"Don't."
"~Vincent and Elena, sitting on a tree- K. I. S. S. I. N.- *thump!* Ouch!"
"Cut it out!"
Shera giggled happily as she pressed the little button on the Cid action figure for the hundredth time,
"Dollar sign, percent, dollar sign, at!!!" The little thing yelled.
Cid rised his head from being flat on the table (by Vincent's kind thrashing) and contorted his face for the hundredth time,
"I don't $%$@ sound like that!"
Vincent lifted his head from his sulking,
"You don't?"
"I don't have such a squeaky voice!"
Vincent and Shera exchanged glances.
"I do NOT have such a squeaky voice!!" he proclaimed again, louder then before
Shera's only response was to press the little button again,
"Judo Chop!!!!!!" and it swung the plastic spear in a way that would intimidate any other plastic enemy.
"Stop that!" Cid groaned, but Shera was having too much fun. "Why did you buy that thing, again?" he asked Vincent miserably, trying not to listen to the squeaky toy.
"It even says here at the bottom that 'Cid Highwing says that smoking can be hazardous to your health'." Commented Shera.
Cid rised one fist in protest,
"It's Highwind, not Highwing! Who's the idiot that wrote this stuff?? And I'll wouldn't be caught alive saying stuff like that!"
"It says here that it was made by Scarlet Inc. ..."
"Scarlet???" Both guys straightened together with fear, "That crazy &*%^ still alive??"
Shera nodded,
"It seems so..."
Both men shuddered.
"That woman's a psycho!"
Vincent nodded with agreement,
"She is indeed the fear of every man ever to work at Shinra..."
"I don't think she ever picked on Palmer..." Cid mussed.
"Well... I guess that's only understandable..."
"I remember she only chased the handsome men at Shinra." Shera added, getting up and making some tea. Not before hiding the action figure from Cid.
"I guess you didn't have any problems from her, then." Vincent teased.
"Ha ha." Then Cid realized something. "She used to chase you??"
Vincent stretched his mouth to a tin line.
"That's not what I meant." Cid shook his head," What I mean- How old is she? If she used to chase you..."
Not that rephrasing it that way made Vincent feel better.
"I would think she was about my age... Perhaps a bit older... Nowadays she's about 60."
Cid leaned back in his chair,
"Wow... I would never of suspected... sixty! She looks damn good for her age."
Vincent titled his head in fake smugness,
"Some people look better then others at old age." He eyed Cid meaningfully.
"Shut yer yap before I'll smack your wrinkled face across the living room."
Shera rolled her eyes, then after a moment;
"Oh!" She shouted, bringing a hand to her back, both kids stopped bickering and turned to her, "My back!" She leaned with one hand on the counter, the other supporting her back.
Cid and Vincent rushed to her side.
"Shera! Are you okey??" Cid asked, very much alarmed.
Vincent looked as alarmed as Cid as he asked,
"Maybe we should get her to bed?"
"Good idea!"
All Shera did was to look in pain.
Vincent and Cid exchanged glances.
"I'll carry her." Vincent decided.
Cid grabbed his arm before he procedded,
"You look tired- I'll do it."
Shera gasped in pain, so Cid quickly brought one arm around her shoulders and another under her knees and swept her off her feet. He groaned with the weight but was surprisingly smart enough not to comment anything. Not while she had such a plain attack route to his face, at least.
Vincent followed them eagerly.
As Cid gently lowered her into her bed (not before Vincent fluffed the pillows) she asked in a weak voice, placing one hand over her forehead dramatically,
"Could one of you bring me something to drink, please? I feel dizzy..."
Cid immediately ran to get something.
Vincent carefully tucked her in under the covers.
"Just rest- We'll take care of you..."
Cid returned with a glass of water, almost spilling it on Shera for he came in such a hurry.
She drank it and thanked Cid.
"Oh... But I can't rest! What about dinner?" She tried to get up and fell back to the pillow with a renewed strike of pain. Both men calmed her,
"Don't worry about us- Just rest..." Vincent said,
"Ya, we'll handle, you need to feel better."
"Can we bring you something?" Both looked all too eager to help.
Shera smiled a weak smile,
"I don't want to be a burden..."
"No trouble at all!" Cid waved his hand in a dismissive gesture, Vincent nodded his agreement.
"... Then could you please bring me my book from the living room? And perhaps another pillow?"
Both men shook their heads enthusiastically and ran off.
The moment they were out of the room, Shera snuggled deeper under the covers and smiled contentedly,
'Who said those Drama lessons wouldn't pay off?'
She simply didn't want to cook and clean. Tonight, she wanted to rest.
They returned in a hurry, Vincent with the book, Cid with another pillow.
Vincent gave her the book, Cid fluffed the new pillow and, with Vincent's help, placed it gently behind Shera's 'aching' back.
She gave them a worried look,
"But what about dinner?"
Cid and Vincent exchanged determined looks and nodded in unison (as they were used to do from Avalanche days).
"We'll make it."
They returned an hour later- Vincent held the door open and Cid brought in a big tray with food;
A mostly burnt toast with unevenly spread peanut butter on it, a cup of tea, and two fried eggs, mostly burnt as well.
"Sunny side up- Just like you love 'em!" Cid pointed at the eggs.
She smiled at them,
"Thank you."
They smiled like two children.
Deep in her heart she feared the answer of 'why did it take them an entire hour?' and 'What does the kitchen look like now'- Or rather 'Will I recognize the kitchen?'. another thing that bothered her was the amount of coal she was about to eat. And she was told that eggs don't burn- yet those looked like gooey pieces hardened oil.
It took her a moment to understand that they were waiting for her to taste the food.
She bit the stone hard toast and the *crunch!!!!* after that was almost deafening.
Their eyes were full of anxious anticipation,
"Crunchy... Tasty..." She said, although had the taste and density of charcoal.
Cid smiled with great pride.
Shera forced herself to swallow the stuff and she tried some of the eggs.
It took her a long moment to cut through the egg- it was like rubber.
"Feh, this knife is dull." she said so they won't feel bad. It tasted something made of rubber as well.
"Yummy..." she smiled painfully, swallowing back the tears that threatened to flood her eyes.. This was Vincent's turn to smile proudly,
"Plaster free." He mentioned with pride.
She swallowed down that too and picked up the tea. She tried not to contort her face.
She did, but only because it was drinkable.
"This is good!" She exclaimed, surprised.
They didn't notice the other meaning and smiled proudly. Cid produced a little card from his pocket, Shera took it,
"We used your instructions..."
It was the same note she had written them when she went out that other day...
She gave each a big hug,
"Thank you."
They were so pathetic in house keeping, it was adorable.
They both blushed slightly.
"Can we get you something else?" Vincent offered.
Shera knew that even if she was to ask for a fruit that grows only on the other side of the planet and was guarded by ferocious, human eating beasts- both would say 'okey- Just a minute' and hop happily to get it for her.
She didn't take advantage of that too often, but sometimes she did.
"You don't think she was FAKING it, do you?" Cid suddenly stopped washing the house (at Shera's meek request.)
Vincent stopped mopping and he and Cid exchanged a silent look,
"Naaaa...." they resumed the task.