If you haven't noticed already, these are very short little blogs of story-writing fun I've made. So bear with me on the brevity of each entry. Mako Red Eyes - thanks for the encouragement. I shall try and keep up with my updates.

THE SWEETEST THING

CHAPTER 3 Forget It

Tea leaves. There was always something so warming about the smell of tea leaves.

She finished heating the water and turned the stove off when the shrill whistle cut through the small house. The door to the bathroom opened and Cid came out, coughing and drying off his wet hair with a towel. Though he was still damp, his own lack of patience towards even drying himself off properly, he came out in a pair of night pants she had given him prior to his shower. She was already in an pair of her own and an oversized old shirt he didn't wear anymore. The reason was that she wore it to sleep now.

"'bout time!" He called as he sat down heavily at the table. "Been starvin' and dyin' of cold up in that damn plane!" He pulled out his pack of cigarettes and stuck one in his mouth, fluidly lighting it up and tucking the pack and lighter away. He took a drag and blew the smoke out.

Shera took out two cups from the cabinet and placed a packet of green tea in each, pouring the steaming water into the cups and taking them over to the table where Cid sat, running the towel uncerimoniously through his dull golden hair, a thin line of smoke curling up towards the ceiling. She went back to the stove and bent down and opened up the oven, suddenly the room was filled with the wafting aroma of the bakery she had made for the both of them.

"What's that?" Cid asked as he threw the towel over his shoulder carelessly, letting it land on the wooden floor.

"Pie." Shera answered as she carried it steaming over to the table on a large plate. "I'll have to go grocery shopping again, I haven't picked up a lot of supplies since . . . well, since you left."

"That's alright." Cid said, taking the cigarette out of his mouth as he sipped from the hot cup. "Green tea, eh?"

Shera smiled. "I thought you'd like it. It's good for you. Unlike those."

Cid sniffed indignantly but drank a large gulp and then proceeded to take a long drag of his cigarette.

Shera came over and sat down next to him, taking a cutting knife and slicing through the pie, taking out a piece for her and Cid.

"Tifa called two days ago." She said, placing the pie on his plate.

"Tifa?" Cid asked, taking in a breath of smoke and letting it go as he cut into his portion with a fork. "Two days ago, eh? What'd she want?"

Shera sat down after she placed her pie on her plate and thought about it.

"She said something about meeting up at 7th Heaven in two weeks or so. I'm not really sure, but she told me to tell you to call her via you PHS to get ahold of her."

Cid shrugged. "Whatever. I'm gonna eat my fuckin' dinner and then I'm getting some well deserved sleep. She can wait until tomorrow." And then he put out his cigarette on the edge of his plate and took a mouthful of his food to prove his point.

Shera ate a piece of hers. "So where did you find the Tiny Bronco? Was it very difficult?"

"Ah," Cid took another generous mouthful and spoke around his chewing. "Hell, I had to travel all around the fuckin' globe to get that piece of crap back! Asked a million people at a dozen places, but finally got enough leads to send me in the right direction."

Shera nodded.

"An' finally I found her docked off, still floatin' like a damn boat, in the water where those numbskulls made me have to leave her. Bad case of rust all over the bottom of her hull but nothin' I can't fix." He shoved the last of the pie in his mouth and helped himself to another piece.

"I'm sure it feels good to have the Bronco back though?"

Cid laughed. "Hell yeah it does!" He yawned and then shoved more pie in his mouth.

Shera finished her serving and stood up, taking her plate with her and placing it in the sink. She began to wash it and by the time she was done Cid had finished his second piece and was poking at the remainder of the pie with his fork, taking a few half-hearted mouthfuls between his finishing off his cooling tea.

"Come now, Captain," Shera scolded calmly as she pulled the pie out of his reach. "Leave some for tomorrow."

Cid grumbled and let his fork fall onto his empty plate, leaning back and staring around his house.

"You've kept it clean in here."

"Yes." Shera said as she stood up from covering and placing the pie in their refrigerator. "I hoped it would be clean when you got back."

Cid continued to gaze around as she came back and took his plate, carrying it to the sink. She finished washing and drying it and came back to the table, seeing her half-drank cup of tea.

She moved to pick it up when Cid's hand shot out and grabbed hers around the wrist.

"Forget it." He said, standing up and releasing her. "It's cold anyways. I'm tired and it's getting later and colder as we just stand around here."

Shera looked at the tea cup.

"Forget it!" He motioned for her to follow him around the table and towards the back room where their sofa was. "Leave it for tomorrow," He covered his mouth as he coughed. "alright?"

She smiled. "Alright, Captain."

They moved into the back room and Cid pulled out the bed extension, removing the blankets as Shera slipped under them and he joined her a moment later. It wasn't the first time they had shared a bed, but it wasn't that often a routine of theirs. Mostly they only shared the sofa when the weather got too cold to try and sleep on their own in their small house. It was never planned on, just a known thing, when one went in the other would join. An unspoken partnership. And then again, it was even easier and a more common language when they wanted to be left alone. That was simple to understand and pick up. And it was something she had come to understand as a second language from the Captain.

He wiggled into a more comfortable position and sighed contently. She liked that sound and scooted her back towards him a little more. In a little while she could hear him asleep and soon after joined him.