Chapter Thirty One
"Your fuckin' brother damn near took my head off, Babe."
Angel looked up from the book in her hands as Reno walked into the bedroom, ranting. "What are you talking about?"
"I talked to Rude, and he told me that he thought it'd be safe for Jaras to go home, so I went to his room to tell him, and he pulled his sword on me!" Reno seemed incensed about the situation and he sat beside her on the bed.
"What did you do to set him off?" Angel knew Jaras well enough to know that Reno must have really screwed up to have gotten a violent reaction from him.
Reno turned a little red. "I…hey, why do you just instantly think that I did something to deserve it?"
"Because I've known you for a long time, Reno." Angel still was a little surprised to hear that Jaras had pulled his sword on him, although he'd done it seven years ago to Reno, so it wasn't a first.
"Right." Reno shrugged. "I sorta walked in on him bangin' his woman."
Angel sighed and rolled her eyes. "Then I do believe you had it coming, Reno."
He laughed as the moment replayed itself in his mind. "Yeah, well, maybe. But it was worth it to see the look on his face! God damn, he was freaked out."
"You're going to get yourself killed in some really stupid way some day unless you develop a little tact," Angel said back, smiling.
"Probably." Reno grinned back at her. "So…wanna?"
"What?"
Reno reached over and placed a hand on her leg, letting it trail up her thigh. "Gee, I wonder what it could be that I'm after…"
She honestly wasn't feeling up to it at the moment. The pregnancy was finally beginning to affect her, and she was tired. "Actually, let's wait until morning, okay?"
His smile fell and he slouched. "Fine, be that way."
Angel just stared at him and sighed. Reno was a strange character.
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"Cid?" Janice said, standing at his bedside.
His eyes opened and he stretched on the bed before looking at her. "Yeah?"
"How are you feeling this morning?"
Cid considered it for a moment, and then took a deep breath, just to see how much it bothered him to do so. He looked confused and repeated the action.
Dr. Arlin wasn't sure what his expression meant. "Cid? Is something wrong?"
The pilot reached up and pulled the oxygen cannulas from his nose and let them fall to the bedside. "Doc, I feel fine."
"Fine?" Janice reached into her pocket and pulled out her stethoscope.
"Yeah, fine. Good as new." He smiled up at her.
She was confounded to hear him make this claim when he'd been close to dying over the last few days. Janice placed the stethoscope against his chest and listened as he took several deep breaths for her. After several minutes, she stepped back, shaking her head. "I don't believe this…"
"What?" Cid asked, seeing the unsettling look upon her face.
"Your chest…" Janice motioned toward him with her right hand. "It sounds clear."
Cid knit his brow and locked into her gaze. "They said it would take me a long time to get better, but I feel perfectly fine right now. Maybe that stuff works better than they thought it would."
"I can maybe accept that it did something for the cancer, Cid, but you still had a raging case of pneumonia, and the antibiotics you've been getting haven't had long enough to clear it up yet!" She couldn't understand what was going on.
Cid didn't care. He felt fine and that was good enough for him. "Get this thing out of my arm so I can go get something to eat."
"I'm not ready to pull your I.V. yet," she protested.
"You know me well enough to know that I'm just gonna rip the fucking thing out if you don't get rid of it." Cid held the arm in question up to her.
She tensed her jaw and narrowed her eyes. "One day, far into the future, I'm going to get a patient in here that will actually comply with medical orders. That will be a wonderful day, you know?"
"Cut the shit and get this off my arm, Janice." Cid was losing his sense of humor. If he was going to feel this good, then being locked in the infirmary wasn't an option.
"All right, I'll take it out, but then we're taking a chest x-ray just to make sure that your lungs look as good as they sound at the moment. After that, I'm going to talk to Quigley and Porter to see if they've got an explanation for this." Janice reached out and began to pull the tape from his arm.
"Fair enough." Cid closed his eyes and waited for her to finish, reveling in the feeling of wellness that he possessed. He hadn't felt this good since he'd been a teenager. It was wonderful-- frighteningly wonderful.
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Jaras got up and looked over at Jeanine, seeing that she was already awake. "Hey."
She offered him a smile. "Morning."
"I think we should go."
Jeanine sat up and put her arm around his shoulders. "Are you sure?"
He nodded. "I do. There's something about being here that just makes me feel…uneasy. We've been here too long. Let's go home."
"If that's what you want."
"I do." He slid from the bed and stood, going over to the dresser to retrieve some clothes.
Jeanine just remained in place, admiring him as he moved around the room, getting ready for the day.
Jaras pulled on a shirt and some jeans before picking up the book he had lying on the dresser. He figured he could sit and read for a while until Jeanine was ready to get dressed and go out. Jaras picked up his reading glasses and went to the couch, landing heavily. With his book opened to its appropriate page, he put on his reading glasses and tried to start reading.
It didn't go so well.
The words were all blurred, and instantly he felt like he was going to get a headache. He pulled off his glasses and examined them to see if they were dirty or damaged in some way, but they weren't. And he could tell they weren't because his eyesight was absolutely perfect. "Oh my God…"
Jeanine looked over at him from where she was still sitting on the bed. "Jaras?"
He let the glasses fall from his hand to his lap. "I can see."
"What?"
Jaras opened his book again and scanned the words, seeing each of them with perfect clarity. "I can see just fine, Jeanine. I…I don't need my glasses."
"Really?" She got up from the bed and came over to his side. Over the years, she'd come to appreciate how bad his eyesight really had become, and she needed proof. Jeanine pointed to a line in the book. "What's this say?"
Without missing a beat, he read the sentence to her. "Captain Thomason wasn't above using force to get his way if needed, and right now, he felt that it was completely justifiable."
Jeanine looked up into his eyes. "Jaras, that's amazing."
"I guess what they gave me is still changing me on some level." He set the book down, no longer feeling like reading.
She had been able to appreciate the fact that his physique had slowly continued to improve and it stood to reason that his musculature wasn't the only thing being effected. "The Jenova is still working."
He nodded. "It would appear so."
"Jaras, if you felt different emotionally, you'd tell me, right?" she asked, resting her head against his shoulder.
"Yes, I would. You never need to worry about that." He moved and kissed her on top of the head.
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A few hours later, Jaras and Jeanine packed up their few belongings and headed up to the airfield. Brad was going to take them home in the chopper, per Angel's order. Angel was standing there next to the helicopter, waiting to give her nervous goodbye to her brother, as she feared what may happen if he went home. Spanky was also there, since he was being sent back to Mideel as well.
Jaras went to the chopper and threw his and Jeanine's bags within, before turning to his sister. "Thank you for all you've done."
She offered him a weak smile. "And I, in turn, thank you. Please be careful."
"I think I've learned to be a little more vigilant of my surroundings," he said back, almost looking amused. "Jeanine and I will be fine."
"I hope so." Angel looked over at Jaras' wife, who was standing to his side. "If anything happened to you or that baby you're carrying…"
Jeanine stepped forward and embraced her sister-in-law. "Jaras will take care of me. You need to take care of the baby you're carrying, too."
Angel smiled, still ecstatic about her pregnancy. "Of course. Reno and I will come and see you soon, and after these babies are born, we'll have to get together again."
"Definitely." Jeanine retreated back to her husband's side. "I'm going to get into the helicopter so you and Angel can have a moment."
Jaras nodded and helped his wife into the machine, before turning back to his sister. He went forward and put his arms around her. "Are you going to be all right?"
She looked up into his eyes vexedly. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I don't know…Reno's all right, despite what happened to him, isn't he?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah, he's pretty much his old self." Angel grinned.
"That's too bad." His expression didn't betray the fact that he was joking with her.
Angel stepped back and slapped him in the shoulder. "Jaras!"
"Sorry, I couldn't help it." He dropped his gaze. "Is he very upset about what happened earlier?"
"About you pulling your sword on him and cutting up his neck a little?" Angel asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes." Jaras shrugged. "He had it coming."
"He did. No, he's fine with it. Besides, it's not the first time he's had to bear the consequence of a thoughtless action, I assure you." She shook her head at the thought of all the times Reno had been put in danger because of his lack of common sense and tact.
"All right, well, I'm going to go, then." He pulled her in for another embrace before retreating and going into the helicopter, joining Jeanine and Spanky.
Angel walked away and then watched as Brad fired up the engines and pulled the aged bird up into the sky. She was honestly worried about Jaras going home, even if Reno and Rude seemed all right with it. Only time would tell.
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The airship docked in Kalm and Tifa, along with her two children, caught a taxi and were driven home. Aaron had been quiet during the entire trip, not knowing how he was supposed to feel about everything that had happened.
Tifa and Aaron hoped that Vincent would be at the house when they arrived, but neither of them dared to say anything about it, not wanting to get their hopes up if he failed to show.
The car pulled up in front of the house and Tifa paid the driver before taking the baby and their luggage and heading up toward the door. She pulled out her keys and opened it, before stepping inside. Aaron walked past her and to his room, leaving her with the baby. Tifa left the bags near the door and walked toward the kitchen.
Her eyes were drawn to the kitchen table. Upon it was a small pile of electronics. She went closer and examined the items, seeing that it consisted of a few smashed video cameras and various listening devices, all undeniably Shinra issue. Tifa instantly understood what this meant.
First, Vincent had been here. He would have been the only one to know that the house had been bugged and he was one of the few people that she knew who would have been able to locate these devices and remove them.
Secondly, it meant that he had probably been shown everything that had happened between her and Cid. Suddenly, Tifa felt weak and she pulled out a chair and sat, holding her daughter tightly to her arms. The truth of her infidelity to Vincent crushed in on her and tears came to her eyes.
"I'm so sorry…" she said to no one, her shoulders heaving with her regret. Tifa knew that if Vincent did come and see her, that it would be a miracle. She didn't deserve it.
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"Quigley, Porter, please come to the infirmary at once."
The two men looked up from their respective work and over at one another. The fact that Janice was calling them to the infirmary worried both of them and they rose from their places and headed to where they'd been requested.
When they walked into the infirmary, they spotted Dr. Arlin standing in front of the x-ray viewer, with Cid at her side.
Quigley was the first to ask. "What's going on?"
Both Cid and Janice turned to face them. Porter and Quigley were instantly able to appreciate the vast improvement in the pilot's appearance.
Porter knit his brow. "What's going on?"
Janice pointed at the radiographs hanging on the viewer behind her. "Cid has been completely cured."
"What? No way!" Quigley stepped closer, examining the x-rays for himself, seeing that Cid's lungs looked absolutely clear. "What the hell?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing." Janice crossed her arms over her chest. "Your cure worked, but you said that his recovery was going to be a slow process."
"There's no way that if could have worked that fast!" Porter shook his head in disbelief.
"You two are the one's that cracked that formula." Janice pushed her glasses up higher. "What happened?"
Quigley was honestly stumped. "I followed the formulation that was in the computer to the letter…I don't know why it wouldn't have worked on him like it was supposed to."
"Well, I don't care what happened, I feel great. I wanna go home." Cid stepped away from them, ready to be out of the base and back home.
"But you're supposed to get two more doses," Quigley replied.
"Until we find out what happened, and as long as Cid is in this sort of shape, I don't think he should be given any more. Something's wrong." Dr. Arlin flipped off the light in the radiograph viewer.
Quigley nodded shallowly and looked away. "All right, that's fair."
"So if I'm not getting any more, that means I can get out of this dump?" Cid smiled.
"I think we need to observe you--" Janice wasn't allowed to finish.
"Fuck that. I can breathe, and I'm going home." Cid was not going to take no for an answer.
"I…I need to go look into the formula some more." Quigley felt the color drain from his face. Cid may have been cured, he may have felt great, but this wasn't how it was supposed to have happened.
"You do that." Janice turned to Cid. "You can go home, under the condition that if anything changes with you, you'll either call or return here immediately, understood?"
Cid nodded. "Sure thing. I'm gonna go see Jin and L.C."
They watched as he left the room, picking up his jacket from the bed he'd been occupying on the way out.
Once he was gone, Dr. Arlin looked at Quigley. "What are the chances that you made a mistake?"
The researcher's heart was pounding in his chest. "I don't know, I followed the formula exactly. If there was a mistake, then it was in the formula itself. I did exactly what it said I was supposed to."
Feeling his friend's unrest, Porter came to Quigley's side and stared at Janice. "Quigley doesn't make mistakes. He's the most careful person I've ever known."
"Well, something isn't right. That sure as hell wasn't the gradual recuperation that you'd described." Janice had possessed reservations about Cid being given the drug, and now she was kicking herself for allowing it. She knew, however, that Cid would have died soon without any help. It was a bad situation all the way around.
Quigley was feeling sick to his stomach. The thought that he may have done something terrible was washing over him and he turned around without another word and slogged back to the lab.
Porter gave Janice a shrug and then jogged after Quigley to catch up, following his partner back toward the lab. "Quig?"
He didn't respond, just walking with his head hung and his hands shoved I his pockets.
Porter reached out and grabbed Quigley's uninjured arm. "Come on, Quig?"
"Porter…I followed the formula…I don't know what went wrong! What if…what if I'd screwed up and he'd died?" Quigley turned his eyes up to meet his friend's.
"Well, he didn't die, and if you didn't notice, he looked great, Quig. He's fine." Porter never knew Quigley to doubt his scientific abilities.
"Looks can be deceiving, Port. We have no idea what we actually did to him!" Quigley pulled his arm out of his partner's grasp.
"He's fine, now stop beating yourself up over it. Maybe there wasn't anything wrong with the drug at all and it's just the way he happened to respond to it. I mean, I'm sure this stuff hasn't been well tested or anything. It could just be a fluke." Porter's mind was seeking any means of comforting Quigley that he could find.
"Maybe…we just don't know." He ran a hand through his hair. "I need to go study the whole situation."
"All right, let's just go and take it one step at a time." Porter began to walk toward the lab again, knowing that Quigley was following.
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Cid went straight to his old room and entered, seeing Jin sitting with L.C. upon the couch within. "Hey."
Jin shot to her feet, her eyes wide. "Cid? What are you doing?"
"I'm better."
She had been told that his recovery was going to be a slow one, and she couldn't quite accept this. "But they said…"
"I know, but I'm fine already." He walked right up to her and placed his arms around her.
Jin examined his face, finding that his color had returned and that he looked wonderful. Maybe he even looked a little younger. Tears came to her eyes and she rested her head against his chest, her relief washing over her.
L.C. in the meanwhile came over and tugged on his father's arm. "Dad?"
He looked down at his son. "What's up, kid?"
"Does this mean that we can go home?" the boy asked, eager to get back to Rocket.
"Yeah, it does." Cid smiled and the looked back into Jin's eyes. "It does."
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Barrett was standing before the entrance to Cosmo Canyon, Marlene at his side. They were waiting for a plane to arrive to take them to Junon, so that he could get his adopted daughter settled into her dorm room. This was going to be her first year away from home, since she was going to be attending cooking school in the far off town. Marlene had long dreamed of becoming a chef, and her father had seen to it that her wish was going to come true.
"Dad, when is the plane supposed to get here?" she asked, clinging to his side.
"Don't know. Anytime." He looked down upon her with a smile. The fact that she was going to be gone for the next few years tore at his heart. He'd never really been away from her much over the years and he dreaded being without her. Barrett wouldn't be alone at least, since he still shared a home with Nanaki, his mate, and their now six cubs. "The charter company said it'd show up around four, an' it's ten past now."
Their attention was drawn upward as the drone of a plane's engines were heard over head. The craft circled twice, before setting down on the ground before them. The engines were cut and Barrett picked up his daughter's bags and started walking toward the craft.
When he was close enough, he noticed the faded painting on the side of the plane.
Capt. C. Highwind
Barrett was immediately confused. He'd tried to call Cid to get him to fly them to their destination, but there had been no answer at his home for several days. Not knowing where else to turn, he'd called a charter flight company since they were the only ones that offered service all the way out to Cosmo. Cid hadn't mentioned starting work for a charter company the last time they'd spoken.
The side door of the plane was flung open violently, and a cigarette was flung forth. The pilot hopped down to the ground. "You the passengers?"
Barrett's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. The pilot was waiting for some sort of reply, a scowl on his face and his arms crossed over his chest. His weathered features were identical to Cid's, the only difference being that he was clearly close to seventy-five years old and crowned with snow-white hair.
Barrett shook himself out of his state and went closer. "Yeah, I'm Barrett and this is my daughter, Marlene."
The old man looked between Barrett and the young lady, the obvious question regarding their different races playing across his face, but he said nothing about it. "I'm Cid."
Barrett couldn't help but ask. "Cid?"
"Did I stutter, boy?" he shot back with his slight drawl, pulling out another cigarette and lighting up.
He bristled at being called 'boy', but steadied himself, opting to have more tact than the man before him. "No, it's just that you look an awful lot like my friend. He's a pilot, too, and his name happens to be Cid."
The pilot tensed his jaw and frowned. "Junior."
"What?" Barrett asked.
"You know Junior. I'm Captain Cid Highwind, Senior." The pilot turned and got back into the plane. "Come on, I don't have all fucking day."
Barrett looked at his daughter and then followed the pilot onto the plane. He and Marlene settled into their seats.
The elder Cid looked back at them for a moment. "So, you know my boy?"
Barrett nodded, after fastening his seat belt. "Yeah."
The old man narrowed his eyes and frowned again, before dropping his gaze away. "And how is he?"
"Fine. He and his son are great, last I heard," he replied.
"He and his son?" Capt. Highwind locked gazes with the other man once more, his scowl returning. "He's got a son?"
Barrett realized that he'd just stumbled into a very awkward and tense situation. "Yeah…he's got a seven year old."
"That fuckin' son of a bitch!" Capt. Highwind turned in his seat and gunned the plane's engines, pulling them up into the air quickly. He continued to curse to himself under his breath for nearly half an hour before flipping on the auto-pilot and turning back to his passengers. "And where in the hell is he living these days?"
Barrett wasn't really sure if he should relay this information if the old man didn't already know it, then again, he was in the guy's plane and his life was in his hands. "Rocket."
"Figures." He pulled out yet another cigarette and lit up, shutting them out from further conversation for the rest of the flight. Capt. Highwind clearly was not a particularly friendly individual.
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Night settled, and Tifa put Aaron and Charlotte both to bed. She sat out in the kitchen for a long time, unwilling to turn in until she was absolutely certain that Vincent wasn't going to come by today. At half past midnight, she resolved that he wasn't coming and she got up, flipped off the light and went to bed.
She undressed and slipped between the sheets, pulling Vincent's pillow over to her. His scent was still upon it, although it had been mixed with Cid's somewhat. Tears came to her eyes once more and she eventually passed into sleep.
The kitchen door silently unlocked and Vincent slipped into the darkened house. He'd seen from the bedroom window that Tifa was in bed and asleep, making it safe for him to come in. With all of his Turk training, he knew how to move about undetected and he set about doing so. His first objective was to get to his son's room, since he'd not seen Aaron since his last time here-- and that hadn't been a pleasant encounter.
He opened Aaron's door and stepped inside, going close to his son's beside and kneeling down beside it. Vincent smiled as he looked at his boy, wishing that he could wake him and speak to him, but doing so meant that he ran the risk of Tifa knowing he was here, and he wasn't ready yet for that.
After observing Aaron for nearly half an hour, Vincent got up and left that room, going to the nursery. Charlotte was sleeping in her crib. He stared down at her in the dim night light, smiling to himself. She was perfect and although he'd only seen her twice now, he was hopelessly in love.
The baby stirred and awoke, starting to cry. Vincent realized that if this woke Tifa, she would rush in and catch him here. Not knowing what else to do, he reached down and picked up the infant, clutching her to his chest.
"It's all right, don't cry," he whispered to her, rocking her gently in his embrace. It may have been several years since his son had been a baby, but certain things one never loses.
Within a few seconds, Charlotte quieted down, blinking up at her father's face.
Vincent continued to smile at her. "Hey."
She made a small sound before her eyes fluttered close again and she fell back to sleep.
The former Turk was mesmerized by his new child and he stood there holding her for well over an hour while she slept. Eventually, he placed her back down into her crib and he left the room, having just one more thing to do.
He walked down the hall and opened the door to the master bedroom. Vincent walked toward the edge of the bed and knelt down much like he had in Aaron's room, except this time he was looking at Tifa. Even with all that had happened, he still loved her and found her beautiful. Vincent wanted to reach out and touch her, but he didn't dare, for fear of waking her.
He smiled faintly at her, but the vision of her being with Cid tormented him in the back of his mind. After just a few minutes he got back up and slipped from the house, going out the back door.
Vincent went around the side of the house and to where the small pond he'd dug for Tifa shortly after moving in was located. He landed upon the small bench beside it and gazed down into the water, seeing the fish hovering beneath the surface.
The memories of the time after he'd found her seven years ago began to play through his mind, making him nostalgic. Getting a home of her own, with a pond like this and a flock of chickens had been Tifa's only wish back then, and those had proven to be things that he could grant her. They had been so happy here together at first, but then that voice had come back into his mind, manipulating him and making him start to drink. It had been a constant downward slope from there. He regretted everything and knew that if he could get past the fact that she'd turned to Cid that he actually had a chance at working things out with her. Those two children within the house were counting on it, whether they knew it or not.
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"Mom?"
Tifa rolled onto her back and opened her eyes, seeing Aaron standing at her bedside. "What's up, Sweetie?"
"I had a dream last night that Dad was here," he said quietly, sadness in his voice.
Tifa moved over and patted the mattress next to her, indicating that she wanted him to climb onto the bed with her. "Tell me."
Aaron lay down beside his mother on his side, propping his head up on his arm. "I dreamed that he was just beside my bed for a while last night. He didn't say anything, he just watched me."
She gave him a wide smile. "Guess what?"
He just looked at her in anticipation of her reply.
"I had the same dream," she admitted quietly. "I even woke up afterward and could have sworn that I smelled him. It was like he was really here."
"Maybe he was," Aaron said hopefully.
"I wish." Tifa smiled at him again before sitting up and stretching. "Did you sleep all right?"
"Yeah." Aaron slid back off the bed. "I'm gonna go have some cereal."
Tifa got up as well and dressed, before going and getting Charlotte from her crib. After nursing the baby, she could see that her daughter was still sleepy and she placed her back into the crib to rest a little longer. That done, Tifa went outside to go take care of some things.
She walked out and went to the shed, retrieving a bucket of chicken feed and going and dumping in on the lawn. Her flock of hens and the rooster came running and got to the serious task of eating, having been left to forage for the last several days.
Tifa watched them for a few minutes and smiled. "I'm sorry, guys. I should have called the neighbor and seen if she could have come and fed you."
Shortly thereafter, she returned to the shed and put the bucket down before getting a scoop of the fish food that was also in a bag here. Tifa made her way over to the pond and landed on the bench, flicking the pieces of fish food a few at a time out into the water, watching as they ate. Some of them were fairly big now, being close to six years old. The largest was a black and orange koi, being well over ten inches long.
Watching them made her think back to being in Wutai with Vincent, and tears came to her eyes. Tifa looked down at the bench she was sitting on, and ran her hands over the marks upon it. Over the years, Vincent had carved into it with his pocketknife, writing out various things in Wutain. Tifa had no idea what the marks meant, she'd never asked, and Vincent had felt silly about doing it in the first place and so hadn't volunteered their meaning.
Tifa would have been surprised to know what they were, though. As it turned out, Vincent was a far more sentimental creature than anyone ever would have made him out to be. These symbols all denoted specific events in he and Tifa's relationship, and listed were the dates of the first time he'd met her, the day he'd come to her seven years after Meteor, the first time she'd told him she loved him, their wedding, and Aaron's birthday.
As her eyes scanned this list, at the end of it, there was something fresh gouged into the wood-- something that hadn't been there yesterday. She scooted closer to it, and felt her heart race. Although she didn't know it, it was Charlotte's birthday, but she did know that it really meant. Vincent had been here, and he'd been here recently.
"Oh my God…" She let her fingers trace out the characters, somehow feeling a connection with Vincent as she did so. Aaron hadn't been dreaming-- he really had seen his father.
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Cid, Jin, and L.C. left the ASRIO base and got onboard a train that would take them to Rocket. The pilot had been too impatient to wait for either the helicopter or airship to return to get them on their way and so had gone this route.
It took them well into the evening before they got home. Relieved to be back, Cid had walked into the house, grabbed a beer from the fridge, and had gone out and landed on the couch. Nothing was better than this.
Jin came and got to his side, also happy to be home. "Cid?"
He looked at her after taking a swig from his drink. "Yeah?"
"I quit my job."
His eyes went wide. "You told me that you were just going to cut back the number of hours that you were working!"
"Technically, I did." She offered him a faint smile. "But you know as well as I do that still would have meant me being gone for weeks at a time and if we're really going to give this being a family thing a shot, I figured that I had to quit."
Cid nodded at her shallowly, not believing that she'd done this. Working on the airship and keeping it airborne had been her first love as long as he'd known her. "But you really liked your work, Jin."
"I know, but there is an airship port here, and I figured that they probably need ground mechanics. I can maybe get a part time job doing that, then I can be home here every night."
This made Cid happy on a deep level. Although he'd always known that her work was important to her, he'd always dreaded those long breaks when she would have to go with the airship on several consecutive missions. He disliked being alone and without her, and so did L.C. This was the best news she could have given him. "Jin, that's great."
She smiled at him. "I know."