Chapter 4 - The Cookies, The Tea, and Miss Grey

Hey, y'all! Me again. Bet yer probably tired of listenin' to me talk to you, but I just gotta tell you all about this as only I can. In fact, I think I might tell the rest of the story from here on out, so listen up, Kiddies!

Okay, I said I was gonna try an' help Vin with the cookies, but I changed my damn mind! What the hell I look like makin' fuckin' cookies? In that note, what the hell would Vin look like makin' fuckin' cookies? I made some of my world famous tea using some leaves I found in Vin's closet. I ain't too sure what fuckin' tree them leaves came off of, but Vin needs to get some more of those. They made my tea taste better than it usually would. I made a few PB and J's, too. I let Vin do the cookies. It took for-fuckin'-ever! And what made it worse, he stopped talkin' to me. After about three minutes of silence, I decided to throw a random question at him to see if he was still awake 'cause his eyes were closed and, like I said before, I ain't bakin' no damn cookies!

"Uh...You talk to Tifa lately?"

"No." He closed his eyes again. I had to keep Vin from going to sleep because I knew that was gonna happen with his eyes closed for too long. Happens to me all the time. I gave him another question to take a shot at.

"Who's this Miss Grey you keep talking 'bout?"

He opened his eyes and turn his head to look at me. Good. At least I knew then he was gonna talk for a while.

"Her name is Sarah. She's a shop owner who used to live near here until her home was burned down after a lightning bolt hit it. Her parents left her behind after figuring that she had died after she fell into a coma. She woke up without any recollection of what had happened to her or who she is. I'm not even sure if Sarah Grey's her real name."

"So, how old is she?"

"From what she could remember, she should be 8."

"She's a kid?"

"Yes. A very special child." He gave another one of those wierd ass smurks that even now I ain't used to. "I'll have her show you how special she is when we meet her."

He went to pull the cookies out the oven and put 'em in a paper bag. I grabbed my bottle of tea and the plate I put the sandwiches on and we went out the door. I walked behind Vin wondering why the hell this Sarah kid's so special to him. I thought, maybe she's his sister. His daughter...scratch that...his adopted daughter. Vin had me anxious to meet this kid. I was thinkin' so damn hard, I didn't see Vin stop in front of me and I bumped into him, dropping my tea bottle. Luckily the bottle was made of plastic, but Vin wasn't too happy. When I bumped into him, he dropped the bag of cookies. The bag busted open and all the cookies fell out on the ground. He looked at me and I 'bout pissed myself. He clenched that claw of his and was gonna knock the hell outta me 'til this girley voice called out to him.

"It's okay, Vincent. It was an acident. Besides, I still have some of the cookies you gave me yesterday."

Vin calmed down and turned his attention to this tiny kid with long, brown hair wearing a little white dress and matchin' sandals. She had eyes just like...hers. If you looked hard enough, you'd think the kid was her daughter. She turned to me and said, "You must be Cid Highwind."

"Vin must've told you about me, the world's best damn pilot around!"

"Actually, Vincent never told me about any of you."

"Then how the hell do you know my name?"

"Well..." She spun around to look at Vin then she looked back at me. "I know that you helped Cloud and the rest of Avalanche defeat Sephiroth and two years later Kadaj and his two brothers. I know that were a chain smoker, but because you didn't have any for a while now you quit without noticing. I know that you divorced a woman named Shera after only two weeks over a fight about whether or not to have child together. I know that you plan on getting your airship back from her though you yourself haven't figured out how yet. I also know that deep down inside of you there's a part of you that wants to be a famous singer someday and though you actually can sing, you don't because you feel you'll lose your masculinity if you took up that dream."

My jaw had dropped when she told me about me quittin' smokin'! I really didn't notice I hadn't had a cigarette in about ten days. I thought to myself, this kid's readin' my fuckin' mind!

"Yes, I am." I could've jumped outta my shoes when Sarah said that. This was what Vin meant when he said she was "special"! She shocked me even more with her next comment. "Anything and everything that you think you can hide, I can see. I can see your past. Your future. Everything. But don't let that scare you away from me please. I'm still just a little shop owner."

This bitch knew shit I didn't even know about myself. I couldn't help but be fuckin' scared of her ass! Then, Vin stepped up in front of me.

"Miss Grey. Show Cid what else you can do."

I tried not to think about anything 'cause I knew Sarah would fuckin' hear me, but what I saw her do next changed my life. She stood up straight. Then, I started to feel something in my hand. I looked and saw my tea bottle float into the air and fly over my fuckin' head! My eyes were locked on that tea bottle, man! Then, I saw the top unscrew and finally fall off. The tea started falling towards my face. I just knew I was gonna be wearing that fuckin' tea all over me. I closed my eyes and covered my head with my hands to try and soften the blow, but nothin' happened. Instead, when I looked up, I saw the tea just hangin' there like a damn cloud. I watched as the tea flowed back into the bottle. The top screwed back on and the bottle floated back into my shakey ass hand. I didn't will it, but I felt my hand clench the bottle. Somehow, I knew Sarah did it to try and calm me down 'cause I swear I was 'bout to fuckin' faint! Vin broke the silence.

"She is a special child."

I couldn't comment. I was shakin' like I'd just stepped into a freezer with nothing on but fuckin' dress socks! I regained my composure.

"Uh...Here." I handed Sarah the tea and sandwiches.

She smiled and said, "Thank you, but I'm not old enough for this tea yet."

"What do ya mean 'not old enough'?" I had to hear this excuse, 'cause I've heard some pretty good ones from Yuffie. "It's just tea."

"I understand. I love tea, but the leaves you used for this tea were not tea leaves."

"Then what the hell kind of leaves were they?"

"They were...um...let's be safe and say a woman named Mary Jane grew a whole tree of them."

I knew what she was gettin' at. That explained why I felt like I was gettin' high when I started boilin' that stuff. Sarah handed the bottle back to me and Vin snatched it up before I could get to it. Now, that was just fuckin' rediculous!

"What the hell was that for? I coulda got that."

"Those were my leaves, so this is my tea." Vin put on that fake ass grin of his and we turned around to head back home. Vin stopped and went back to Sarah.

"Vin? What's up?"

"You go on ahead. I need to talk to Sarah. Here." He threw me the bottle of tea and continued on.

When I got home without Vin, I went upstairs to take a shower. I heard the door open and Vin call out to me to see if I was asleep, I guess. I'm sure he heard the fuckin' shower runnin'! He knew I was in there. I came out the bathroom 'bout half dry with a white towel tucked around my waist. I had planned on finshin' up in my room, but Vin was sittin' on the bed again. I held my towel tight so the bitch wouldn't fall off of me. I sat down beside him, still a bit wet. My hair was still soaked 'cause I didn't dry it yet.

"I've always liked the way your hair looks wet, Cid." Vin told me. I was used to him givin' me compliments 'cause I did it often. It made me feel noticed.

Even if it was small shit, it was cool with me.

"Thanks. I don't do it often 'cause when it dries it looks like a chocobo's ass!"

He chuckled. I was gettin' used to him actin' like Yuffie, too. Though I really don't like that bitch too much, she did laugh at all my cracks and jokes. She's goofy as hell! I guess that's something Vin wanted to learn about. I could tell we were still on good terms even though I used up the last of his Mary J stash.

"Hey, Vin."

"Yes?"

"What's up with that girl? Can she really do everything she said?"

"She proved she could to you. Do you still doubt her?"

"Naw. I just wanted to know how you felt about it when you first found out."

"It didn't bother me at all. Everyone has a gift of some sort. Even you, Cid."

"Of course. I'm the best fuckin' pilot in the whole damn universe!"

"That is a skill, Cid. No offense, but anyone can learn to control vehicles."

Vin stood up and my towel almost fell off, but I was quick enough to catch it. I had no idea what he was gettin' at. He knelt down in front of me and in real close. Too close for me seeing as I only had on a fuckin' towel! He fixed his mouth behind my ear and whispered, "I was talking about you singing to me."

"Vin. Not to be mean, but hell naw!"

I couldn't sing to him! Hell no! I can't even sing...I don't think. I haven't done it since Me an' Shera's wedding three weeks ago. Okay, so it wasn't that fuckin' long, but still. Me sing to Vin? Fuck that! I ain't singin' to nobody! But Vin wasn't hearin' that shit! He backed up a bit then repositioned his face so he was right in front of mine. He leaned in so close I could see the fuckin' pores on his face. He paralyzed me with that death gaze of his, so I couldn't back away from him. I could still hear, though, and he gave me an ultimatum that I didn't fuckin' like at all!

"Fine. I know that this gaze I'm giving you scares you stiff, Cid. I can always...kiss you."

Vin started walkin' his claw's fingers down my chest very slowly. I had just shaved, so I could feel every touch he gave me. I was still a little wet, but he could tell that I had started to sweat when his fingers made it down to my stomach. I couldn't hold back anymore. I started to blush as he went further down. Then, outta nowhere, that mother fucker slaps the shit outta my face! He hit me hard, and the leather glove he was wearin' didn't soften the blow!

"Snap out of it!" he said. I was speechless, mostly because I couldn't move my jaw, but also because of what Vin had done and me...kinda enjoyin' it. He got up and walked out, finally. I took a deep breath. I needed a fuckin' smoke after that, but I forgot to get some from Sarah when we visited her earlier that day.

"Fuck!" I had cursed out loud, but Vin didn't hear me. I got up and tried to shake off what had just happened, but I couldn't get it out of my damn head! I decided I had to do something about it. I got dressed into a red tank and some black tear-aways (some of the new clothes Vin had bought from Sarah) and went downstairs to to talk to him and ask him what the fuck!