As always, thanks go to Baby Capri 1990...I'm not going to blame her this time. So she'll have no reason to yell at me :D

The Simple Life

Chapter 4

I shot up in bed, my heart felt like it had raised to my throat. My forehead and neck were both drenched in sweat. My eyes finally came to focus on the clock, it was nearly 4 AM. I looked down and saw Fang sleeping peacefully in the bed beside me. I couldn't help myself as I reached under the blanket to feel for any kind of wound. There were none.

That dream…it felt so real. I strongly remember joining Fang for drinks. Why though? Why did I dream that? I stood from the bed and made my way into the bathroom. A cool drink of water as well as some water to wash the sweat from my face might just help me relax. I didn't even look at myself in the mirror before dipping down closer to the sink. The water felt good against my overheated skin.

"Claire?" The voice rang through my ears. She spoke in between yawns. Her voice was soft and dripping with fatigue. "Honey, what's wrong?"

I shook my head, splashing water on my face once more. "Bad dream…"

Her arms snaked around my waist from behind. Instinctively I leaned back into her and sighed heavily. "Come back to bed." I turned in her arms to face her, she only smiled down at me before brushing some of my hair out of my face. "I'll give you a massage." She winked.

She's always got such a high sex drive. I shook my head and smacked her arm before leaving the bathroom. I was afraid of going back to sleep. Fear of more dangerous dreams. Fear of dreams where Fang would, in fact, die. I couldn't handle seeing her injured in a dream, I'd never sleep again if she died. "Good night, Fang." I curled up on the bed, facing away from her.

Her arm coiled tightly around my waist and soon I felt her body pressed against my back. "Good night, sunshine."

My hand rested on hers as my eyes fell shut.

"Snow, grow up!" I folded my arms over my chest and glared at him as he continued to spin his unopened beer bottle on the table. He reached out to spin the bottle one more time. I groaned. "I said stop!" I grabbed the bottle before he could spin it again and popped it open. He wanted to play with it, so he lost it.

"Aww, sis, come on! That was mine!" I smacked his hand away when he reached for it.

Vanille covered her mouth to laugh. "You snooze, you lose."

"Exactly. Snow, I told you to stop playing with your food."

"But Serah… it's not food! It's beer." He slumped down in his chair, arms folded over his chest.

"Stop crying and go get another one then." I lifted the bottle to my lips to take another drink. My eyes darted over to the clock that hung on the wall. Fang should be getting here any time now. "Just make sure you save one for Fang."

He laughed before ducking down to reach into the fridge. "Who would have thought?" I looked to Vanille when she spoke.

"What do you mean?"

Serah raised her hand to silence Vanille. She finished what the girl originally started. "That you'd become so whipped by one person." I grumbled. "Well, there was that one time."

"Shut your mouth, before I shut it for you, Serah." I aimed the tip of the beer bottle at her as a mild threat.

It didn't work, she only started laughing. "What about him?" I glared at her. "I remember you bending over bac-mmph." She tried to fight away the hand that covered her mouth. But I didn't budge.

"There was a guy?" Snow pulled me away from Serah. Damn him for being larger and stronger. "I wanna hear this. Please, darling, continue."

I sighed in defeat. Vanille too, had moved closer to Serah to hear the story. It was about the same guy I had told Fang about. Only Serah didn't know the whole story. She didn't know how much he pressured me for things I didn't want. "Well, Claire was so smitten with this guy."

"I'm getting another beer." I successfully wiggled out of Snow's grasp and made my way to the fridge. Why couldn't Fang be here? Then I'd at least have one person on my side.

"She spent all of her time with him. And when he asked her to marry him, of course she said yes!"

Snow spit out his beer all over the kitchen floor. "Lightning was engaged before!?"

"It was a long time ago, Snow. It's not something I wish to think about… Serah!" I glared at her yet again, but she insisted on continuing her story.

"He was so handsome too. I swear, had I been a few years older I would have tried to steal him away!" I rolled my eyes. She was so into her own story, how could I end it. I leaned against the counter, listening to her words. "But when it got close to the wedding Claire bailed."

"Got cold feet?" Vanille looked up at me.

"Something like that…"

"You know you ran. You ran and never looked back. Sergeant Farron got scared!" She continued to taunt me.

"Sounds like sis' afraid of commitment. Does Fang know?" He's finally grown some brains. As he spoke he moved out of arm's reach.

"Yes, Fang knows about him." Come on Fang, get here. I don't think I can handle this assault much longer.

"Hey Lightning, sounds like your phone's ringing." Vanille stood from the table and hurried into the living room to grab it. "It's your wifey." She thrust the phone in my face.

Thank god. I set my bottle on the counter top and walked out of the room to answer it. "Are you on your way here?"

The voice on the other line wasn't Fang's. "Hey Lightning?"

I froze. Why would someone else have Fang's phone. "Who is this?"

"It's Lebreau." She spoke softly. I could hear a lot of noise in the background. Most likely she was still at the bar.

"Why do you have Fang's phone?"

She sighed before speaking again. "Fang was just taken to the hospital…" I couldn't find my voice to speak. She must have sensed it because she continued talking. "She tried to get an unruly guy out of here, and… he knocked her out…" Still, I didn't respond. "… Lightning?"

The phone fell from my hand, it flipping closed in the process. "Claire?" It was Serah's voice. I ignored her as I grabbed my keys. "Claire, you can't drive. What's wrong?" I took a deep breath, swallowing back tears.

"It's Fang."

"What happened to her?" She placed her hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eye.

"She's in the hospital."

"Let me take you then. Come on."

As I followed her out of the house I let my hand fall to my hip. I bit my lip to stifle a whimper as the pain from the pinch shot up to my hip. It wasn't a dream. I wasn't waking up. Fang was hurt.

No dream this time. Fang's actually hurt...Yea I wanted the chapter to be different following the last chapter, but...oh well...this works too lol. I hope it's not TOO terribly bad for everybody.

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