Chapter 6

"So, do you have any idea what you did?" Lightning asked in a quiet tone, trying to avoid the possibility of hurting Claire's feelings. Between her bullies and nightmares, the girl had been having more than her fair share of tears in the past few days.

Claire looked up at her aunt with an innocent expression, eyes widening. "No," she whispered.

Lightning's frown deepened. "Well, neither do I," she mumbled and ran a hand through her hair, irritated.

They had been called into Claire's school, her teacher wanting to talk with Lightning. It was a Saturday and the both of them were disappointed that they had to come into her school, but neither of them had voiced their dissatisfaction. Not yet.

They walked through the double doors at the entrance. The school was silent. There was artwork plastered to the walls, a sign of the life that filled it during the week. The fluorescent lights beamed down on them. It was stuffy inside, making Lightning anxious to get in and out as quick as she could.

The two of them arrived in front of the teacher's door. "Claire," Lightning started. "You should probably stay out of the room, so just stay near by, alright?"

"'Kay," Claire answered and waved as Lightning entered the room and shut the door behind her.

Lightning looked briefly around the room before her eyes landed on the teacher. She was a short, heavy woman with glasses and out of control curly hair. "Hello," the teacher said, her nose in some paper work on her desk.

"Hi, I'm here about Claire," Lightning reported.

"Ah, yes. I-," the teacher stopped mid-sentence. She was looking at Lightning with disbelief in her eyes. "Serah?" she asked, hesitant.

"Wha-?"

"Oh. My. Gosh," the teacher whispered as she stood from her desk and moved swiftly to Lightning, throwing her arms around the pink haired woman. "I thought you were dead!"

"Uh…" Lightning couldn't believe that she was being mistaken as her sister, but the thought quickly melted away, being replaced with a longing for Serah. She took a deep breath and pulled away. "I'm not… Serah. I'm her sister," Lightning explained.

"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry!" she quickly apologized. "I-I'm Mrs. Smith. Please forgive me! You look exactly like your sister," Mrs. Smith mused.

Barely, Lightning thought to herself. "It's okay."

"Oh, where are my manners? Please, have a seat," Mrs. Smith offered and motioned to a chair that was in front of her desk. "I bet you're wondering how I know your sister," Mrs. Smith began to speak once they were seated. Lightning gave a polite nod. "Well, she was one of my student teachers, my favorite. She was such a sweet girl… So she is gone then? Never mind, don't answer that. Yes, she was with me when I lived up north. She was probably a wonderful teacher, don't you think?"

Lightning gave another polite nod. "Yes, I think she was. I just wish that she would have told me about her plans to become one…" Lightning said, almost to herself. Mrs. Smith was giving Lightning a sympathetic look. After a moment of silence, Lightning cleared her throat. "So, what did you want to talk to me about? About Claire?"

"Right! I almost forgot!" Mrs. Smith exclaimed, smacking her forehead animatedly. She dug through the papers on her desk while she talked to Lightning. "Claire is a very good student, you ought to be proud."

"I am," Lightning replied, almost defensive.

"Ah, here we are! Her report card," Mrs. Smith said and pushed the piece of paper to the woman sitting across from her. "Straight A's!"

Lightning looked skeptically at the teacher. "Is there anything wrong with Claire?"

Mrs. Smith's expression turned serious. "I suppose there is one thing. She's not the most social person."

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"And she seems to always have a sad look on her face."

Lightning was getting annoyed. "What are you trying to say?"

"Well, her parents recently died and it's probably been hard on her… Have you considered putting her in counseling?"

Lightning's jaw dropped. "Are you accusing my daught-my niece of being sick?"

"No, no, no! Not sick… I would just recommend that you think about it. It might help." Mrs. Smith defended.

"She's a strong girl. That's not the thing that's getting her down. There are girls that are picking on her! Calling her names! Maybe you should put a stop to them and see what the 'look on her face' is then."

"I'm sorry if I offended you Ms. Farron, I just want to make sure that she's okay. I owe it to Serah."

Lightning's gut clenched. She owed it to her sister also. She sighed and rubbed one of her temples. "What are my other options?" she asked, thinking about the fact that she couldn't afford counseling for her niece at the moment.

Mrs. Smith thought for a second. "Is she involved in any activities outside of school?" She could tell by Lightning expression that the answer was no. "You could start there. It might not make a difference, but it's worth a try."

Lightning sighed. "I'll try."

Mrs. Smith smiled. "Yes, interaction with other children is important. But if it doesn't work out-"

"Counseling, got it," Lightning cut in and made her way out the door. "Goodbye, Mrs. Smith." I hope I won't have to see you again anytime soon, she added silently, thinking of Claire's emotional health. Lightning left before Claire's teacher could answer.

"Auntie?" Claire's voice called from a few feet away.

Lightning rubbed her forehead in an unsuccessful attempt to calm her nerves. She looked at the girl and sighed. "Let's… go," she mumbled and escorted the girl out of the building. Once they made it to the car, Claire opened the door to sit in the back seat. "Hey, Claire," Lightning spoke gently, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Why don't you sit up front with me?"

Claire looked up, surprise and excitement in her eyes. "Really?"

Lightning smiled and nodded. "Really." Claire bounced happily to the passenger's side and climbed in. Lightning got into the driver's seat, started the car, and pulled away from the school. The sound of the car calmed Lightning down a bit. She took a breath and started to talk. "Claire, you know you can talk to me. About anything," she started quietly. "I-I guess what I'm saying is that I'm here for you. Always. We're family, Claire, don't ever forget that," Lightning forced herself to say the words. She hadn't been comfortable with emotions or familial support recently, so she was making it up as she went along. "I… Just tell me if you need anything, alright?"

"Okay," Claire replied, oblivious to Lightning's discomfort.

They rode in silence for the next few minutes. Lightning's mind was searching for an answer to help Claire. She took a breath and began to speak. "You're friends with Sazh's son Dajh, right?" she asked.

Claire shrugged. "I guess so."

"We should have a play date then," Lightning suggested. If interaction with other children was what her niece needed, then Lightning would get it for her.

"Yeah!" Claire agreed.

Lightning pulled her cell phone out of her coat pocket and dialed the number that the man had given her some time ago. She put the phone to her ear and waited while it rang.

"Hello?" Sazh answered.

"Hi, Sazh, it's Lightning."

"Oh, hey, Light! What's up?"

"Would you be willing to bring your son to the park right now? For a play date," Lightning clarified.

"I get it. You wanna see ol' Sazh again!" he teased.

"What? No, that's not why," Lightning explained. His previous response had distracted her from the road and she accidently ran a red light. "Shit!" she exclaimed as the other drivers honked their horns at her. Lightning covered the phone and quickly apologized to Claire for her foul language. The girl giggled.

"Are you driving?"

"Yes, yes, Sazh, I'm driving," Lightning grumbled.

Sazh chuckled. "Well, I'd better let you go before you kill people. See you at the park. Bye, Light."

"Bye," she said and hung up the phone. She took a deep breath and paid full attention to the road. Lightning peeked over at the girl next to her. "Don't drive like me when you get older. It's not safe."

Claire giggled once more. "'Kay." Lightning smiled.

"So what brought this on?" Sazh asked once the kids went to play and the two of them got a chance to talk.

"Claire's teacher called me the other day, wanted to talk." Lightning clenched and unclenched her jaw. "She thinks that Claire needs to see a counselor," Lightning said, starting to get irritated just from talking about it. "Just because she isn't the most outgoing kid or doesn't wear a smile every second of the day."

Sazh took a moment to let the information sink in. "I had a similar situation with Dajh. They thought growing up without a mom would make him turn out to be a criminal, or something." Sazh laughed. "The boy can't kill a spider by himself much less steal from a cash register!"

Lightning leaned her head against the back of the bench they were sitting on. "Yeah…"

Sazh patted her shoulder encouragingly. "Just don't worry about it. You'll raise her to be a wonderful person. She'll get a good paying career, have a family, she'll become a political leader-"

"Sazh, I get it." Lightning sat up straight again and looked at Sazh. "That's not the only thing that bothered me about the visit."

"Oh?"

"I… I almost called her my daughter!" Lightning exclaimed, astonished. She shook her head.

Sazh laughed louder than before. "That's what's bothering you?" Lightning nodded. "Well, Light, she is your daughter!" Lightning raised an eyebrow. "She's not your direct daughter, but your daughter all the same."

"No, Sazh. She's my niece."

Sazh shook his head. "You've gotta accept it, Lightning. Let her into your heart!" he said and put a hand on his chest.

Lightning rolled her eyes. "I guess you're right."

"Mm hm. Just give it time."

Lightning sighed. "She also mistook me as Serah… I didn't really know what to think about it at the time, but now… I'm just missing her."

"What? You two look nothing alike!" Lightning shrugged. Sazh cleared his throat. "Sorry."

"It's okay."

"Do you wanna talk about it?" he asked.

"No," Lightning answered succinctly.

The two of them sat and watched the kids play. They raced around the park, played on the swings, and made sand castles in the sand box. "She seems to really like him," Lightning pondered.

Sazh smiled, showing teeth. "Yup, ladies can't resist a Katzroy," he joked.

"Ha ha," Lightning humored him.

"Have you considered putting your girl in sports? I mean, she's definitely athletic enough to be MVP of her future team."

"It would be good for her. Interaction with other kids," Lightning mumbled.

"Hey now, don't let that teacher influence your decisions," Sazh said. "Anyway, I think you should. I've got Dajh in T-ball. He can't hit a single ball even though it's right in front of him and not moving. I tell him to watch the ball. He never does. He just swings without a care in the world."

Lightning chuckled. "Is that so? Does he take after you?"

"Ouch, that hurt. But I think Claire's more of a soccer kid," Sazh suggested.

Lightning thought for a moment. "You're right. I'll sign her up this week."

"Step one for Operation: Avoid Counseling," Sazh clowned.

A/N – Katzroy is Sazh's last name, right? I guess I should have checked beforehand, but whatever.

As always, don't forget to leave a review blah, blah, blah… Thanks for reading.

Sort of Edit: April 17