"Alright, so what you do is bend your knees a little," Fang instructed. Claire and the other kids followed orders and bent their knees. "Then you lean into the ball a bit, but don't let it hit you face. Just let it land on your head and bounce off. Okay?" The kids all nodded. "Good. Get ready when I come to you."
Lightning had been taking Claire to soccer practices for over a week, and with each one, the girl became even more enthusiastic about it. She would run as fast and hard as she could with a smile on her face, something that gave Lightning hope every time she would see it. Claire was noticeably faster than the others too, which Lightning would hear Claire brag about every once in awhile. And that was another thing that warmed the woman's heart, Claire was talking to her more and more each day. Lightning was immensely grateful that she had made the decision to sign her niece up for soccer.
Lightning watched from the bleachers as Fang went down the row of kids and bounced the soccer ball gently off of their heads. She smiled with pride when Fang tossed it to Claire and the girl got it to bounce perfectly back into Fang's hands. She was the first one of the little athletes to get it back to Fang without hurting themselves or missing altogether. "Good job, Claire!" Fang praised as she moved onto the next kid. Claire peeked in Lightning's direction and the woman smiled and gave her a hesitant thumb up.
Lightning looked at Vanille when she heard the red head start to climb up the bleachers. The metallic stomping of her feet became louder until she reached Lightning and stood beside her. "Claire's really good. Has she played before?" Vanille asked.
Lightning thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. I don't think that she's ever mentioned anything about playing before now."
Vanille nodded. "Must be a natural!" she exclaimed with a wide grin in Lightning's direction.
"Maybe," she muttered in response. Lightning watched the rest of the practice with Vanille, who was chatting nonstop the whole time. Much to Vanille's disappointment, Lightning didn't humor her as much as she could have. All Vanille got was an "uh huh" or a "yes" every here and there. Lightning was too busy watching Claire excel above and beyond the other kids at a sport she had just started to play to talk to Vanille.
"She's really something," Fang told Lightning once the practice was over. "If she keeps it up, she could really go somewhere with her talent."
Lightning looked at the girl. She was walking next to Vanille, Claire chatting happily with the red head. "You think?"
"Oh, Light," Fang said and looked at Lightning. "I know she will."
Lightning smiled, lost in thought about the possibilities for Claire. They walked to Lightning's car, talking quietly about nothing in particular. Fang snorted as they came into view of the automobile. "Nice bumper sticker," she commented, a smirk growing on her face.
Lightning gazed in the direction that Fang was. She grumbled to herself. "It wasn't my idea." They were talking about a little sticker on the back of Lightning's car. It had a soccer ball with words underneath. The words read, "soccer moms are tough." It was given to Lightning by some of the other moms from the team. It was a rite of passage of some sort, or so Lightning thought.
"Oh, it's not that bad. I'm just teasing you," Fang chuckled and elbowed Lightning in the ribs. "So, Claire's first game is this weekend and I have a feeling that we're gonna win. Well, if your daughter shows up, that is."
Lightning smiled despite her uneasiness with the word daughter. "We'll be there," Lightning promised.
I swear I did this same job for him two hours ago, Lightning complained silently to herself as she followed the recent orders that had been given to her. She shuffled through a file cabinet that was hidden underneath her desk as she searched for the correct paper. With a sigh she pulled out an entire folder and began to dig through it.
"And this is the front desk," Lightning heard someone saying from down the hall. She looked up to see Amodar walking towards her with someone she didn't recognize. Amodar waved at her as they drew near. "And this is our receptionist, Lightning Farron. She's the best one we've had so far," he praised.
Lightning had stood up by the time they came to a halt in front of her desk. The man standing next to Amodar had a straight face on as he held out his hand to Lightning. "Cid Raines," he said. Lightning took his hand. They shook hands, but Cid held on for a moment longer than Lightning was comfortable.
She yanked her hand away as subtly as she could and pretended to be glad to meet him. "It's nice to meet you," she said.
"Likewise," he replied.
"Cid will be in charge of the field troops from now on." Lightning's jaw dropped slightly at Amodar's words. That used to be her job. She had been replaced. Anger pulsed through her body and she quietly ground her teeth together. Lightning felt betrayed.
"Lucky you," Lightning said, envy hidden in her words. Unfortunately, Cid noticed and gave her a look that told Lightning he would be keeping an eye on her.
Amodar shifted uncomfortably on his feet as an awkward silence filled the area. His eyes darted between Cid and Lightning as they stared each other down. "So," Amodar finally butted in. "Shall I show you your office?" he suggested.
"You're forgetting that he probably won't even need an office," Lightning said through gritted teeth as she recalled her years with the job. She never had the time to use her office when she used to have it.
Cid raised an eyebrow at Lightning. Amodar coughed nervously as the tension in the room rose. "Right, well we're off," he spoke and motioned for Cid to start moving in a different direction. Amodar snapped his head towards Lightning and glared. "Speak with me later."
Lightning groaned.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" Lightning cautiously asked as she stepped into Amodar's office, shutting the door behind her.
Amodar waved his hand at a chair in front of his desk. "Sit," he ordered. Lightning did as she was told and took a seat across from him. "Can I get you anything?"
"No. Thank you," Lightning replied.
Amodar nodded before looking Lightning in the eyes. "So… Would you like to explain to me what happened a while ago?"
Lightning decided to play it safe by playing dumb. "Sir?" Amodar didn't move. Lightning sighed. "I, well… I don't know."
"Oh really?" he said, disbelieving.
Lightning looked down. "I guess I'm just… jealous," she spoke quietly. Lightning thought about the unrelenting waves of anger and envy that had coursed through her body when she had been informed about Cid and his new job. "I guess that some part of me wanted to hope that I would get that job back. You proved me wrong," she explained, defeated.
Amodar leaned back in his chair. "Is that so?" Lightning nodded quickly. "Lightning, given our circumstances we had to hire him. It's been tough for the troops lately and I'm sure that having a leader around will help them." Lightning looked up, confused. "And another thing, I'm not even sure how you'd act out there since the… accident. We just can't risk that."
"But-"
"Lightning, you've been going untrained for months now. You're not at the peak of you game anymore. I don't know if you've been doing independent workouts on your own either. So you're most likely not in any shape to be in the field. It's too risky, Light. I'm sorry."
Lightning stood up and threw her hands in the air. "So, what? I'm just a liability to you? Risking your precious military with my presence?"
"Now, now, Lightning. Calm down," Amodar tried to sooth her.
Lightning paused and rubbed her forehead, thinking. She gently sat back down in her chair. "Isn't there at least some way that I could prove to you that I deserve to be out there?" she asked in a pleading tone.
Amodar thought for a moment. "Well, it's not my call, Light. It's Cid's decision."
Lightning's teeth made an audible crack as they crashed together. "Right," she snapped. "He probably won't get over the fact that I'm a woman, so I most likely have no chance whatsoever."
Amodar smirked. "Oh, Lightning. Not every man judges a person based on their gender. I'll be sure to, uh, help with the tryouts, to make sure that he makes fair decisions, alright?"
Lightning sighed. "Fine," she grumbled, still not entirely satisfied. "Just don't expect me to be nice to him."
Amodar chuckled. "You'd better be nice. He doesn't seem to be the type of person with a good sense of humor. Did you see how seriously he took his handshakes?" Lightning rolled her eyes. "Anyway, you're off the hook. You can leave now. Oh, and can you order a pizza? To welcome Cid to our community, of course."
"Yes, Amodar," she replied and left the room. She was walking to her desk, not paying attention to where she was going, when she was tapped lightly on the shoulder. "Oh, Raines," she acknowledged as she turned to see who it was. "Do you need something?" she asked, attempting to hide the edge to her tone.
"I'd just like to apologize for my behavior earlier."
"Excuse me?" Lightning was confused. She thought that she had been the one misbehaving. Cid didn't say a word. "Um, sure. I mean, apology accepted, but you weren't doing anything wrong…" she trailed off.
"I assure you that I won't be acting like that anytime in the future," he continued.
Lightning chewed on the inside of her cheek, suddenly feeling awkward. "Um, we're going to order a pizza soon. What would you like?" she asked, changing the subject.
Cid's features relaxed. "I'll have what everybody else is having." Lightning's eyebrows knitted together. Cid cleared his throat before speaking once more. "I'll let you get back to work then," he said before turning on the balls of his feet and walking away.
Lightning watched him go with a puzzled expression. She shrugged and made her way to her desk.
Lightning tapped her finger on her desk, absentmindedly listening to the rhythm of it. She had called the pizza place where Hope worked and asked for him to be the one to deliver it. There had been a small argument, but Lightning eventually got her way. It would be there any moment. Lightning closed her eyes while continuing to tap her finger.
Her eyes snapped open as she heard someone clear their throat. She looked around and saw Cid holding a pizza box. "This came," he stated and placed it on her desk.
Lightning's eyes narrowed. "Thanks," she mumbled. Cid walked away. Lightning rose from her desk and half walked, half jogged to the front doors. She pushed the doors open and looked around the street. She spotted the certain silver haired person she was looking for. "Hope!" she called. The boy turned around, his face lighting up as their eyes met. He waved timidly and walked closer to Lightning.
"Hey! I would've come in and talked to you, but some guy came and sort of shooed me away," Hope explained.
"Oh, yeah. I figured," Lightning agreed. They stood in silence for several long moments. "So, Claire has her first soccer game this weekend and we'd really like it if you came."
Hope smiled. "Sure, I'd love to go," Hope responded. Suddenly he pulled out a cell phone from his pocket and read a text message that had been sent to him. He groaned. "Sorry, I've got to go. Um, call me and give me the details, okay?" he said and gave Lightning an unexpected, but very quick hug before saying, "Bye," and rushing to a car that was parked nearby.
Lightning, still being surprised from the swift embrace, managed to squeeze out, "Bye," before he got into his car and zoomed away. "Okay," she murmured and made her way back inside.
A/N - Okay, so it's been awhile since I've updated, and for that I'm sorry. And I have to admit, I'm not too happy with how this chapter turned out…
Anyway, it's summer now so I'll have much more time to work on stuff. Hopefully I'll get this updated more frequently, right?