Chapter 7

A sharp rattle of the train bumped Hope out of his light sleep. Bodhum was slowly coming into the view of his window, and a woman on the speaker announced that they'd be arriving in only five minutes. A small spasm of excitement – or was it nervousness? – went through him.

It'd been such a long time since he'd seen any of his fellow former l'Cie. That was something he'd always regretted. It'd started when his father had died, and he'd felt the need to keep his feelings inside. Obviously he knew that it was normal to feel sad about the death of a father, but the loss of his last living family member not only hurt him but also made him feel weak. Vulnerable. Those were two things he never wanted to feel again, not since he'd returned from Pulse, and he definitely didn't want to appear that way in front of certain people...

Plus, he had to admit that he'd changed a lot. All of them had. The last time he'd talked to Sazh, he and Dajh were exploring Pulse on one of those armed missions led by the new PSICOM. Apparently Sazh wanted to show his son "the awesome Gran Pulse," but Hope had a feeling he just wanted Dajh to be impressed that his dad had beaten all of those monsters. He'd be surprised to see both of them at this little reunion. Serah and Snow were as happy as ever as far as Hope could tell, but both of them had grown up a lot. He didn't need to talk to them to tell that. The last person he'd ever imagined to hold down an actual job was Snow.

And Lightning, well... he wasn't too sure he even knew her anymore.

As for himself, he'd done his best to shed that timid little teenager image. He'd focused on bulking up as well as going to college. He'd forced himself to be outgoing, and over the years he'd had himself quite a few girlfriends, and even a few one night stands as the result of heavy college partying. He wasn't too proud of those, but he figured it all had to be a part of growing up.

The trained slowed to a stop in front of the Bodhum station, and Hope stood up and retrieved his bags from the storage compartment. As excited as he had been at the start of the trip, he couldn't push down the unease that he was now feeling. What was it that made him so nervous? He didn't want to answer the question honestly to himself.

Walking out of the station, he spotted Snow leaning against the front end of his car. Hope smiled but then frowned, asking, "Why are you here?"

Snow punched him playfully, which of course hurt a lot. Hope resisted the urge to rub his arm. "Don't sound too excited to see me!" He answered sarcastically, laughing.

"Sorry," Hope replied, smiling a little. "I am happy to see you. I just figured Lightning would be the one to pick me up. At least, that's what she told me."

"Aw, same here," Snow said mockingly, but Hope detected a sense of seriousness. Snow had always been a big sap. He evaded the slight awkwardness by opening his door and getting in. "And Lightning was going to be here, but she was late getting off of work, and she called me last minute. She didn't want you to have to wait on anyone."

"That was nice of her."

"Yeah," Snow said, thoughtfully. "Well there's that, and..."

Hope waited a few seconds while Snow stared at the road thoughtfully. "And what?"

Snow frowned and shook his head. "She just told me she wanted to talk to me." Then his face brightened. "No big deal, right?"

Hope nodded, but truthfully he was really confused as to what Snow was talking about. But it seemed too soon to press the subject, especially when Snow was acting so weird about it. The guy had barely ever been worried in his life, but here was definitely worry on his face.

They rode a little in silence, but since Snow seemed to be deep in thought, it wasn't too awkward. Suddenly, Snow looked at him slyly and said, "So, how excited are you really?"

"What do you mean?" Hope asked, frowning.

Snow laughed. "Come on. You get to live with the woman! You can't tell me you're not looking forward to it."

Hope sighed. "Look, we're just friends. We've been through so much..."

"Riiiiight," Snow answered, knowingly. "Because going through hard times doesn't bring people together or anything. Plus, you never fooled anyone all those years ago. We all knew how you felt about her."

Hope looked out of the window. "That was so long ago, Snow. It's just not like that anymore."

"Okay, okay," Snow said, taking the hint and dropping it. Hope knew that Snow was just teasing him for old time's sake, but something about it irked him more than usual. Maybe it was the fact that he'd spent so much time changing himself, only to come here and be seen as that same weak little boy in their eyes. That was the last thing in the world he wanted.

It seemed to take no time at all making it to Lightning's house. Hope had never seen it before. It was bigger than he'd imagined, and he was actually happy that he would be staying there so that a little bit of the wasted space would be taken up. It was too big just for one person, and he found himself wondering how often she had company over...

No, he thought. No thoughts like those. It was two weeks. What was he really expecting?

But when he walked up to the door and knocked, Lightning's face appeared, as fierce and vibrant as ever. She pulled him into an incredibly tight hug, filling him with the scent of light flowers, a nice surprise. And he thought to himself that these two weeks might be a little harder than he thought.

Lightning was more excited to see Hope than she'd realized. There was something comforting about his presence, like she felt whole again. She hated describing it in such cliché terms, but she had to admit that it was true. After spending so much time together alone those years ago, she'd felt like his protector, someone he could count on. And he was that to her as well.

But his arrival was also just a little unnerving. How much could one person change? Hope was no longer the little teenager she'd known before. This was a man, and a buff one at that! His hair was shorter but still a little shaggy, a nice sign that he still had a little of his youthful side. But what really got to her was his slight speckling of a beard, just visible on his chin. This above anything was a sign that too much had changed.

Lightning held their hug a little long, giving a slight squeeze before she let go. So, she'd missed the kid. She hoped it was mutual, and from the huge smile on his face, she figured it was. And she was holding on to anything happy that would keep her thoughts off the man standing to the right, just far enough away to be out of her direct vision. Hm, seemed almost on purpose...

"Come on, I'll show you the room," Lightning said, turning into the house and purposely changing her thoughts. She led the way to hers and Serah's old room, which was on the smaller side but still comfortable.

"Hm, pink," Hope said, slightly chuckling. "Not my usual taste."

Lightning eyed the bright pink walls. It had obviously not been Lightning's choice when her parents had painted her childhood room. "Well, there's always the couch..." she said, smirking a little.

"Nope, this is great!" Hope said quickly, dumping his bags on the bed. There was a surprising amount of them and Lightning wondered what in the world he could've packed for two weeks. But she chose not to comment.

"Well, it'll keep any girls out who want to stay over, so that's a bonus," Lightning said, making a light joke. But when Hope answered seriously that this was true, her smile instantly dropped. Hope... having sex? No matter how old he got, this was way too much for her to imagine.

"So, anyways," Lightning said quickly, walking to the kitchen. "I'll make dinner whenever I'm home, but that's not often, and I'm not much of a cook, so..."

"I'll have to fend for myself," Hope finished, chuckling. "Can't say I'm not used to it. I've had some practice over the years." Lightning instantly regretted where this conversation had gone when she remembered about Hope's dad. His thoughts were obviously on the same thing, because his face dropped a little and he looked at the floor.

"What's going on with Snow?" Hope said suddenly, apparently trying to switch the subject. "He hasn't stepped foot in here yet, and he definitely didn't seem to be in a hurry to make it here. Are you guys fighting or something?"

Lightning scowled. Snow. Somehow she'd managed to forget about him, but now Hope had brought it back with full force. What had she seen a couple nights ago? She'd hoped it wasn't what she'd thought, but what else could it be? Snow had left a bar with another woman, and an incredibly slutty one at that. Could it have been possible he was just walking her home? Maybe. But that's what she was going to find out.

"Hope, I know you just got here," Lightning said quietly. "But would you mind leaving Snow and I alone? I have to talk to him about something very important."

"Sure," Hope said slowly, smart enough to catch the vibe Lightning was giving off. "I'll just go for a walk around town or something. I'll, um, send him in." He grabbed a jacket and walked outside, telling the miserable looking man that he was wanted inside. He couldn't help but think that he was sending Snow to his death.

He chuckled.