The fun thing about writing Cid is that I am incredibly familiar with his kind of accent. Actually, I speak with a watered down version of his accent. (I live in Texas)

The fun thing about writing Shera, is that there isn't any great detail explained about her in the game. The possible intricacies of her personality and character are endless.

As you might have noticed, I find them both enjoyable to write. Enough of me, back to the story.

I.

The scent of hot frying oil filled Cid's nostrils the moment he entered the house. Following the routine, even with the whole gang behind him, he tossed off his boots and chucked them down near the front mat. Cloud was the first to go by the Captain's example and remove his shoes, with Tifa untying her ruby reds after.

"Shera!" He called out after mounting one of his spears back up in the downstairs closet. Cid knew she was there, but she didn't respond.

"Shera?" Cid entered the kitchen and nudged the small of her back. She jumped; almost dunking a corn battered fish fillet in crackling grease. She shuffled back before any could splash onto her arm. Shera had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she hardly noticed most of AVALANCHE ruffle on in.

"You alright there? I called ya." He read her bewildered expression while chatter filled the house off in the living room. Voices, and the clunk and crinkle of several packing bags being placed on the hardwood mixed with the bubbling and sizzle that came from the kitchen. Cid was waiting for her to respond, but it took her a little while. He could tell she'd been deep in thought and was collecting herself before answering. Something had a tight grip on her contemplations…that wasn't always a good thing.

"Oh, I'm fine." Shera righted her glasses and offered her housemate a smile. "I'm sorry, you know how I get." She dismissed her behavior with the wave of her hand. "I'm almost done with this batch. You can all wash up and get ready to eat if you're hungry." Shera redirected her voice to the commotion in the living room. Yuffie was yapping the importance of removing shoes when entering a home to Barret. Cait Sith (snickering of course) interrupted the argument to let anyone who was interested know, that he would take off his little, brown boots if he could. And well, Nanaki didn't have to bother. He wiped his paws on the mat while they bickered, and laid down off to the side of the couch.

His entrance didn't go unnoticed. Shera excused herself from Cid's front and swayed out of the kitchen. The Captain was only slightly bitter that Shera didn't have her full attention on wholly welcoming him home. On a mental mission, she dried her damp hands on her pants, shuffled past the wad of friendly argument headed toward the bathroom sink, and kneeled down where Nanaki rested.

"I heard you were sick." By now, it was painfully clear that Red wasn't feeling well. Shera had been thinking of him since she'd heard he was ill, and more so since going fishing yesterday evening. Things weren't making sense anymore. Confusion had plagued the forefront of her mind and clouded her thoughts. Maybe speaking with Cid's friend would put her more at ease. If anything, she needed some sort of…lead? When in the world did she become a closet investigator?

"You heard right." His ears perked up. He could see Cloud listening to the start of their conversation out of the corner of his eye. Tifa briefly passed through his wide range of left vision. Knowing she was listening, too, he noticed her trot off to the kitchen to courteously look after the fryer. "Did the Captain tell you?" He asked.

"He did; over the radio." Shera wasn't sure if Nanaki was totally comfortable with being patted, but she instinctively lent out her hand to gingerly rub the top of his head. Her palm brushed in a steady, metronome; displacing the natural pattern of his fur. He didn't appear to mind. "When are you going to see a doctor?"

"Tomorrow morning. I am not looking forward to it." He sighed; eye closing. Something similar to a barely audible purr came from somewhere deep in his chest.

Shera lopsidedly frowned. "They're white, and official, but they're vet coats. Not lab coats. I know we aren't very close, but if it would make you more comfortable being there, I'd be happy to go with you." She suggested and stood up straight to clear the static from her previously bent legs.

Nanaki eyed Shera for a long moment. He assessed her while in internal debate. If Cid found her trustworthy enough to live with him in his home, he supposed he could trust her as well. "You're welcome to accompany me. I don't know what I'm supposed to expect."

"N' answer." Cid placed his hands on his waist. His working gloves were bunched in a pants pocket after removing them. "We'll have you fixed right up."

"Don't worry about staying up late with the rest of us to watch for the last monster." Cloud spoke up. "It's probably better if you sleep."

"Hey!" Tifa called out. "I think this food is ready!"

"Well, you heard er'." Cid was penetratingly glaring down the back of Shera's head. His attention was drawn away when Barret's irritated voice came from down the other short hall. "HEY! You goons better not have jacked up my goddamn bathroom with yer' shit talking. Let's eat!"

II.

"You know, I can feel when you're staring at me. You have sharp eyes, Captain." Shera tugged out the yellow band holding up her hair and looped it around her wrist. She combed out the knots in the brown strands with her fingers. She was quite tired, and quite thankful Cid's friends took it upon themselves to wash their own dishes after using them. Tifa put all the food away and made sure the floors were swept (just bar routine, explained), and Shera thought of her as incredibly sweet for doing so.

"I ain't starin'." Cid muttered. That was a damn lie.

"Are you upset with me?" She paused before the cabinet in the upstairs bathroom. Cid was leaned against the doorframe; watching her take out towels. He assumed she was getting ready to take her shower while the rest of the group rested downstairs. They agreed that they would all sleep for a few hours before getting up to rotate late night reconnaissance around Rocket Town.

"I ain't upset." That was also a lie. "I was just y'know, hopin' you'd be happier to see me." Cid rubbed the underside of his nose with the knuckle of his index finger.

Shera faced him and tilted her head a bit. Her hair fell in a curtain over her shoulder. "I am happy to see you back home." Sincere, she looked Cid in his eyes. "You know I missed you, Cid. I've just had a lot on my mind. That's all." And the lot on her mind was a variety of questions. Not only for Nanaki, she had a few for Cid, too.

"I know, babe. Had that scrunched up look while we were eatin'. You get all tense right…in here." Cid snagged the bridge of Shera's nose and gently pinched it between his knuckles. He playfully dragged her face from side to side after stepping more into the bathroom. Shera's eyes impulsively snapped closed and a small grin tugged at the corners of her mouth. She laughed just a bit and it put them both at ease. "Listen, I'm bein' a jackass as usual, alright?" Cid didn't know how to tell her when he craved her attention.

"I know." Shera placed her hand on his wrist to guide his rough knuckles from the space between her brows. Her hazel eyes were caught in his briefly, and then her line of sight flickered to the hair of his sideburns, down his neck, and then to all the hair on his forearms. She squinted, but the expression was gone in the next instant.

Now, she knew Cid was not the kind of man to shave, but she also knew his stationary amount of body hair. He had gotten on the…bushier side since she'd last seen him. He hadn't been gone that long, had he? Was Cid always this damn hairy? It was probably nothing. Just her being over observant again.

"What the hell you mean 'you know'?!" Cid snapped, but Shera knew he was joking. "'You know', my ass." He was trying to maintain a disgruntled expression but it was hard with her smiling at him the way she was. "You gonna take a shower?"

"I am. I figure they'll want to wash up in the morning. I should get mine out of the way." Shera paused to reach under the cabinet for a fresh bar of soap. "There's room for one more."

III.

Not having her glasses required that she had to squint, but just barely, Shera could make out the outlines of some of Cid's old wounds. She brushed shampoo suds from her forehead to prevent them from trickling down near her eyes. He didn't notice her observing him. Cid was preoccupied with adjusting the shower head above them.

Even with her blurred vision, she could tell that his cuts and gashes were still refusing to fully heal. It had been almost more than a half a year now. It was on a list of things she had been worrying about. Shera considered signing Cid up for a wellness check-up. He probably really needed one just as much as Nanaki did.

"Captain?"

"Eh?" He grunted and rinsed out his hair.

"What ever happened to your jacket?"

"My jacket? Which one?"

"Your flight jacket. With the patches. What ever happened to it? I didn't see it in the wash last week."

"No fuckin' clue." Cid cracked open one of his eyes. Water dribbled past his lids and down his cheeks. "I tossed it off one night'n it walked off."

Yes, walked off. Walked off into the woods and happened to soak up some blood on the way there. Shera bit the edge of her lip and changed to a slightly different subject. "Your clothes were covered in dog hair. In case you didn't notice."

"Oh, yeah, sorry bout' that." Cid opened the other eye. He had the faint hunch that he was being grilled.

"Dog hair?"

"Yeah? Or cat hair? I don't know what the hell Red is."

"From?"

"Red?! It's red ain't it? Who the hell else?!"

"Alright, alright." Shera held up both of her hands. "It's just been hard to get all of the hair out of the washing machine. I'm only asking." She stepped around Cid to twist off the water. Shera rung out her hair, and carefully swung out of the tub and onto the bathroom rug.

"And I was just answern'." Cid hopped out a moment later.

"Who washes all of your dirty underwear?" Shera began as a way to remind him what he promised her.

"You do…?"

"Then you'd better be nice to me."