Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or story. This story is mine, as are the OCs. Merry Christmas, readers! Enjoy the chapter.
..:-X-:..
091 – Routine Camaraderie
It was still dark outside when Leon reached the Allied Headquarter building that morning. Any other time of the year, he was one of the first of the day workforce to clock in, arriving just as dawn was illuminating Radiant Garden. The winter months took that crack of dawn away from him, making it feel a lot earlier than it actually was. The bone deep cold of the winter morning certainly didn't help.
Leon crossed the first floor lobby without making eye contact with anyone, not the night shift that was clocking out and not the day shift that was clocking in with him. He stepped into an empty elevator and punched the button for the Weapons Specialist Department floor, glancing out into the lobby just enough to see Tabaeus McCallister a few meters shy of the elevator. The elevator doors started to close, and he stuck out one boot, holding it open. The soldier shuffled in with a grunt, turning to stand beside him. The elevator doors closed and started to chug upward.
McCallister had a few flecks of snow on her thick overcoat. Leon hadn't noticed any snow falling. He sniffed once and flexed his bad knee a few times as, beside him, McCallister unbuttoned her coat and shrugged out of it, looping it over her arm. The elevator eased to a stop on his department floor, and he exchanged a split second of eye contact with her, indicating that she step out first. As McCallister went to hang up her coat, Leon crossed the empty department. There generally weren't any Weapons Specialist soldiers in the office during the night hours; they were usually on patrol or on off-world missions. So it was up to him and Private McCallister, as the normal early birds of the department, to turn on the lights and start up the office machines.
Reaching his office, he unlocked the door and slid inside, flipping on the lights and crossing over to the desk. Paperwork, files, and a few packages that looked like mailed paperwork were stacked on the desk. He inwardly groaned and picked up the first folder of papers. Transfer requests, status reports, invoices, inventory listings: they were just the first of various other documents that glared up at him, demanding his attention and signature.
Bureaucracy at its finest.
It was too early for this.
A blue slip of paper near the top of a pile caught his attention as he booted up his computer. He frowned. Multi-colored paper was usually a warning sign; somebody really wanted their particular document to get special attention. He grudgingly plucked it out from under the other papers and skimmed his eyes through the body of it.
Gleaning nothing on first scan, he blinked and started at the beginning again, reading in earnest this time. It was a notice, directed at him, that, effective immediately, he was relieved of any duty to off-world missions or any duty demanding extensive travel outside Radiant Garden town proper. A few signatures were scribbled at the bottom, and his eyes habitually caught on Tabaeus McCallister's printed name near the bottom of the document, mentioned but not a signer. She had put in for this request.
He'd been put on the no-fly list.
For a moment, Leon just stared at the paper, one eye narrowing, unsure how to react. The screen on his computer flickered and opened the main screen: a smattering of program icons on the blue default background, along with the add-on calendar displaying three months' at a time. One entire week had been highlighted by him, done around the time of Tifa's first visit to the doctor confirming her pregnancy. Dr. Kim had estimated a due date, but it was only an estimate, so Leon had ended up blocking off an entire week…like a warning zone. That block of highlighted dates was fast approaching.
Just looking at exactly how close made his stomach knot. Sure, he had taken almost painful notice of how close it was getting, but it hadn't quite…hit…him yet. That blue slip of paper felt like a sucker punch. He and Tifa were going to be parents soon…Hell, he was going to be a FATHER. Now, he was effectively grounded so he wouldn't miss his daughter's birth.
Just like that, the floodgates opened. All of the concerns that had been festering near the back of his mind sprang to the forefront: missing his daughter's birth, not being present to support Tifa, being worlds away while it was happening, being unable to get there in time. Just as quickly as they washed over him, though, that blue slip of paper just as easily pulled the plug and let the concerns circle the drain. He was sidelined to Radiant Garden for the near future…for the next three weeks at least. Honestly, it would probably be for several months after that.
Leon wasn't going to leave Radiant Garden for the next SEVERAL MONTHS…because he would have a BABY to take care of. He started to sit down in his seat, but had barely done so before he shot back to his feet. They weren't ready. They weren't NEAR ready. The nursery wasn't finished. They hadn't even picked a NAME yet. They hadn't baby-proofed the house. There were naked electrical outlets EVERYWHERE!
With a rigid twitch, Leon stiffly left his office and marched into the break room for coffee. Almost absentmindedly, he poured two cups of straight black coffee. He carried them out, the blue paper under one arm, and was halfway through one of the cups—scalding tongue be damned, he needed caffeine—when he reached Tabaeus McCallister's cubicle. A few other interns had arrived at that point, woefully slouching into their cubicles. McCallister already had a report open and was pecking away at her keyboard.
Leon reached down and set the other coffee on her desk as thanks. She started in surprise, glancing at his face, down at the coffee, and back to him with a questioning look. He plucked the blue paper from under his arm and showed it to her. The surprise turned into a knowing look, and she lifted her coffee cup, knocking it lightly against his cup in a toast before taking a sip of it.
"Merry Christmas, sir." She smirked.
He just grunted and finished downing the rest of his coffee on the way back to his office.
..:-X-:..
092 – The Art of Awkward
Rinoa fidgeted with her hands as she stood in front of Eddy Lake's desk, watching him read her resignation letter. She wasn't sure what the protocol was for this. Was she supposed to leave? Step out and come back after he finished reading it? Stand there awkwardly? Well, at least she was doing that last one perfectly.
"Well." Eddy exhaled, setting the page back on his desk and looking up at her.
She offered an uncertain smile. "I, uh, I just wanted to thank you for the opportunity and, er, I really appreciate you giving me the chance, but…um…I think my…optimal career path…is going in a different d-direction." She made a slow gesture with her hands outward.
"Yeah, you said that pretty verbatim in here." Eddy pointed at the letter.
"So…do you have to accept my resignation or is there something I have to fill out? I've never actually quit anything before. This is a first." She prompted.
"Sorry to cause you to break that record." He said, adjusting his glasses with a slight frown. "Is this a two-week notice or are you wanting to depart effective immediately?"
Rinoa was wrong-footed; she hadn't thought of that. "Um, I guess two weeks is the professional way to go, but…I doubt you'd be losing any productivity if I just left today. Your other employees would probably prefer that I left today, actually."
Eddy's frown deepened, and unexpected guilt hit her.
"What are your plans now, if you don't mind my asking?" He queried lukewarmly.
She fidgeted again. "I, uh, was actually looking into opening a bakery."
He remained impassive. "That's about as far from computers as you can get."
"Well, I'm terrible with technology, but I make a mean bagel, so…the universe balances, I guess." She shrugged and stopped fidgeting. "I'm sorry if this causes any inconven—"
"Not at all." He quickly interrupted, averting his eyes to his computer. "Time for you to move on. Bigger and better things."
It sounded like he was trying to shoo her out.
She bobbed her head, "Yup, guess so…So…I'll just…get out of your hair then."
Rinoa turned to leave and was halfway to the door when he called after her. "Wait."
She spun back around and noted that he had abruptly stood from his chair and promptly frozen there. He looked uncertain and cleared his throat.
"You—Do you—Would you want to get coffee or lunch sometime?" He blurted.
Rinoa stared back at him dumbly. "Huh?"
Blood filled the man's face, and he cleared his throat again.
"I mean, outside of work and all…Since you're quitting the Alliance, and I doubt you'll have much reason to ever visit the IT Department again…"
"I'd visit." She quipped indignantly.
Eddy sent her a knowing look. "Rinoa, c'mon." He gestured to the cluttered state of his office. "As glamorous as IT is, you have no interest in it. So…I mean, but I'd like to keep in touch…just as friends." He tacked on hastily with a short wave of his hands.
Was he trying to ask her out?
When she continued to stand there with a deer-in-the-headlights expression, Eddy adjusted his glasses again and shoved his hands in his pockets. "If you weren't busy…just sometime…maybe…I'm great at lending an ear; I could be a sounding board for bakery business ideas…or if you ever need IT help, you've, uh, you've got my number. Or just coffee…maybe…Or, y'know…" He shifted, as though trying to appear nonchalant—and failing spectacularly. "…whatever."
Rinoa snapped back to herself. "Thanks, Eddy."
"You're welcome." He automatically said, before immediately adding, "I mean…sure."
The instinctual part of Rinoa's brain was assessing the escape routes of the office, and she stepped backward. "Um, thanks again for…understanding about the whole—" She waved her hand through the air. "I should probably get going…Un-employed now and all…"
"Oh, right, sure." He nodded. "So was that a yes or no?"
"Thanks!" Rinoa blurted, stepping out of his office and closing the door after herself.
Embarrassment crashed over her, and she face-palmed herself. Thanks? THANKS? The Hell had she meant by that? She groaned and walked down the hall toward the elevator, taking the lift to the ground floor and stepping out into the lobby. Eddy, EDDY OF ALL PEOPLE, had just—attempted to—ask her out.
And she had thanked him.
Not said 'no,' and not said 'yes.' Just 'thanks.'
She just wanted to go home and bury herself in blankets and her own sense of awkwardness. She stepped outside and felt a gust of cold wind buffet her face. She gasped in surprise and noted that it was snowing. The morning had started with just a few flakes here and there, but it was flurrying in earnest now. It wasn't sticking yet, but the heavy clouds only ensured that there would be a healthy blanket of it by the next day, if not nightfall.
"Thanks," She murmured, "Ugh." She facepalmed again and shuffled out into the snow.
Maybe she'd just go home and bake muffins. Muffins didn't judge you.
..:-X-:..
093 – Texting and Talking
"So then I get this mess of text messages from Leon about…electrical outlets and other random stuff…" Tifa mused aloud. "Isn't the MOTHER supposed to be the one to go through the whole 'nesting' thing?"
Across the living room, Aerith just grunted, chewing on the end of her pencil as she read through some of her research notes.
Tifa glanced at her. "I've gotten everything squared away so that as soon as the baby arrives, my department can take care of itself while I'm away on leave."
Another grunt from Aerith, who didn't even look up from her notes.
Tifa eyed her with a lifted eyebrow. "Meanwhile, Sora's remembering Project Stasis. So that's big news that should get your attention."
Another grunt. No eye contact. She was completely distracted.
Tifa glanced around Merlin's living room, getting a mischievous idea. "I'm thinking about letting Jake be the midwife for the delivery instead of you." When she still got no reaction, Tifa leaned forward, staring hard at her. "Before I met Leon, me and Cloud had a quickie in Ansem's old office." Still getting no reaction from Aerith, Tifa sat up and put both hands on either side of her pregnant belly. "My water just broke!"
When Aerith STILL didn't look up from her notes, Tifa snatched up a throw pillow from the couch and threw it at her. The pillow clocked Aerith right in the face and the woman jerked to attention with a yelp, swatting the thing away.
"What was that for?!" She snapped.
"Oh, good, I was worried that you'd died over there." Tifa remarked.
Aerith exhaled and ran a hand over her hair, "I'm sorry. I just have a lot on my mind. I got distracted. What were you saying? Something about Jake and quickies?"
Tifa snorted. "Are you okay? I've seen you distracted; this is way past distracted."
Aerith sat forward, elbows on her knees, her hands pressed together as though in prayer, though she peered past her hands to Tifa pensively. "I'm about the break the universe."
Tifa blinked, "Wow. Good job."
"This." Aerith looked down at her notebook. "All of this. I've been…poking and researching and experimenting and…studying everything that I came across…But something occurred to me a few weeks ago and…" She looked back to Tifa. "If this hypothesis that I'm developing…If it's even remotely close to true or possible…"
She lifted her hands to either side of her head and made an explosion noise.
"Your mind will be blown?" Tifa guessed. "What's your hypothesis?"
Aerith shook her head, "I don't want…not yet…"
"Whole sentences…might help." Tifa suggested, hearing her phone buzz.
She picked it up and opened the text message. It was from Leon.
Wut bout stairs?/ need fens on stirs
Tifa narrowed one eye to decipher the message. Texting with Leon was like learning an entirely new language sometimes. She sent back: Baby won't be crawling or near stairs for first few months. Chill out.
Almost immediately after sending, she got another. This time from Cid.
Call ur husband. Hes texting me about baby things. Make him stop. PLEASE.
Before she could respond, she got a text from Jake: Moonbeam-atron!
Tifa deadpanned and responded to Jake with "that's not a name, you're just embarrassing yourself now" and then Cid with "Sorry, just bear with it for a bit."
When she looked up from her phone, Aerith was staring at her flatly.
"What?" Tifa prompted.
"You completely zoned out. I was talking about my research and you tuned me out."
"Ha, not so fun when you're on the ignored end, eh?" Tifa set her phone down. "Sorry, go ahead."
Aerith rubbed her eyes, looking exhausted. "No, I'm too tired. Thanks, but I feel like I just need to get back out there and keep poking at all of this. Maybe I'll get some answers if I just stare into the abyss of space long enough."
Tifa started to speak, but her phone went off again.
Godprents? we ned to nake wils.
Tifa groaned and started the arduous task of climbing out of the recliner. "Ugh, Leon is talking about wills now. I need to go do damage control."
Aerith was looking at her phone now as well. "Cid just texted me saying that he's changing his number and not to tell Leon." She lifted an eyebrow.
Tifa noted the heavy snow falling outside and paused. "I'm not going out in this. I'll just call his office."
"Did you pretend to be going into labor earlier to get my attention?"
"Shh, Aerith, I've got a panicky man on the phone. This is a delicate situation."
"Well, then I advise against pretending to go into labor again. You might kill him."
..:-X-:..
A/N: A continuation from my other stories of Leon's mad textin' skillz, haha. And Jake is adding his contribution to the recurring problem of Tifa and Leon being unable to settle on a baby name, so they've tried to narrow it down to a name that starts with 'M.'
Preview for next week: Cloud was quiet about a lot of things, but he almost looked traumatized by whatever had happened.