Guilt’s Cost: Part CXVIII

Reassurance

The rest of the morning passed without incident. Vincent was quiet for the most part and did his best to simply ignore Cid. Jaras was just Jaras and came to curl up in a corner with yet another of his books. The baby was fussier than he had been the day before but Cid was doing well to keep it together. Tifa helped him out with the infant when she could, and at one point they found themselves alone in the nursery together as Cid prepared to put his boy down for a nap.

What Vincent had said to Tifa earlier was weighing heavily on her mind and she couldn’t keep herself from asking. "Cid, are you angry that Vincent is here?"

He looked almost shocked at her question. "I’m not angry."

"Then what is it?" Tifa crossed her arms, coming off a little more defensive than she had intended. "Why are you being so rude to Vincent?"

Her point blank manner stunned him into a moment of silence. "Tifa, this has just all been a little God damned stressful, okay?" Cid placed the baby into the crib. "Yeah, I’m not gonna lie to you, I did like having you all to myself and now that he’s here, Sue’s going to be the center of attention."

She almost laughed. "Don’t call him that!"

Cid narrowed his eyes and placed his hands onto his hips. She was covering something and he knew it. "What did you and Sunshine talk about earlier?"

Tifa blushed in the realization that she couldn’t lie to him. "Vincent said that he thinks you like me."

"Oh my God." Cid openly smiled. "Tifa, let me make this real fucking clear, okay?"

She just nodded.

"I do like you but not in any sort of ‘strip you down and throw you over the kitchen table’ way, understand? So you tell Sue not to worry." Cid let his hands fall back to his sides.

Tifa grinned. "All right. That’s sort of what I figured but after Vincent said that this morning and seeing the way you’ve been acting I just kind of wondered."

Cid came over and placed an arm around her shoulders. "Don’t you think that if I had some kind of crush on you that I would have tried something during all those times we were in bed together?"

She giggled aloud. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Good." Cid gave her a brief kiss on the cheek. "Now, get out there with your oh so cheerful husband before he gets anymore ideas."

"Okay." Tifa bounded out of the room relieved that Cid had been willing to talk to her.

She immediately sought out Vincent who was standing in the kitchen looking blankly into the refrigerator. Tifa slid her arms around his waist and rested her cheek on his back. "Hey."

He closed the door to the fridge and turned in her embrace. Vincent stared down into her eyes seeing the emotion within. "What’s going on?"

"I just spoke with Cid." Tifa reached up and touched the side of Vincent’s face. "He says your wrong and that he doesn’t like me in that way."

Vincent knitted his brows. "You told him what I said?"

"Yeah." She could pick up on the annoyance within him but she continued to smile anyway. "He is my best friend and I am happy to report nothing more."

Vincent wondered about the truthfulness of what Cid would have told her but decided to be a bigger man than that. "Well I suppose that I am glad to hear that then."

Tifa kissed him. "I love you, you know that?"

He scoffed. "Yeah, I do."

Jaras picked that moment to walk into the kitchen having pulled himself away from his novel for the time being. He stared at Tifa and Vincent realizing that he had stumbled in at an awkward moment. "Uh, hi guys."

They both smiled at him in response and Tifa took a step away from Vincent. "Hey."

"Jaras, what are you up to?" Vincent asked, seeing that there was something pressing on his son.

Jaras motioned with his hands slightly and sighed. "I just wanted to ask how long we’re going to stay here?"

"We just got here this morning." Vincent said, losing his smile.

"I know and I don’t expect us to go today, but I was just wondering." Jaras dropped his gaze to the floor.

Vincent looked at Tifa for a moment, but not finding any answers there he took it upon himself to decide. "How about we go back in two days?"

"Okay." Jaras started to turn away.

Vincent could sense there was more on Jaras’ mind than what he had let on. "Wait, why are you so curious?"

He looked back over his shoulder at his father. "I’m anxious to find out what Tseng has planned for Hojo. I know we need to get on him soon before he gets too far with the Neo-Jenova Project. I can’t bear the thought of someone else having to live like I did."

"In two days." Vincent repeated, not knowing how else to respond to what Jaras had just said. Somehow the thought that revenge was on Jaras’ mind was very disconcerting to him and he needed to escape the thought.

Jaras took advantage of the silence that had descended and fled the room heading back to his place in the den where he had spent the day reading.

Tifa and Vincent found themselves alone again and just stared at one another. They both felt something terribly uncomfortable within and neither of them wished to address the inevitable. Jaras was changing, maybe slowly but it was happening.