Rating: Here's something that's at most a PG-13.
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"Father?" Alex eased the door open to her parents' room carefully, ready to shut it if she found that she shouldn't be in there. It was just that Father hadn't emerged from the bedroom, and he had looked really bad when he and Dad had come last night.

There was a low groan that came from the big bed that sounded like, "Alexa?"

"Yeah, it's me." Alex entered the room and closed the door behind her. Approaching the bed on cat's feet, she sat down on the bed slowly and looked over her father. "Are you okay?" she whispered as she looked him. He shook his head, his normally pale face was flushed a light pink. His normally sharp red eyes were glazed a little, and his long black hair looked mussed.

"You look like-" she started.

"Shit. Yes, I know." He smiled at Alex when she blushed and glanced away with embarrassment. "You shouldn't curse so much, you know. I think Cid's been rubbing off on you too much."

"Sorry, Father."

"What did you need?" His voice reminded Alex of a frog she had found at the pond near town, only Father's croak was deeper.

"Well, I thought we were going to go hunting today, but when Dad said that you weren't feeling too well, I got worried."

"Where is Cid?"

"At the launch pad working on the Highwind. He's been trying to fix the intake valves, but I keep telling him that they're shot. And you know Dad; he's got to be the most stubborn SOB on Earth."

"Don't call him that."

"Sorry. You hungry?"

"Mmm, yeah."

"I'll get some chicken soup going for you. Anything else you want?"

"I'm all right."

"Okay, Father. Oh, before I forget, I'm going to help go help Dad so I'll be home later."

"Did you finish your homework?"

"No, I haven't." Alex answered evenly. "I've got some physics problems that I wanted to ask Dad about."

"Don't spend all your time working on the plane that you forget about your homework. Your history teacher called me yesterday, and I don't want that to happen again. Do you understand me?"

Alex suddenly thought that the comforter on her father's bed was very fascinating at Father's mention of her history teacher. "Yes, sir."

"All right."

Alex kissed her father's warm forehead before getting off the bed and leaving the room quietly. *Father sounds pretty bad.* Frowning at that thought, she brightened when she remembered how moody Dad was. He was still working on the Highwind, and everything seemed going wrong with the airship. She remembered when Dad used to tell her stories about when he and Cloud and Father had saved the planet from Sephiroth, and how the airship had saved them dozens of times. After they had defeated Sephiroth, Dad had said, he and Father fell in love and she was born a little while later.

She smiled a little as she made Father's chicken soup. Dad was probably working hard on the Highwind so that she could feel what it was like to fly like her parents had done. It was really thoughtful of him, but she hadn't gotten around to telling him that she was acrophobic.

Idly stirring the soup as she thought to herself, her thoughts strayed to the bright colors of the walls of the kitchen. Dad had had the house since his days of working with Shin-ra, and Shera had lived with him while the rocket was being built. Shera was still alive and well, and sometimes Alex would visit her and her sister in Mideel. Alex wasn't really sure about the real reasons why Shera had left, but she was pretty sure it was about Dad, even if Dad didn't say anything about it.

The front door opened, and Dad came in wiping his hands and cursing loudly. He was wearing his pilot outfit sans flight jacket, like always, but there were a few grease stains on the green pants and on the white T-shirt that he was wearing.

"Hi, Dad."

"Hi, Alex." Dad grumbled, still cursing. He sat down in a chair and cursed some more.

"Do you kiss Father with that mouth?"

"Don't fuck with me, Alex. I'm NOT in the mood." Dad wiped his hands some more before taking a cigarette from his flight goggles and jabbing it between his lips. He patted his pockets before he cursed some more, looking for a light.

"Tell me about it." Alex got the tea kettle from the cabinet almost absently after tossing him a lighter from her pocket.

"Tyler was fucking around with the aft manifold." He groused, lighting the cigarette and taking a long drag.

Alex raised her eyebrows. "He took it apart?"

"He said the damn thing fell apart in his hands." His voice had been a low growl since the beginning of the conversation, but now it was getting more menacing.

"And, of course, you cursed him out and sent him for another one?"

"Yeah-"

"And he couldn't find one because Chuck's not going to have another shipment of parts until Thursday." The tea kettle shrieked in protest of being ignored and Alex calmly took it off the burner and easily swiped a tea bag from the tea bag bowl and dropped it in Dad's favorite mug. Pouring some water into the mug, she set it on the counter and stirred the soup some more.

"How the fuck didya know that?"

"I needed some model glue, but Chuck ran out yesterday. Said to tell you that the next shipment was going to have some parts that you've been bitching at him to get."

"And *when* were you planning on telling me, goddammit?!"

"You were mad about something at the time, if I recall correctly. And when you finally calmed down, I couldn't find you to tell you. Sorry 'bout that."

Dad growled some more, and Alex placed the mug in front of him, and transferred Father's chicken soup to a big bowl. "Whatcha makin'?" Alex noticed that Dad's voice had lessened intensity to a grumble.

"Chicken soup for Father."

"Vincent still in bed?" Dad drank some of the tea, looking a bit better. If there was anything Alex knew, it was how to make good tea.

Alex nodded. "He looks bad. I thought some soup would be good for 'im."

"I'll take it to 'im." Dad took the bowl out of her hands, careful not to spill the soup and kissed Alex on her head. "Thanks, kiddo."

"Yer welcome." Alex smiled a little. "Can I go over to Lisa's?"

"Sure. Just be back before dinner."

"Okay, Dad. I love you."

"Love you, too, kiddo."

Alex put the pot she used to make Father's soup in the sink and Cid watched her leave, the screen door banging shut, before he went to his and Vincent's room. Vince had said he hadn't been feeling well lately, bu Cid had hoped it would clear up before Alex's hunting trip today. Vincent always felt revived whenever he took Alex out on a hunting trip. Cid guessed that more happened on those trips between the two of them, but he wasn't about to take that away from them. They rarely spent much time together as it is, what with Alex helping him out with the Highwind.

As he opened the door, Cid reached Vincent's side and placed the bowl of soup on the night stand next to the bed. The pilot sat carefully and reached out a hand to brush a few strands of black hair from his love's forehead. Vincent looked like shit, but it looked a little better from this morning. Bright red eyes opened to look at him.

"Cid?"

"Hey, darlin'." Cid smiled a little. Leaning over, he kissed Vincent's lips gently. "You look like shit."

"Alex was about to tell me the same thing." Vincent smiled, sniffing loudly and reaching for his ever-present Kleenex box. "She's a Highwind to the end. Your foul mouth has been rubbing off on her."

"Well, if she's a Highwind, she's also a Valentine." Cid smiled. "That girl's got a better fucking head on her shoulders than half of my goddamn crew."

Vincent smiled. "I'm sure she'll be glad to hear that." He sneezed loudly.

"Ya know, I've got a cure for colds that works wonders."

"Would that be the soup Alex made for me?" Vincent asked. Even though his nose was stuffed up, his enhanced olfactory sense could still smell the chicken.

"Not exactly." Cid grinned as he took off his T-shirt and climbed onto the bed until he covered Vincent's body with his own.

"Cid!" Vincent yelped as Cid started attacking his neck with teasing kisses and nibbles. "What are you doing?!"

"Playing doctor, what does it look like?" Cid's deep voice sent a shiver down Vincent's back, and before he could protest, the pilot took his lips in a long, loving kiss.

***

"Oh, shit." Alex checked her watch before running her hand through her light brown hair. She hadn't meant to stay so long at Lisa's, but her mother was making cookies, and that wasn't a luxury Alex normally had. But now it was REALLY late, and if Dad didn't yell at her, Father would just give her that Look. The reproachful, disappointed one. She was beginning to think that she was no more immune to that look than Dad was, and Dad wasn't immune to it at all. "Oh, well. May as well get it over with."

She eased the front door open, breathing a sigh of relief when neither Dad nor Father were sitting at the table waiting for her. If they weren't there, they were either out or... busy. Creeping by her parents' door, she could hear muffled voices and a loud sneeze before it grew silent.

Smiling, she was about to go to her room before the door to her parents' room opened and Father popped his head out. His nose was still bright red, as was the rest of his face, but his eyes looked clearer. "Alexa?"

"Yes, Father?" The floor suddenly looked very fascinating.

"We'll talk in the morning. Go to bed."

"Yes, sir. I love you, Father."

"I love you, too."

The End