Chapter Eleven

I sat at the kitchen table, waiting for my dinner to get done, I worried about Vincent, as well as Nicolae. As the sound of vibrating from the phone lying on the table, I picked it up, looking at the caller ID seeing that it was from Vincent, I picked up the phone accepting the call. "Hello?"

"Charmaine, I need to stay here a while longer. Vincent is injured, he was attacked, but he doesn't know by who. I need to tend to his injuries and do some cleaning up, he's agreed to come to the house until he is back on his feet, do you think you can make enough for him?"

"Yeah, I made plenty. Don't worry, you come back home when you can, Aria and I will be fine here, you tend to Vincent." The line was silent. "Something wrong? You got quiet."

"No, I'm just worried. Vincent is in pretty bad shape, I know he's immortal despite that, I'm worried about him, I didn't get to tell what you had told me. What if?"

"Nicolae, stop worrying, Vince is a tough old goat. Stubborn and pigheaded, you don't need to worry about him. Just try to make yourself something to eat, stargaze, and find something to do to help you relax. He'll be fine, I promise, when he recovers, you'll be able to tell him everything, for right now, just let him rest and get better. Alright?"

"Alright, I need to go back to the bedroom with Vincent. I may stay here tonight, you can sleep in my bed since it's going to be you and Aria, you can sleep in one of my shirts, I'll try to be home tomorrow if Vincent can get around, just leave us some leftovers and I'll heat them up when I get back."

"Alright, you try to get some sleep. You're going to need all the rest you can get, try to go to bed early, you look like you've not had much lately, promise me you'll try to sleep. If you can't call me, no matter what time it is. I'll get up and talk to you."

"Alright, I'll call you if I need to. I'll talk to you tomorrow sometime."

"I'll talk to you later, Nicolae. Just try to relax, I promise everything is going to be alright. Vince will be just fine, I love you."

"I love you too, Charmaine." With that said, he ended the call.

Nicolae

I sighed, placing Vincent's phone back on the nightstand, and taking a seat at the foot of Vincent's bed. Neither of us spoke a word as the news filled the room, and the smell of the cleaning materials I had used in the room lingered. Vincent not moving from the position that he had taken before I called Charmaine. I turned around as the news anchor brought up something about ShinRa's company and the discoveries that were being brought to light from the city of the dead Midgar. I sighed. "I suppose things never change with ShinRa, a company that claims they want to atone for the wrongs that they have brought to this world, however, it seems more secrets about the company's activities surface. What are these things, and are they creations of Hojo's? Wasn't Leonard and myself enough to please that old man?"

Vincent continued to watch television. "I'd rather not know." Were his only words as I stood up, he looked at me, then his focus went back to the television. "You leaving so soon?"

"No, I was going to go cook us something to eat. I know you don't eat, but I was sort of hoping that you would make an exception. We have things to talk about, and I would rather talk about it over something to eat."

Vincent looked at me. "What is on your mind?"

I looked at him, with a sigh. "The better question is what's not on my mind, I think that everything that could be on the human mind is on my mind. My relationship with Charmaine, Leonard, Aria, your injuries, ShinRa's lies. I don't even know where to start, as well as you being in your condition, I don't want to burden you with everything. I'm going to clean this room, to get my mind off things."

"Are you and Leonard having trouble?"

I shook my head. "Only the brotherly love the two of us exchange every time we talk on the phone, he's stressed with the issues he deals with at work and Grace being on the year-long mission ShinRa has her on. He seems to find comfort with his girls, but with the crazy schedule, he's tackling he never sees them. I worry about his mental health, of the Sephiroth creations, Leonard was the one that seemed to get the most from it. And that worries me." Vincent was silent, as I stood to my feet. "So, are you going to eat anything, or not?"

Vincent's focus was still on the television, his lack of an answer clear he had no intention of eating, causing me to sigh, I walked over to the mop bucket, as I started cleaning again. "You're not going to eat, Nicolae?"

I looked at the man, who was now looking at me. "No, I'm not hungry," I said as I started my task at hand. The two of us were silent with only the swishing of the water in the bucket as the mop made an impact to gather more water into it.

"Do you always clean when you are stressed out, Nicolae? We can talk about whatever is bothering you, you can eat, you know I don't eat."

I looked at him. "Yeah, I know." I placed the mop into the dirty water, taking my seat back at the foot of the bed. "I've just had a rough few days, a rough few days with very little sleep, I suppose it's making me and my decision-making foggy."

"Is it what Cid and Yuffie did at the bar?"

"A lot of my stress is triggered by that, yes. If not all of my stress. The two of them have not welcomed Aria since the first day she entered the doors. I know she's an orphan, however, so are Marlene and Denzel. They are both great children, yet, so is Aria. But the two of them wouldn't know that because of the way they do her, I feel as though, Aria keeps her feelings to herself about the two of them. I feel she is starting to dislike them if she hasn't reached that point already. Aria respects me, she knows I would rather her not say the word hate. But I also know that Aria doesn't bring on any of the arguments that Cid and Yuffie throw at her, it's sad when the child is more grown-up than the adults are in the situation." I sighed. "I dunno, if it wasn't for visiting with you, I wouldn't go to the bar, if I have to be honest, if it weren't for my relationship with you, I wouldn't bother to aid AVALANCHE, I wouldn't be the threat, I have too much to fight for in my life, but I wouldn't bother helping them deal with a problem that Cloud usually brings back to light."

Vincent was silent, yet, I felt he agreed with the statement. "You have Charmaine living with you, does she make you happy?"

I looked at him. "Yeah, so far, she has, she only moved in today. She seems nice, she seems to care a lot about other people. How Rufus found a woman like her, is beyond me, she's too good for him that's for sure."

"That's great, Nicolae. Maybe you should go back home, and be with her, I'll be fine."

"No, I'll stay here."

Vincent looked at me. "You should go, I have things I need to do later. I don't want to leave you here alone."

"Things? What things?"

"It's nothing to worry about, you should just go home, be with your family."

I looked at him. "I think that's your way of telling me to leave you alone isn't it."

He was silent as I stood up, with a chuckle, "I am being run off, by you, dang that's saying something I feel."

Vincent didn't look at me, I walked from the room, soon leaving the house, heading home.