Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ My Happy Ending ❯ A Not-So-Perfect Family ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 7: A Not-So-Perfect Family

“When it's family, you love

And hate and take then give some more,

Somehow, you justify mistakes,

Try to find some better way

To solve the problems day to day,

In the family.”

-Dolly Parton “Family”

Cid followed Rick into the house along with a rather agitated Raye. The redhead was not happy about hosting Cid. She couldn't stand his ass! He was arrogant, rude, and just plain irritating. He was a know-it-all jerk who happened to be acquainted with her father, so she really had no choice but to be nice to the man. Raye sighed as Cid and Rick went out into the living room. Cid decided he would clean up a little later, just before dinnertime. She looked at the clock and decided that the rest of her family would be home any moment. While she had a second, the girl decided to go upstairs and take a shower.

The Shields' house was a rather large residence. It was three stories, if you counted the basement, which was what the family called the `romp room'. The basement was all open with a large television equipped with a DVD player and a video game system, and there was a small bathroom as well. The first floor, which was the one Cid and Rick were on, had a spacious living room, a dining room, and a nice kitchen. The kitchen contained small table and was connected to the living room and dining room.

The second floor had four bedrooms and one bath. Raye's twin brothers shared a room, her middle brothers also shared one, but Brad and Rick had their own rooms.

As for the third floor, that was not only the attic, but it was Raye's room as well. Raye had built a wall dividing the attic into two parts: her room in one, and storage in the other. The attic could be accessed two different ways: the storage part was accessed via a trap door in the ceiling just at the top of the stairs. Raye's room could be accessed via a narrow hidden stairwell at the end of the second floor hallway.

Cid noted his surroundings and determined that the living arrangements were quite nice for a family of mechanics. He figured that Rick must have worked hard to get what he had. Of course, Cid couldn't complain himself: he thought his house was alright for someone in his profession, dirty as it was right now. However, Cid didn't like to stay at home lately. It was too empty without Shera, the emptiness just made him think about her more, and when he thought about her more, he felt guilty. She left without a word, and said that she didn't want to be found. If that was what she wanted, he would respect that, and he couldn't blame her, either. He still wished he had a chance to talk things over with her, though, and maybe work things out. He didn't have to ask why she left because he knew for sure it was because of him.

Raye stood in the bathroom of the second floor with a change of clothes in her arms. She worked hard that day, and the redhead was relieved to finally be able to get a shower. She learned over the years the importance of being the first in the bath. With five brothers in the house, if you were last in line for a shower, you were completely screwed because there would be no hot water left over. Raye had taken many a cold shower, and she was glad to be able to have a hot relaxing one - or so she hoped.

The girl removed her work boots, and the steel-toed things landed with a heavy thump on the floor. She stripped off the rest of her clothing, allowing her pants to drop into a heap on the floor, and her tank tops to flutter onto the counter along with her bra. Turning on the water, she allowed it to get warm, and she adjusted the cold side making the temperature to her liking. She stepped into the shower, letting the warm water beat down onto her skin and the steam to work her senses and the tense muscles on her body.

Downstairs, Cid was talking with Rick, when all of a sudden, the front door flung open and two boys came running in. One of them looked to be about 19 years old while the other looked to be about 15 years of age. The older one was taller than the other was, and they ran past the two men, chattering and roughhousing, not even noticing their father or his guest.

The younger one jumped on his brother's back, and the other protested in return.

“Hey, man! Get offa me!” the older one said as he bent over in an attempt to throw his sibling onto the floor.

“Boys! Settle down!” Rick finally yelled.

The two stopped and turned to look at their father.

“Sorry, Dad,” the older of the two replied. They looked at Cid who stared back at them. How many kids did he have?

“Boys, this is Cid,” Rick introduced. “Cid, the tall one is Jamie and the younger one is Brian.”

“Hi,” they both said. The two politely extended their hands to Cid, who actually remembered his manners, or whatever he called them, and accepted each of their handshakes.

“Say, Jamie, did you stop by to get your replacement cymbal for your drum set?” Rick asked.

“Yeah, but I haven't had a chance to try it out, yet.”

“You can try it out later if you want, but for now you may be excused to your rooms until your sister and brother get supper ready.”

“Yes, sir,” they both replied. They turned and ran upstairs and into their rooms.

“Damn, Rick, how many kids you got?” Cid asked.

“I have six altogether,” Rick said. “Raye is my oldest. She is 27. Brad's 25, Jamie's 19, Brian's 15, and the twins, Mark and Thomas, are 12.”

“Shit! How the hell do ya handle that?! They got good manners,” Cid remarked, but I ain't too sure about those twins of yours. Raye looked like she had her hands full earlier.”

“She does. She's been a huge help with this family. So has Bradley. The youngest boys are actually pretty good, but only when they're separate. You put `em together, and you have a disaster waiting to happen. Can't blame Raye for losing her patience with them sometimes. They make it hard for her to get shit done around here, but she still loves `em.”

“Oh, yeah?” Cid replied. “Man, I thought she was gonna kill the little shits a second ago.”

Rick laughed. “Nah, don't let her fool ya. Just typical sibling rivalry. In a family this big, there is a lot of that, believe me.”

“Never a dull moment, eh?”

“Never.”

Cid and Rick sort of chucked at their conversation. The pilot found that he needed to use the bathroom, so Rick directed him to the second floor bathroom, not knowing that Raye was showering in there. Cid climbed the stairs and found the bathroom, only to find that the door was closed, and he could hear the shower running inside. Cid began to turn the knob, but he hesitated. He didn't know that there was a bathroom in the basement, and he actually had to go kind of bad. Cid figured he would just sneak in and right back out again without being noticed, and he would do it quickly. He knew he should not have drunk that bottle of Coke before he came.

The pilot turned the knob carefully and quietly and sneaked in. He looked around for the toilet and spotted it - right next to the shower. Damn. Still he had to go, and he decided to take a chance. He wasn't sure who was in the shower, but at the moment, he didn't care. He sneaked past the clouded glass door to be greeted by a woman's voice.

“That you, Brad?” Raye asked.

Cid froze. “Uh…uh-huh.”

“Okay. If you're using the toilet, be quick about it `cause I'm almost done,” Raye said.

Cid decided not to answer her and just do his business and get out. It was bad enough he was in there with her in the shower, but he knew that if she caught him, he was fucked. Cid did his business and started out from the bathroom when something caught his eye.

Raye's bra lay on the counter next to the sink just as plain as day. The undergarment was black and made of a satin and lace material. It caused Cid to stop for a moment, but as he was looking at it, the door opened, and he stood face to face with Brad!

“Hey…” Brad said, surprised to see Cid standing there. He looked at Cid, down to his sister's bra, and back again. “Are you trying to peep on my sister?!”

Cid suddenly got the most horrified look on his face.

“Brad?” Raye asked. “What's going on?”

“I…I…was just using the damned bathroom! It's not what it looks like!” Cid yelled.

“Huh? WHAT!” Raye yelled as she peeked around the corner of the shower curtain. Upon seeing the pilot, she screamed at the top of her lungs. “CID YOU PERVERT!!! GET OUT OF HERE YOU PEEPEING TOM!!”

Raye picked up a bottle of shampoo and flung it as hard as she could at Cid. The hapless man ducked and held up his hands to shield himself from the other bathroom necessities the woman was flinging at him.

“IT AIN'T WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!! I JUST HAD TO USE THE GODDAMNED BATHROOM!!!”

Brad grabbed Cid by the collar of his blue flight jacket, hauled him out into the hallway, and closed the door. A few seconds later Raye stepped out dripping wet and in a towel ready to beat the hell out of him with a long wooden bathroom brush she was grasping in her hand.

“I AM GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!” she yelled as she took a step toward him, raising the brush.

Rick soon came upstairs to find out what the commotion was all about.

“What's going on here?” Rick asked.

Raye was about to open her mouth when Cid cut in before she could yell anything.

“I was using the bathroom, I didn't know she was in the shower, and she caught me. Honest mistake,” Cid explained.

Raye shot Cid a dirty look. “Then why did you not answer when I asked if it was Brad, huh?”

“I didn't want you to get pissed at me,” the pilot answered matter-of-factly.

Raye was still pretty steamed, but she didn't want to treat her father's guest like crap - she would save that for later.

“Now, Raye…” Rick started, but was cut off by his daughter.

“Well, next time, all ya have to do is knock on the door like polite people do and ask. Is that so hard?”

With that, Raye scowled at Cid as Rick shrugged and went back downstairs. Her father had no idea his daughter was in the shower, so it was his mistake, and he knew Cid wouldn't purposely look in on his girl.

As soon as her father was out of sight, Raye smacked Cid with the wooden brush, returned to the bathroom, and slammed the door in his face.

“Wow, she didn't blow as big of a fit as I thought she would,” Brad commented.

“Did you do that on purpose?!” Cid yelled.

Brad looked surprised. Then he innocently said, “No, Cid, why would I do that? I was just surprised you were in there with my sister.”

“Then why did you think I was peeping her?!” Cid looked at Brad with a rather threatening look. “You fucking SNITCH! You knew she was in there, and you saw me go in and didn't say a word?!”

“I, uh…ah…hahaha…” the younger man stammered. “Sibling rivalry?”

Cid balled up his fist and growled, “I'd kick yer ass, but I actually like you, so I ain't gonna.”

Brad laughed a bit and said, “I'm sorry, Cid. I just did that to get a rise out of her. Raye's so easily excitable, you know.”

“Oh, don't I know it.”

Cid went downstairs, while Brad retreated to his room to wait for his sister to free up the bathroom.

In the bathroom, Raye picked up a blow dryer and began to work on drying her hair. After this, she applied some make-up, picked up her dirty clothes, and went upstairs to her room wearing a new change of clothing.

Man, what a damned jerk. It's bad enough he's Dad's friend, but to have to put up with him at dinner? Raye thought to herself.

She reached her bedroom, tossed her grease-soiled clothing into her dirty clothes hamper, picked up some other items, and tossed them into her hamper as well. The girl glanced at the clock and decided that she had better get on dinner. As she came down, she heard the shower running and poked her head inside the door.

“Brad, you in there?” she asked.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“I'm gonna start supper. You gonna be long?”

“No, just a few minutes, and I'll come to help you.”

The redhead closed the door and went downstairs into the kitchen to begin preparing the family's dinner. She walked past Cid and Rick and into the kitchen. However, as Raye walked by, Cid couldn't help but to notice what she was wearing as well as wonder whether or not she had put that black bra on under there. The girl had put on a pair of dark boot cut blue jeans and a cute little black baby tee. Her outfit showed every curve of her body, and he noticed that she dried her hair and left it down. The chunky layers of her razor cut hair perfectly framed her face, and she didn't over do it on the make up.

What the hell am I doing?! Cid thought to himself. He flushed slightly, and quickly returned to his conversation with Rick.

Raye entered her kitchen and began to drag out meat, vegetables, spices, knives, and other items for cooking a dinner. Because Raye had a large family, she had to buy food in bulk and cook food in large quantities. The redhead didn't mind cooking, and she was quite good at it, but she liked it better when Brad cooked. Her brother was better at the culinary arts, and he could be quite creative with food. The young man seemed to have a natural talent for successfully experimenting with food and creating new and interesting dishes and he enjoyed it immensely.

As Raye began to cut the vegetables for a large salad, Brad entered the kitchen all cleaned up in a burgundy tee shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans, and he immediately picked up a butcher knife and began cutting the meat and preparing the marinade.

“So, when do you think we'll get to go over on the ferry?” Brad asked.

“Anxious, are we?” Raye teased.

“Yeah…kind of.”

“I don't know, and it depends on which one of us Dad sends.”

“Aw come on, Sis. You promised that you would make it possible for me to see Shera.”

“I know, but it just depends on how much we have to do down in the shop,” Raye explained. “So what were you doing to that car that had you so tied up earlier. It was only here for a tune-up.”

“Uh, well…I was, ah, checking something that I didn't think was right.”

Raye turned to her brother and sensed immediately that he was fibbing. “Oh, yeah? So…what wasn't right, hmm?”

Brad nervously scratched the back of his head and continued to cut the meat. “Well, um, the drive shaft…it felt kind funky, eh heh…”

The redhead put down her knife and looked sternly at her brother. She picked up a wooden spoon to stir the marinade that Brad prepared, her gaze piercing into him. Brad began to grow even more nervous as her gaze was unrelenting. His sister had quite a way of dragging lies out of him, and he was already a crappy liar to begin with.

“You knew he was there, didn't you?” she said flatly.

“Uh…yeah…I did,” Brad admitted. Then he quickly added, “But it was just a little joke!!”

Raye took the wooden spoon and smacked her brother with it. “You bastard!!! I knew it! You fucking asshole! I am gonna kill you!”

“Ahhh…ha ha ha…help!”

Raye chased Brad around the kitchen in an attempt to grab him, but he was amazingly fast. The younger brother bolted out into the living room where the two siblings chased one another around the table. Rick had gone downstairs for a moment leaving Cid by himself on the couch. The pilot glanced back at the two shouting and arguing at one another.

“You fucking jerk! You are gonna be sorry when I get a hold of your ass!” Raye yelled.

Brad instead just laughed at his sister, which infuriated her even more. The fight got carried over to Cid's area, and the pilot abruptly stood up when Brad came crashing over the other end of the couch. The brother ran behind Cid and kept the man between him and his sister.

“Cid, help me! She'll kill me if she gets me!” the young man begged.

Raye looked up at Cid. “You better get out of my way or you're gonna get hurt.”

“What the…how the...HOW THE HELL DID I GET INTO THIS?!” the engineer yelled.

Raye raised her spoon, and she smacked both Cid and Brad with it.

“OW! Goddammit!!” Cid yelped. “I didn't do anything!!”

“I told you to get the hell outta my way! Now lemme at him!”

Just then, Rick came upstairs and witnessed the commotion. “What the hell is going on now?!”

Raye and Cid looked at one another as Brad tried to sneak off. Suddenly they pointed at one another.

“She/he hates me!!” they both bellowed simultaneously.

“What?” Rick was obviously confused.

“Dad, I just can't hide it anymore! I can't stand Cid!”

“Yeah, well, I can't stand you either, you crazy bitch!” Cid yelled at her.

Raye instantly got pissed. “What did you call me?! So help me as soon as I get a chance, I'll…”

“You'll what?” Cid asked.

“Let's just say you better not sleep tonight.”

The two were in one another's faces, but Rick pried them apart.

“Alright, do you two know each other aside from today?”

“Yeah, I encountered her in Junon…” Cid began.

“…when he nearly made Brad into road kill because he had his head in his ass!” Raye finished hotly. “And he didn't apologize, either, for being a dumbass.”

“Wha…what did you just say?!” Cid yelled getting back into Raye's face. He turned to Rick and pointed at the bruise on his jaw. “You see that, Rick? You see that? That is what your daughter did to me!”

“You deserved it, ya jackass. If you hadn't pushed me…”

“Alright! That's enough! Listen I dunno what the hell happened, but obviously you two got off on the wrong foot here. Can you two try and get along just tonight? Is that too much to ask of you, Raye? After all, Captain Highwind is my guest. Cid, you think you can do that?”

Raye and Cid shot daggers at one another and finally conceded to be civil to one another.

“Fine.” the two said.

“Good. Now Raye, go help your brother finish supper.”

Raye cast an evil `go-to-hell' look in Cid's direction before returning to the kitchen. Somehow, Brad managed to sneak back in the kitchen during Cid and Raye's little powwow, away from the line of fire.

As soon as Raye hit the kitchen, she shot Brad an evil look. “I hope you know you will be paid back for making me wait on him earlier.”

Brad chuckled. “Oh, I just wanted to mess with you a bit, Sis.”

“Well, I hope you don't sleep much,” the redhead ominously threatened.

Brad gulped and the two continued cooking. Back out in the living room, Rick was apologizing to Cid about Raye.

“Cid, I had no idea you two had met. I wish you could have met her on better circumstances,” Rick said.

“Well, I actually was going to apologize to her brother, but she just pissed me off so damned much, that I completely forgot.”

“Ah, Raye is very protective over her younger brothers, and I mean VERY. I dun think she meant anything by it, and hopefully it'll blow over once you get to know her a little,” Rick explained.

“Well, Brad doesn't seem to make a huge deal out of it. I dun think he really cares.”

“He doesn't. Brad is real laid back. He knows you didn't mean to almost hit him, so it isn't a big deal. He doesn't let things bother him like that.”

Cid nodded his head and continued talking with Rick until dinner was served.

Cid sat down at the table while Raye went to retrieve the rest of her family. Brad was setting food out on the table, as the rest of the brothers came tumbling downstairs. They all sat down with Rick at the head of it, and Raye and Brad joined them promptly after serving everyone their drinks.

“Raye, you have any tea in the kitchen?” Rick asked.

“Um…I think so,” the daughter replied.

“Good. Cid, I do believe you take tea after dinner, right?”

“Yeah.”

Everyone began to eat, and Cid had to admit that the food before him was the best food he had tasted in awhile, and the only home cooked meal he had eaten in a long while. Shera was not a bad cook, though there were things she could do to improve upon, but since she left, he was on his own as far as cooking and cleaning, and he wasn't good at either one. Nowadays the pilot preferred eating out rather than attempting again what he found would turn into a complete disaster and possibly burn down his house.

Rick got up from the table and went into the kitchen to refill his glass, and he collected everyone else's who needed more to drink. The twins sat across from one another, and one, which was Mark, happened to be to Cid's left. To Cid's right was Brad, and across from Brad was Brian, the 15 year old. As the group ate, Mark and Thomas began to bicker over the last of the mashed potatoes. Brian grabbed the bowl from the both of them and began to heap them onto his plate.

“Brian!” the boys protested.

“You pig!” Mark said as he threw a roll at him.

“Hey! Don't throw that at me!” Brian yelled. He threw a green bean at Mark.

“Boys! Stop it, now.” Raye ordered.

Cid was in the middle of all this bickering, and he knew that if someone didn't do something fast he was gonna be in the line of fire.

Mark picked up a piece of pork from his plate and chucked it back at his brother hitting him in between the eyes.

“Mark!” Brad yelled. “Raye said to quit!”

Brian raised a fork loaded with mashed potatoes and was about to fling it when Raye grabbed him. “You do, and you die.”

Brain lowered his fork and shoveled the food into his mouth.

“Fucking heathens…” Raye muttered embarrassedly.

Just when no one was really paying attention, a load of mashed potatoes soared across the table and splatted right in the middle of Mark's forehead.

“Hey! BRIAN!” Mark yelled. He took a load of his potatoes and flung them at his brother.

“Wha…? You little jerk! I didn't do that!!”

“Hey! Knock it off, BOTH of you!” Brad ordered firmly.

Thomas couldn't contain his giggling, and the tables suddenly turned on him as both Mark and Brian splattered him with food.

“Hey!”

Suddenly, before Raye or Brad had a chance to stop anything from starting, a food fight erupted among Brian, Thomas, and Mark. Cid was caught in the middle, and he haplessly looked for a way out of the mess while Brad and Raye immediately stood up and tried to put a stop to the madness, but the both of them got caught in the line of fire. Raye was smacked in the face with the potatoes from someone's plate - she didn't know who - and Brad got bombarded by a flying dinner roll. Even Jamie tried to assist his brother and sister in stopping the madness, but he, too, fell to airborne green beans. Cid started to get up from the table to escape, but as soon as he did, a piece of the pork roast they were eating came soaring through the air and hit him in the side of the head.

“What the hell?!” Cid yelled.

Soon Rick returned to the dining room only to find the dinner table in shambles, his youngest children covered in food, and Raye, Brad and Jamie helplessly trying to put an end to the madness that ensued.

“ALRIGHT THAT IS ENOUGH!” Rick angrily screamed.

Everyone immediately froze and looked at Rick. The older man was quite embarrassed at the way his children were behaving, and he was obviously irate.

“I leave the table for a few minutes, and this is what I find when I get back?”

“He started it,” Mark said, pointing to Brian.

“Oh, your ass! If you hadn't been…”

“I don't care who started it,” Rick sternly replied. “I want this mess cleaned up, and I want it up now! You ought to be ashamed of yourselves, acting like a bunch of banshees in front of company. What got into you? Ya'll never act like this any other time!”

Everyone looked down abashedly and quietly began to clean everything up. Raye was highly pissed off, but not as much as she was embarrassed. She knew that her family did not act like that when it was just them, and she suspected that they were just trying to show off. Why they wanted to show off to Cid, she had no clue, but she cleaned up the mess along with her brothers as Rick took Cid down into the shop where he knew it was safe.

“This is a real fine mess you all got us into,” Raye scolded her youngest three.

“What the hell is the matter with you guys? We never act like this!” Brad added.

“Dad is right. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. I am so fucking embarrassed I could just crawl into a hole and die.”

Brad looked at Raye. “And we wonder why nobody ever comes over here.”

Raye sighed, and the others finished cleaning in silence. The redhead returned to the kitchen followed by Jamie as Brad told him that it was his turn to help with the dishes. Raye filled her sink with hot soapy water and began to wash as Jamie rinsed. She had a dishtowel over her shoulder, and she scrubbed the dishes with a rag and passed them to Jamie who rinsed, dried, and put them away.

Cid and Rick soon returned from the shop, and had Raye put on some tea for Cid. There was a small kitchen table against the wall, and Raye had the pilot sit down while she put on a teakettle filled with water. The girl went back to her dishes with her back turned to Cid.

“Ah, Cid?”

“Whuddya want?”

“I am so damned sorry my younger brothers don't know how to act civilized. They ain't like that normally. God, I am so embarrassed…”

Cid was a bit surprised that she was actually being nice to him, but nonetheless he said, “Uh, well, it's alright. No need to be embarrassed.”

Jamie turned to Cid. “But still, we're terribly sorry you had to see that. In this family, though, anything is bound to happen.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Raye agreed. “And people think we're a `perfect family'. Riiight…”

The teakettle began to whistle, and Raye dried her hands, poured hot water over a teabag she had set for Cid in a mug, and handed it to the pilot. She suddenly heard a pop and felt a stinging pain on her rear.

“Ow! What the…?” She turned on one heel and glared at Jamie who was twirling a towel and wearing a shit-eating grin on his face.

“That was my ass you bastard!” the girl said.

Jamie returned with another pop, this time hitting her in the thigh.

“Ow! Dammit!” Raye took her towel off her shoulder and began to twirl it as well. “Alright, alright. You wanna start some shit? Well, two can play this game.”

Cid looked on with slight amusement because for some reason, he knew Raye would keep this battle between herself and Jamie. He took the tea bag out of the cup and began to spoon a bit of sugar into the drink. He took a sip as he watched Raye pop her brother hard with her towel.

“Yeow!” Jamie yelped. “That was a good one.”

“Yeah, and I got more where this came from!” The girl popped him again.

The two circled one another in the kitchen, popping one another. Sometimes they would miss, and at other times, one would yelp, but both of them kept laughing and cutting up. Suddenly, Jamie attempted to pop his sister again, but this time she caught it with her hand.

“Whacha going to do now?” Raye asked, grinning. She yanked the towel out of his hand.

“This!” Jamie kicked up a leg at Raye, but she caught his leg as well, and he was now hopping about on one foot. “Aw, crap!”

The red head giggled at her brother, and said smugly, “Well I got you now.”

“No you don't!” Jamie replied. With that he jumped up with his other leg to try and kick her again, but instead he came crashing down to the floor like a sack full of bricks and landed with a resounding THUD! Raye had let go of his other foot, and she and Cid both burst out laughing.

“You dumbass!” Raye said as she continued to laugh hysterically.

Cid looked down at Jamie who was rubbing his sore bottom and said, “You might wanna think that through next time, kiddo.”

“Yeah, ever heard of `gravity'?” Raye teased. Tears had formed in the corners of her eyes she laughed so hard, and she wiped them away with her towel. Then she turned to Cid and pointed at Jamie. “You see that? Stupidity at its finest right there.”

Cid actually couldn't help but to laugh at this while Jamie protested against Raye's comment as he picked himself up from the floor. “Aw, shut up, both of you.”

Jamie walked out of the kitchen since the dishes were, for the most part, done. Raye and Cid looked at one another after he left and sniggered a bit more.

Later that Evening…

It was now late in the Shields' household, and Jamie retreated to the garage to try out a new cymbal for his drum set and practice. Cid could hear the crashing of the cymbals and the banging of the drums at a fast pace, and he had to admit that the kid was pretty good. The twins were getting ready to go to bed, and Raye, Brad, and Brian went downstairs to the romp room to play some games on their console for a while. As Cid talked more with Rick over a beer and reminisced over the Highwind and his plans for rebuilding it, he could hear the three in the basement yelling, either at the television or at one another, sometimes both.

Rick glanced at his watch and found it was nearly 11 pm! He stood up and said, “Cid, I hate to cut this short, but I gotta be up at dawn for a job across town, and I believe Raye and Brad have work to do.”

“Eh, that's alight. Man's gotta earn a livin'.”

“I'll send Raye up with extra blankets and things.”

Rick went downstais for a moment, and the shouting ceased. A few minutes later, Raye came upstairs with an armful of blankets and a pillow. She set them next to Cid who began to unfold them.

“Sorry you have to sleep on the couch,” Raye said dryly. “We, uh, don't really have room for a guest bedroom.”

“It's fine with me. I can sleep anywhere.”

Raye paused for a minute. “Well, ah, goodnight. I'll try not to wake you up in the morning.”

Raye turned and ran upstairs all the way to her own room before Cid could reply. Brad and Brian soon came up, said goodnight to the pilot, and retired into their respective rooms. Cid pulled his aviator goggles from his forehead, his leather gloves came off, and he placed them on the end table next to the couch. Jamie soon walked through, and he politely said goodnight as well. Cid loosened his shirt from his pants, removed his jacket, belt, and shoes, and he lay back onto the couch. The house had become quiet, and almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, Cid fell asleep on the comfortable sofa under warm, soft, and clean blankets.