Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ My Happy Ending ❯ Helping Hands ( Chapter 11 )

Chapter 11: Helping Hands

“When I was younger,

so much younger than today,

I never needed anybody's help in any way.

But now these days are gone

And I'm not so self-assured.

Now I find I've changed my mind

And opened up the doors.”

-The Beatles “Help”

The following morning, Raye woke up, dressed and groomed herself, and wandered out into the kitchen after taking care to refold the blanket and replace it with the pillow on the couch where it originally was. Cid was nowhere to be found, and she had no idea if he was in the hangar or still asleep. Raye crept to his bedroom door and listened. She could hear him snoring from within, so she decided to take advantage of the opportunity and clean up the place.

Raye rolled up the sleeves on her shirt and began to organize the massive pile of dishes that had to be done. Raye found the dish soap, which to no surprise was almost full, and turned the water on to heat it up. The redhead began clearing the dishware from the sink basin, and she found things in there that a woman should never have to see: failed dinner attempts that were stuck inside the pans, food particles everywhere in the bottom of the sink, and even some more laundry items! What kind of a housekeeper was he?! Raye rolled her eyes and proceeded to soak the pans, fill the sink with soapy water, and put the plates and silverware in it. As the washbasin filled, Raye took out the horribly overflowing trash and gathered all of Cid's dirty clothes into one pile to sort for washing.

After about an hour Raye finally had the dishes done, except for the soaking pans, and had already sorted and started the laundry in the small laundry room she managed to find. The redhead already was putting a load in the dryer and was loading up a second one in the washer. Raye was completely baffled as to how the man could fly airplanes and build airships, but he couldn't keep his own house clean!

Once she loaded the washer, Raye closed the lid and went back to the kitchen to check on her pans. She also found a broom in a small closet and swept up the broken glass from when her hubcap shattered the window. She then disposed of the glass and scrubbed the remaining dishware down until they were spotless where then the girl dried them and put them away in the cabinets. The redhead glanced at the table, which was cluttered with more parts, teacups, and old newspapers. Raye began to clear off the kitchen table, folding the newspapers, washing the cups, and moving the parts into the bathroom with the others. In her odyssey around Cid's disastrous house, she discovered cleaning supplies for engine parts and assumed that the pilot was cleaning whatever was on the table as well as in the bathtub. She wiped down the table and placed the newspapers in a neat stack in the middle because she had no idea if she should throw them away.

Raye wandered back into the bathroom and decided that she was going to remove everything in the tub and give it a good scrubbing as well as the sink and the toilet. The woman decided she would find a large box and place the parts inside for now, and she would clean them in the hangar where they belonged. Where would she find a box, though? The female mechanic remembered there was a large box in the back of her truck that contained a large part for Cid. She went back to the hangar, retrieved the box, returned to the house, and placed the parts inside. Next, she set about to scrubbing the bathtub, sink and toilet with some other cleaning supplies she found under the sink until everything glistened like new. Satisfied with her work, Raye took up the box of components, engine cleaner, and some shop rags and took them back to the hangar where she stayed.

Soon after Raye left for the hangar, Cid began to stir in his bed. He opened his eyes and looked about the room. No sounds came from the rest of the house, and no food was cooking, as usual. Cid had gotten used to waking up alone in his house, although he didn't like it. The pilot forgot that Raye stayed over last night, so he didn't realize he was not alone. Cid rose out of his bed, scratched his side, and stood up. He was wearing nothing but a pair of pajama bottoms and no shirt, and his dogtags jingled around his neck as he slowly moved about, trying to gather himself. When he opened his bedroom door, however, he looked upon his house with utter bewilderment.

His house was not the way he left it the night before. It was…clean! The table was clear, except for the neat stack of newspapers, the dishes were done, and even the glass from the window was swept up. He ventured further into his home and noticed that the trash was gone, and the house smelled fresh and lemony from cleaning supplies. Did Shera return or something? Was Cid in the right house, or was he dreaming it and he would wake up any moment?

The pilot suddenly caught the sound of the washing machine entering the spin cycle. Laundry?! His laundry was being washed, too?! Cid had to use the bathroom, so he went into the small space and closed the door. Cid's jaw dropped when he saw that the bathtub, sink, and toilet were spotless, but what befuddled him was where all those parts had gone.

After he finished his business, he decided to take a shower in his clean tub. He needed a way to wake up, and a nice shower seemed to be the trick. Cid turned on the water, took off his pants and stepped into the tub, closing the shower curtain. He noticed that even the shower curtain was clean! What the hell was going on?! He turned the hot water on as hot as he could stand it, and it felt so good running down his bare skin. He was tired the night before, and the man just didn't feel like removing all his components from the tub to take a shower with it being so late at night.

While Cid was in the shower, Raye ran inside to check on the laundry. The dryer was done, and the washer had just clicked off. Raye took out the dry clothes, filled the dryer with the wet ones from the washer, and began to start the next load. Raye had no idea that Cid had gotten up because she was out in the hangar putting together the carburetor so she could hurry home and pick up Brad along the way. She called her father and told him she was still going to be late and that she would be home soon. Raye hated to leave her dad alone again to do all the work, but what choice did she have?

Raye took the clean basket of laundry to the table, quickly folded Cid's shirts and pants, and left them lying neatly on it since she had no idea where to put his garments. The girl caught the sound of the shower running and giggled, knowing that Cid must have had one hell of a surprise when he got up. Raye decided to go out to the hangar, but on her way to the backdoor, she noticed more dirty laundry in Cid's room, so she went and retrieved the clothes, added them to the other loads that weren't done and returned to make the bed.

Raye proved to be a fast worker because she was so used to running her own household. When she wanted things done, she got them out of the way as quickly as she could manage it, although most of the time the girl had help from the rest of her family. Once she made the bed, Raye was out the door and on her way back to the hangar quicker than one could say `Jack Robinson.'

Cid noted the change in the water pressure when the washer was filling and decided that whoever was in his house must have returned. He hoped with all of his heart that it was Shera so he could find out what the hell had gotten into her. The man turned the off the shower, dried, and emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. The first thing he noticed was the clean laundry on the kitchen table.

That wasn't there before…was it? Cid wondered. Still, there were clean clothes, and Cid needed something unsoiled to wear. He had no idea what was clean and what was dirty most of the time, so he usually used the typical no fail bachelor examination: the smell test. Cid knew, however that the laundry on the table was clean and still toasty from the dryer, so he went for a shirt, a pair of pants, and there was even a clean pair of his boxers. Ahh…there was nothing like warm good-smelling clothes to start the day… He went to find his blue pilot jacket, but the man couldn't locate it anywhere.

Cid decided to go out into the hangar and see if Shera was out there, if she had possibly returned. As he walked by his open bedroom door, he did a double take. The bed was made, and the rest of his laundry was cleared out.

“What the hell…?” Cid muttered.

The pilot continued out to the hangar, sauntered up to it, and was greeted by music as he neared the door. What struck him as odd was that it didn't sound like it was coming from a radio. In fact, it sounded like an acoustic guitar and a real voice, and a damn nice one at that.

What the…who was doing that singing? he wondered, listening closely. There was no way that was Shera. Cid opened the door and, true to his instincts, found not Shera but Raye sitting in a chair with her back turned to him playing on a guitar and singing. Well, he had the right house and all, but the wrong person. Cid suddenly remembered that Raye had stayed over last night, and he must have completely forgotten about her. He stood in the doorway and listened to her:

“Are we listening to hymns of offering?

Have we eyes to see that love is gathering?

All the words that I've been reading

Have now started the act of bleeding

Into one, into…”

Raye suddenly sensed that she wasn't alone, and she turned abruptly to see Cid standing in the doorway with a smirk on his face listening to her. Her face turned scarlet from utter embarrassment.

“How…how long have you been there?!” she yelled. Raye immediately put her guitar back into its case.

“Dun stop!” Cid protested.

“Oh, my gawd, I am so embarrassed…” Raye stammered. She placed the case into her truck and immediately began to work on installing the carburetor while still red in the face. She wanted to crawl into a hole and die. The box of parts from the bathtub was on the old table, and Cid noticed them. Then it dawned on him that the redhead cleaned his house! Raye had apparently begun to clean the parts, but he guessed her music sidetracked her.

“So, that's where my parts went! What the hell did you do to my house?!” Cid yelled.

Raye shot Cid an evil glare. She thought she was doing him a favor. “You're welcome, you jackass. I was trying to do you a favor since you helped me with this carburetor and let me stay, but whatever…”

Cid suddenly felt sheepish. Raye certainly didn't have to do that, and he really didn't know a thing about how to keep house since he always relied on Shera to do it for him.

“Yeah, well, I dun like anyone going through my shit!” Cid said defensively.

“I wasn't, you wingnut!” Raye shot back. “All I did was clean up your dishes, do your laundry, and clean that bathroom of yours! You have to admit, it was nice taking a shower in a clean tub!”

Cid sighed. He knew she had a point. “Well, er…”

Raye continued to put her carburetor back into her vehicle. She had already finished their work from the night before and started to clean all those parts. Raye got sidetracked and wanted to take a quick break, so she decided to play her instrument for a short while. She was only going to do a few songs and then go back to work, but the female didn't anticipate Cid coming in so soon.

Cid walked over to investigate what she was doing. Raye stood on the bumper of the truck, was leaning forward under the hood with her arm inside the engine, adjusting the bolt that held the carburetor in. Cid noticed she was wearing a pair of dark denim jeans with a slight flare at the bottom that fit her figure very nicely. Her shirt was a three-quarter sleeve blouse, and under it, she wore a lavender tank top. The girl wore a necklace that she never removed. The piece was a small bird of some kind that looked to be made of a type of materia. It dangled loosely as she leaned forward to inspect her work and shined a soft color of reddish-gold.

“I see you finished rebuilding it,” Cid remarked. “Why didn't you wake me up?”

“You were sleeping, and I thought it would be rude if I did that. Besides, you looked tired last night, so I thought you should be able to sleep in.”

Raye stepped down from the bumper. “Well, shall we see if this piece of shit is going to start?”

“Go for it.”

Raye turned the ignition and prayed that it would start. Cid grabbed a tool, peered into the hood, and listened for sounds of the carburetor missing. To Raye's joy, the vehicle turned over just fine, and Cid smiled with a `thumbs up'. She got out and decided to let the thing run for a few minutes to give it time to adjust.

“Yes! Now, I can go home!”

“And relax?” Cid asked.

Raye wrinkled her nose. “Hell no. There is no such thing as `relaxing' at my house. My dad probably has a shitload of chores for both me and my brother when we get back.”

“Well, how about we go back to the house and get some tea while we let this thing run?” Cid suggested. “I haven't had my goddamned tea.”

Raye followed Cid back to his house. When she came in, she noticed that both the washer and dryer were finished.

“You know how to use these things?” Raye asked, pointing to the appliances.

Cid looked back at her and blinked. “Uhh…I have an idea…”

“Here, let me show you real quick,” Raye said, pulling the pilot into the room.

She began to explain how to use the cycles and to turn the knob to the cycle of choice and pull it out to make it fill with water. She showed him how much soap to use, pointing out that if he used too much, it would be one big mess. Then she pointed out that he had to keep his colors separate from the whites unless he wanted tie-dyed underwear and ruined laundry. Raye then explained the dryer and the importance of keeping the lint screen cleaned.

After her tutorial on laundry, she looked over at Cid who was carefully taking notes on his hands and was writing on his arm with a black ink pen.

“What the hell?!” Raye exclaimed. She thought Cid would be smart enough to remember this on his own.

“What?!” Cid said, glaring at the redhead defensively.

“Oh, my gawd! You're going to make me write this down on paper, aren't you?!”

“Give me a break dammit…” Cid grumbled.

“Oh, and I should probably teach you a thing or two about how to cook,” Raye suggested. “I saw your *ahem* attempts. It took me for-freaking-ever to clean that up.”

Cid turned slightly pink and glared rather defensively.

“I didn't know stew was supposed to be black!” Raye said in a teasing manner.

“Aw, shaddup!” Cid yelled.

Raye's fits of laughter died down, and she became more sincere. “It's alright. You just have to practice at it. You should have seen my first attempt at fried chicken…oi.”

Cid felt a little better, though not by much, and turned his glowering into a look of expectation.

Raye noted him watching her expectantly, and said, “What? NOW?! You want me to teach you now?”

Cid looked away embarrassed and muttered something incomprehensible. Raye glanced at her watch because she had to be going very soon. The girl finally sighed and gave in. She couldn't let him starve to death.

“Fine. Let's shut off my truck `cause this might take awhile…”

Cid went out the door, up to the hangar, and turned off the truck. He returned as quickly as he left to find Raye in the kitchen looking around.

“Okay…need to pull a quick recipe out of my ass here…” the girl muttered. She turned to Cid. “What have you got besides tea?”

Cid pondered for a minute. “Uh…not a clue.”

Raye put on a kettle to boil water for Cid's tea and opened up the refrigerator. All she found was a carton of spoiled milk and a half-eaten jar of pickles.

“Hmm…spoiled milk and pickles.”

Cid frowned. “I had milk in there?” He tried to remember when it was that he bought milk. “I didn't even know we had that…err...I had it…”

“We?” Raye asked with a slight frown.

“I…I had it,” Cid corrected himself with a slight tone of stress in his voice.

Raye thought about the room she slept in the night before and considered that there was probably a reason it went untouched. Nonetheless, she politely kept her mouth shut and opened some other cabinets in the hopes of finding anything to work with; there was nothing.

“How in the hell have you been surviving, man?” Raye asked. “Just on pizza alone? By the way, that was quite the penicillin factory you had when I disposed of the leftovers.”

Cid got defensive suddenly and snapped at Raye. “None o' yer business!”

Raye was taken aback by his reaction to this. A scowl crossed her face and she scowled at Cid with her dark green eyes.

“Well, excuse me for trying to help you get a damned clue! Ya know my father is waiting for me to get my ass home with my brother so I can help him in the shop! It's already late, and my dad is gonna be pissed when I get back! Dammit, I have a living to make, and I am taking the time out of my day to help you out here. If you can't appreciate that, then obviously I should just leave and let you figure it out,” Raye yelled angrily.

Raye started to leave, but Cid grabbed her by the arm and stopped her. He knew he shouldn't have snapped at her when she was only trying to help, and boy, did he need it.

“Dun go,” Cid said sheepishly as he held her by the arm. “I…ah…know you're just tryin' to help. I…just been real stressed lately and…I…I sure could use a hand…”

Raye looked up into Cid's face. It was the first time she had ever really looked at the pilot. He had thick square jaw line that looked a little on the scruffy side, as the man often went unshaven for several days. His blonde hair was swept back in an untamed manner held back by his goggles. His piercing blue eyes were begging Raye to stay and practically screaming for her to help him. Cid was, essentially, not a bad looking guy. In fact, he was…cute, and Raye imagined he would be even better looking when he was all cleaned up.

Raye sighed and, after much deliberation, finally gave in. “Alright, fine.”

“Listen, you let me deal wit' yer old man. He ain't gonna care if yer helpin' me.”

Raye agreed and the two of them sat down and had a cup of tea together as Raye wrote down a few easy recipes off the top of her head. She would have to show Cid how to make them and how to set a timer so he wouldn't forget about his dinner, as it seemed to be the case before.

After the two finished the tea, Raye and Cid set out for the grocer down the street. She showed him how to pick vegetables, got him some food he really liked, and some other ingredients to cook with. Once they returned to his house, Raye and Cid set about cutting some vegetables, and Raye showed him the differences between diced, julienne, and cubed. She also showed him to use the cutting board so that he wouldn't scratch up his countertops. The girl opened up a whole new can of worms when she showed him to cook, and the pilot listened carefully to what she had to say. She was teaching him how to make a basic spaghetti recipe, and she guided him when he was making the sauce. A chill went down Cid's spine when Raye gently took his hand and guided the proper stirring motion to keep his sauce from burning to the bottom of the pan. Then she turned the heat down to allow it to simmer for a while and put on some water to cook the noodles.

“Okay, now you just stir the sauce occasionally,” the girl explained.

“O…okay.” Cid put the spoon into the holder on the stovetop. “Damn…I never thought I'd be learning this…”

“Do what?” Raye asked.

Cid caught himself. “Oh, ah, never mind…”

Raye frowned a little, but did not press the issue. Instead, she showed him how to cut up lettuce and other vegetables to make a salad. Cid held the head of lettuce, looked at it curiously, and wondered how he was going to get the core out.

“Here, allow me,” Raye said, taking the head from the pilot. She turned it on its end, gave the stem a couple of good thwacks on the edge of the counter, and pulled out the core.

“That's it?” Cid asked.

“Yeah, it's a lot easier than trying to cut it out.”

Next, she showed Cid how to cut the head of lettuce in half, what kind of knife to use and how to separate the browned leaves from the good ones. She explained that since it was just him eating, he could save whatever he didn't finish in containers as leftovers.

Everything Raye had to say Cid took in eagerly as though he were some kind of lost child. After the two of them finished cooking, they sat down at the table and began to eat.

“Not bad for a rookie, Cid,” Raye said.

“…ah, thanks, I s'pose.”

“We get to clean it all up after this.”

“Can't it wait?”

“It isn't a good idea to procrastinate your dishes. Besides, I'll be damned if I let you get your house this way again!”

Cid sighed but didn't argue with Raye. He was surprised that his cooking actually tasted halfway decent, but then, he would have to attempt this completely on his own again without her there. As for maintaining his own house, Cid was rather embarrassed that he let his mess get so out of hand. He spent as little time as he could in the dwelling because of the constant torment of guilt and the presence of Shera he so much wanted back. Luckily, if it hadn't been for Raye, he probably would have indeed starved in his own house or at least gone broke with all the eating out and drinking beer at the tavern down the street.

“So…we clean up this mess, and then you'll probably be going, eh?” Cid ventured.

“Yeah,” Raye returned. “I have to. It's already late in the day, and my dad is going to be livid when I get back.”

“Lemme see yer phone,” Cid said.

Raye handed him her cell phone. Cid looked up the contacts and found the number to her house. He dialed it up and began to talk to Rick when he picked up. Cid explained that he had detained Raye to help him with a few things around his shop, and she would be on her way back shortly. The pilot never said a word about the `helping' being that she had cleaned his house and was teaching him to fend for himself. Cid hit `End' on the phone and gave it back to the redhead.

“Was he pissed?” Raye asked.

“I told ya, if yer with me, he won't care, and he didn't.”

“Nice. I bet Brad won't be the same, which is why I have to hurry.”

“How come he hasn't called, yet?”

Raye noticed that her brother indeed had not called to pester her about coming after him. “Hmm…that is kind of odd…Well, I think he's probably spending time with this one girl that he met not too long ago. At least he's occupied, though, and not bugging the crap out of me.”

Raye and Cid stood up and together began to clean up their mess. Raye filled the sink with dishwater and threw a clean dishtowel to the pilot.

“Here, you can rinse and dry.”

Cid caught up the towel and the girl began to put leftover food in containers. After this, she placed them into the refrigerator and began to clean the dishes, handing them to Cid to rinse, dry, and put away. Cid never helped Shera with her dishes, so it felt different to even be doing this with Raye.

When they were almost done, Cid thought he saw a glint of mischievousness in Raye's eye. Before he knew it, she had taken the sprayer and soaked his shirt with warm water.

“Hey! Goddamn it!” Cid yelled.

Raye laughed and did it again, so the pilot retaliated by popping her hard with the towel. The redhead yelped but squirted him square in the face with the sprayer. Cid dipped his hand into the soapy water and splashed Raye's blouse.

“You bastard!” she hollered.

“You started it, you idiot woman!” Cid said with a laugh.

Raye grabbed another towel and soaked it in the water. She wrung it out, wound it up tight and popped Cid square in his rear.

“Yipes!” Cid had forgotten how much more a wet towel hurt than a dry one.

The two of them went round and round, chasing and popping one another with wet towels like a couple of hyperactive kids. They finally lost their breath and sat down at the table, both of them displaying large red whelps from where they nailed each other in the arms.

“You're a fucking troublemaker, ya know that?” Cid remarked.

Raye looked smug. “And what made you think I was innocent in the first place?”

Cid snorted at this remark and decided to light up a cigarette. He drew in a puff of tobacco and felt a little more relaxed. In fact, this was the most relaxed the pilot had been in months. He had been depressed and edgy since Shera left, but for some dumb reason, Raye's outgoing personality rubbed off on him to the point where he was able to cut loose and have a little entertainment.

Raye sighed and checked her watch. “Well, I suppose I better scoot. It's getting late.”

“Yeah,” Cid nodded. “I s'pose you should. I won't keep ya anymore than ya want to.”

Raye stood up. “I unloaded those parts for you earlier this morning, so they should be stacked neatly in the corner of the hangar out of the way of everything else.”

“Alright,” Cid quietly said. He suddenly had a thought. “Say, ya wouldn't happen to know where to get some good sheet metal, would ya?”

Raye thought for a moment. “Yeah, actually, I would. And its damn good stuff, too.”

“Can ya get me some?”

“Sure. Tell me how much you want, the thickness, and I'll go pick it up for ya. Unless, of course, you decide you'd rather see it before you make a decision on that.”

“Eh, I might come by and see it,” Cid remarked. “I like to look over my shit before I buy it.”

“I know what you mean. I'm the same way,” the other mechanic agreed. “Should you come by, give me a holler and I'll take you down to the yard.”

Cid stood up with Raye and walked back to the hangar with her.

“Say, that song this mornin'…what was that?” Cid asked the girl.

Raye's face burned hot. “Um, it was nothing…I was just playing, is all.”

They reached the hangar, and Raye got into the beat up truck. “Well, if you need anything else, holler.”

“Does that count cooking questions?” Cid asked with a slight grin.

Raye snorted. “Might as well `cause I know you'll call anyway about it. Take care.”

Raye started the vehicle, drove it out of the hangar, and on its way out of Rocket Town leaving Cid behind to watch her leave. He turned back to his airplane.

“Well, I s'pose it's just us again,” he said to the Bronco as he sat down at the table and began cleaning parts.