Janine stared down at the brief note, pushing her lips to one side as she read it a third and fourth time. Oh hell. She released a quick breath and stood, making her way from her dorm-room and the stacks of exams she'd taken from her classroom that afternoon to head toward the security section. Sally was nowhere to be seen, and there were very few people at their desks. When Janine looked to her wrist-watch, she vaguely noted it to be nearing eleven in the evening before frowning again at the note and the request. Shit. She knocked on the opened door, drawing Seifer's gaze from his perusal of a rather thick folder.
Seifer's eyebrow twitched, and he closed the folder and set it aside. "Larabie."
"Sir." She cleared her throat and lowered herself into the chair across from his desk before offering forward the note.
He took it with a cautious motion. "Problem?"
She made a face. "No threats or dumb-ass shit like that. It's a note from Danny." She gave a lopsided smirk. "He's basically asking me to come for a visit. It's Raymond's birthday. Ray being Danny's new dad," she offered.
Seifer lowered his focus to the note, his face twisting into a look of near-disgust. "This? It looks as if someone rammed a crayon up their ass and sat down."
Janine laughed. "Yeah, yeah. Well, he hasn't quite gotten the hang of the whole grasp-on-a-pencil yet. He's still working on it."
Tossing the note aside, Seifer then leaned back into the chair. He crossed his arms. "You're still on probation with us, Larabie. I can't authorize your exit from Garden without a security escort."
"I know. That's why I'm coming to ask you to go with." When Seifer's eyebrow rose once more, Janine nodded. "Tell me about it, but there's no way in hell I'm taking anyone else. Danny's hard-to-please when it comes to friends. But I figure he'll be so used to me that he'll take to you like a fart to flame."
"People don't take to me, Larabie." He sat forward again, retrieving the folder he had perused before. "Take Regal."
"I don't want to take Regal, Seifer." The comment drew his gaze, which she held. "Do you think it's easy for me to ask you to come and see my baby brother? Sure, I know Sal gal would love him to pieces, but..." Janine leaned forward. "Don't ask me why, Seif, but I want you to meet him and him to meet you. Hell. Maybe it's another rush. What if you don't like the little shit? What if he hates you and takes a knife to that damn sexy smirk of yours?"
Again, Seifer pushed away the folder and leaned back in the chair. "Larabie, why the hell would you want to drag my sick and twisted ass to meet your brother? You know how I like to push buttons. The damn thing pisses people off. Why do you think I do it?"
Janine gave a one-sided shrug. "Like I said, I don't know. Call it a gut instinct."
Seifer didn't respond. Janine released a slow breath and stood, moving to stand beside Seifer's chair and wrap her arms around his shoulders and nibble his ear. "Come on, big guy. You know you want to get away. Miss Thang can handle the office, and Sal gal can take messages. Just for the evening. Take a long lunch. It'll only take a few hours. I just need to show up for dinner and maybe a little television."
Seifer waved her off, still focusing on the report. "Larabie, I told you 'no'. Get the hell out of my office and let me finish this report. I'm damn tired and would like to get to bed before tomorrow morning's meeting."
An eyebrow arched upward as Janine straightened, her hands lingering on his shoulders. "It's not a big deal, Seif. Like I said, just a couple hours--"
"Larabie." Seifer pushed away the report and turned to face her, green eyes harder than what she'd seen before. As was his expression. "What part of 'no' did you not understand?"
"I understood the 'n' and the 'o' just fine, sir, but it's the two together that're pissing me off." She moved to stand somewhat more in front of him. "I want you to go. You want to go, even though you won't admit it. So, quit being a prick about it and just come on. You'll have a blast."
"Being Head of Network Security has its perks and its shits. Deal with it." He motioned toward the door of his office as he focused again on the report. "Dismissed."
Again, the eyebrow twitched. Especially when her instinct kicked her in the gut and pinched at her brain the same time her temper tried to flare. "Fine." She strode somewhat stiffly to the door of his office and firmly closed it, almost immediately stripping out of her SeeD uniform jacket and tossing it onto the couch to the right of the door. Then she strode back to his desk and leaned her hands against it, noticing that he didn't look up. "Quit purposefully trying to piss me off, Almasy."
Seifer scoffed and sat back down, again retrieving the report.
Janine fought back her temper with a harder shove, swearing several new and not-so-new-words and phrases before once more leaning forward with her palms on the desk. "This is a secret as big as any other for me, Almasy. So if you're serious about this damn thrill-chase, then prove it. At one o'clock tomorrow, pick me up in front of Garden and take me to a little house just outside Deling city-limits. Ray has a place there where he and his fam raise some kind of animal. He thought it would be good for Danny."
When Seifer didn't look up, Janine reached out and wrenched the folder from his grasp. He met her gaze, eyes narrowed.
"If you aren't there, Seif..." She clenched her jaw and then shook her head, straightening as she shoved the report back toward him. "Damn. This kind of pressure is nothing but bullshit. So forget that 'if you're serious' crack. It's a thrill chase. A button to push. Nothing more. If you aren't there, you aren't there. Don't sweat it."
Then she turned and stalked out, wishing she could believe the 'nothing more'.
« † »
Squall set aside the report from the scouts in the Centra region, looking up when the main elevator opened and Seifer stepped off. At the deep scowl on the Security Network Chief's face, Squall breathed deep with a brief thought of Now what... and then just waited.
Seifer came to stand across from Squall's desk, hands behind his back as he stood at ease. "A word, Commander."
Briefly frowning, Squall said "What," before focusing again on his desk and the next report in his priority folder.
"Larabie has requested personal time off. Permission to leave the security section under Ahndra's command and act as security escort?"
Squall blinked and then looked up. "Wouldn't it be better to assign Sally?"
Seifer momentarily clenched his jaw. "Order, sir?"
While Squall had a thought of one particular question to ask, instead, he lowered his gaze to the report and said "Permission granted. Sally can't handle Larabie."
"Yes, sir." Then Seifer simply turned and walked out.
Squall very slightly smiled. No, Sally definitely couldn't handle Larabie. Not like you can anyway, Almasy. He liked the thought of someone pushing Seifer's buttons, and he didn't even care if they all pissed him off or not. Just as long as they got pushed.
« † »
Janine looked down at her watch. 12:55. Dammit, Seifer... And when she felt more than heard the heavy-booted step behind her, she smirked and turned to see the man approaching dressed in a light gray trenchcoat, black military-issue trousers, and a blue vest with a white cross that spanned the width and length of it. He also wore a thick ID tag on a 'choker-chain' around his neck.
Arching an eyebrow, Janine crossed her arms. "My, my, my. You look good enough to eat in your rebel-wear from the good ole days."
Seifer didn't quip back. He just strode past and made his way to the car waiting off the side of the road.
Hm. She absently tapped her fingers against her upper arm a moment before following after, her door barely closing before he jammed the car in gear and peeled out. Janine decided against mentioning the obvious – that he was in a pissy mood – and just turned on the radio and tried to find a good station. Every once in a while Janine could have sworn that she heard his teeth grind, but she didn't comment. Which surprised her. Normally she would have told a person to 'suck it up' or 'quit being a baby/wuss' or something else that would more often than not piss-off rather than make someone feel better.
It was just what she did.
Janine released a deep breath and crossed her arms before moving her focus out the car window.
"Larabie, what the hell?" Seifer grumbled, almost indecipherable.
Smirking, she didn't look away from the passing scenery. "I don't know, big guy. I've never taken anyone but my friends to meet Danny. Selphie loves him to death. Jax tries to stop by whenever he can to play ball or whatever. Same with Dincht, believe it or not. But the pricks and bastards?" Janine's smile twitched. "Hell no. They just don't get Danny." She felt his sidelong glance but only continued to stare outside. "Maybe I've been wanting to push this button for a while," she admitted. But what button? What rush was she hoping for with this? What thrill was waiting?
Seifer grumbled a bunch of things she couldn't make out, causing a chuckle as she finally focused on him. "Suck it up, Almasy." Then she leaned closer, reaching out to give his leg a pressure and stroke in just the right location to cause a twitch before he tensed. "I'll make it worth your time, big guy. On my honor as a SeeD."
To her surprise, he pushed her hand from his leg and remained silent.
Annoyance flashed in Janine's mind, but she only briefly clenched her jaw before sitting back and once more crossing her arms. "Alright, so you're going to be a pissy old woman. Fine."
The entire trip was like that; the drive to Balamb, and then the train trip to Deling. Janine had to keep fighting back the temper-spikes at his continued silence, and as the train drew closer and closer to Deling City Janine began to think she may have screwed up. The jack-ass is going to have Danny in tears. And she couldn't understand why Seifer would be acting this way at just going along to meet her brother.
At the station in Deling, Seifer barely waited for her to step down beside him before striding forward toward the car rental. Janine released an annoyed breath, frowning as she followed after him, and her fists clenching while she grumbled about hard-assed dickheads that couldn't pull their head out and relax.
Danny would either like the guy and want to be around him 24/7, or he'd hate him and go hide in a corner. Either one wouldn't be a big deal. Seifer was an ass. He had people hating him every day of the week. Sure, this was a kind of surrogate family to her and Seifer had never had one of those outside Garden, but again, there wasn't any pressure to be 'liked' or to 'fit in'. And a guy like Seifer wouldn't care about things like that anyway. He had Garden. He had his job...
Janine halted, blinking as she watched Seifer's slightly rigid form continue to proceed down the sidewalk toward the car rental. 'Garden is my life.' In fact, Garden had become his family the same as it had become hers. No one else but Headmaster Cid and his wife had stepped forward to welcome him any place. And now to be taken to a family like Danny's? He had to be scared near shitless. She had been.
And Janine still remembered when she'd first been taken in. Certain that she'd wake up one day to have them gone, or that they would order her out of the house and onto the street, Janine had finally left them first. So that the control and choice to be alone would be hers and not left to someone else. But Seifer? Seifer Almasy had never had that opportunity or choice. It had been made for him.
Rubbing the back of her neck, Janine hissed "Damn, stupid bitch," and then stepped forward.
Seifer had rented the car and now tucked his wallet into the pocket of his trousers as he strode toward the lot where the car waited. Surprisingly her 6' frame didn't make it any easier to catch up to him, so she had to wait until he stopped at the vehicle to unlock her side before she could stand next to him.
"Seifer--"
"Save it, Larabie," he warned in a low voice.
She reached out and smoothly separated the keys from his grasp, pushing him back from the car using a firm pressure on each of his shoulders. Seifer's expression went stony as his eyes narrowed. Janine lowered her arms to her sides. "You don't have family, do you?"
His jaw clenched. "Relevance?"
Almasy, don't be an ass, was what she wanted to snap, but instead, she jerked in her attitude and said "You know as well as I do that makes all the difference in the world. I've always been able to be myself around Danny, and the fact that I know he'll love me no matter what fool thing I do makes me feel damn good. A safety, I guess. You not having something like that changes a helluva lot. Garden's been your safety. This office has been your home. Am I right? Damn right I am. And you know what? I've been scared shitless myself in the face of something like this. Why else do you think I left after only a month with them? I wanted to be the one to abandon them."
Seifer fisted one hand. "Larabie, you don't know a damn thing."
"But now here you are," she continued, holding his gaze while ignoring the dangerous tint when his jaw muscle clenched, "getting ready to stride into a place where you can't control what they think of you. Here you're going to see the whole 'family' thing and know you're not really a part of it. That you never have been but with Garden, and you almost screwed that to hell--"
Never before had she seen eyes as dark and dangerously hard as when he so very slowly warned, "Larabie, I won't warn you again," in a voice as chilled as death.
"Remembering how you've been left to yourself all these damn years without one person giving a rat's ass whether you lived or died? Hell yeah I know what you're going through because I've been there myself since I can remember, but--" He shot out a hand and took a firm hold of her throat. Janine immediately reacted, her training not allowing anything else, and brought his hand from her throat to immediately catch him by the shirt and pull him closer. She held his gaze, his breath felt on her face. "Babe, some time you're going to have to shove that hell in a box and put it aside. You don't, and you'll never be as good as you can be. I know. I've lived it."
Seifer clenched his jaw so violently that Janine could have sworn she heard each and every action. But the look in his eyes behind the rage kept her attention from anything, for she'd seen that look only a few times before. And on men tougher than Seifer Almasy. In fact, she'd seen it in her own eyes more than she cared to admit.
Terror.
Janine slowly released her hold on his shirt and his hand that had gone for her throat. "Let it go, Seif. Spit in Fear's eye and just come along. Nobody's expecting anything but that. And I damn-well guarantee you'll see 'family' isn't as terrifying as you think it'll be. It's a pisser, hell yeah, and it makes you feel a whole helluva lot more than you'd like, but it's not bad to see what coulda been. Not one damn bit."
Seifer pushed away from her. He'd never done it before, and she'd expected it a lot sooner. And a helluvalot rougher. So, she let him push her back, immediately stepping forward while still holding his gaze and acknowledging the flash of a warning in his eyes with a slight nod and a whispered, "I know, big guy," before taking his face in her hands and giving him the kind of soft and slow kiss she had always scoffed at before.
Seifer didn't respond the first time, she knew he wouldn't, but when she pulled back slightly and then kissed him the same way again, the tautness of his lips softened and he almost grudgingly responded. Janine smirked and kissed him again, a lot more tongue and force this time as she continued to coax him out of the harshness and near-rage of before. But as in the car, he pushed her hands from his body and stepped back, his face still taut and his eyes dark as he glared down at her. It was completely unexpected. Being pushed back like that, forcefully distanced when she knew that he was enjoying it... It didn't make any sense, but Janine couldn't get pissed at it.
Something just wasn't right.
So instead, she took a moment to wipe the lipstick from his lips and mouth, purposefully not focusing on his expression. Especially not when he again pushed her touch away. What the hell? Seifer roughly took the keys back from her, pushing her out of the way and then unlocking her door before striding around to his own.
Janine hissed, "Shit, Larabie," while getting into the mid-size car and vowing to think twice before pushing those buttons again.
« † »
When they pulled into the driveway of the one-story home with the attached garage, Seifer finally realized that he'd been clenching his jaw since leaving the car in Balamb to board the train. His jaw ached, his hands ached from so tightly clasping the steering wheel from the station to the house, his brain still wouldn't focus on anything, and Janine hadn't said a word since calling him on the whole thing in Deling City.
Damn it.
Seifer slammed the car into park - he hated automatic transmissions - and roughly opened the door. He heard Janine's door open and close, too, but he could only glare at the white picket-fence, the blue shutters on each side of the windows, the porch swing, and the dog-house on the left side of the large front yard.
Everything pissed him off.
Janine came to stand beside him, her silence as she stared at the house pissing him off even more. And when he made a move to step forward, she caught him firmly by the arm. It made him see red.
Moving his glare from the house to her brown eyes, he jerked his arm from her hold. "Larabie, if you touch me again..." and let the threat speak for itself.
But she didn't comment on the threat. Didn't take the bait or the challenge like he wanted her to. There was no spike of temper in her eyes. No irritation in the tightness of her lips. She only looked up at him and said, "Here are the things to know when meeting Danny, One: He doesn't talk much, doctors call him 'non-verbal', but he knows enough words to get the idea across of what he wants. He mostly points and makes noise. Or physically drags you there. Ray says Danny's gotten worse at doing that instead of trying to 'use his words', as their popular saying goes.
"Two: He loves shiny things, so he'll probably want to touch and hold that ID chain around your neck. He'll obsess about it. Three: Danny has a bad habit of farting and belching in order to get attention." Janine chuckled. "He's a guy, fifteen, so I guess it's not that different from every other guy. It's still damn twisted, though, the way he laughs at it. Fourth and final: If he likes you, he'll be like a wart on your ass. If he's not too thrilled, he'll hide in his corner and just glower at you while giving you raspberries or the finger. He did that to Dincht one time. Then the sick bastard farted and Danny was all giggles. Funniest damn thing I ever saw."
Seifer scoffed and once more stepped forward, Janine's firm touch again felt on his arm.
"You don't have to go in, Seifer," she said simply. "The little shit is my brother, not yours."
Seifer didn't mean to twitch, but it came, heightening the glower aimed down at her. "Like hell, Larabie. You're on probation."
"Yeah, yeah. We all know how dangerous I am. I've got a warhead in the garage that I plan to use on that monstrosity of a Garden to the south."
The smirk was fought back by a deeper frown. "That type of humor isn't wanted, Larabie."
She didn't scoff or call him a prick or jack-ass. She only smirked and crossed her arms as she focused ahead. "I thought it was pretty damn funny." Then Janine shrugged. "OK. Fine. Be a pisser, but keep the button-pushing to a low-normal. If I think you're doing it just to piss me off, I'll pull your ass out... sir," she added with a sidelong glance his direction.
Before Seifer could respond, there sounded the slamming open of a door and then a squeal of "Janey!!" Dread was what Seifer felt. Dread as powerful as when he had gone to accept the position of Chief of Security for Balamb Garden from Squall. That pissed him off. Seifer Almasy didn't dread anything-- He shoved it aside and turned to watch the somewhat short kid run down the flower-bordered walk from the house.
But the black-haired and scrawny 'Danny Larabie' had only gone about 4 steps when he halted, tilted his head, and then pointed to Seifer and said "Chicken-wuss," as clear as day.
Seifer glowered and looked sharply at Janine when she howled out a laugh. "You're shitting me."
Janine could only shake her head, covering her mouth with one hand as the other held her stomach. She doubled over with laughter, causing a scoff from Seifer as he focused once more on the approaching kid. Danny was grinning and, for all intents and purposes, seemed excited to not only see Janine, but Seifer, too.
That pissed him off.
"Watch your mouth, kid," he said harshly, pulling his arm clear of the firm punch from Janine.
It seemed to Seifer that Danny tried to do just that, going slightly cross-eyed and causing a twitch of eyebrow before Seifer could restrain it. Then Danny again focused on Seifer with those same bright and disgustingly happy hazel-brown eyes and informed, "Nose."
Seifer scoffed and looked away, again dodging a punch from Janine.
"Hey, Danny," Janine greeted, sending Seifer a murderous glare. "Give me some sweetness." Danny gave her a kiss and then licked her face, causing an "Ew! Gross, you little shit!" from Janine and another barely hidden cringe from Seifer as he clenched his already sore jaw.
Finally, revenge taken, Janine pointed to Seifer as she straightened, still holding Danny's hand. "This jack-ass over here is my boss, Danny, so you've got to be nice to him. Don't call him chicken-wuss. He hates that. Call him 'hoss', or 'sir'."
Danny nodded, and Seifer focused on him in time to catch his admirable salute and greeting of "sih."
Briefly clenching his hands into fists, Seifer gave a curt nod and a brusque, "Larabie."
Which Danny apparently found extremely awe-inspiring, for his eyes grew twice their size and his mouth dropped slightly open.
"Uh-oh. Here we go," Janine mumbled moments before Seifer found himself forcefully grabbed by the hand and dragged toward the house. The last thing he heard before the front door swung closed behind him was Janine laughing.
The initial shock vanished and temper sparked just as a man in his forties halted Danny's progress forward into the living room with a laugh and a "Whoa there, Dan. Hold up," and his hands gripping the boys shoulders. The man met Seifer's carefully guarded hostility with an easy smile that reminded him of Headmaster Cid. "Welcome. I'm Ray, Dan's father." He presented a hand. "You are...?"
Pulling his hand from Dan's firm grasp, Seifer accepted the man's grip, jaw clenched. "Sub-Lt. Cmdr. Almasy. Head of Garden Network Security," he finished as he heard Janine shut the door behind her entrance. At his title, she sounded a quiet scoff and mumbled, "Arrogant s.o.b."
Seifer's jaw twitched, and his brow temporarily furrowed before he forced it away.
"Ah. You must be stationed at Balamb Garden with Janine." He released Seifer's grip and motioned farther inside the house. "Come in, come in. Amy is working on dinner, so she'll be out in a few minutes. Coffee?"
Janine smirked as she came to stand beside Seifer. "You betcha."
Ray nodded, offering Janine a smile and only a grip of hand to shoulder. "I'm glad you could visit, Janine. Peter, unfortunately, couldn't make it."
Looking away, Janine shrugged and crossed her arms. "Oh well. His loss."
Ray chuckled and then again motioned into the large living room. "Make yourself at home. I'll be right back with the coffee."
And he exited the room to the left and what was likely a large kitchen, with an island counter, white-washed cupboards, oak counter-tops, and a myriad of other images Seifer had seen from images and home-videos viewed for security purposes. Burning into his mind a collection of images he would- Seifer swore as he pushed it away, striding farther into the room and almost throwing himself into the far right of the large, leather couch.
Danny followed and sat close beside him, grinning up at him and pointing at the television with a somewhat recognizable request of "game."
Seifer tightly crossed his arms, fisting his hands as he glowered at the television.
Janine stepped forward. "Not right now, Danny boy," she said, drawing his focus. "Mr. Hoss is only here to make sure I stay out of trouble. In other words: He's working." She sat down beside her brother and shoved him out of the couch, even against his resistance and planting of feet while his hands clutched the cushions. "Go help with the coffee, monster boy. Mr. Hoss likes it black, hot, and wet. Shoo."
Danny frowned and pouted, but he stomped out of the room just the same. Janine watched him go before focusing on Seifer. His jaw ached to the point of needing to pop a pill.
"You really hate this shit, don't you?"
Seifer remained silent.
"So why'd you ask Squall for permission to leave? You could have assigned someone else. Like Regal, or Miss Thang, or one of the other dozens of SeeD in the security office."
Glower deepening, Seifer kept his mind silent even as he said, "Considering your reputation," he met her gaze, "no other was suitable."
"Bullshit, but whatever." She shifted her position to lay her head in his lap and stare up at him as she kicked her feet up onto the couch's arm. "Don't sweat Ray and Amy, Almasy. If they can put up with me for all this time, they'll see you as nothing new. And they never expect anything but me from me. No angels or saints or shit like that. Jus-"
Seifer pushed her off his lap and sharply stood. "Larabie, if I wanted some damned lecture, I would check in to the house doctor at Balamb." He sharply pointed at her, noticing her arched eyebrow. "I'm here to keep your ass out of trouble, so shut the hell up and let me do my job."
She raised her hands. "Fine, fine. My bad." Then she stood and headed toward the kitchen. "Come on and get your own damned coffee then."
Seifer glowered after her, fists clenched at his sides as he kept his eyes away from the pictures of family. Each one added another stone to his stomach, another knot to the rigid muscles of his lower-back and shoulders, another burning to the back of his brain... He shifted his focus to the five images over the mantlepiece and tightened his fists, glaring hard at the laughing faces before harshly swearing and striding outside to slam the door behind him.
Janine heard the slam and couldn't help the slight twitch, especially when Ray lifted his gaze from the coffee mug for Seifer and looked toward the living room. When he focused on her, she lowered her gaze to the mug in her hand. "He'll be back." He's got to focus is all. And shoving 20 years of things into a box wasn't all that easy to do, and definitely not when having to be around a family like this one. Happiness was hard to swallow when a person hadn't had anything but harshness and hell. She softly cleared her throat and sipped her coffee. Don't I know it?
Danny tugged on her sleeve, drawing her focus. "Sih gone?"
Smirking, Janine shook her head. "Nah. Had to put something away. Give him a second."
Amy sent Janine a sidelong glance, her green eyes thoughtful. Janine didn't meet it, though. She had learned a long time ago to not do that. Amy could read a lot of things just by looking someone in the face and eyes. Ray could, too. It scared Janine shitless at times.
"Janine, why don't you and Dan set the table," Ray said, sending another glance toward the living room.
"Sure thing."
The table was set and the dinner just being placed onto serving trays when the front door was heard to open and close, Seifer's heavy steps approaching the kitchen/dining room a few seconds later. He was completely and totally under control when he entered, expression guarded and form a little stiff. Janine looked away, helping Danny with the ice and water to make sure he didn't spill.
Ray introduced his wife, and Amy greeted Seifer with more reserve than what was usual for her, which Janine classified as a good thing considering Seifer's attitude. Even the woman's smile was slight as she gripped Seifer's hand and then invited him to the table. Danny very quickly made sure Seifer sat beside him, and Seifer didn't argue. He simply sat and rested a fisted hand on each side of his plate.
Janine sat across from him but kept her eyes carefully away from his.
At first, dinner was very silent, with only Danny humming during bites, as was his custom when enjoying himself. Janine had to keep herself from clearing her throat nearly a dozen times. She had never been one to enjoy silence, and this was the worst. After the salad and during the pork-roast, potatoes and sauteed asparagus, Ray started a conversation that had Janine completely shocked for only the second time in her life.
"I was reading an exposé article by Zackary Regal the other day that had me intrigued. It was regarding those black-market missiles stolen from the Galbadia and Trabia Gardens and hidden by a Purist resistance faction in Winhill. Quite an interesting read, but I'm not sure what to believe and what to file as sensationalism."
Seifer actually smirked while not looking up from the duty of cutting his slice of roast. "Sensationalism pisses Regal off," he informed.
"That's good to know, I suppose. But then again, that means everything happened as written, and that's rather disturbing. Which, of course, is an understatement."
Seifer's smirk twitched, and Janine arched an eyebrow.
"I was relieved that the situation was handled so quickly and quietly, and with so few casualties. You've quite a well-trained staff, Lt. Cmdr."
"Damn straight," was all Seifer said between bites.
Janine's eyebrow remained upward as she absently continued eating her meal while watching him.
"I suppose you're unable to answer, security reasons I understand, but this situation has me wondering just how much of the Purist faction was dealt with and whether or not they're ingrained somewhere that hasn't been noticed yet. Radicals have a tendency of being like lice on a dog; very hard to get out once they've settled themselves. And there's usually always one or two left behind to start the issue all over again."
Seifer sounded a slight scoff. "Pain in my ass."
Ray chuckled. "Yes, I imagine it is. Don't they know you have better things to do than deal with their fanatical ideals?"
"Their heads are too far up to know anything," Seifer countered between bites.
"You've got me there," Ray said, nodding. "And it's always the fanatics that seem to know just who to approach to back them, and what to bother in order to cause the most damage."
Seifer gave another scoff. "If there was a program to track idiocy, I wouldn't have another damn problem," he observed darkly.
Laughing, Ray nearly choked on his pork-roast. "Unfortunately, that would reveal a lot you'd rather not know about those you employ."
Seifer barked out a laugh, causing Janine to blink in surprise and lower her knife and fork as she watched him... enjoy himself? Well I'll be damned. Then she smirked and lowered her focus to her meal. Hell. It was bound to happen sooner or later. And just to push a button, she sent him a smirk while moving her foot to rest on the chair-seat between his legs and give his inner-thigh a rub. Told you so, she thought when he briefly met her glance.
She so loved being right.
As Janine figured, Danny was attached to Seifer's hip, so to speak. After dinner, and while Janine and Ray and Amy caught up, Danny took Seifer to his room where he pointed out all his Garden paraphernalia - which included news articles, pictures, t-shirts, and action-figures. Soon after, Seifer was taken outside and shown the dog, a puppy Labrador that Danny had named Lack - who knew why? - and the black and white horse that was part of Danny's therapy to teach a bunch of things that Janine didn't get how a horse could teach.
Danny and Seifer were outside for a long time, to Janine's surprise, and when they finally re-entered the house, Seifer ordered, "It's time to go, Larabie," with his usual brusqueness and guarded expression. Ray and Amy both thanked him for coming but didn't make a big deal. They just gripped his hand and then wished the two a safe and fast trip. Which caused another twitch of Janine's eyebrow. She remembered them as very... physically affectionate.
Never good with 'good-bye's, Danny was near tears and wouldn't let go of Seifer - whom he had very firmly embraced with eyes tightly closed. Seifer obviously had no idea what to do, for he stood there with lifted eyebrows as he held his hands up away from the distraught fifteen-year-old. If Janine hadn't been busy trying to help Ray and Amy get Danny to let go, she would have laughed her head off.
In the end, it was Seifer who was able to get Danny to let go. "Attention, Larabie," he ordered brusquely, but not as harshly as Janine had heard him.
Danny hiccuped a couple times as he stepped back and stood at attention just as ordered, holding a much-improved salute as he blinked away his tears.
Seifer clasped his hands behind his back, looking every inch the superior hard-ass. Janine crossed her arms and smirked. He's drinking this up.
"Security detail, Larabie," Seifer commanded. "Understood?"
"Sih, yuhs, sih," Danny acknowledged, voice teary and somewhat choked.
Janine hadn't seen a cuter scene in all her memory, and who was involved in the whole thing surprised the hell out of her.
Curtly nodding, Seifer returned the salute and then about-faced and strode to the car, muttering "Shut the hell up," as he caught the smirk sent his direction.
After she said her own 'farewell's, getting yet another lick on the side of the face from Danny, she waved a final good-bye and then closed the car door, crossing her arms and simply staring out the window as Seifer put the car in gear and headed toward Deling City. To be honest, she didn't know how to react to what she'd seen, Seifer interacting with her brother and a one-time family. It made her feel funny to think back on it, and she wasn't so sure the 'funny' was a bad thing.
It was simply different.
In fact, she had been trying to categorize the 'different' for a while when she realized that Seifer had taken a wrong turn on the way to the car-rental. She blinked, her eyebrow twitching as she examined her surroundings and saw that they were in a not-so-wonderful part of Deling. They had entered what had been called a slum of Deling, for lack of a better word, home to hookers, pimps, drug-dealers, and a collection of other interesting characters. When she sent Seifer a hidden, sidelong glance, she noticed his twitching jaw muscle and tight grip on the steering wheel and decided against making a comment.
Not so very many minutes later, Seifer pulled off to the side of the road in a somewhat 'cleaner' section of the slum and turned off the engine. Then he rolled down the window and rested his arm against the door, his other hand gripping the gear-shift as he stared out and across the street. Janine looked from his guarded and slightly stony expression to the street-walkers and dealers a collection of yards away, wondering if there had been a security breach while he had been outside with Danny and no one else was close enough in the vicinity to deal with it.
When a tall red-head exited from the brick building on the right, Seifer pointed. "There."
Janine focused on the woman with the painted face dressed in lace, satin, spiked-heels, and her own skin, watching as she walked to the corner of the street and lit a cigarette.
"Sadie. Two months, once or twice a week. We'd meet there." He pointed to the brick building, third floor. "Room 306. 12 midnight." Seifer slowly lowered his hand as he continued to watch the woman and the memories that apparently lived on that corner. "A way to let off steam, at first. Get my mind to let go of things. Then it started being something more. Started controlling me. I never came back."
After several silent moments, Seifer turned and met Janine's gaze, expression still somewhat blank and yet stony. "It was the same way with alcohol. I was never a drunk. Never had a problem with it and my job. I only drank to relieve stress, and that after hours. To let go and sleep. But then it began to have too much time in my head. So, I stopped. I have the control. Nothing else. No one else."
He held Janine's gaze for another intense moment before looking ahead and starting the car, putting it back into gear and then driving away. Janine kept examining his profile, remembering the pushes away. The shows of control... She focused out her window, not saying a word. She only reached over and rested her hand on the back of his neck while doing something she never thought she would do, softly and lightly stroking the skin.
The simple act felt funny, different, and damn good.