Early morning rays of light creeped in through the cracks in the blinds and cast warmth onto the two naked women wrapped in each other's arms. After a long night of becoming reacquainted with one another's bodies and rhythms, the two found comfort and a sense of belonging that had quickly lulled them to sleep. The room was quiet and serene with nothing but the sounds of their soft breathing and the occasional slight shuffle as one tried to pull the other impossibly closer. Eventually when Fang pressed her nose into the sensitive skin below Lightning's ear, Lightning shifted and groaned.

"You have to let Bahamut out..." She mumbled sleepily, her voice raspy with sleep.

"Mmm." Fang responded but didn't move.

"Fang... Let him out... before he pees on the carpet..."

After a few seconds, Fang furrowed her brow in confusion. "Hmm?" She lifted her head from its warm spot and she gave Lightning a confused but sleepy look.

Lightning had yet to open her eyes, she simply laid on her side, letting her fingers softly run through Fang's soft hair. "You got to let him out, or he's going to pee on the carpet again." She clarified.

"Light...?" Fang placed her hand on Lightning's cheek and rubbed the skin softly with her thumb, letting her eyes take in the beautiful naked woman in her bed. It almost didn't feel real. After years of yearning with nothing to show for it, Fang was reluctant to believe she was finally waking up with Lightning next to her and yet the proof was there in front of her, stirring lightly.

"Hmm?" was the only response Lightning could muster, distracted by the soft touch on her cheek. She loved the way Fang was so gentle with her in the mornings. She smiled to herself and slowly her eyes fluttered open to take in Fang's striking eyes. Upon seeing them, her smile grew ever so slightly and she closed her eyes again, comfortable in Fang's arms. "Morning..."

When there was no response from Fang, Lightning opened her eyes out of curiosity and finally noted the confused look on Fang's face.

"What?" She asked.

"Do you know where you are?" Fang asked.

Lightning furrowed her brow, too tired to play guessing games. It was then that something caught her eye. The light was coming into the room all wrong. For a moment her mind tried to comprehend how that was possible before she lifted her head and looked around the room. She cocked her head slightly as Fang watched on, waiting for it to click.

After a few more seconds Lightning's brows shot up. "Oh..."

"Yeah" Fang chuckled and pulled Lightning back down onto the bed and against her chest, revelling in the feeling of Lightning's warm skin against her own. "It happens to me too." Fang said as she tucked Lightning's head under her chin and stroked her fingers through her hair. Fang was used to the confusion that came with waking. She'd woken up on more than a few occasions thinking that she were in some other reality before her mind would be able to process her surroundings and she would be brought back to the real world. She was just thankful that now the reality she would get to come back to included Lightning. Fang gave Lightning a firm squeeze against her, as if to make sure that were the case and then hummed, content with knowing that she'd no longer wake up to disappointment.

"What a weird feeling..." Lightning mumbled against Fang's chest before stretching slightly and wrapping her arms around Fang's back. The feeling of Fang's warm body already lulling her back to sleep. She smiled and moaned sleepily. She was ready to spend an eternity wrapped up in Fang's thick blankets again. The night before had reminded Lightning just how comfortable she was with Fang...

Lightning bit her lip slightly as she thought back to having Fang under her. She hadn't realized how much she had missed that intimacy with Fang... That feeling of being so painfully bare and vulnerable with her, and knowing she could just... trust her. That she could touch and hold and share in pleasure with Fang and never once feel self conscious or nervous. It was a feeling Lightning wasn't sure she would have ever been able to feel with someone... but that was before Fang showed up at the hospital making wild claims about past lives and alternate realities. Lightning stroked her fingers lightly over Fang's flesh and felt the woman shudder at the feeling; an inviting reaction. Maybe they would have time to make love again before she had to leave for the hospital. Her heart yearned to hear Fang breathlessly moaning into her ear again and she smirked to herself.

Beep beep!

Lightning's phone chirped from Fang's bedside table and Lightning groaned at the familiar sound. Very painfully she pulled herself from Fang's tight hold in order to reach for the phone. With the phone in one hand, Lightning rubbed at her tired eyes with her free hand before squinting at the screen. "Sixteen missed calls...?"

Lightning Felt Fang chuckle behind her. "You didn't tell Serah where you were... did you?"

"I... got caught up in... you." Lightning groaned and rubbed at her temple before noticing the time on her phone and her stomach fell into her rear. "Hell! I'm going to be late for work!"

Before Fang could stop her, Lightning had jumped out of the bed and scrambled through their discarded clothes, looking for her own.

"Didn't think to set an alarm?" Fang couldn't hold back her chuckling as she watched Lightning scramble from the comfort of her bed. "Mind somewhere else?"

Lightning gave a quick glare over her shoulder at Fang as she picked up her trousers, but Fang was well acquainted with Lightning enough to know which glares were real and which were bluffs and so she grinned back at Lightning. "I'm borrowing your underwear." Lightning stated and without needing to ask, found Fang's underwear drawer on her first guess. She pulled out a pair of signature black shorts that Fang often wore and shimmied into them before pulling on her trousers.

Fang arched an aroused brow at the sight and Lightning shook her head in slight disbelief at Fang.

"What?"

"Nothin'." Fang grinned.

"I'm not going to work wearing dirty underwear."

Fang's grin broke wider but she didn't say anything, knowing she didn't have to. Lightning could read her like a book and already knew well enough that Fang would be thinking about her wearing her underpants all day.

Lightning quickly threw on her bra and her blouse from the day before, thanking Etro that they had dried from the rain the night before. She quickly smoothed out the wrinkles that had formed with her hands, hoping no one would notice that she was wearing the same outfit she'd worn the day before. She patted her pockets in order to make sure she had everything and just as she was about to leave she paused, remembering one last thing. She quickly turned around and gave Fang one last kiss as Fang sprawled out in her bed like the cat that ate the canary.

"Don't forget. You have an appointment at two." Lightning reminded and finished with one last kiss.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Fang said and Lightning gently ran a thumb over Fang's cheek before she reluctantly pulled away and left the room before the temptation could lure her back into the bed.

With a brisk walk, Lightning went to grab her keys from the kitchen counter just as Vanille sat pouring herself a bowl of chocobo o's at the small table. Vanille grinned at the sight of Lightning and tried to bite her tongue.

"Don't." Lightning warned lightly, knowing Vanille would be itching to make a cheeky comment.

"But-"

"No." Lightning cut her off as she plucked her keys up off the counter.

Vanille groaned in playful agony. She was excited to see Lightning leaving their apartment so early in the morning. It meant she had to have stayed the night, which she could guess meant that she got more than a good night's sleep. A tempting topic to tease her about.

"I'll see you later, Vanille."

The mischievous grin never left Vanille's face as she waved a goodbye, knowing if she opened her mouth she would get herself in trouble.

Lightning glanced at her watch as she walked briskly into the hospital entrance and winced. She was a good twenty minutes late to work and hoped no one had noticed her absence but as she made to walk down the wing to her office the familiar voice of Doctor Kessel called out to her.

"Morning Doctor Farron. Running a little late this morning?"

Lightning cringed and turned around to greet the man, forcing a small smile onto her face. Doctor Kessel and Read had walked into the foyer from the opposite wing just as Lightning thought she had passed through undetected.

"My apologies. I...overslept." Lightning sucked her lips and a small nervous butterfly popped into her stomach when she saw the skeptical brow that Read raised.

"Hmm." Doctor Kessel nodded. "Don't let it become a habit." Doctor Kessel warned, a stern but understanding frown passed by his aging features.

"Of course sir. I... forgot to set my alarm. It won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't." He said as he pulled a paper from his clip board and handed it to Lightning, all but dismissing the infraction in favour of getting her up to speed. "We had a patient admitted last night. He was having a psychotic episode and had to be sedated. Could you run his medical? His mother says he doesn't have a past history of mental illness but I suspect he might be on something that contributed to his episode."

"Of course." Lightning took the file from him and quickly began to scan over the information before nodding to her boss. "I'll get right on it." She tucked the paper under her arm and Doctor Kessel nodded his thanks to her as he left to deal with other business. Lightning sighed, already feeling behind in her work as she made her way towards her office and Read quickly followed after her.

"Overslept?"

Lightning cocked a brow at the woman. "Yeah."

Read smirked and ran her eyes up and down the doctor, taking in the clothes she was wearing, causing Lightning to stop walking and sigh in slight annoyance.

"What?" Lightning asked.

"You never went home last night, did you?"

Lightning felt her heart jump into her throat, hoping to Etro that Read couldn't see right through. It was one thing for the tech to suss out that she hadn't gone home, but if she made the connection that Fang had also been released the day before... Lightning could feel her stomach churn and didn't reply, fearing she would simply give more away. She didn't have to say anything for Read to whistle an impressed little tone.

"Did Doctor Farron have a date?" She asked, somewhat surprised.

"Why do you care?" Lightning asked, wanting to avoid the topic.

Read pulled a small face, delighted that Lightning didn't deny it. Doctor Farron had always had a bit of a stick up her ass and it did give Read some sense of joy knowing that someone was capable of getting close enough to the uptight doctor that she would end up late for work for the first time in her career.

"Guess I just thought I had a chance." The tech joked and tried not to laugh when the doctor cast her a look.

"You..." Lightning frowned but before she could suffer for too long, Read broke into a laugh.

"Relax! I'm kidding." She said and paused briefly before shrugging her shoulders in admission. "Mostly."

Lightning raised a brow but her frown never quite left her face.

"Well, come on. Do tell. What kind of person does it take to crack that stoic exterior?"

Lightning groaned inwardly. "Read... Don't take this personally... but I'd rather not discuss my personal life."

"Alright, alright." Read held up her hands in mock surrender. "You're right. Not the time or the place... but... colour me curious."

Lightning huffed in amusement. "And curious you will stay." Lightning said, relieved that the tech was letting her get away without disclosing anything and before she could change her mind and press her for any information, Lightning pulled the file out from under her arm and motioned down the hall. "Sorry to cut this short, but I have work to catch up on."

"Of course." Read nodded her head, ready to slip back into her professional mode but took one last look at the doctor, grinned, and tapped her neck, "You might want to cover that mark before your next appointment."

Lightning's eyes grew wide and she placed a hand over her neck where Read indicated on her own neck. She rubbed at the flesh in slight horror before Read broke into a laugh and shook her head. "You're too easy, Farron." She waved her off as she turned down the hall, laughing to herself.

Lightning furrowed her brow and quit rubbing her neck, realizing that Read had simply been teasing her and that there surely wasn't a mark at all. She made a mental note to check anyway.

Once in her office, Lightning placed her patient's file on her desk and went about setting up for the day. She took off her jacket, placing it on the back of her chair and fished her phone out of her pocket, ready to turn it to silent and put it in her desk drawer. She glanced at the screen again and realized she had missed yet another call from her sister while she was on her way to work. She sighed and sucked her lips, knowing she needed to let Serah know she was okay. She grimaced slightly at the thought. As much as Lightning could be overprotective of Serah, she was always somewhat surprised just how overprotective Serah could be of her. She unlocked the screen and called her sister back, and bit her cheek, knowing she'd get the third degree.

The phone didn't ring more than once before it picked up."Where are you!?" Serah didn't so much as greet her before laying into her.

"At work." Lightning said and cradled her phone to her cheek as she finished setting up her desk for the day. She didn't want to fall any farther behind than she already was.

There was a silence on the other side of the phone and Lightning could tell that Serah was trying to keep her anger in check. There was a double standard and Lightning hated to admit it, but as the older of the two she seemed to assign herself to being Serah's guardian and had the situation been reversed, Lightning wouldn't have been as restrained as Serah was.

"... You didn't come home last night... I was worried sick."

Lightning sighed inwardly. A small spot of shame bubbled in her stomach. "Yeah... I... I'm sorry. I should have answered my phone."

"Yeah. You should have. Where were you!? You weren't at work... I called."

Well, there goes that excuse. Lightning thought to herself as she pinched at the bridge of her nose. "I was... out."

"Out?" Serah repeated, attitude clear in her voice. Not that Lightning could fault her for it.

"Yeah." Lightning shook her head. She was backed into a corner. She knew that answer wouldn't suffice and sighed. "I was... with... someone." Lightning barely managed to get the words out, knowing she was opening a whole new can of worms.

There was silence on the other side of the phone as Serah took in the new information. "...With someone?" She pressed curiously. Lightning was somewhat relieved to hear the anger dissipate from her sister's voice. If she wasn't mistaken, she could hear a hint of excitement in Serah's voice.

"Mmm." Lightning confirmed.

"Like a... special someone?"

"Serah..." Lightning groaned.

"Answer the question."

Lightning sighed and gave in. "... Yeah."

There was squealing on the other end of the phone and Lightning pulled the phone abruptly from her ear before any damage was done to her eardrums. She should have expected as much. Serah was always pressuring her to go out and meet someone... and not just in this reality. Serah's tone shifted drastically. The excitement betrayed her and she seemed to forget that she was supposed to be mad at Lightning for ignoring her calls and making her worry all night.

"With who?"

"Just... someone... Can we talk about this later? I'm at work."

"Lightning..." There was a pause, "Claire... I have to know." She used Lightning's real name, letting her know she was serious.

"And you will... In time." Lightning said and began to read over the file she'd been given.

"This weekend?" Serah asked.

"What?" Lightning's brow furrowed.

"This weekend." It was no longer a question, Serah had decided. "We'll have a barbecue. I want to meet him."

Lightning cringed at the pronoun, reminded again that there were things she hadn't told Serah. Mostly because she thought it would never matter. She didn't have time or patience for a relationship... But that was before Fang. Lightning sighed audibly and could almost hear Serah's smile through the phone.

"Good. You won't weasel your way out of this." Serah said and before Lightning could even think to protest, Serah had hung up.

"Fuck." Lightning stared at her phone and frowned. It wasn't that she didn't want Serah to meet Fang, it was just that everything was moving so fast. Just days ago she'd had a life altering mind fuck, fallen in love and now she had to come out to her sister? What was she supposed to tell her? "Hey, this if Fang. Pretty sure she's my soul mate? Hey, so over the last few days I've discovered that I have memories of my past lives? Maybe alternate realities? Oh, and this is the love of my life? Correction- lives."

Lightning groaned and shoved her phone into her desk drawer. She had work to do. She didn't have time to think about the uniquely messy situation she'd found herself in. With a huff, she glanced over the chart in front of her, taking note of which tests she'd like to cover with the new patient. After jotting a few notes she threw on her white lab coat and left to fetch her patient and take him to the medical wing for an exam.

"Methamphetamines? I don't understand? William doesn't do drugs."

Lightning shook her head. She wasn't entirely sure what to say. The revelation clearly shook the woman to the core, but facts were facts and the test results don't lie. She stayed silent, letting Mrs. Davis come to terms with what she'd just been told as William looked away in shame. William's mother looked to him, wanting him to deny it, but when she saw that he had turned his face away she sighed and hung her head.

"Well... What does that mean? Is he okay? He was running around the house last night with a shotgun, ranting and raving about men in the woods..." Mrs. Davis wrung her hands nervously, reliving the events that lead to her phoning the police on her own son.

"Well, the good news is, this is only the first time he's experienced psychosis. Long term meth users will often experience psychosis even when the effects of the drug have worn off, but William's psychosis seems to have ended when he came down. I'd like to keep him under observation for the time being to see how bad his withdrawal is before I prescribe any medications. In the meantime, I'd like to go over our addiction treatment regiment with you..."

Mrs. Davis only nodded her head weakly, still reeling over the fact that her son was a meth addict. Willaim, for his part, kept silent, all too aware how he had disappointed his mother.

"We have a great program here that consists of sixteen-weeks of behavioural therapy, family education, individual counselling, twelve-step support and regular drug testing. It's had a success rate of roughly eighty percent-"

"He would have to be here for sixteen weeks?"

"Not necessarily. We can do outpatient services, however, I would highly recommend he stay for the first few weeks where we can keep an eye on him. Getting him on track ins crucial to recovery. It needs to be done right."

Mrs. Davis glanced to her son who sat on the chaise chair in Lightning's office, looking at his feet with a guilt ridden face. She pursed her lips and nodded in agreement. Being sixteen, her son had no choice in the matter.

"William?" Lightning asked getting the boy's attention.

He looked up but didn't say anything.

"How do you feel about all this?" Lightning knew that most addicts only got better if and when they wanted to. The program could only do so much to help. William had to be willing to help himself in order for treatment to be effective.

"...Yeah." His voice was barely a whisper.

"It's... nothing to be ashamed of." Lightning said and the boy looked up once again. "It's one of the hardest things you will ever do. Most people don't know the strength it takes to even get this far. But you've taken the hardest step already: admitting you need help." Lightning looked to Mrs. Davis who nodded, silently taking in what she was saying. "Okay, I'm going to hand you off to one of our specialists. They'll guide you through everything you need to know, and get you set up with a room."

Mrs. Davis nodded her thanks and stood from her chair, prompting her son to follow and Lightning led them to the rehabilitation department where they would take over his care. Lightning watched silently as the rehab specialist took over. Mrs. Davis continued to wring her hands as the man calmly walked her through the treatment her son would undertake while in their care and it was clear from the glances she gave to her son that she was still trying to come to terms with the fact that she didn't know her son as well as she had thought.

Lightning sucked her lips slightly and furrowed her brow. Even with a near infinite amount of memories, Lightning couldn't say she knew about Fang's life either. She knew of her unique circumstance, she knew she lived with Vanille, she knew what had become of her parents... but how Fang's life had played out this time was still mostly unknown to her. She could claim she knew Fang inside and out and yet she had barely scratched the surface of just what had shape her in this reality... And there were no memories to help her with that.

"Hey!" Lightning looked up from her desk to see Fang in the open doorway and smiled.

"Hey. Come in."

Fang did as she was told and closed the door behind her and moved to shutter the blinds on the frosted window when Lightning stopped her.

"Leave it."

Fang raised a brow in silent asking.

"People already know I didn't go home last night... Last thing I need is for them to put two in two together..."

Fang whistled, impressed. "Already smoked that out?"

"Yeah. Read is... surprisingly perceptive."

"Ah..." Fang nodded in understanding.

"Come sit."

"Well... if we're not gonna spend the hour making out, what did you wanna do?" Fang asked, a cheeky grin on her face.

Lightning shook her head at Fang. "I... want to talk."

Fang's grin faltered, replaced with concern. "About?"

"You." Lightning said. "I want to get to know you better."

Fang scrunched up her face. "You already know everything there is to know about me..."

"No... I mean... You. Here. Tell me about this life... I want to know everything..." Lightning paused, thinking. "Tell me when you first got arrested."

Fang scrunched up her face. "What makes you think I've been arrested?"

Lightning cocked her head to the side and raised an incredulous eyebrow at Fang and Fang looked away.

"I'm not that predictable, am I?"

"... You have a tendency to escalate things."

Fang smirked to herself, an of sense of pride in the fact. "When I was seventeen." Fang admitted. "I planned a trip to Eden. Wanted to check a few places and see if I could find you... You know. New army recruits, the police academy... That sort of thing."

"Don't tell me you got arrested on the army base..." Lightning tried to hide her smile behind a mug of tea she had prepared earlier.

"Nah... Didn't even make it to Eden." Fang laughed. "They had to divert the aircraft to offload me. I spent two nights in the Euride jail."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Lightning shook her head in awe. "What did you do?"

Fang grinned and shrugged. "Difference of opinion with another passenger."

Lightning motioned graciously with her hand, asking Fang to elaborate.

Fang scratched the back of her head and cringed slightly. "I knocked him out for chewing with his mouth open..."

"Mmm" Lightning nodded. "Totally justifiable."

"I thought so. The Air Marshal didn't."

Lightning chuckled silently to herself. "... I was in Eden..." Lightning thought to add. "It's where I did my schooling before transferring here."

"No shit?" Fang slumped back into her chair. "Not like I would have found you... Would have been looking in all the wrong places. So how'd you end up in New Bodhum?"

"We used to vacation here when I was little. I guess I missed it. When I finished my schooling and was looking for a position, it popped up... and because of demand it paid better than any available position in Eden. It wasn't a hard decision."

Fang pursed her lips slightly in thought. "Weird how things work out isn't it? If you hadn't gone into psychology and moved here... and I hadn't ended up going nuts and committing myself, we might not have met."

Lightning sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Yeah... I was thinking about that the other day...It's as if destiny is all predetermined so what does that say about free will?"

Fang raised a brow and shrugged. "Maybe it's not 'destiny'. Maybe it's just a bored Goddess messing about with things in order to guide us."

"You think that's what it is?"

Fang shrugged again. "Better than thinking that I haven't any free will."

"Yeah." Lightning agreed and took another drink from her mug. She decided she would store away the thought for later knowing that no matter how long she sat and thought on it, she would never truly know the answer. After all, philosophers had been asking that very question through all human history and if they hadn't come up with an answer, Lightning surely wasn't going to figure it out in one conversation with Fang.

"So... why psychology?" Fang asked.

"Sorry?"

"You asked me a question... now it's my turn." Fang grinned. "Why psychology? I never would have thought to find you here of all places."

"Oh... Um." Lightning hadn't expected to have to answer any questions but turnabout was fair play so she indulged Fang. "I guess... When my dad died, mom put Serah and I in counseling... I don't know what made this time different from all the other times but something... clicked. My counselor just got me and that made a world of difference. She knew how to talk to me. Didn't push me... I guess I looked up to her... and I wanted to make a difference to someone like she did for me."

Fang whistled, impressed. "Must have made a hell of an impression."

"Yeah." Lightning chuckled softly. "Mrs. Santiago. I actually keep a letter she gave me when I was ten in my desk. It keeps me going when I feel powerless to help someone else here."

Fang furrowed her brow slightly. "...Long dark hair, amber eyes, and a silver feather necklace?"

Lightning didn't say anything but simply gave Fang a curious look. "You know her?"

Fang had to laugh at the absurdity of it. What were the chances that they had both been counselled by the same woman when they were kids. "She counselled me for a couple months when I was twelve..." Fang screwed up her face and stared in confusion at the desk that separated her and Lightning. "When did you start going by Lightning?"

Lightning shook off the surprising coincidence and answered the question. "... Not until after mom died. I must have been fifteen? Only Serah calls me that though... and you."

"Maybe that's why..."

"Why what?" Lightning asked.

"I only ever called you Lightning... and I guess my drawings weren't good enough for her to recognize you." Fang had to shake her head. "Maybe if I had called you Claire just one damn time..."

"You talked about me?" Lightning asked.

"'Course I did... 's why I was in counselling... They thought I was too old for imaginary friends." Fang laughed, knowing she was finally validated.

Lighting smiled and shook her head. It seemed like too many coincidences for it not to be the work of Etro trying to guide them together but Lightning knew better than to assume anything. She had written her thesis on selection and confirmation bias and knew the dangers of looking for patterns and meaning in coincidences. Instead she told herself that it was just that, a coincidence, though she would be lying if she said she wasn't curious.

"Tell me everything..." Lightning cocked her head, ready to learn what other interesting tales Fang had for her.

"Everything?"

"Everything."