As a special birthday pres from me to you, two stories are getting elevated to full ones from the drabbles!

Rena had been feeling off for a month now, at least to the point she had to take notice.

Which was why she went to check in with one of the few non-evil doctors on Shin-Ra's payroll.

Needless to say she was in for a shock.

"I'm pregnant?!"

"According to this, you should be four months along at the very least. However the fetus looks closer to two months along," said Dr. Ravena.

"...I guess the suspicion we had that mako or whatever the hell Jenova is slows the maturation process of infants in the womb has just been confirmed," said Rena.

"That would explain why the rates for SOLDIERs attempting to start families is so low," said Dr. Ravena.

"Ah, actually I think the problem for them is that normal women can't really handle the child growing in them, which raises the chances of miscarriage or the child accidentally killing the mother," said Rena. "And since Hojo refused to adjust the formula to allow for female SOLDIER's, the odds of finding a woman capable of bearing the child to term drop significantly. Never mind the actual process of giving birth."

"In any case you'll need to be extra careful until the little one comes out."

"Any idea what the gender is?" asked Rena.

"Too soon to tell. At most the machine confirms there's a fetus in you, but not the actual gender."

"I guess I'll have to rely on less scientific methods then," said Rena.

There were potions to determine pregnancy and if you were so inclined, what the gender was before machines could pick it up. It was just going to be a pain to brew it considering how sensitive her nose was.

Actually, there was one other person who had enough magic to brew the potion that she could trust that was skilled with herbal remedies.

Now, to get the ingredients and see if she would be interested in helping out.

A few days later...

"Any idea what Aerith and Rena have been up to lately?" asked Genesis

"No idea," said Zack. "All I know is I can't go two feet near their little room without my nose almost murdering me."

"...I may have an idea, but I want to capture the perfect blackmail once she announces it," said Vincent.

"Blackmail?" repeated the other two.

Vincent kept his silence...though inwardly Chaos was cackling and already crowing about future grandchildren to spoil.

He had been the first to notice the fact Rena was pregnant long before the other signs started showing.

By the end of the week, Rena gathered everyone together.

Vincent brought a camera and told Reeve to record everything.

"I'm pregnant," she announced.

Angeal blinked a few times before the words fully registered, then he gaped.

"You're what?"

"Pregnant. At least four months along, though according to the x-ray the baby seems to be developing rather slowly."

"So the theory you had about the Jenova cells or possibly the mako prolonging the gestation period of pregnant women is correct," said Vincent.

"I suspect it might be the mako, honestly. Considering the difficulties of normal SOLDIER's having children after they become Thirds, it would fit in neatly with the other health risks. And that issue only goes up the more mako is present in the bloodstream of the male."

Angeal paled.

"You are a near copy of Sephiroth, who is a First, never mind what would be present in my blood," said Angeal.

"Yes, but you're forgetting one key fact. I wasn't raised on Gaia and I have natural magic not reliant on materia. Magic instinctively protects children, so the odds of something bad happening to the infant drop significantly. It takes a lot of power to curse a pregnant witch because our magic automatically becomes a shield around us...at least until the child itself is born, because then we become vulnerable."

"Can we get back to the fact you're pregnant?!" said Genesis.

"What's the gender?" asked Zack eagerly.

"She just said that the baby is forming slower than normal, idiot. There's no way she could tell you what the gender is this early," said Genesis.

"It's a boy," said Rena, almost smugly.

Dead silence.

"...Is this what you and Aerith were doing in that room?" asked Zack.

"Potion fumes can cause side effects, especially in witches who are expecting. It's one of the few things that can get past the natural barriers created by our magic. I acted as adviser while Aerith did the actual brewing to find out what the gender was. The proteins present in the baby differ between genders and the potion changes color depending on which ones are in the mother's bloodstream."

"Why are you recording this? More to the point how did you know this was going to happen?" demanded Genesis to Vincent.

"Chaos sensed the fact she had life growing in her a month before we came back from Earth. The fact she looked nauseous every time Reno hit her family's alcohol collection only confirmed it," said Vincent. "I was just waiting for her to figure it out herself."

"So who's the godfather?" asked Sephiroth.

"Zack," said Rena immediately. "Not like it really matters considering he'll have plenty of overprotective...and overpowered... uncles and the odd aunt to keep him safe."

Sephiroth smirked at that.

Angeal...was still in shock that his wife was having a son. His son.

"What are you going to name him?" asked Zack.

"I was thinking Gabriel, possibly as a middle name. I've always liked stories about angels and he was my favorite," said Rena. "Naturally his last name will be Hewley."

It was rather hilarious to see Zack and the others get all excited about a baby, when Genesis normally couldn't tolerate small children. Then again, her son would be family so that likely made a lot of difference.

Later that night...

"Is it really that shocking that I'm pregnant? We have been going at it like bunnies after all," said Rena.

"I just never thought I would have a wife, much less children," said Angeal, wrapping his arms around her.

He was overjoyed...and more than a little anxious at the knowledge his Rena was having their son.

"...Five thousand gil says that the SOLDIERs go baby-crazy the second they find out that one of the Three Generals is about to have a son."

"...That's a sucker's bet and you know it. Especially since the child will also be related to Sephiroth," said Angeal flatly.

Rena snickered.

"About the name..." started Angeal.

"I'm fine with Gabriel being the middle name, if you had something else in mind for the first," said Rena.

"Riku. It was my grandfather's name."

"Riku Gabriel Hewley. I like it. Though I really want to see the look on Zack's face when he finds out what we discovered by accident after the potion was done."

"...Do I want to know?"

"Do you want blackmail on the puppy?"

"I'll bring a camera. Now what did you find out?"

"Aerith's having a son as well, but she's not as far along as I am. Though we'll at least confirm it's the mako slowly their development down if she takes as long as I did."

(On an unrelated note, Zack fainted when Aerith told him the news. Angeal and Genesis were quick to get blackmail, having been forewarned ahead of time.)

"...What the hell happened here?" asked Sephiroth mildly.

"I would like to know that myself," said Tseng.

"I don't know, I find this mildly amusing and a hilarious way to spread some good PR," said Rufus, trying not to laugh.

"We can explain!" said Kunsel.

"Please, I'm all ears when it comes to learning what exactly happened to the training room," said Sephiroth mildly.

"Don't look at me! It was his idea!" said Reno pointing at Kunsel.

"We're waiting for an explanation," said Tseng.

"It's supposed to be a baby shower. For Commander Hewley and Zack," said Kunsel. "But someone went and bought the wrong supplies."

"How the hell was I supposed to know they were both having boys?" demanded Reno.

"And this explains the explosion of pink and blue confetti all over the room and the fact you two are tangled up in what appears to be streamers?" said Rufus.

"What are you doing?" Reno asked Tseng.

"Sending out a text."

"Good idea," said Rufus, taking out his PHS as well to take pictures.

"Wait, what?!" said Reno horrified, as Kunsel tried to free himself from the mess.

"I concur. We should get more people here to help...plan...the party if we want to do it right," said Sephiroth, also sending out a text.

(Kunsel and Reno did not make it out of the streamers before several people got a good look at the mess and the fact they both had glitter in their hair. Reno would never track down the pictures taken, to his dismay.)

Though Zack was sweating bullets big time at the look on Elmyra's face when she found out that the SOLDIER had gotten her daughter pregnant.

The only reason Zack didn't end up in major trouble was because he had already bought the ring and had been waiting for the best time to propose to Aerith.

Rena did not want Hojo to come anywhere near her or her unborn child. And she refused to risk Aerith.

Considering the rather worrying 'coincidences' between this Final Fantasy VII series and what was happening on Gaia, Rena decided to test a hunch that maybe they weren't coincidences at all.

To that end, she sent SOLDIERs with Turks to investigate all the reactors. More to the point, she sent Sephiroth and the others to the Northern Crater.

(She wouldn't admit her shock when the tactic actually worked...they managed to capture Cloud in Wutai of all places.)

Cloud looked...different. He was taller, more filled out and it was clear he had the same mako saturation as the Firsts. Or, considering who had captured him, Sephiroth and Rena.

His eyes were wild, almost cat-like and he was not happy at being under the full-body bind. Unlike normal restraints, his enhanced strength couldn't break out of the spell.

"Cloud, if you can hear me... I'm sorry we took so long to find you."

Rena looked Cloud in the eye...as she pushed the plunger containing the 'anti-cells' as the Science department had taken to calling it.

Cloud, if he was capable, would have started struggling the moment the transfusion hit his bloodstream.

Jenova was not happy with the fact that Rena was taking yet another 'host' from her.

Cloud was going to be in for a very miserable time.

With Sephiroth and the others...

"We are never telling Rena we found that thing here," said Genesis flatly.

"She's going to figure it out anyway," said Angeal.

"But what are the odds that the freaking game that we found on Earth would tell us exactly where that creep Hojo was this whole time?!" ranted Genesis.

"Considering it helped us to capture this idiot, I'm not going to question it," said Sephiroth flatly. "Now what do we do with that?"

'That', being Jenova.

"...Anyone else in the mood to set it on fire?" asked Genesis hopefully.

Sephiroth looked at Angeal. Angeal looked at him and then at Genesis.

"...On the count of three we cast the strongest Fiendfyre spell we can at the thing," said Sephiroth.

The look of glee on Genesis' face would have terrified anyone else.

Instead he got equally anticipatory looks from the other two. Jenova had made their lives hell, whether directly or indirectly via the scientists. It was a virus that needed to be purged from the Planet.

Genesis would not admit to evil cackling when the spell hit...or that they had to haul ass out of the lab to the surface when the spell lost control and started to devour everything in it's path.

"How are we supposed to stop it?!" shouted Angeal.

"HOW SHOULD I KNOW?!" shouted Genesis.

They were lucky Aerith was a Cetra...because the blessed rain she sent their way quenched the flames and saved them from their own inexperience with Earth magic.

It also cleansed the smoke and the ashes left from Jenova being burnt to a crisp.

"...We say nothing," said Genesis.

"Agreed," said Sephiroth. He was not about to admit that they lost control of a spell they picked up from the Black family library.

Rena took one look at the trio and the dead corpse of Hojo...and gave them a Look.

"Next time you want to play around with a dark spell, try to remember that it takes years of experience to actually keep control of it. If Aerith hadn't been keeping watch over you when we heard you were at the Northern Crater, you three would be very, very dead," said Rena flatly.

All three men looked very sheepish.

"That being said...welcome home."