Summary: Hojo has to resort to plan 'B' after Aeris and RedXIII escape from his clutches. All he really wants is to breed Aeris; all he really needs is someone to breed her with. And, of course, somewhere to incubate the lil behbeh. With Reno so close by, recovering from his injuries after Sector Seven...yeah, you know where I'm going with this.

Warnings: No real pairings. Biologically it's Aeris/Reno, but there shall be NO romance (or even real interaction) between them. MPREG, language, and quite a bit of it because Reno is a main character. That's right, this story is rated M due to the language, more than the MPREG. Nonetheless, if ANYTHING in my warnings squicks or bothers you, turn back now. And I think I've dropped enough MPREG bombs for you all to know what's in store. ;)

Feedback: Please! It makes me a better writer, and just happy in general. You can hit me up here or email me: kathythetwisted-at-yahoo-dot-com

EDIT, as of 3-29-09: Oh my gosh, you guys. Did I really have this 'chapter' divided up into the Prologue, Chapter One, and Chapter 1? Why didn't someone say something? I feel like such a dork! In any case, that silly error's been corrected.

Disclaimer: Anything and everything related to Final Fantasy VII is all property of Square-Enix. I own nothing, I just do this for fun.

A/N: Yes, this is also at AdultFanFiction-dot-net. This story is a repost for this site. It was originally taken down because of no reviews. So, yes, reviews are important to me. I accept all sorts. Good, bad, and anything else you want to throw my way.

Prologue

"Hojo came to see you?" Rude asked, offering up a slightly bemused expression. The expression was directed at Reno.

Reno nodded.

"Hmm."

"Yeah. Came barging in with one of the nurses right after I got here. She drew some blood, then they both just left."

Neither man said anything for a moment. Reno was still recovering from wounds he'd sustained while on duty, and Rude just wasn't much for talking. In fact, Reno was about the only person he would carry on an entire conversation with.

"Hey, Rude?" Reno called out.

Rude looked at the redhead inquisitively.

"You think it's weird they haven't let me outta here? I mean, I'm not that messed up."

The bigger man furrowed his brow. Now that Reno mentioned it, it did seem a little odd.

"Yeah, I thought so too. You don't think they found something wrong with me or anything, do you?"

Rude shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe they just don't trust you."

Reno rolled his eyes and pouted. "Yeah yeah. Guess I'm stuck here. I'll just waste away in this shitty little room until..."

"Knock it off, Reno. It's only been a couple of days."

"Yeah. For what, though? Couple of cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder and a concussion? That's overkill, man, and you know it. Something's wrong, Rude. I can feel it."

"What happened to him?" Rude asked, taking big, swift steps.

Tseng shrugged his shoulders, matching Rude's stride as they both headed for the elevator.

"I guess his appendix ruptured and they had to operate. Good thing he was still here," Tseng nonchalantly remarked. "Otherwise he might not have survived."

Rude's eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses. Something funny was going on.

When the duo reached Reno's room, Tseng didn't knock, he just casually opened the door and stepped inside. Rude was a step behind him.

"He fucked me over, Rude...he really did." Those were the first words out of Reno's mouth, as Rude tried to catch his unfocused eyes.

"What are you talking about, Reno?" Tseng asked, cautiously.

"Did something funny to me..." the redhead murmured. He glanced over at Tseng, then at Rude, and said, "Make him leave."

Rude and Tseng exchanged a look, and Tseng nodded. "I'll leave. See what you can get out of him. Something seems...off about this."

Rude nodded and turned back to Reno as Tseng left the room.

"Appendi...pendi...fuck it. My shit didn't rupture. I felt fine. Hojo just...came to see me again, with a couple other people...talking about 'the Ancient this' and 'the Ancient that.' Then they took me to the lab..."

"Hojo took you and experimented on you?"

Reno nodded, closing his eyes.

"You sure, Reno? This isn't the medication talking?"

"Goddamnit, Rude, I know when I've been fucked with, and I'm telling you I've been fucked with!" Reno shouted, rolling away from Rude.

"Someone cut into you for no reason?" Rude asked.

The redhead nodded, but refused to say anything.

"Lemme see."

"Sick fuck," Reno grumbled.

Rude chuckled. "Nothing I ain't seen before. Lemme see."

Reno heaved a sigh and slowly rolled onto his back, allowing Rude to pull back the sheets covering him, and lift his gown. Reno had stitches all right. Nothing about the size or location of the incision lent itself to an appendectomy, though. Instead, a line had been carved into his abdomen, a couple of inches below the bellybutton.

Rude didn't say anything, though Reno spoke as if he had. "Yeah, tell me about it."

"I'm getting Tseng," Rude said, almost robotically, turning sharply toward the door.

Reno slowly exhaled.

"I have to. You understand?"

"Yeah."

"Be right back."

"Yeah."

Just as promised, Rude was back in a flash, with Tseng at his side.

"Didja come for the free show, boss?" Reno asked, wickedly.

"Something like that," Tseng responded, curtly.

"Knock yourself out," Reno conceded.

Figuring that was as close to an invitation as he was going to get, Tseng took a step closer to Reno's bed, and gently as he could, lifted the sheet covering his subordinate, then his gown. His face remained calm, though both Reno and Rude could tell when their boss was very, very angry about something.

"I may not be a doctor, but I can tell you that is in no way from an appendectomy."

"Yeah. We know what much," Reno mumbled.

"There is no organ there to be removed, and certainly not one's appendix."

"So, if Hojo didn't take anything out of him...?" Rude asked.

Tseng frowned and looked down at the floor.

"Don't say it," Reno said, pleadingly.

"Hojo put something in him," Tseng concluded.

Reno groaned. "I said, 'Don't say it.'"

Chapter 1

"Doing better, Reno?" Tseng asked, casually, though he was quite curious about his colleague's health as of late. Reno wouldn't say a word about it unless asked, seeming not to want to admit anything out of the ordinary had happened. Though he had been one hundred percent convinced he'd been violated while under the influence of however many different medications, and fresh from what seemed to be unnecessary surgery, he now refused to acknowledge any of it if not forced to.

Reno rolled his eyes. "They told me not to drink. Stupid antibiotics."

Tseng nodded. He'd been hoping for a more elaborate response, but didn't really expect to get one. He told Reno, "Speaking of that, Hojo resigned."

"He what?" Reno asked.

"He resigned," Tseng repeated. "He wrote a letter of resignation and left Midgar without telling anyone. We're looking into it."

"What do you want from me? Want me to track him down?"

"I don't want anything from you at the moment. You're still on leave for your injuries, remember?"

"Then why are you telling me this?" Reno demanded.

"We still don't know what he did to you," was Tseng's response.

"I'm fine," the redhead insisted.

"We don't know that."

"Whatever he was trying to do, he couldn't have finished," Reno said, with impressive conviction, though it may just have been to mask his uncertainty. "And if he just up and left, he isn't gonna finish."

"We don't know that either," Tseng was quick to remind him.

"Yeah, well, we don't even know what he was trying to do to me in the first place."

"Precisely," Tseng agreed.

"What the hell are you getting at?"

"I suggest you abstain from any amoral activities for the time being," Tseng requested, with a forced smile.

"Abstain from any amoral activities? So, I'm fired. Is that what you're saying?"

Tseng chuckled, then sighed. Reasoning with Reno was never an easy task. "You are not fired. Take care of your body until we can figure out exactly what Hojo was planning on doing to it." When Tseng saw Reno roll his eyes, he continued, "Do I have to make a list off all the things I don't want you doing?"

"Yeah, alright. I wanna see this list of yours," Reno challenged, and his eyes lit up as he did. He took great pleasure in being difficult, after all.

"You will see it, and since you're forcing me to do that, you're ordered to abide by that list until further notice. Rude, Elena and I are leaving tomorrow. We'll see you in Junon for Rufus's parade."

Reno and Tseng exchanged a nod, then Tseng made his exit.

"Listen to this: 'do not consume any alcoholic beverages,'" Reno began, both he and Rude pausing to look at the bottle of vodka between them. He continued reading from a heavily creased piece of Tseng's personalized stationary. "'Do not smoke.' And right after that he's got 'anything'," Reno paused briefly, then added, "underlined."

Rude smirked and silently put out his cigarette.

"What the hell, Rude?"

Rude just shrugged.

"Hell, whatever." Reno returned to the list. "'Distance yourself from secondhand smoke.'" He gave Rude a look. "You seen this before?"

Rude shrugged again. "Lucky guess."

"Lucky guess, my ass. You in on this too?"

"Just doing what the boss says."

"Yeah, I bet."

"You gonna do what he says?"

"You mean, am I gonna follow this fucked up little list? What choice do I have? He ordered me to."

Somehow, Rude seemed satisfied.

"Then I guess there's no point in staying here," Reno muttered, sliding out of his side of the booth. Cocking his head to the side, he asked, "You wanna...hell, I don't know. What's there to do around here, worth a shit, that doesn't involve booze?"

Rude shook his head. "We're tracking Avalanche. They probably went to Kalm for now. We leave tomorrow. Early start."

Reno nodded. "Right, then. Guess I'll...go to bed."

Rude chose that moment to stand up from the booth, laying a few bills down on the table as he did. "See you in Junon."

"Yeah," Reno agreed, somewhat distractedly, standing in front of the table, still staring down at his list. He finally read, "'Get plenty of rest.'" He shook his head and stomped out of the bar.

If only he could get some rest now...

Reno yawned and rubbed at his temples. The trip to Junon seemed long -- longer than he remembered. Despite the fact that he'd more or less had the past couple of weeks off, and had done very little in the way of work, he was more exhausted than he could ever remember being. Felt like shit, too. He told himself he just wasn't over whatever bug he'd caught. No doubt his immune system had been weakened after his "appendectomy."

First thing he did after locating, then joining Tseng and Elena was flag down a waitress and order a drink -- and a strong one at that -- but to no avail. Tseng intercepted the order, pulled rank, and reminded Reno of "the list" when he threw a fit, and pretty much bribed the waitress to see that both she and the bartender did his bidding and not Reno's.

So Reno was given a soda. The waitress was given a company credit card for the drinks, and a thick wad of gil for her troubles, and Reno was given a soda. One with no rum. That, Reno thought, was like... screw it, he couldn't be metaphorical when he was sober. And sick. And tired. In fact, he'd nearly fallen asleep in the booth more than once. They were in the corner and it was dark. The music wasn't very loud; it was almost cozy.

What the hell was Tseng thinking, asking Reno to meet him at a bar, if he still expected him to obey those ridiculous rules?

It had been a rather boring get-together without Rude around, and the lack of excitement only added to Reno's fatigue. Rude, for some reason, was off the hook. He'd probably headed off to his favorite spot in all of Junon: a little pit called the Dark Chocobo, where the regulars were all complete freaks, but you couldn't find a better card game.

"Reno?" Tseng called out, somewhat suspiciously. Elena had excused herself to go to the ladies room, and Rude was off gambling, leaving the Turks leader and his roguish second-in-command alone.

"Yeah?" Reno looked up, sleepily. He'd almost dozed off again.

Tseng smiled a little, swirling what little remained of his drink, looking down into the glass as he did. After a long pause, he informed Reno, "I found out what Hojo was trying to do with you."

"No shit?"

"None."

"Well, you gonna tell me?"

"Of course."

"Then tell me already."

"I was reading over his files, those I was able to access anyway. He's quite determined to breed Aeris," Tseng explained.

"The Ancient?"

Tseng nodded his confirmation.

Ignoring the look of longing Tseng always wore when he spoke of Aeris, Reno, more concerned with how he supposedly fit into all of this, chose to ask, "What the hell does that have to do with me?"

"Did you ever see that specimen of his -- the red, cat-like thing?"

"No, but I heard about it."

"That was what he wanted to breed her with."

Reno got a look on his face. "Sick fucker."

"Indeed. Thankfully, he wasn't able to do that, as both Aeris and the other specimen escaped the night the president was murdered."

"Yeah, this is all interesting, but what the fuck does any of it have to do with me? I don't need any kind of background here -- I know Hojo's one twisted bastard. Get to it, Tseng."

"As you wish. Hojo didn't abandon this project of his -- this obsession with breeding Aeris, if you will. He merely altered it," Tseng explained.

"Altered it how?"

"He had DNA from her, and from the other creature as well. All he really needed was a surrogate."

"Yeah."

"...it's you, Reno."

"What's me?" Reno asked, hesitantly.

"You're not misunderstanding me. Hojo...somehow, he impregnated you. The surgical procedure was most likely how he did it. He had to have given you some sort of artificial womb. That would certainly explain the location of the incision."

"You would do this, wouldn't you? Spring this bullshit on me in a public place. Well, it's not fucking funny. What, did Rude put you up to it? Or did you just decide to do this on your own? You're pretty imaginative with this shit, gotta give you that." Reno spoke softly, but bitingly.

"I'm not joking. I've got a hard copy of all the files I was able to look over, if you want to see."

"You're not joking? You just fucking told me I'm having kittens, and now you're telling me you're not joking? Go. Fuck. Yourself," Reno spat.

Tseng shook his head. He knew Reno well enough not to be surprised by the reaction his news got. "Something happened with the sample he had from...RedXIII, I think is what he called it, and he wasn't able to use it. You're the father, and the surrogate. He has it documented; conception was confirmed."

"Oh, I'm the father? Well, that makes this all okay, doesn't it?" Reno muttered, acidly, lighting up a cigarette.

Tseng was quick to yank the cigarette from his subordinate's mouth, earning him a vicious stare. "You were ordered not to smoke until further notice. Or did you forget?"

"How fucking long have you known about this?" Reno demanded, eyes narrowed and practically burning a hole through his boss. His tone was beyond accusatory.

Before Tseng could respond to Reno, Elena had returned from the restroom. She slid into the booth, on Tseng's side, of course, the look on her face making it clear she could sense something had happened between him and Reno in her absence.

"I'm fucking outta here," Reno muttered, pulling himself up and out of the booth. He looked down at Tseng, "And I'm fucking killing it. I don't care what I am to it. See you at the fucking parade."

A/N: Aw, now that wasn't so bad, was it? Even if it was, I'd still like to hear what you thought! All constructive reviews are welcome.