A/N: So… this is going to be the last chapter of Beast in the Basement. But before you panic, I'm going to be continuing it right away! This will become part one, and there'll be a part two and maybe even a part three. I dunno yet. :P Anyways… Enjoy!

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Chapter Thirty

From the Point of View of Vanitas

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"Come on… you'll absolutely adore them," I told Kairi as I pushed her through the halls of the hospital in her wheelchair.

"I'm not sure if I should be up like this… my incisions are still really sore…"

I rolled my eyes, "It's not like you're walking. You need to see your babies, Kai. They need their mother right now."

She seemed incredibly disinterested, but I wasn't about to give up.

"All right… here we are," I grinned as I pushed her through the threshold of the NICU. Eli and Reagan were in their usual spot beside each other, and I couldn't wait for her to meet them. The nurse gowned us and made us put masks on before we could get through the second set of doors, so by the time I wheeled her up to their incubators I was dying with anticipation.

"So… this is them?"

I nodded, "This is Elijah Flynn… you came up with his name. And this perfect little girl is Reagan Marie."

She wrinkled her nose, "Reagan? I don't know if I like that…"

"Yeah, we argued about it for awhile… but you saw how set on it I was and eventually just let me choose it," I told her, pulling up a chair next to her. "You can put your hand through here, you know… Eli really likes to hold hands, and Reagan just loves the contact."

Kairi shook her head, "N…no… I don't think so… They look too fragile…"

I sighed and let Elijah grab onto my finger again, "Well then… you can talk to them. Let them know who you are. They'll love hearing your voice."

"They can't understand me, Van… that's silly. Besides, they can hear me talking now anyways," she just kept staring down at her lap.

"They'll know the difference between us talking and you talking to them. Just say something."

She cleared her throat, "Uhm… hi babies… My name is Kairi… I guess I'm your mom…"

Reagan turned her head towards Kairi's voice immediately, making her jump out of her skin. "Kairi, calm down! I told you they'd listen."

"I want to go back to my room… I'm tired…" she pushed her chair backwards, heading for the door.

I leapt up and grabbed the handles, "Stop… Kairi, why don't you want to be with your own kids?"

"Because… they don't feel like my kids," she mumbled, "I know that sounds horrible, but I have absolutely no emotional connection to them… Just take me to my room, Van."

"No! Kairi, just sit with them! They're going to need you… You can't just abandon them!"

She paused for a moment, "They have you…"

"Kairi, don't do this…"

"Nurse? Can you take me back to my room now?"

As the nurse took her away I went back and sat down with Elijah and Reagan. Apparently… I was the only parent these babies were ever going to have.

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"Van, it's been nearly two months… Do you think she's ever going to remember?"

"I don't know… and this household is slowly falling apart. Namine never comes out of her room anymore… I'm not even sure if she's eating. Kairi just lays in bed all day… I had to put the babies on formula because she refuses to feed them. I don't know what to do…"

Sora sighed into the reciever of the phone, "Damn… Do you want me to try to talk with her?"

"I don't think it'd help anything… I tried to talk to both of them and they just shut down on me. And Xion's trial starts next week, but I don't think either of them are in the right frame of mind to testify."

"I can at least try… And hey, has Terra still been bothering you?"

I groaned, "Yeah… as if my life hasn't been hard enough trying to raise twins by myself and keep two women alive, he's still sending me threats."

"Jesus… I mean… I know it must have been hard to lose his brother, but it literally wasn't your fault in any way. Why does he hate you so much?"

I'd forgotten that Sora didn't really know the backstory about Aqua, "He… well, he's Aqua's ex-husband."

"Fuck, Van… what did you do?"

"It's not important anymore… he thinks that I'm the cause of all his unhappiness, including what happened to Roxas. Sora… he's beaten the shit out of me before and I was in the hospital for weeks. If he comes after me again, who's going to take care of Eli and Reagan?"

I could hear some rustling, "I'm coming to stay with you until he stops with the threats. This is insane… This whole fucking situation is insane."

"You don't have to do that, Sora… You and Cloud need to live your own lives."

"I'm not going to leave you alone to deal with this shit, Van… you need help. Cloud and I will both come over for awhile."

I sat down on the couch, "All right… but we don't have a guest room anymore. It's the nursery now. You guys can stay in the basement… I've been sleeping in the rocking chair with them anyways. They're about the only thing right now that keeps me sane…"

"How's Rae been? Is her health improving at all?"

"Yeah… her lungs get stronger every day. But I'm worried about her eyes… she doesn't seem to be following movement or anything. Just sound."

"That's weird… maybe you should get her in. Does Eli?"

I nodded, even though he couldn't see me, "Yeah, he watches me all the time. But if I'm not making noise, she just stares into space. I'm worried about her…"

"Well… get her in to see Aerith. She'll know what to do. And try not to worry too much. Cloud and I will be over in a few hours, I just need to pack some stuff."

After we hung up I laid down on the couch with the baby monitor on my chest. My life was becoming absolutely insane… I'd only brought the babies home a week ago and I was already overwhelmed. I thought I'd have Kairi through everything, but she's completely shut down and shut me out… Poor Namine doesn't even talk anymore. She just sits in her room drawing pictures of Roxas and crying. The only thing that I had was my good health, and Terra was threatening to ruin that as well.

Ever since he found out where I lived, he'd been shoving death threats in the mailbox every week. He still hadn't acted on any of it, but it was just a matter of time. I was terrified all the time… he was the type to just snap and let his anger consume him. Once it boiled up to it's peak, he was going to come after me. I knew it. I really should have just called the police… but something kept stopping me. Going to trial against him might dig up more of my past than I ever wanted anyone to know.

"Vanitas?!"

I nearly jumped out of my skin and bolted up the stairs three at a time to get to the bedroom, "What? What's wrong?"

Kairi was trembling, sitting up on the bed and looking around, "What happened? Where's Xion? Is Namine safe?!"

I stared at her for a minute, "Uhm… yeah? She's in her room. Did you have a nightmare?"

"Xion… she shot me, right?"

"I'm confused, Kairi… it's been two months since she shot you. What's going on?"

Suddenly a panic swept over her even more intense than before, "The babies… what happened to the babies?!"

"Kairi… do you remember everything?"

"…Remember what? I don't remember anything since Xion was here! Where are my babies?!"

I think my heart stopped beating in my chest, "They're fine, Kairi… they're in the nursery. I can't believe it… Kai, you've had memory loss ever since you were shot. You had a small brain aneurysm that burst and… you didn't remember ever falling in love with me. You thought you were still married to Sora. I… I didn't think I'd ever get you back…"

"Come here," she reached for me, tears springing to her eyes.

I immediately sat down next to her on the bed, pulling her into my arms and holding her tight, "I love you Kairi… I love you so much…"

"I love you too, Vanitas… I can't believe I forgot that…" she mumbled into my chest, sniffling a little, "Will you bring the babies in? I need to see them!"

I stood back up, "Of course! They're asleep, but I don't think an earthquake could wake those guys. They sleep like the dead." I went to the nursery and picked up one of them in each arm, bringing them into the bedroom, "Which one do you want to hold?"

"Gimme Reagan first," she held her arms out, "I want to meet my little girl!"

I sat back down next to her and let her take Reagan, cradling Eli in my arms carefully.

"Oh… she's absolutely perfect…" Kairi leaned down and kissed her on the forehead, holding her close. She reached over to Eli, running her hand over his chubby little cheek, "And he's so handsome!"

"Just wait until they open their eyes… they both have the biggest, bluest eyes I've ever seen. Reagan's are a really light, icy blue… but Elijah's are a deep, intense blue… very similar to Sora's actually."

Kairi giggled, "Were you a little jealous that they didn't get your eyes?"

"I was kind of hoping that one of them would… but I couldn't be happier either way," I smiled down at my sleeping son.

"Van… I'm so sorry that I forgot you… That must have been so hard, especially after Aqua and Maisie… I can't even imagine what this has been like for you. I mean, I don't remember… forgetting… so I hope I wasn't too bitchy to you or anything…"

I just chuckled, "You know what, Kairi? It doesn't even matter. I have you now. You're back, and our babies are healthy and… I have never been happier."

She leaned up and gave me a kiss, something that I'd been missing so much, "I do kind of remember one thing… did you get me an engagement ring for Christmas?"

"Women… of course that's the one thing you'd remember," I teased her, giving her another kiss. I reached over to my beside table and fumbled around for the box, "I kept it in hopes that I'd get you back someday… and now I'd be honored if you'd wear it."

She shifted Reagan a little so that she could open the box, "Oh… it's even prettier than I remember…" she mused, picking it up and examining it, "And the inscription is so sweet…"

"Kairi… things might get a lot more difficult here in the next few weeks, but just knowing that you have that ring on your finger is going to keep me a sane man."

"What do you mean? What's going to be difficult?"

I just nuzzled up next to her, closing my eyes, "It doesn't matter right now… You're healthy, the twins are healthy and Namine is safe. That's all that matters."

For now, everything was going to be okay. But I couldn't shake the feeling that this thing with Terra was going to fuck everything up. Now it was a waiting game.

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To Be Continued…

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A/N: You guys didn't seriously think I could end Part One without a cliffhanger, right? ;P Yes, we've come to the end of The Beast in the Basement, but fret not! I'm going to be posting Part Two here in the next couple of days. It's going to be called: The Temptation Within Us and it'll be a direct continuation of this story. Keep and eye out! I've been loving all of the reviews you guys are posting and I hope I get just as many on the continuation. And remember to favorite and follow it too if you did this one.

I'll see you guys in Part Two!

Simply Rexene