Hello! If you can believe it, an update! This is the shortest chapter I've written in a long time, but it seemed to end naturally where it has. Well, better than ending it somewhere else in what's now the next chapter. But one at a time, enjoy, and thanks so much for sticking with it if you're a returning reader!

Character Belong to Square Enix.

"Something's different with you,"

"Excuse me?" I'd barely walked into Reno's flat, having just let myself in.

"Something's happened!" He accused, sitting up with narrowed eyes from where he'd been sprawled across the sofa, "Rude, look at her. Isn't there something going on?"

Rude, sat at table filling something in, gave me a cursory glance, "Most definitely. Although I conclude that that is entirely Miss Kisaragi's own business,"

"So?" Reno drawled, "We're besties now, so actually it is my business. And I'd know that look anywhere. You got laid!"

I should have known better than to think I'd escape Reno's sex-detector.

"So, who was it?" Reno demanded smugly.

"If you need to ask that then you have no right to wear the uniform of the Turks," Rude cut in.

"Of course I know who it was. I just want to hear her say it!"

"Well I'm not going to," I announced.

"Don't wanna jinx it?" Reno grinned.

"No. I just don't want to encourage your unhealthy interest in my sex life," I cocked my head at him, "Which to most people would indicate a lack of your own,"

"And those people would be hilariously and completely mistaken," He drawled, "I've got a broken bed and the panties to prove it,"

I made a disgusted noise, "No doubt to add to your panties scrap book. I bet you remember women's knickers but not their names,"

Reno frowned. "Of course I remember her name. It was Mia,"

"Close enough," I snorted, heading to the kitchen to get myself a drink. I poked my head around the door "Yous aren't on duty for the next eighteen hours are you?"

"Nope," Reno replied, "Its Laney and Tseng's shift,"

I disappeared back into the kitchen, grabbing some beers for them too. Returning, I threw them a bottle each, catching their conversation.

"He owes you fifty gil for what Rude?"

"A bet we made at the wedding," Rude answered, opening his bottle effortlessly on the edge on the table, "About you actually,"

"On whether you'd get it on with Valentine," Reno added, using his teeth to open his bottle, "I didn't think Valentine would have to balls to actually do it,"

"Why?" I asked, "Everyone else was apparently convinced we already were,"

"Oh no. There was way too much tension between the pair of you for you to already be shaggin'. Plus no one could be uptight as Valentine and be getting laid,"

"He isn't uptight. He just dislikes you. Intensely," Rude informed him.

"Its mutual," Reno snorted, before narrowing his eyes at his partner, "Hang on, what do you mean he isn't uptight? You buddies, or is he shagging you too?"

"He's civil to me because I don't sexually harass his woman. Or any women,"

"I'm not his woman," I frowned, "I'm no one's woman,"

Reno snorted, "You've never been interested in anyone but him. So yes sweetheart, you are,"

"One, that is not true, I just wasn't interested in you-"

"Name one person you're been interested in. And Fair doesn't count,"

"Why not?

"Because you were a kid, and everyone crushed on him,"

"Including you," Rude remarked to Reno. I grinned.

"Fine, well I had a crush on Cloud when I first met him-"

Reno made an impatient noise, "Oh come on darlin'. Is that the best you can do? That's just predictable and boring. And it wasn't long after meeting Cloud that Vampy joined you,"

"When I first met Vincent he was in a coffin. That is not sexy, that's creepy. It wasn't until after I saw him again after the second near-apocalypse a la the remnants that I actually started looking at him differently. And even then it was a crush, I never actually considered him as a realistic option,"

"Well clearly that's changed," Reno snorted, "Since you're started shagging,"

"Because he's changed, a lot since Deepground. Like I have since the Meteor. And it was a one-time thing,"

"That's what they all say. Mark my words, you'll have your panties off and your ankles behind his head in no time now you've done it once," He snickered, then frowned, "Hang on, what do you mean it was a one-time thing?"

"Exactly that Reno," Things went back to the way they were the next morning, as if nothing had happened, and I was perfectly content with that- relieved even. It was an unspoken agreement between us; I didn't push him, and he didn't treat it as a sin or mistake. The wedding had been an exception, a night away from our realities.

"That bad in bed huh?" I rolled my eyes. Reno's tone changed again from his usual drawl, and he narrowed his eyes, "The bastard didn't smash and dash you did he?"

"Like you always do?" I scoffed. What an eloquent turn of phrase, "Look Reno, it's all under control okay? And you'd better keep it under your hat. For your own sake,"

"We can keep a secret Miss Kisaragi," Rude assured.

"Well, just to make it clear I promise you the consequences of breathing a word of this will be ten times worse than the consequences of spilling one of Shinra Inc. secrets back in the old days," I frowned, "Speaking of, did you know your boss' intentions with me?"

The Turks glanced at each other.

"We had our suspicions," Rude said after a moment.

"I told him you'd never go for it," Reno added. As loyal as he was to Rufus, he didn't look very happy.

"Yeah, I think I made that clear," I muttered, before brightening, "Anyway, so what happened with Maia? Did she have the privilege of getting smashed and dashed or did you just bone her in a supply cupboard at the hotel?"

OOO

I ended up staying the night on the sofa and heading into the WRO HQ much later in the morning than I was supposed to. After changing into a fresh set of clothes that I had in my locker, I headed to my office to start on the massive stack of reconnaissance reports I had to review. And demonstrated a lot less self-discipline and concentration than Rude the night before, who had completed his paperwork as if Reno and I had not been hollering at the horror films we'd been watching and generally being incredibly distracting.

Everything had been pretty quiet since the wedding a few days ago. It had been a late start the day after for everyone thanks to the late night, which…had been even later for Vincent and I. I'd smirked when I woke up and saw his bed head, entirely my fault. I'd got out of bed, thrown on the shirt he'd so gallantly given me and padded quietly to the shower. When I'd got back, he'd gone, which was a good thing since I could hear the rest of the house waking up. Getting caught by Barret leaving my room really wouldn't have been a good start to the day.

Throwing down the towel I'd been using to dry my hair, I'd headed downstairs and into the kitchen to make an enormous pot of coffee. It wasn't long before everyone else had appeared. Marlene, Denzel and Shelke were all bright enough, but Barret looked a little sorry for himself. He didn't compare to the states of Reeve and Cid when they arrived back from Elymra's not long later with Shera though. They'd looked positively pitiful. I didn't feel particularly bad for Cid, but I did for Reeve, who sat at the kitchen table with his head in his hands.

"Why aren't you hung over?" Cid accused, glaring at me, "You were drinkin' glass after glass, shot after shot!"

I grinned at him, "Because I'm a ninja,"

I had drunk a lot, but I'd stopped drinking by about midnight, when I'd hit the dance floor with Cloud and not left it for the rest of the night. I'd probably sweated most of the alcohol in my system out. I winked at Vincent, who was leaning against a counter with a mug of coffee, cloakless and bandanna less for once. He'd calmed his hair, which like mine was damp from the shower. I'd got to spend most of the rest of the night with by hand tangled in his hair, like I'd wanted. There had been a lot of impatience between us of course, but Vincent being Vincent had tried to be, uh, gentle. Until that is I told him to get the fuck on with it lest I'd carry through with my threat about him never seeing Cerberus in a functional state again.

"You drank your fair share too Valentine," Cid grunted, giving the coffee Shera had placed down in front of him a dismayed look. Shera was looking at me with eyes that could see too much-having caught my wink in Vincent's direction. Oops.

Vincent's amused gaze had moved from me to the pitiful pilot. "I don't get hang overs," He intoned.

It was at this point that there had been a knock at the back door, which opening, through barrelled the huge shape of Kitty, yanking the lead out of the poor dog sitter's hand as she launched herself at Barret, barking, excited and overjoyed to see her owner.

Reeve moaned, clutching at his head.

"SOMEONE SHUT THAT FUCKIN' ANIMAL UP!" Cid roared, "OR I'LL-"

This had the opposite of the desired effect however, as Marlene started shouting furiously back at him for threatening her beloved pet, who was still barking and wagging her tail so energetically that it hit anyone in the wagging zone with the force of a whip.

In the confused din of woofs and shouting, I took pity on Reeve who looked like he wanted to die.

"Come on Commissioner Sir," I directed, pulling him to his feet, "let's get you out of here," I led him out of the room; I could have led him into a den of dragons and he wouldn't have known. Jeez, he really needed to stop working so much and get out more.

Coming back down the stairs after depositing Reeve onto a bed, I ran into Vincent at the foot of the stairs.

"I put him in your room," I explained. He nodded.

"Is he okay?" Vincent asked glancing upstairs.

I snorted. "He's fine, he just needs to sleep it off. I don't think he's drank that much since you came back after Omega,"

"I don't think anyone has,"

"Speak for yourself," I retorted, wondering if he remembered how drunk I'd got after I'd broken my wrist.

"Of course, you being the exception to the rule," He acknowledged.

I quirked an eyebrow, "I'm always the exception to the rule Vinnie,"

He fixed be with a bemused stare, "Indeed,"

"I'm heading to HQ. There's no way I'm staying to babysit them," I jerked my thumb at the kitchen door.

"I suggest you take the dog with you, I think Cid was serious about spearing her,"

Folded my arms, "I'm sorry, what dog did you mean?"

He gave me a look. I swayed from side to side, waiting expectantly.

"…Kitty," He said finally.

I snickered, "Good idea," I reached up and kissed him on the cheek, "See you later Vinnie!" I move away, but paused and turned when I heard him speak.

"Back to 'Vinnie' now?" He asked, a glint in his eye. Somehow I managed not to blush. He smirked. "And I want my shirt back,"

I shrugged and place one hand on my hip, the other on my chin, glancing around innocently.

"Your shirt? I don't know what you're talking about. You should be more careful with your stuff Vinnie. Maybe someone stole it. And I don't think thieves give things back- no matter how nicely you ask them,"

The next day I was on my own in the house. Cid and Shera had returned to Rocket town, Barret had taken the kids and Kitty away for a few days, and Shelke had asked Vincent to escort her and Red to Cosmo canyon. Reeve, finally over his hang over, was back at the WRO. Tifa had closed the bar for the week whilst away, which was a nice gesture on her part, but in reality I didn't get a proper holiday, since I still had to go into the WRO during the day. Knowing the house was empty though was why I'd gone to Reno's later on.

I spent the next two days after Reno's undercover in Shrapnel City. Despite Rufus Shinra's funding and the WRO's efforts in building Edge, it was an area that had sprung up between Edge and the ruins of Midgar. Like the rest of the area, it was policed by a non-military division of the WRO, but it was still a somewhat dodgy area, and I had reports of drug dealers there. Two days later I'd given enough intelligence to the constabulary for them to deal with it.

I headed back to the bar, cheerful at having been back in my element. As much as I enjoyed working at Seventh Heaven, it didn't give me the rush I got being out in the field. And I loved undercover work. I am ace at sneaking around.

Sorry sweetheart on duty. Can't stand horror movies without me huh? I understand ;)

I made an impatient noise at the reply Reno had sent after I'd asked if he was free, and resolved to prove him wrong. It was getting late when I got in; Barret and the kids were supposed to be back, but there was no sign of them. Vincent was though, judging by his weapons cleaning kit left on the kitchen table. He'd probably gone to bed though after travelling from Cosmo canyon. I slung my own weapons (not conformer, since I'd been undercover), on the table, something I wouldn't have dared of done if Tifa were around. Grabbing some food, I headed into the front room with it (again something I wouldn't have done if Tifa were there), and fired up the horror movie Reno had challenged me with.

It wasn't as shit and unconvincing as the horror films I usually watched with the pair of Turks. I'm a ninja. Sure. But that means I'm awesome at dealing with real threats. Not supernatural ones. So I'm not ashamed to admit (well not out loud) that I actually did get sort of tense and jumpy. Leviathan, why were people in horror movies so fucking stupid? Move fucking house. Burn it down. Whatever you do don't-

"WHY THE FUCK YOU WOULD YOU GO DOWN THERE YOU ABSOLUTE THUNDERCUNT? IF YOU'RE THAT FUCKING STUPID YOU DESERVE YOUR IMMINENTLY GRUESOME DISMEMBERMENT!" I yelled, actually angry, momentarily distracted from my slight apprehension...Which came back full force as the next scare built up, and continued to build until it so much time had passed that I started to relax and then bam!

I screamed. Screamed an incomprehensible curse. I forgot however that I wasn't alone in the house, and heard a crash upstairs. I may or may not have screamed again, shooting upwards, because shit, maybe there was an angry vengeful ghost here to play psychological games with me-

"YOU IDIOT!" I yelled at Vincent a few second later as he barrelled into the room, "You fucking idiot, you scared me!"

"I scared you?" Vincent demanded, his gaze settling on me having scanned the room and found no threats. He ran a hand through his hair. Unfortunately he appeared to own another pajamer shirt, "Holy Yuffie, I thought you'd been attacked!"

"Attacked? Fuck you, you think I'd be the one screaming if I got attacked? I would not be the one in trouble," I retorted, still standing up on the armchair. Gawds, he knew I was a good fighter, he knew better than anyone!

"That's not what I-" He broke off probably realising there was no point, "What's going on?"

"…Nothing," I muttered. His eyes were in the TV however.

"What is this?" He asked.

"Who cares? It's horrible! It wasn't supposed to be- I went to see the sequel with Reno and that was shit!" I moaned, collapsing back down into the chair.

"Yuffie you've faced down monsters, Sephiroth, Deepground- how can something like this scare you?"

"Because they weren't vindictive ghosts or possessed creepy children! And I'm not scared!"

He made a disbelieving noise.

"Oh shut up," I snapped.

"If you're not enjoying it why don't you turn it off and-"

"NO!" I interrupted, "And let Reno win? No fucking way,"

"Of course this has something to do with Reno," Vincent muttered in the scornful tone he had reserved for the red headed Turk, "Something so immature and-"

"I am seeing this through. So shut up or go away!"

"Are you going to scream again?" He asked sarcastically, "Because if that's the case, then there's no point trying to go back to sleep-"

I made an impatient noise and yanked him down onto the chair beside me. Being an armchair however, there was limited space, and he not so gently grabbed and shifted me so he could sit down comfortably with me half on his lap. I ignored him, and refocussed on the film, still muttering disparaging comments at the stupidity of the people in it, fidgeting from both annoyance and unease.

The unease steadily increased to overwhelm the annoyance however. I was rigid with tension and my nails were biting into my hand. Nope, fuck it, Reno could win. And he'd never know- who would tell him? Vincent would never want to give him the satisfaction.

I turned around. "Distract me," I ordered.

"What?" Vincent asked, distracted himself.

"Distract me!" I repeated. The ominous music was building, "I don't care how just distract me!"

Perhaps it was the amount of squirming I'd done in his lap, or our close proximity. Maybe it was the fact that I'd turned in his lap and was now straddling him. Possibly it was the only distraction he could come up with at such short notice.

He kissed me. Hard. Enough, as I'd asked, to shock me into momentarily forgetting the film that had got too much for me. I regained my senses enough to start reciprocating and wow, was I distracted. For a while. Long enough for me to curl my arms around his neck, and slip my hands into his hair. Long enough for him to slide his arms around me and pull me closer.

Shit, Reno had been right.

He kept me very well distracted until Barret got back. At which point was probably a good thing because I had been incredibly close to tearing his stupid shirt off in response to his own hands roaming freely up my back under my own. Instead I almost fell off the chair in surprize. I would've if not for said hands under my top. We broke apart, staring at each other.

"Brat? Valentine? You in in?"

I launched myself off of Vincent and skidded down the hall to the kitchen, tugging my t-shirt straight and pulling my bra straps back to where they were supposed to be..

"Here! I'm here," I answered, barrelling into the room, "Hello Kitty," I leaned down to pet the poor ridiculously named dog on the head as she rushed over to me, wagging her shaggy tail.

"You alright Brat? You look a bit flushed," Barret asked curiously, eying me.

"Hello Uncle Vincent," Marlene chirped. I continued petting Kitty, not looking around at Vincent, who must have just arrived, for fear my cheeks would become even redder.

"Just woken up Vince?" Barret asked, frowning at Vincent's dishevelled hair.

"…Yes. You're back rather late,"

"Yeah, well we lost track of time at Elymra's," Barret said. I didn't get chance to snigger 'I bet you did' as Barret, still frowning, ignored Vincent's change of subject looking from his messy hair to my flushed appearance and asked suspiciously "What were you doing Brat?"

I shrugged, "Watching a film. I was waiting for you guys to get back," My story was confirmed by the faint screaming issuing from the back room, the film surely coming to an dramatic and gruesome end by now. Technically neither Vincent nor I had lied: He had been asleep, it had just been me who'd woken him up. And I had been watching a film and waiting for them. I just hadn't paid much attention to the latter part of it.

Luckily, Barret bought it, and dropped his suspicions about what we'd actually been doing.

"You pair off to bed, it's late enough," Barret barked at the kids. They pulled faces but did as they were told.

"Night!" I called after them, "Want a drink Barret?" I asked.

"Yea, please," He grunted, sitting down at the kitchen table. Lazy bugger. Well, I suppose I had offered. And he had been dealing with the kids all day. I poured out three generous whiskies, setting one down in front of Barret, handing one to Vincent and taking one for myself; I damn well needed one.

I slid into a seat across from Barret. "How's Elmyra?" I asked, swirling the amber liquid around the glass; Barret had already gulped half of his down.

"She's fine. Been doing a lot of work in the community. Sounds like she does it to keep herself busy,"

"Well, it can't be easy for her," I murmured, "She lost a daughter. I don't think you ever recover from something like that,"

"She gets lonely," Barret nodded, "Especially since she don't have Marlene to look after anymore,"

"Perhaps you should visit her more often," Vincent spoke up. I took a sip of whiskey to conceal my smirk; Vincent the match maker. Who knew?

"Yeah, you get lonely too right? You could be lonely together," I suggested innocently. We all knew how well Barret and Elymra got on, probably from their shared love of Marlene. She was only a few years older that Barret; she'd been very young when her husband had been killed and she'd adopted Aerith. They'd sat chatting together practically for the whole of the wedding reception.

"It none of your business," Barret scowled, "And the pair of yous are hardly one's to be dishing out advise,"

"What do you mean by that?" I frowned, Barret snorted.

"You figure it out. Go turn that racket off would ya'? Kids need to sleep," I sighed, but got up and trudged to the front room to turn the TV off, studiously ignoring the armchair I'd been occupying minutes ago. And what I might've been doing in it now if Barret hadn't got back.

"So what's this shit I've been hearing about you and getting married brat?" Barret asked on my return.

"Oh my gawd," I muttered, "Really? Why is this such a big deal to everyone?"

"Oi, don't get all defensive, no-ones judging, it's just become a topic of interest with recent events," Barret frowned.

"Well I don't know why! It's not anything new," I scoffed, "And no-ones judging are they? That's kind of hard to believe when apparently everyone's gossiping about it!"

"No one knew before, so you can't blame us for being surprised!"

"For Leviathan's sake, what's so surprising about it?" I exclaimed.

"Before this escalates, I think you're both on different pages here," Vincent interjected.

"Right," I muttered, "Fine. I don't know what you've heard Barret. Sorry if I'm jumping down your throat, it's just Tifa got the complete wrong idea about it when it came up before,"

"I can imagine," Barret replied, "That girl's been dreaming about a happy ending for years,"

"And that's the point," I explained, "I don't think of it like that. I don't oppose people getting married, and It's wonderful that Cloud and Tifa did. But it's a personal thing. And personally I don't want to- not because I don't believe in it or understand how other feel about it, it's just not for me,"

"I thought you'd have to get married. Being a princess and all, and an heir,"

"Well technically I do. That's what I should do. But I don't intend to. And maybe that's selfish and brattish of me but then maybe I shouldn't have had it forced down my throat all my life,"

"Is that why you feel this way about it?" Vincent asked.

"I don't know. I always blamed it on that, but most girls were raised in Wutai that way and were perfectly accepting of it. So maybe I'm just the exception. The troublesome nuisance,"

"Maybe you are, but that's because you were meant to be, you were meant to join us," Barret said.

"Well that another discussion entirely," I replied dryly.

"Na, I don't believe in that shit, how everything happens the way it was meant to. Things happen because of the choices we all make, whether they're good or bad. But you were meant to join Avalanche,"

Well technically he was contradicting himself, but I didn't care. I got what he meant. Barret's a complicated person. Well, people are rarely simple. Like most of us, his motives are all down to Shinra. The Planet had to be saved; the complicated part is how he chose to do it. He hurt people to bring them down, in his quest for vengeance, and he knows what he did was bad, and that he hurt people trying to destroy Shinra. He accepts that, like he said, things happen due to our choices, so he accepts responsibility for those bad actions. He's been trying to find a way to live with that responsibility and seek a way of redeeming his actions. But he absolutely believes Avalanche had to take down Shinra, and there was no other way it could have happened other than the way it did in the end. It's not predestination, and therefore doesn't remove responsibility, but it had to happen the way it did. He suffered, he caused suffering, but that ultimately led to the choices that saved the Planet. And that applied to all of us. By being that troublesome nuisance who didn't accept my responsibilities and chose a different way (running away and becoming a materia hunter), it led me to running into Avalanche and playing my part in saving the Planet. I made those choices but I had to, in order to be able help save the Planet one day.

It's hard to explain. Like I said, Barret's a complicated person.

Barret took another gulp of whiskey "How about you Valentine? Think you'll ever tie the knot?" I had to stop myself from snorting. That was not a question anyone would have even thought about asking Vincent a few years ago.

But then again, I'd never have thought I'd have a twenty minute make out and groping session with him in an armchair a few years ago either.

"I've never really thought about it," Vincent answered.

"Well between the rest of us, I think Marlene is probably the most likely to get married next," I said dryly.

"No she bloody well ain't," Barret growled. I laughed.

"You get my point," I grinned. He still looked irate.

"I'm not so certain," Vincent said, "It wasn't so long ago that it seemed impossible that Cloud and Tifa had a future together,"

"Yes, because Cloud had his head so far up his own-"

"The same could be said of you Valentine. Never thought you'd change as much as you have,"

"Well again, that's because he had his head up his-"

"Yes, you told me as much. On a regular basis," Vincent interrupted me.

"I only said it so much because you refused to listen," I pointed my glass at him accusatorily.

"Yes I did," Vincent agreed. I retracted my hand. That hadn't been the answer I'd been expecting. I suddenly felt hot and uncomfortable under that gaze.

"Well, I think i'd put my money on Reeve if I absolutely had to," I rambled, trying to change the subject, "If he ever talked to a woman outside of the WRO anyway,"

"I know who I'd put my money on," Barret muttered, "And it isn't Tuesti,"

"Perhaps he'd get on well with Elymra," I added cuttingly.

Barret scowled into his drink, before finishing it and muttering a goodnight to us.

"You shouldn't have said that," Vincent told me after he'd gone.

"You just summed up the story of my life Vinnie," I answered unconcernedly, "And sometimes people need to be told something, even if they don't want to hear it. You're living proof of that,"

"Hn,"

I grinned, and took his empty glass from him, along with my own and Barret's to the sink. I'd just finished washing them when I paused, frowning and biting my lip, staring down at the sink.

"Yuffie?" Vincent asked, immediately picking up on my body language, "What is it?"

I let out a breath, tilting my head up, "I- I just never thought it was such a big deal. The whole marriage thing,"

"It's not. You shouldn't feel insecure about it Yuffie. I don't think anyone's attacking you for it, they're just curious. And trying to understand,"

"I don't get why it's such a surprise to everyone," I mumbled.

"Yuffie, not everyone's as good at reading people as you are. And you keep some things very close to your chest. Sometimes we forget that you do,"

"Can you read me?" I asked softly, turning around and leaning against the sink, looking at him. He didn't answer me straight away, but he sounded certain when he did.

"I like to think that I can, and I think I can read you better than everyone else. I know I want to be able to and I know no one reads me as well as you do,"

He wasn't confusing reading me with understanding me. Because sometimes he didn't, just like I didn't always understand him. Because no one can ever truly understand another person entirely; we're all different and that's the point of us, to be different, whether because of different personalities or pasts or whatever. He didn't need me to understand him completely. No one should ever need someone like that, it's not healthy to. But it's because he can read me so well, better than most, that he understands me far more than most. He knows what I need, even when I sometimes don't.

And I was pretty sure he just admitted the same thing about me with regards to his self. It was that that made me feel sure in that moment that something was going to happen between us. Something beyond making out on couch, or dancing at a wedding or fighting monsters together.

And I felt sure it was going to happen very soon.

OOO

"Yuffie," The hushed beckon had come just as I was walking down the hall. It was a week later, a few days after Tifa and Cloud had got back. Everything had returned to normal- at least so I thought. Tifa and I had resumed bar work, Cloud had gone back to delivering, and no one could guess that something had happened between Vincent and I.

Looking around to the source of my name being called, I saw Tifa, peering around her and Cloud's bedroom door. She looked…odd.

"Heya Teef," I answered, feeling puzzled at her behaviour. This puzzled feeling increased tenfold as she glanced around the hall, and seeing no one, seized my arm and dragged me into the bedroom where I observed the second clue that warned me something was up: the room was somewhat cluttered. Bits of Cloud's gear was scattered around, and there was a pile of clothes on the unmade bed. Now Tifa isn't what I would call a neat freak, but she likes thing fairly tidy and clear. So do I; the difference being I just can't be bothered to tidy up and put stuff away so I have to live with it.

"Tifa, what's up?" I asked. My tone was neutral, but I was feeling worried.

"Nothing! Well, something may be, but I wouldn't call it being up…" She trailed off. By now I was starting to panic. Was she okay? Was she ill? Was it something to do with Cloud? Yes, that was most likely to be it…

"Tifa? Is everything okay? Is this about Cloud? The wedding?" I questioned.

"Uhh," At the mention of 'Cloud' and 'The wedding' she seemed to become…nervous? She shifted her weight from foot to foot. Her behaviour was honestly scaring me by now.

"Tifa, please, you're really worrying me now, please tell me what's wrong?" I pleaded. My anxiousness must have shown on my face, because she smiled in a reassuring manner.

"Oh Yuffie, nothing's wrong. If it's what I think it is, it's definitely nothing wrong…" She trailed off again, looking like she'd lost her words. She must have caught my frankly unnerved expression again though, because she took a deep breath, found the words and said: "Yuffie, I think I'm pregnant,"

I was stunned for a minute, wordless, before I regained myself.

"Pregnant? PREGNANT? Oh my gawd Tifa that's wonderful!" I squealed. She shushed me, but was smiling, looking relieved and excited about finally sharing her news.

"How do you know? Have you done a test? Does Cloud know? I wonder whether it's a boy or a girl! Have you got any names? When are you-"

"Yuffie!" She interrupted, laughing, "Slow down! I haven't even done a test yet, so I'm not definitely sure-"

"Stay here, I'm going to go and get you a test!" I interrupted, spinning around, missing her bemused expression and sprinting out the door, down the stairs and out of Seventh Heaven. I fell through the drug store doors ten minutes later, breathlessly and impatiently striding through the aisles.

"Hi, can I help you ma'am?" a young woman asked politely.

"I'm looking for pregnancy test kits," I answered distractedly.

"They're right-"

"There!" I exclaimed, spotting them two meters away. I started yanking different brands off the shelves, staring at them, before turning back to the assistant.

"Which one is the best, the most accurate?" I demanded.

"Well, it depends, is it an early pregnancy test or-"

"You know what, it doesn't matter, I'll take one of each," I told her, thrusting boxes into her arms, taking the rest myself and striding over to the counter, dropping them down impatiently and wrenching gil out of my pocket.

Two minutes later I was bolting back to Seventh Heaven. Tifa laughed when I dumped all the boxes on her bed.

"I'm going to have to start drinking a lot of water if you want me to take all of those!"

"Well I don't know much about pregnancy tests!" I said impatiently, "The point of birth control is to prevent needing them!"

"Birth control? she asked suspiciously. Oops.

I flushed. "Nothing! I'm just not totally irresponsible enough to get myself knocked up if an occasion did arise, being the spontaneous soul I am! It alright for you, you're married. I'm an intelligence agent, ninja and princess,"

"Who isn't in a relationship, and doesn't, as far as I know, have eyes for anyone other than-"

"Tifa enough speculation about my sex life, will you please just take one of these," I interrupted, "this is literally the biggest cliff hanger ever, and way more important, wouldn't you agree, being the one who is possibly pregnant?"

Luckily that distracted her. Not that I was trying to distract her- I was completely sincere in my excitement and anticipation.

"You're supposed to take them in the morning when you wake up," Tifa said, "That's when its most accurate…"

"Well luckily we have enough spares for you to take another in the morning if it's not positive," I pointed out.

She smiled, laughing, "Yes, I suppose we do,"

I sat down on the bed, tapping my fingers impatiently against my leg whilst she was in the bathroom. I shot to my feet when she emerged.

"We have wait four minutes," She informed me, putting the capped stick on her dresser.

"Right," I sat back down. "This is the worst!" I burst out with twenty seconds later, back on my feet.

"Yuffie! Its only four minutes- that's not even long enough to warrant any patience!" Tifa was laughing again, no doubt entertained that despite her being the one who was possibly pregnant, I was the one who was completely and totally worked up about it.

"Well you know me, I've never been very good at waiting for the things I want,"

"No. Which brings me back to earlier…do you need to take one of these?"

I stopped my pacing. "What?"

She gave me a look. A knowing, Tifa look. Because she's dealt with Cloud for all these years. There's not much bullshit she can't detect.

"Disregarding the implication," I said, hands on my hips, "Didn't I just say I'd be sensible enough to take precautions?"

"Well, I'm just saying, some methods only prevent pregnancy, and not-"

"Oh my gawd Tifa, are you seriously giving me the talk right now? While you're waiting to find out if you accidentally got knocked up?"

"Well that's the point, birth control can fail, mine certainly seems to have, and it's not just pregnancy I'm talking about being protected from. For example, just because a guy hasn't had any for thirty plus years, it doesn't mean you'd be safe from possibly getting-"

"Tifa! Will you stop? This is your moment, it's not about me so please don't ruin it by lecturing me about STI's!" I exclaimed.

"I'm not possessive about moments," Tifa replied defensively, "I mean, if I was I would be upset about the wedding, which was what you would call my moment, but you most definitely became the talking point of it when you practically started gyrating-"

"I was not gyrating-" I spluttered.

"I told you Vincent wouldn't be able to resist you, and Shera said you were both pretty cheerful the next morning-"

"Our best friends had just tied the knot and personally I like to see Cid miserably hungover when I'm not!"

"Well as your best friend, I'd be pretty happy, along with the rest of Avalanche I'd say, especially Reeve, if you'd just-"

"Tifa, I do not need the entirety of Avalanche involved in this, it's complicated enough and one of the reason why Vincent are still just friends," I interjected, hoping she'd catch my drift. I hadn't admitted anything, but I hadn't denied anything either. I'd rather not lie to Tifa, but she of all people should understand that pressure from the rest of Avalanche, no matter how enthusiastic, was not an ingredient needed in this mix. Because the rest of Avalanche were already an inescapable part of it all. I'm usually an all-or-nothing kind of person anyway, but that was part of the reason a friends with benefits relationship was off the table. The only way that would work to anykind of (already doubtful) success was if that was private; but it wouldn't be. It would be the business of the rest of Avalanche because that's the way our ragtag group works. Its wouldn't just be our relationship, it would be the rest of Avalanche's as well, a new equilibrium everyone would have to come too. That, along with all the other reasons I'd told Reeve at the wedding, were not something Vincent or I were prepared to deal with right now. We depended on our deep friendship too much to risk compromising it.

It's just we'd reached a point where it was getting hard not to. Clearly especially when corsets and armchairs were involved.

Tifa regarded me, before saying "Well as for the lecturing, as your best friend, it's also my duty to warn you to be careful. In more than one sense,"

"I- yep. Thanks," I replied awkwardly, not feeling too guilty for not telling her that yes, I had slept with in Vincent, yes we'd been sensible, and were continuing to be sensible by not repeating it- any armchair incidents aside. She seemed to understand.

"I think the times up," She suddenly looked nervous.

"Do you want me to look?" I asked.

"No I can do it. It's just, I know what I want it to say. But I'm not sure if Cloud would be ready- I mean as I said this was an accident, we haven't planned to have a baby right now, I must have taken my pill wrong one day or something-"

"Cloud had faced far, far worse things than an accidental pregnancy with the woman he loves and just married. Sure, he might react in a non-conventional way, but that because he a socially challenged, chocobo-headed weirdo. But before we start second guessing his likely very happy reaction, why don't you see if its definitely a reality?"

"Yes, yes you're right," Tifa took a deep breath and turned her back me to look at the test on the dresser. She turned back around, but her face was obscured as she was looking down at the test in her hand. Then she looked up.

Her eyes were shining. She was smiling.

I squealed, flying towards her.

"It's positive! Oh my gawd it's positive, it's positive!"

"I'll take another in the morning just in-"

"It's positive, Boobs you're going to have a baby!"

"Yes, yes I am!"

We were hugging, she was laughing and crying and I was babbling nonsense.

We eventually draw back, "Right, well, first things first, you need to make a doctors appointment,"

"Yes," She agreed, wiping her eyes, "Yes. And this need to stay secret from anyone until I've told Cloud,"

"Do you need to make the appointment in my name? Well, actually no, that would be a recipe for disaster if that got out either, we could just make up a false name. Ooo, that could be fun. How about yours backwards? Wait, Afit? No that wouldn't work, and Boobs backwards is the same-any particular name you've always wished you'd had?"

"No Yuffie!" She shook her head, amused, "That will all be confidential. I just mean I don't want anyone else knowing before Cloud. And even after that, for the first three months, whevever that it. I need to find out how far along I am. It's not that I don't trust Avalanche the keep it a secret, I just want it to be Cloud and I's secret for a bit, and the first trimester is the riskiest…"

"No, I totally get it," I reassured, "It'll be fine. And I'll stop drinking as well, so if anyone asks, we can just say we're on some body detox together or something. Plus that way you can start eating the things you need to, all that healthy stuff with the vitamins you need!"

"Wow, you're going to start eating healthily with me?" She teased.

"Hey, I do eat healthily! You don't stay fit and healthy like I need to be if you don't!" I replied, offended, "I just have a few sugary things on the side…"

OOO

True to my word, that what I did. I made an announcement at dinner the day we'd found out that she was pregnant that I was appalled and disgusted at the amount of alcohol that had been consumed at the wedding and it had made me aware that we should respect our bodies more, and I would therefore be treating myself to a detox. No alcohol and a healthier diet. I would be sticking to this conscientiously and anyone else, especially those older amongst us, would be welcome and wise to join me. Well, I made some more passive aggressive hints about how it was the sensible thing to do and anyone who didn't was irresponsible and setting a bad example. Barret clearly wasn't happy about these digs, but could hardly tell me to stick it in front of Marlene. Marlene congratulated me, polite little angel she is, but was apparently not angelic enough to join me in this crusade against sugar. Denzel had a gleam in his eye that clearly conveyed he thought it was stupid, but wasn't going to say anything since it meant he'd stop having to competing with me for a share of the cookies.

Tifa of course was very supportive and decided she'd join me in my endeavour. Vincent said it was a good idea, and had every faith that I'd do it- for a month or so. Barret then laughed and said I wouldn't even last that long. I told them both to stick it. Tifa scolded me for using inappropriate language in front of the kids (for Planet's sake they're exposed to Cid, they're not going to hear anything from me that isn't ten times worse as the things he comes out with), which I though was incredibly unfair since this was all a cover for her.

By the next morning, there was already a bet running between my faithless friends. Barret of course had bitched to Cid about me, and had no doubt snitched on the not so subtle digs I'd made about the amount of alcohol certain chain smoking members had seen away at the wedding. But that was why I'd done it; one because I loved winding Cid up, and two I wanted the word spreading. But apparently Cid had bet I'd last the shortest amount of time, a mere one week, with Barret saying two. I expected this behaviour from them, and Vincent had given me the longest time, a month, although I never ascertained whether he was actually in on the bet or had just unintentionally started it with his comment. To my surprise though, Cloud was also in on it, giving me three weeks.

Again, I felt this was most unjust, since the whole reason I was doing this was for him and his pregnant wife. I couldn't wait for Tifa to tell him the happy news so I could get a grovelling apology from him, which would also include the promise of his unborn child being named Yuffie if it was a girl. I resolved that being a martyr until that moment would be enough.

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Of course he wouldn't be getting his recently lost materia back until then either. And that was also conditional on his progeny being named after me.

So maybe it was a bit short and abruptly ending, but I don't want to wreck the tempo of the next chapter, which as a result is going to be very long I think. And I've already got the majority of it written, the solid back bone at least. Well, I say at least but its already almost 12,000 words!

There's a few points I want to explain, as I feel I may have disappointed with this chapter: Vincent and Yuffie still haven't got together. And its how far down the line? I started this story a long time ago. I always had an idea of where it was going but that's developed a hell of a lot more as time's gone by. And so have I; I've grown up and matured a lot in that time, with lots of things going on in my life that have shaped that. I think it shows both in the way my writing's changed and the content. And that's kind of it; now I am more mature, I want to deal with the things that have been built into this story properly, realistically, and do that maturity justice. This story's been going on for so long now may seem like i'm throwing up road blocks for the sake of it, but I think they're real reasons that Yuffie and Vincent would have to deal with in the scenario I've created. Vincent has a very hard and difficult past that's got to have given him some insecurities, Yuffie's an unwilling heir but still the only heir, they have differing personalities that are bound to clash sometimes, and they're part of a group that's been through a hell of a lot that's got to have left them partly co-dependant on each other.

But I also get that this clarity of thought and creativity has come very late. It would have been fine if I regularly updated. But updates are far and few between, shakily irregular at best. And the new term of my last year at university is about to start, so I have to write my dissertation which is going to take a lot of work (that i'm already behind on), so I can't make any new promises there. I can only apologise, and hope that you enjoy reading this enough to be insanely patient and keep faith! I love writing this story, and I love every last one of you who reads this. Readers and writers depend on each other, it really makes me so happy when I hear your comment on what I've written, and I feel so privileged that you have, especially when I make you wait so long!

So I hope you've enjoyed the chapter, and the story. I haven't given up, I swear! Until next time, and thanks for reading!