By Kristen Gupton-Williams

As night fell in Rocket and everyone in the house started to prepare for bed, Cid grew increasingly worried. He feared that if Vincent and Tifa went to bed together, that he wouldn’t be able to protect her from his own room. He didn’t quite know how to go about confronting Vincent and Tifa regarding this.

Soon enough, Tifa could tell that there was something on Cid’s mind as the three of them sat around the kitchen table finishing off their evening drinks. "Is something wrong?"

At once he set down his glass and glanced between the two of them. "Well, it’s like this; how am I gonna make sure you’re safe from Chaos if you guys are locked in your room?"

Tifa and Vincent looked at each other, both not wanting to be separated but knowing that it was the right thing. After a few moments of silence, Vincent smiled at his wife. "I think you should sleep in Cid’s room."

Her eyes grew wide at his suggestion, especially in light of the argument that morning. "Are you serious?"

"Yes." Vincent nodded. "I think you guys should barricade me in the guest room and then stay together for the night. That way I won’t be a threat, and if Chaos does come out for some reason, you’ll be able to react before I can get out."

Cid seemed all right with this plan. "Sounds fine to me."

Tifa raised her eyebrows. "Okay, I guess…"

"All right then." Vincent gave Tifa a kiss and then rose from his seat. "I’m going to head on back. Make sure that you put something heavy in front of that door."

Cid got up, handed the infant to Tifa and followed Vincent. "I think the dresser in the hall should work."

Tifa remained planted in her chair as Cid and Vincent retreated down the hall. She did what she could to remain focused on the child in her arms; not wanting to be present as her husband was imprisoned for the night.

***

Early the next morning, Tifa was lying in bed staring up at the ceiling as Cid and the baby slept beside her. She was eager to check on Vincent, since she hadn’t heard a sound from him all night, but knew that she should really wait until Cid got up, just in case there were problems.

As she continued to wait for the pilot to wake up, she glanced over at the clock seeing that it was only 5:45 in the morning. She still had fifteen more minutes or so until he would wake up. Deciding that she might as well get up and get dressed, Tifa slid quietly from the bed and went into the bathroom. While brushing her teeth, she heard a familiar sound outside, and hurried to finish before running outside. Tifa made her way to the empty field, ignoring for the moment the cold air on her skin.

Soon enough, she was standing alone, watching as Tseng’s airship descended. She wrapped her arms around herself to ward off her chill.

Once the ship was on the ground, Tseng emerged. He smiled upon seeing Tifa waiting for him and approached her. "Tifa, you’re up early."

She threw her arms around him in relief. "I couldn’t sleep."

After a few moments, he backed out of her embrace. "How are you doing?"

"Fine, considering." She replied weakly.

"Where is Vincent?" Tseng asked.

"Still in bed at the moment." Tifa shrugged. "Cid fixed him, but left him too weak to really do much. He’s barricaded in his room right now. Cid thought that way he couldn’t surprise us in the night."

"Good." Tseng nodded. "I needed to talk to you alone anyway."

Tifa looked up at him in some confusion. "About what?"

"Well, we can get the demon out of Vincent once and for all, but we can not tell him that." Tseng took a step closer to her.

Tifa was struck oddly by this. "Why not?"

"If Vincent knew then so would Chaos." Tseng sighed. "I think we both know that demon won’t go without with a fight. If he knows we are out to kill him, Chaos would do everything in his power to take over Vincent and escape."

His words made all too much sense. "Poor Vincent, I just know he would have been so relieved to know that you can do something about the demon."

"He will be fine. This little wait until we get back to the base to get rid of Chaos isn’t any worse than anything else he’s been through." Tseng smiled.

"You’re right." Tifa nodded in agreement. "He’s tough I guess."

"Of course he is." He replied.

Tifa thought for a moment. "How are you going to get rid of Chaos?"

"With an extended treatment of the same chemical that Hojo used to almost kill the demon the last time you and Vincent were in the lab." Tseng answered simply.

She grew very concerned. "But Tseng! Whatever Hojo gave him seriously hurt, I thought he was going to die!"

Vincent had told Tseng about how awful that moment had been but he didn’t see that he had a choice. "It’s the only way."

Tifa had no choice but to accept this, no matter how much it bothered her.

"I also have one other concern." Tseng said.

"What?"

"Just as with the last time, I don’t want you alone with Vincent until we get him cured." Tseng grew very serious. "I sincerely hope that you will comply with this order this time."

The painful memory of what Chaos had done to her the last time burned through her mind. Her shame was clear on her face and she dropped her gaze to the ground. "I will."

He placed an arm around her shoulders. "I just don’t want you hurt again. You understand, right?"

"Yeah," she whispered back.

They walked together back to the house in silence. When they were just a short distance away from it, they heard Cid’s very distinct voice calling out. "Tifa, where the hell are you?!"

She almost had to laugh to herself as they came around the corner and into Cid’s eyesight. Upon seeing her, Cid threw up his hands in the air and then went back inside. Apparently, when he had woken up finding her gone, Cid had grown concerned. So much so in fact, that he had been standing outside in only his boxers screaming for her. Much to the delight of his neighbors.

When Tifa and Tseng stepped into the house, they found Cid sitting at the kitchen table with Vincent.

Tseng went over and sat next to his brother. "Are you okay?"

Vincent smiled at him and nodded. "Yeah, and I would have been a lot better if Cid here hadn’t scared the living shit out of me this morning by throwing open my door and maniacally hollering for Tifa."

Having to speak up in his own defense, Cid slammed his hand down on the table. "Hey, I had to get in there to make sure Tifa hadn’t done some fool thing like crawling into that room through the window."

"I’m touched, really." Tifa interjected sarcastically. "I just went out when I heard the airship landing."

"So I gathered." Cid scoffed.

"In any event," Tseng addressed his brother, "I intend to bring you and Tifa back to the base, just to be safe."

Vincent nodded. "That’s more or less what I figured."

Cid spoke up. "You’re not gonna do some fucked up thing like put him back in stasis, right?"

"No, no, Mr. Highwind." Tseng smiled. "We simply intend to monitor him and make sure that he doesn’t pose a threat to anyone."

Cid gave Tseng a suspicious sidelong glance, knowing that the older man wasn’t above lying when it was necessary. "Right."

Tseng could feel the doubt emanating from the pilot and knew that he needed to move the discussion on before something was let out that would allow Vincent to know that a solution to his problem had been discovered. "In any event, Quigley is very anxious to get back to the lab in order to see if there is anything that he can do."

Tifa remained silent, just shifting her gaze between Vincent and his brother.

"I think Tifa and I can leave at any time." Vincent said, weakly rising from his seat.

"Good." Tseng also stood. "I will go ahead and let the crew know that we are ready."

Cid got up, shaking his head as Tseng left the room. Once they were alone, Cid spoke. "Look, Sunshine, I hope he doesn’t talk you into some asinine thing. If I get word from Tifa here that you’ve gone back into stasis or something, I’m coming after you."

Vincent couldn’t help but smile. "That’s touching, Cid. It really is."

"I’m serious." Cid crossed his arms over his chest. "You’ve fucked with Tifa’s emotions enough and I’m not gonna let you do it again."

"Aw, Cid." Tifa went over to him and embraced him. "You’re such a sweetie."

The nausea was clear in Cid’s expression as he pushed her away gently. "Get the hell out of here."

Tifa giggled and ran back to the bedroom to get their bags. There wasn’t much to pack as she had been living out of her suitcase, and Vincent’s idea of packing was Spartan at best.

While Tifa was getting their belongings, Cid locked Vincent in a heavy stare. "I’ve meant everything that I’ve said."

Vincent hung his head while nodding. "I know. I won’t let her get hurt again. I swear."

"Good." Cid clapped him firmly on the back as he made his way down the hall to go check on his son. As he went toward the nursery, he ran into Tifa as she emerged from the guestroom with her bags in tow. "You’re really eager to get out of here, huh?"

She smiled up at him while setting the bags on the floor. "No, but I need to get Vincent back so they can help him."

"Yeah, all right." Cid immediately seemed to grow a little uncomfortable as he stood before her.

Tifa felt his unrest and wasn’t certain how to interpret it. She placed her arms around him for a farewell hug.

Cid couldn’t help himself and he gave her just the shortest kiss on the lips. "Be careful, okay? I love you."

Tifa cocked an eyebrow at him as she stepped back. To have heard these words from Cid was almost earthmoving. "I will, don’t worry. I love you too, you’re a great friend."

He smiled weakly before motioning down the hall. "Get on with it. Sue is waiting for you."

"Okay, bye Cid." She called back at him as she retreated with her bags in hand.

"Yeah, bye." He sighed to himself as he went into his son’s room. The spot left empty in his heart from Shera’s death was bothering him and he knew that he would never be able to replace her. Tifa, for whatever reason seemed to be able to bring this pain up all too quickly and on some level, it was almost going to be a relief to be alone with his son again.

***

Tifa walked with Vincent leaning heavily on her. By the time they reached the airship she was starting to grow weary from supporting him. Many times on the way he asked if she needed to stop but she had politely refused, not wanting him to think that he was as heavy a burden as he really was. Right before they made the short ascent up the ramp and into the ship, Tifa had a strange feeling of tension but dismissed it as part of her fatigue.

They stepped through the door and at once were set upon by several large crewmembers. Tifa found herself pulled away from Vincent by Tseng, who held her tightly as he moved her away from the action surrounding her husband.

Vincent caught completely off guard and weakened by what had happened to him the day before was helpless. Three large men were restraining him and they held him tight. Dr. Arlin then emerged from a nearby doorway and approached him with a loaded syringe in her hands. As she reached him, the men holding him turned Vincent and pulled up his shirt so that the remaining muscle at the top of his left shoulder was exposed to her. With one fluid motion she drove the needle into him and dosed him with something.

As soon as she was done, the men that had been holding Vincent let go and stepped back. At the same time, Tseng released his grip on Tifa. She spun to face him, furious. "What the hell was that?!"

Tseng raised his hands in defense as he looked at both her and his brother. "The doctor and I decided it would be in all of our best interest if Vincent was sedated for the duration of the trip back to the base."

Vincent rubbed his burning shoulder and stepped back to Tifa’s side. "God damned it, Tseng! You could have gone about it a little better."

"Now look, Tsuvati." Tseng’s tone was firm. "Had you known that we were going to sedate you there would have been the chance for Chaos to try and stop us. This way that opportunity didn’t present itself."

"The fact that you assaulted me alone would have been reason enough for him to come out!" Vincent shouted, still shaken and rubbing his burning shoulder.

"Possibly, but the drug we gave you should take effect quickly and is potent enough to tranquilize either you or the demon." Dr. Arlin said, stepping to Tseng’s side.

Vincent was starting to feel something taking effect and he lurched forward slightly. "Oh no…"

Tifa placed her arms around him in an attempt to keep Vincent from falling. "Tseng, you’ve gone too far!"

Tseng stepped up and grabbed hold of Vincent, knowing that Tifa wouldn’t be able to support him for much longer. "Look Tifa, it was either we keep him drugged or keep him locked up in the brig. Which to you prefer?"

She stared at him incredulously as he tried to lead Vincent away. Tifa was so incredibly angry that she was at a loss for words. Helplessly, she followed as Tseng lead the increasingly drugged Vincent to the infirmary.