By Kristen Gupton-Williams

Hi to all of you who are still sticking with this story! You are dedicated to have gotten this far ;) Anyway, you might wonder what is up with this writing blitz after months of me not adding to this story. Well, in short, I’m bound and determined to get this monster finished off before I have surgery in October. No, it’s not that I think I might die and leave this whole thing dangling off in space, it’s just that I’ve got some other things I need to really get going on, and that’s just the most convenient deadline I could think of. So, read on, m’kay?

With Tseng’s passing, a somber tone descended upon the entire ASRIO complex. When morning came, Quigley and Porter returned to finish repairing Vincent’s body. Vincent was despondent and laid completely still as he was worked on, staring blankly at the ceiling above.

Tifa remained at his side, never daring to leave him for more than a few moments in his current condition. The best she could do for him for now was just to be there. After a few hours, Quigley and Porter had Vincent in as good of shape as possible with what they had at hand. Now able to move easily on his own, Vincent asked the doctor to remove the I.V. line from him so he could go on unfettered. The doctor obeyed and disconnected the line from the fluids he had been receiving, but left the intravenous catheter taped into his neck for the future doses of Quigley’s drug.

Vincent wandered back into the surgery suite where his brother’s body was still lying beneath a sheet. He pulled back the cover and looked down at Tseng’s colorless and blank face. His eyes were half-open and dulled. Vincent locked into the dead gaze and stood silent. Tifa came in a short time later and stood beside him, slipping her arm around his waist. He responded by placing an arm around her in turn, and cocking his head so that it rested against hers.

The door to the room opened once more, and Angel and Reno silently entered. They went to the other side of Tseng’s bed.

Angel’s eyes were horribly red from crying all night. She looked up and Vincent and asked, "You were with him, right?"

He responded by nodding shallowly. "Yeah."

"Good, I think that’s what he would have wanted." Angel said, clinging tightly to Reno.

Vincent pulled his gaze up to look at Reno. "So, you’re in charge now?"

Reno frowned. "Not exactly how I wanted to advance in the workplace, you know."

In a move that surprised everyone present, Vincent extended his hand to his son-in-law. "I know you’ll do all right."

After the initial shock passed, Reno accepted Vincent’s handshake. "That… that means a lot."

Vincent gave a faltering smile. "Tseng knew what he was doing when he put you second in command. He really did like you."

"Thanks." Reno wasn’t accustomed to such words from Vincent.

Vincent turned his attention to Angel. "How are you doing?"

She shrugged slightly. "I just can’t believe this."

He stepped around the table and took her into his arms. "Neither can I."

Tifa watched Vincent realizing what was going on. Tseng had been, for all intensive purposes the patriarch of this miss-matched family and now that he was gone, Vincent was going to step up and fill the void. She knew that she was seeing Vincent change right before her eyes.

Reno suddenly seemed to grow uncomfortable. "Hey…"

Everyone looked at him.

He ran a hand through his hair, which was unbelievably messier than normal. "Can I have a moment… alone?"

"Sure." Vincent motioned for everyone to leave the room.

After he was certain they were gone and out of earshot, Reno sat on the edge of the dead man’s bed. "Well old man, looks like this is it, huh?"

Reno allowed a second of silence to pass as though actually expecting an answer. "Well damn it, this sucks. I’d rather have you here than to have your job."

Again, he let a moment lapse. "I shouldn’t have let you go out on the ground. You should have been in the chopper with Angel… but there’s no point in playing the blame game now anyway is there?"

Reno paused again, this time to wipe his eyes. "Shit… we’ve been together for so long. I can’t believe this is how it ends. With my loud mouth and obnoxious ways I think we both figured I’d be the first one to be laying cold, right?"

He slid back to his feet. "I’m gonna miss you. Hope I don’t screw up your little operation here too much. You worked your ass off to get this whole ASRIO thing where it is, and I know it. I won’t let you down, okay?"

Reno pulled the sheet back over Tseng and turned to leave. Just before going out the door he looked over his shoulder. "I’ll keep an eye on your retard brother, too."

Cid had woken up and arrived in the infirmary to check on Tifa and Vincent. From the expressions everyone wore as he came through the door, he knew that something terrible had happened. He went straight to Tifa, seeing that she had been crying. "What’s going on?"

She reached out and took the baby from the pilot’s arms, knowing that the infant would comfort her. "It’s Tseng. He died last night."

Cid’s eyes widened and his heart sank. "No shit?"

Tifa eased herself down into a nearby chair. "No. Everyone is taking it pretty hard."

"Wow." Cid landed heavily in the chair next to her. "How’s Sunshine doing with it?"

Tifa glanced over at Vincent before turning her attention back to the baby. "He’s dealing with it in his own way. I know it’s really bothering him, but he’s doing his best to keep it together for everyone else’s sake."

"You mean Vincent is dealing with something like this in a way that isn’t just a big self pity party?" Cid was all too aware of the man’s normal coping abilities.

"No," Tifa smiled down at the infant as his tiny blue eyes peeked up at her. "He laid in bed silent for a long time right afterward, but once Angel and Reno showed up, he’s actually started trying to comfort everyone else."

"That doesn’t sound like our Vinny." Cid frowned while digging through a pocket for some gum. "Why do you think he’s acting like this?"

She shrugged, "Honestly? I think he’s trying to take Tseng’s place in some way. I don’t mean as in he wants to run ASRIO or anything, just that he’s trying to keep everyone together."

"Oh." Cid considered her words while popping in his gum. "I guess he had to grow up sometime."

"I don’t know." Tifa lowered her voice so that only Cid could hear. "Part of me say’s that he’s trying to divert himself from his own feelings by worrying about everyone else’s. The Vincent you and I both know is off dying somewhere of guilt."

"Maybe," he sighed back, "then again, maybe not. It might just be that Sue has learned that his usual introverted self torture neither changes anything that has happened nor does anyone around him any favors."

Hearing such an insightful comment from Cid impressed her. She turned to look at him.

Cid saw her unusual expression and knit his brow. "What?"

"That was just a more well thought out statement than I’m used to hearing from you." She smiled.

"Christ, here we go with the girly ‘feeling’ discussion…" Cid sank further into his chair.

"No," she reached out and patted his knee. "I’m not going to torture you like that today."

"Good." Cid got up. "I’m gonna go talk to the men before you do try and make me into your best girlfriend again."

Tifa shook her head and rolled her eyes. No matter what, Cid was still Cid.

Cid strolled over to where Reno and Vincent were standing. Not knowing how else to behave in this situation, Cid went forward and embraced Vincent. "I’m sorry."

Vincent clapped him on the back before stepping away. "Thanks."

"You’re okay, right?" Cid dared to ask, not wanting to pry into Vincent’s feelings too much.

He shrugged and shoved his hands into the pockets of the jeans he was currently wearing. "It’s hard…"

Cid nodded; Shera’s death still to fresh in his mind. "Yeah. If there’s anything I can do, let me know."

"Sure." Vincent flashed a weak smile.

Reno felt awkward as Cid and Vincent slipped into a brief silence. He needed to turn the conversation to anything but Tseng’s death. "You and the kid doing okay after last night?"

Cid glanced over at Tifa and his baby. "Yeah. Scared the living shit out of me to have to ditch my plane like that with the runt next to me. He doesn’t seem to have minded, though."

Reno smirked. "I went out to the hanger this morning. Brad’s got that rust bucket of yours inside. Really fucked it up, didn’t you?"

"Hey, any landing that you can walk away from is a good one." Cid shot back. "I don’t know if we’ll be able to get that plane in the air again, though."

"If anyone can, it’ll be Brad." Reno replied.

Cid scoffed. "Please! Everything that son of a bitch knows about mechanics I taught him. I wouldn’t trust that fucker to change the spark plugs in my car, let alone work on my plane."

"Well you’d better get the hell out there, ‘cause he’s already working on it." Reno informed him.

"God damn it!" Cid strode back over to where Tifa was sitting and reclaimed his child before storming out of the room and up to the airfield.