By Kristen Gupton-Williams

Vincent and Tifa sat through dinner quietly, still both feeling drained from the events of the day. When the meal was for the most part over, Cid's son began to cry and Tifa got up from the table and took the baby outside. As she stood alone in the night air cradling the infant to her, she heard someone step out onto the porch behind her. She turned to find Cid leaning against the wall watching her.

"Giving you any trouble?" he asked, smiling.

"No, I just thought you could use a break, plus I wanted to get out of there for awhile," Tifa admitted, still rocking the child in her arms.

Cid sighed and straightened up, taking a few steps toward her. He looked down at her, holding the baby. "You know, when you get one of those someday, you're gonna do great."

Tifa felt a bittersweet sting in her heart, knowing that it would be a long shot for her to have a child with Vincent. "I hope I get the chance."

Cid shrugged slightly, knowing what was on her mind. "Everything's gonna be fine, Tifa. Whatever it is that they've got planned for Sunshine will work, and he'll be able to help you make one of those things."

She smiled up at him, his encouraging words touching. "Thanks Cid."

"Sure." He became uncomfortable, and scratched the back of his head. "If something were to go awry though, you know, I always could, you know…"

Tifa caught the gist of what he was trying to say. The thought of having a child with Cid did appeal to some part of her, assuming that it became her only option. "You'd do that for me?"

He flushed with embarrassment. "Well of course I would. Hell, we've all been through a lot together and I think we all know one another pretty well. I think you and Sunshine would be good enough parents to earn the privilege of raising a kid of mine. This one turned out pretty good, right?"

Tifa had to admit the baby boy that she was holding was about the cutest she'd seen. "He's great. I just somehow can't see the mighty Cid Highwind going into a sperm bank to donate."

He scoffed. "Oh, of course you'd want to do it that way…"

She outright laughed, "Cid!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." He couldn't help but chuckle to himself. "Vinny probably wouldn't approve of us makin' one of those things the old fashioned way, huh?"

"No, I most certainly wouldn't."

They both turned to see Vincent standing in the doorway.

Cid's discomfort immediately returned twofold. "Uh, hey."

Vincent winked at Tifa. "You'd really lower yourself to having one of his kids?"

She smiled. "Aw, wouldn't you like to have a little Highwind?"

Vincent rolled his eyes. "No."

"Shows how much you know." Cid folded his arms across his chest. "But it ain't gonna come to that, cause you're gonna have your stupid procedure and get a normal body so that you can knock her up yourself."

Vincent cocked an eyebrow. "If that is what I have to do in order to prevent myself from having to raise your kid, then so be it."

Tifa looked at the two men, touched that they could be joking so casually about such a thing. She knew very well that the same conversation less than a year ago would have resulted in one or both of them dead.

Both men grew silent after a moment, realizing that they were being stared at. They turned to Tifa, finding her looking back at them with an odd expression.

Cid somehow felt that he needed to skip out of the conversation and so went to Tifa to get his son, who was by now asleep.

Tifa handed him the infant and smiled. "Thanks, Cid."

He took his boy and grinned back at her. "Anytime."

Vincent moved so Cid could get by him and back into the house. He then came to Tifa's side and placed an arm around her shoulders. "If things don’t go well, and I can't give you the child that you want, I honestly wouldn't mind if you took his offer."

Tifa rested her head against his shoulder and sighed. "It isn't going to come to that, Vincent. We're going to be okay, and we'll have a kid of our own."

Her confidence was touching and he stared into her eyes. "Do you really think I'm going to be decent as a father?"

She laughed, "Vincent, I think you'll do just fine."

"I've never even held a baby, you know." He looked off into the distance.

Tifa thought back and realized that he never had touched Cid's son. "Why haven't you ever picked up little Cid?"

He shrugged. "I just don't feel comfortable, besides, I think that babies in general wouldn't be particularly comforted in the mechanical arms of a cybernetic machine."

Tifa had never thought about that. "I think the intent of whoever is holding them is more important than what the arms look like that are around them."

"Maybe, but somehow I'm afraid that I would hurt something that small." One of the corners of his mouth pulled down in an awkward frown.

"I know that you can be very gentle with your touch." She turned to put her arms around his waist.

He looked down at her, his frown fading and one of his eyebrows raising again. "Well, yeah…"

"Vincent, you haven't really said anything since Angel told you that she was pregnant this morning." Tifa locked gazes with him. Whatever it was that he was holding in, she knew that he had to vent.

He bit his bottom lip for a moment, trying to think of something to say on the matter. "If she's happy, then so am I."

"You're going to be a grandfather." Tifa sighed.

"That just doesn’t seem right." Vincent held her closer. "And once we have our own kids, isn't it going to be weird that they are going to be younger than this grandbaby?"

"A little, but would you really expect our family to be normal?" she replied jokingly.

"No, not really." Vincent sighed. "Reno as a dad though, that scares me."

Tifa giggled. "That will definitely be something to see."

Vincent didn't really want to dwell on Reno's parentage. "Would you like to go for a walk?"

"Okay." Tifa stepped back from him and took one of his hands.

They walked through the darkened town together. Both of them couldn't help but think of the night they had last walked through Wutai like this, the night Vincent had intended to ask her to marry him. Tifa stopped as they found themselves on the bridge where he had dropped to his knee, right before they had been accosted by Yuffie's husband.

Vincent looked at her and knit his brow, seeing that something was wrong. "What?"

She shrugged. "Just thinking about that night, you know."

"Oh." He looked over the edge of the bridge, down at the withered stream below.

Tifa clenched her teeth, debating whether or not she should say what she was thinking, but decided that she had nothing to lose. She looked up to the stars. "Once, when Cloud and I were younger, he made me a promise, that if I ever needed help, he would be there, no matter what."

Vincent narrowed his eyes, wondering where this was coming from.

She went on, not having expected an answer from him. "I know this is corny, but he made that promise to the stars. Vincent, now I want you to make me a promise, just like he did."

Still, Vincent didn't respond.

"Promise me, promise to all the stars in the sky, that you'll survive what Quigley has in store for you. If you do that, then you'll have to live in order not to break that promise." Tifa continued to gaze up at the sky.

Vincent was quiet for a minute longer. As she had herself admitted, this was corny, but somehow he knew that he had to do it in order to make her happy. He walked up behind her and placed his arms around her and whispered into her ear, "Tifa, I swear to you and the entire Universe, that I will survive."

She let the tears of trepidation she held about the procedure come, and she turned in his embrace. "Thanks."

He held her tightly, and placed his cheek against the top of her head. "I already have it on good authority that everything will turn out all right."

Tifa moved so that she could look up at him. "What?"

"Tseng told me that everything is going to be fine." Vincent was obviously feeling strange about relaying this to her. "When I was asleep this afternoon, I had a dream… except, it was more than a dream. I saw Tseng, and he told me that everything was going to work out for the best; that we didn't have anything to worry about."

Vincent never discussed his dreams with her, so she knew that this must have been important. "Really?"

He smiled faintly. "Yes."

She retook his hand in hers and they started walking again. Vincent led her to the place where Tseng had been buried earlier that day. They walked silently through the cemetery, until they reached the Vatasi family plot. Although Tifa wasn't able to read the headstones as they were written in Wutain, she spotted where Tseng had been lain to rest by the freshly disturbed soil that covered his place.

Vincent knelt down on the ground before his brother's grave. He pointed to the left. "That is our father, and on his right is my mother, and on his left is Tseng's mother."

Tifa sat on the ground next to him. "Is this where you want to be someday?"

Vincent hadn't ever really thought about it. "I want to be put wherever you are."

"I like it here." Tifa also, had never given any thought to her final resting-place. "This would be fine with me."

"What about where the rest of your family is buried?" Vincent asked.

"Well, they were all cremated, so there isn't anywhere, really." Tifa thought back on when she had taken the ashes of both her parents to Mount Nibel and spread them on the wind. "Let's just be put here, together."

"I guess that means that we need to make a will, then." Vincent sighed, never having been very good at document preparation, but then again, that's what lawyers were for. "I'm sure there's an attorney working for ASRIO somewhere."

Tifa smiled. "God, we sound like such adults, huh?"

"Well, I guess we had to grow up sometime." Vincent smirked.

The stillness of the night air was broken when the cell phone in Vincent's pocket went off, causing them both to jump. He pulled it out and flipped it open. "Hello?"

"Hey, where the hell you at?" the voice on the other end cracked.

"Out for a walk." Vincent frowned. "What do you want, Reno?"

"Just giving you the heads up. We're going back in the morning, so I don't want the two of you wandering off too far." Reno answered, drunk from his night out with the boys.

Vincent wasn't opposed to getting out of Wutai quickly, as being here just kept him thinking about his brother. Then again, being at the ASRIO base wasn't going to be particularly memory free either. "All right, we'll be there."

***

By early morning the airship was ready to go and everyone was on board. Reno did a head count, making sure everyone was accounted for. He was hungover from his night of partying with Rude and the others, and managed to make everyone around him miserable.

Vincent and Tifa retreated to the cabin that they had shared on previous trips on this ship, not feeling like being exposed to Reno's elevated cursing and negativity. After a short while on the ship, and knock came to their door.

Vincent answered, to find Jaras and Jeanine on the other side. "Hey, come on in."

Tifa smiled upon seeing their guests. "What's up?"

Jaras sat on the small couch with Jeanine landing at his side. "We had nothing else to do, this isn't a very exciting ship."

"I'll give you that." Tifa replied, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Vincent came and sat beside her. "So, will you two be going back to Mideel once we get to the base?"

Jaras shrugged. "I guess so. Reno seems eager to get rid of me."

Vincent couldn't help but smile. "At the moment, I think Reno is eager to get rid of everyone."

"Being hungover has really brought out the best in him, I see." Jeanine replied.

As Vincent looked on at the two of them, he noticed that Jaras was holding Jeanine's hand. He found himself staring.

Tifa followed her husband's gaze and noticed as well. She nudged Vincent in the side to break him out of his trance.

Vincent shook himself of out of his daze and tried to restart the conversation. "So, what are the plans for you back home?"

Jaras smiled, knowing that his grip on Jeanine had been noticed. "Get my store in order and help Jeanine get her psychiatric office set up. She's going to set up in Mideel permanently."

"Oh, that's very good." Vincent replied, pleased to see that Jaras was going to have some real companionship.

Tifa was excited to hear this. "That's great!"

Jeanine smiled. "I guess the people of Mideel need just as much help as anyone anywhere else. There are enough crazy people there to keep me in business, I think."

Jaras laughed. "At the very least, she'll be able to convince anyone who thinks that I'm Sephiroth that they're having delusions."

"That could be useful." Vincent smiled.

Jeanine leaned forward. "Vincent, in light of the fact that I'll be heading back to Mideel shortly, I thought maybe we could talk again today."

Vincent glanced over at Tifa, but saw that she wasn't going to get him out of it. "Okay, sure."

Jeanine looked at Tifa. "You don't mind, do you?"

She smiled widely. "Of course I don't mind!"

"Good, shall we?" Jeanine got up from the couch and walked toward the door.

Vincent rose as well and followed her out and to the cabin that she and Jaras were sharing.

With Vincent and Jeanine out of the room, Tifa looked at Jaras. "So, what's going on with you and Jeanine?"

"Well, after the funeral and dinner last night, she and I sat up late talking. We sort of both admitted that we liked each other on a level more than friendship and decided that maybe we could give this relationship thing a chance. We're going to take things really slow."

Tifa was giddy to hear this. "I'm so happy for you!"

"Well, it's about time that I had someone like her in my life, I suppose. Seven years is a long time to be alone, and honestly, even when I was that other person, I didn't have any relationships to speak of." Jaras shuddered as the memories of Sephiroth's life passed through him.

Tifa couldn't imagine Sephiroth having any sort of long-term companion. "Well, I'm happy for you."

"Thanks." Jaras sank further into the couch; himself still a little overwhelmed by what was happening between Jeanine and he. "I'm happy too."

***

Vincent landed on the bed in Jeanine's room, laying back in the typical therapy pose. She sat on the couch and pulled her notebook from the coffee table, opening it to the page where she had made some earlier notes on Vincent.

Jeanine cleared her throat. "Before we start, I just want to say that you did a marvelous job yesterday."

Vincent wasn't all that impressed with his performance at the funeral, but appreciated the compliment. "Thank you."

"Now, have you thought anymore about what we spoke about the other day?" Jeanine asked, watching his reaction.

He remained relaxed, and answered. "I have, and I think that I'm doing better."

"Good." She could tell from his lack of tension that he was, in fact, better off than he had been the other day. "What is the biggest concern you have now?"

"Getting through the procedure that Quigley is planning for me." Vincent steepled his fingers above his chest.

"And that is getting the new body, correct?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes." Vincent frowned. "I know Tifa is very worried about my survival."

"She is aware of the risks involved. It's natural for her to be concerned, she loves you." Jeanine replied, writing something down.

Vincent raised his eyebrows. "I suppose so."

She caught his tone. "Do you still find it hard to believe that she loves you?"

"After all that I have done in the past, and how I have at times acted, I wonder what she sees in me." He let his hands fall back to his sides.

"Don't you think the fact that she is with you despite those things proves that she cares about you very deeply?" Jeanine looked up from the paper, watching for his reaction.

"Put that way, I suppose it does. If she didn't, surely she would have run away by now." Vincent let the frown fade.

"Right." Jeanine smiled. "So, knowing that she does truly care for you, she is justified in her fears."

"Yes, she is." Vincent smiled for a moment. "She even made me promise to her before the entire known Universe that I will live through the procedure."

"She's looking for any sort of reassurance that she can get." Jeanine again wrote something.

"But what if something does happen, and I don't make it? I'm not saying that I have any doubts that I will make it, but if I didn't, I'm afraid that she'd be mad at me for lying." Vincent knit his brow.

"She would be angry if you died, no matter what happened. It is a normal part of the grieving process." Jeanine sighed. "She wouldn't truly be angry with you, though."

"That's true." Vincent closed his eyes. "I guess I just feel like I'd be letting her down."

"Of course."

"But again, I'm not going to die." Vincent opened his eyes and looked over at her. "I know I'll make it."

"And that confidence is going to help you through this." She set her pen down. "Just reassure her as much as you can, and see to it that every aspect of the procedure is explained to her so that she doesn't feel left out in any way."

"I'll make sure that they let her know everything." Vincent tensed his jaw for a moment, and grew quiet.

Jeanine immediately saw that there was something bothering him. "What is it?"

"Would you think it wrong of me to tell Tifa that it's all right with me if she allows another man to father a child for her if I don't come out of this being able to do so?" Vincent asked, feeling redness come to his cheeks.

Jeanine looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think that is very giving of you to say that. It's not easy for most men to consider raising a child that isn't biologically theirs."

"I just know that having kids is something that is really important to her, and her best friend made the offer last night to donate, if you will, for the cause. It didn't bother me to hear that as much as I thought it would." Vincent again began to fidget with his hands over his chest.

"That is a sign of maturity. You are so oriented on her happiness as to allow another man to father her children. You would however, be the true father to that baby as you would be the one raising it. That is the most important role a man has in fatherhood. Donating the appropriate gametes to create a child does not a father make." Jeanine smiled at her own use of words.

This was honestly the first time Vincent had ever heard the word 'gametes' from anyone other than Hojo, and he shuddered.

She saw his reaction. "Something wrong?"

"You just used a word that someone else used to say." Vincent admitted.

"From your reaction, I take it you don't like this person?" she asked.

"No, I didn't." Vincent raised both his arms, allowing the sleeves to his shirt to fall back, exposing his mechanical arms. "He's the one that did this to me."

Jeanine was well versed enough in past events, courtesy of Jaras, to know that Vincent was speaking about Hojo. "Yes, the mad scientist. I'm sorry to have brought that memory up, it wasn't my intent."

"I know, it's all right. What's done is done, and he's gone now." Vincent's arms came back down to rest upon his stomach.

"So you have come to terms with all that happened to you at his hands?" Jeanine asked, knowing that she was possibly leading Vincent into some very uncomfortable areas.

"More or less. I spent several years of my life wallowing in my misery over what he did to me, only to end up realizing that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. He managed to show me that the second time he caught up with me. Now, I'm simply happy to have escaped with my life, and after I get my new body, this will all be corrected." Vincent closed his eyes again.

"You know, I think you are a lot more in control and mature than you give yourself credit for." Jeanine smiled.

He opened one eye and glanced at her. "Maybe."