By Kristen Gupton-Williams

More time passed, and Tifa and Vincent grew board of being cooped up in the base. They had accompanied Reno and Angel on a few small day trips, but for the most part they had done very little.

One afternoon, Tifa burst into their room after getting a letter in the mail. Vincent was sitting on the couch, and was startled into dropping his book when she ran in squealing.

"Vincent, look!" Tifa said, holding out a photo that had come with the letter in her hands.

He took the picture and looked at it. It was of two small cubs, clearly Nanaki's children. "Two of them, huh?"

"Yes!" Tifa smiled widely. "The letter says that the picture was taken just two days after they were born and that they are doing well. They are a few months old now. Nanaki says that we should visit sometime, and that Barrett and Marlene are still living with them."

Vincent handed the picture back to his wife and shrugged. "I don't see why we can't go see them now. After all, we've still got two months until my surgery and it would help pass some time and get our minds off things."

She clapped her hands together. "Do you really want to go?"

"Sure."

"This is going to be great!" Tifa's excitement was contagious.

Vincent got up from the couch, pleased to have made her so happy. "I'll go ask Reno if we can have Brad fly us there."

"Okay!" She beamed, looking again at the picture in her hands.

Vincent walked from their room and to the main room of the base, where Reno spent most of his time now. He found him sitting in front of a display. When Vincent bothered to look and see what was on the screen, he somehow wasn't surprised to see that Reno was playing a game of solitaire instead of work. "I have a favor to ask."

Reno knit his brow and didn't take his eyes from his game. "Can you come back in maybe five minutes, I'm sort of busy."

"Reno," Vincent wasn't in the mood, "knock it off."

The former Turk rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat, clearly annoyed at being pulled from his game. "What?"

"I need Brad to fly Tifa and I to Cosmo." Vincent said, leaning against the control panel.

"What the hell for?" Reno crossed his arms over his chest. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing worth going to Cosmo Canyon for.

"Nanaki sent Tifa a letter inviting us to come by." He wasn't about to admit that he wanted to go just to get away from the confines of the base.

"That's that lionish thing, right?" Reno asked, already knowing full well who Nanaki was.

"Right."

"And you want me to waste valuable resources to send you there in my helicopter?" Reno wasn't going to let Vincent off easily.

"Reno, cut the shit." Vincent narrowed his eyes.

Reno hated the way that Vincent looked at him sometimes, and turned away. "I don't fucking care. Go ask Brad."

Vincent sighed and walked away. He knew that Brad would be in the hanger working as always on his helicopter and so went there.

As expected, Brad was tinkering with something in the cockpit of the chopper. He saw Vincent approaching and came out to meet him. "What's up?"

"I need to ask you a favor." Vincent said.

"Okay, shoot." Brad replied, folding his arms across his chest.

"It would mean a lot to Tifa if you could take us to Cosmo Canyon." Vincent tried to sound as pleasant as possible.

"If it's all right with the boss, sure." Brad didn't mind really, any excuse to fly was good enough for him.

"I already asked Reno, and he said it was fine." Vincent smirked.

"I said the boss." Brad grinned back. "That means Angel."

Vincent laughed. "I'm her father, so I think that gives me some authority."

"You'd think." Brad nodded. "Sure, I'll take you guys there. I'm installing a new altimeter right now, but I can take you there in the morning if you like."

"All right, that will be great. I appreciate it." Vincent was pleased.

"Meet me up on the airfield at seven." Brad called out as Vincent started to walk away.

"Sure thing," he called back as he left the hanger.

***

The following morning, Vincent and Tifa emerged out onto the airfield just as the sun was rising. The winter air bit at them, being driven at them by a slight wind. Brad had the helicopter out of the hanger and waiting for them.

They walked over and got inside.

Before Brad put on his headset and fired up the engines, he looked back at Vincent. "You seem to be taking the whole 'flying' thing a little better these days than you did when you first got here."

Vincent cocked an eyebrow, remembering that he had previously held some hesitation about flying in the helicopter. He had been inside the chopper enough since then though to be over his fears. "You seem to keep it running fine."

Brad smiled and turned away. After a few moments of running the engine, he got them up into the air.

Tifa nestled into Vincent's left side as the vibration of the helicopter relaxed her back into sleep. Vincent wished that he, too, could sleep as easily as she, but it wasn't to be. He looked down at his right hip, seeing that he had brought his Death Penalty out of habit. Whether it was going to be needed or not, there was something comforting in the gun.

It only took until around noon to get to Cosmo Canyon, and Brad set the chopper down at the entrance to the canyon, as it was too narrow within to have taken them further. Despite the season, Cosmo Canyon, being in the desert was considerably warm. Vincent and Tifa had to turn away as the helicopter left, as it blew up a small dust storm. Once it was gone, they started to walk into the canyon, knowing that Nanaki's village lay about a half-mile into it.

The noon sun was able to reach the floor of the canyon that during most of the rest of the day was cast in shadows. When they were about half way to the settlement, Nanaki jumped down before them from a ledge.

Nanaki had been on his midday patrol of the canyon when he had smelled Tifa and Vincent. He strolled over to them. "I am glad that you two have come."

Tifa and Vincent had been a little startled by the cat's appearance, but Vincent had been able to control himself before he drew his gun.

Tifa smiled widely and knelt down to throw her arms around the animal's neck. "I've missed you so much! I can't wait to see your babies!"

The cat purred.

Vincent took a few steps closer. "Nanaki."

"Vincent," the cat's keen sense of smell told him what Vincent's clothes were hiding, "what happened to you?"

Vincent narrowed his eyes for a moment, before answering. "Hojo…"

Nanaki hadn't heard about their last confrontations with Hojo, but at once understood. "I'm sorry."

Tifa stood back up. "It's okay though, back at the base, there's a new body being made for Vincent."

Nanaki turned his glowing eye up at Vincent. "You will be whole again?"

Vincent flashed a momentary smile. "If all goes well, yes."

"That is good to hear." Nanaki turned and started walking towards home. "Come, Barrett and Marlene will be excited at your arrival, too."

They followed him back to the town. As usual, it was bustling with activity. Nanaki led them to the home he had once shared with Bugenhagen, where he now lived with his family, Barrett, and Marlene.

Upon entering, Barrett rose up off the couch, smiling widely. "I'll be damned, look what the cat dragged in!"

Tifa ran forward and embraced her old friend. "Oh Barrett, how are you?"

He laughed. "Been pretty good. How you doin'?"

"We're great," Tifa said, taking a step back from him. She immediately noticed that his gun arm was gone, now replaced with a cybernetic hand, not much different then the two that Vincent now sported. "Wow, when did you get that?"

Barrett raised his arm. "I got this 'bout a month ago. More practical than the gun, since I don't fight no more."

"That's cool." Tifa had always wondered what had possessed the man to get the gun in the first place, although it had proven useful several years back.

Marlene then ran into the room, having heard their visitors from the kitchen. "Hey!"

Tifa ran to her and embraced the girl that now stood nearly as tall as she. "Oh Marlene, look how you've grown!"

She smiled widely as she stepped back. "Gosh, the last time I saw you I was really small."

"Yeah, it's been a long time." Tifa couldn't believe how much the girl had changed.

From another room in the house, Nanaki's mate came in. She was slightly smaller than he, and didn't sport the same length of mane. Her two amber eyes examined the visitors. "You two must be Tifa and Vincent?"

"They've come to visit for a while," Nanaki said, walking over to her side. "Everyone, this is Santicia."

"Nice to meet you." Tifa smiled widely, while Vincent just smiled faintly and nodded.

"And you as well. Nanaki has told me a lot about you, so I'm pleased to finally meet you." Santicia sat on her haunches.

It was then that the two rambunctious cubs came running in from the room where Santicia had just emerged. They were so wrapped up in their game of tag that they didn't notice the strangers until the male cub ran right into Vincent's leg. The kitten was slightly stunned from the impact and fell over onto his back.

Vincent looked down in shock, terrified that he had hurt the small creature. He knelt down and dared to reach out and touch the cub. "Are you okay?"

The cub managed to get up and shook for a second. He blinked up at the man before him. "Dad, who is this?"

"It is Vincent," Nanaki replied, knowing that the cub would sustain no damage from the bump he had just received.

"Oh…" The cub sniffed at Vincent's hand that was offered up.

In the meanwhile, the female cub that had retreated behind her mother upon seeing the strangers walked over to Tifa and swatted at her shoelace.

Tifa stooped down and stroked the cub for a moment before picking her up and taking her into her arms. The cub submitted to being held and began to purr. Tifa smiled over at Nanaki and his mate. "They are so cute! What are their names?"

Nanaki beamed with pride. "The boy we named in honor of my father, Seto, and the girl is Syrah."

"And they never quit movin'," Barrett laughed from where he now sat. "At least you guy can keep them entertained for a while. I'm scratched all to hell from playin' with them all the time!"

Vincent was still kneeling and the male cub climbed up, forcing Vincent to hold him. He stood back up with the cub in his arms. Despite all his attempts to hide the "warm fuzzies" he was getting, he couldn't help but smile. "I'm really happy for you, Nanaki."

"Thank you." Nanaki grinned to see Vincent submitting to the cub's cuteness. "Tell me, how is Cid doing? After Shera passing, I would imagine that things have been rough for him."

Tifa went over to a chair and sat, the female cub still in her arms. "Well, in true Cid Highwind fashion, he's managing to get by. I think the fact that he has the baby to keep him occupied helps. It was pretty hard for him at first, though. I'm just glad that Vincent and I got to be there for him."

Nanaki shook his head and dropped his gaze to the floor. "That poor man. At least though he does have his son. There is no greater joy in the world that having children."

Tifa, ever the optimist, let her smile return. "Well, after Vincent gets all put back together, he and I will be able to figure that out for ourselves."

"That would be very good." Nanaki looked back over at Tifa. "Very good indeed."