By Kristen Gupton-Williams

As soon as Vincent was out of Tifa’s view, she burst into tears. After a few moments, she felt someone’s arms around her.

Angel couldn’t bear to watch Tifa cry. She herself was torn up inside about her father’s situation, and took comfort in consoling Tifa. "He’ll be okay."

Tifa couldn’t manage any words, and broke down in Angel’s arms. There was something very comforting in her embrace, and Tifa didn’t want to leave it. She had come to have a genuine liking for Vincent’s daughter and felt at ease with her.

Angel finally brought Tifa out to arm’s length. "Tifa, are you going to be all right?"

Tifa wiped her eyes and sighed. "Only if Vincent is going to be."

They were distracted by a nurse beginning to check up on Tseng. He protested as the nurse prepared to give him an I.V. in his arm. "I really am feeling much better, I don’t think that’s necessary."

Angel and Tifa gave each other a small grin, and then made their way to the bed that Tseng was now laying on.

He looked desperately at Angel. "Come on, tell her to back off."

Angel shook her head. "No, Uncle. You do need that. If you have another attack, they’ll be able to get medications into you faster through it."

Tseng furrowed his brow and pouted. "Fine, I guess I’m not going to get any sympathy from you."

The door to the infirmary opened, and Reno walked in. He came straight over to Tseng’s side. "How goes it, boss?"

Tseng looked over to his friend. "Well, if I could convince these guys that I’m fine now so they’d quit using me as a pin cushion, I’d be marvelous."

Reno gave a slightly amused smirk. "Want me to shoot the nurse?"

The poor nurse looked up, unimpressed.

"I don’t think we should really be making her angry when she’s about to stick a needle in me." Tseng replied.

Reno sauntered up to Angel and dropped an arm around her. "And how is Daddy?"

Angel pushed Reno’s arm off. "They just took him to surgery, so we’re waiting on that."

He put his arm back on her. "I know you’ve had a very stressful day, so if you wanted to go relieve some of that tension with me, my schedule’s free for the rest of the night."

Again, she shoved him away. "Not now, Reno. Go find someone else to harass."

Taking her up on her suggestion, Reno went over to Tifa. "I guess Vincent’s gonna have to spend the night in the hospital, huh?"

Not picking up on his innuendo, Tifa replied. "Yeah, I think so."

Reno slid his arm around her waist. "Well then, I should think that Vinny would want me to take care of you tonight."

"Get away, pervert!" Tifa wriggled from his grasp. "Didn’t you learn not to touch me yet?"

Reno unconsciously reached up and touched his neck. "Fuck that, if you’d go and tell the Count, then never mind."

Tifa frowned at Reno, annoyed at his inability to grasp the seriousness of the situation. "Jeez, Reno! Don’t you ever stop?"

He rolled his eyes and started to walk away, slapping Angel in the rear as he left. "I bid the Ice Princesses goodnight."

Angel looked back at Tifa. "You look really tired, Tifa. Do you want me to walk you back to your room?"

She shook her head. "No, I promised Vincent that I would be here when he was done. I don’t think I should leave."

"Okay." Angel came over and hugged Tifa again. "I have to go take care of some things so I’ll have to go."

"I’ll keep and eye on her, Angel." Tseng said.

Angel gave Tseng a kiss on the cheek. "You rest, okay? And do what the doctor tells you."

He nodded. "Yes, dear."

The nurse finished her work and left, now having Tseng hooked up to fluids and an EKG monitor. Tseng and Tifa found themselves cast into an awkward silence.

Tifa sat on the bed next to Tseng’s and began to study him. Despite his age and condition, he was still very attractive. His long, straight hair was graced with two even streaks of silver, streaming from his temples and his flawless skin was several shades darker than Vincent’s. She found particular beauty in his eyes. They were of a rich coffee color, and their shape elegantly tipped up at the outer edges. Unlike Vincent, there was no denying Tseng’s ancestry, and yet there was also no denying that he and Vincent were brothers.

Tseng felt the weight of Tifa’s stare. "Penny for your thoughts?"

She blinked, realizing that she had started daydreaming. "I just can’t believe that I never noticed how much you and Vincent look alike until after I found out you were related."

He smiled. "We both take after our father an awful lot. From the pictures I’ve seen though, our mothers couldn’t have been more different."

Tifa realized that she really didn’t know that much about Vincent’s life from before he joined the Turks. "He said back in Rocket that his name used to be something else, what was it?"

Tseng was surprised that his brother had told her that. "Tsuvati was his given name."

"Tsuvati." She let the name roll off her tongue. "I like that. Tseng and Tsuvati."

"It was a long time ago that he ever let anyone call him that. Once he joined the Turks, it was Vincent Valentine all the way. He even got angry when I called him Tsuvati in private. I know why he did it, but it hurt me in a way to see him turn his back on his heritage." Tseng sighed.

"Yeah, back when we first met him, he never hinted to us that he was Wutain." Tifa smiled as the memories returned. "Heck, even when we went to Wutai with Yuffie, he completely acted like he had never been there before."

"Well," Tseng raised his eyebrows, "it is much different now than it was when we were children. Back then, it was just a small fishing port, too far off the beaten path for anyone to visit. We were pretty isolated. Then, after Yuffie’s family came into power, they managed to play the place up as a tourist attraction, and everything was rebuilt to make the town more exotic for the travelers."

The talk about Yuffie and Wutai brought a question to Tifa’s mind. She had heard Vincent mention having attacked the girl as they prepared to disband seven years ago, and although she by now had a fairly good idea of what he had done, Tifa still wished she new the whole story.

Tseng could see the question that was in her expression. "What?"

She shook her head, knowing that she shouldn’t discuss this with Tseng. "I just remembered something that happened there a long time ago."

"May I ask what? It seems to be bothering you." Tseng turned over onto his side so he could face her.

"I don’t think I should talk about it." Tifa looked away from Tseng.

"That’s fine." Tseng’s feelings weren’t hurt; he knew that she was protecting Vincent in some way. "We don’t have to discuss anything you don’t want to."

Tifa smiled at him, happy to know that he wasn’t going to pry. She decided to change the subject. "Was the mission a success?"

Tseng nodded. "Yes, we got the sample of the virus we were searching for. It’s in the lab now, being analyzed. As fast as our scientists are, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a vaccine for it by tomorrow."

Tifa didn’t respond to his answer, and Tseng saw that her eyes were closed. The stress of the day, along with the blood she had given had caught up with her.

He smiled as he watched Tifa sleep, seeing exactly why his brother was so taken with her. She was beautiful in a girlish way and so empathetic to those around her. Tseng had a notion that if he had been attracted to females in the least, he might have been able to fall in love with her, too.

In the quiet of the room, Tseng felt the exhaustion from the day’s events start to press down on him. It wasn’t long before he too gave into sleep.