Guilt’s Cost: Part XXI

Approval

Tifa retrieved Vincent’s clothes so that he could get dressed. Once this was done, he walked over to the bed where his brother was still laying. Vincent bent down and gave Tseng a short hug.

Tseng smiled at Vincent. "Thanks for saving me yesterday."

Again, Vincent searched his memory for any recollection of the event, but found none. "I don’t remember anything after the explosion."

"Well, you did." He continued to smile. "So, Tifa’s going to have the surgery tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Vincent looked over his shoulder to where Tifa was standing, talking to the doctor about the details of the procedure. "She’s really excited about it."

"I can see that." Tseng could see the elation on the girl’s face.

Vincent suddenly turned back to Tseng, his expression dead serious. "Why didn’t you say anything about Angel living with Reno?"

He recoiled from his brother’s clear agitation. "Because I knew it would piss you off. I’ve always known you disliked the man, and I didn’t want to put a damper on your day."

Vincent crossed his arms over his chest. "You’re damn right it pissed me off. The thought of that jerk being around my daughter makes me sick. How long has it been going on?"

Tseng furrowed his brow in thought. "A long time."

"How long?" Vincent wanted specifics.

"Since a few months after she came here." Tseng didn’t want to give Vincent much more detail, knowing it was something he should really discuss with Angel. "Look, talk to her about it. I’m sure when she gives you her explanation you’ll understand better."

Vincent sighed. "You know, as her uncle, and someone that would have been aware of my wishes, I should have hoped you would have kept him away from her."

Tseng shook his head. "Vincent, she is a grown woman, and I have no place telling her who to fall in love with and neither do you, even if you are her father. I assure you, I didn’t act as any sort of match maker and push them together, they decided it on their own. Reno, for as big and asshole as he can be is really a better man than you think."

Vincent threw his hair over his shoulder, looking up at the ceiling in disgust. He was pretty certain that his opinion of Reno was dead on. "Urgh, whatever."

Tseng shook his head in amusement as Vincent walked away. He knew the story behind Reno and Angel, and knew that once Vincent heard it for himself he would relax on his disapproval of Reno.

As Vincent reached Tifa, the doctor was ending her conversation. Dr. Arlin then turned to Vincent. "My associates would be very interested in studying you sometime. They don’t believe the story of how quickly you healed. If we could figure out what mechanism you use to-"

Vincent raised his hand, cutting her off. "I am sorry, Doctor, but I will have to decline. There is no way that I could tolerate being ‘studied’."

The doctor looked immediately disappointed. "That’s too bad. We stand to learn a lot."

"Well, whenever I die, you feel free to cut me open and study away." Vincent said, dead serious. "Until then, I will not be a guinea pig."

"All right then, I’ll get the medical release ready for you. You sign it, and your body is mine when you croak." The doctor said as she walked away. By her tone, Vincent wasn’t quite sure if she was joking or not.

Tifa slapped him in the arm. "Way to tick off the doctor the day before I have surgery. She probably just wants some x-rays or something."

He frowned down at her. "No one studies me. I’ve done that before, and it didn’t work out too well for me."

Tifa’s eyes were drawn to his claw as it was raised for her inspection. Vincent wasn’t kidding, and she knew it. "Sorry, I just forget."

He looked away from her, his expression not softening. "Well maybe you shouldn’t."

Tifa bit her bottom lip, realizing how deeply she had offended him. "God Vincent, I said I was sorry."

Hearing the pain in her voice, he turned his gaze back to her. Vincent managed a weak smile. "It’s not you, I was already mad about something else."

Tifa narrowed her eyes. "So, you’re taking out your anger about Reno dating Angel on me?"

Vincent’s eyes went wide. "You pegged it, way to go."

"Well, don’t do that, it’s annoying. You need to learn to stay mad at the people that make you mad and not turn it on me." Tifa feigned anger, but it didn’t work to well.

Vincent put his arm around her and pulled her close. To his surprise she buried her face in his shirt and began to cry. "What’s wrong?"

She pounded her fist into his chest. "I was so scared last night…when they first brought you in, I thought you were dead…"

"Oh Tifa…" He held her closer, stroking her hair with his human hand.

"They wouldn’t let me see you, and no one would tell me anything." She placed her arms behind his back. "Then they asked what my blood type was and took a bunch of it to give to you. Even after they let me see you, the way you were so scared, I just knew I was losing you. I waited for you to come out of surgery, praying that you would be okay. I stayed up all night, afraid that if I fell asleep, I would wake up and you would be…"

He rested his cheek on her head as she broke down, unable to finish her sentence. "I wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for you. You kept me from losing my mind as they worked on me, and I knew I had to get better, so I could stay with you."

She smiled up at him weakly, eyes red from her exhaustion and tears. "Vincent, I’m so afraid of losing you."

Vincent knew that the trauma of having lost Cloud had really dented her psyche. He wished to take that fear out of her, but knew only time could do that. As he stared back at Tifa, he came to realize exactly how stressed Tifa had been over the last several hours and what a toll it had taken on her. She was physically and emotionally spent, and it broke his heart. "Tifa, I think maybe we should go back to our room so you can rest."

She nodded in acceptance. "Okay, I’m so tired."

Vincent took her hand and led her back to their quarters. He guided her to the bed where she immediately laid down. He sat next to where she lay and bent to give her a kiss. He tried to pull away afterward, but she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him back down for another.

After a few moments, she finally let him go. He placed his hand on her cheek. "You need to sleep now."

She faked a pout for a few seconds before rolling over onto her side. Vincent drew the blankets up over her. He scanned the room, and saw his holster lying on the dresser. He walked over, seeing that his Death Penalty was strapped tightly into it. Somehow through all the confusion during his escape, he had instinctively managed to put it back.

Vincent picked up the weapon, smiling to himself as he inspected it. I must be destined to have this gun, he thought.

When he looked over at Tifa again, he saw that she was already asleep. Vincent looked at her lovingly, his feelings for her now even deeper after his brush with death the night before. She had been so brave to stand by him all night, and to have given her own blood to replace his. This girl never ceased to amaze him.

Vincent was pulled out of his reverie by a knock at the door. He made his way over and opened it.

Angel flew in and wrapped her arms around him, planting a kiss on his cheek. "The doctor told me that you are completely healed, so I had to come see for myself. You had us all scared!"

Vincent stepped back from her, and motioned for her to sit on the couch. She did as instructed, and he landed next to her. He pointed over at Tifa, so that Angel would know to keep her voice down.

Angel smiled to see Tifa resting. "Poor Tifa. She had a hard time."

Vincent nodded. "Yeah, I’ve heard. Angel, thanks for taking care of me on the helicopter."

She was surprised he remembered that. "It’s my job. I’m sorry if I hurt you."

"Think nothing of it." Vincent tried to hide his embarrassment over his behavior. "Where did you learn to do what you did?"

Angel stared down at the floor. "Hojo programmed all kinds of stuff into me while I was in the acceleration chamber including medical skills. I often render treatment on the return trips of missions. Someone always manages to get banged up."

Vincent couldn’t wait any longer to address the issue of Reno. "Angel, tell me about Reno."

She blushed, knowing that Vincent disapproved. "What do you want to know?"

"Why him?" Vincent bit his tongue not to relate his true feelings about the man.

She nodded knowingly. "It’s complicated, you sure you want to hear it?"

"Yes." Vincent said flatly.

"Okay." She settled in for the long haul. "Then you get to hear the story about me being rescued from the lab. I had only been out of the accelerator for a few weeks when Hojo did a genetic profile on me. Once he realized that you were not only my father, but Sephiroth’s as well, he ordered me to be destroyed. In his rage, he beat me severely before locking me back in my cell to await my punishment. I didn’t really understand what was going on at the time; my mind was still trying to adjust to life outside the accelerator. My life, for however short it had been, had been daily testing at the hands of Hojo and his men. And I would be lying to you if I said that scientific experimentation was all I was subjected to by him."

Vincent closed his eyes for a moment, knowing exactly what she was talking about. The memories of Hojo collecting ‘samples’ from him ripped through his mind. The humiliation he had felt as the scientist had violated him in the most personal ways stabbed his heart. Although the abuse he had suffered was horrible, he was aware that what she had probably been though had been worse. "He touched you like that?"

She hung her head in embarrassment. "Yes, all the while saying that he needed to make sure I was going to be good enough for his dear Sephiroth. Even in my ignorance I knew that what he was doing to me was wrong. But the day I was to be destroyed, there was a commotion in the lab as the ASRIO team came in to rescue me. I couldn’t see much from my cell, only hearing the gunfire and screaming. Then, Reno came around the corner. He was the first person I saw who didn’t work in the lab. He opened my cell and came in. I cowered in the corner, terrified at this new person. He came over and picked me up in his arms, carrying me out. All I could do was lay in his arms shivering in fear. I was taken by him to a helicopter. As we flew to this base, he held me the entire time, whispering to me to not be afraid, that he wasn’t going to hurt me, and that I was going to be safe from then on. He was the first person to ever tell me the truth."

Vincent found it hard to accept this never before seen side of Reno. "He treated you with respect?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Very much so. He wouldn’t even turn me over to Tseng when we got onto the chopper. He knew that I was by that time less frightened by him than anyone else, so he held me close for the entire ride. Once we were here, I was given a room, where Tseng spent a lot of time trying to get me to relax and understand why I was here. Even then, Reno would come by every day and sit with me, sometimes he would never say a word, just sitting next to me, wanting me to know that he cared."

"He never tried any of his man whore tricks on you?" Vincent asked, disbelieving that Reno could show such restraint.

"Look, I know that Reno is a pig, but back then when he knew I was scared and vulnerable, he didn’t try anything more than to hold my hand or put his arm around my shoulders, and not in his ‘trying to get a little tit’ sort of way." She smiled.

Vincent actually laughed out loud. "Really?"

Angel nodded. "Really. Eventually, I came out of my shell realizing that I was in a better place, learning who I was and that I was a real person, not the soulless drone that Hojo had wanted me to be. Reno and I became friends. I would watch him pull his cheap lines on any woman that walked by, but he never approached me like that. Even now, when he does joke around in his piggish way, I know he’s not serious. He asked me if I would want to live with him, and I accepted. I felt safe with him from the first day, and I have ever since. That is why I love him."

Vincent sat in silence for a few moments, not knowing what to say. It was now clear to him that there was more to Reno than he had ever given him credit for. "I see. He has taken care of you, and I owe him for looking after you for me. But don’t expect me to get all lovey for him too. He and I still have some long standing personal issues that aren’t going to go away."

"Look, I don’t expect you to suddenly like him, I just would ask that you respect the fact that I do. So please, don’t try to strangle him again." She grinned.

Vincent suddenly flushed in embarrassment. "Oh, he told you about that?"

"It was a little obvious from the marks all over his neck. Either you had picked him up with your claw or he had been getting hickeys from a blender, and I don’t think he’s that much of a pervert." Angel laughed.

Vincent put his arm around her. "I promise I will not try to kill Reno again, as long as you are going out with him."

Angel raised her left hand, flashing a small diamond ring. "Well, I’m going to be going out with him for a while I’m afraid. He proposed two months ago. I told him I wanted to wait until my father came."

Vincent smacked himself in the forehead. "You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re going to marry him?"

"Yes." Angel said proudly.

"Oh dear God." Vincent sighed to himself.