I woke with a start, sitting up abruptly, so abruptly I was dizzy for a second. I shook my head to clear it. The ear piercing scream, where was it coming from? It echoed through the halls of the old mansion where he and Vincent lived, haunting him. Then it came again. A woman's tortured scream, a scream of being in unimaginable emotional pain. Again, came the scream. It was Storm. Cid flew out of bed, pulling on a pair of sweats as he went. No way was he going to just lay there while his daughter was screaming in fear.

"Damn it Storm. I'm coming, I'm coming." He raced down the hall, the dark wood cold under his bare feet. He reached her door, and opened it to a sad sight. Storm was arched off the bed, her head tossed back, mouth open in a silent scream. Her wings were spread to almost full width, the silvery feathers spread as if she were flying, but the feathers were ruffled. The sheets were twisted around her feet and up her form, and her body was covered in a cold sweat.

He moved forward, and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Storm!" He received no response.

"Storm! Damn it all, wake the hell up!" She jerked and hissed in response, as if trying to flee from him, her eyes clenched shut and her mind deep in her nightmare. He moved with her, maintaining contact.

"Valencia! Wake the hell up already!" And she woke. She jerked awake, breathing in huge, unsteady gasps of air, red eyes wide and dilated with terror. As he watched, tears welled up in those shocked eyes, making the bright shades of red an even darker hue. Cid sat down next to her, and she turned away, shoulders shaking with her sobs.

"Storm…? Come 'ere." He whispered quietly, his usually gruff voice now soft and comforting. He held his arms open, waiting for her to come into the embrace. He knew better than to initiate contact, especially since she was Vincent's daughter as well, and she acted like him during these times. After a few seconds of watching him carefully, she hesitantly allowed his arms to come around her.

Having never embraced Cid before, she was nervous, but hell, anyone would be after what she had been through in her life. But the comfort that she needed, he was able to provide, and that comfort he wanted to give to her. Cid was her father, she could trust him.

Cid just locked his arms tightly around her, and held her close, murmuring reassurances into her ear as she sobbed into his chest. He ran his hands up and down her back, careful not to hit her wings as she cried, trying to forget the horrors of the nightmare she was constantly plagued with. Nightmares that she had actually experienced, such as Vincent's second death, a death that she had actually witnessed in Hojo's lab.

Cid just kept stroking her back, fingertips brushing the hint of bare skin between her wings. She shuddered, and gasped for breath, but didn't move, starting to calm down. The nightgown she wore, like most of her other clothes, was backless, and the skirt rumpled around her. The long sleeves of the garment hugged her arms, and so did the main body of the garment. She was gorgeous, and very much so a struggling being, still recovering from the torture of human experimentation.

"Cid?" She questioned, her voice quiet and low, and surprisingly steady after having cried for so long.

"Yeah?" He asked, his voice's southern accent giving a lilt to the word. He leaned back, studying her face. She looked down, her red eyes still tear swollen.

"Can I stay with you?" Her voice was just a whisper, and she was embarrassed.

He nodded in response to her request, smiling agreeably. She looked up at the nod, and just then he was amazed at the resemblance to Vincent he could see in the moonlight. The silver light reflected off the curves of her face and eyes, betraying the fine boned definition that she had inherited, a dancer like form, not the broad bones of the Highwinds.

She rose, and he stood with her, one of his hands accidentally brushing her wings. He stilled, and stroked the soft feathers again, this time very deliberately. She was watching him curiously, still shaken and trembling from the emotional turmoil she had just gone through, but she made no move to stop him. His fingers paused on the silky feathers, and there was no mistaking it, the raw energy he could feel coursing through the wings. He stayed for a second, awestruck. Then he took her hand.

"Come on. Ya can sleep with me tonight." She just nodded mutely, grateful to stay with anyone tonight. He led her to his room, marveling that she even walked just like Vincent, silent as a wraith. He laid down on his side of the bed, keeping the sweats on, nestling his head on his pillow. She laid down as well, on Vincent's side of the bed, and he finally figured out how she slept with those wings of hers.

She laid on her side, facing him, laying one folded wing behind her and the other over his hips, and she glanced up apologetically. "Sorry to trouble you."

He shook his head, smiling. "It's fine. Yer m' daughter. Get ter sleep. Ya need it." He closed his eyes, and gently looped an arm around her waist, and felt her shiver. He cracked an eye open, and then he witnessed the most amazing thing he had ever seen her do.

She closed her eyes, eyebrows furrowing in focus, and her whole body shimmered. She transformed, her silver hair bleeding to black, becoming much longer; and her wings disappeared. She opened her eyes, and met his open mouthed stare with a small, sad smile, still clearly scared from the memories.

"My human form. It's easier to sleep with two people like this." Her voice was barely a whisper. He nodded, still stunned speechless, but then something caught his eye.

"Yer eyes… Their fuckin' blue! Like mine!" He couldn't believe it, but there was no denying the mirror image of his own baby blues framed by her dark lashes. She nodded in response, a small smile gracing her lips at his happiness.

"Yes. We have the same human eyes." Then she snuggled down into the blankets, tucking her head into his shoulder.

"Sleep." He nodded, and pulled her close, dropping off into slumber after a short while. She did as well, after shaking a little, still clearly fighting off the last traces of fear. He just held her close, reassuring her with his presence. When he woke up early in the morning, he saw Vincent standing in the room, smiling at them. Cid smiled back.

"Yer back?" He asked, whisper so as to not wake Storm. Vincent nodded, taking off his gauntlet.

"I got back with Sephiroth around twenty minutes ago. What happened?" He gestured to Storm with his newly declawed arm. Cid explained what happened during the night, keeping his voice as low as possible, knowing that Vince would be able to hear it, due to his advanced hearing.

"Gorgeous, ain't she? She looks like ya. She got m' eyes though." Vincent nodded again, removing his clothes, and changing into his pajamas. It was quite a process, as he had way too many buckles on his clothes in Cid's opinion. He climbed in beside them, and cuddled close to Cid and Storm. Soon after, they all drifted to sleep, Storm snuggled between the two of them.

When Cid woke up again, later in the morning, he realized that Vincent was already awake. He smiled softly, and his blue eyes gleamed in happiness when Vincent smiled softly back. He looked down at the still sleeping Storm, and picked up a lock of the dark hair spilling over the girl's shoulder, stroking it thoughtfully. It felt almost exactly like Vincent's, just slightly coarser. He braided the strands absently, and let it fall back onto the sheets. He looked up and grinned outright at Vincent's gaze of awe at Storm's human form.

"Her human form?" Came Vincent's deep, quiet form. It registered in Cid's mind that Vincent had never seen her like this before. He nodded, and Vincent smiled contentedly.

"She's beautiful."

"An' she's built like us." Came his southern drawl.

"Yes. Just like us." Vincent nodded, and his hand, with its gold marriage band came to join hands with Cid's, and its matching band.

Cid smiled, and was content to just lay there.