A/N: This is going to be a tragedy fic with romance…we'll be seeing my rendition of how Yuffie and Vincent's relationship will be determined while Yuffie is dealing with the fact that Vincent is dying…do read and review would you kindly?

Yuffie sat around in the waiting area with her friends…she didn't like the fact that her husband was lying on an operating table in the next room. Not after a few months since her pregnancy was announced…not when he was enjoying himself with their friends on this very night to celebrate the birth of their little princess…he deserves it after everything that had happened to him thus far. Lucrecia's betrayal, Grimoire's death, Hojo's experiments, yes that was a very messed-up life he had so far. As she rubbed around her belly, making sure that the little girl inside of her was still kicking, she began to reminisce on the past to help pass the time…

Flashback…roughly four or five years ago…

Yuffie ran around the dilapidated mansion with Cloud and Tifa barely catching up…after the battle with the Lost Number, they found the final number to the safe…revealing it to be a key and the Odin summon! Whomever it was that was locked away is probably dead by now…but there had to be at least something useful down in that basement…and that key will reveal just what sort of treasure is in there! Oh yes, treasure! It could be a hidden treasure map to a chest filled with gil buried under the golden sands of Costa Del Sol! Or even to a cave filled with gil so that she can bring Wutai back to its former glory without having to steal from these people that she came to like over the past few days! Or it could be an extremely rare materia orb with an extra-powerful summon in it! Or even a chest filled with materia! Oh yes, materia…the many possibilities coming out of those orbs made of mako…those pretty little balls had such potential…one could be used for lighting spells…or even fire…or maybe even a healing spell…and even the fabled "Knights of the Round" summon could be what she was looking for! No matter what kind of orb it was, materia to Yuffie would beat a diamond ring as a proposal gift any day…just give her that orb, and consider yourself married on the spot!

Within roughly an hour, she managed to get to the doors in the map, and fitting the key inside quickly. Oh the kleptomaniac inside her made her not care about the consequences when she opened that door…at first she was hesitant to enter due to the appearance of three coffins in the middle of the room. Two of the coffins were open and empty, but the one in the center was closed…with that, the kleptomaniac inside her pumped her with so much adrenaline that she found herself pouncing into the room to the side of the coffin, as she felt that extra dose of endorphins pumping though her blood and giving her that strength boost just to open up that lid and see what was inside…respect for the dead be damned! She's getting that treasure one way or an—before she could finish that train of thought, she found herself jumping backwards and screaming in utter terror upon seeing what appeared to be a fresh corpse in the coffin! By the time Cloud and Tifa had caught up, she was inspecting the contents again…the corpse belonged to a man, roughly in his late twenties to early thirties, long black hair tied in a crimson bandana, wearing a red cape, loose-fitting black leather pants tied at his calves with a pair of brass boots, a black denim dress shirt with a black leather fingerless glove on his right hand, and a brass claw on his left.

Inspecting the face of the corpse, the paleness about his body seemed to say that he was recently buried, but he did not seem to turn blue…a sign that it's been a while since he died, hence why he appeared fresh, nor was there the smell of mold about him, although the scent of death and chemicals seemed to linger on him nonetheless. Ignoring the fact that he was a dead man, Yuffie found him to be delectable…in fact he seemed so effeminate and beautiful with a subtle hint of manliness that he made her look like a boy...like one of those…umm…what was that term…oh yeah! Now she remembered, like one of those teenage Shotaro complex boys that she caught sight of in those manga before she left! While she gazed distractedly upon that face, she found herself screaming the word "VAMPIRE!" as she saw those eyes open so suddenly, and this time instead of just jumping back, she found herself crawling backwards towards the door, bumping into Cloud before she stood up, and bolted to hide behind him…and letting her head hang out ever so slightly from his left triceps to get a glimpse at what was happening.

The corpse in the coffin slowly sat up, and then started scanning his surroundings for a bit before letting those blood-colored eyes of his rest upon the three of them…as she looked back at those red eyes, she felt like she was going to wet herself from fear. "What are you doing here?" he asked, an ashen tone of bitterness in his oh-so-sexy baritone voice, "Don't you know this place is filled with nightmares?" It didn't take long for Cloud to explain everything that had happened so far that the vampire known as Vincent. As he spoke of what happened here, and how Sephiroth came to be, Yuffie could not help but find something familiar about him in his voice—something about his accent made her think back…where did she hear that tone before? Now she knows! He came from Wutai! Even though his whole voice was heavily masked in Basic, she managed to catch the subtle sound of Wutainese in his accent…most likely he moved from Wutai to here somewhere in his life.

After hearing his refusal to join, Yuffie could not take any more of his self-pity. Before Vincent could completely shut the lid to his coffin, she stopped it and pushed it slightly so that she could look into that slit. "Listen here you! You may have had it bad, but don't think you are the only one in this group that's crying! You want to pay back for all of your sins? Then get up and do something about it, instead of lying around in that box of yours and moping about with your 'could've would've should've' crap! If you don't want to join us then fine! We never needed your help in the beginning! Rot in there for all I care!" With that, she slammed the lid to the coffin shut and stomped her way out of the room, leaving a surprised Cloud and Tifa walking silently behind her…who knew that she had the guts to do something like that. Although Yuffie didn't show it, she was actually embarrassed—she never thought that she would be brave enough to yell at the obviously scary man and get away with it! She paused to hear a voice call out, "Wait" and turned to see that it was Vincent following them. "Will we be running into Hojo?"

This time, it was Cloud who answered. "He works for Shin-Ra, so it'll be a good chance that we'll run into him eventually."

"Then perhaps I can be of assistance…after all, like you, I have a score to settle with him…" Yuffie wouldn't admit it…but the fact that this man ate his words and decided to join them made her day!

Present time…

She had fallen asleep. The operation was very stressful to all involved—it was stressful for the doctors because they were fighting hard to keep him alive. It would be stressful for Vincent to know that he was in an ER, and even today, he still has a sort of fear of going into a hospital no doubt because of Hojo and Lucrecia. And it was stressful to her because she feared that she would lose the first man she had ever fallen in love with—she feared losing the father of her child…and she feared of the possibilities of what might happen while he was not around.

He worked so hard to try and stay out of the operating room, and this time it couldn't be avoided…no, tonight, this had to happen. They were gathering at Tifa's for the anniversary of AVALANCHE's formation, to commemorate the memory of the late Aeris Gainsborough, and to celebrate her pregnancy, as well as that of Tifa's. It was supposed to be a day of joy for all the friends to be happy for the new lives that were going to come out into the world. But it would not happen…not for him…for just as he was about to start toasting to her, just as he was reaching that glass up to celebrate the birth of their daughter with their friends and congratulate Tifa on her child, he doubled forward in a coughing fit, and then he saw the blood covering his hand before he dazed out, fell to his knees while dropping the glass filled with 2005 Chateau Renoir Midgarian Pinot Noir in his left hand, and fainted. She immediately called for an ambulance, and she was rushed to the scene with her friends following shortly behind.

As she woke up, Yuffie found herself wrapped in a blanket with Tifa and Cloud cuddling in their sleep next to her. Marlene and Denzel were sitting with Barrett, Elmyra, and Nanaki, watching the light above the operating room. Reeve held his latest variant of Cait Sith with Cid and Shera sitting close. Shelke could not be there because she was asked to babysit their son Blake as he was only a year old…but she was concerned when she heard nonetheless. She was lucky to have such good friends.

Before she could fall back to sleep, the soft beep sounded off as the red light turned off, and the doctor walked out of the operating room while everyone turned their attention to the operating room. "Is there anyone related to the patient in this room?" he asked, "I'm his wife," she answered, sitting back up, "what's up?"

"I'm Doctor Edwards, your husband's surgeon. Mrs. Valentine, do you want your…"

Tifa spoke up. "We're the only family he has left now…if not by blood, then by bond. So I think it concerns all of us here…what's wrong with Vincent?"

Doctor Edwards sighed…he didn't know what to say to this pregnant woman…the look in her eyes told him enough of how much she loved the man she was operating on. "I'm afraid there's no easy way to say this, but I'm afraid your husband is dying…it looks to me as if his whole body has up and decided to start tearing itself to shreds like an extreme form of a rejection syndrome or a cancer symptom—one I've seen most akin to cases in SOLDIER units, and victims of mako poisoning combined. I've managed to stabilize him, but that's all I can do for now. I'm going to need his medical charts to see if I can do anything more for him."

With that, Doctor Edwards walked back down the hallway, the look of sadness in his eyes apparent as the pregnant woman he left behind started sobbing with her friends comforting her…oh how he wished he could do more to help her…

A/N: Originally, I considered making this a one-shot, but I figured, I have so many ideas to add that a one-shot will probably be impossible for me unless it's poetry. I also considered making this a sequel to "Trapped", but figured that this could be a different story while trying to keep true to the game…without making it AU.

Songs Played:

"Code Blue" by Shoji Meguro: Vincent's operation commences…because "Trauma Center: Second Opinion" music seems to fit best in this situation.

"The Nightmare Begins" by Nobuo Uematsu: Encounter with Vincent flashback.

Vocabulary:

Shotaro Complex—this, along with Lolita complex, is a Japanese term in manga for a sort of pedophilia involving young boys, usually shortened to 'shotacon', while Lolita complex, or 'lolicon' involves young girls, either way, the characters under this category are under the legal age of 18, and are usually involved in a relationship with someone much older than them.