"Well, that's fine. Hey, you're my publicist, make it public that I'm just like everyone else, I have to work for a living like everyone else, that's why I wasn't on the campaign trail during the filming. Now I have to go to the wrap party. We'll finish this discussion tomorrow morning, alright?" Elena hung up the phone and turned to her husband. "Are you ready to go?"

"Just a minute." Rude grabbed the baseball cap he had bought after he picked her up from her doctor's office and shoved it on his head. Elena smiled at that, let her election staff complain about the movie only slightly improving her poll numbers in the target demographic, it had improved her in more important ways.


"Does this dress look alright?" Yuffie asked Reno.

"It looks as nice as the others did." Reno gestured to the four dresses laying on the bed.

Yuffie frowned. He was back to being as distracted as he was when they first started filming, and she hadn't missed how he kept looking at his watch. She was worried he might not forgive her for keeping secrets. He had come back to bed that night she told him the truth, which was a great relief to her, but things had been different since then. She was eager to get this wrap party over with and get back home to their regular lives, hopeful that would help mend things between them. "Let's go." Yuffie said, and headed out the door.


"Is that what you want to do?" Cid asked Shera.

Shera nodded. "Not only can I make more money as a gofer on film sets, the benefits are better, and it'll be safer. Plus the variety will be a nice change...there are only three kinds of passengers to deal with as a stewardess: the drunks, the whiners, and the virgin fliers. The faces change, but not the personalities. It's just the same old, same old…each film would be like a new adventure. The money we'll get from Advent Children will let us put a down payment on a nice-sized house between town and the airport, right on the monorail line, so you'll be closer to work, and if I need to fly out to film locations, it'll be easier for me too."

"I suppose you've got a house picked out already." Cid said as he casually lit up a cigar.

"It's got four bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, and a large fenced backyard." Shera handed the flyer to Cid.


Reeve was ecstatic…Rude had called him earlier and asked if he was still available to be hired as a private driver, and promised to discuss terms at the party.


"Oh! I didn't expect to see you until the wrap party." Aerith exclaimed as Rufus walked into their apartment.

"You're moving out?" Rufus looked the boxes everywhere.

"Yeah." Aerith taped up the box she was holding. "That's the last one. Oh, before I forget, here's my share of the rent for the next two months." She handed him a check.

"Vincent Valentine? The teacher? He gave you this check?"

"Once I get paid for the movie, I'm going to pay him back." Aerith put her box on the stack, then got them on the handtruck.

"Are you going to move in with him?" Rufus asked.

"He feels I might get bored with him if I'm around him all the time, so we agreed on a trial period before he gives me his answer."

"Answer? You asked him to marry you? I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though I bet he was. He's been good for you." Rufus had noticed the change in her wardrobe since she got involved with Vincent. The simple dress she was wearing now managed to be demure but extremely attractive at the same time. Aerith had shifted from nightclub to country club, and had quit pissing off every attached woman in the immediate vicinity.

"I could say the same about you and Scarlet." Aerith smiled at him. She had noticed Rufus' behavior becoming more mannerly, and Scarlet becoming less prissy. "Could you help me out to the van?"

"Sure thing."

When they got down to the minivan she had rented, Aerith turned to face Rufus. "I would suggest that you ask Scarlet to move in with you, but I don't think she's the type."

"Not without a wedding ring." Rufus agreed.

"So propose to her! Who'd have thought that I'd end up with a high school English teacher who's nine years older, and you with an older socially correct virginal nanny?" Aerith opened the sliding door and started putting her remaining boxes in the van.

"What?!"

Aerith laughed at the expression on Rufus' face. "You didn't know? Boy, do you have a lot to learn about women!" She put the last box in the van, and then put the handtruck in as well before closing the door.

"I just thought she didn't think it would be 'proper' for too much affection in public, or to be alone with a man without a marriage certificate.

"Well, I've got to go to Vincent's and unpack and return this van to the rental place before the wrap party, so I guess this is goodbye. At least as roommates, I'll probably see you at the wrap party and the premiere."

"Good luck with Vincent." Rufus told her.

"And you with Scarlet." Aerith went to kiss him on the cheek, but Rufus turned his head, and they were both pleasantly surprised to feel nothing when their lips touched. "That was a naughty boy!" Aerith wagged her finger at Rufus. "You better wipe that lipstick off your face before Scarlet sees you." Aerith got in her van and waved at him before driving off.


"Smile, everyone!" The photographer said as the cast and crew huddled around the wrap party cake so he could take their pictures. "Okay, now just the cast." He snapped pictures of them, then just the crew.

"My face was going to freeze that way if I had to keep smiling any longer." Yuffie commented to Elena as she massaged her cheeks to relax the muscles. "Why is Rude wearing a hat anyway?" Yuffie asked as she saw him talking to Reeve, who left after Rude handed him a piece of paper. She had been upset that the children weren't there, but maybe it was for the best.

Elena smiled. "My official doctor confirmed my pregnancy this afternoon. And that there's more than one fetus, but he didn't know how many yet. Rude freaked out momentarily at the news and accidentally hit his head. He's got a cut on this head that looks worse than it is, didn't require any stitches, but he bought a cap to hide it instead of explaining it."


"I've got something to do, I'll be right back." Zack told Shalua before walking towards the exit, stopping when he saw Sephiroth and his cousins. "Hey Sephiroth, I heard you want to be a director. You want to be my assistant for the next film?"

"Really?" Sephiroth was excited.

"Definitely. Talk to Shalua, she'll give you the info." Zack said, and then went out the door, heading upstairs to the special effects lab.

"Who's there?" the man focused on something on the screen of one of the computers asked.

"Hey Biggs, I thought you'd be up here, since you weren't downstairs for the pictures." Zack said.

"Just making sure what you asked me to do is error-free. I don't know why you wanted it done, but…" Biggs waited a few moments, then took a disc out of the computer and put it in a case before handing it to Zack. "There ya go."

"Thanks buddy, now will you come downstairs and party with the rest of us?" Zack put the disc in his jacket pocket.

"Sure!" Biggs hurried out the door.

Once Zack was sure Biggs was gone, he found the files that he had burned onto the disc, and deleted them from the computer before heading back downstairs.


Yuffie suddenly realized she didn't know where Reno was. Looking around, she saw him off in an alcove, talking seriously to Elena, who had a large manila envelope in her hands, which she handed to Reno. Full of curiosity and dread, she approached them. "What's going on here?" she asked.

"Follow me." Elena took Yuffie by the hand and led her outside. "Any minute now…" Elena said, looking at her watch.

Suddenly a fancy town car with tinted windows in the back pulled up to the curb, and Yuffie was surprised to see Reeve come out of the driver's seat, and walk around to the back door facing her, and opened it. Her jaw dropped when Denzel and Marlene got out.

"Yuffie! Yuffie!" they exclaimed together as they ran to her, hugging her. "Reeve said we were going home with you…can we?" Marlene asked.

"What?" Yuffie looked from Elena to Reno as she held her children. Reno handed her the manila envelope, and Yuffie opened it, taking the papers out. "These are adoption papers…"

"Already signed and approved by Judge Gast. He's an old friend of my family." Elena explained as Reno took the children to their car. "What's the fun in being a Mackintosh if you can't throw your weight around? You helped me get a family, I can help you get yours."

"Do they…" Yuffie felt herself getting choked up.

"They know only what you told them. Judge Gast was hesitant about signing off on this until they told him how nice you were to them during the filming. Now why don't you go home and get them settled in?" Elena suggested. "I've been to enough socially required parties to tell you that there's no reason to hang around now. Unless you want to get hassled by reporters, that is." Elena went back inside.


Tifa wasn't feeling much like a party, but she was determined to make the best of it. Cloud had shown up, with some girl who introduced herself as Lisa. She seemed to be quite hyper. It made her feel less guilty about attending with Tseng, but Cloud still wouldn't talk to her unless he absolutely had to.

"How is your wrist, Barret?" she asked, seeing him alone at the punch bowl.

"It's healed, and wearing that damned prop is over for good, thankfully." he grumped. "Say, would you be interested in investing some of your earnings in real estate?"


"Um, I have a confession to make." Rufus said as he and Scarlet were eating their pieces of the cake.

"What is it?" Scarlet was worried he was going to tell her they'd never see each other again now.

"Aerith and I were roommates, but for a one bedroom apartment, and we shared the bed." Rufus admitted.

"Oh, I knew that." Scarlet breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"What?" Rufus was surprised.

"You don't know much about women, do you?" Scarlet asked, then realized his choice of words. "Were roommates?"

"Yeah, she moved out this afternoon." Rufus looked over to where Aerith was trying to take some selfie pictures of her and Vincent next to what was left of the cake, but people kept coming to get more and ruining her picture.

"So what does that mean? Are you going to be homeless?" Scarlet asked.

"Oh no, I just…uh…was thinking that maybe someday, it might be a good idea to…uh…" Rufus wasn't even sure what he really wanted to say, so he had no idea how to say it.

"Well, maybe someday it might be a good idea for me to give you an answer, once you properly ask." Scarlet smiled at him.