I've been a bit stuck with writing lately, so I thought I'd write something I wouldn't usually do, as an exercise. It was supposed to be a quick one-shot but it grew. It will be six chapters, and is nearly finished, and after that I'll get back to writing Kiroshitsuji and my other long-neglected unfinished FFVII fics. Thank you for your patience, those who are waiting for chapters!

This could be seen as a kind of sequel to a story I wrote as "A Darker Shade" called "Earth and Live" - s/7564919/1/Earth_and_Live in which Reno and Rude get together at Meteorfall, although some details would have to be changed to make it a real sequel.

Warnings: m-preg. I've tried to make it as realistic as possible in the circumstances. I have two kids, so I know what it's like!

The Meteor Effect

I

Working Partners

"I saw Reeve today," said Tseng.

Reno looked up from his crouched position near the coffee machine. The mechanism had jammed – again – and the cup was still less than half full.

"Yeah?" Reno said. "Any news?" He took the almost half-full cup and held it towards Rude, who shook his head. Reno raised an eyebrow.

"No news about cures," Tseng said. "But something odd. Reeve was attempting to pressure me to ask Rufus for more money. He was flustered. He said we were going to need a lot more schools, hospitals and housing than he'd first planned for. The new city will have to grow. They're calling it the Meteor Effect."

"Not up to your exacting standards?" Reno said to Rude, gesturing with the plastic coffee cup. Rude made a face. "Think something disagreed with me," he complained, one hand on his stomach. "Can't face that shit on top –"

Reno only shrugged and took a sip of the lukewarm coffee. "Yeah," he said, downing the rest in one gulp, "This is pretty rank. Not gonna waste it though. Not like coffee grows on trees these days."

"Coffee still grows on trees, Reno," said Elena, looking up from her own battle with a recalcitrant photocopier. "We just can't get hold of it any more."

"Which comes to the same thing," replied Reno. "So – Tseng. The Meteor Effect?'"

"A huge population explosion," said Tseng.

Reno grinned. "All that end-of-the-world fucking? No surprises there."

"No," Tseng agreed, "But it's more than that. It's as if every woman who could have conceived that night did conceive. And some who thought they couldn't. A lot who thought it wasn't the right time – some who thought they were infertile. It goes against all the stats, so Reeve says."

"How d'ya mean?" Reno asked, more out of general boredom than interest in the topic.

"Well – normally even a fertile woman only has a twenty to twenty-five percent chance of conceiving if she has sex during the right time. But it seems on the night Meteor was destroyed, the probability went up to a hundred percent."

"And stayed up?" Elena asked.

"No. It was just that night. There's going to be a huge spike in the birth rate in about five months' time. Reeve's already set up emergency training in midwifery for anyone with any kind of medical experience. One of you should probably go along, just in case some woman goes into labour in one of the lodges here. In fact, we should make an inventory of the patients – find out how many are pregnant."

"Whoa!" said Reno, holding up his hands. "Don't look at me, Boss. Babies and me don't mix. Rug rats…" he gave an exaggerated shudder. "I'll do the inventory, but keep me away from the sharp end, yo."

"Don't expect me to do it just because I'm female," Elena said, her eyes challenging anyone to disagree.

"Rude?" Tseng asked. "I'd volunteer myself, but with Rufus as he is –"

"I'll do it," Rude said. "I don't mind. I have the most medical training anyway. Reno – you think all of first aid is covered by whiskey and morphine."

"Works – why knock it?" Reno agreed.

"Thank you, Rude." Tseng sounded relieved.

"Thank the Gods we were all too busy at Meteorfall to get up to anything like that!" Elena exclaimed, grunting in satisfaction as she yanked free the crumpled paper that had been caught in the photocopier. Tseng glanced across at her, so neither of them noticed the quick, complex look that passed between Reno and Rude.

x

A week later, at the usual update meeting, Reno said, "So – I got the list of names, and it's blank. We got no pregnant women here."

"Well, that's a relief anyway," Tseng replied. "Moving on –"

"What's weird is," Reno interrupted, "they got none in the hospitals either. One of the female patients mentioned it. She was a nurse – before the stigma. She said she didn't think anyone with geostigma could get pregnant. I checked it out and she was right. Not one pregnancy among stigma patients."

"That's interesting," Tseng said. "So – the stigma prevents pregnancy."

"That's what I thought – but no," Reno replied, uncharacteristically serious. "I did some more digging, and guess what? Some women with stigma got pregnant afterwards, but no one who was pregnant when this shit started contracted the stigma – not until after they'd given birth. Not one that I've been able to find. Stigma doesn't prevent pregnancy – it's the other way around."

There was silence around the table as the four Turks digested the information. Elena gave a low whistle.

"Do we tell Reeve?" Reno asked Tseng.

"That's up to Rufus, but I'll suggest that we don't. Resources will be scarce enough when this baby boom happens – if Reeve decides to let the population know that pregnancy prevents geostigma..."

"Surely even Reeve wouldn't…" Elena began.

"Reeve will be conflicted," said Tseng. "He believes that the people have a right to know the truth."

Reno snorted, and Tseng raised an eyebrow. "New times, new attitudes, Reno."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Boss."

"I'll brief Rufus," Tseng said. "Rude – you can drop the midwifery course if you like. We won't have any pregnant stigma patients to deal with."

"I'll finish it," Rude replied. "It's all training."

"Seriously?" Reno asked him. "You don't mind?"

"Life," said Rude, laconic as ever. "It makes a change, you know?"

x

It was a few days later that Reno began to worry about Rude.

"Hey, Partner," he said one afternoon, as Rude paused at the top of the steep steps leading to the lodge where the Turks were currently living with Rufus. "You a little out of breath there?"

A puzzled look crossed Rude's face. "Yeah. Been happening a lot recently."

Reno frowned. Rude always kept himself in shape – didn't smoke – never got ill. "Thought so. Coffee n' shit still making you feel sick?"

"Yeah."

Reno stood back to let Rude go past him into the circular living area of the lodge. Rude headed for the door to the sleeping quarters, but Reno indicated the couch. "Sit down a minute, would ya?" Reno tried to make his voice sound casual, but Rude knew him too well.

"What?" he asked.

"Just – sit down."

Rude obeyed. Reno stayed standing. "Any other symptoms?" Reno asked.

Rude looked at him, then nodded. "Yeah."

"Is it the stigma?"

"I don't think so. No marks. I've been feeling sick though – a lot. And – kind of hard, here." He put his hand below his stomach.

"Let me see."

Rude looked up at him, suddenly unsure. Reno sighed. "Forget that. It happened. So what? It was meant to be the end of the fuckin' world! I don't regret it, anyway."

"You think I do?"

"How would I know? You don't tell me shit. Look – forget it. Just show me. Take off your jacket."

Rude took off his jacket and laid it neatly across the arm of the couch.

"And your shirt."

Rude unbuttoned his shirt. Reno found himself itching to help, remembering, but he hadn't so much as touched Rude since that day. Rude had seemed uncomfortable about the whole thing, and both of them had let it slide into the past, unmentioned.

Now, Reno stared at the definite swelling in Rude's normally flat abdomen. "Shit Rude! How long has it been like this?"

"Not long. But it's getting bigger."

Reno put his hand on the bump. It was firm, but yielded slightly under the pressure of Reno's fingers. The smooth skin was taut over it. Reno paled. This was something bad – some kind of growth. He felt suddenly sick at the thought of something being seriously wrong with his partner.

"You have to get this checked out."

Rude shook his head. "No doctors."

"Rude – this looks –"

"I know. But I hate doctors."

"You don't have a choice. I know a guy – Hearn - used to have a practice in the Sector Five slums. Treated gunshot wounds on the quiet – sometimes worked for Corneo. He's a good doctor. He's working in the refugee camps now. He's not Shinra. Nothing like that fuckin' stim addict Kilmister. Nothing to do with Hojo."

"I was hoping it would go away."

"It's not going away." Reno sat on the couch next to Rude, his actions much more careful than usual. Rude looked at him. In the bright sunlight that filled the room Reno could see his partner's eyes through the dark lenses of his sunglasses. When Reno looked away, focussing on the waterfalls cascading down the cliffs outside the lodge, the conversation had already happened. Rude sighed. "You got this doctor's number?"

"I'll take you to him," Reno said. "You shouldn't drive – not until we know what's wrong with you."

"There's hardly any fuel," Rude said.

"We'll take my bike. I have enough to get us there and back. You up to riding pillion?"

"Yeah – I'm fine."

Reno declined to point out the obvious. He got to his feet again, tense with nervous energy. "Okay. Let's go."

"Now? It's getting late – we'll go tomorrow."

"It's only just gone three! We'll go now."

"Reno –"

"Now."

Rude got up with a sigh. "You can be a real pain in the ass sometimes."

Maybe it was desperation to lighten the atmosphere that made Reno reply, "Yeah – well, you'd know." Rude froze. It was an instant – a fraction of a second – a strobe image – and then Rude was heading for the door as though nothing had been said. Reno saw Rude's sudden moment of – what? Anger? Regret? Shock? Whatever it had been, Reno found that he felt affronted by it, and wondered at his own reaction.

x

Reno cursed under his breath. Being a Turk was something best not mentioned these days, and Rude had been forced to wait his turn like everybody else, finally getting in to see the doctor after more than an hour's wait. The cramped waiting room took up one half of the portable cabin that constituted Dr. Hearn's surgery, and even this late in the afternoon every one of the dozen plastic chairs was occupied. Most of the patients were affected by the stigma, uneven dark patches mottling their skin. Many of them were covered in bandages. Reno thought of Rufus and the neatly dressed marks on his neck, arms and torso. As he waited for Rude to emerge from behind Doctor Hearn's closed door, Reno felt real cold fear for the first time in years. He had always been prepared for his own death – and even those of his President and colleagues if he died alongside them. But he couldn't lose his partner. Not like this. Not to some mystery disease, while the rest of the planet was battling geostigma.

Fuck – Rude had been in there too long.

Reno ran his fingers through his hair nervously. This was bad. What could grow like that swelling in Rude's abdomen except some sort of horrible cancer? Shit – no – don't even think that word.

Rude would be okay. Rude had to be okay.

Reno jumped to his feet the moment the door opened, but one look at the blank shock on Rude's face froze him. "Partner?"

"I – I have to go to the new hospital – it's on Hope Street. I need a scan."

"I'll take you there, now," said Reno, resisting the urge to scream, "Tell me!" A scan was bad, wasn't it? It meant Hearn thought there was something in there to see.

Like almost all the buildings in the growing refugee city people were starting to call "Edge", the new hospital was mainly a collection of demountables. The only permanent structure was a square concrete block, erected in two months, housing a generator and functioning operating theatres. Reno parked the bike outside the perimeter fence that was locked and patrolled at night to prevent looters attempting to steal valuable medical supplies. A few passersby stopped to stare, eyes on the bike; minds on the precious fuel it contained.

"I'm gonna have to stay with the bike, Partner," Reno said. "Will you be okay?"

"Yeah." Rude made his way to one of the portable cabins. A hand-painted sign above the door read "diagnostic imaging".

Reno waited in the afternoon sunlight, ostentatiously playing with his EMR, glaring at anyone who came too close. One boy asked, "Where d'you get the bike, huh? Are you with the WRO?"

"I've worked with Reeve Tuesti," Reno told him, knowing that the news would spread fast. It galled him to think that Reeve's name had more power than Rufus' now, but that situation would only be temporary. Shin-Ra was down, but not out. Never out. Not as long as Rufus was breathing, and his Turks were still there to protect him.

It was more than an hour later that Rude appeared, walking fast, stone-faced. "Okay," he said, as he approached Reno, "Now we need to go back to Hearn. You were right about him – he knows what he's doing."

"Okay," Reno replied. Rude said nothing more, and Reno didn't push – not there, in public. He turned the bike around, and headed back for the edge of the camp where Hearn's surgery was located.

By the time they arrived, the light was lengthening. The surgery was closed, but Rude knocked on the door, and Hearn opened it.

"You were right," Rude said.

"You have the images?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Come in. We'll discuss what we're going to do."

Once the two Turks were inside, Hearn looked at Reno. "You're his partner?"

"Yeah," said Reno, at the same instant that Rude exclaimed, "No!"

"Working partner," Rude explained. "Not –"

"I see. But in the light of – Do you want him present for the consultation?"

"No," said Rude, definitely.

Hearn glanced at Reno and back at Rude. "Come through to the consulting room," he said. Rude followed him, pulling the door firmly shut, leaving Reno alone in the empty waiting room.

"Thanks, Partner," Reno muttered to himself, annoyed by how much Rude's behaviour hurt.

This is about him, Reno told himself, not you, but the closed door still felt like a rejection.

It was another hour before Rude reappeared, alone. Without meeting Reno's anxious gaze, he said, "Let's go."

Back at Cliff Resort, Reno dropped Rude off at the base of the steps and took the bike to the secure garage, excavated from the cliff below the lodge that had become the unofficial headquarters of all that remained of Shin-Ra. When he returned to the lodge Rude had already gone to their shared room, and the door was closed. Reno knocked, once, but there was no reply, and when he tried the door it was locked.

Reno found himself longing for someone to talk to, but he couldn't betray the fact of Rude's illness to the others when Rude so obviously wanted to keep it to himself. Tseng was doubtless with Rufus – the stigma had been very bad lately – and Elena was sleeping in preparation for the nightshift when Tseng went off duty.

After a fretful, unhappy evening watching WRO reports on TV, Reno went back to his room. This time he found the door unlocked. Rude was apparently asleep, or at least pretending to be. In any event, Reno's quiet, "Hey, Partner…" met with no response.

Reno slept badly, sure at times that Rude was awake in the darkness. When the dawn light grew strong enough to allow his eyes to make out the unnaturally still form of Rude, Reno asked, "Are we gonna talk about this, huh?"

Silence.

Reno propped himself on one elbow. "Rude?"

"I - I don't know how," Rude said. The catch in his partner's voice made Reno's heart ache – a feeling he thought he'd left behind in his rookie days. His indrawn breath was a sharp hiss as he made himself ask the question: "Is it terminal?"

"It's not cancer. It's – fuck, Reno – this is impossible. I can't…"

"You have to tell me, man. I'm goin' outta my mind here."

"I'm pregnant."

Reno laughed before he could stop himself. "That's not even funny. Not when you're sick."

"It's not funny. It's something out of a fucking horror film. I'm four months pregnant."

"Stop this shit." Reno's voice was strained. "What the fuck are you doing? You can tell me – if it's the stigma – if it's something new –"

Rude rolled over and switched on the desk lamp that stood on the nightstand between their beds. "I am telling you. I know – it's crazy. But it kind of makes sense. Last week – I felt it move."

"No. This is –"

"Look." Rude threw two photographs onto Reno's bed. Scan pictures. Reno stared at the grey images, trying to tell himself that he couldn't make out the shape of a skull – the curve of a spine – a clearly defined hand.

"This is some kinda sick joke. That doctor in the camp – Rude, these can't be from your scan!"

"I was watching. I saw it on the monitor. Four months ago Reno. Meteorfall. We were right there when the Lifestream came out of the ground."

"What the fuck? You mean other guys are the same?"

"No. Not as far as I know. I think it's just us. But we were closer to the Lifestream than anyone."

"Us?" Panicked, Reno looked down at his own concave belly. "You mean I might be –"

"No, Reno. I mean, it's ours. This one. In me."

"But that's impossible!"

"We fucked. Something happened – the – power – that made all those women conceive – the Lifestream."

"But we're both guys!" Reno almost howled.

"Yeah."

"So how?"

"I don't know. Hearn didn't know."

"What are we gonna do?"

"That's what I had to decide. That's what I needed to think about."

"Could Hearn do it? No. He's not a surgeon. We'll have to get surgeons – bring them in, not let them see who they're operating on. I'll fix it. You're gonna be fine."

"I'm keeping it, Reno."

"Like fuck! You're ill. It's getting bigger every day. It'll kill you."

"No. Hearn thinks there's room. It's attached to my bowel. He thinks it might survive. They'd have to operate to deliver it early."

"It's too risky. And fuck it Rude – you don't want a kid! Turks and kids don't mix. Remember Commander Veld?"

"Things are different now. The world's different. I –"

"Shit. I can't believe you're even thinking about this!"

"I'm not thinking about it any more. I'm done thinking. I'm keeping it."

"So that's it?"

"Yeah."

"You don't even care what I think?"

Rude swung his legs out of bed and sat facing Reno in the slowly gathering light. He wore nothing but his boxers, and the swell of his abdomen was very apparent. Reno stared at it, his mind still struggling to grasp the impossible fact of what he was seeing.

"I do," Rude said, frowning. "But there's nothing I can do about it. No compromise. I either keep it, or I don't, and I'm keeping it."

"Why? I don't get why. It'll change everything if it survives. If you do."

"Doesn't it matter to you that it's yours?" Rude asked.

"You have no way of knowing that!" exclaimed Reno, helplessness making him angry. "This insane theory about the Lifestream – that could be bullshit. Even if it was the Lifestream that somehow created it, that don't mean it's anything to do with me. Could be like – like a clone or something. Or - maybe some chick you went with –"

Rude sighed. "There wasn't anyone else for weeks before, and no one after. But you're right – it could be something that was somehow made from just my cells – my DNA. There must be tests they can do."

"Makes no difference," Reno said. "Mine or not mine – you can't keep it! I wouldn't, if it were me."

"Lucky for the kid that it's me then," said Rude.

"Not lucky for anyone. It will die. You'll most likely die too. I don't want –"

"It's my choice. My risk."

"Yeah, well don't expect me to go runnin' for the hot towels or whatever-the-fuck. I'll do whatever you want comes to getting that thing out of you, but if you wanna risk your life bringing some kinda freak into the world, then you're on your own!"

"Thought we were partners."

"Working partners," Reno sniped. "Nothing else. You sure as hell made that clear."

"Okay," said Rude.

"What does that mean?"

"Okay – I get it. You don't want in. This is a solo mission."

Reno felt an odd pressure in his chest. "I – I told you, I'll do anything to help you get better."

"I'm not sick."

Reno looked away. "This whole situation is fuckin' sick. Look – Rude – I never wanted kids. Never got a girl in trouble –"

Rude snorted. "As far as you know."

Reno couldn't deny the truth of the accusation in Rude's tone.

"As far as I know," he admitted. "But look – you say it's lucky for the kid that it's you. But what's lucky about being born now? Into this fucked up hell of a world? With two Turks for parents – assuming it is even is mine. Two male Turks. C'mon Rude – what kind of a life is that?"

"You think I haven't been through all this? But – I figure – when has there ever been a good time to be born? There's always been war, and disease, and danger. Way I see it, it's better to have a life than not."

"Depends on the life. And what if you let this thing grow and something ruptures and it kills you, but the kid survives? You expect me to look after it – the thing that killed my partner? It's not a kid – it's a – a fucking bomb!"

Rude's hand moved to his belly – an automatic, protective gesture that shocked him as much as it did Reno. They stared at each other, Rude's arm a barrier between them.

"Don't talk about her like that," Rude said.

"Her?"

"Yeah. Sonographer said it's a girl."

"I can't – even –" Reno had no idea what to feel. Clutching at what he knew, he said, "That's a point. The sonographer has to be taken out. I'll sort it. And can we trust Hearn? He's good – he always used to know how to keep his mouth shut – but this is big –"

"No one's taking out anyone," Rude said firmly. "I trust Hearn. The sonographer has no idea who I am. She didn't even seem all that surprised. Hearn had phoned her – said it was related to the stigma. No one can explain how that happens either."

"But –"

"No. No killing. I'm not – I don't want her life to be like ours."

"Okay. No killing." Reno sighed. "You're really doing this."

"Yeah."

"Yeah. I - I have to think. I can't –" Reno ran his fingers through his hair.

"I know. It's…"

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm – I need to go out for a while."

"Okay. Reno – don't tell the others. Not yet."

"Sure. Yeah. I mean – I won't." Reno grabbed his clothes from their usual storage place on the floor, and pulled them on with what he knew was indecent haste. He felt like he used to when he was sneaking out of some one-night-stand's room early in the morning. No – actually he felt a whole lot guiltier than that, because those people hadn't been important – but this was Rude. For possibly the first time in his life Reno wished he were a better person, but he couldn't make himself do anything else. He needed to get out – he needed air.

Rude watched him for a moment, then got back into bed, and pulled the duvet over himself. "Well – I'm gonna get some more sleep. Guess now I know why I've been feeling so tired lately." The yawn that followed was the fakest thing Reno had ever heard.

Reno felt pretty damn low, knowing that Rude was trying to make it easier for him, but he also knew that he was still leaving. He hesitated though, with his hand on the doorknob. "I – just need to think, you know? I'm comin' back, Par – " He couldn't force the word past the lump in his throat. "I'm comin' back," he finished, instead.

"I know," Rude's deep voice replied, from beneath the duvet.

As he closed the door behind him, Reno wished he were as certain of that as Rude seemed to be.