Delivery day only two months away~
Gentle green table cloths. Gentle green napkins. Gentle green gifts. A gentle green cake that had to be heavily guarded because Yuffie wanted to stick her goddamn fingers in the frosting. Tifa (bless her heart) was kind enough to throw Shera a small baby shower at her newly refurbished bar in Edge. Shera wasn't the one scheming this time. It took both future parents by surprise. The Captain and his First Mate received plenty of congratulations in Rocket Town, and a steady trickle of well-wishes from members of AVALANCHE as they arrived.
"How can a lady like that carry around such a huge belly?! She looks like one of those martini, toothpick-olive thingies." Yuffie voiced out loud at some point after the small talk and customary games of the get-together. Cid didn't expect the little thief after all this time to have a filter, but it peeved him that her comment was about his poor wife. Truth be told though, triplets at seven months; Shera's pregnancy was a little more than obvious. She stuck out like a…well, you get the point.
"She c'aint help it! Yuffie, shut yer' mouth." Cid's nose scrunched in the ninja's direction. He rubbed the nicotine patch on the back of his upper arm out of habit. He, along with everyone else, were waiting for Shera to return to the bar front so they could begin opening gifts. By Cid's notice and exaggeration, it was probably her 98844342323553th time getting up to use the bathroom today.
"You alright?" Cloud mumbled over the rim of his drink. Other than trying not to be as rude as Yuffie was with seeing Shera's progress, he detected the irritation Cid had with whatever was under his sleeve.
"Eh? Yeah, m' fine. I had to quit my smokes if you hadn't noticed. It's just a patch." Cid sighed and pulled out a set of plastic forks from a box when Tifa began to cut the cake in preparation of Shera's return.
"Did ya' woman make ya'?" Barret, though a bit late, had finally placed down his present from himself and Marlene at a designated table. He'd been listening to the conversation when he made his way over.
"I made myself quit. I was talkn' to this snotty little chick down at the warehouse a while back." Cid called her snotty because of the unnecessarily long pipe she used to smoke with. "She said she made er' five month old nephew sick, 'cause she's got cigarette smoke in her clothes. C'aint keep babies if you do. C'aint be around anyone pregnant either." He sighed. "It's alright though. Needed to quit, anyway." His lungs were probably charcoal.
"HA! You said the B-word!" Cait Sith swung from the counter top and plucked a green, wooden clothes pin from the fabric of Cid's shirt. Having no real clothes himself, the silly toy cat clipped it to his flicking tail along with the rest of his growing hoard. "Cait Sith claims another!" He cackled. It was a simple game (Don't say b-a-b-y or you lose a pin. The most pins wins), and he did appear to be winning. Other shirts were almost bare.
"Sorry about that." Shera teetered down the steps of the bar and returned to the party. She was excused upon returning to her seat. It wasn't as if no one could understand why she had to get up to use the bathroom 98844342323553 times a day.
"Ready to open presents?" Cloud stood and stepped over Nanaki, who was half asleep on the floor. He grabbed the first decorated green box on the corner of the gift table, while Tifa officially began to serve cake. The mother-to-be was given a piece first, and then all the guests after.
"Yes, please. I really can't thank you enough, Ms. Lockhart. This was so nice of you to do." Shera hadn't perceived that Tifa would throw a shower. Though, perhaps she should have when she called the young woman back and received a long string of curious questions. What color did you chose for the babies? What are their genders? When's your next visit to Edge? What supplies do you have, and what do you need?
"No problem at all! I'm excited for the both of you." She replied with a warm smile. Tifa's cinnamon eyes lit up with anticipation when she noticed which gift Cloud had chosen first: theirs.
Shera's careful fingers found the tape at the edges of the present first while Barret boisterously barked Nanaki awake. The paper was unfolded from its neat wrapping, and the cardboard top taken off. On the inside were three warm baby blankets (in green of course) along with a few bottles, and a card instructed to be opened later. Brows bowed in appreciation; Shera ran her palm over the soft material and air plane patterns. "These are lovely. We'll be able to hang them over the gates of cribs in the room upstairs."
"Sure will. S'awful thoughtful of you both. We hadn't been able to snag any blankets jus' yet." Cid had stood up from his barstool to help move the unwrapping process along. He placed the blankets back in the box when Shera passed it to him, and waited for the next item.
Leisurely, most of the members of AVALANCHE that had been able to attend presented their gifts one at a time. Yuffie who insisted having hers opened next, gifted the Captain and his First Mate Wutainese, jade, crib mobiles with an assortment of hand crafted birds in flight. Barret practically wrapped many sets of clothing in a variety of sizes. Cait Sith had 'magically conjured' the finest pacifiers on the Planet. That left Nanaki, who was still leisurely participating from the floor.
"You will have to pardon me for not having my own gift, but I hope you will accept Vincent's. He apologizes for not being here, but he keeps your good news in mind." With a stretch, Nanaki gestured to the last gift on the table with the tilt of his head. It was a very large box taped up, and signed in Vincent's distinct handwriting. "I took it upon myself to bring it here while he is away."
"Bring it on over then. I'll tell ol' Vince thanks later." Cid scooped the gift up. It was a little heavier than he expected it to be.
"How about you open that one, Cid? I know you two are good friends." Shera suggested. She placed her cake down and stopped eating because she prematurely ran out of room in her stomach.
"I got it, I got it." He bumped Yuffie's nosy little face out of the way with his elbow and pulled the box open; paper torn in small, messy piles. The inside was heavily padded with old newspaper and Styrofoam. Out of the mass of clingy white peanuts, Cid removed the first of a set of three unique bedroom lamps. They were porcelain windmills with moving parts, and boy were they a pretty sight. Good ol' Vince…
After guests claimed their game prices (Cait Sith claims the grand prize~!) they all re-congratulated Cid and Shera, and parted their separate ways to meet again some other time. The journey back to Rocket Town was a long one, but the day had rolled into a very comfortable evening. Before bed, Shera couldn't help but situate their gifts in the room upstairs.
Aside from regularly attending doctor's appointments, Shera had steadily been adding on here and there to the cribs already in the room. Each wooden frame was given one new blanket over the rail, new clothes stacked into a basket with donations to be washed, and bottles and pacifiers stored in a cabinet to also be washed when the time was right. Nervousness rose in Shera's throat (or was it common indigestion?) the more she delved into her own thoughts. Some certain someones would be preoccupying this room very soon, and she heavily wondered if either of them would be ready.
Uncharacteristically, Cid had entered behind her without a word. One, then two, and then three, beautiful mobiles fixed onto three empty cribs with a screwdriver. One, then two, and then three beautiful porcelain windmills placed on three separate shelf spaces anchored to the wall. He methodically plugged them in, and turned off the light to reveal crystal-like, kaleidoscope inner bulbs that gently cast their relaxing patterns over the wall through tiny window spaces. Three cribs. Three windmills. Three little girls.
Cid and Shera looked over the room in silence for a long moment, before Shera leaned against his shoulder and gently cried. The comfort of his arm supported the small of her back.
"Me, too, Mama."