A/N: so here is the final ending, it was going to be short but it ended up being quite long o0', I hope you enjoy. I've loved writing this story.

Over the next couple of months Vince and I set out in search of answers. As head of Intelligence gathering at the WRO I had previous experience of this sort of work, a perfect opportunity to show off the abilities I had learnt during my employment there, heheheh. It was kind of nice to regain some normality.

It was our primary objective to search for Lucrecia's records, the ones that would hopefully offer us some sort of explanation as to exactly what she and Grimoire had discovered.

This would have been a lot easier if Shelke still shared Lucrecia memories. We asked her but she just shrugged, she had said in her innocent manner that it would be beneficial for us to get out and find them ourselves, rather than just hanging around doing nothing. Seems she had a point. We had spent a little too long just hanging around at Seventh Heaven avoiding the subject. Avoiding each other...

It was a relieve as Vincent gradually regained his memories from our time together, it made me feel a little less crazy.

But boy, oh, boy did that lead to some seriously uncomfortable moments.

Late one dark night he came to my room and told me he had remembered the nights we had shared. Must have been past two o'clock. If it had been anyone else, banging on my door late at night, I would have told them to sling there hook, just a little less clean than that.

The sky outside the open window was starless and clouded, the breeze chilled me as it sneaked in. I opened the door and stood before him in my pyjama's, eep that was a little embarrassing but I suppose he has seen me in far less.

A part of me longed for him to grab a hold of me.

Things between us really changed that night, they had to. We weren't just friends with an uncomfortable air of tension surrounding us anymore. He just lay still beside me, hands folded neatly on his chest, his dark hair spread out across the light coloured bed spread. I could smell his shampoo. Gawd it was such a effort for me not to pin him down then and there.

But its not exactly like we were going to jump straight back into bed with each other because of what we had shared before. It would have been a little rushed and inappropriate.

I listened as he told me exactly what had come back to him. I felt a proud smile slink across my face as he described, in detail, exactly how I had made him feel.

This experience was a little strange, but necessary. If we never mentioned it he would have still remembered and I would have still remembered. The tension would just have built up inside of us, until we would like explode or never speak to each other again or something.

We had to take things slow, no matter how much I wanted his hands on me. It is important that we learn to trust each other and forgive.

I opened up to him about how I had hated myself for acting so selfishly and for playing with his emotions. I admitted that I was ashamed and that I didn't expecting him to ever fully forgive me. I felt such a dork, I'm an open sort of chica but its not like I go around talking about how I really feel all the time.

The reaction I got from that admission surprised me. Vincent laughed, he touched my face, he said that I was scarring him because I was starting to sound just like him.

After spending a rather pointless afternoon searching in the Midgar ruins for some of Lucrecia or Grimoire's data, we had sat down upon some rubble. Vincent spoke to me of the last few years.

He said that he was sorry for not being a better friend. I assured him that it didn't matter. We sat in silence for a few minutes and then I confessed again.

"I guess, sometimes, I was a little jealous of the faith you placed in Shelke. I always felt as if I failed as I wasn't the one who bought you back. I didn't get to see that smile, that first smile, the one I had been waiting for." My arms wailed around against my own will, revealing the fact that I had been keeping this inside for some time.

Vincent looked serious, his gaze fixed on the horizon, "I didn't know that it would have meant so much to you. Perhaps if I'd been aware I could have saved it for you. After all, I think that you deserved it the most."

"And just how would I have earned myself such a prize?" I asked looking up at him shyly.

"You never gave up on me, no matter how badly I infuriated you."

The two of us silently stared out over the ruined city that had been, for a short time, a happy home for us both. All these broken remnants had once been a part of a grand and rather awful city, still it had been a home to so many people.

We did forgive each othe,r slowly, as we spent time trusting each other in battle and in seeking destinations to search for information.

But it wasn't just about the work, we took days off together to relax and occasionally we would take the children out to give Cloud and Tifa some time alone together.

Vincent and I took Shelke, Marlene and Denzel to the Gold Saucer as a special treat.

The five of us bumped into some of the children's school friends. The group included Ed, Shelke's special friend.

He nervously asked her if she would like to ride the gondola's with him. So she came and asked our permission.

Vincent was reluctant to let her go at first, because he looks out for her, and sort of what I imagine a father would be like, was mistrustful of a young boy's intentions.

My dad never really seemed to worried about what I got up to. Since a young age I was left to my own devious devices and while I relished the freedom he had given me I couldn't help but think that it would have been nice to have felt protected, maybe just once.

I smacked Vincent on the back of the head and reminded him they were only 13 and that he shouldn't be such a square.

"Go Shelke, The gondola's are great. One time I kissed Cloud up there." I revealed.

Vincent scoffed at this news and flicked his long dark locks over his shoulder and murmured something about telling Tifa. Perphaps a flash of jealousy had stricken him?

Marlene pulled an "Ewww" face.

I mimicked her. "I know gross huh, but we all make mistakes."

Shelke thanked me, her face masking any emotion she might have been feeling.

We waited for her to finish on the Gondola, but Marlene and Denzel insisted that we go and play on the arcade games.

Of course they didn't really want us to play, they were just after our cash for the games.

Vince and I found a quiet corner and watched over them.

We were just standing there, minding our own business, when a funny looking robot hopped up to us and distracted us from the children.

"Hey there, want me to check your compatibility?"

Our eyes met and we smiled as we both remembered, handing over our hands to the machine our anticipation grew.

Sure enough we were rewarded with matching flame print outs.

"Heh! What are the chances we would get the same again?!" I said holding the paper in both hands.

"I don't think that it has anything to do with luck, Yuffie."

As Vincent leant towards me I thought it was finally going to happen, I was going to get the kiss I had been waiting for.

Unfortunately we were interrupted by an official looking man.

"Excuse me, are you responsible for that child?" the man asked, his tone short and sharp.

I groaned as I turned to see Marlene with her arm shoved up the reward chute of a crane game. Denzel was encouraging her to grab the stuffed chocobo toy from inside, but she couldn't reach and had gotten stuck.

My palm met my face as the security staff struggled to release the girl.

Out of a secret desire to be thought of as "cool" by the kids we neglected to tell Cloud, Tifa and especially Barret about Marlene's little indiscretion that day.

It would probably have reflected on us badly as well, I don't think I'll ever really be free of the "Yuffie - the thief" stigma I had earned myself so long ago. So we just got some ice creams and vowed never to speak of it again.

Tifa had asked me questions about my what I had gotten up to in the past. I told her a few miniscule details, a quick summary if you will. I felt that what had happened between Vincent and I was deeply personal and although they were aware that we had met we never divulged just how far we had gone, or how close we had grown.

The rest of our friends, the Ex-AVALANCHE members, have been surprisingly supportive. Cid had said to me that he thought I was a good influence on Vincent. I never thought Cid would understand, I recon I underestimated him. Deep down he's a big softie.

Reeve called me into his office last week and asked me to sit down. Which reminded me of being a kid in trouble with a teacher.

He smiled at me and told me that he had a lead for us to follow.

"Shinra manor." he said proudly as if it were a profound revelation.

I sighed, "REEVE, duh that was one of the first places we looked."

"Yes, but you didn't have this key." He said with a sparkle in his eye, removing a large rusty key from his desk draw.

He handed it over to me.

I didn't really see how it would be of any help, but dear Reeve was smiling and clearly pleased with his find. So I thanked him and assured him we would check again.

As we made our way to the labs at the bottom of the manor we passed the room where Vincent had slept for 30 years. I shudder to think at what must have been going through his head all that time. He stopped and stared at the dark wooden door.

"If this is too hard, then we can go back." I spoke softly. I turned on my flash light and we carried on. I slid my hand into his and lead the way. Squeezing his fingers gently.

"White rose of Wutai, the shining light in darkness." He murmured under his breath as I lead him onwards.

The place was a dump, books and test tubes scattered everywhere I looked.

We set about searching. I tried the key in locked draws but It was too large.

After about an hours searching I hoisted myself up on to a desk.

"This is useless, we are never going to find it. Shinra probably found the information and put it down as "Lucrecia's crazy theories." No offence." I added.

"None taken, to be honest I never took any of her science seriously. In the end it was only Hojo who was left to believe in her." Vincent said cooly as he flicked through pages of a book.

Man! that's kind of sad. She would never know that her greatest source of ridicule had come to respect and develop her work. Creepy.

"Oh, I remembered something just now! I was supposed to make sure that you wrote a book." I said as I watched him, swiftly changing the subject.

He looked up at me and smiled.

"So spill, what do you want to write about?"

"Hmm, not sure really, maybe about a murder in unexplained circumstances." He said, looking thoughtful. An inspired gleam shone deep in his eye.

"Ohh a cheery tale for the whole family then." I teased.

"Then perhaps I should write a childrens book."

I held my sides as I laughed at the mental image of Vincent sitting down to write a nice story with bunnies and unicorns.

"Maybe stick with the first one then."

Vincent nodded, he looked back at the book and then back at me.

"I have noticed that your spark has returned." he said cautiously, looking at me out of the corner of his eyes.

"Well, baby I guess you just ignite me." I returned with a wink, cocking an imaginary gun with my fingers.

Vince gave a low laugh. "Yuffie, are you actually going to help me look or are you just going to sit there?"

"Oh what's the point, Lulu hid her findings well." I raised my hands and gave a slight shrug.

Vincent cringed at the name I had given his dearly departed pal.

There was a horrible looking paper-weight beside me on the desk. Curious as ever, I picked it up to inspect it. It had a small plastic model of Jenova's head inside.

As if that wasn't bad enough a huge spider crawled up over the top. Its long spindly legs indiscriminately climbed over my fingers.

"Argh!" I cried out, throwing the paper weight into the air. It fell down behind a book case.

"Oh My Gawd, did you see the size of that thing, it could have eaten me!"

Vincent held up a finger to silence me. At first I was about to tell him that that was rude, but then I picked up on what he was listening to.

It sounded as if the discarded paper weight was rolling down some stairs.

Vincent signalled me over and together we pulled down the large wooden book case. Sure enough behind it was a small stairwell with a large wooden door at the bottom.

I held up my hand expectantly. Vincent smirked and gave me a high five.

We used the key in the old rusty lock and the door swung open.

Cob webs stuck to my head as I entered. Vincent removed it and tried to wipe it on the wall.

"Quaint little place isn't it?" huffed Vincent sarcastically. I don't think that anyone had been down here in a very long time.

It didn't take as long to set to work looking. Vincent wandered around casing the joint, checking out the faded photographs on the wall.

There was no doubt in our minds that this place must have been used by Lucrecia Crescent.

One of the photos was Hojo and Lucrecia dressed formally, did they get married?! I thought they drew the line at procreation in the name of mad science.

I sat down at the desk, the chair creaked beneath me, My eyes widened with the fear of falling on my backside but it held up.

I turned on an ancient looking dust covered computer.

"Enter Password:" flashed up on the screen.

"Vincent," I tried first of all, nope,

"Grimoire," nope

"Hojo," Nope.

I leant back in the chair and glanced around for clues. The answer came to me instantly as Idiscovered a small brown envelop next to the keyboard, it contained a photo. It was one of those scans you get from the hospital when you are pregnant.

"Sephiroth." access granted.

I raided the computer. It was a ridiculously primitive thing and it had clearly been wiped. I tossed the mouse aside in frustration.

"Yuffie, I believe I have found what we have been looking for." Vincent stood before me, some brown paper files in his hand.

An open filing cabinet was visible behind him.

I regarded him for a moment or so. Pleased that he had found the information and disappointed that our little quest had come to an end.

"What are we going to do?" I asked, getting up from the dodgy chair.

Vincent looked thoughtful, "We'll meet up later and read them together."

I nodded, "Come to my house, do you know where I live."

"I know where you live."

"That's sorted then, see you later Vince!" I skipped of towards the door, concealing my nerves. He was my ride home but I felt like I needed to make my own way back.

Tonight would signal the end of our adventure and I was unsure as to where we would find our relationship tomorrow. I was a bag of nerves and that was why i was so eager to dash off.

My house has never looked so tidy, I thought as I stood back and inspected my hard work. I decided to fight for us. I'd win him finally tonight. The house looked immaculate, I'm going to make his favourite dinner again and I'll dress real nice. Just like before.

I opened my wardrobe and took out the dress I had stowed away when I returned. I dressed and thought of the original purpose for this dress. I was going to wear it to the dinner on my birthday. He was going to give me a "third gift", I hadn't thought about it for so long. I heaved a deep sigh, I think I knew what it was. I sat on my bed for a moment stricken with a sadness. Gah can't think about that now. There is a knock at my door and I welcome Vincent in.

"Looking good Vincey!" I gasped, he was dressed in a smart shirt and jacket combo. His long hair had been tightly tied up.

He thanked me shyly, the files still tucked under his arm.

"I hope you haven't been peeking." I said signalling to them.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"Hmmm, Okay, well come sit down. I made you dinner."

We ate the food and drank some wine, swapped small talk. We did not mention the files whilst we ate. After I had cleared away the dishes we sat either side of the table staring at the files he had placed in the middle.

"I have a gift for you." Vincent spoke up, breaking his gaze from the files.

My heart pounded, it wouldn't be the third gift, don't be silly, I calmed my self down.

"Oh what is it?" I shifted closer.

Vincent held out his hand and revealed a small silver spider charm resting in the palm of his hand, a memento for today.

I smiled widely and held out my wrist to him, He attached the new charm to my bracelet. He had told me that he had wished to get me more. My heart jumped with joy as I dared to dream of the expeirences we were yet to share as well as the ones that had passed.

"I am surprised you still wear it."

"Never going to take it off." I said with a smile.

A few more minutes ticked on by and still neither one of us touched the files.

"Ah, hell, lets just do it." I snatched the top one and opened it. Vincent followed suit and we sifted through the information. I found the picture of the Abomination lady, the photo from Lucrecia's Cosmo Canyon file.

Long into the night we studied the files and short of discovering that they had used the time woman in numerous experiments we understood very little.

Vincent rubbed his tired eyes. "This is futile, neither you nor I know anything about science this complex."

I bunched them together and reluctantly accepted defeat. "I guess I'll never have any answers for you, what do you want to do with all these?"

Vincent stood up and straightened out his clothes. "Come, I know what we should do with them." he held out his hand to me.

Vincent led me through Wutai towards the mountains. I was confused to say the least. I had thought that he was going to suggest that we have the WRO science department check them out for us, seems like he has something else in mind.

The temperature was balmly even though it was late, some of the towns people watched with interest as there Princess was dragged through the streets by a dark, mysterious man.

I noted that none of them questioned it.

Hmph I could have been being kidnapped for all they knew.

I guess the fact that I was happily holding his hand in mine and the fact that I never shut up about "The great Vincent Valentine" helped to settle their fears.

That or they were just sick to death about me talking to them about him all the time and they would be glad for the peace and queit.

Up the mountain we ventured, he did not respond to my questions "What are you doing?" "Do you even know where you are going?"

He lead me into the fire cave and carelessly tossed the files into the roasting flames. I watched open mouthed as they burned. I freed my hand and left the cave, Vincent joined me under the dark night sky.

"Why did you do that, we spent so long searching?" I said not turning to face him. I wasn't really angry, but i felt as if I should have been.

"It was never really about finding answers Yuffie. I've known the answer for long enough now." He put his hand on my shoulder and turned me around.

"And what's that?" I asked hardly allowing myself to believe this was really happening.

"The truth is that I don't care about why or how it happened, I only care that it did happen and that it changed things…for the better." he stroked my face with his thumb.

I never really cared about how or why either, I just wanted to explain things to him, but it seems like he already understands.

I pull him close to me and I kiss him, under the stars, up the mountain of my homeland. His lips are warm and soft, the way that I remember and the way I always dreamed they would feel. He wraps his arms around my waist and he lifts me, the way he would have done in the past. After all he's the same man, he's just a little worn, and i don't give a damn because I love him all the more.

This moment does not feel temporary as so many of the others did, I don't have to be afraid that he might slip away from me now.

Maybe things will never be the way they once were, back in time stolen time we had shared.

Maybe I'll never get that third gift.

But then again maybe I will.

All I know is we have time enough to find out.

I finally got the chance I had been longing for. At the end of the day that's all I ever really wanted, just a chance to love him.

A/N: thanks again to everyone who has read this. really loved doing it and i am so grateful for all the reviews.