Sorry again for the pause. I'm getting ready for school in the fall.

Cid had vowed to never raise his voice at his woman, but he did just this once because she couldn't hear him past her hick-upping, and sniffling, and the pitiful salt water in her eyes. Shera's glasses were crooked on her dampened, reddened face, and he was afraid she'd pass out because she was bawling too hard to even breathe right.

"SHERA." He took his wife by her shoulders and gave her a firm shake. "I ain't gonna chop your head off!" Cid's blue eyes were stern past the anger that obviously contorted his face. Okay, he was fucking pissed off. His jaw was locked in place, and on the inside of his mouth, his teeth were clenched. He wasn't angry at Shera, though. He knew her, and he knew his low down, good for nothin', money hoarding (his mother always did like dragons), jackass of a father. He should have told her, goddammit! It wasn't like Cid didn't anticipate Johnny being a snake. He just didn't expect the man to target his wife, and steal from his own grandchildren. Can the bar be any lower?

"Cid, I-I'm so sorry, I should have waited. I thought he was h-here to help." Shera allowed Cid to usher her toward the couch. He let her shoulders go to collect what little patience he had. The hardwood creaked under his boots, and he began to pace. It only served to turn his skin a few shades toward normal.

"Shera, I shoulda' jus told you what he was! I didn't want you't think bad of the kinda family you'd have for our kids…I was being a fuckin' idiot, alright. If I told ya, he wouldn't have been hangin' over yer shoulder." Stupid, stupid, stupid. Cid wanted to knock himself over the back of his head with the blunt end of the spear he had hanging over the kitchen cabinets.

"But it's my fault, and now we don't even have enough for the week." Shera bit back a hard frown and the sharp, guilty burn in her throat. It was true; Johnny took more than their savings. The regular checking, and saving account ,besides the one they had for renovation funds, were swiped clean. If Cid wanted Shera to have at least something, to go into the hospital with next week, he'd have to haul ass to his next pay check. That still didn't count for bills that needed to be paid while she recovered, or the day to day things they'd need to care for the triplets when they brought them home. Shit, the more he thought about it, the angrier he was, and the more he began to panic. The best thing they could do for now was to call the bank and schedule for all their information to be changed (if you don't think Johnny G. Highwind would double dip, think again).

"Ain't no use in reporting. They'd never catch that son of a bitch." Cid grew weak in the knees and sank down next to Shera on the couch. She was still wiping her eyes even after running out of tears. He knew exactly what she was saying to herself in her poor head. "You ain't mess nothing up again, you better fuckin' cut it out." He turned his head in her direction and met her puffy eyes. Cid knew she didn't deserve to be stressed out. She'd been stressed out for nine months, and it was coming down to the wire. This just wasn't fucking fair.

"Captain, but-"

"You didn't know. I knew n' I didn't tell ya." Cid held open his palm for Shera to take. "Now you calm down, doc says you ain't supposed to be upset. We'll work this out, y'hear me?"

Shera very slowly nodded her head and dabbed a bit of moisture that dripped from her nose. The clenching in her throat had eased along with the bright color in her face. She threaded her fingers in the spaces between Cid's, and squeezed his rough palms. The guilt, a very familiar kind, hung heavy on her heart. "At one point," she exhaled a wavering breath and adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her nose "I said I would have taken your father over mine, but I don't think that that anymore." Her free hand was placed on the round of her heavily bloated stomach.

Cid didn't know what she meant by that, but he knew Shera long enough to sense she was getting ready for some sort of disclosure. Normally, he would have replied, but he was silent while waiting for her to continue.

"My mother doesn't like me because of him." That was the simplest, most tactful way to put it. The slight change of topical was somewhat assuaging. Shera tilted her head upward to stare at the patchy, wooden ceiling.

"What's wrong with em'?" Cid placed one arm over the back of the couch behind her head, and Shera used his forearm as a pillow. She fell silent for a long moment while trying to sort out her emotions and thoughts. This wasn't easy to explain.

"He and she are not close. They don't actually know each other; not personally."

"One night stand?" The Captain's absently swept over Shera's opal wedding ring.

"Sexual assault." Her lips pressed into a tight line.

Ah, shit. Cid visibly grimaced. She didn't need to explain anything else. How fucking, awful.

"He's the stranger she holds all of her hate toward. I've seen him once; I've been told we have a strong resemblance. I think that may be why she can be so bitter towards me. I don't blame my mother though; she was stuck with something she never asked for." Shera very slowly sighed through parted lips. She lowered her head when Cid had yet to reply; searching his face for a reaction to what she had just told him. His expression was still taught, and hard to read.

He was honestly at a loss for words. It was something he had never known about Shera until now. Cid could totally understand why she typically chose not to speak about it. Hell, that was pretty damn rough.

"That ain't your fault either, Shera." Cid hoped with all his heart Shera never told Ms. .Joules she was sorry.

"I've told myself that a thousand times." She pushed her glasses back of the bridge of her nose. A very dry smile formed on Shera's face, and then faded as soon as it came. "Some part of me has always felt guilty for something. I don't know how I could ever make it up to her, in place of my father. I don't know how I'll be able to make up for this, either." She stared over the concave line of her stomach to the litter of bank statements on the coffee table.

Looks like they were both stuck with stacks of shit; it explained a lot. "Ain't nothin' you can do about that. You and I are gonna hustle, alright, Shera?! Don't go blamin' yourself, I'm not gonna give you hell, and I won't let you give yourself hell either." Cid hooked his arm around her shoulders and brought Shera close to kiss her temple. They stayed like that for a while. The house was drenched in silence until Cid spoke again.

"You know I'd never do anythin' to hurt any of ya, right? I ain't gonna fucking steal from my kids." His lips were on her forehead. He was trying to hold in the anger that had rose again and began to burn in the very pit of his stomach. Simon, Samson, and Cidney weren't even here yet, and he already ached for them.

"I know you wouldn't, Captain. I know." Shera felt like crying again. "I know you wouldn't."

"M' not gonna be anythin' like that. I'll be the best damn daddy on this planet." And Cid fully trusted Shera when said she would be the very best mother. What a long road ahead.

Thankfully, Barret fully empathized with Cid and was kind enough to lend the Captain some gil. It was just enough for the week, and just enough to ensure that Shera could have a somewhat clear conscious going into the hospital. When that would be, however, was unsure. It didn't take long before she was officially nine months pregnant, and her estimated due date was upon them. The previous week was full of cold weather, shared paranoia, and some amount of emotional and physical fatigue. The previous week's scandal hung over both of their heads, Shera couldn't sleep because of fear of her water breaking in the middle of the night, and Cid was bone tired from extra charters, but couldn't sleep because Shera couldn't fucking sleep.

It was an early morning, a day after her official due date had passed, that Cid found Shera far off in the other room. She'd turned the windmills alongside the cribs on, and pushed herself with the ball of her foot in the rocking chair while submersing herself in her thoughts. Shera seemed at peace for a moment sitting there in the dark, so he decided to wait before calling her name and disturbing the calm she was in. She appeared partially asleep, hallelujah if she was. Cid would have turned around and left her be if she hadn't opened her eyes and mouthed his name. He could see all the tiredness in her face; he could see that she was ready.