AN: I replied to reviews at the bottom of the page. :)
------------
Marlene was kicking her dangling feet back and forth as she sat impatiently in her chair. Tifa had closed 7th Heaven for the day. Two rectangular tables had been pushed together to accommodate all of the former members of Avalanche. Tifa and Cloud sat together at what they had deemed the "head" of the table.
On the left side of the table, starting from Tifa's side, sat Denzel, then Marlene, Barret, Shera, and finally Cid. On the opposite side, from Cloud's elbow was an empty seat Yuffie had left for a certain someone, then Yuffie herself, Vincent next to her, Shekle at his side, and Nanaki.
Yuffie was surprised that Reeve was late; he never failed to be in punctual order. But not long after she had started to worry, the door opened, and the grinning man entered, apologizing for his lateness.
It didn't go without notice that from the moment Reeve entered until he sat down, that the man's eyes never left Yuffie.
She grinned, elbowing him in greeting as he took his seat. "Jeeze, takin your time were you? Keeping us all waiting here starving to death!"
Shera's watchful eyes didn't miss anything.
Conversation piped up around them, but Yuffie was distracted as she felt Reeve's hand brush against her knee for a brief moment, leaving something on top of her legs. Making an almost silent, "eh?" sound of curiosity, she peeked under the tablecloth.
A shocked expression covered Yuffie's face as she peered down at the single rose Reeve had placed on her lap.
The ninja wasn't sure how to react. Nobody had ever given her a flower before… She really hoped she wasn't blushing. When she looked at Reeve again, he winked at her, and she smiled.
Reeve grinned and switched his gaze to Vincent, who was giving him a slow, meaningful look. Instead of acknowledging that, the man turned his attention to the other guests. "You're looking good, Shera."
"Quit lookin, Tuesti. She's taken." Shera blushed and slapped Cid's arm as he made the rough comment, as if the whole table couldn't see Shera's bulging pregnant belly.
Reeve simply laughed. "Don't worry yourself, Cid. My eyes are occupied already," he commented, giving Yuffie a meaningful glance that she failed to see. However, every adult eye at the dinner table caught it.
Cloud's eyes slowly moved from Yuffie, to Reeve, to Tifa. "Am I missing something?" he muttered quietly enough for only the busty brunette to hear.
Tifa tried to appear nonchalant as she began to dish up food onto Denzel and Marlene's plate; Denzel grimaced, stating that he was perfectly capable of serving himself. Shaking her head, the barmaid marveled at how fast children grew up.
"So, how long until the baby's due? You're huge!" Yuffie exclaimed, bouncing in her seat as if she was trying very hard to resist jumping across the table to closely examine Shera's belly. "Has it kicked yet? Can I feel it? What are you gonna name it?"
Laughing gently at the onslaught of questions, Shera helped herself to a heavy helping of almost every food on the table.
"I still have a month and a half until the baby's due. It's been kicking a lot lately; I'm beginning to think this baby must be as active as you are, Yuffie. If it starts up, I'll let you know."
Nudging Vincent, Yuffie stared up at him with googly eyes. "We're gonna have a babbbbyyyyyy!!!!" she commented excitedly.
When Vincent's mouth quirked slightly and Reeve raised one eyebrow, Yuffie thought over what she'd said. Barret jumped to his feet, slamming one hand down onto the table.
"Say what?" he roared, about to lunge over the table and strangle Vincent.
"Gack! Not me and Vinnie, num nuts – I meant Shera! I was excited that one of you lumbering idiots finally decided to pop out a baby! Jeeze," she grumbled under her breath. "Calm down."
Clearing his throat, Barret calmly sat back down. "Good," he stated, "'cuz if Valentine had knocked you up, he'd better make an honest woman out of you."
Yuffie choked on the mouthful of corn she had just attempted to swallow. Reeve reached out with one hand to rub her back soothingly as she hacked and coughed, and Shera, Cid, Tifa, Cloud and Nanaki looked on as Vincent and Reeve eyed each other over Yuffie's head.
"Naturally, I would," Vincent agreed to Barret's statement. Cid dropped his fork at the highly unexpected response. Reeve and Vincent stared at one another, and Tifa began to bite her nails, waiting for the sparks to start flying.
"What's 'knocked up' mean, Daddy?" Marlene piped in, curious big brown eyes staring up at him. Shera put one hand over her face, and Yuffie would have burst out into giggles if she hadn't been the one Barret had been referring to.
"It means," Denzel began to supply suddenly, "when-" Cloud cleared his throat, and Denzel looked to see Tifa staring at him with one very menacing eyebrow raised. That look on her face made him very wisely grow silent. Nobody wanted an angry Tifa.
"What?" Marlene whined. "Is nobody going to tell me? But Denzel gets to know!"
"Well," Tifa tried slowly. "It's something grown-ups do before they get married." Shera put both hands over her face, and Cid snorted. Yuffie couldn't help it, at this point; she started snickering.
"So," Reeve interceded before the conversation could become any worse for Marlene, "Yuffie and I are attending a large social event in a little over a week that's meant to bring donors to WRO to collect funding for the restoration."
"Rufus figured that having a former Avalanche member would help attract more donors," Yuffie added. "Seemed like a smart idea. I figure, we stopped the world from getting completely torn up – might as well lend a hand in helping piece it back together more! And what would help better than to see an Avalanche member with a Shinra employee?"
"Pretty good excuse to have a beautiful woman on my arm, if you ask me," Reeve commented, grinning.
Yuffie smiled deviously. "Well, if you really want me to charm their socks off, first, tell me – are most of these potential donors you're appealin to men? Cuz I could always, yanno, put back on that dress Scarlet picked out for me."
"No," two voices said in unison.
Cid, Shera, Nanaki, Cloud, and Tifa gaped at Vincent and Reeve, both of whom had answered Yuffie very firmly and at the same exact time.
The two men exchanged yet another glance. Shera wondered why the atmosphere suddenly felt as if she could cut the tension with a knife. Observing the two grown men eyeing each other with a masked challenging glower, she pondered the situation.
Was she over analyzing things? Judging from Cid, Nanaki, and Cloud's faces, she didn't think so. This was certainly a new development.
"I never got to see your dress," Marlene lamented, swinging her feet underneath the table again. "Do I get to see it?"
"Yeah," Reeve smirked, "why don't you show Marlene and Shera your pretty dress?" The suggestion was humorous to Reeve as long as he didn't imagine Yuffie parading it around in front of a bunch of rich, snobbish men. In front of the former members of Avalance, it would be a riot.
He could imagine the incredulous look on Barret, Cloud and Cid's faces.
Yuffie kicked him under the table.
"The brat can't possibly own a dress," Cid remarked, and even Shera and Nanaki appeared surprised.
"Did you say Scarlet?" Nanaki repeated, wondering if he had been hearing things and not being the only one who was having trouble keeping up with the conversation at hand.
"What can I say," Reeve replied. "Scarlet and dresses were step two. First, I had her flinging her clothes and underwear around the rooms in my house. She has a tendancy to forget to put them back on afterwards, and ends up wearing my clothes instead."
This time, it was Shera who dropped her fork.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Jingyee: Your plan sounds like a good one, as long as you share him with me at least one night a week. I wouldn't want to feel bad for leaving him out either, after all! Hehe.
Not Jack Frost: Glad I could amuse you with Yuffie's underwear. Someone had to put it to use. P
Nami7623: Hey, if I can be blamed for getting people to like the Reeve/Yuffie pairing, it's a good day for me indeed. P And I will write the alternate ending so there's no frustrated people. Though like I said, I'm writing the Reevie first cuz that was my original intent. )
This Infernal Halo: I hate drama in real life. But in writing, it's just so much fun.
Vampyric Ninja: Thank you! What is love without humor...P and I'm glad you didn't mind the Tseng/Elena. I love just throwing minor characters in there too.
midnight1987: I'm glad it's addicting you and not annoying you to death. I'll stop dragging both of them along soon, I promise.