The sound was all the warning Elena had, and she looked up from reading the latest intel reports at their morning briefing to see the whip she had given the happy couple as a wedding present snap right next to her. Reno had brought it to work constantly in the two months since he got back from his honeymoon, harassing her with it whenever the opportunity presented itself. What made it worse was Rude's I told you so expression, though he was never suicidal enough to actually tell his wife she brought it on herself.
"Pay attention, Elena. We've got a busy week ahead." Reno smirked at her.
"Neglecting your wife already?" Elena fired back.
"Not when I can fly back home anytime I want. Speaking of, since we're leaving at 1700 hours for this mission, I've got time to go home for lunch." Reno hurriedly left the conference room, hoping he'd have enough time for some fun with Marlene as well.
"He can't wait to get back to his wife." Rude mused with a smile.
"I told you he'd be whipped in no time." Elena told her husband, frowning when Reno poked his head back into the room and cracked the whip again. "I'm going to KILL that man." she said between clenched teeth.
Marlene was very busy at their new home. Not only did she have to furnish it herself, with some help from Reno, but she was busy planning the orphanage's construction as well. It was just as busy as college, with just as great a reward at the end. She just hadn't expected all that was involved in getting the orphanage built. She had to plan the structural details as well as all the decorative ones. Reno had been quite supportive and found the best architects and contractors for her, as well as interior designers. He had also promised to help find the best staff for her when it was time to open the orphanage. Reno's only requirement is that she have a helipad both at their home and at the orphanage. Thinking of her husband reminded her he'd be home for lunch soon. She stood up from the kitchen table with her laptop, blueprints, and design magazines all over it and went to the fridge to pull out ingredients for a quick meal and went to put them on the kitchen island when she suddenly felt extremely light-headed and dizzy.
"Hey honey, I'm home!" Reno called out as he walked through the front door. "Marlene?" he asked, worried when she didn't respond right away as she usually did. Wandering through the house, he found her collapsed on the kitchen floor, some blood coming from a head wound. "Marlene!" He noticed some blood on the edge of the kitchen island as well. Feeling the blood drain from himself as well, he hurriedly knelt beside her and checked her vitals. Reassuring himself she was still alive, he bandaged her head before carefully taking her into his arms and taking her outside to his helicopter, strapping her into the co-pilot's seat before doing his fastest takeoff ever.
Medical staff were waiting on the roof at the closest hospital that was staffed by some of W.R.O.'s finest. Reno had radioed in his E.T.A. as soon as he was airborne. Marlene was starting to come around as Reno gently handed her to the nurses. "Reno?" she weakly asked once she was safely on the gurney, looking around for him.
"I'm here, baby. It's okay." Reno took the hand she offered and bullied his way into the elevator when the doctors wanted to take her down into the hospital alone.
"What happened? My head hurts." Marlene told him.
"I was hoping you could tell me." Reno was already thinking about what he would do if someone had assaulted her. His dark thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing. "What the hell is it? Oh, I'll try and make it on time. Marlene's in the hospital. I don't know, we just got here. I'll keep you informed." Reno hung up on Tseng as the elevator doors opened to the diagnostic floor.
Marlene's doctors were at their wit's ends trying to figure out how to keep Reno from interfering with her care when her husband was startled by someone tapping his shoulder. Whirling around, he was confronted by Vincent, who had Cait Sith on his shoulder.
"We're here to look after Marlene so you can go on what must be an extremely important mission." Vincent told Reno. "You know as well as I do what happens when Turks let our personal lives interfere with the job, if we're lucky enough to have them. Tifa's on her way as well."
Reno was about to refuse when Marlene squeezed his hand firmly. "I feel fine now except for the headache. It's probably because I've been working so hard planning everything with the house and the orphanage lately. Please go to work." she insisted. "I'll feel worse if you stay."
After a few more minutes of Marlene pleading with him to go, he reluctantly did, after Vincent promised ten times to call him as soon as there was a diagnosis.
"Aunt Tifa, I'm fine. I just got dizzy, that's all." Marlene protested when Tifa arrived and tried to baby her, irritating the nurse who was trying to check the bandage on Marlene's head. Vincent and Cait Sith had left once Tifa had arrived.
"Until we know why you got dizzy, we won't know if you're fine or not." Tifa told her, trying not to worry too much. Her own recent doctor's visit had been the good news she had been hoping for, but if Marlene was ill…Tifa cut off that depressing line of thought as the doctor walked in.
"We know why you got dizzy, but the good news is that it's nothing serious. Well, with some simple temporary lifestyle changes it won't be." The doctor went on to tell the astonished women what Marlene's diagnosis was.
Tifa texted Reno a simple message: The verdict is in. He texted back that he would be coming back to the hospital soon, and he'd probably be back in about three hours.
"You're going to tell us exactly where you took her." Reno told the man he and Rude were interrogating as soon as he got done texting Tifa back.
"Fuck you!" was the response.
"Thanks for the offer Manny, but that's what I have my wife for. And you should know better to mess with a man's wife. So…" He changed the taser setting on his weapon. "You're going to tell us: Where…is…Scarlet?" Reno emphasized his last three spoken words by applying his weapon to Manny each time.
"Fuck you!" Manny repeated, but his voice wasn't as strong this time.
"I don't have time for this. We'll just continue this on the flight home. You ever been skydiving without a parachute, Manny?" Reno asked him.
"Took you long enough." Tifa's voice dripped with disapproval when Reno finally entered Marlene's hospital room, looking more disheveled than usual.
"So what's the diagnosis?" Reno asked after hurrying to his wife's side and kissing her on the forehead, looking back and forth between her and Tifa, nervous about the glances they kept exchanging.
Marlene took a deep breath. "I have gestational diabetes."
"Gestational…you mean…" Reno stared at her.
"I'm pregnant!" Marlene beamed.
Tifa barely held back a laugh when Reno collapsed. "Cloud had pretty much the same reaction." She got out her phone and took a picture of Reno sprawled on the floor, wet and covered with flowers from the vase he knocked over on his way down. "You'll need this for your photo album."
"Uncle Cloud? You mean…" Marlene was surprised.
Tifa smiled and put her hand on her stomach. "I just confirmed it yesterday."
"That's great. We can help each other out!" Marlene exclaimed as Reno slowly regained consciousness.
"You don't need my help right now though, call me if you need anything." Tifa kissed Marlene on the forehead as well before leaving.
"Did you say that…" Reno put his hands on the side of the bed and his head popped up as he started to pull himself up.
"We're having a baby!" Marlene happily reminded him.
"Wha…how?" Reno was trying to cope with Marlene's latest surprise for him.
"I'll show you." Marlene pulled him onto the bed with her and tugged at his pants.
As Marlene eagerly rode him, Reno realized he was just no match for her…his wife was the best, and their life together was never going to be boring. A child! Well, they never bothered with any sort of protection during their honeymoon, it was bound to happen, or there was no point in believing statistics and probabilities. He might as well sit back and enjoy it, piece of cake when Marlene learned his preferences rather quickly. They were both panting when she was done with him.
"That's how I got pregnant." Marlene smirked.
"I wasn't paying attention…you'll have to show me again." Reno replied, with a matching smirk.
"Oh you! The doct-" Marlene started to say.
Reno laughed and pulled her to him, kissing her into silence.