Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII

Hello! Welcome to the final chapter. Thanks once again to all reviewers - I honestly cannot believe the response I've had to this collection! It's by far my most reviewed story, and I honestly cannot believe that we're about to hit 100 here! So for one last time, I just want to say thank you so much, truly, from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you.

Now I'm sorry about the delay, I had to deal with a personal tragedy - my little dog died. So this one's for you, Frodo!

Enjoy!

084. Reality

Yuffie sighed and bounced from the ball of one foot to the other in the elevator, turning her eyes up to the glossy black ceiling - just the same as the glossy black walls and the glossy black floor. Gosh they really did like that finish. Even the thin gold lines that somehow counted as 'minimalist detailing' that traced the middle of each wall were glossy. Oh well. The trade off for the ache of these heels was that she could check out how she was looking in the walls, especially when she had the entire lift to herself.

She shuffled the heavy paper files in her arms and freed a hand to pull her hair behind her shoulders and move the slightly-too-long bangs out the way. Her friend, the long suffering barmaid, had encouraged her to grow her hair out long. The reasoning being that she was now twenty-two, not twelve, and her hair should reflect that; the previous bob cut did make her face look more rounded and younger than now.

Now, if Yuffie may say so herself, she looked pretty darn smokin'. Shiny hair that reached her shoulder blades, a tiny bit of make-up on her face to make her look older than thirteen but not so much that she constantly wanted to tear her own eyelashes out, and a work outfit that actually made her look like the professional she was! Well, was training to be.

'Ding!"

She shot upright again, tearing her eyes away from checking herself out, nestling the paper files back over her torso and coughing slightly as she suddenly took great issue in adjusting her shoes so that they were perfectly straight next to each other. Anything to stop her from just standing upright in these Gaia damned heels! God, how Tifs even wore ones higher than these for a hour, never mind entire shift just blew her mind.

Gosh she really hoped whoever it was who just came in didn't catch her rearranging her face in the slightly dull reflection of the elevator walls.

If she never looked up, then she'd never have to see the look of bamboozlement on their face.

But also if she never looked up, she'd miss her floor. The 41st floor is kind of tedious to manage to get to if you're not hanging your head in societal shame.

Okay, in three… two… one…

She looked up and viola! Oh, wait. There was no-one there.

She sighed and relaxed her stance a little, dropping the papers a little further down in her arms. She looked over to the floor guide, floor 11, then away in exasperation. Sure, she probably could've done the stairs in half this time, but now she was kinda stuck and it's not like she was desperate for the- and who is THAT?

A man was silently standing next to her. Black hair, cut away from his face and just below the nape of his neck, creamy soft looking skin that was enticingly pale, a damn nice figure in that dark grey suit and burning, deep red eyes.

Well hello there-

She looked at hims in what she thought was a discreet way through the lashes at the corner of her eye, but it probably wasn't.

She was so desperate to talk to him - say something, get a name but the words seemed to ball up in her throat. Gosh, she sucked. She took a deep breath.

"Hey."

"Good Afternoon." He even gave her a quick nod. How cool?!

"Yuffie Kisaragi. Of the Wutai Relations department."

He looked at the had she'd thrust out for him and shook it was a firm grip that sent shivers down her spine. "Vincent Valentine. Protection Agency."

Well, he just got a thousand times hotter.

"Say, Vincent, fancy going for a drink?" She hoped that all her play-flirting experience had payed off into a decent act of real flirting.

He gave her a card with his name and number on it and scrawled a meeting place on the back of it. Apparently her skills weren't too shabby after all.

A first date became a second, then a third, then a forth, then a tenth and twelfth and then it was more than either of them could count.

"Hey Vinnie, would you come to my friend's bar tonight?" She shouted from the kitchen of her studio flat to the living room right next door.

"Of course." He essentially lived at her flat anyway. Why not just introduce him to her friends and then they move in?

He did, two weeks later. With the help of Barrett's strong arms, and Tifa's decorating sense and silent fan-girling for the pair.

After the friends had left, she drew him in for a long kiss like neither of them had felt before. Each of them had found a home in each other, and when she kissed him like that, it was as though all the love in the world was flowing into her and through her. All that love she never got from the mother who died and the father who never cared. Both of them knew they loved each other but neither had yet to say it.

"Yuffie, I'm in love with you."

She grinned, and then pulled her lips into a coy smile. "Of course." He rolled his eyes at her antics. "I love you too."

The next time she was that happy, Vincent was kneeling on the ground on one knee, with a black velvet box in his hand and a question just past his perfect, perfect lips.

She almost screamed 'yes' and he slid the sliver band with one ruby and two diamonds onto her finger. In fact, she almost cried with happiness. Which, for her, was completely out of line. Even Tifs completely roasted her for it later.

A year later brought a wedding celebration of joy and happiness and even the father she never much cared for came and finally told his only daughter that he was proud of her, and happy for this young girl it was like he was only just seeing for the first time.

Soon after came a daughter, with black hair and the pale skin and red eyes and the calm nature of her father. Then a son, just like his dad too but less deathly pale and with her eyes, and then finally another daughter who had the cheek all from her mother and was far more Wutaian than her siblings but possessed those same, daunting, beautiful red-

'Ding!"

The elevator crashed Yuffie back into reality.

That man, with the beautiful face and enchanting eyes was leaving. And before she could even think, the doors were shutting, and then he was gone, swallowed up into the 48th floor.

Gaia Damn it.

I mean, it's not sad, but is it happy...? I felt like it was a good one to end on, anyway.

Finally I'd just like to say thank you to all my readers, all my reviewers, followers and favouriters - your support (silent or not) has really kept me going over these past few months. It's been a really, really hard time for me and I've suffered through a lot, but all your support has just helped me to keep going, keep writing, continue on. So, thank you. Sincerely and deeply, in ways that you will never know.

Now whilst this is the end for the moment, I'll be back at some point over the next year with more. So for the final time (for now): please review if you've got time and follow for more.

Thanks!