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INTERLUDE ONE - IMPATIENCE

'Don't ask me, what you know is true ... Don't have to tell you, I love your precious heart ... I, I was standing ... You were there, two worlds collided ... And they could never tear us apart ... We could live for a thousand years ... But if I hurt you I'd make wine from your tears ... I told you that we could fly ... 'Cause we all have wings but some of us don't know why ... I, I was standing ... You were there, two worlds collided ... And they could never ever tear us apart ... I (don't ask me) I was standing (you know is true) ... You were there (worlds collided) two worlds collided (we're shining through) ... And they could never tear us apart ... You (don't ask me) you were standing (you know is true) ... I was there (worlds collided) two worlds collided (we're shining through) .. And they could never tear us apart ... I, I was standing, you were there (INXS: 'Never Tear Us Apart')'

He opened the front door to find it quiet in the high-rise condominium. Their dream was to own a home in the ever growing suburbs of the new Midgar, but responsibility to the city came first right now. He placed his briefcase down near the door and rifled through the stack of mail left sitting on the console table.

He inhaled the scent of fresh flowers sitting next to the mail on the table. She always managed to keep flowers on that table in a welcome to all that came to visit.

Climbing the stairs to the second level, he could hear her voice softly singing a tune. He found her sitting in the nursery, in the rocking chair that they had picked out together, singing to the child that was still safely encased in her womb.

She looked up upon sensing his presence in the doorway and smiled. She placed her hands on her swollen abdomen suddenly, a move she had been doing for the past several months, but it never failed to shock him, and that was only getting greater the closer she came to her due date.

He rushed to her side, and dropped to his knees in front of her.

"Are you alright? Is it time?" A thousand thoughts rushed through his head as he readied himself to spring into action. Despite his terror at becoming a father, he was proud and determined to do the best job that he could.

She laughed softly. "No, not yet. He was just moving around." She placed his hand under hers. "He's an active one." Her eyes glinted mischievously. "Just like his father."

She had been convinced from the moment they found out she was expecting that it was a boy. She had turned down the doctor's offers of telling them the baby's gender, saying that all she needed to know was that their son was healthy.

"You're still certain we're having a boy?" He asked, teasingly. He had long ago given up trying to understand the mystery of 'women's' intuition'

"Absolutely."

He laid his head against her stomach, his hands resting next to his head. The baby kicked again. He laughed as his child's foot beat against his own ear.

"Okay, okay. I'm hungry too." He smiled up at his wife. "Let's go to dinner."

She laughed at him as he smiled up at her. "Food! Is that all you ever think about?"

He grinned wolfishly back at her. "Since the doctor won't let me indulge in my other favorite pastime, I have to."

His wife swatted him playfully and pushed him away from her as she rose from the rocking chair. Unfortunately, her added girth of late made her movements slower and he easily caught her and pulled her into an embrace.

The baby kicked him again as he stood there, wrapped up in her arms. His stomach growled, reminding him of why she'd gotten up from the chair. In one fluid movement he had her swept off her feet and cradled in his arms. She hadn't gained much weight, just the protrusion that threw off her normal center of gravity.

She laughed as she was unexpectedly carried out the door. "You aren't planning on walking into the restaurant like this, are you?"

"I just might."

"You are impossible!" She responded, a red flush of embarrassment at the thought of being carried into their favorite restaurant creeping onto her cheeks.

"Impossibly sexy, but you love me." He silenced her protests with a kiss and carried her out the door of their home.