Almost a week had already gone by, however, Tifa's state had not changed the slightest bit. She was still in deep coma, not responding to anything that happened around her.

No matter what the doctors, nurses or her friends tried, she just lay in bed, still, not showing the slightest reaction.

And although the doctors were slowly losing hope that Tifa might recover, Cloud still sat by her side, hoping, praying. Since the first day she had been brought in, he had been sitting right next to her, not leaving her side for more than a few minutes when his friends made him.

Cyra came in to visit Tifa every day, still not being able to throw off the feeling of guilt.

The rest of the bunch stayed in the background, not really knowing how to react to the situation, simply hoping that their friend would recover soon.

Like every day for the past days, Cloud was sitting right beside Tifa's bed, holding her hand in his, staring at her as if alone his looks might be able to awaken her from her deep sleep.

He could barely cope with the thought that there seemed to be actually nothing he could do to change her situation. If there were, he wouldn't let anything undone, untried.

Yet all he could do was sit by her side and spend her company and consolation.

Countless times had he already spoken to the doctors and nurses, still they seemed to be just as helpless as he was.

"We'll just have to wait", was all they said, each and every time he asked, but he never stopped.

He just did not want to accept the fact that he couldn't do anything. Now he could understand even better how Tifa had felt when he had been poisoned by Mako and had almost lost his mind.

Yet she had never given up on him, so there was no chance he would.

Closing his eyes, he rested his head next to hers, a position he liked a lot, feelings her soft skin close to his.

It was a little relaxing, as he always started dreaming, dreaming of life what it would be like if everything were to be right again, of what their twins would look like.

Would they have her eyes? Or probably his?

Would they have her melodic voice? Or probably his deeper one?

Would they have her cheery optimism? Or probably his determination?

Trying to picture his kids evoked deeply sad emotions, and the thought that he might lose his fiancée, the person he loved even more than himself or anything on earth, as well, was unbearable.

Once again, tears welled up in his eyes, and he did not bother suppressing them.

Life could be more than unfair sometimes…

"Hmmm……………"

Cloud's thoughts were erased within split-seconds as he felt the slender, long fingers move in his grip.

With a jerk, he sat up straight, looking over at Tifa.

Was he hallucinating? Dreaming?

Incredulously, he watched as Tifa stirred in bed, her eyes slowly fluttering open after the long sleep.

Cloud bent over her, watching her every muscle move as if it were a miracle given by God no man had ever been allowed to see before. And to him, it actually was.

As soon as her eyes focused, they jumped around nervously, trying to find out where she was and what had happened to her.

"It's allright, Tifa. You're in hospital. Calm down, everything's allright!" he blurted out instinctively, trying to quiet her.

Suddenly, a look of horror appeared on her face and she carefully touched her swollen belly with her hands, obviously remembering what had happened before she had fallen into coma.

Anxiously, she shot Cloud a questioningly look, trying to voice her questions, yet not being able to utter an audible word.

"Don't worry, Tifa, the twins are okay, nothing's happened to them." He said as he gently kissed her on the forehead.

Relieve was painted across both their faces as she brought her hand up to his cheek and slowly pulled him down for a soft kiss on the lips.

The nightmare had been prevented from happening once more.

Outside the room, the nurses stood in front of the glass door, giggling.

The tests could wait…

Chapter 4: Every end is a new beginning

A week ago, Tifa had been released from hospital after a few days of check-up to make sure that everything was allright with her and the twins.

And much to her dismay, she had been told to get a lot of rest and prohibited to do work of any kind, even housework. Only hesitantly had she agreed, yet she had not really had another choice, as Cloud was determined that nothing should happen to her ever again. And since the first day she had come home again, he had been doing everything to make her stay quiet. He hardly let her go anywhere on her own, and Tifa actually had to admit that it was getting harder every day, as she was now eight months pregnant and her stomach immensely swollen.

Very often she would stand in front of the mirror as she was doing right now, the shirt pulled up so that her stomach was exposed.

Carefully, she ran her fingers over her belly, feeling the bulges under the skin where their children were waiting for their birth. The twins were moving rather often now, hardly leaving her a quiet moment without kicks or turns.

Sometimes, she sat down and sang songs to them, to quiet them down. Cloud was mostly sitting in a little distance, listening to her melodic voice with a smile on the lips. Since he had experienced the feelings of almost losing her, he was savoring every moment they spent together.

Smiling, Tifa pulled the shirt back down to cover her belly and turned around, leaving the room to go downstairs.

Upon entering the kitchen, she was greeted by a grumpy Cid, who was standing next to the refrigerator, cigarette in the corner of his mouth as usual.

"Hey Tiff", he acknowledged shortly, continuing to rummage for some more food.

"Morning Cid", she smiled in return, grabbing some fruits to prepare herself a small breakfast, yet the silence was soon disturbed.

"CID!!!"

Uh oh…

Both Cid and Tifa turned around, more or less hesitantly, to see an irritated Shera stand in the doorway, hands placed at her hips.

Most obviously, she was furious.

Yet neither Cid nor Tifa knew why so, however, they would get to know soon enough.

"Cid Highwind!!" she started, half-yelling, walking closer up to him "How often do I have to tell you to stop smoking inside, especially when you're around Tifa?!?!"

With a quick motion, she snatched the cigarette from his mouth, still glaring at her fiancé.

"You know that it is not good for pregnant woman to inhale that smoke! Do you plan to be just as careless when we have children?"

Shooting him a last look, she stomped away, fuming, most likely not completely aware of what she had said just a few seconds ago.

Cid let out a deep sigh. He surely had not imagined their life together like this when he had proposed to her. However, it had not truly changed. Shera had always been the one in command as she was just as stubborn as Cid himself.

And Tifa was well aware of that, simply commenting the scene with a chuckle. Sure, she herself was not fond of Cid smoking around her, but she had actually gotten so used to seeing him with a cigarette that she did not even notice it separately anymore.

However, now that Shera had stormed off, silence had returned to the kitchen. Yet it would not last long.

While continuing to prepare her small breakfast of fruits and a cup of steaming hot chocolate, the clapping of a door being closed, followed by nearing footsteps could be heard.

Seemingly, Cloud was back from town after doing some essential shopping.

Carrying to large paperbags in his arms, he cautiously went to the kitchen, trying to maneuver around the chairs.

Finally, he plopped the bags down onto the table, leaning himself next to them, looking around the kitchen for the first time.

"Hey there", Tifa greeted him, smiling and placed a soft kiss on his lips.

Yet Cloud's reactions was quite different from hers. As soon as he spotted his very pregnant fiancee who had been released from hospital just shortly before walking around the kitchen happily, filling her arms with fruits and similar food, his eyes grew wide, just a second before he shot her a displeasing look.

"Tifa!" he yelled, louder than actually intended, walking up to the questioningly looking woman "I told you to stay in bed till I'd come back and make you breakfast. You know the doctor told you not to walk around that much and not to lift heavy things!"

Cloud was obviously serious about it, still Tifa only chuckled at his concern.

"Come on, Cloud, these are fruits! They're not heavy at all! And I just walked down the stairs into the kitchen, and didn't have a 2 hours walk!"

With a broad grin on his face, Cid squeezed himself through the half opened door, arms full. He knew arguments like this. He had heard many of them lately. Cloud was probably just a little too worried and careful about Tifa and pregnancy.

Probably… You would never know until you were the same situation.

Inside of the kitchen, Tifa was still giggling, seemingly very bemused by Cloud's facial expression. However, his look had turned from deeply concerned and slightly irritated to completely desperate.

No matter how often he tried to talk a little sense into her, it just wouldn't work. Every time, she would just giggle, smile, kiss him softly… So much about his determined decision to make her act a little more careful. He just couldn't resist her charms.