A/N: Second chapter up! And on time too! Woo, am I good, or am I… not? Anyway, this is the chapter with the portly Tifa… Read and review! ^_^

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy Seven and everything about it is Square-Enix's. I'm just doing this to annoy them…

"It's no good," Cloud sighed. "He's just not eating."

"Is it anything to worry about?" Tifa asked. "Didn't I hear somewhere that SOLDIERs didn't have to eat as much as normal people?"

"Yes, I've heard that, too…" Nanaki nodded, "And Hojo probably used Vincent as a test bed for the techniques he later used on the members of SOLDIER."

Two days earlier…

"Lemme down, lemme down, lemme down, lemme down, lemme down…"

"Shut up." Cloud said through gritted teeth. "And stop kicking me!" The small child complied, and obviously to Cloud, had started sulking.

"Mornin'." One townsperson said with a wave. Cloud nodded in reply, before taking the child off his shoulder, and placing him on a bench. Cloud raised one foot onto the bench, and raised an eyebrow.

"Now, Cole, how many times do I have to tell ya? Don't go climbing the mountain. You know it would upset everyone if a monster got ya."

The young boy shook his head. "Ha! I could take on any of those monsters any day, Mr. Strife."

Cloud chuckled, and shook his head. "That may be, but if I catch you 'round there again, the monsters will be the least of your worries…"

"You mean…"

"Yup. I'll tell your mom."

"Hey, no fair! No fair!"

"Sorry bud, but it's for your own good."

"Humph!" With that Cole got up and walked towards his house. Cloud shook his head in amusement. That kid reminded him of what he was like as a child. One of the best parts of the defeat of ShinRa, from Cloud's somewhat self-centred point of view, was that normal people had returned to Nibelheim, so it wasn't just populated by ShinRa staff covering up that Sephiroth had burnt the place down. Cloud was interrupted from his thoughts by the sound of a Chocobo. He frowned. He was sure that Midas was securely tied up, but that was behind his home. The sound he could hear was from the town's entrance. He turned and looked.

"Vincent! Red!" he cried, recognising his friends. He bounded over to Nemesis, Vincent's Chocobo. "How are you guys? What're you doin' here?"

"One at a time." Nanaki smiled, jumping down from the back of the Chocobo. "It's good to see you again, Cloud."

"Yes, it is." Vincent said dismounting, "Even though you didn't refer to Nanaki by his name…" he said with a smile.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I forgot. Sorry Nanaki. Guess old habits die hard, huh?" Cloud grinned sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it," Nanaki smiled. "I don't. Vincent, believe it or not, was teasing you." Cloud raised an eyebrow at the quiet man questionably, until he noticed the smirk.

"Heh. I didn't think I'd live to see the day when Vincent cracked a joke…" Cloud trailed off. "Oh! Yeah! Where are my manners? Would you like to come 'cross to mine and Tifa's for a while, have a drink or something?" The two travellers glanced at each other.

"It can't hurt." Nanaki said. "Besides, I'm sure that the happy couple would be interested…"

"Indeed. Very well, then..." Vincent said with aplomb. "We would be honoured to comply with your offer of hospitality to two weary travellers."

Cloud glanced at Nanaki. "Vincent showing off a sense of humour? This'll take some getting used to." As they started towards the Strife residence, Cloud stopped abruptly and grinned guiltily. "Ohh, yeahhh. Uh, guys, I, uh, that is to say that, um…" He then blushed and grinned like a naughty schoolboy. "You'll be in for a surprise, cos, well, we haven't told anyone yet…"

"What?" asked Nanaki, grinning despite himself.

"Isn't it obvious?" Vincent said rolling his eyes, "They married a few months back… Obviously, Cloud here has made Tifa 'with child', as it were."

"… Damn. You ARE good. Ever considered being a detective?" Cloud asked, taken aback by Vincent's swift deduction.

* * * * *

"Tifa!!! We got guests! An' one of 'em figured out your 'condition'!" Cloud called.

"Who is it?" Tifa asked as she carefully climbed down the stairs. When she saw whom it was, her eyes lit up. Vincent and Nanaki gave her a nod of greeting. "Vincent! Nanaki! Oh my God, how are you guys? It's been so long! …Why've you come to Nibelheim?" she asked, suddenly suspicious.

"Hey, Teef, they just got into town. I think they could do with a break." Cloud turned to them. "Anything happen on your way here?"

"Not much," Vincent sighed. "We were attacked by a Valron and a pair of Nibel Wolves last night, but we easily defeated them."

"Uh-huh." Cloud said, with a lop-sided grin.  "What does everyone want to drink? My call."

"I NEED a coffee." Tifa smiled shakily. "Oh. Thank you." She said, as Vincent carefully helped her down the last few steps.

"A saucer of water is all I ask," Nanaki smirked.

"…I think I'll have a coffee too, if it's no trouble." Vincent stated simply.

"No prob'." Cloud nodded. "Three coffees and one saucer of water, yeah? I'll just put the kettle on." Cloud disappeared into the kitchen.

Tifa eased herself into a chair. Nanaki spoke up. "When are you due?"

"Not for a while, yet… Are you gonna wait until Cloud's back before saying why you've come?" She asked tentatively.

"Can't we just have come to see our friends?" Vincent asked. "But no, you are right. There is a deeper reason as to why we've come. And we might as well wait until Cloud has returned before explaining…"

Tifa nodded understandably. "Don't you ever get tired of being so mysterious, Vincent?" she sighed wearily.

* * * * *

"You gotta be kiddin' me!" Cloud exclaimed, eyes wide.

"I assure you we are not." Vincent replied calmly.

"All the evidence points to a Cetra having been brought to Nibelheim." Nanaki said evenly.

"Um, I don't know if either of you has thought of this yet, but…" Tifa bit her lip. "What if whoever it was, was killed by Sephiroth when he set the town ablaze?"

"Hey, she's gotta point…" Cloud agreed. "Sephiroth DID kill a lot of people when he burnt this place to the ground…"

Vincent looked thoughtful. "If I remember correctly… Our first time at the Northern Crater… Your flashback…" He looked up. "The mansion. It wasn't touched by the flames…"

Cloud blinked. "Yeah. Uh, no. It wasn't…"

"So then; that is where we will start." Nanaki stated.

"I'll help out." Cloud said simply. Noticing his friend's looks, he said: "Hey, you'll need an extra pair of hands. The mansion's just as full of monsters as ever."

"Very well." Vincent sighed. "You may… 'Tag' along, if you wish."

A/N: Woo! Chapter two done. ^_^ I'm expecting this to take about four, possibly five, chapters over all, with an extra one at the end, in which I'll drop a few hints as to what's coming next.

Yup, Tifa being 'portly' is just as Cloud's gotten her pregnant… Anyway, sorry that this was so dialogue intensive, but I think it was needed to explain exactly what was going on. Sure, I could've just dropped a line in about Cloud meeting them at Nibelheim, but I would have found that too glib. Cloud and Tifa have been added for two main reasons: 1- this is Nibelheim. If anybody from AVALANCHE could help out Vincent and Nanaki, it would be them. And 2- I realised that only two onscreen characters couldn't carry this fic all on their own, and I needed some dialogue from someone who would help out Vincent and Nanaki who could give extra info on the mansion…

The identity of the mansion's previous owners will be revealed in the next chapter, or the one after. I'm just spacing this as it comes to me. I honestly was hoping to get them into the mansion by now…

Sorry. Went off on a ramble. Still to come- the reference to two other Fanfics, the people with the same first names as Batman's parents (who owned the mansion…) and the location of the last Cetra! Can you afford to miss out? Huh? Can ya? You CAN? Ah, well. Please yourselves… R&R on your way out, please.