Heart Beat

Yuffie Kisaragi2

Disclaimer: Need I say it?

Dedicated to Tael2008, for helping me get through. And, suddenly, I'm from Eastern!

Summary: He was always leaving to go to work. He was always busy watching television. He was never there for her. She had every right to leave.

He sat there with his head in his hands, wishing he had paid more attention to her. He wished that he had not been such an arrogant jackass. He wished that he had seen her drifting further and further away every day. He wished... He wished for just one more day with her. He wanted to show her how much she actually meant to him. He wanted to hold her tightly and kiss her tenderly. He wanted just one more night with her.

She had tried to let him know, but he blew it off. She wanted for him to love her still, but he was too busy. She wanted for him to hold her tightly and kiss her tenderly, but he had to go to work. He was always leaving to go to work. He was always busy watching television. He was never there for her. She had every right to leave.

Even though, that did not keep him from missing her. Sure, the house was messy because she hated to clean. Sure, his meals were not on the table when he got home from work. But she had been there for him. She had smiled up at him, gray-lilac eyes watching him lovingly through too-long chocolate bangs. That was no more.

His meals consisted of lunch meat and chips, his house was so messy that even his friends quit coming over, and he was too depressed to move, let alone get to work on time. His best friend had called and left a message on the answering machine two days before. He did not want to talk.

The phone rang but he ignored it. Most-likely Elena calling to bitch at him about not treating "her" fairly. Elena had been one of "her" friends after their marriage. Tifa and Elena were bridesmaids, "her" Maid of Honor being Marlene Wallace at age ten.

It continued to ring as he stared out into the gray storm. Even the clouds matched "her" eyes. He remembered wondering if her eyes held the very escence of a storm once. She had laughed and asked if his held the escence of the mineral zircon and if his hair held the escence of flames. They had both laughed about that for a while.

Another ring and the lights went out. He found himself sitting in his dark living room, a phone ringing irritatingly. Sighing, he got up to answer the damned ringing device.

"Hello," it was gruff and tired, but mostly annoyed.

"Reno, we've got to talk."

His heart skipped a beat and he swallowed hard. Words spewed forth without prior thought. "I'm so sorry. So, so sorry! I don't know what I was think-"

"Reno! Hush for a minute! If I don't say this now, I'll chicken out!" He pondered this for a moment, mouth closed, and remained silent. "Are you listening, Ree?"

He refrained from grinning. She had used his nickname. "Yes, Yuffie," he replied like a scolded child.

"Good..." She paused, then took a deep breath and blurted, "IwentotthedoctorandI'mpregnant."

"Huh?" he asked, still unable to comprehend her when she spoke so fast. "Slow doown, will ya?"

"I went to the doctor yesterday and... I'm pregnant."

His heart stop for at least ten seconds and his face paled. "Pregnant?"

"Uh-huh... And I'm eight weeks along."

She was pregnant. He was going to be a dad. She had left him. He was going to be a dad. She left him because he was a chauvinistic, egotistical jackass. He was going to be a dad. Some poor child was going to call him "Daddy."

"Reno? Are you okay?"

A loud thud was her reply.

"Reno? Ree? Ree-ee-no-o?"

Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub

He was in Midgar, before the Meteor. People glared at him, always wary of a Turk. Shrugging, he continued toward ShinRa Head Quarters, where Rude and Tseng would be waiting.

"Get up, Reno!"

Aqua-marine eyes shot open. "Huh? Wha-?"

She smiled down at him, her necklace dropping low toward him. He remembered it. It was the heart-shaped locket he had gotten her for her birthday the previous November.

"Are you okay?"

"Weird dream... You left me. It stormed. You called and said you were pregnant." Thunder rattled the windows.

"Not a dream, Ree. I left you. It's storming. And you passed out after I told you I was pregnant over the phone."

"Oh shit."

She left him, yet there she was. She stood and he got a good look at her. She wore jeans and an old flannel shirt, her hair in a choppy bob with too-long chocolate bangs veiling storm-escence eyes. Her hiking boots had been discarded by the front door, like she had always done, and he was lying on the hardwood floor.

"Yuffie... I'm so, so sorry."

"I know... You talk while you're passed out."

He sat up, looking into her stormy eyes. "Can I get another chance?"

She stared at him. "I suppose a second chance wouldn't hurt. But I'm warning you, Reno Michael Zanard... If you act like you did the first time, I'll drop your ass like a sack of potatoes."

He grinned. "I can live with that."

.fin.

Not as long as I had intended... Hope you liked it, though!