The little girl sat in front of the glass case, the background a mirror, reflecting her image back at her. Her eyes were large and curious, one blue, one violet, and her short hair was black as any had ever seen. She edged closer to the cabinet that held pictures, souvenirs, and trinkets, among others, and her eyes widened a bit more as she put a finger against the glass and stared at a picture of her mother and her father and other people, looking happy and younger than they were now.

Her mother was standing next to her father and making bunny ears above his head, a lopsided grin on her face, her hair, black as the little girl's, falling into her eyes. The little girl smiled in recognition and let her eyes shift to her disgruntled father, whose hair was, oddly, longer than her mother's. She wrinkled her nose. She had never seen him with hair so long; it was shorter now, and dark brown, and silky smooth. She loved playing with his hair.

There was a blonde man standing next to a green eyed woman. They were both smiling serenely, and seemed to be the only calm ones in the picture. There were two boys, both on the ground, slapping each other and surrounded by motion blur, their faces hardly recognizable. There was another girl, with pretty red hair, a look of surprise on her face, and her arms thrown out before her. She looked like she was about to trip over the two boys.

The little girl stood up, squinting her eyes to see more pictures. There was one with both her parents. Her mother was dressed in a long white gown, her body to the side and a long train flowing down the steps, but her face was turned to the camera. Her hair was swept up and looked like she had snapped glittery diamonds around her hair, along with a long veil. Her father stood next to her, looking much more recognizable. His hair was shorter here. He was staring at her mother with a tender look, dressed in a dark suit that contrasted greatly with the white of the dress.

Another picture showed her mother with a round belly, sitting on her father's lap, and dressed in a yellow sun dress. She was smiling and had a hand on his cheek, leaning back against his shoulder, while his hands rested on her stomach. Yet another picture with a set of old people, her grandparents, and her parents. Only this time there were two other recognizable people in the photo: a laughing girl with tufts of black hair and bicolor eyes, clapping her hands in her mother's arms, and a little boy with the same hair and eyes in her father's arms.

The little girl knew who the little boy was, but no one talked about him.

"I was looking all over for you, silly!" said an all too familiar voice. The little girl looked up and stood excitedly.

"Mommy, is that you and Daddy? Is it?" she asked.

The woman grinned, brushing away the hair that had fallen into her eyes. She was wearing shorts and an oversized sweater, a warm look in her eyes. "Yep, that's us. Isn't Daddy something else?"

The little girl grinned in response, not really knowing what "something else" he was, but understanding her mother was complimenting him.

"And that's my brother isn't it?"

The smile on her mother's face seemed to freeze on her face. She bent over and picked her up, groaning a bit. "Yes... He died a week after he was born. He was your twin brother. Ah… you're starting to get too old to carry! Already three years old." She seemed eager to change the subject, covered pain flitting across her eyes.

She shook her head. "You're silly, Mommy."

"Okay, okay. It's time for your nap. Otherwise you'll get to be a worse crab than Daddy." She carried the little girl across the living room, headed towards the blue and pink room where the little girl's bed was, covered with three stuffed animals (one for each birthday).

"If I promise to fall asleep quick, will you tell me a story?" she asked hopefully. "Please?"

Her mother faked a sigh. "Okay, if I have to."

She set the little girl onto the bed, who promptly lay down. "Tell me about you and Daddy."

"Well… we met at work. We didn't like each other very much."

Her eyes filled with tears, her bottom lip trembling. "Y-You didn't?"

Her mother brushed the little girl's silky hair away from her forehead and kissed it. "Don't worry, the story gets better. Our friends bet us six hundred dollars we couldn't live like a married couple for a set amount of time. Well, we did pretty well at it, actually. I convinced Daddy one day to take a break and go on a ski trip. All our friends went.

"It was on Christmas day that we realized we both truly had feelings for each other. We were both secretly attracted to each other from day one but never had a way to show it.

"After that we took it slow. I moved out and back in with my girl friends. We spent a lot of time together, the two of us. Until one day, Daddy asked me to marry him… for real."

The little girl gasped and clapped.

"Our parents were thrilled. They met Daddy before and approved. I had never met his parents. They died a long time ago. Anyway, we got married, and one year after, we had you and your brother. We were in love and we loved you both to pieces. But your brother and you were so little when you were born… we didn't think you would make it. Your brother didn't pull through, but you did. And that's why you're our little angel."

The pain was clearly evident on her mother's face, so that even the three year old could recognize it, but there was somber happiness there as well. The little girl smiled a bit.

"I don't like that story," she said. Her mother laughed and pulled the covers up above her daughter and tucked her in.

"You better learn to like it, because without it, you wouldn't be here," she said. "I'll have Daddy come in later to give you a kiss."

She started to leave, then stopped and turned around. "How would you like another little brother or sister…?"

But she was already sleeping.

With a sigh, she walked out of the room and stopped outside the door, closing it gently and leaning against the wall, letting out her breath. Three years… but it still felt like yesterday. She was only grateful that she still had one.

"Yuffie?" a voice called from the kitchen, and the sound of jingling keys.

Yuffie composed her face and walked into the kitchen, smiling, and threw her arms around Squall's neck, breathing in the scent of his leather jacket and aftershave. He wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up a bit, then let her go. She kissed his lips and pulled back.

"Home so soon?" she questioned. He nodded, shrugging his coat off.

"Cid let me off early. So… how's the little one?" Then a sly look crossed his face. "And our other little one?" He lifted up Yuffie's large sweater and felt her slightly bulging belly.

"Wonderful," she answered honestly, leaning against him, closing her eyes. She felt them swelling with tears. She furiously bit the inside of her cheeks to stop herself, but he had already noticed.

"What's wrong?" he asked concernedly, grabbing hold of her shoulders and holding her out to look at her. Her head dropped to one side.

"I don't know… pregnancy hormones, probably…"

"I don't believe that."

"It's…"

"Her brother?" he questioned, careful not to use his name.

She nodded and sniffed. He didn't know what to say. What could he say? He had loved his son, more than he ever imagined he could love anyone, but when he died, he hadn't grieved at all like Yuffie had. He had had to take care of their daughter while she mourned. She was barely able to take care of herself, even. It had been a hard time for all of them.

Yuffie wiped her eyes. "I'll be all right. It's just, she was looking at the pictures with him in it and… what could I say?"

He sighed and leaned against the counter, shaking his head. "We'll take her to his grave when she's a little older."

"No, she needs to understand now," Yuffie replied, grabbing a rag and absently wiping the counter, which was already clean.

He opened his mouth to protest, but closed it. He was in no place to argue. "Is she already asleep?"

"I think so. She might be. I told her you'd go in and kiss her, though, so you might as well wake her."

He walked out of the kitchen and down the hall towards her bedroom, opening it and sitting on the edge of her bed, watching her sleep. She was so much like Yuffie, it was scary… and she was still only three. Her mouth was small and slightly heart-shaped, her face angelic, and her eyelashes long and dark. She would be something else with the guys when she was older. He smiled and kissed her forehead where Yuffie had kissed her only awhile before he had.

Her eyes stirred, but she didn't open her eyes. He stood up and left the room, glanced in the kitchen, and noticed Yuffie wasn't there. He walked across the hall towards their bedroom, where Yuffie was laying on the bed, her eyes closed.

He sat on the bed next to her carefully, not wanting to wake her. She didn't sleep as much as she should, especially now with her pregnancy. He leaned over her, and wasn't stunned to see the resemblance between his daughter and his wife quite accurate. While she had a lot of Squall's features, his straight nose, hair texture, and skin tone, she still looked like a clone of Yuffie.

He smiled and kissed her, only on the lips rather than the forehead. She, too, stirred, then drifted back to sleep. He left the room to ready dinner. His two angels.

Not much of an epilogue, but it will do. I honestly didn't even realize the direction it was taking it until it was... there. Oh well. I'll write up credits and shout outs a little later. But I really hoped you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it (at least when I still had inspiration).