Chapter 21: I'll Be There For You

So no one told you life was gonna be this way

Your job's a joke, you're broke

Your love life's D.O.A

It's like you're always stuck in second gear

And when it hasn't been your day

Your week, your month

It hasn't been your year but

I'll be there for you

When the rain starts to fall

I'll be there for you

Like I've been there before

I'll be there for you

Because you're there for me too

I'll Be There For You – The Rembrandts

The New Year came and went. Yuffie returned home a few days early, in tears.

"Dad and I had a huge fight. He wants me to transfer to Wutai University but I said no. We started yelling at each other and then I just walked out without saying anything to him." She told Aeris and Tifa as they comforted her.

"It'll be OK. Call him in a couple of days, when he's managed to cool off a little bit." Tifa hugging her.

It was the 4th of January. The press conference was the next day and Aeris was in a state of extreme nervousness. Vincent, Tifa, Cloud, Yuffie had all decided that they were coming to the press conference to support her and her family. Marlene had wanted to come, but she had a business meeting. She and Aeris had sat down in the café one afternoon, talking.

"So, what is that you do exactly?" Aeris asked curiously. Marlene smiled.

"I'm in entertainment. I work at Midgar Media Ltd. Mostly in the televised area, but I wander around the other departments too. I'm a talent scout."

"Wow, that's so cool! So you discover actors and stuff?"

"Musicians, Actors, artists, directors… you name it, I find it." Marlene said, sipping a coffee.

"Anyone I might have heard of?"

"Rufus Shinra, the actor." Aeris nodded. He was a well known action-movie star.

"What about musically?"

"I managed the Turks for a while. I'm pretty good friends with them. We were at school together." Marlene said. Aeris nearly split her coffee.

"They're my favourite band! I'm going to see them on the 18th!"

"The stadium concert? I'm going to that too. The tickets sold out almost instantly."

"I've got a friend whose dad works at the stadium." Aeris explained. Marlene laughed.

"It's going to be great."

"You must have the coolest job ever!"

"It's hard. You've got to turn down a lot of people and that means ruining their dreams."

"I know… I want to be a songwriter and I realise how unlikely it is that I'll actually make it." Aeris said sadly. Marlene smiled.

"Dad was telling me about you. He said you're very good." Aeris laughed nervously and blushed. Marlene laughed at her.

"It's a compliment! Aeris, from what I've heard, and that's a lot by the way, you're extremely talented. Don't give up on yourself just yet."

"Thanks Marlene."

"No problem, sweetie. If you ever send a tape in Midgar Media, I'll be sure to try and help, OK?"

That had been two days ago. Right now Aeris was sitting in the café with her friends. She was waiting for Vincent and they had decided to test her for the next day by asking her questions.

"Aeris, Cloud Strife, the daily day, what is your opinion on the state of the stock market?" Cloud said, pretending to hold a pen and pad. Aeris giggled.

"Um… good?"

"Cloud, don't be stupid. She won't get questions like that." Tifa said. She turned to Aeris.

"Tifa Lockheart, the paper, what is your favourite colour?"

"You guys, stop it! I'm nervous enough." Aeris said. Cloud looked offended.

"Fine. You try to lend a hand and this is the thanks we get. Come Tifa, we're clearly not wanted in the land of no imagination!"

He took Tifa's arm and dragged her away. Yuffie looked at Aeris.

"OK, should we be upset or pleased that they're gone?"

"Um, we're standing RIGHT HERE!" Cloud shouted across to them. Aeris ignored him and asked Yuffie,

"Do you want to carry on piano lessons this year?"

"Yeah. Oh, gotta go! Reeve's here." Yuffie said, jumping up out of her chair to meet Reeve who had just walked in. Aeris rolled her eyes and then smiled as Vincent came in.

"Hey." She smiled. He returned the smile and kissed her as he sat down.

"Ready for tomorrow?"

"Yup. Well, no. Not really. But there's not much I can do about it now, right?"

"I suppose not. What time are we leaving?"

"It starts at twelve, so I'm going to leave here at 10:30, to make sure I get there on time. I still have to find the hotel. Are you still coming?"

"Of course. I suppose the others are too?" Vincent said, casting an eye at Tifa and Cloud who were talking animatedly at the counter.

"Yeah."

"Fine. Are you sure you still want to do this?" He asked, looking concerned.

"Yes! I'm not backing down now. I'm going to tell them exactly what I think."

"I hope you're going to do it in a censored version."

Aeris shrugged, grinning helplessly. The previous evening the press had caught her coming out the café and when she'd managed to get back to her room she had spent half an hour swearing down the phone to Vincent.

"We'll see. Besides, Mom would kill me if I swore in front of the media. Again, I mean."

Aeris and Tifa met the others at the train station. Vincent held Aeris' hand as they sat on the intercity train. Cloud smiled across at her.

"I swear you haven't always been that pale."

"I'm OK."

"No you're not." Vincent said. She poked him.

"Hey, who was asking you anyway?"

"I did. Do you want a drink?"

"No."

"Hungry?" Tifa asked.

"No."

"Gawd, just leave the poor girl alone!" Yuffie said, stretching. She wasn't used to being up this early. Aeris smiled.

"No, I'm fine. Really."

"Take me home!" Aeris said as they entered the hotel entrance hall. Vincent shook his head.

"We're not backing out now. Look, there are your parents."

Infalna and Matthew hurried across to meet them.

"Aeris, you look so pale!" Infalna said, hugging her daughter. Matthew rolled his eyes.

"Coming from the woman who has bitten her fingernails down to stubs in the last ten minutes." Aeris grinned and Matthew said,

"Come on, Aeris. We've got to wait in a side room. The rest of you, go straight in."

Aeris went with her parents into a small room. Infalna looked her up and down.

"That's a nice outfit." Aeris looked down. She was wearing a plain pink dress and denim jacket.

"I was going for casual."

"You look fine, Aeris. Infalna, stop fussing." Matthew said. Aeris had the distinct impression that her mother had been driving him insane for the past two hours.

A young woman dressed in a smart outfit entered the room.

"Are we ready?" She asked briskly. The family looked at each other and nodded. The woman nodded and said,

"Let's go. We've got around 150 journalists waiting for you."

Aeris felt the blood drain from her face. Matthew took her hand.

"It's alright. Come on. Let's get this over with."

The first thing that Aeris discovered was exactly how blind one went when 150 cameras went off at the same time. She blinked hard as she climbed up onto the stage where there was a long table and chairs for them to sit on. There were five chairs altogether. One for the each of the family and the other two were her parents' lawyers.

Matthew Gast spoke into the microphone in front of him.

"Thank you all for coming today. We will now take any questions you may have." One of the lawyers started to choose reporters to take questions from. Most of them were to her parents, asking about their work and what they were working on now.

But then someone asked,

"Aeris, what did you think of the article?" Aeris jumped as her name was said and tried to steady her voice before talking into the microphone, even though her heart was racing.

"I thought the article was absolute nonsense."

"And why was that?"

"Because the reporter clearly hadn't gotten the whole story before writing it. Many of the facts were twisted around until it didn't remotely resemble what actually happened."

"But aren't you dating the reporter, James Winters?" The reporter asked, scribbling furiously. Aeris shook her head.

"We broke up after the article was published. I would never go out with someone who would write such horrible things about my parents."

Another reporter stood up.

"So you believe that what your parent's did was for the best, even though it resulted in poor health for you?"

"Yes, I do. Whatever they did, they had their reasons. Frankly, I'd rather suffer a bit of poor health then be dead." Aeris said firmly. She saw Tifa give her thumbs up.

There were a few more questions for parents and then the attention was turned back to her.

"You're currently studying at Midgar University? What courses are you taking?"

"Music and Literature."

"You don't intend to take after your parent's scientific careers?" Aeris laughed at that one.

"No… I definitely don't have what it takes to be a scientist! I-I want to become a professional songwriter."

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Someone asked. Aeris felt herself go pink. How embarrassing, on live TV and everything!

"Yes, I do." She stammered.

"What's his name?"

"Um… Vincent Valentine." Aeris said. She saw Vincent standing at the back of the room.

"Is he here today?" A reporter asked. Aeris glanced quickly towards Vincent who nodded and moved down the room towards the table. One of the lawyers signalled for another chair to be added to the table.

"Yes, he's here." Aeris said, moving over so Vincent could sit down. All the cameras went off again. Aeris quickly looked away, to prevent blindness. Vincent sat down and smiled at her. He took her hand in his under the table. Several more reporters signalled that they had questions.

"Vincent, Aeris, how did you meet?" Vincent said,

"I knew Aeris briefly as a child."

"But I don't remember that. I met you when you forgot your sketchbook and gave it back to you, back at the beginning of the school year." Aeris said. Vincent nodded. Another reporter stood up.

"Our programme did an interview with James Winters, which you appeared in briefly."

They all turned to look at the screen. To Aeris' horror, it was the interview where she had broken up with James. They only played the part with Aeris arguing with James, but Infalna turned to Aeris.

"I can't believe you used that word on TV, Aeris!"

"Uh… yeah." Aeris said, cringing. Several people laughed. The reporter said,

"What had happened before this interview?"

"Well… James and I had been together for a couple of months by then. Anyway, that morning my best friend, Cloud Strife came to my dorm because he'd seen the article. Then, my parents called me and then I went to see James."

"So you and James are no longer friends?" Aeris straightened up.

"No. We're not. And we never will be."

"James Winters claimed that he only wrote the article because he thought you had the right to know the truth."

"If that had been true, why did he feel the need to share it with the rest of Midgar?" Aeris asked wryly.

She felt Vincent squeeze her hand under the table and smiled. For the next half hour, there were more questions to her parents, lawyers and a couple to Vincent. Eventually a lawyer said,

"One more question please, and then we'll have to wrap it up."

She chose a reporter from the Midgar Today. The reporter asked,

"Infalna, I understand that Matthew Gast is not Aeris' biological father. Would you tell us who is?"

"Aeris' father was my first fiancé. He left before Aeris was born. After Aeris recovered from Grandia Disease, Matthew and I got married." Infalna replied. The lawyer stood up.

"Thank you all for coming. I hope this was an enlightening experience for you."