Chapter Ten
Tifa roused from her sleep and looked over at the clock, seeing that it was three in the morning. Cid was lying behind Tifa, with his arm draped over her. They hadn't done anything more than kiss and hold each other tonight, since Cid figured he'd give Tifa another day to think about things before asking her to be with him again. Still, they didn't want the boys to know anything so they had decided to sleep in separate beds, but at some point tonight, they had both fallen asleep.
Tifa moved away from Cid and then turned over to face him. "Hey, Cid?"
His eyes opened lazily and he gave her a smile. "Yeah?"
"We fell asleep." She wasn't eager to send him away, but that's how it had to be. "You need to get back to your room."
"Damn it." Cid stretched and then sat up, running a hand through his hair. This arrangement was going to be a pain in the ass. He slid from the bed and got up. After walking around to Tifa's side of the bed, he bent down and gave her one more kiss before sulking off to the lonely guestroom.
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The chopper set down at the ASRIO base at five in the morning. Exhausted in his relief, Reno had slept for much of the trip back and now was wake. He and the other men got out of the helicopter and walked down into the base. Reno led them directly to the infirmary, thinking that Spencer and Vincent were in need of medical attention. At some point during the flight home, the front of Vincent's jumpsuit had been spotted with blood, indicating that his injuries were still relatively fresh.
Having gotten a call from Reno an hour before, alerting her to the need to be in the infirmary, Dr. Arlin just sat half asleep on an empty bed. Since Reno hadn't given her the reason why she'd been called in, she was not in the best of moods when the doors opened and she heard Reno's voice.
"Janice, we've got company!" Reno announced as he sauntered in.
She brought her tired gaze up and donned an expression of shock. "Oh dear God, Vincent? Spencer? Jaras?"
The three men all flashed her rather feeble smiles.
Janice pointed at them, and looked over at Reno. "Two of them are supposed to be dead!"
"I know, turns out Shinra decided to fuck with them a little after we left." Reno went over and sat on the edge of a bed. "Vinny and Spence need to be looked at."
Seeing the blood that was marking Vincent's outfit, Janice figured that he was in the most need. "Come over here."
Although reluctant to be tended to since he felt nothing remotely like pain at the moment, Vincent knew that he needed to try and act compliant. He went over and stood before her.
"Show me what happened to you," Janice asked, pushing her glasses up.
Again, Vincent unzipped the front to his jumpsuit, this time allowing the upper portion of it to fall from his shoulders, exposing his torso completely.
Upon seeing the considerable incision upon Vincent's chest and the corresponding bullet holes, Janice's eyes went wide and she motioned toward the nearest bed. "Good Lord, Vincent, go lay down!"
He sighed heavily and then did as ordered.
That's it, Vincent, put on a nice act for the doctor. Maybe she'll give you some good drugs, too, Chaos mused in the back of his mind.
Dr. Arlin stood over Vincent, shaking her head. The fact that he was up and walking around with such an injury was more than she would have expected. From the locations of the bullet wounds, she couldn't imagine how he hadn't just died at once. Certainly, they'd hit his heart. "I'm assuming that he opened you up to treat those gunshots?"
"Yeah," Vincent replied simply, resting his right arm over his eyes to block out the rude glare of the light above.
She didn't care if there were others in the room to overhear and asked, "How's your heart faired through all of this?"
He let his arm fall back to his side again and met her gaze. Emotionless or not, he couldn't miss the opportunity. "Why don't you take a listen to it for yourself?"
This wasn't a bad idea and Janice pulled her stethoscope from her coat pocket and put it to work.
Vincent closed his eyes as he felt the cold instrument placed against his chest, but then opened them again quickly, realizing that part of him wanted to see her reaction.
Janice listed for several seconds, but didn't understand what she was hearing. She picked up the end of her stethoscope for a moment and tapped it with her finger, to make sure that it was working before placing it back on his chest. No matter how she positioned it, she couldn't hear his heart beating at all, rather just some low droning hum. After a full two minutes of listening, she pulled her stethoscope off and shoved it back into her pocket. "Is this some sort of weird joke?"
Vincent just blinked up at her.
Reno slid from the bed he was sitting on and came over to Janice's side, seeing that she was confused. "Somethin' wrong with him?"
She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Reno. "Yeah, no heart beat."
Reno couldn't help himself. "Time to bust out the garlic and wooden stakes, huh?"
Janice was not amused and she looked down at Vincent again. "Do you have any idea what they did to you?"
He cocked an eyebrow. "Can't you tell?"
Now she realized that he was intentionally messing with her. "Very funny, Vincent. Are you amused by the fact that they ripped out your heart?"
No, Tifa did that, they just took care of a failing part of my body, Vincent thought to himself.
"What?" Reno asked, stepping closer.
"I'm guessing that those bullets tore his heart apart, and whatever nut job they've got working in the lab in Junon put some sort of artificial heart into Vincent here." Janice crossed her arms over her chest.
"No shit?" Reno looked down at Vincent.
Janice pulled her stethoscope out and held it toward Reno. "Would you like to hear for yourself?"
That didn't appeal to Reno in the least. "Naw, I'll take your word for it."
Continuing to look into his father in law's face, Reno narrowed his eyes. Vincent had been through hell at the hands of Shinra before, and had now suffered this from them. No wonder he'd seemed a little off since getting out of the building. Reno couldn't help but pity him. "Vinny, it's okay though, right?"
Despite the fact he was lying down, Vincent shrugged. "I'm alive, aren't I?"
"I guess that means something," Reno said and turned to Dr. Arlin. "Hey, I'm gonna go do something real quick. Keep an eye on Vinny and Spence."
Janice had no idea what he was up to, but since she needed to examine Spencer as well and then get together some antibiotics for the two men, she didn't really care. "Fine."
Reno smiled and then looked over at Jaras. "Come on."
Sephiroth sighed and then followed Reno out of the room. He had no knowledge that Jeanine was here. "Where are we going?"
"To your room." Reno led him through the base and then stopped in front of a guest room door. He then reached out and knocked.
Sephiroth had no idea why Reno would knock on the door of what he would assume to be an empty room, but within a few seconds, the door unlocked and Sephiroth found himself faced with Jeanine.
She'd been awoken from a sound sleep, but all signs of her exhaustion faded as her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the corridor, and she saw Reno standing there with her husband behind him. "What…how?"
Even with all that had changed within his mind after the injection with Jenova, within his heart was still an attachment to this woman, and seeing the elated and happy expression that took over her face was more than even Sephiroth could bear. He pushed past Reno and took her into his arms.
Jeanine couldn't believe that he was here. She'd heard about what had happened during the mission, and had thought he was lost forever. "Jaras, I was so scared I'd never see you again!"
Although part of him cringed to be addressed by that name, it was overridden by what he felt about being with her again. "I know, I had my doubts as well."
Jeanine found that the way he'd just said that seemed a little off, but she racked it up to stress. Tears of relief were marking her cheeks.
Sephiroth looked back over his shoulder at Reno. "If you don't mind, I think I'm going to turn in, with my wife."
Reno gave him a wink and smirked. "Hey man, post danger lays are the best. Have a good time."
Sephiroth turned back to Jeanine and led her into the room, closing the door behind him. The dim light within made the glow of his eyes obvious, and their intensity at the moment betrayed the depth of emotion inside of him.
Jeanine had gotten used to those eyes over the years, but had rarely seen them this bright. "Jaras?"
"Yes?"
"I love you." Jeanine let her hands run through his silver locks.
Sephiroth may not have had much in his heart for humans in general, but the sentiments that Jaras had felt for her had gone unchanged. He had watched his father's resurrection without caring much, and was more or less indifferent about the mission that they were on, but Jeanine had a hold on his heart. He replied honestly, "I love you, too."
She smiled up at him in the darkness and pulled him over to the bed, and the two of them sat upon the edge of it, side by side.
Reno had told Jeanine that Jaras had been injected with Jenova and changed, and she wondered how he could now be sitting here before her, seemingly not much different. "Reno said that during the mission to save you, that you'd acted…strangely. He said that you'd turned back into Sephiroth."
He hid his reaction to this, and gave her the same story he'd given Reno. "They did inject me and I felt…different for a while there, but there's so much Mako still in my body from my immersion in the Lifestream, that it all eventually died off, leaving me like this again."
Jeanine tried to blink back the tears. When she'd been told that he had been changed, it had been like being told that the man that she loved had died. "I can't believe you're all right…"
Sephiroth took her face into his hands and closed his eyes, then kissing her. Before becoming Jaras, he'd never gotten very involved with any female, and even though he had all of his memories as Jaras, part of him felt like he was about to lose his virginity again and he was quickly becoming aroused.
When his lips left hers, Jeanine whispered, "Jaras, you're probably exhausted… We don't have to do anything now if you don't want to."
He knit his brow momentarily. Sephiroth was more than anxious to be with her, but he would respect her wishes. "I'm not tired in the least at the moment, but if you're not wanting to, then that is all right."
Again, this statement just wasn't what she normally would have anticipated out of him. Jeanine had expected Jaras to either just continued on with the encounter or to have just backed off if he was tired. "Of course I want to! I've spent the last several days thinking I'd never get the chance again, Jaras!"
He realized that he should probably tell her that Vincent was alive, too, since she did have an attachment to him. "Not only did I come back from the lab, but Vincent is alive and here, too."
Jeanine held her breath for a moment. "He's alive?"
"Yes."
"Does Tifa know?" Jeanine felt her heart race, fearing that upon getting word that Vincent was dead, that she would have turned back to Cid. She had to be alerted right away, hopefully preventing her from sleeping with the pilot.
"Not yet." Sephiroth moved to kiss her again, but she placed her hand on the center of his chest, holding him back.
"Someone needs to tell her, or she might do something stupid!" Jeanine realized she couldn't break the doctor/patient bond between Vincent and herself, and so didn't throw out Cid's name.
Sephiroth, already having his own suspicions but not having any sentiments toward Tifa at the moment, didn't really care. "I'm sure Vincent will call her soon."
Jaras never referred to Vincent by his first name anymore. Jeanine cocked her head to the side. "Jaras? Are you all right?"
He nodded. "Yes. Why?"
"You're not exactly sounding like yourself. You just called your father by his first name. You haven't done that in years." She reached up and stroked his cheek.
The feel of her hand against his face made his state of arousal worse. He had to give her an answer that would satisfy her for the time being, before he got what he wanted. "It's just that being held in that lab brought back a lot of memories of being Sephiroth. I'm all right, Jeanine, but you understand…"
Her heart ached for him. What it had been like to be kidnapped and then held in a lab, after what he'd gone through growing, up must have been awful for him. She knew she was lucky that he hadn't simply lost his mind. "Jaras, if you need to talk about any of it, we can."
Sephiroth's eyes went wide as the memory of the rape Jaras had suffered on the way to the lab flashed before him. Despite his usual cool demeanor, this memory bit at something deep within him, and he started breathing a little quicker, his previous arousal instantly fading.
Even without her clinical training, it would have been obvious that something truly horrible had happened to her husband. She put her arms around him and pulled him close to her. "Oh God, Jaras, what did they do to you?"
He had to get it out, and she was the only person in the world he could tell. "Jeanine…"
She thought she almost heard tears in his voice. "It's okay, you can tell me."
"On the way to the lab, my abductors stopped for the night in a motel. I was left with two men. Jeanine, they both took turns… doing something to me." Sephiroth never would have thought he would have to say something like that. The only thing that made the memory bearable at all was the knowledge that he had already killed one of the two offenders. Somehow, he would get to the other and kill him, too.
Instantly knowing what he meant, Jeanine tightened her hold on him and felt tears of anger in her eyes. How anyone could have done something so terrible to him was beyond her reasoning. Jaras was the sweetest man she'd ever known, and to think that he had suffered such a thing tore right through her. Never would she have imagined being in a position where she would be potentially required to give any rape counseling to her husband. "It's all right, Jaras. I'm so sorry…"
Sephiroth was not someone who would dwell on such a thing longer than absolutely needed. Within a few minutes, he got his composure together and moved back from her embrace just far enough as to be able to look into Jeanine's eyes again. "What's done is done. I'm just happy to be here now, with you."
Once more, Jeanine reached up and stroked his cheek, and again, Sephiroth felt himself become aroused. The fact that he was this sensitive to her touch drove him mad and he kissed her.
Realizing that he wanted to lose himself for the time being, Jeanine reached for the buttons to his shirt and got to undoing them, soon having his chest exposed. She ran her hands over his torso, causing him to shudder in anticipation.
Sephiroth, in the meanwhile, pushed the robe she was wearing from her shoulders and then he lay back upon the bed, pulling her down with him. He was going to make the most out of the situation. Jeanine would be pleased with his performance, as the Jenova within him gave him a level of stamina that he'd not previously possessed. They would not emerge from their room until much later in the day.
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The phone rang, and Angel rolled over and answered. She'd been awake for a little bit, but it was still early and she had remained in bed, staring up at the ceiling in the darkness. "Hello?"
"Hey, Babe." Reno was standing in the hall outside of the infirmary doors. "The squirt's still at Jessie's I'm guessin'?"
"Yeah," Angel replied, sitting up and stretching. It wasn't Reno's usual thing to be up this early and she wondered if he'd been up all night working. "What are you doing?"
"Well, we had a little development come up last night, and I need you to come down here and see something." Reno smiled widely.
"What's that?" she asked.
"Just get down here. It's completely worth it, Angel. You're gonna be tickled shitless."
She sighed, able to tell that Reno was in one of his goofier moods. It was a relief in a way-- he hadn't been himself over the last several days. "All right, let me get dressed and down there."
"Okay, see ya." Reno hung up.
Angel got dressed and left the house. Within half an hour, she was crossing the airfield, heading toward the base entrance. She spotted Reno standing next to the door, waiting for her. "So, what's going on?"
He took her hand and went inside, pulling her along. "You're not going to believe what I did last night."
She wasn't sure whether or not she should be scared by that statement, and went along in silence as he led her to the doors of the infirmary.
Reno threw open the door and dragged Angel to the center of the room, pointing over to where Dr. Arlin was still standing over Vincent's bedside. "Go take a look at what the cat dragged in, Babe."
From where she was, she couldn't really tell who was in the bed and she let go of Reno and took a few steps closer. Realizing that Janice was smiling at her, Angel knit her brow and finally got to the bedside and looked down.
Vincent just lay there, staring back at her.
Angel was in shock. She had no idea what to say or how he'd gotten here. The vicious wounds were still exposed on her father's chest, and she felt tears come to her eyes. "How…how did you get here? How did you survive?"
Time to put on a good show, Vincent. Don't give it away, Chaos growled in the back of his mind.
Vincent forced a smile. "Angel…"
She reached down and grabbed his nearest hand. "I've been so upset…"
"Well, it's all right now. I'm fine." He let his smile fade, but kept looking at her.
Angel looked up at Janice. "Is he okay?"
She nodded. "He seems to be. He's not complaining about any pain in any event. Angel, he's been given an artificial heart."
Her ice blue eyes met the doctor's and went wide. "But those…"
Janice nodded. Unfortunately, artificial hearts had a bad reputation for not being entirely reliable. Then again, Vincent had been running off of one in the artificial body that Hojo had put him into once and it had worked fine for the time he had it. "I know, but we'll keep a close eye on him."
Angel just nodded in acceptance, knowing that there was little else that she could do for the time being. She smiled back down at her father, her absolute relief clear. "I'm just so happy…"
Reno came up and placed his hand upon her shoulder, ready to deliver the rest of the news. "And guess what?"
She looked into his eyes. "What?"
"He kept his promise, too." Reno couldn't help but smile.
Angel looked confused for a moment, and then her eyes went wide. "He said he wouldn't leave that lab without Jaras…"
"Bingo." He held her to him tighter. "Your bro is here, but he's off bangin' his old lady for now."
The crudeness of his take on the situation slid right by her. She looked around the infirmary and spotted Spencer sitting on one of the other beds. "Oh God, Spencer, you're alive, too?"
From his place he just nodded. He, like Vincent, lacked any real emotion about the situation thanks to the ferium.
Angel looked into Reno's eyes again. "Did you tell Quigley?"
He shook his head. "Not yet, I wanted to let you know that your dad and brother were alive first. I'll go get him now."
She watched her husband saunter off and then turned back to her father. "Have you spoken to Tifa yet?"
Watch it, Vincent. She can see right through you. You can't blow her off like that idiot Reno, Chaos reminded him.
Vincent diverted his gaze from her and frowned briefly. "No, not yet. I was wanting to wait until I knew that I was going to be all right before I did."
"Well, it looks like you are," Janice said as she moved over to begin examining Spencer.
Angel smiled. "I think it would be best just for you to go see her and show her that you're alive in person."
Vincent, we can't pass up that sort of chance! We can make Cid pay dearly.
Even through the haze of the ferium, Vincent still ached from the memory of watching his wife and Cid. Yet, he forced himself to smile again. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble."
"I'll have Brad fly you home as soon as Janice is done with you here." Angel looked over at the doctor, seeing if she had heard.
Dr. Arlin looked up from Spencer and over at them. "I really want to observe him until at least later this afternoon. Beyond that, he can do what he wishes."
Chaos forced Vincent to smile.
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Reno went to Quigley's room, but didn't find him. He strolled down to the lab to see if the researcher could be found there.
Upon entering, he found Quigley, slumped over his desk in the corner asleep. Reno went over and sat on the edge of the desk, placing his hand in the middle of Quigley's back. "Hey, Quiggers?"
The man stirred and sat up, his eyes showing that it hadn't been a restful sleep in the least. "Reno?"
"The one and only."
"What time is it?" Quigley asked, disoriented.
"Too fuckin' early." Reno smiled and reached out, tousling the blonde's hair. "But I got something important to show you."
Quigley raised his eyebrows and ran a hand through his hair to get it back as it had been. "What?"
"Come on." Reno got back to his feet.
The researcher sighed heavily and got up, following along obediently. He, like Angel, found himself led to the infirmary.
They entered and Quigley immediately noticed Spencer sitting on a bed, being tended to by Dr. Arlin. "Holy shit, Spence?"
He produced a smile for his brother. "Quig."
With a look of disbelief upon his face, Quigley went over and embraced his brother. "Spence, what happened?"
Spencer waited for his brother to let go of him and step back before answering. "I was shot and hurt badly, but I lived. The guy in the Shinra lab did some sort of surgery on me. Vincent and I escaped once we felt like we could manage."
Quigley glanced over his shoulder and saw that Vincent was here as well. He flashed him a brief smile and then turned back to his brother. There were tears in Quigley's eyes. "Spence, when they told me you were dead, I…I completely lost it. I've been unable to do anything."
Like Vincent, Spencer knew he had to put forth a convincing display. "I'm sorry. I know you've always hated the fact that I go on these missions, fearing that something like this would happen, but I'm okay, Quig."
Quigley just embraced him again. His heartache was over.
Angel stepped away from her father's side and went back to Reno. "Hey, I have a favor to ask."
"What's that, Babe?"
"My father wants to go see Tifa after Janice gives him the all clear this afternoon," Angel said, picking up her husband's hand.
Reno cocked his head to the side. "Really?"
She didn't understand. "Of course. Why do you look so surprised?"
With her hand in his, Reno simply walked far enough away from Vincent to be out of his hearing range. That done, he met her gaze again. "Last night, after I picked him up-- and yeah, I went to Junon last night and picked him up so don't freak out that I lied-- I asked him if he wanted us to stop at his house. He got pissy and said no. I asked him what the problem was and he got really weird. He told me that he'd call her from the base when he was damned good and ready."
"Reno, you know he was probably just upset and confused about what he'd been through." Angel looked back over her shoulder at her father. "But I just talked to him and he said that he wanted to go home and let Tifa know that he was alive. He wasn't upset about it at all."
Reno still had his doubts. "I don't know. I'm sorta getting the feeling that something wasn't right back home before this. I talked to him a little before we went on the mission and although he wouldn't tell me anything specific, I picked up that something was wrong. He gets kinda snippy like Tseng used to when there's something hurting him."
"I don't know what to tell you, Reno. He was just fine this time." Angel was anxious to get back to Vincent's side.
He shrugged and watched her walk off. She knew her father better than he did, after all.
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Tifa and Cid were sitting on the porch, enjoying the evening. It was getting close to ten, and they boys had been asleep now for well over an hour. They had been there in silence for a while, having let the conversation die off.
A storm was coming in, and the cool air got to Cid and he started coughing. So far, most of his coughing fits had taken place at night when he was lying down, but they were starting to come during other times now. He covered his mouth with his hand, trying to get over this bout as quickly as possible. Finally, it let up and Cid pulled his hand away and he looked at it.
It was sprayed with blood.
Tifa was watching him and caught his expression. "Cid? Are you okay?"
He gave an insincere smile and then closed his stained hand. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Cid had always been a horrible liar and Tifa called him on it. "You're not feeling good, are you?"
On one hand, his chest was bothering him more than it had, but on the other, he was so happy to be with Tifa that in honesty, he felt better than he had in a long time. "Actually, I'm great, Tiff."
Now he seemed to be honest. Tifa smiled and shook her head. Cid had always been a little strange, but it was one of the things that had amused her about him.
Needing to go inside and wash his hand, Cid got up and gave her a grin before going into the house.
Tifa followed behind him, keeping her hands upon her stomach as she went. The baby was kicking at the moment, and she leaned against the kitchen counter as Cid stood at the sink, rising off his hands. She'd always thought him unbearably handsome and she found herself smiling.
As he dried his hands on his jeans, he caught her expression. "What's on your mind, lady?"
Tifa blushed. "I was just thinking…that you're really attractive."
Cid raised his eyebrows and smirked. "And when did you start liking men?"
She reached over and smacked him in the shoulder. "That's not nice!"
"You've got to admit, Tiff, I'm about as different from your last two guys as could be." Cid moved a little closer to Tifa and put his arms around her.
Tifa laughed at him. "I know, you think Cloud and Vincent were, how'd you put it? Pretty boys?"
"Yeah, and like I said, I'm more the rugged type." His smirk lingered. "So again, when did you actually start liking men?"
"You're terrible, Cid."
He was so used to this come back from Tifa, that he actually said it along with her, causing Tifa to break down laughing. It was unbelievably good to see her smiling and acting like she was having fun. Cid hadn't seen this sort of behavior from her in a long time, and he'd missed it. He reached up and took her face into his hands. "I've missed this part of you, Tiff."
"What's that?"
"Laughing, joking around. You stopped doing that a few years back." Cid brought his face closer to hers.
She moved closer to him as well. "I didn't feel like I had much of a reason there for a while."
He thought about seeing her sleeping with the cloak draped over her. Cid had gone in today when she'd been taking a nap, seeing that she had done it again. "But you still loved him?"
She nodded slightly. "Yeah. Stupid, huh?"
"No, not really," Cid sighed. "You two went through a lot together. Hell, you've got Aaron and several years of history. Sometimes it's not easy to admit that things just aren't right. You had a hard time letting go of Cloud, too."
"I did." Tifa appreciated the fact that Cid could talk to her like this without things erupting into some giant moment of drama.
"Well, make me a promise."
She stared into his blue eyes, seeing the feeling that burned there. "Okay."
"Even though I've only got a little while, let me know if I start to make you unhappy. I don't want to sit around and let you be miserable like they did, Tiff. If I do something wrong, I want to know about it so I can fix it." He smiled again.
"I will." Tifa closed her eyes and soon felt his lips upon hers.
Outside, the storm finally broke and the wind picked up, throwing rain against the house. Raging weather like this had always been a turn on for Tifa, and she found herself wanting to take Cid to her bed again.
Sensing the change within her, Cid pulled back from the kiss and narrowed his eyes. "Are you thinking what I am?"
Tifa smiled wider and looked down at the floor. "I think so."
"All right, let's go." Cid took her hand and led her from the kitchen and back to the bedroom.
Outside, things were getting violent, and the storm pounded against the bedroom windows with such force that any sound outside would have been drown out.
Cid let go of her and again sat on the edge of the bed, wondering what they should do this time. He was already aroused and anxious to get underway.
Tifa stood before him and smiled meekly, before starting to shed her clothing. The darkness of night kept her comfortably hidden, except during the flashes of lightning that illuminated the room. She regretted that these first real encounters with Cid had to be with her present pregnant form. Tifa knew that he would have been far happier with her in her normal state.
Cid watched her strip in the darkness, the smirk again coming to his lips. She was putting forth the effort to be a little braver with him, and he appreciated it. He undid his belt and unzipped his jeans.
Tifa saw him do this as she dropped her last article of clothing to the floor and she came over closer to him. Feeling terribly awkward about it, she asked him, "What do you want?"
He narrowed his eyes. "Can you get on your knees, or is that too uncomfortable for you at the moment?"
She laughed nervously. "No, I can."
Cid just looked up at her expectantly.
Tifa closed her eyes and knelt before him, knowing what he was after. Not being a particularly big fan of this, it was something that she had only done on occasion for Vincent, and only twice for Cloud.
Cid stood back up and placed his hands upon her shoulders. He looked down at her face. "Go ahead."
With her hands shaking, Tifa reached up and pulled down his loosened jeans and the underlying boxers just far enough to expose him. She glanced upward and saw that he was still looking at her, with one eyebrow raised. Knowing that he wanted this badly, Tifa closed her eyes and took him into her mouth.
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The storm was making the helicopter ride to Kalm rough. Vincent sat alone in the back of the chopper, Brad being the only other person in the machine. Reno had offered to go with him, or rather, Angel had asked him to, but Vincent had refused, feeling that he needed to deal with things alone.
The turbulence rocking the old huey wasn't something that Vincent particularly appreciated. He'd never been a big fan of flying, and feeling this rusty bird buck through the storm wasn't helping that. Luckily, they would be there before too much longer.
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After having Tifa work at him on her knees for a good ten minutes, Cid was ready to move on to something else. He had his hands entwined in her hair and he pulled her back from him.
Tifa looked up and met his gaze, wondering what his next request would be.
He stepped side. "You can just lean against the bed if you want."
Tifa moved and put her elbows onto the bed, with her knees still on the floor. With her head turned back, she watched as Cid hastily pulled off his shirt and then pushed his jeans off completely, before getting down on the floor behind her. Tifa relaxed and laid her head upon the bed, getting ready for whatever he was going to do next.
Cid ran his hands across her back a few times, seeing that she was somewhat ticklish and that she shivered as he did so. With a smile upon his lips, he whispered, "Tifa, you have no idea how much I wanted you over all of those years."
Her only response to him was a soft moan as she felt him slide a finger into her. She pushed back against his hand slightly, wanting him to just go ahead and enter her. Tifa hoped that he would be able to hit that same wonderful place within her in this position that he'd found last time.
This instant response from her caught Cid's attention. "You want it already?"
"Yes," she sighed back to him. Being talked to like this during sex was something that Tifa was surprised to realize she liked. "I want it."
Cid's smirk widened and he removed his hand from her and gave her want she wished.
Tifa clawed at the comforter on the bed as he got to work. She was elated to discover that he was just as capable of getting to that spot within her, causing her to give out muffled cries into the mattress before her.
---------
The chopper set down and the engines were cut. Vincent got up from his seat and opened the door, stepping out into the storm. The wind whipped at him mercilessly, but for now, he was impervious to it.
His house was only fifty yards away, but he realized that the storm, with its wind and thunder, would have probably hidden the chopper's approach. All of the lights within the house seemed to be off as he walked toward it.
Once at the back door, he found that it was locked, but he knew that there was a spare key hidden in a planter next to the door and he retrieved it, letting himself in.
He stood in the kitchen in the darkness for a few moments, letting his eyes adjust to the interior. Once he could see well enough, he started forward. Vincent figured that Tifa was most likely in bed already and he headed back to their room.
As he made his way down the hall, he heard some hushed sounds coming from his bedroom and instantly knew what was going on. Vincent began to move in complete silence, intending to scare Tifa and Cid for whatever it was worth.
Gently he touched the doorknob to the bedroom, but found that it was locked. He reached above the door and pulled the tiny key that rested upon the doorframe down. Without making a sound, he slipped it into the lock and turned it.
With the door unlocked, he opened it a small way and looked in. He'd donned a black pair of pants and a shirt after being released from the infirmary, and the color concealed him. Cid and Tifa were facing away from Vincent, still wrapped up in their encounter that was just nearing the climax for both of them. Vincent really didn't have to put that much effort into being stealthy-- they wouldn't have noticed much anyway.
Vincent stepped inside, not taking his eyes away from the pilot and his wife. He'd given himself another dose of ferium in the helicopter just before landing, and although it's effect of calming and numbing him had been renewed, anger and pain still seethed up within him upon seeing what was going on. If he had brought his gun with him, Cid would already be dead.
There was a several minute long pause between flashes of lightning, casting the room into total darkness. Tifa opened her eyes as she felt herself getting close to the end, and when the next flash of lightning lit the room, she outright screamed in terror.
What she'd seen in that brief moment of light was Vincent, standing beside the bed with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring down at her.
Cid, too, had spotted someone standing there in that moment, although he refused to believe that it could actually have been Vincent-- he didn't believe in ghosts.
Tifa scrambled away and into the corner, mortified. She had no idea how Vincent was here, and the way he'd just seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, had given her the scare of her life.
Cid had moved quickly as well, going over and throwing the switch to the bedroom's light.
It was Vincent, and he looked pissed.
Realizing that his life was probably in danger, and not wanting to die in the state he was in, Cid reached down and grabbed his jeans, hastily pulling them back on. "Wh…what the fuck?"
Vincent cocked his head to the side. "I could ask the same thing."
Tifa continued to cower in the corner. She was shocked that it was Vincent, and she was profoundly shamed at having been seen with Cid. "Reno said you were dead!"
Vincent didn't break his gaze away from Cid as he answered her. "Reno was wrong."
"Oh God, Vincent…" Tifa slowly stood back up, and pulled her bathrobe from its nearby hook. "If I'd thought you were alive, I wouldn't have…"
"Why not?" Vincent asked, his outward appearance of calm not betraying the pain he felt or the begging that Chaos was doing to rip Cid apart. "You didn't even wait an entire day before doing it with him, Tifa."
How he could know this was beyond her. Tears marked her face. She knew that there was no excuse for her actions. Tifa looked at Cid for help, but saw that he was presently looking terrified beyond words and staring at Vincent.
"I know I gave you permission in those notes, but I would have thought it might have taken a little longer for the two of you to start fucking." Vincent turned his eyes to Tifa. "Not even one God damned full day."
"How in the hell do you know what we have or haven't done? How long have you been creeping around here?" Cid asked, finally having the fortitude to speak up.
"I just got here, hoping to show Tifa that I was still alive. Maybe I was wanting some sort of favorable reaction from her." Vincent's emotions over the scene were doing their best to fight past the ferium. "I surely didn't expect to come home from the nightmare I was put through just to walk into another."
Tifa was completely confused and lost. She covered her face with her hands and began to cry.
Vincent locked gazes with Cid. "I should have made you leave."
Cid was shaking, despite his attempts to remain calm. "Yeah, you should have. That way, when Reno came here the other night to tell her you were dead, she could've laid there and cried her fucking eyes out all night alone. You're the fucker that had to go on that God damned mission that you had no business goin' on."
"You both knew that I had to go." Vincent's eyes were starting to show his fury. "I was shot five times. I came back from death, only to find that my wife was so happy for me to be gone that she started fucking you the very next night!"
They had hooked up too quickly after Vincent's supposed death, Cid knew that. What was done was done, though. "Your marriage with her was over anyway, Sue."
Vincent turned his glare to Tifa. "So that's it? You really had no intention of us trying to work through things after I got back from the mission?"
She was incapable of answering and just continued to cry.
This annoyed Vincent more. "Knock the fucking crying off! Every time something happens, you start that shit! Quit hiding behind tears and tell me what you're really thinking!"
Cid, scared or not, wasn't going to let Vincent talk to her like that. He dared to take a step forward. "Shut the hell up, you bastard! With all the bullshit you've put her through, you're lucky she stayed with you as long as she did!"
"You're dead," Vincent growled, letting his arms fall back to his sides.
"What's new?" Cid said back flippantly, feeling a spark of sarcasm well up within him.
Kill him, Vincent, or step aside and let me do it. We can't let him get away with the pain he's caused you, Chaos said with glee in Vincent's mind.
The yelling going on had awoken L.C. and Aaron. They had left their room to see what was going on and Aaron opened the master bedroom door, instantly spotting his father.
Vincent's intended lunge at Cid was halted as his son ran in and threw his arms around him. This boy was the only thing that Vincent cared about even remotely now, and he couldn't savagely beat Cid to death in front of him.
"I knew you couldn't be dead!" Aaron cried, holding onto his father for all he was worth.
Vincent shot a deadly gaze at both Cid and Tifa before dropping to his knee to face his son. "No, I'm alive."
Aaron's prayers had been answered. "Dad…did you get Jaras?"
"Yes, your brother is fine."
The boy didn't know what else to say and he embraced Vincent again.
Vincent closed his eyes and held him, realizing that in a few moments, he was going to walk out of this house with absolutely no intent of ever returning.
Tifa and Cid stood there and watched on in silence. They both were keenly aware that Aaron had just unknowingly spared Cid's life. For a short time, everyone seemed afraid to move, fearing what would happen next.
Finally, Vincent stood back up, looking down upon his son. "I need to leave now."
Aaron's eyes filled with sadness. "Why? You just got home."
Vincent glanced over at Tifa. "Because your mother has made her choice, Aaron. I'll see you later."
The boy thought that he knew what his father meant, but he was instantly distraught and couldn't say anything as he started to cry.
Thanks to the chemical coursing through his veins, Vincent was able to tune out his son's breakdown. He gave Tifa and Cid one last menacing look and then he strode from the room.
Tifa and the pilot didn't move at first, and then when they did, it was Tifa grabbing the red cloak that was still lying upon the bed and running after Vincent, Cid following in pursuit.
Vincent was in the kitchen, just about to open the back door when he heard Tifa behind him. "Vincent, wait!"
He growled deep in his throat and then turned back to face her. "What?"
She held the cloak out to him. "Take this. Reno brought it back the other day."
Vincent's eyes burned right through her as he reached out and tore his cloak from her hands. Had he not thought that his gun had been lost on the mission, he would have asked for that, too.
Tifa saw him again turn toward the door, obviously ready to go and have no further discussion with her. She couldn't just let him walk out of her life like this. "Vincent, I'm sorry! I had a dream the other night where you saw Cid and I, and you told me that I'd broken your heart."
Once more, Vincent hesitated and then he turned around to face her. He threw the cloak down onto the nearby counter and then grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling upon it, and the snaps that held it closed gave way, exposing his chest. "Luckily for you, I don't have one to break anymore, Ms. Lockheart."
Tifa's eyes went wide as she saw what had been done to him. Here she'd been, trying to start some sort of life with Cid, while Vincent had been cut open and toyed with in some dark Shinra lab-- living out his greatest fear again. The fact that he had just addressed her like he had, let her know that Vincent had also made a choice. "I'm sorry, Vincent."
Cid stood back in the entrance to the kitchen, not willing to get between them, but remaining by close enough to intervene if needed.
Vincent was finished here, there was nothing more that he wanted to do other than kill Cid, and with his son in the house, he couldn't.
I guess killing him would land us in some trouble that would preclude us from finishing our mission anyway, Vincent. Chaos began to settle down.
After one more glance at the two people before him, Vincent turned, grabbed his cloak and threw open the door. He disappeared out into the storm, running for the helicopter.
Cid, relieved that Vincent was gone, came forward and slammed the door shut before turning to Tifa. "Are you okay?"
She was shaking terribly, and all the color was gone from her face. It had been a long time since she'd been this afraid. "Cid…you realize that he was going to kill you, right?"
He nodded at her and placed his hands upon her shoulders. "Yeah, I know."
They heard a door slam within the house and realized that Aaron had just locked himself back in his room with L.C.
"I just don't understand…" Tifa whispered, going over and sitting in a kitchen chair. "He's alive…Cid, if I'd known he was alive…"
"Yeah…" He felt a little heartache of his own. She had only turned to him because Vincent was supposedly gone. Despite having been there for her for all of those years and talking to her when Vincent had shut her out, he was still in second place and now that Vincent was alive, that's where he would be again. "So I guess that's the end of us."
Tifa knit her brow and looked at him. "Cid, he has no intention of ever being with me again. Vincent and I are finished. I would have thought that would've been a little obvious after what just happened."
Cid looked down at his hands. He wasn't so sure. Even if Vincent had no intention of coming back, he honestly believed that Tifa would now spend her time sitting around depressed, longing for her husband to return. Resolving that he had to back off and let Tifa tell him what they were going to do from here on out, Cid slowly walked out of the kitchen and went back to the guestroom. He was going to cry and he sure as hell didn't want her to see. Why couldn't you have just stayed dead, Sunshine? I only got to have her for two days…just two fucking days…the best two days of my life.
Suddenly, Cid's resolve to fight his disease dwindled.
---------
Vincent got back into the chopper and sat, staring down at the cloak in his hands. Thanks to Tifa having taken a few naps with it draped across her, it was permeated with her scent, something that didn't help Vincent's present state of mind. Even though it'd been less than an hour since his last dose, Vincent reached down and pulled out the small black case from his pocket.
He looked up, seeing that Brad was absorbed in flying through the storm and not paying any attention to what his lone passenger was doing. Feeling that he could get away with it, Vincent placed the black case beside him and pushed up the left sleeve of his shirt. Once it was high enough, he twisted the fabric of the sleeve as to put pressure on his bicep, and pinned it between his body and arm. There was already a syringe in the case loaded with the appropriate amount of the ferium and he picked it up. He figured that keeping a syringe ready like this was a good idea, since he wasn't sure how accurate his dosing would be in the midst of withdrawal symptoms if he let it get to that point.
He brought the syringe up to his mouth, and pulled the cap from the needle with his teeth. Able to see his vein easily thanks to his fair complexion, Vincent quickly lined up the needle and carefully pushed it into his vein. There was a small red flash within the syringe as his blood back flowed until he let his arm relax and his shirt sleeve fell loose, no longer acting as a tourniquet. He then slowly injected the syringe's contents into his bloodstream, and felt the ferium wash over him. Vincent pulled the needle from his vein and dropped the used syringe into the seat next to him, then quickly placing some pressure over where he'd just injected himself to spare his vein from bruising as much as possible.
Vincent closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment of all it was worth. Overdosed from injecting himself twice now within an hour, absolutely all of his feelings were wiped from him and he began to feel a little dizzy. The truth was, he hoped that two doses this close together would kill him.
Chaos came to attention as he felt Vincent begin to lose consciousness. What are you doing, Vincent?
Shut up and let me rest, Vincent thought in return, beginning to feel light.
We've been over this before. I don't want you to die. Chaos realized that Vincent needed a good amount of adrenaline pumped into his system quickly.
I've got nothing to live for. I've had the woman I love leave me, and I'm addicted to something that's letting both some Shinra fuck and you to control me. Why shouldn't I? I killed an ASRIO agent the other day and didn't feel a God damned bit of remorse for it. Vincent slumped over in his seat as his body went out of his control.
You didn't feel remorse for killing that plant, no. You felt good. Are you really that afraid to be yourself again? You used to kill all the time, need I remind you, and you loved it. Pulling the trigger for you is damn near as good as sex, and you know it. Chaos geared up for a bid for power. Even though he couldn't take over Vincent's body anymore, the seizure that he could cause would get the adrenaline flowing.
Vincent was unaware that his right arm was drawing up over his chest as it always did before a seizure. Leave me alone, Chaos. I'm done with this, all of it.
No, you're not.
Thanks to the ferium, Vincent didn't realize that he was going to have a seizure until it began. Since he hadn't strapped himself into the seat in the helicopter, he fell to the floor of it, his body flailing and his consciousness momentarily fading out.
The noise of the machine covered up the sounds Vincent made, and Brad went on blissfully unaware that his passenger was seizing.
Chaos let the seizure carry on as long as Vincent's body could take it. Finally, after about fifteen minutes, Vincent quit flailing, and opened his eyes, finding himself staring up at the ceiling of the chopper. He was gasping for breath, and was well aware of what had happened. Damn him.
Vincent pulled himself back into his seat and looked over, seeing that his ferium kit was still out in the open. Not wanting anyone to know of his new vice, he put it back together and slipped it into his pocket. He still felt a little strange physically from the considerable amount of the opiate in his blood, but he was in no danger of dying at present.
---------
Tifa sat in the kitchen for a long time, debating what to do. After awhile, she got up and went to Aaron's room and peeked inside. L.C. was sleeping on the floor, already having gotten over the drama of the evening, but Aaron was sitting upon his bed in the darkness.
Tifa motioned for him to come on out and she took him to the kitchen. After she had her son situated in his chair, she went over and made him a cup of hot chocolate and then sat that in front of him. She landed in her seat across the table from him. "Aaron, are you all right?"
He took a sip of his drink and narrowed his eyes at her. "Do you think I'm all right?"
Inwardly, Tifa cringed. This boy never let her forget for even a moment who his father was. He presently had Vincent's same biting edge to his voice. "Please don't talk to me like that, Aaron."
The boy diverted his gaze from her and took another sip before saying anything. "Sorry."
"It's okay, I know you're upset." Tifa offered him a fleeting smile. "I know all of this has been really hard on you."
He edited his response to this, not wishing to get in trouble. "Yeah."
"It looks like things between your father and I just aren't going to work out." Tifa found it hard to keep from crying. "So he and I aren't going to be together anymore."
The cruelty of being told his father was dead one day, then finding out he was alive only to lose him like this was a little more than the boy could bear. Something snapped within him, but he hid it well. "Fine."
"There won't be anymore fighting, Aaron. That's better, right?" Tifa asked.
"It'll be different." As much as he loved his father, he was sick of the constant stress and arguing. Still, part of him felt that Cid was going to take all of his mother's attention, and he felt a subtle animosity beginning to well up within him for both the pilot and his son.
Tifa sat in silence until Aaron had finished his drink. "Ready to go back to bed?"
The stress that Aaron had been through was enough to overcome his emotional upset and he was tired. "Yeah."
She smiled at her son as he got up from the table and started toward his room.
Aaron stopped for a moment and looked back over his shoulder. "Hey Mom?"
"What?"
He knit his brow and looked down at the floor. "I'll get to see him though, right?"
Tifa nodded. There was no way that she would keep Aaron from his father-- unless he did something that made her fear for her son's safety. "He loves you, Aaron. I'm not going to keep you from seeing him."
"Okay." He seemed to accept this answer and slowly went back to bed.
She remained in the kitchen alone for a few more minutes, before getting up and going to the guestroom. The door was unlocked and she slipped in. What Tifa saw made her stop dead in her tracks.
Cid was awake, sitting on the edge of the bed. He had been crying, and in doing so, had made himself cough severely. The bed and floor around him was littered with blood stained tissues as each bout of coughing brought up more red fluid. He turned his eyes to her, wishing now that he'd locked the door.
Tifa was horrified by what she saw and she came to his side and sat, placing an arm around his shoulders. "Cid? Are you okay?"
He didn't even have the will left to lie. "No."
"You're coughing up blood! Do you need to go the hospital?" Tifa motioned at all of the bloodied tissues around them.
"No." Cid turned his eyes to the ground. In his heartbroken state, he made no attempt to put forth his usual attitude.
"Cid, I'm really worried about you." Tifa wasn't immediately willing to accept his refusal for help.
"Just leave me alone, Tiff." He reached up and pushed her arm from him. Having her touch him was just making it all worse for him. "If I can't have you, then I can't stay here anymore…"
Tifa raised her eyebrows. "Cid? Vincent is gone! He and I are through! Yes, I'm a little thrown by what happened tonight and the fact that he's alive, but it doesn't change what's happening between us!"
He just couldn't accept this from her, after watching her behavior over the years. "You won't let go of him…"
Tifa knew that when it came to Cid, he was the kind of guy that gave actions more credit than words. She was fully aware of his doubts, and she was willing to prove him wrong. She placed her hand against his cheek and forced him to look at her. "Cid, I'm with you now. Get it through your head, okay?"
The pilot offered her one weak smile, but said nothing.
"Cid, I'm not going to just throw you away because Vincent's still alive!" Tifa felt a small flare of anger as she knew Cid wasn't hearing a word she said. "Remember earlier when you said that I hadn't joked around or laughed in years until now? Well, that's because I'm with you! Vincent took that away from me, and you gave it back. I need you to believe me, Cid."
He sighed heavily and grabbed her wrist, pulling her hand from his cheek. "It's late, Tiff. Go to bed and get some sleep."
"I'm not going anywhere."
Cid turned slightly so could face her full on. "What are you doing?"
"I intend to spend tonight with the man I love." Tifa placed her hand upon his leg. "After what we went through tonight, there is absolutely no way I'm going to sleep alone."
Cid cracked and let the left side of his mouth pull up. "Really?"
"Yeah, we're going back to my room, locking the door, crawling into bed and going to sleep." Tifa stood up and held out her hand to him.
Not being accustomed to getting ordered around, Cid actually broke into a full smile. He went ahead and took her hand, letting her lead him from the room.
They settled into Tifa's bed. She lay down on her side, and Cid went ahead and spooned up against her back, draping his arm over her as he liked to do.
In the darkness, Cid asked, "What about the boys? If I stay in here, they might figure something out."
"You get up before anyone else, Cid. Worse comes to worse, you can crawl out the window." Tifa almost laughed at the notion. Part of her felt like a teenager again, sneaking her lover into her room.
Cid nuzzled into the back of her neck, sending a shiver down her spine. Quietly he said, "You sure are ticklish, Tiff."
She giggled. "I know."
The fact that she was able to be this light despite what had just happened a while before hinted to him that maybe she really was over Vincent, and committed to him. Not having finished their encounter that Vincent had interrupted, Cid felt himself stir again. He pressed his body against Tifa's a little closer.
Tifa felt this and knew that he was again in the mood. "Go ahead."
Cid closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "After what just happened, I think you need to think about it long and hard…no pun intended."
She outright laughed. "Cid!"
He couldn't help but smile in response. "Seriously."
Tifa reached back between their bodies and touched him. "I don't have to think about it at all."