Chapter Twenty Three

Yes, I did put one in my story! After all this time, I've finally acknowledged their existence in the Final Fantasy world…

Reno was taken to the infirmary and made to sit in a chair. He pointed at the bandage again. "This, off, now."

Janice sighed, "Reno, you really ought to keep--"

He raised a hand, silencing her. "Off."

The doctor glanced over at Angel, but saw that she wasn't going to get any help from the other woman. She pulled her bandage scissors from her pocket and cut through the gauze. After a few minutes of work, it fell to the floor.

Reno was relieved to be freed of the constant pressure the dressing had placed on his head. He turned to Angel. "So, how bad is it?"

It took all of her strength to hide any negative reaction to seeing his injury uncovered again. Angel knelt at his side and picked up one of his hands. "It's okay."

Reno looked over at Janice. "I need to see, get me one of those things."

Janice realized that his brain was preventing him for asking clearly. "A mirror?"

He nodded, instantly regretting the action as it made the pain in his head double.

"All right, just a minute." Janice walked over to the cabinets and fished through a few of them before coming up with a small hand mirror. She brought it to Reno and gave it over.

Angel held her breath as Reno looked at himself for the first time since the shooting.

He held the mirror up and stared. A sweat broke upon his skin as he saw how he had been changed. The entire right upper quarter of his face was just gone, the gap where his eye had once been seemed blank, unfinished. He looked away for a moment, tears coming. "God…"

Angel put her hands upon his leg. "Reno?"

He drew in a jagged breath and tears fell down his left cheek. "I can't ask you to look at me like this… You're never gonna want to touch me again…"

That was the furthest thing from the truth. Angel moved closer and framed his face with her hands. "Reno, I don't care about what you look like, I'm just glad you're alive."

"You're just being nice." His lips pulled down into a painful pout.

Angel had to let him know that it really was okay. She closed her eyes and pressed her mouth against his.

Reno was a little surprised by this, but quickly took the lead, and invaded her mouth, not caring that Janice was watching.

Angel pulled away after a few moments and gave him a smile. "I told you, it's okay."

He reciprocated her expression and then held the mirror up again, examining himself once more. Reno took his right hand and pushed his bangs down, seeing that they were long enough to cover most of his injury. "I gotta start doing the goth thing and letting my hair hang in my face, I guess."

Angel smiled at his statement, and put her arms around him briefly. "Are you going to be all right?"

He considered his image for a moment longer. His hair would cover most of his wound, but it was still obvious he was missing an eye. "I need one of those things to hide this."

Janice again knew what he was asking for. Eye injuries were common enough and she had what he was looking for. "Just a minute."

Reno looked at his wife. "Really, you're okay with me like this?"

To hear the lack of confidence in his voice tore right through her. "Reno, it's fine. Besides, once you recuperate a little, Janice knows someone who can get you put back together a little more normally."

He shook his head, this time making sure to do it slowly enough as to not hurt himself. "I don't want surgery, Babe. No way. Besides, they ain't never gonna pull off making me normal, and I know it."

"Well, it's just something to think about." Angel brushed the last hint of his brief crying spell from his cheek.

Janice returned with a small black eye patch in her hand. "Here you go, unless you just want me to bandage you again."

Reno grabbed it from her quickly, having no intention of being wrapped up like he'd been. It had been miserable. "Babe, can you get this?"

Angel took it from him and slipped it on his head, positioning it carefully, making sure not to hurt him in the process.

Reno brought the mirror back up and looked again. He raked his fingers through his hair until it flopped forward properly, concealing most of what had been done, the eye patch covering the rest. He smiled faintly and then looked at his wife. "That's not so bad, right?"

Angel had to admit, he was looking a lot better now that his attitude was improving. "No, it's not too bad at all. I love you."

"As long as you do." Reno unsteadily got up and handed the mirror back to Janice. "Now, I'm goin' home."

Angel let Reno hang on her and they started out. On the way, they stopped in the lab. She wanted to see if Quigley and Porter had gotten the files off of the computer.

Once in the lab, she helped Reno sit. Porter and Quigley quickly came over, impressed to see him out of the infirmary.

"I doubt that Janice let you go voluntarily," Porter joked, patting his former boss on the back.

Reno shrugged. "Yeah, well, it sucked being in there." He reached over and jabbed his wife in the side. "It really sucked at one point or at least you did, huh Babe?"

Angel's jaw dropped and she turned red. "Reno! Good lord!"

He snickered to himself, pleased at her reaction.

Porter and Quigley just looked at one another, not being in on the joke.

Angel shook off her husband's vulgarity and looked at her two researchers. "So, did you see anything interesting on that computer I brought in?"

Quigley pointed over to where it was sitting on the counter. "Not yet. It's fairly secure. Dr. Methius had six encryption keys that need to be entered before it will come up and give us access to the files. We'll hook it up to our random generator in a while, and see if we can crack the passwords and unlock it, but with six…it could take a while."

"How long is a while?" Angel asked, knowing that time was of the essence.

"Weeks, months, who knows? A lot of it's random chance. The number generator has a lot of possible codes to try." Porter shrugged. "That was Dr. Methius' personal computer and he has it locked up pretty tight. I'd be willing to bet there's a lot more on that thing than just this alleged cure for cancer."

This had Angel's attention. "Really? It's his personal one? You're sure?"

Quigley smiled. "Yeah, you can tell by the brand. Shinra doesn't issue that type to their employees. He must have bought it on his own. It's a pretty nice machine, really."

Angel knew that there was bound to be all kinds of good stuff on it if it was for Peirte's personal use. "That's…that's very cool."

Reno was getting annoyed. He really did want to get home. "Come on…"

"Oh," Quigley got up, "we found the RNA sequence to Aaron's demon, and the computer's working on a updated formulation of the anti-Chaos drug. We might have something to try on Aaron soon."

This made her smile. "That would be great. Thanks, guys. I need to get Reno home."

They said their good byes, and Angel got her husband out of the base and to their house. By the time Reno had managed to get to the top of the stairs, he was completely exhausted. Angel helped him to their bedroom and got him to the bed.

He settled back, enjoying the familiarity of his own room, pillow, and bed. It was good to be home. Normally, Reno's compulsion would have been to immediately pull Angel down upon him and try for a little playtime, but he was actually too tired for one of the few instances in his life.

Seeing that he was comfortable for the moment, Angel leaned over him and asked, "Are you okay if I go for a minute and pick up Dana?"

Reno was too spent to care about much. "Naw, I'm fine."

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"Dana, your mom's here," called a woman's voice from elsewhere in the house.

The little girl looked up from the board game she was playing with her slightly older friend, Jessie. "Oh, my mom's here!"

"Aw, we didn't get to finish!" Jessie said, motioning over their game.

"I'll come back tomorrow." Dana got up and ran out. "Bye!"

Angel dropped to one knee as her red headed daughter ran to her. "Hi, Dana."

"Mommy!" she said excitedly, throwing her arms around her mother's neck. "I missed you, Mommy!"

"I'm sorry, Baby. Mommy had a lot of things to do at work, and Daddy got hurt." Angel stood up and took her daughter's hand in her own, walking her down the street toward their home.

Dana's eyes went wide. "Is Daddy okay?"

"Yes, he's going to be all right," Angel sighed, opting not to tell her daughter that her father had nearly died and would never look the same. That would just have to be something she saw for herself.

Once at the house, Dana broke away from her mother's side and she ran up the stairs with amazing speed. The girl went to her parent's bedroom door and pushed it open, spotting her father lying on the bed. "Daddy?"

Reno's remaining eye opened as he realized that his daughter was home. He wanted to sit up and invite her over for a hug, but he hesitated. Inside, he grew nervous about frightening her with his appearance.

Dana didn't understand why he hadn't answered and she took a few steps forward. "Daddy? Are you okay?"

Slowly, Reno pushed himself up, grateful that his hair obediently flipped forward, obscuring his wound and eye patch. "Hey, Squirt."

Dana climbed up onto the bed and sat upon his lap. "I missed you, Daddy."

How she could be ignoring his injury was beyond him. Reno put his arms around her, feeling the sting of tears. The thought that he could have died and never seen her again got to him. "I missed you too, Dana."

After a short while, she backed out of his embrace and smiled at him. That's when she finally seemed to notice. Her bright blue eyes narrowed and one of her tiny hands reached up, gently pushing back Reno's hair, exposing his eye patch.

Reno froze, bracing for her reaction.

Dana cocked her head to the side. "Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"You got hurt here?" she asked, keeping his hair pushed back.

"I did, yeah." Reno kept his gaze fixed on her face, looking for some sort of expression.

When she finally made one, it wasn't what he'd expected at all.

Dana smiled.

She actually smiled.

"Daddy, this is cool." Her eyes gleamed with some sort of hopeful spark. "Are you a pirate now?"

Reno couldn't help himself and he grinned back. "Do you like pirates?"

"Yeah!" she said excitedly. "They're cool!"

He put his arms around her and pulled his daughter close again. Over his daughter's shoulder, Reno spotted his wife leaning it the doorway, observing their reactions approvingly. "Then I'll be a pirate for you, Squirt. I love you, Dana."

"I love you, too, Daddy." Her world had gone more or less unaffected by the tragedy that had surrounded the adults. Dana's life, at least, remained intact.

Angel had to wipe the tears of relief from her cheeks before silently backing out of the room to leave Dana and her father alone. The little girl had just touched her and Reno beyond understanding.

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Vincent had run as far as he could before breaking into a walk. From here on out, avoiding other people was his only goal. Where he needed to go was somewhere that he could ultimately walk to from the ASRIO base, and that's what he intended to do.

As it got late, he became tired. He was far enough from civilization at the moment to feel all right about stopping. Vincent was presently in a grove of trees, and felt fairly sheltered here. Having lived outside for the seven years between Meteor and being reunited with Tifa, this was nothing new to him. He climbed up into the lower branches of a tree and bedded down for the night.

I had grown rather accustomed to the indoor life, Vincent.

Not now, Chaos. I'm tired. Vincent closed his eyes, hoping for a small reprieve from the demon.

Come on! We have a lot to discuss. It felt wonderful to kill Peirte and you know it.

Vincent sighed, pulling his cloak around his shoulders closer to ward off the cold. Maybe it had felt good to kill the scientist, but he wasn't going to celebrate. Quiet!

Now we're on our own again! Just like to old days! Chaos would not be silenced.

I had no desire to go back to this life, considering that I have a woman that I love and children who I can never see now.

Chaos scoffed, Who needs all of that? It's just one weakness after another. Being independent from that shit makes you stronger.

No, being apart from all of that is breaking my heart. Vincent didn't hear if Chaos continued on or not. His fatigue won out and he passed into sleep.

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The next day came along, and Cid found himself sitting in his doctor's office, waiting for his physician to come in and give him the results of the x-rays he'd had taken that morning. The night before, the pilot's coughing had gotten worse, and there had been blood again-- and a lot of it.

Finally, the door to the exam room entered and the doctor came in and sat. "Cid, things aren't looking good."

The pilot's shoulders drooped a little and he tensed his jaw. "Well there's a surprise."

"Look, how long have we known each other?" The doctor set down Cid's chart onto the counter.

Both Cid and the man before him had grown up in this town, and they'd known each other casually their entire lives. "Forever."

"Right, so you know I'm not going to sugar coat things for you." He crossed his arms over his chest. "It's only a matter of weeks at this point."

Cid blinked back at him for a moment, considering what he'd been told. "But the last time I was here, you said I had four months."

"I said you had up to four months, Cid." He knit his brow. "It's progressing faster than I had hoped. You need to make some plans."

"Plans?" The pilot sat up straighter, trying to hide his inner terror over his impending demise.

"Cid, it's not going to be long before you need to be put either in the hospital or a hospice. You need to decide where you want to end up, and you need to have your final arrangements taken care of as well." He got up and came directly to Cid's side. "You've at least decided what to do with your boy, right?"

"Yeah," Cid sighed. "Jin's gonna quit her job and move here permanently and keep L.C."

"That's the reason for the rushed wedding?" the doctor asked, having gone to the reception dinner.

"That was part of it."

"Well, good, I'm glad that she's going to do that for him." The doctor smiled.

"Yeah well, luckily the life insurance that I've got is gonna pay her a shit load once I go, so she and L.C. will be set." Cid began to fidget with his hands.

"That's good." The doctor stepped away. "I'll have the receptionist give you some information on your options for care on the way out, all right?"

"Sure thing, Doc." Cid stood up and picked up his jacket. "I appreciate it."

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Tifa was taking a shower in the room she and Vincent had once shared. Jaras was down with Aaron, making her not feel bad about coming here to get cleaned up. Her tiny daughter had been turned over to Jeanine for the time being, as the other woman was suddenly very eager to handle the baby, wanting all the practice she could get before her own child was born.

After getting out of the shower, Tifa went over and sat on the edge of the bed, wrapped in a towel. Her body was recuperating from childbirth well enough, even though it had only been a matter of days. Still, she was a little sore and her movements reflected it.

As she sat there, she couldn't help but think about how this was where Aaron had been conceived, and she felt a smile come to her lips, but it was quickly pushed aside by her tears.

"Damn it, Vincent…where did you go?" she said to the room, burying her face in her hands. The thought that he'd landed with the team only to instantly vanish was horrible. For a moment, just a moment, he'd been close. Now, she wondered if she would ever see him again.

She was startled from her state when a knock came to the door. "Just a minute!"

Tifa hastily dressed and then answered, seeing that it was Porter. "Hey."

He gave her a wide smile. "Can I come in for a moment?"

"Sure." She stepped aside so he could enter.

He went and sat on the couch, sitting in his slightly awkward manner. "Remember that I told you that we'd isolated the RNA from the demon in your son yesterday?"

Tifa sat next to him. "Yes."

"Well, we had the computer working on reformulating the drug so it would work on Aaron, and we think we've got it. Quigley's mixing it up right now in the lab. I thought you'd want to know so I came looking for you." He smiled.

"Oh Porter! That's great!" Tifa clasped her hands together before her chest, her relief and excitement obvious.

What he had to tell her wasn't all that pleasant. "Yeah, but there's a catch."

Tifa's hands fell to her lap. "What's that?"

"Well, after what happened to Aaron last time and how Quigley got hurt, we're going to have to do things differently. We're going to have to sedate him somehow before we give him the injection, so he can't hurt anyone." Porter met her gaze.

"Oh, well, that makes sense." Tifa looked away, not happy with the thought of her son being handled like a wild animal.

"We're probably going to use a dart gun, okay?" Porter leaned a little closer to her, wanting her to know that he wasn't thrilled with the way it had to be.

Tifa got up from the couch and took a few steps away. "Porter…he's my kid, I…"

"I know it sounds terrible, Tifa, but it'll be quick and then we can get to Aaron safely and dose him. If Quigley and I could think of a better way, we would." He got up and went to her, placing his hands upon her shoulders.

Tifa nodded. Getting Aaron helped was the most important thing. "All right, but do me one favor."

He gave her a smile. "What's that?"

"When you do it, don't let him know it's coming. Hide the gun and then just dart him, okay? That way, he won't be scared."

"Sure thing." Porter let his hands fall away from her. "Once we've got the drug made up, Quigley and I will come down and we'll get it over with. It'll probably be a few hours. The sedative we're going to use in the dart is safe, I want you to know that. Janice gave it to us."

This made Tifa feel a little better, but she was still afraid for her son. "All right. I'll see you then."

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A terrible sound awoke Vincent. From the position of the sun, he realized that he'd slept far longer than he'd intended and it was now late in the morning. The sound came again and he looked down at the ground below, seeing a man being savagely mauled by some large cat like creature. From the injuries the man had already sustained, Vincent knew that he wouldn't survive, and not wanting to draw the attention of the monster since he was unarmed, he remained perfectly still.

Within a few moments, the man's pained cries stopped and the beast grabbed its prey by the neck and dragged him away. It clearly intended to consume its quarry elsewhere.

Vincent closed his eyes and sighed. He'd forgotten about the dangers of being in the wild. It would have been all too easy for that same animal to have scaled the tree and eaten him instead.

Then Vincent heard another sound, something he hadn't heard in fourteen years. It was a strange warbling noise and he looked down at the ground, spotting its source.

Pacing the ground below was a saddled and bridled chocobo. It was timidly calling out for its master, who had been carried off to be the lunch of some God forsaken creature.

Vincent smiled to himself. This was perfect. He stood and balanced on the tree branch for a moment, before dropping down to the forest floor.

The giant bird startled at the sudden appearance of the stranger and hopped back several yards, raising the crest on the top of its head in its anxiety.

Vincent moved with a deliberate slowness, aware that if the bird took off running he'd never catch it. Worse yet, this chocobo could prove to be aggressive and a single kick or well-placed peck from such a large bird could be fatal. "It's all right…"

The chocobo lowered its head slightly and turned it to the side, so it could inspect Vincent with one of its shining blue eyes. It produced a nervous rumbling sound as Vincent continued to near.

Finally, Vincent was immediately before the animal. He extended a hand and stroked at the lemon colored plumage that graced the bird's chest. "Don't be scared."

The bird, deciding that he wasn't a threat lowered his beak and nudged Vincent in the shoulder.

Vincent smiled and brought up his other hand, taking the reins. He hadn't ever gotten particularly good at riding, but he figured he could manage well enough even if it had been a long time since he'd last tried. He moved around to the side of the bird, placed his left boot into the stirrup and hoisted himself up onto the animal's back.

The bird took a few steps to the side in order to maintain its balance. Vincent had landed in the saddle a little harder than his previous experienced rider would have.

He managed to get his right boot into the other stirrup and took a deep breath. If all went well, he wouldn't fall off once the bird began running. Vincent adjusted the reins in his hands to his liking, before gently kicking the bird, signaling it onward.

It instantly broke into a full on run.

Vincent steadied himself in the saddle, taking several minutes to get used to the animal's movements and pace. His trip to his intended destination would now be far quicker, and he was grateful for this one small break in his bad luck.

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Reno was sitting on the couch in his home's family room, just enjoying the simple pleasure of being there. Dana was sitting on the floor before him, combing out the hair of one of her dolls. The fact that the little girl had weathered his new appearance with no trouble had made him feel far better than any painkiller he could have received. Angel had left a while before to go to the base, leaving him with his daughter.

He watched her play, and wondered at the difference between this child and the seven-month younger boy, Aaron. Dana was a kid that acted like a kid. She spoke like one and had the overall innocent view of the world that most children possessed, but Aaron was a completely different creature.

After sitting in the infirmary text messaging him extensively between rounds of their games, he'd come to understand that the boy held absolutely no illusions about the world around him and that he wasn't oblivious to the bad that happened. It made him feel terrible for the kid. Aaron's life had been hard with Tifa and Vincent as his parents. He knew that they both loved him, but Aaron had been caught in the turmoil between them for most of his life, and it had made a profound impact. Reno silently thanked God that he and Angel had such an easy relationship. Because of it, his daughter was actually able to enjoy being a kid. It was clear that Aaron had missed out on that.

He hoped beyond hope that Charlotte would have a better chance at a normal childhood, but at the moment, that wasn't looking promising.

"I have to fuckin' find Vinny and fix all of this," he whispered to himself as he stared at his daughter. "This sucks."

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Porter arrived in the cellblock with Quigley, Angel, and Dr. Arlin at his side. He'd put on one of his suit coats, hiding the dart gun beneath it. He scanned the scene, spotting Tifa with Charlotte, Jaras, and Jeanine sitting together, and Aaron over in his cell lying on his bed, playing his game.

When Tifa saw Porter, she handed her daughter over to Jeanine and went to him. "So, you're going to do it?"

The former Turk gave her a smile. "Yeah, we're ready."

Tifa felt tears in her eyes, but knew she had to keep her composure lest Aaron realize that something strange was going on. Since she'd already clued Jaras and Jeanine in on the situation, she didn't need to explain things to them.

Angel knew Tifa's anxiety as a mother herself, and she placed a hand upon Tifa's shoulder. "Look at me for the next few minutes so you don't have to watch, okay?"

She nodded, locking into Angel's ice blue eyes.

Aaron was absorbed in his game and didn't notice as Porter came up to the door of his cell, having a clear shot at the boy's back from his position. He glanced at Quigley and Janice before reaching beneath his coat and pulling out the dart gun.

Jaras watched this from where he was sitting. The urge he had to run over and knock the gun from Porter's hand was intense, but he knew this had to be done. Having been darted himself by Peirte, he knew his little brother was in for a rude surprise.

Porter swallowed hard and aimed. Shooting a kid, even if it was just with a sedative went against every fiber of his being and had there been anyone else present who he thought could have done it better, he gladly would have handed the task off.

He pulled the trigger, and the dart was sent from the gun, along with a pop from the carbon dioxide that propelled the projectile.

Aaron jumped at the sound and got to his feet, feeling a sharp pain in his left shoulder. He turned around and gave Porter a look that broke his heart.

Aaron saw Porter standing there with the gun held out before him. He didn't know enough to realize that it was a dart gun and his heart raced as he thought that he'd actually been shot. "Why'd you shoot me? Mom!"

Tifa broke away from Angel and hurried over to the bars. "Aaron, it's all right!"

There were tears in his eyes as the pain in his back got worse. "Mom! He shot me! Why'd he shoot me?"

"It's all right, Sweetie!" Tifa's own eyes brimmed with tears. "It wasn't a bullet, you're going to be all right. It was just a dart with medicine in it to make you go to sleep for a while."

Aaron's fear didn't abate and in fact, it got worse. Havoc, his demon, welled up and took over, changing the boy instantly.

The small demon spun and ran toward where Porter was standing, reaching through the bars in an attempt to grab him, but the former Turk had possessed the foresight to stay far enough back so that Aaron couldn't get him.

Seeing that Porter was out of his reach, he spun, realizing that Tifa was the closest target.

Jaras, seeing that Tifa was in danger, jumped up from his chair and pulled her back, just as the demon's clawed hand swiped out at her. He'd spared her from serious injury.

Tifa covered her face with her hands, not able to stand watching the smaller version of Vincent's demon pace before the bars like a frustrated animal. She hoped that the sedative he'd been given would kick in quickly.

The little demon began to feel the effects of the drug after a few minutes, and his ability to hold on to Aaron's body faded out. He sank to his knees and let out one last pained howl, before submitting and letting Aaron return.

The boy looked over and saw that Jaras was staring back at him. He crawled to the bars and reached out for his brother, needing his comfort.

Knowing that the threat had passed, Jaras hurried over and took Aaron's hand into his own. "Little brother…"

"I'm scared…" Tears still ran from his eyes.

"I know, it's all right. It will pass soon enough," he said, reassuringly.

Aaron slumped forward and hit the bars. "Jaras…"

Angel went ahead and unlocked the cell door, seeing that her brother was quickly losing consciousness.

Jaras got up and went around, pushing past Angel and going to Aaron's side. He scooped his brother up off the floor of the cell and cradled him in his arms. Jaras sat on the bed in the cell, not willing to let go of his sibling.

Tifa went in and sat beside Jaras. She reached out and stroked her sleeping son's hair. Her eyes met Janice's when the doctor got close. "He's all right, isn't he?"

Janice gripped the boy's wrist for a moment, checking his pulse. It was going strong and regular. "He's fine, Tifa."

Quigley came over, the syringe of the drug in his hand. Since he only had one functioning arm at the moment, he wouldn't be able to administer the drug himself and he gave it over to Janice.

Dr. Arlin pulled a tourniquet from her pocket and snapped it around the boy's arm and found the vein. She put the needle into his arm, loosened the tourniquet, and administered the injection.

Whereas last time Aaron's body hadn't reacted at all from the drug, this time it did. He spasmed wildly, and it was all Jaras could do to keep him in his arms. Aaron's small seizure lasted for about three minutes, before his body relaxed and went limp in his brother's arms.

Tifa continued to gaze at her son's face, seeing that he was peacefully asleep now. She finally brought her eyes over to Porter and Quigley. "And like Vincent, I'm assuming he's going to have to get a series of these shots over the next several days?"

"Yeah." Quigley gave her a smile. "But he doesn't have to be locked up anymore."

That was good enough for her. She turned her attention to Jaras. "Would you do me the favor of carrying him to my room?"

He gave her a faint smile and stood up. Taking his brother out of the detention block felt wonderful. Jaras knew that Aaron would be a lot happier when he woke up somewhere other than behind bars.

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Cid hadn't gone directly home after his doctor's visit. Instead, he'd stopped at the mini mart along the way. He went over to the refrigerator within and pulled out a case of beer, knowing that he didn't have any back at the house. The pilot carried it up to the register and he set it upon the counter. The red and white packages in the display case behind the cashier caught his attention. "Give me a pack of regulars."

The clerk obediently reached back and grabbed the requested cigarettes, setting them on top of the case of beer.

Cid paid and slipped the pack into his jacket pocket before taking up the beer and going back toward home.

Once there, he sat down at the kitchen table and scanned over the brochures given to him by the receptionist at the doctor's office. The hospice seemed like a fine place to waste away and die, had he been at all interested in that.

But Cid wouldn't let it end like that. Not by a long shot. There was not going to be any drawn out, miserable death for him. He had other plans.

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Several hours after getting his injection, Aaron woke up, finding that he was lying on the bed in the room he'd initially seen upon getting to the base. He sat up, and his head hurt when he did so as the sedative was still within his blood.

Seeing her son awake made Tifa sigh in relief and she got up from the couch where she'd been nursing the baby and sat beside him. "Are you okay?"

"Why am I in here? I should be locked up…" Aaron placed his hands on the sides of his head, trying to bring the pain under control.

"They gave you the drug to help you with your demon, Sweetie." Tifa placed a hand upon his knee, holding Charlotte with just one arm. "The worst is over now."

"It worked?" His eyes went wide.

"Looks like it. There was a mark on your back that you got when you started turning into that thing, and it's gone now." Tifa gave him a smile.

"Good." Aaron let his hands fall back to his lap. "So I won't hurt anyone anymore?"

Tifa shook her head. "No, that's over."

Aaron's relief ran deep and he lay back down.

"They'll give you a few more doses over the next few days, and then you'll be okay. It won't be as bad." She pulled the blanket back over him.

"Okay." Aaron closed his eyes, and allowed sleep to overtake him once more.

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Porter and Quigley returned to the lab. The blond went over to the number generator as it continued to run, trying to crack the six codes to get into Peirte's computer. Much to his surprise, something had already happened. Excitedly, he turned around and called over to his partner. "Port! Come here!"

The former Turk got to his side and looked at the screen. "I'll be damned, it already cracked the first encryption?"

Quigley nodded. "Yeah, can you believe it?"

"Wow, no, that's great." Porter smiled. "Quig, this is going to be wonderful. I can't wait to see what's actually on this thing."

"Me neither." Quigley looked over into his green eyes. "Port?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?" Quigley asked. He'd seen the way his friend had not been able to dart Aaron without considerable difficulty.

He sighed and pulled the dart gun out from beneath his coat, laying it next to the computer. "I'll be. I just felt bad having to do that to a kid. I know the ends justified the means, but, you know."

Quigley sat down in a nearby chair. "Port, do you think that you and Rayna will ever have any kids?"

The former Turk's shoulders slumped and he sat next to his friend. This was not something he had ever discussed with anyone other than Rayna and Janice. "I'd like to, but I can't."

"Really?" Quigley leaned forward, closer to his friend.

"Yeah." He ran a hand thought his hair. "She and I actually tried for a while about four years ago, but nothing ever happened. When everything checked out okay with the way her body worked, I had to pony up and give Janice a sample. She checked it out and said that I had no motility."

Quigley nodded, understanding well enough. "Blanks, huh?"

"Yeah, basically." Porter folded his hands in his lap.

"You never said anything. I had no idea." He glanced over at his partner.

"Well, it's not the sort of thing a guy's proud of." Porter flushed in his embarrassment.

Quigley sat back and thought for a moment. "But it's just a motility problem, right?"

"That's what Janice said."

"Porter, we can just inject a sperm cell directly into an egg. We can cut out the middle man, if you will." He met Porter's gaze. "It's been done before, and as long as there's nothing else wrong with your troops, it could work."

Porter considered this for a moment. "Really?"

"Yeah!" Quigley was excited, even if Porter refused to get worked up yet. "We'll have to collect some of Rayna's eggs and fertilize them like I just said, and then put any resulting embryos back into her. It's pretty simple, compared to other stuff we've done, Port."

He nodded slowly. "I'll talk to Rayna about it, although I know she'll jump at the chance."

Quigley smiled. Helping Porter and Rayna in their pursuit of happiness was a task he was willing to take.

"But, we've got that computer to crack first and if we do, then we have to get that cancer formula down pact, so we can help Mr. Highwind before it's too late." Porter motioned over toward the computer. "Once that's done, we have to work on fixing Aaron permanently."

"I think I can manage a little overtime to get you and Rayna taken care of, too. I can multitask, you know that." Quigley got up from his seat.

"Quig, you're a good guy." Porter got up as well. The fact that Quigley was always willing to go out of his way to help other people was one of his most under appreciated traits.

"No problem. It's my job to make sure at least some of us geeks pass on our genes. The world needs geeks, you know," Quigley laughed, half to himself. "Especially geeks that have the added benefit of being half decent looking like you."

"I suppose it does." Porter chucked in amusement.

------------------------

Another day came and went, and Quigley, Porter, Janice, Angel, and Jaras arrived at Tifa's room as it was time to give Aaron his second dose.

The boy was nervous and sat in his mother's arms, with Jaras right at his side. Again, Janice administered the medication as Quigley's injured arm was still bound up.

Aaron felt dizzy and a little nauseous after this injection, but there was no seizure or any attempt by his demon to come out.

Since the boy hadn't been demonstrating the demon for very long before getting the first dose, Quigley and Porter suspected that four doses would be enough, meaning that they were now half way there.

No one had yet mentioned anything to Tifa about there being a possible cure for Cid's condition on the computer in the lab. Two of the encryption codes had now come up, leaving four to go. They withheld this information as no one wanted her to get her hopes up about it, in case the formula wasn't revealed until after it was too late, or it proved to be a flop.