Thank you for all your replies to my query. Sorry I…got a little weird there, but I've figured it out and how it has to be. This is how the story goes. Love you all!

Chapter 48

Tifa was sitting on the couch with Vincent at her side. When the phone in their room went off, she reached over and picked it up. "Hello?"

Over the sound of the helicopter in the background came Reno's voice. "Hey, Tifa."

To hear his voice confirmed that he was alive-- whether or not he went in with the mission team. "Where are you guys? Did you get it? Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah," Reno was still sitting on the floor of the chopper next to Quigley, a position that was uncomfortable after two and a half hours, "I need to talk to you."

The serious edge of his voice sent a chill down her spine and she looked over at her husband. "What is it?"

"I want you and Vinny to go get Rayna. Keep her in her room so that she doesn't come up to the airfield, okay?" Reno turned away from Quigley, who was still holding Porter's body.

"Oh God Reno, why? Please don't say that something happened to Port…" Tifa moved closer to Vincent, fearing what she was learning.

Vincent's eyes went wide as he saw the darkness overcoming Tifa.

"I don't want her to see him until his body's cleaned up." Reno was fighting the damnable tightness in his throat again.

Tears came to Tifa's eyes and she closed them, appreciating the fact that Vincent instantly had his arm around her. She pulled the phone away from her ear for a moment, and whispered quietly. "It's Porter…he didn't make it."

Vincent already had figured as much, but it still hurt and he drew in a jagged breath.

Tifa put the phone back to her ear. "Okay, we can go keep her occupied."

"Don't say nothing, though." Reno wiped a stray tear away from his left cheek. "I…I'm gonna have to be the one that tells her, okay?"

Tifa understood. Reno was the kind of man that took and handled things personally. "All right. Everyone else is fine though, aren't they?"

"Yeah." Reno scanned over his other men. "And we've got old Rude here with us now, too."

She opened her eyes and looked up at Vincent. "How…how's Quigley handling it?"

The ASRIO leader glanced over at the blond, finding it the most pathetic thing he'd ever witnessed. "Well, he's not really handling it at all. Quiggers has completely lost it."

This made Tifa's eyes burn even more. "Poor guy."

"We got the info, though."

This was the only bright spot in the conversation. To know that there was not only a potential cure for cancer on its way, but also a treatment for her two most beloved men and her children gave some small measure of comfort. "At least it wasn't in vain."

"No, we'll save millions of lives if this pans out, and it will totally fuck Shinra's credibility." The ASRIO leader sighed, seeing that Quigley was coming out of his momentary quiet and into another bout of sobs. "Hey, I gotta go. Just keep Rayna busy between now and when I get there. Bye."

Tifa set the phone down and fell into Vincent's arms. "He wants us to go keep Rayna from leaving her room. I guess Porter's body is a mess and he doesn't want her to see it."

Vincent kissed the top of her head, fighting his own tears. Porter had been important in their lives and they had been friends. "All right. Did he give any indication to when they were going to land?"

"No, but we should go in case it's soon." Tifa pulled away from him and stood. "I'll change Charlotte first."

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Jaras was walking back home with the wooden box containing Sephiroth's things in his arms. Jeanine and Aaron were going along with him.

"Jaras?" Jeanine asked quietly.

He just looked over at her.

"You've been really reserved since you put that outfit on earlier. Are you doing all right?" Jeanine met his cat like eyes, worried.

"We'll talk about it later," Jaras said simply, forcing a smile.

Aaron, after what he'd lived through with Tifa and Vincent as his parents didn't miss a beat. "That means it's something bad that you don't want me to hear about, but… you don't have to hide things from me."

His little brother's depth of perception never ceased to amaze Jaras. How unlike a six year old the boy honestly was. He glanced down at Aaron, his smile returning. "Fair enough." Jaras brought his gaze back up to Jeanine. "I'm not sure that the Mako treatment your father gave me the other day…did anything other than make me sick."

"Jaras?" She stopped walking and knit her brow.

"When I was looking in the mirror before…I saw something. I think I was hallucinating and I saw my reflection talking back to me and I came out from the mirror and tried to strangle myself." He looked down at the ground, ashamed to make this admission.

Jeanine felt her heart rate pick up. It was frightening to hear Jaras say something like this, and it was obvious that he was serious. "Why didn't you say something back at the house? We're going to have to talk to my dad about this and see if he can figure it out, Jaras!"

Aaron's eyes just switched between the adults. The notion that there could be something honestly wrong with his brother scared him.

"Let's just wait until the second treatment, okay?" Jaras wasn't willing to resign to his panic just yet. "Maybe…maybe the Mako is working and I'm just still a little messed up from being ill."

She saw something in her husband's eyes that worried her, and it was the fact that he didn't believe that what he'd just said was something he had any faith in at all. "You don't think that's the case though, do you?"

"No." Jaras hung his head. "I think…I think it could be the Jenova madness."

Aaron, having heard from Jaras himself about this before, was now mortified. "No…"

Seeing the tears that instantly came to the boy's eyes, Jaras dropped to his knees and set down the box. He placed his arms around Aaron and pulled him close. "Don't worry, little brother. I'll be all right. Somehow, I'll be just fine."

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Rayna had awoken from a nap. She hadn't slept much the night before in her fear over the mission, but had finally submitted to her exhaustion. The hormones that she had been placed on to get her to ovulate before the egg collection she was scheduled to undergo in her and Porter's quest to have a baby were adding to her fatigue. The knocking on her door that had roused her from her rest came again and she got up, going over and answering.

Her tired eyes focused on her visitors. "Oh, hey guys."

Tifa forced a smile, doing her best to not display any hint of what she already knew. "I hope this isn't a bad time…"

Rayna tucked a few strands of her dark hair behind her ears and shook her head. "No, I was just laying down. What's up?"

Vincent decided to jump in, knowing that he was by far better at hiding his emotions than his wife. "We just thought we should come by."

"Oh, well, come on in." Rayna stepped aside and motioned over toward the couch.

Tifa and Vincent instantly complied, and sat where instructed. Rayna came over and held out her arms toward Tifa. "Can I hold the baby?"

Tifa nodded and handed over her daughter. "Sure thing."

Rayna took the baby and went over to the edge of her bed before sitting. "It's sorta funny that two dark haired parents like the two of you could have a baby like this."

Since this very fact had caused Tifa to initially make a grievous error regarding Charlotte's lineage, it wasn't one that Vincent was that keen on hearing. "My mother was blond."

"Oh, was she?" Rayna looked up and offered a smile. "If the fertility treatments end up working, I can't even imagine what our baby will look like. You never know, I guess."

Inwardly, Tifa absolutely withered to hear this statement. Unconsciously, she scooted over closer to Vincent and his arm was soon draped around her shoulders.

Rayna's eyes turned back to the baby. "So, are you two going to have anymore?"

Vincent knit his brow and frowned without thinking about it. "No."

Tifa looked up at him. Although she had no real intention of having anymore children, it hadn't been something that the two of them had discussed at all. Then again, Vincent hadn't even wanted this one originally. "No?"

He instantly realized his mistake and tensed his jaw. "Do you want more?"

Tifa shook her head. "Not really."

Vincent decided to let it go at that, and so did Tifa. Neither of them wished to carry on with any discussion that could carry the potential for a fight.

Rayna noticed the silence that had befallen her guests and she examined them, only now noticing how red Tifa's eyes seemed to be. "Tifa, are you all right? You look like you might have been crying."

Tifa's heart skipped a beat and she opened her mouth to try and say something, but once again, Vincent swooped in with the save.

"She's been having a terrible time with her allergies these last few days," he sighed, seeming completely nonchalant about the situation. "Tifa never remembers to bring her antihistamines when we leave home."

There were benefits to being with a former Turk, although this very ability for Vincent to cover the truth and not betray his honest feelings had cost them dearly over the years. At this moment, though, it was proving to be a blessing. "Yeah, I feel so stupid forgetting them."

Carrying on the lie a little further, Vincent jostled her slightly. "Perhaps we can go to the pharmacy and see if they can call your doctor to get a prescription made up later?"

Tifa looked up into his eyes and gave him a faint smile, grateful. "Maybe."

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Reno felt the helicopter set down and the engines were cut. He had managed to coax Quigley up from the floor and into a seat, but he still had his left arm around the researcher. "Quig? We're home."

The blond sighed heavily and looked over at where Porter's body still remained on the floor, now surrounded by a considerable amount of blood. "Okay…"

"Do you want to go with me to go tell Rayna?" Reno asked gently, as the other men got up from their seats.

Quigley glanced down at himself. "I'd have to go change and take a shower, first. I…I can't go see her like this."

Reno realized that this was a wise idea, since Quigley was presently soaked with his dead friend's blood. "Do you want me to wait before seeing her so that you can go with me?"

Quigley shook his head and stood up unsteadily as the door on the side of the helicopter was pulled open by the others. "She needs to know now, Reno. Don't make her wait. I…I'll see her as soon as I get cleaned up a little."

Reno stood as well. "Okay."

Quigley gave one last look over at Porter's body and sighed. His friend's eyes still remained half-open, staring up unseeing. Porter's complexion had completely blanched out by now, making it absolutely undeniable what had happened.

The researcher got out of the helicopter and walked slowly toward his room. Along the way, he reached into his pocket and touched the CD that he'd brought from the lab. Knowing that he didn't want to take the disc to his room, he stopped by the lab for a moment and went in, placing the CD upon his desk before carrying on to his room. He made it a point to not accidentally glance at Porter's desk as he did so. It would have just looked terribly empty.

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Just a short time later, Reno was standing before Rayna's door with Rude at his side. The ASRIO leader's eyes were bloodshot from his state of mourning and he turned them to his friend. "Guess I can't put this off."

"It wouldn't be fair to her," Rude said back quietly, his own tearstained eyes mercifully hidden behind the spare pair of sunglasses that he'd produced from his coat pocket on the way toward the base. Having been close to the deceased during Porter's years with the Shinra Company, Rude was being deeply hurt by the former Turk's death as well.

"Okay." Reno raised his hand and knocked.

Rayna got up from the edge of the bed and handed the baby back to Tifa. "I'll go see who that is."

Tifa took back the baby and her and Vincent exchanged a weary glance, knowing what was about to happen.

Rayna opened the door. "Oh…Reno? Where--"

There was only one reason why Reno would be there before her, looking like he did without Porter there, too, and that reality hit Rayna like a semi truck.

Reno, not able to stop himself, quickly stepped forward and threw his arms around Rayna as the color left her face and tears came to her eyes. "I'm sorry, Rayna."

Sitting where she was with Vincent, Tifa couldn't stop from breaking into sobs herself. Not only was it the fact that Porter had died that was upsetting her, but watching this reenactment of the moment that she had been told that Vincent was dead made those feelings crash back in on her.

Sensing this very thing, Vincent turned and put both of his arms around her, holding her close. To know that such a memory still burned within his wife touched something within him.

Rayna collapsed against Reno, unable to say anything. The pain inside her was all encompassing and she began to feel sick to her stomach. After a few moments, she ripped herself out of Reno's embrace and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. She fell to her knees before the toilet and wretched repeatedly until there was nothing left within her. When she finally was able to open her eyes, she was moderately surprised not to see her heart lying in the bowl before her with the former contents of her stomach, because that's what it felt like.

Tifa, knowing exactly what it was to go through what had just happened to Rayna passed the baby to Vincent and then got up. She went to the bathroom and didn't bother knocking, just opening the door and going in. Rayna was sitting on the floor next to the toilet, her back pressed against the under sink cabinetry. Her complexion was ghastly and her eyes overrun with tears.

Tifa came over and sat before the other woman. "Rayna?"

"I didn't want him to go…I asked him not to go…"

Letting a few more tears run down her cheeks, Tifa reached over and picked up one of Rayna's hands. "I know it's hard…"

Rayna shook her head. "My husband isn't going to show back up alive in a few days, Tifa. Yours did."

"But I didn't know that was going to happen." Tifa only wanted Rayna to know that she understood and that it was going to be all right…somehow. "Still, at least you know that he died for something important."

Having lost people in her life to cancer, Rayna knew this was true, still, for the time being, her heartache wouldn't allow that thought to grant her much in the way of comfort. "I don't care about that. I just want Joseph… We just signed for a house and we were so hopeful about having a baby…"

Tifa absent-mindedly stroked the back of Rayna's hand, sharing in her pain. She didn't honestly know what to say, and decided that maybe just being there was the best she could do.

Reno, in the meanwhile, looked over to where Vincent was sitting with the baby. "Hey, Vinny."

Vincent gave him some measure of acknowledgement before turning his eyes to Rude. "You're going to work here now?"

The large man offered a slight nod. "Looks that way."

Remembering how tight Reno and Rude had been back ages ago, Vincent wasn't all too surprised that they had ended up together after all. He turned his crimson eyes back to Reno. "What happened?"

"We were on our way out, going up the stairs." Reno came over and landed on the couch heavily next to Vincent. "Almost fuckin' made it, but Porter, I guess, was going just a little too slow since he's never really been right after getting shot by Hojo. Some fuckin' guard shot him in the back. Quiggers and Rude here managed to get him to the chopper, but he was gone within just a few minutes. Poor Quiggers is all fucked up."

"They were close." Vincent dropped his gaze down to the sleeping infant in his arms.

"They bordered on almost fuckin' gay for each other, that's how close they were." Reno rubbed his left eye with his hand as he leaned back into the cushions. "I'm not so sure that Quiggers is ever gonna be okay after seeing his best friend get nailed like that."

Vincent nodded knowingly. After seeing how Quigley had fallen apart over his brother's death, the second blow of losing Porter was bound to dramatically impact the researcher. A single thought came to mind and he locked gazes with his son-in-law. "Reno, where is Quigley?"

"Went to his room to get cleaned up. He was completely covered in Porter's blood." Reno's mouth pulled down into a painful frown.

"I think someone should probably be with him right now." Vincent shook his head. "You shouldn't have left him alone."

The ASRIO leader's eye moved away from Vincent and over toward the bathroom, where he could clearly see Porter standing in the doorway, watching the conversation that was taking place between Rayna and Tifa. Reno bit his bottom lip as he thought silently to himself, I've started to figure out that none of us are ever fuckin' alone around here, Vinny.

Vincent took Reno's lack of an outward response as some sort of sign that he hadn't understood. "Reno?"

He continued to stare at the ghost's back.

Vincent reached out with his left hand and jabbed him in the shoulder. "Reno?"

Snapping himself back to the living, Reno looked over at Vincent once again. "Huh?"

"Quigley should not be alone right now." Vincent knit his brow. "Someone needs to keep an eye on him."

Reno cocked his head to the side. "You're not thinking that he'd commit…oh fuck…that thing where you kill yourself?"

"Suicide, Reno," Vincent said, used to Reno's brain derailments.

"Yeah!" Reno perked up. "You don't think he'd do that after this, right?"

"This alone? Probably not, but he's still really in a bad way from his brother's death," Vincent paused and looked away, knowing that he was responsible for that, "and he was fairly riddled with guilt over Cid being given that bogus drug. Those things combined with losing his best friend are going to be a little much for him to handle."

"Fuck, yeah," Reno sighed, standing back up. "Okay, I'm gonna go hang with him for a while. I know he wants to see Rayna pretty quick so I'd imagine we'll be back before too long."

Vincent nodded. "Good."

Rude watched as Reno left, not really feeling that it was his place to go and intrude in the researcher's mourning. He looked down at Vincent. "I've not seen you since the…termination of the Neo-Jenova Project."

Vincent offered him his faint smile. "No, but I understand that I owe you my thanks for helping with both Jaras and I recently."

"It was my job." Rude would have smiled, but expressions were generally only things that he displayed to those he was close with. Vincent was not such a person.

"I appreciate it nonetheless." Vincent shifted the baby in his arms.

"President Harwin ordered you and Jaras to be assassinated," Rude volunteered quietly.

Vincent cocked an eyebrow and looked up at him. "Did he?"

"Indeed." Rude pushed his glasses up higher. "However, you need not concern yourself with that."

"I think threats on my life and my son's are, in fact, something that I should concern myself with," Vincent replied.

"No, because shortly after giving me that order in private, Ferris Harwin had an unfortunate accident." Rude clasped his hands before him.

"An accident?" Vincent was savvy enough in Turk ways to know that when a Turk said 'accident', it was anything but.

"He was hit in the car, by a bullet. Terrible thing, really." Rude's voice never wavered or hinted at any remorse.

"Terrible," Vincent repeated, pleased with this. "He will not be missed by many."

"Other than by his whores and mistresses, no." Rude wanted again to smile, but suppressed it.

Vincent nodded approvingly. "My family owes you."

"As I said, it was an accident." Rude quirked an eyebrow. "There is no debt between us. Turks, past and present, must always look out for one another. We are the only ones upon whom we can rely."

This old Turk creed brought a smile to Vincent's lips, despite the tragedy of recent events.

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Reno hurried down the hall until he reached Quigley's room. He knocked on the door but received no response. After a second and third bout of knocking, he actually grew fearful and pulled a key from his pocket. Once the door was unlocked, he stepped inside. "Quiggers?"

The bathroom door opened and Quigley peeked out, a towel around his waist. "You just come into my room even though the door's locked?"

"I was worried about you." Reno slipped the key back into his pocket and closed the door.

"Oh," Quigley sighed, and then flipped off the bathroom light, stepping forward. He went over to his closet and pulled out something to wear, throwing the clothes on the bed. "I just finished my shower."

From the fact that the blonde's hair was wet and he was wearing a towel, Reno was already well apprised of this situation, but he held his tongue from making any smart-ass remarks. Even the tactless Reno Sparks knew that this wasn't the time. "Okay."

Quigley retrieved some other things from the dresser and then sat on the edge of his bed, by where his chosen outfit was sprawled.

Reno was feeling more than a little awkward. "So, uh, hey… You have any idea about how long it might take you to figure out what you got from the computer today?"

"No, not yet." Quigley rested his elbows on his knees. "Did you tell Rayna?"

"Yeah."

Quigley's brown eyes panned up to the ASRIO leader. "Is she okay?"

He shrugged. "She flipped out, but… she's always been pretty tough."

"Do you think she'll stay here now that he's gone?" Quigley asked, not wanting one of the few people he honestly deemed as a friend to leave.

"I have no idea." Reno leaned back against the door. "Quiggers?"

His tired eyes just blinked back, anticipating the question to come.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Reno crossed his arms over his chest.

"I have to crack the formula on that CD and come up with a drug that actually works for both cancer and for what ails Vincent and the others, not only for their sake, but to make Porter's death mean something. So, for now, I have to keep on going for that reason alone." Quigley turned his gaze back to the floor before him.

Quigley's declaration of his intent to figure out the drug didn't really answer the ASRIO leader's question. "Yeah, but are you going to be okay?"

He sighed and shrugged. "I've at least got Amy to be there for me."

Reno took a few steps closer. "You've got more than just Amy around to help you out."

Quigley knit his brow. "Aside from you, Rayna, and Angel, there's really not anyone else who even talks to me."

The need within Reno to tell someone, anyone, of what he knew regarding the dead burned within him. He had to confess it, even if it wasn't in a direct way. "Well, Porter's always going to be around on some level, too, Quiggers."

The blond, always having been methodically scientific, wasn't one to buy into those sappy statements. "He's dead, part of the Lifestream. Whatever unique consciousness he possessed is gone, Reno."

Feeling the distinct presence of the man in question standing just behind him, Reno's hackles rose, but he dared not turn around and look. "I wish you knew how wrong you are about that."

Quigley's eyes came up again, looking confused. "Huh?"

"Look, you need to get dressed, so," Reno closed his eye and placed careful emphasis on his next words, "I'm going to turn around and there will be no one between the door and I. I'll wait for you in the hall, Quig, and then I'll take you to see Rayna. Got it?"

The researcher had a feeling that what Reno had just said wasn't entirely meant for him and he was somewhat perplexed. However, he just racked it up to the fact that Reno was, first, strange to begin with, second, carrying several bullet fragments in his head, and lastly, probably more than a little stressed. "Okay, I'll be out in a minute."

Reno opened his eye and nodded before turning around. Mercifully, there was no one between the door and himself and he exited the room to give the blond some privacy in which to dress. "Cool beans."