Sonography
Fenrir growled softly underneath them as they came to a stop, and Cloud turned the key to switch off the motor. A sigh escaped him, drowned out by the last sound that the bike made, before coming to rest like a loyal dog lying down to wait for her owner.
The arms around his waist loosened their grip on him, before pulling away, leaving him without the warmth of Tifa's body resting against him.
"This is it..." Tifa said after she got off the bike, turning towards him. A frown of concern formed on her face. "Are you really sure?"
"Yes," he replied a little too quickly.
"Cloud..."
"It's fine, really." He looked her in the eye. "I want to be here."
Even if he could do without meeting another doctor.
She returned his look. "Last chance."
A part of him screamed in the back of his mind to turn the key and drive away. Instead, he pulled it out of the armature and let it vanish into his pocket. His mind was made up.
Tifa held his gaze for a few seconds before a breath escaped her, and Cloud could see the smallest amount of tension leave her shoulders. With a grateful smile forming on her lips, she reached out to grasp his hand. "Thanks."
"Well, it took the two of us to make this happen, so it's only right to see this through together as well," he said and gave her hand a little squeeze. Besides, even if he didn't like doctors, he was eager to get a look at their baby just as much as Tifa was.
She let out a chuckle, still holding onto his hand as he got off Fenrir, and walked towards the door with him. They remained there for a moment and Cloud gave her a little nod.
As soon as she opened the door, Cloud's nostrils were invaded by the stench of antiseptics, even though he knew it wasn't the case here. His heart started to hammer inside his chest, forcing him to close his eyes and breathe in and out just the way Tifa had taught him.
Inhale. Exhale.
Inhale. Exhale.
When he opened his eyes again, the stench was replaced with a neutral scent and music coming from a radio, making his heartbeat calm itself once more. He felt his hand being squeezed and turned to look into Tifa's eyes.
Another nod and they stepped inside. Biggest hurdle over, he thought.
"Welcome—ah, Ms. Lockhart!" a bright young woman greeted Tifa, then looked between them with a friendly smile. "Here to finally get a look at your little one?"
"Yeah," Tifa replied.
"I will tell the doctor you've arrived. Please take a seat for now." She pointed at the waiting room.
The two of them sat down, and it didn't take long for the nervousness to set in again. He tapped his finger on his knee a few times, before getting back to his feet and walking towards the table, taking one of the many magazines lying there.
It was only when he opened the first page and heard Tifa's giggle next to him that he realized it was a women's fashion magazine. Exhaling through his nose, Cloud leaned back and started reading, pointedly ignoring the amused look he was getting.
"Anything striking your fancy?" Tifa asked him after a few minutes of reading.
"Not really."
"That so?" She leaned over to peek at the magazine.
"Yup," Cloud replied flatly, turning another page. He glanced at her and despite feeling embarrassed, he very much preferred to be the target of her teasing instead of a nervous wreck.
"I dunno. I think this one's nice," Tifa said and pointed at a nice looking blouse.
"The polyester percentage is too high."
"Oooh, someone's picky," she commented.
"You think I would've been picked by Corneo if I wasn't?" he asked back lightly.
Another giggle escaped her. "I suppose not."
They spent some more time going over various outfits, going back and forth over some of them, when Tifa let out a small sigh.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I just realized I'll need to buy new clothes. These—" She pointed at her outfit, a nice assemble of sleeveless sweater and pants. "—aren't going to fit me anymore very soon. I already had some problems getting into my pants earlier."
The last was said in an embarrassed whisper.
He had to admit, he hadn't really thought about that. Of course she would need a new set. Closing the magazine, he got back up and placed it back on the table. Cloud looked through the small stack until he found what he was looking for and returned to his seat.
The corner of his lips curling into a small smile, he showed it to Tifa.
"Maternity Fashion?" she asked, eyebrows shooting up in surprise.
"Mm." He nodded. "We can go buy some together in the next few days."
"Huh..." She blinked, but soon after grinned. "Oh! Bringing in your knowledge about wider dresses too, aren't cha?"
Cloud chose to ignore the heat on his cheeks and simply opened the first page. As they looked through the pages, he could feel Tifa placing a hand on his arm and giving it a grateful little squeeze.
Mission accomplished.
They were roughly halfway through the magazine, discussing some of the outfits presented there, when the sound of someone clearing their throat made them pause. The assistant was standing in the doorway.
"The doctor will see you now," she said. Cloud placed the magazine back on the table and left the room together with Tifa. "Down the hallway and the door to the right this time."
"Okay," Tifa replied.
With every step they took, Cloud felt like a weight was being dumped in his shoulders, and by the time they stopped in front of the door, it was taking all his willpower to even move.
Everything's going to be fine, he reassured himself as Tifa knocked on the door and a woman called them inside.
The room was medium-sized, enough room that all of them could move around without much trouble. An examination table was placed in the center and Cloud noticed a strange machine on wheels with a monitor and various cables standing nearby. On the left side of the room stood a divider.
Dr. Ritzmann herself looked like a nice person, kind of like Dr. Hiragi did, a far cry from the so-called doctors that had seen to him for almost five years. Nevertheless, the sight of her made his palms sweaty.
"Ms. Lockhart. How are you doing?" the doctor asked and rose from her own chair, walking over to them to shake Tifa's hand.
"I think I need to pee," Tifa replied, making the other woman chuckle.
"Well, I need you to hold on a little. But how is the fatigue and morning sickness?"
"Gotten a bit worse, but not badly so."
"That's normal. Give it a couple of more weeks and you'll feel more like yourself again." The older woman then turned her attention towards Cloud and he felt himself stiffen ever so slightly. "And you must be the father then. Dr. Leonie Ritzmann. A pleasure."
She held her hand out towards him. His eyes darted from her face then to Tifa's, who gave him a little nod. Rubbing his right hand on his pants to get the sweat off, he grasped her hand in a firm handshake.
"A little nervous?" He nodded stiffly.
"He doesn't have the best history with doctors," Tifa said.
"I see. Don't worry Mr..."
"Strife."
"Mr. Strife. I'm here to ensure that your partner and child will receive the best medical care possible."
Cloud closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath, then nodded. "Okay."
Dr. Ritzmann gave him a smile, then turned her attention back to Tifa. "Let's take a look-see, shall we?"
"Yes," she replied and Cloud caught a note of anticipation inside her voice.
"Alright then. Mr. Strife, you can use that chair over there." The woman pointed behind him where another chair was resting against the wall. Cloud took it and moved it closer to the examination table—
"Ms. Lockhart, I'm afraid I need you to undress from the waist down."
—and nearly stumbled over his feet at her next words.
"What!?" Cloud asked in chorus with Tifa, making the doctor chuckle again.
"I always do a transvaginal ultrasound this early in pregnancies as it will give us a clearer picture," the doctor said and started to disinfect her hands. "There's some towels behind the divider you can use to cover yourself."
"O-okay." Tifa vanished behind it and Cloud sat down on the chair, choosing to watch the doctor as she prepared herself. She had just put on a pair of gloves when Tifa came back, face beet red, and a towel tied around her waist.
"Please lie down and bend your knees." Tifa followed the doctor's instructions and Cloud was immediately by her side. She gave him an embarrassed little smile that he returned.
Dr. Ritzmann joined them as well, pulling the machine with her and turning it on. Cloud watched her as she started to type something on it. What it was, he couldn't tell. After she was done, she took a wand-shaped object that was attached to it, before pulling a rather familiar looking silver wrapper out of her pocket and ripping it open.
With morbid curiosity, Cloud watched as the other woman pulled a condom over the device followed by a thick coating of lube.
She must have noticed his look, because she turned her gaze to him. "With this transducer, we're going to transmit images to the screen. Don't worry, it's a very safe procedure."
Yes, but you're inserting something into Tifa. But instead of saying it, he held his tongue and nodded.
The doctor turned to Tifa. "This might be a little uncomfortable at first."
He felt Tifa grasping his hand as Dr. Ritzmann lifted the towel slightly and moved the hand holding the transducer underneath it. She jumped a little, followed by a squeeze of his hand, before relaxing shortly afterwards.
"Yup, uncomfortable," Tifa commented. He could feel frustration building up inside him at her words. His leg started to shake a little, his eyes darting back and forth, and he was starting to curse himself when another, much more gentler squeeze made him calm down again.
"Sorry, but this is going to be worth it, trust me. Now let's see." Dr. Ritzmann pulled the machine a little closer with her free hand and looked at the screen. "Alright, there's the bladder, looking pretty full, now where are you...Ah! there it—Oh, my!"
A cold sweat broke out on his back, his lips parting, but no words came.
"What is it!?" Tifa asked instead, a note of fear entering her voice, but the other woman simply smiled at them.
"Someone apparently wanted to have a baby real bad. There's two."
Cloud felt his heart skip a beat at the doctor's words, and if not for Tifa holding his hand he might have passed out when the screen was turned their way to reveal two black spots.
"This is the gestational sac," Dr. Ritzmann explained, pointing at each of the spots, then turned the image a little until two tiny shapes came into view. "And there's your babies."
A sound from the back of his throat escaped him when his eyes spotted some movement from each of the babies.
Their babies.
Not one. Two.
Fear and joy joined together deep inside of him, dancing around in a furious tango of emotions at this sudden reveal.
"Cloud..." Tearing his eyes away, he saw Tifa stare at the screen in awe, tears pooling at the corners of her eyes. "Am I dreaming?"
It was Dr. Ritzmann who answered her question. "They're very real, and very active too. See? Already doing their first little movements."
"Amazing..." Cloud exhaled.
"Isn't it?" She moved a finger to point at one of them. "Here you can see the head, here, the tiny legs. Now let's take a listen."
The doctor pressed a button and the room was filled with the sound of a heartbeat, and this time it was Cloud who squeezed Tifa's hand in fear that he might otherwise collapse.
"That's one. And here's the other." The sound was replaced with another, slightly slower heartbeat, but still very powerful sounding.
"Is it normal to sound like this?" Tifa asked, a hand moving to wipe at her eyes.
"Oh yes. They can reach 170 beats per minute. Both of them are very much in the norm range here. One's got a little more pep than the other, so you can already tell who is going to be the rascal of the two," she said last part jokingly. Her expression then softened. "Don't worry. They look perfectly healthy from where I'm sitting."
Cloud and Tifa each let out a breath of relief, before exchanging another look. Tifa gave him a smile that he couldn't help but return with a small one of his own.
"Denzel and Marlene are going to be thrilled," she said.
"Yeah." The kids had already been super giddy the entire morning about this. He could only imagine their reaction to twins.
Of course, twins also meant more work, and the cold and calculating part inside him was already trying to work out how they would manage with two babies on the way. But...
Later, he told himself. Let him be selfish right now and simply enjoy this moment.
"Now let's see what size they're measuring," the doctor murmured and froze the image, then used the built-in trackball to place a line from the top of their little heads to their tiny feet. ".7 inches. They're both cute little cherries. Puts you right in the middle of week nine. Good, very good."
"Can we..." Tifa bit her lip. "Take some photos, perhaps?"
Dr. Ritzmann chuckled. "Of course. How about this shot right here? Shows them both off rather well."
Tifa nodded.
After taking a few shots, the other woman printed them out before removing the transducer again and telling Tifa that she could get dressed again.
"This changes things, and we need to adjust accordingly," the doctor said after Tifa stepped back out from behind the divider.
"What do you mean?" Cloud asked while eyeing the freshly printed photos.
"Well for starters we're going to see each other a little more often starting from week 24. But there are also a few things you need to keep in mind from now on."
They both listened intently as Dr. Ritzmann went over what needed to be done from now on, with one of the biggest things being that Tifa would need to eat more, which made sense to Cloud. Two babies meant two times the additional nourishment.
After that, they made another appointment, before Tifa could finally relieve herself, then left. Outside they walked over to Fenrir, and Cloud was about to get on when he noticed Tifa looking down on the photos she was holding.
"This is really happening," she said, amazement in her voice, but he could also see that nervousness coming back, and he, too, felt it wiggle its way deep inside his heart again. Taking a deep breath, he walked towards her, cupped her cheek, and captured her lips in a soft kiss.
Tifa jumped a little at the sudden contact, but soon relaxed into the kiss, leaning into him. After breaking the kiss, Cloud rested his forehead against hers and smiled.
"We can do this," he told her, earning a beautiful smile from her in return.
"Mm. You're right."
"Now, let's go home and show the kids."
"Yeah." Tifa nodded and gave the photos in her hand one final look, before putting them away. "Let's."
Together, they got onto Fenrir and, with a howl from her engine, drove homewards.
Surpise! It's twins!
Some of you were probably expecting it.
Oh and don't worry, I'm not skimping out on the adorable reactions from Denzel and Marlene here. I just figured this was a good place to end it. We'll be continuing where we left of next time.
See ya!