"Before you two leave to ring in the new year at Cloud's, I have another surprise for you." Tifa said to Marlene and Denzel as she fought her nervousness, who looked at her with keen interest, wondering what it could be. "You're going to have another brother or sister in a few months, because I'm…I'm pregnant." she announced.

"A baby!" Marlene exclaimed happily. "How soon?"

"Who's the daddy?" Denzel asked.

"I'll tell you tomorrow, promise. I have to talk to his parents, and him, first. That's one of the reasons I'm going out tonight. That must be Cloud." Tifa said when someone knocked at the door. "Now behave yourselves and you don't have to stay up til midnight if you get too tired."

"Tifa, thank you so much for coming back!" Jillian said when she opened the door. "It's just a few of our friends here. Everyone, this is Tifa, she's one of Richard's friends."

Tifa was starting to enjoy mingling with his parents' friends, she rarely had time to socialize anymore when it didn't have to do with work or the kids. But she still needed to tell his parents that she needed time to figure things out, and that she really didn't need their son's support, or theirs, to raise another child. As if on cue, the front door opened and Reno appeared.

"Hey mom, I got the non-alcoholic champagne! I don't know why you wan…" Reno stopped talking when he saw Tifa's unmistakable form. His spirits sunk as he realized this had to be one of their subtly obvious attempts to fix him up…with the woman he had knocked up.

"Thank you, dear." Jillian took the two bottles from him. "Why don't you go say hi to everyone now?"

"What are you doing here?" Reno asked Tifa in a low voice, having made a beeline for her.

"I thought you wouldn't be here, so I accepted your parents' invitation to celebrate New Year's. I needed to talk to them." Tifa replied, feeling both relieved and upset he was here. She needed to talk to him too anyway.

"What do you want to talk to them about?" Reno asked testily, wondering why it bothered him that Tifa hadn't contacted him at all in the week since she found out she was pregnant with his child.

"To explain that I don't need help from them or you, but they're more than welcome to be involved grandparents." Tifa quietly explained.

"You…don't want me to have anything to do with my own kid?" Reno was getting more confused and a little hurt, and it was making him more testy…why didn't she want him? He had forgotten over the years what rejection felt like, and now he was right back at square one.

"No, I didn't mean it like that!" she protested. "But you really don't want to be a father, do you? I'm telling you that you don't have to worry about it. And please keep your voice down."

"Don't tell me what do! I have rights!" Reno exclaimed in frustration, and suddenly they were the center of attention.

"If you want to talk, we can talk. If you're going to be like this, do it by yourself!" Tifa snapped and walked away from him.

Reno sat in the corner and sulked, his parents having decided to just leave him be. He couldn't believe this…was there something wrong with him or wrong with her? Eventually even he couldn't take his pouting anymore, and he stood up and started circulating again, just before the countdown to midnight started.

"10...9...8." the guests started chanting, and Reno tried to find his way to the door.

"7...6...5...4." Tifa was also trying to sneak out unobtrusively.

"3...2...1." They both put their hands on the doorknob at the same time, looking at each other with a mixture of relief and reluctance.

"0!" Reno decided to remind Tifa of how great his manhood was, and the other guests applauded that hottest kiss they had ever seen at a New Year's party.