Tifa felt herself starting to panic as Cloud and Yuffie just stared at her with guilty expressions on their faces. "Someone say something!" she shrieked.

Reno raised one eyebrow as he took in the situation. "You didn't tell her yet? Man, that's cold." He hadn't thought Cloud capable of doing something like that.

"There wasn't time!" Cloud snapped back, and then took a deep breath. "Tifa, I…I wasn't planning for you to find out like this, but…"

"Find what out?" she demanded, still shrieking.

"I married Yuffie." Cloud blurted out, putting his arm around his wife as Aerith's jaw dropped.

"No!" Tifa shook her head in disbelief and denial as the words hit her like blows.

"Yuffie, how could you do this behind our backs?" Aerith asked her, recovering from the surprise announcement quicker.

"I…" Yuffie started to find her voice.

"And that's our cue to leave. We'll go have lunch at Cormano's. Meet us there when you're done here." Reno told Cloud. The Turks knew within hours of Cloud and Yuffie's marriage, having always kept a close watch on the political climate of Wutai since their war with Shinra, but the smug vindication he had felt upon hearing the news was fading fast in the face of Tifa's hurt shock, and he didn't want to witness any more of her downfall.

Tifa barely registered their leaving as she tried to figure out what was going on. "Married?" She narrowed her eyes and glared at Yuffie. "You…you stole him from me?! You…"

"No!" Cloud exclaimed. "I was never really with you, Tifa. You wanted something that could never happen. You're my dearest friend, but…"

"I didn't mean to get pregnant, Tifa, I swear it!" Yuffie told her heartbroken friend.

Tifa couldn't believe her ears…this just kept getting worse. "Pregnant? You…it can't be Cloud's! Have you forgotten you can't have children?" she demanded of her childhood sweetheart.

"I…I lied to you, Tifa. I just didn't want children with you." Cloud admitted reluctantly.

"How…how long has this been going on between you two?" Tears welled up in Tifa's eyes as the enormity of how much she had been betrayed started to sink in.

"It was one night just over two months ago." Yuffie said quietly. "He proposed when I told him I was pregnant."

Tifa realized that was around the time she had…"So you found out that I had sex with Reno and decided to get your revenge by knocking up my best friend? I swear it didn't mean anything! I don't know why I even did it."

It was Cloud and Yuffie's turn to be shocked. "You…you had sex with Reno? I thought you didn't like him." he said.

"I don't! It was all because of that stupid painting! Please say you forgive me." Tifa pleaded. "You've paid me back enough with this cruel prank, you can stop it now."

"There's nothing to forgive, you can be with who you want." Cloud told her. "But this isn't a prank."

"Please stop this and come home with me! The children and I need you!" The tears now streamed freely down Tifa's face as she started becoming hysterical.

"Tifa, I love Yuffie." he gently said. "My home is with her now. I'm moving to Wutai. Marlene and Denzel are welcome to visit whenever they want. But what you need is to find someone who can love you the way you deserve. We've got to get to the northern Crater soon, so please take care of yourself." He took Yuffie's hand and led her towards Cormano's as she looked back at her friends as if to say something else, but Aerith frowned and turned away from her, to comfort the distraught Tifa.

Aerith led Tifa back to the hotel, who was oblivious to the curious looks from passerbys at her nonstop sobbing. Once back in the privacy of their hotel room, Tifa threw herself down on her bed to continue crying. "Maybe you should take a hot bath, Tifa." Aerith suggested, at a loss for how to best help her friend.

"He…how could they do this to me?" Tifa wailed.

"I don't know." Aerith truthfully replied. She knew that one day Tifa would have to face the truth that Cloud wasn't for her, but to have it be because he had impregnated and married a close friend behind your back, it was unthinkable! She was shocked that Yuffie would do this without telling Tifa she was interested in Cloud. Aerith frowned, realizing that Tifa would never have given her blessing for anyone else to be with Cloud, so maybe it had to be done in secret, but still… "Come on, let's get you into that tub and then we'll order room service." she said brightly.

Tifa submitted to Aerith's ministrations, too in shock over her world crashing down around her to know or care much about what was happening to her.

"So we'll meet at first light, fly to the northern Crater, check out the cave, then fly back here. If conditions are right, we should be back here in time for lunch." Reno told Cloud and Yuffie, his urge to hit Cloud for Tifa's sake tempered by the unhappy expressions on the newlyweds' faces.

"Agreed." Cloud signaled the waiter. "Put their meals on my bill."

"Hey, thanks man." Rude smiled. "This place has the best kishi wings I've ever had. We'll get some to go for dinner."

"Do you know what you want to eat?" Cloud asked Yuffie.

"I'm…I'm not really hungry." she replied mournfully.

"You should eat something, you're eating for two now, remember?" he reminded her, squeezing her hand lightly. The sword cuts on his hands were starting to heal, but it was going to take time just like the rest of him. He had special boots on to accommodate his injured feet.

"You're pregnant?" Reno stared at her. "No pregnant chicks on a mission, it's bad for business."

"You sexist jerk!" Yuffie's temper flared up despite her sadness. "I'm pregnant, not incompetent!"

"She's coming. It's just a routine mission." Cloud told Reno.

"We missed the ice fishing yesterday, but do you still want to try it today, or learn how to build igloos?" Aerith asked Tifa over breakfast the next morning. Tifa was more responsive after some sleep, but her grief and shock had been replaced by apathy.

"Why don't we just go home?" Tifa suggested flatly. "You were right, this vacation was a bad idea."

Aerith looked like she was going to object for a moment, but ended up nodding, then she suddenly shrieked.

"What's wrong?" Tifa asked.

"I don't…" Aerith was interrupted when the room suddenly started shaking and the power went out. The young women were knocked to the floor, their breakfast joining them as the table fell over. They heard more sounds of destruction all around them as the building itself lurched to the side and then everything stopped.

"What was that?" Tifa wondered what else could happen to her now.

"I think it was…" Aerith was interrupted again, this time by someone outside yelling into a megaphone.

"Please exit the building through the fire escapes." the stranger was ordering all the hotel guests.

Once they made their way safely outside, Aerith and Tifa sought out the first official they saw. "What happened?" Tifa asked.

"Major earthquake, the epicenter was at the Crater. Several avalanches have resulted, we're organizing search and rescue teams now." the official told them.