Well hello, and Merry Christmas! Don't worry, I wrote the majority of this yesterday. I hope you all are well! One more disclaimer I should've began with is that I am not a medical professional, simply the child and grandchild of them! Lol! Don't judge me! THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS! I love you! Keep them coming! I appreciate you so much. Again, Merry Christmas. The following chapter is your gift.


Tifa sat on her couch, glass of white wine in hand, snuggled up in her pajama shorts and tank. It had been the longest week of her career she felt. A major surgery performed on an unborn child, several deliveries and the constant hounding of a guilty mother to be. She felt as though she was in need of a vacation for sure.

Thankfully, since her little argument with Doctor Sephiroth, the flowers she had been receiving had slowed significantly. Perhaps he had been the one sending them? It didn't matter to her anymore. Relationships were no longer on her radar.

She placed her wine glass on the coffee table telling herself that she'd had enough for the night when she heard a loud and aggressive pounding on her front door. She jumped, startled by the sound. Who on earth would be at her place so late in the evening. She had a feeling maybe it was Yuffie, coming to yell at her for reassigning her. But Tifa felt like maybe she was a little harsh on the girl, maybe it was time to let bygones be bygones.

She quickly leapt over the back of her couch and ran to the door as the knocking persisted and grew louder. "Just a minute!" She yelled before finally reaching the doorway. She peered out the frosted glass, surprised to see a tall, dark haired man standing there. It frightened her for a moment, but she was quite capable of defending herself should anything happen.

Slowly, she opened the door and looked out, swinging it wide open when she saw it to be Zack Fair standing there. He seemed to be out of it, not himself. His cheeks were red and his eyes a little heavy. Tifa could smell the alcohol on his breath even with a few feet of distance between them. "Za-"

"You knew!" He yelled bitterly, glaring viciously at her. He was heated and furious, towering over Tifa.

Tifa took a step back, realizing that he was very intoxicated and likely dangerous. She had never seen this side of him, and quite frankly she didn't like it one bit. "Woah, Zack. Calm down." She warned, putting her hands out for defense.

"You knew about Aerith, that she cheated on me?!" He growled, slurring his words just a little. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Where have you been? You've been out drinking, and you drove here?!" Tifa exclaimed once she saw his truck in her driveway. "Look Zack, you know I couldn't-" but suddenly, Tifa was cut off mid-sentence when Zack's soft lips were firmly pressed against her own.

Suddenly, she felt a slew of emotions that she couldn't quite comprehend. Zack was kissing her, his strong arms were wrapping themselves around her curvaceous frame. He was stumbling forward, pushing the two of them further into her house. But this was Zack. He was married. He was also very drunk, and he probably had no idea what he was really doing. He was just angry. Tifa wanted to kiss back, and for those few moments, deep down she really enjoyed feeling him so close to her. But, she knew the right thing to do was to stop him.

With all her strength, she pushed the man away from her. "No, Zack." She said firmly. "You're drunk, you don't know what you're doing."

Zack looked her up and down with hungry eyes. He didn't care anymore. His wife had betrayed him, and he didn't even know if the child she was carrying belonged to him. What reason did he have to remain faithful if she hadn't? "I don't care." He husked as he took a step toward her once more.

Tifa wouldn't lie, she wanted him to kiss her again, but it wasn't right. "Stop!" She yelled, pushing her hands against his chest, preventing him from coming any closer. "Please Zack you-" again he pushed against her, overpowering her with his strength. Now he held her in his arms, his lips were trailing everywhere, on her lips, neck, jawline.

She squealed loudly and struggled against him, even though she really didn't want him to stop. This couldn't continue. Finally, she got out of his grip and looked at him sadly. "Please stop."

"Tifa, this is what I want." He assured her, gazing into her eyes with great intensity.

"We can't." She said, looking down at the floor and tucking her dark hair behind her ears nervously. "You are still married. And I wouldn't feel right. And.." She paused, her heart aching at the words she was about to say. "You need to try and work things out with her."

"Why would I do that?! She cheated on me Tifa!"

"And you just cheated on her!" Tifa exclaimed, tears forming in her eyes. She was just a rebound, just someone's angry revenge. She felt used, like her own feelings had been taken advantage of.

Zack went silent in a sudden realization that suddenly left him feeling a lot more sober. She was right, he turned around and had done the same that had been done to him. He made a drunken mistake. Perhaps all of Zack's flirting with other women had caused Aerith to wander away, in search of something more. His heart ached a little inside. Because now he was torn, he was realizing some deep seeded feelings for Tifa, but the guilt he felt about what he'd done to Aerith was overwhelming him.

Tifa could tell he was struggling inwardly with all of it. And regardless of his advances, he was in no condition to drive home. "I'm not going to tell her what happened." She said finally breaking the silence. "You can crash here for the night, I'm not letting you drive home like that."

Zack was thankful. He didn't want to go home anyway. He had a lot to think about, like maybe if the baby wasn't his, he would be leaving his wife. And maybe then he and Tifa could have a real shot. But for now, she was right. He needed to sleep this alcohol off.

"Thanks, Teef." He said sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. He watched her nod to him before proceeding up the stairs of her home to get him some bedding for the couch.

Tifa replayed the kiss in her mind as she retreated up the stairs. She was desperately trying to choke back the tears that welled up in her eyes. Her chest felt tight, and painful. For those few moments it was nice to have someone holding her, to feel someone else's touch. But it wasn't gonna happen. It simply couldn't.

She shook it off, swallowed her tears and went to her linen closet to get some pillows and a nice plush blanket for the drunken doctor.

When she went back downstairs she saw the man already passed out on her couch, snoring lightly. One of his long legs was dangling off the side of the sofa, while the other propped up upon the arm. He had one arm above his head while the other lay draped over his eyes.

Tifa giggled softly to herself. He was a little too big for that couch, but it didn't matter, he was out and there was no way Tifa would be waking him up. She gently lifted his head and stuffed a pillow beneath it, careful not to wake him. Luckily, he seemed to be a heavy sleeper, and didn't even budge. Then she gently covered his body with the blanket and placed a soft kiss on his forehead. "Goodnight, Doctor Fair." She whispered softly before retreating back upstairs to get some sleep herself.


It was weird coming home alone, with no Cloud by her side, and Yuffie was having trouble knowing what to do with herself. She couldn't help but think about her patient she had met today. There was something extremely peculiar about the man. It could've been the way he didn't seem nervous at all, or the way he smiled at her.

Earlier that day he had asked her personal questions like where was she from, how long had she been a nurse and so on. He seemed rather kind, and maybe he was just lonely, but it almost seemed as if he flirted with Yuffie just a tad. But she could've been imagining things. Someone that good looking so much as look at a cute young girl, she would think he was flirting too.

Again, Yuffie forced the thoughts out of her head. Perhaps if she called and talked with Cloud she would feel a little better.

She changed out of her scrubs and placed them in the clothes hamper and replaced them with some pajama bottoms and a tank top. She then made herself a cup of hot tea and sat down on her couch, cuddling up with a blanket before dialing his number.

It rang for a while before she heard him pick up. "Hey." Came his familiar voice from the other end.

"Hey," she responded. "How's work going? You're not busy right now are you?"

"Nah," he replied. "Just havin' a drink with some of the guys. Did you have a good day at work?"

Yuffie took a sip of her tea before setting the mug down on her side table. "Um," she thought about her day at work, and instantly thought of the handsome patient.

"Yuff?"

"Oh, um it was good. Kind of boring, actually. It's different being away from all the chaos of the maturity ward." She lied. Sort of.

"Yeah... Hey, there's something I wanted to talk to you about." Cloud said. The background noise that Yuffie had been hearing seemed to diminish, leading her to believe that perhaps Cloud had stepped outside.

"Okay, shoot." Yuffie nuzzled further into her blanket, trying to take comfort in the sound of Cloud's voice.

"Yesterday, I saw a pregnancy test in your trash can... Why didn't you bother telling me?"

It seemed as though almost instantly, Cloud's demeanor changed. His voice sounded harsh, and angry. Yuffie had never heard him speak this way. "Cloud I-"

"I mean don't you think something as major as that is worth mentioning to me?!"

Yuffie's eyes widened in shock. Was he really talking to her like this? Who turned on his ass-hole switch?! "Well I wasn't sure! I didn't really think I was pregnant, just got a little scared when I was a few days behind my schedule.. You know. I didn't think you needed to know since I wasn't sure. And I am not pregnant by the way." She hoped perhaps he would calm down, she was getting nervous. And very uncomfortable with his current behavior.

"It doesn't matter if you weren't sure! That sort of thing is important! We are supposed to be a couple, you shouldn't keep shit from me!"

"Holy cow, Cloud! Calm down!" Yuffie was raising her voice to match his now. This was not good, she felt panicky, and anxious. She didn't like the feeling at all. He was attacking her, and treating her unfairly. Maybe Tifa was right!

"Don't pull that shit again, Yuffie. I'm serious." He warned.

"You know, it was my own personal right to withhold the information from you. I thought I was doing you a favor by not making you worry about something that might not even happen! And it didn't happen! So what is the freaking big deal?!" Yuffie was now standing, pacing her living room.

"How are you not seeing what the big deal is! I'm upset that you didn't even consider me, or letting me know what was going on! You need to think more clearly!"

"You know what? I'm done with this right now. Have a good night, Cloud." Yuffie said in an angry, and bitter tone before she hung up on him and tossed her phone onto the couch.

She covered her face with her hands and growled. "What a freaking jerk! Seriously! Gah!" She exclaimed aloud, even though she was alone. She just wanted to slap him across the face. "Who does he think he is?! Disrespectful little prick!"

Yuffie stormed upstairs and into her bathroom. She thought maybe taking a shower would help relax her a little. And she left her phone downstairs, refusing to hear anymore from that jerk.

She stripped out of her pajamas and into the water she went. She inhaled deeply, as steam started to fill the whole bathroom and fog up the glass to her shower door. She needed to relax, and she did her best to do so as the hot water poured down on her.

She couldn't help but wonder why Cloud had seemingly switched personalities on her like that, but he did mention he was out drinking. In fact, Yuffie had never seen the man drunk. They hadn't really had a lot of alcohol together. Maybe drinking turned him into a rageaholic? Who knew? But then it hit her, Tifa knew.

She went back and forth with her emotions, part of her was inwardly defending Cloud, and part of her wondered what really went down between he and her best friend. These were all things she would have to wrestle with, but for now, she knew she needed sleep if she was going to deal with Mr. Valentine again tomorrow.


Yuffie hadn't heard from Cloud the entire night, her phone was completely void of any

Messages or calls from him. But it didn't matter to her, in fact she was still pretty angry at him. She had wished that Tifa was on today, but it was her day off. So she couldn't really make amends now, at least not in person.

But she didn't have time to make a phone call, she had slept in a little bit this morning and had just barely made it to work in the nick of time. She had to admit, she was a little nervous to be seeing Mr. Valentine again. What if he continued with his charming? She was so angry with Cloud she just may give in to his advances! She shook her head at the thought, reminding herself that he was a patient, and doctors and nurses do not fraternize with patients. It was strictly prohibited.

After putting her things away in her locker for the day, she headed down the halls of the hospital on the second floor, to visit her patient.

"Oh, good morning nurse Kisaragi!" Came Doctor Angeal Hewely's cheerful voice from behind her, it startled her, and she turned around in a fright. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He apologized with a kind hearted smile.

Yuffie giggled and brushed it off. "Oh, don't worry. It's alright." She paused. "So, did the blood work show any results?"

The doctor's warm expression sunk and faded away. "They didn't reveal anything abnormal. His white blood cell count and platelets all look great. I'll be ordering a CT scan this morning and perhaps that could tell us something. He's gotten worse over the night."

For some reason, the thought of Mr. Valentine's condition worsening made her heart sink a little. They needed to figure out what was wrong with him, Doctor and Chief Nagano was counting on it. Frankly, the hospital needed his money, and if he died they wouldn't be getting any of it.

"Why don't you check on him, and make sure he's comfortable while I put the order in and see if they can squeeze him in today." Doctor Hewely requested, his warmth seeming to return.

"Sure thing, doc." Yuffie replied before walking into the patient's room.

Vincent saw the nurse whom he had met just yesterday walk gracefully into his room, and when he saw her his spirits were lifted. She wore a pastel shade of purple colored scrubs, with a darker purple trim, and they fit her body nicely. He noted that her eyes seemed s bit red, almost as if she had been crying recently. He frowned to himself at the thought.

From the time that he had met her yesterday, Vincent had taken a liking to Yuffie. She was kind, and friendly, and she took such good care of him. She went above and beyond to make sure he was comfortable. And she had such a gentle touch. Throughout the night he found himself wishing he was in her care rather than the night nurse on duty. "Good morning, nurse." He said as he offered her a weak smile.

Yuffie could tell that the man was in bad shape. His already fair skin seemed even a shade lighter than before, and he hardly had strength to move. He had declined in health rather quickly. "How are you feeling today, Mr. Valentine?"

He didn't want to lie, so he sighed and looked down before replying. "Better now that you're here." He forced a smile again.

Yuffie hadn't seen a patient like this before. Here he was in extreme discomfort and trying to be kind to her. She felt her cheeks grow a little warm at his words. "You're quite the charmer, Mr. Valentine. But really, be honest. This is really important." Yuffie warned.

"To be honest, I feel terrible." He said reluctantly. The last thing he wanted was to look weak in front of her, even though he hardly knew her. Something about her though, seemed to attract him.

Yuffie took the thermometer off the wall, put a sterile covering over it and took his temperature. He was burning up. In fact his fever was dangerously high. This wasn't good. She would need to administer a fever and pain reducer quickly. But it had to go through the doctor first. She called for another nurse to fetch the doctor before continuing with her questioning. "How is your stomach pain?"

"If I move, it hurts." The man winced, his pain was growing more severe, and Yuffie was starting to worry.

The nurse gently pulled down the covers that concealed the man down to about his waist, and gently pressed on various areas of his stomach until she pinpointed the area where the pain was most intense. Her eyes widened in realization. "But the doctor said it wasn't your appendix.." She had to move fast, this was life-threatening now. His appendix could rupture at any moment, and hopefully for his sake it hasn't already.

Luckily the doctor walked in right at that moment with the nurse Yuffie asked to page him. "It's his appendix," Yuffie said frantically. He's burning up and the pain is centered there on his lower abdomen where it's located. Its inflamed."

"I asked you to check his appendix as soon as he was admitted!" Doctor Hewely exclaimed, looking at the nurse opposite of Yuffie.

"I thought that nurse Carla did it!"

And suddenly the scene became a chaotic blur. Mr. Valentine had to be rushed off to emergency surgery, there was no time to lose. Yuffie and Doctor Hewely wheeled him out of the room and to the surgical wing as quickly as possible.

Everything seemed like it was flying by so quickly, but at the same time in slow motion. The noise was loud and all jumbled together until it seemed to be a radio-like static. Patients, nurses and visitors leapt out of their way with haste as they made their way.

Vincent looked up at the nurse who was running alongside his bedside with the doctor. He was mesmerized, and drowsy all at once. She looked beautiful, and so stoic. Like a little hero. He heard her voice firmly command others to step aside and move. She was fierce, and he admired that. And right now he was beginning to realize that she may have saved his life. Should he survive this surgery.


When Tifa finally woke up, Zack had already left. He had tidied up her living room, leaving the blanket he used neatly folded on the couch with the pillow sitting beside it. There was a hot pot of coffee waiting for her, and a small note on the kitchen counter.

Teef,

thanks for letting me stay last night. Your couch is lumpy. You should get a new one. Anyway, I owe ya. Thanks for everything. I'm sorry for the trouble.

-Zack.

Tifa smiled sadly to herself. It still stung, but what could she do? Pick herself up and move on. And that's what she opted to do. Today was her day off, and she intended to rest. She was tempted to go to the hospital and check on Elena, but she knew that she needed to stay away.

Living alone as long as she had, staying away from work sometimes just because she was lonely. She'd been single for so long. Hadn't dated anyone since Cloud. Maybe she needed a pet.

It had been a while since she had thought about Cloud, and what happened. A long time since she had really Thought back on what he had done.

They met when they were just fifteen, and it started out as a friendship that was so innocent and fun. They were so close. Told each other everything. But when they got a little older, they became more than just friends. The chemistry was there, but when you put the two together, it became toxic.

He would start of sweet and caring, but after a while it seemed as though he fell out of love he became withdrawn and quiet. He shut her out, and became cold toward her. It was like something, or someone else had his attention.

But worse than that, he became extremely angry when he drank. And that's when things exploded. Tifa had a very hot temper when irritated, especially when she was younger. And she didn't think twice about pounding someone for pissing her off, but when he threw a glass bottle at her, things just escalated from there. They both spent the night in jail, and their relationship went into a tailspin, spiraling out of control.

Tifa shook her head from the memories and shuddered. She hated to remember any of it. She decided that she needed to talk to Yuffie as soon as possible. It didn't matter if she was still mad, or if she would get mad again, she had to protect her friend.