Hey, welcome to the last chapter^^ I´d like to thank everyone who read and reviewed, and AlexJ69 for sharing her knowledge with me and Chephren for doing such a wonderful betajob again! And to fyrbyrd, who inspired this fic in the first place with her awesome stories on adultfanfiction(dot)net *huggles*
Now enjoy!^^
9 months later
Yazoo was comfortably snuggled against a broad, regularly breathing chest, strong arms carefully cradling him and sluggishly stroking over the back of his hand. The two of them
were in a deep slumber, the pale moonlight creating a silver halo around them that came from the reflected light on their long tresses.
Yazoo´s belly was achingly big now, the baby constantly kicking. It hurt his back, which in return wasn´t lifting his spirits at all. He just wanted it to be out of his body, to be able to be lithe and graceful again. He hadn´t thought much about it before, taking his beauty and flexibility for granted, but now that it was taken from him, Yazoo did miss it. It didn´t help matters that everyone around him tried to patronize him, bringing him chairs every 5 minutes so he could sit down, even if he didn´t want to. Their constant concern for him and the baby was getting on his nerves big time and he had to keep his tongue in check for not getting snappy. It wasn´t their fault, really. Actually it was quite sweet how concerned they were, even stoic Angeal bringing cushions for his back and some self-made, greenish mush that was supposed to be good for Yazoo and the baby, but sadly indigestible.
At least Sephiroth was leaving him alone when he needed it. The man had turned out to be rather sensitive and supportive, calm and reasonable when Yazoo was having one of his mood swings (or maybe he simply knew when to shut up and get out of the danger zone...). Those were unnerving him too. He wanted his cool, composed old self back…
Stirring in his sleep, the remnant moaned softly at a tugging, constant pain in his nether regions, that grew very quickly to a hardly ignorable level. Uneasy, Yazoo shifted, furrowing his thin brows. His dream was taking a strange direction, becoming fuzzy and hot, until the pain was so great that he couldn´t sleep any longer. Sluggishly swimming to the surface of awareness, Yazoo opened his tired eyes, glancing at the watch that offered him 2.48 am, before he curled into a ball from another sharp punch to his belly. Gritting his teeth, the remnant carefully withdrew from Sephiroth´s embrace, the Ex-General just rolling over, and stood to walk to the bathroom.
He had to make a pause, heavily leaning against the doorframe, his belly dragging him down into a hunched position. After a few, ragged breaths Yazoo continued, hanging over the sink and splashing cool water into his warm, feverish face, before another wave of agony, very strong this time, almost made him lose his footing. Shaking, he knelt on the cold tiles, his fingers still curled around the porcelain of the sink.
The next time a wave of agony washed over him, Yazoo couldn´t really withhold the pained hiss that escaped him, making him clutch his belly. Oh, this was just great! Once that damn baby was out, he´d give it an earful!
"Are you all right?" The bleary eyed, tousled figure of the great general appeared in the doorway, eyes narrowed against the too bright, clinical light radiating from the ceiling and piercing his skull.
"I´m… having… the time of my… life," Yazoo snapped, between bouts of hissing and clenching his fist on his belly. "Do I… look like I´m all… right?!"
Sephiroth, utterly unfazed, observed the young man on the floor staring up at him with his lips pressed into a thin line. "What is wrong then? Are you feeling sick again?"
He crouched down, striding some sweaty hair out of his lover´s face, remaining patient despite being dead tired and not really in the mood for being snapped at.
Yazoo gave a soft whimper, squeezing his eyes shut at the pain. "No-o," he hitched, actually quite grateful that Sephiroth was here now and leaning into the touch unconsciously. "I think… it´s… it´s the baby. It wants out…"
"The... baby," Sephiroth echoed, stiffening, eyes going wide. Then he abruptly grabbed for a towel, wrapping it around Yazoo´s trembling shoulders with equally shaky hands. "Wait here, I will get help!" he announced and turned, marching down the corridor and bursting into Kadaj´s room.
"The baby!"
"… What the fuck?" Kadaj blearily looked up, Loz´s heavy arm slipping from his shoulder, its owner still blissfully snoring.
"The baby!!!" Sephiroth growled with much more fervor, eyes still wide. Was Kadaj stupid or what? Why didn´t he see the urgency of this?!
At least Loz was awake now too. Kadaj cluelessly looked from the former general to his boyfriend, helplessly seeking some answers. Loz frowned, hesitantly suggesting,
"The baby… is coming?"
"Exactly!" Sephiroth breathed, his fingers digging into the soft wood of the door frame, splinters falling to the floor.
"Oh my god, the baby is coming!!!" Kadaj jumped out of the bed, in his agitation ignoring the fact that he was stark naked. "We have to get Aeris! And towels! Lots of towels!!!"
"Yes!" the one winged angel affirmed, moving not an inch from his position in the door, breathing heavily.
Kadaj stopped, narrowing his eyes at the man expectantly looking at him as if he thought some great spectacle was about to happen right before his very eyes.
"Shouldn´t you be doing something too?"
"…" A spell seemed to have been broken, and the silver haired man darted back to the bathroom, where Yazoo was lying on the floor, holding his belly and moaning.
As Sephiroth knelt beside him, quite helplessly rubbing his back, the pained remnant´s eyes snapped open and he hissed, "I hate you!"
In his distracted, confused state, the one-winged-angel muttered a passionate "I hate you too, dear, just breathe, it will be all right, help is on the way," and cradled Yazoo in his strong arms to carry him back to the bed. Loz rushed past them, hurriedly dressed in a bathrobe, to get Aeris.
Carefully lying Yazoo onto the mattress and turning on the light on the nightstand, Sephiroth didn´t know what to do next, and started pacing the room without any direction, every once in a while looking at Yazoo who was hissing and glaring at him, holding his belly. It probably was not wise to go anywhere near him right now...
Kadaj came in with a whole tower of towels piled up in his arms, barely able to look past it, and letting them fall onto the bed with a grunt.
"What now?" His quite helpless gaze shifted from Yazoo´s pained, quietly hissing form to Sephiroth, who didn´t look much more helpful either, fists clenched by his sides. Walking over to the former general he whispered, with another gander at his pregnant brother, "Any idea where the baby will come out? Maybe we gotta check..."
Before Sephiroth could give a thoughtful, almost relieved nod, Yazoo´s glare froze him to the spot.
"You will do no such thing," he pressed through gritted teeth, clutching the sheets closer around him and keeping his knees firmly shut.
"Well, well." Sephiroth lifted his hands in a calming manner, before he pinched the bridge of his nose. This was... bad. He felt restless, nervous, excited just like he had before a big battle, but the reassuring feeling of knowing what to do, knowing that it all depended just on his own strength and swiftness was absent this time. Yazoo and the baby were depending on him and he had no idea what to do!
"Don´t you 'well, well' me!" was the snapped reply, that made the one winged angel sigh in frustration, throwing his arms up.
"What do you want me to do then?!"
A whimper was heard from the bed that made Sephiroth instantly regret his sharp response.
Clutching his belly, Yazoo´s look grew tired, as if all the anger and readiness to fight had been bled out of them. "Just... come here?"
Instantaneously the older was by his side, settling down on the soft mattress, sliding his arm around a trembling shoulder so that Yazoo could lean against him. A pale hand slipped into his, sweaty and horribly thin, though rather powerful as it curled around and squeezed so hard at a new wave of agony that Sephiroth had to grit his teeth to not cry out in surprise. Over the last few months, he had fallen into the delusion of viewing Yazoo as something fragile and delicate, and this was just a reminder that his lover was anything but. Or maybe it was just the pain forcing his strength...
"How´s it going?"
The breathlessly spoken query from the door made their heads turn, to be greeted with a dishevelled former SOLDIER first class, his older lover in tow. Angeal appeared to be a bit calmer, even though his eyes were brimming with adrenalin and worry beneath dark shadows. Had he had time to think about it, Sephiroth might have been amused to see his stoic friend so flustered and out of his element. As it was, he was close to a panicky heart attack himself though, and just carefully stroked a sweaty strand of silver hair out of Yazoo´s tight face, muttering, "Not so good I am afraid."
For the first time, he mourned the fact that there was no hospital to go to and scream at the doctor in charge for being so incompetent and useless, or to scare some shaking nurse or someone, knowing that in the end it was just a matter of time and that they knew what they were doing and that it would be all right. All he could blame now for messing up was himself...
"Aeris should be on her way, Loz went to fetch her," Kadaj threw in, getting an acknowledging nod from Angeal, as he walked into the room, past his fidgeting puppy.
"Do you know how the baby will be delivered yet?"
Unconsciously Yazoo´s hand clenched again and he drew his legs up to protect his nether regions.
Flinching at the bone crushing grip on his poor hand, Sephiroth managed a throaty "Not yet."
Angeal just nodded, but didn´t look very confident. Then however, he sharply turned, laying a hand on Zack´s shoulder who was excitedly chewing his bottom lip, and said, "We will heat some water now, we most likely will need it." The baby had to be cleaned, and also, Yazoo didn´t seem too comfortable with so many people in the room, witnessing his misery...
Zack followed his mentor with a frown and a last look over his bare shoulder (when Loz had breathlessly thrown the news at them he´d only had time to slip into his pyjama pants, which at least was more than Kadaj was wearing). He didn´t want to leave, but he didn´t really know what to do in the room either... So he flashed Yazoo an encouraging, warm smile, throwing his thumb up with a wink. "No worries, you´re in good hands, Seph knows how to deal with this kind of stuff."
Doubtful, green eyes were shifted up to aforementioned silver angel, but Sephiroth sported a brilliant, confident smile he didn´t feel and placed a quick kiss on Yazoo´s forehead so he didn´t have to look him in the eye.
"It is true, I assisted in a birth before." At least Yazoo relaxed against him, releasing his abused hand a bit, even though Sephiroth failed to mention that the woman he had 'helped' had been having her fourth baby girl in the mountains when he and his troop had stayed on her property for a night and he didn´t really have anything to do aside from telling her to breathe and swearing to himself to never EVER assist in a birth again!
"Just... breathe..." he muttered, glancing at the door and wondering what was taking the damn flower chick so long! He had an emergency here! Oh, he would so chew her out once she got her skinny ass dragged here!
Dutifully, Yazoo took a deep breath, even though he didn´t look overly convinced yet. He was in pure agony now, but he couldn´t verbalize it, which perhaps was for the better, because he would have given Sephiroth an earful for impregnating him and making him suffer through it like this! A lot of swearwords he usually didn´t even think were spicing his silent rant, but on the other hand, he was quite grateful that he didn´t have the breath to say them out loud. It was a relief that Sephiroth was with him, holding him, and he appeared quite confident about this whole incident, almost routinized, which pulled a big weight from Yazoo´s shoulders. Well, he shouldn´t have expected anything less from his lover, Sephiroth was omnipotent after all!
Blissfully ignorant he was to the harsh reality of his pale, nervous wreck of a boyfriend that was only held together by a remotely calm outer facade, which was crumbling more and more with every stretching minute Aeris hadn´t arrived yet.
Meanwhile Kadaj had had time to notice his lack of clothing, and with an indignantly flushed face (they could have pointed it out to him, assholes!) he went back to his own room to cover himself.
"What... will happen now?" Eyes hazy with pain and a hint of fear were seeking his support again, and Sephiroth inwardly groaned, pulling the young man closer and stroking over the huge ball forming under the thin blanket like a too stretched balloon that was going to burst at any minute.
"...Well..." The silver god licked his lips, to win some time, and 'elaborated' in a forced calm and smooth voice, "Aeris will come soon and then we will get the baby out, so you won´t hurt anymore."
"H-how?" Yazoo hitched, relaxing some more. His clear, huge green eyes were painfully boring into Sephiroth´s skull and he almost wished he could bear the burden of delivering the child. But only almost, because then another bone snapping clench of Yazoo´s hand around his and the agonized moan reminded him that he got lucky for getting away with it.
When he had been confronted with discomforting, hard to answer questions in the past, Sephiroth had either had the luxury of snapping at the nuisance to shut up and just follow the order, or delegate it to someone else. Recruits didn´t ask questions, they followed his confidently spoken instructions, and there was a protocol for almost everything. Later, when he had been driven by insanity, there had only been one clear goal anyway and no annoying side questions, and if something bothered him, he just killed it.
Now, he could neither snap at Yazoo (technically that might have been an option, but it would have made things only worse and he couldn´t have brought himself to do it), Aeris wasn´t here yet to take the matter out of his hands, he knew no protocols for male pregnancy and killing Yazoo and the baby was out of the question (and not only because they were already dead. They were his family, the people he deeply cared for, he was no psychopath any longer! ...Most of the times).
Sephiroth was just about to open his mouth for another stretched "Weeeeell", thinking up an as-complicated-as-possible answer to cover his own loss, when finally, a braided, fresh-faced maid appeared in the door.
As always, she wore a confident, candid smile as she stepped inside, seemingly in not much of a hurry, and her presence instantly calmed the pregnant man.
"I heard the good news," she smiled, laying a hand on Yazoo´s that wasn´t maltreating Sephiroth´s.
"Took you long enough," the former general scowled frighteningly, a look that had sent many of his underlings (even grown, thick-skinned, war experienced soldiers) running for their mommys.
Aeris kept her unfaltering smile up, however, not looking impressed at all, and stroked Yazoo´s bony hand. "How are you feeling?"
"Not... so... good..." Yazoo managed, producing the understatement of the year.
"He is in agony," Sephiroth venomously pointed out, protectively cradling the frail figure in his arms as he threw her another resentful look. Why was everyone always asking him again why he had killed her?
"You might want to do something about that."
Inwardly sighing at the frostily spoken words – he really had an ego that was beyond her- she just nodded in a friendly manner, mature enough to not take it personally.
"You already have towels and ah, there´s the water!"
Zack and Loz just came in with a big bowl of steaming water and Angeal followed with more towels and some cold water. He handed Sephiroth a sodden cloth, to cool Yazoo´s sweaty forehead, while Kadaj carefully balanced a few sterilized knives he placed on the nightstand.
The former general froze. "What do you need those for?" He had a very sick feeling uncurling in his stomach all of a sudden, and before anyone answered, he drew his arms closer around Yazoo, growling "You will not cut him open! Over my dead body!"
"Well... technically you are already dead..." Kadaj piped up from behind Loz, but quickly shrank back into the shadows of his comfortingly muscular brother´s back after a lethal glare from his elder. Okay, so maybe someone else could take care of dealing with Sephiroth, there was a worrisome insane gleam in his eyes again...
"No one gets cut open, Sephiroth," Aeris promised in her ever so patient manner, smiling reassuringly at Yazoo who was too busy with the pain to follow the ongoing conversation. He wouldn´t have minded being sliced like a Christmas roast, it couldn´t be much worse than keeping the baby in there...
"We need the knife to disconnect the umbilical cord," she explained in her soothing voice, meanwhile washing her hands and drying them.
"How will the baby get out then?" Zack frowned, scratching his head, dubiously eyeing Yazoo´s nether region. "... Yazoo is male, isn´t he?"
"Of course he is!" Sephiroth hissed, unnerved, tempted to cover his lover´s ears so he wouldn´t have to suffer through Zack´s stupidity.
"The question is very justified, though," Angeal´s deep voice boomed through the full bedroom. Outside it was still dark, but the edges of the star littered sky were already tinted with a soft, pale blue. Sunrise wasn´t far away... He was no expert on labour pains, but they couldn´t go on forever, and they did have to get the baby out of there, somehow. So if Yazoo was undergoing no surgery and he did not have a natural birth canal, what other options could be left?
All eyes were on the flower maid now, who, rather unfazed, swung back towards the bed on her heels, a sunny smile radiating from her fair features.
"No worries, we will just magically summon the baby out of Yazoo´s belly, it won´t be painful at all!"
The dumbfounded silence that followed was only interrupted by the first hoarse morning song of a sickly bird wavering on a tree branch outside.
"... I beg you pardon?" Sephiroth had stopped stroking Yazoo´s head, totally busy with trying to wrap his mind around the cheerful announcement. "You can´t be serious!"
"Why...?" The maid cocked her head in confusion, hands demurely folded in front of her dress.
"Great, can we just... get it over with? Or do you have a better idea?!" Yazoo hissed, not caring how they got the baby out, as long as they finally did! Magic, cutting, a plunger - whatever!
Sephiroth swallowed his biting comment down, and then just gave a resigned shrug, tiredly blinking. "What do I have to do?"
"Nothing, really, just hold Yazoo please, and be there for him. And please, can you leave the room everyone?"
There was some disappointed muttering, but Angeal and Loz managed to get their lovers out of the bedroom, to give the soon-to-be daddies some privacy.
"I will make some coffee," Loz offered, which induced something akin to enthusiasm among the crowd.
As soon as the bedroom door closed, Aeris rolled up the sleeves of her blouse and instructed Sephiroth softly, "Could you please lower the blanket from Yazoo´s belly?" She smiled as the man planted a long kiss on his lover´s silver hair, squeezing his hand and then taking an inaudible breath to do as he was hold.
Once she had free reign, she braced herself, moving her hands up to hover over white, stretched skin, and began with the deliverance.
*
Two hours later, the first rays of fresh, golden light spilled through the window into the silent bedroom, drawing little halos around the abandoned tubs and towels and tools.
A faint coppery scent lay in the air, mingling with the heavy odour of flowers, too strong coffee and green magic.
The house was silent again, the atmosphere of excitement and agitation slowly dissipating, being taken over by a lazy exhaustion. Angeal and Zack had occupied the couch, leaving the guest room tactfully to the girl, who had needed some rest after the process of birth was over. She was lying curled up on the soft mattress with a smile, breathing even and accomplished.
Kadaj and Loz lay one room further down the hall, snuggled against each other, their hands intertwined as they thoughtfully watched the light infiltrating the room, thinking that soon they should pick up their own baby exercises again.
In Sephiroth´s arm, a little rosy creature stirred, the little face contorting a bit before it relaxed again into sleep. The general´s long fingertip stroked over the tiny face, incredibly tender, his green eyes taking in every detail of his perfect, little Alexander, tightly wrapped into a fresh, white towel. Then his gaze travelled over to his son´s older sister, and even more beautiful little bundle who would be called by the regal name of Victoria from now on. Yazoo had informed him about that, exhausted, sweaty, and Sephiroth hadn´t cared, had just laughed a laugh that carried all the unconditional love, joy and pride in the world and beyond, and held the baby, kissed its tiny, wrinkled feet. Whatever, whatever it didn´t matter. They were healthy, they were beautiful, they were perfect and they were his, theirs, with their tiny bloom of silver fluff over their red, healthily crying faces.
Everything, his former career, his achievements in war, his ambitions to become a god – it seemed so trivial and insignificant in the face of their little bodies, their tiny fingers and round bellies... Never had he felt more fulfilled, more complete and at ease with the world. There just was no room for such petty things as testosterone induced battles, scorched earth, manly honour and domination any longer.
Pulling up the blanket over Yazoo´s limp, sleeping shoulder, Sephiroth placed another soft kiss to his even breathing, sweet lips and kept watching over his family, welcoming the new day in an air of peace and the wake of a great future.
~end
Everything´s possible in the Lifestream ;) First I thought of making the planet take away the kids and bring them down to Midgar, because they deserve to literally live as well, but then I couldn´t bring myself to do it (Yazoo and Sephiroth would have been devastated), so they will remain in the lifestream with their parents^^ Also, that last part is so sugary it made me squirm while writing it, but I guess it´s a good end for this story (I hope XD)
Now, review replies! *\(^__^)/*
Aeriths-Rain: Thank you XD I think Sephy is very cute indeed, especially when he forgets about being stoic and haughty XDDD
natzilla: Yay, I´m happy you thought it was funny! Hehe, yeah they eat quite strange food there, but you know, when I was small, I loved to eat spaghetti with sugar! The taste of spaghetti is pretty neutral, so you can eat it either way ^^ Haha, thanks for liking the fluff XD I was afraid it was still too unfluffy, but at least they didn´t kill each other ;)
Shiva Rajah: Thank you, I´m happy you enjoy it! *huggles*
BlackDomina71: Yeah, the K-rating XD And hen I wasn´t sure how I feel about writing pregnant smut, because I have no experience of that whatsoever O.o But mainlyt was for the k-rating, sorry :(
Labe: Thank you my dear! I like it too, because it isn´t very deep and I don´t have to think much, just let the plot out and have fun XD *huggles*
IA1979: Yes, I think so too, it´s an often used topicin (m)preg fics too XD I find it kind of funny, so I used it as well *not very original* I´m afraid I just can´t wrie pure fluff at all, there´s always that mean edge of mine creeping in XD But well, it´s okay this way, I guess, because I have fun writing it^^ I think being a man of the military, Sephiroth is not immune to certain doctrines, no matterhow open-minded and brilliant he is XD He´s still a bit of a macho ;) Haha, have you and your hubby already decided on a name, before the baby is born?
Uezukun: Hey, thank you! I´m glad you enjoy my fics *beams* Hehe, it became a boy and a girl, and I guess Sephiroth didn´t care about their sex at the end at all XD
Soyna: Maybe it´s both XD cuverness, so to speak ;)
I hope you enjoyed it, and take the time to leave me a glimpse of your thoughts? This is the last chance XD