A/N: So...I take it a lot of you are not liking the bald man right now? ...yeah, thought so. I was actually gonna wait to post this til this weekend. But I decided to be nice and let you all release the breath you've been holding...maybe.

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

Kuja reached her unlocked door and pushed it open, crying out in horror as he saw her sprawled out on the floor, sobbing in pain, her open cell phone clutched in one hand, her other wrapped tightly around her stomach. He knelt down beside her, not wanting to move her, fearing hurting her further.

"Oh God," he whispered, stroking her face as she continued crying, leaning down to kiss her gently. He reached for her cell phone, seeing it had connected to a number. The Shrine Medical Facility. "Oh, good girl, good girl," he murmured against her ear, running soothing fingers through her hair as she whimpered in pain, tears streaming down her face.

"Shrine Medical. How may I-"

"This is Kuja," he said sharply into the receiver. "I need an EMT team down to room 208 immediately. My girlfriend is pregnant and there is something wrong."

"...attacked..." she gasped out.

His eyes widened in horror as he relayed the message, hanging up shortly afterwards. The silver wizard leaned over her, trying to hold her but still not moving her. "Hang on, Kandi," he whispered into her hair. "Please. I'm with you now. I shouldn't have let you go."

She pressed her hands against her stomach, real fear in her eyes. "It hurts," she whispered sorrowfully. "It hurts, Kuja. So bad."

Kuja opened the flaps of her jacket and lift her shirt slightly to see the already horrible looking bruise forming on her abdomen. His face contorted in pain as he lay his head down to kiss her stomach, trying to send some of his energy to their child, praying that it held on with it's mother.

Running footsteps could be heard coming down the hall and Squall skidded to a stop in front of her door. "Kuja," he said in relief, kneeling down on Kandi's other side. "Did you call Medical yet?"

Kuja nodded, holding onto Kandi's hand and stroking her face soothing. "She was already dialing the number when I got here," he answered.

"How did you know?" the SeeD captain asked, letting his friend squeeze his hand in comfort. "I think she called me first."

Kuja looked down at his lover, wincing as more tears fell from her eyes. "I just knew," he said, not wanting to go into detail about his vision and worry her more than she already was.

A gurney was barrelling down the tile of the hallway, squeaks of sneakers echoing on the walls. Squall stepped out and flagged them in, standing out of the way as they loaded Kandi onto the thin mattress. They checked her vital signs, one of the EMT's pushing Kuja out of the way to get to her. Squall grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Let them handle it, Man," he said, trying to offer some comfort. "They know what they are doing."

Kuja nodded his head, swallowing hard as he watched the medical personnel work on his love. Squall noticed the unconscious person in the room and shifted his position to keep the man out of Kuja's line of vision. Once the EMT's had loaded Kandi up, Squall pushed the wizard forward. "Go," he ordered. "You need to be with her. I'll call Rhianna and the others and let them know. I'll meet you down there."

Kuja grasped his shoulder thankfully, following the gurney that held everything he held dear.

Squall watched him go then turned back into the dimly lit room, pulling out his cell phone. He dialed the number of the man he knew would want to know about this.

"Zack?"

Rhianna tore through the doors of the OR waiting room, looking for a head of silver hair. Kuja was sitting in a corner, barechested, barefooted, his hands thrust into his hair and he was weeping. Darryl motioned toward the wizard.

"I'll go get us some coffee," he said gently. "This is going to be a long night."

Rhianna nodded and squeezed his hand before making her way over to the silver wizard. She knelt down before him, taking his hands out of his hair and grasping them. Kuja looked at her, his face covered in tears. Rhianna's heart broke at that. As annoying as Kuja was at times to her, he was still her friend, and she hated seeing him hurt. She took out her rosary and grasped it in both of their hands, bowing her head as she began praying.

Kuja simply wept the entire time she recited the rosary, chanting like a mantra the phrase, "Sins of the father; sins of the father; sins of the father." His passed deeds had done this to her. His attempt to destroy the world in Division 9 was what had brought this on her and their baby. Their child was to pay the price for his sins. It was his fault.

He had killed their baby and possibly the woman he loved.

They sat that way for what seemed like hours, not even realizing when Darryl had returned with the coffee. The mercenary sat down beside the wizard, watching his wife as she prayed with him for the lives of the guardian and their innocent baby.

Squall had told them what had happened to the best of his ability. He knew that Rude had attacked Kandi and now she was in the hospital. Squall, Zack, and Sephiroth had removed the bald Turk from Kandi's room to an undisclosed location. Reno had also been called and told what had happened. The red-head had been uncharacteristically quiet but agreed with whatever the men were going to do.

Darryl smirked and checked his watch. He'd give them another fifteen minutes and then he was calling Captain Leonhart back. He wasn't about to miss out on this.

The doors to the operating room opened and a nurse stepped out, venturing into the waiting room. "Lady Rhianna," she said softly.

Rhianna made the sign of the cross and stood up, looking at the nurse expectantly. "Yes?" she asked. Kuja looked up at the nurse as well.

"Are you the father?" she asked sadly.

Kuja nodded, fearing the worse.

The nurse nodded. "Well, there's no easy way to say this," she began. "Kandi is in surgery right now, otherwise the doctor would be out here explaining this to you. She explained to us that her 'ex' attacked her, sending a very sharp blow to her abdomen. The blow has detached the placenta of the fetus from the uteran wall, causing massive hemmorhaging in the mother. We only have a short window of time to work here otherwise we could lose both of them. The surgery will attempt to reconnect the placenta back to the uterus; but with the pregnancy only about 12 weeks along, there's only a ten percent chance it will take. Our main concern right now is the mother. She is losing blood rapidly. We've already given her one pint of blood, but we are running short."

"I'm O+," Kuja offered, standing up. "That's universal, right?"

The nurse smiled kindly. "Yes, sir, it is," she said. "Bless you. Kandi is B+, so if anyone you know has either B+ or O+ blood, please have them come in."

"Well, damn," Darryl said, rolling up his sleeve. "Stick a needle in me. I'm B+. Let's get that girl some blood."

Kuja cast Darryl a grateful look. "Thank you," he said hoarsely.

Darryl nodded, slapping his shoulder. "Come on," he said. "Let's go visit the resident vampire."

Looks like he wouldn't be able to get in on the fun after all. He and his blood were needed here.

Rude woke up to harsh bright lights and a pounding headache. He tried to move his arms to shed his eyes from the light, but he couldn't move them. They were tied at his sides.

"Mornin'," came a familiar drawl.

"Reno?" he questioned. "God, where am I? What the hell did we do last night?"

"Well, let's see," Reno said, flicking out a cigarette and lighting it. "I was a good boy and stayed in, trying to catch up on some sleep. You, however, were very bad. You went out and got shitfaced drunk and committed a crime."

Rude chuckled. "Really?" he asked sarcastically. "What'd I do? Piss in a public area?"

"Try murder."

Rude turned and stared into the peridot eyes of Sephiroth. "Two counts, actually," he said calmly.

Rude's throat worked as he tried to remember last night's events. "Was I driving?" he asked lowly.

"No, you never left the Shrine," Squall told him. "You got drunk in your room and then committed your crime."

Rude racked his brain, trying to form some coherent thought. Kandi's face flashed in his head, lit by dim lights. His hand was around her throat. He paled slightly. "Oh God..."

"Do you remember now?" Zack hissed, leaning down to glare in his eyes. "Do you remember the feel of her stomach as you slammed your fist against it? You bruised her bad, Rude. She cried and cried, screaming in pain as the baby was wrenched from her womb, tearing her open. They couldn't get her to the hospital fast enough. She was in surgery for hours. The baby was dead within minutes. Something so tiny never stood a chance against someone like you. Does it make you feel like a big man, Rude? Killing something smaller than your pinky nail?!"

"Kandi..." he said, looking over at Reno. "Is she...?"

"Dead?" the red-head asked. "Yeah. She's gone, Pal. They couldn't pump the blood into her fast enough. Kuja and Darryl donated all they could, but they're only allowed to take a pint at a time. None of us matched her blood type. The only one who could have would have been you, but your blood/alcohol content was 2.5, so you're fucking worthless."

"She bled out," Sephiroth told him. "Slowly. That's the worst death a person can have. Imagine, feeling as your life's blood runs out of you bit by bit, draining, emptying and you are unable to stop it. You feel every precious drop leaving your body, each moment growing weaker and weaker, your heart beat getting slower and slower. When a soldier is wounded like that in battle, we do the humane thing and end it quickly by putting a bullet to their head or a sword through their heart. In a hospital, they simply let the person suffer since helping them out would be considered 'assisted suicide'."

"How...long did she...?"

"It took her four and a half hours to die," Reno stated bluntly. "And the entire time, she cried. She cried bitterly. She cried like she had just lost everything because she HAD, Rude!" Reno pointed his cigarette in his partner's face, tears filling his eyes. "How the fuck could you do that, Man? You claimed you loved her and then you do that shit? This is as much on my head as it is yours because I fuckin' told you to go after her, to fight for her. But I didn't know you would go fuckin' crazy, yo! I didn't know you would stoop so goddamn low as to kill a pregnant girl and her KID! Goddamn it, Rude! She was a fuckin' Turk, too! One of us! Family, Man. We fuckin' watch out for each other. We kill assholes for lesser shit than this. But this is big time, yo. You killed one of our own. You killed a co-worker, a friend, a sister."

"Fuck yeah," Zack growled.

Reno pulled out a revolver, emptying the six shells out of it. "Dude, you know I don't wanna do this," he hissed. "You know I love you like a brother. I looked up to you, Man! You were my fuckin' hero!" Rude listened as five of the bullets fell to the ground, still unable to see much due to the bright lights in his face. But he did see as Reno secured the one bullet in the revolver and spun the tumbler, flicking it back in place. "So, here's the deal," he continued, sniffing and wiping his eyes. "I got orders, yo. From the Bossman. A Turk who kills another Turk can't fuckin' be trusted, ya know?"

"Reno..."

"Especially one who kills one in cold blood," he seethed. He moved into Rude's line of vision, eyes red and puffy, face splotchy from his tears. He held the revolver up. "One bullet, six slots, three apiece," he said. He pointed the revolver to his head. "I go first."

Click.

"Then you."

Click.

"Then me."

Click.

"Then you."

Click.

"Then me."

Click.

Reno smirked, pointing the gun back at Rude's head. "That's five, Buddy," he said. "Guess you know what's in this chamber, huh?"

Rude swallowed thickly. "Reno, don't...please."

"Did you show mercy to Kandi when you killed her?" he shouted. "No! Then why the fuck should I show any to you?" He held the gun firmly to Rude's temple, pulling the hammer back and easing his finger on the trigger. "See ya in hell...Partner."

Rude squeezed his eyes shut as Reno pulled the trigger.

Click.

Rude opened his eyes to see Reno's face right in front of his, pained features harsh in the artificial light. "Didn't think we'd let you get off that easy, did ya?"

The bald man felt himself being moved, SOLDIER's hauling him up and placing him in an armed, barred vehicle. "Lock him up and keep him under heavy guard," Sephiroth ordered. "Give him nothing he could use to harm himself. No knives, glasses, porcelin, rope or cloth. Understood?"

"Sir!"

Reno pulled out another cigarette, lighting it with trembling hands. Zack pulled him into a hug, patting his back. "You did good, Re," he said comfortingly.

"I wasn't convinced you didn't have the bullet in there," Squall told him. "These lights are fucked up."

"Turk interogation lights," Sephiroth said. "We use them in SOLDIER as well for interogating POW's."

Reno took a shaky drag. "It'd be better for him had I actually shot him," he said, trying to calm his anger and nerves. "Especially if Kandi does die."

"Let's just pray she doesn't," Zack said, grasping the cross attached to his SOLDIER ID tags. "Not for his sake, but for hers. And Kuja's."

"Right," Sephiroth said. "Well, back to the hospital, then? My wife is going to be pissed when she finds out what we did and she didn't get to join in."

Zack winced. "So is Akalara," he replied. "She was ready to insert and anal bomb up his ass and detonate it."

Squall paled. "Remind me to never piss off your woman, Zack," he said.

Zack laughed. "I keep trying to remind myself of that!" he said. He turned to his red-headed friend, who was picking up the shells from his revolver. "Come on, Re. Let's go."

Reno stuck the shells in his pocket, tossing his cigarette butt on the ground. "Yeah," he said, trotting after them. "Comin', yo."

A/N: No cliffy. Still evil. I like being evil.