Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII. I depend on my daughter, Angeal Valentine (the author formerly known as xXxValentinexXx), and on Bjanik for all my information on the subject.

A/N—Warning, yaoi lemon ahead. I've indicated where it starts and stops so you can skip it if you want.

My thanks to Angeal Valentine for the title of this chapter. All I could think of was "waiting."

From the reviews people were surprised that Yuffie didn't immediately get upset at Godo when he told her of the engagement to Genesis. I was frankly more concerned with Godo's timing than anything. He wanted to make a public statement about the engagement, so he told her before the broadcast. That way she could smile and nod appropriately on air. I felt that her waiting until after the broadcast to question her father was more appropriate to someone who has grown up in the public eye and gained poise under those circumstances. After all, they had things to do before the broadcast—like makeup and Godo had to go over his speech a few more times—Godo, I think, just scampered away to avoid her reaction. I do acknowledge that, when Yuffie did question Godo, her question to him should probably have been less "Why?" and more "WHY?!"

FYI—One of the first scenes I wrote for Part 2 was the wedding of Yuffie and Genesis. In that version Yuffie didn't learn of the engagement until the afternoon of the wedding—talk about your father springing something on you, rather like her heirship proclamation, middle of the night sort of stuff.

Sephiroth looked at the clock on the wall of his near-empty command center—5:00 am, Midgar time. Next he checked the other clocks on the wall and made mental notes as to conditions around the world: 7:00 am in Mideel (no word yet from Tseng about those idiots in Banora); 4:00 am in Junon (better let Gavin McIntyre sleep for a few more hours—Sephiroth smirked—Gavin was not a morning person); 1:00 am in Gongaga and Reactor 20 (no word from Marcus and Nathan since yesterday afternoon—Alars and Britton wouldn't be there until mid-day), same in Corel (Sam Kuhn knew he was moving to Wutai – he would certainly be up); midnight in Rocket Town (John Nichols would also be working); 9:00 pm in Wutai (five hours since Godo's rebellion and the attack on Wutai Base began—one more hour before Carlos Griegos' next status report).

And from across Gaia reports of berserk monsters attacking every reactor on both the eastern and western continents were flooding in. "Of course… and just how did you pull that one off, Genesis?" Sephiroth thought to himself. Every base was now being stressed. In addition to fighting monsters, all bases were being required to contribute troops to the invasion of Wutai. While contingency plans had been in place for years for an invasion to put down a rebellion, with the monster attacks thrown into the mix, most of the contingency plans had become so much worthless paper. At least equipment as in position in Rocket Town for transport to Wutai. All that was really needed was personnel. People were much easier to move than machinery.

Zack glanced at Sephiroth. In one way the action was good. It was forcing his friend to concentrate on work rather than on his wife and child. Between the monster attacks, the rebellion in Wutai, and Tessa's operation, Sephiroth hadn't slept for three days. When Zack had suggested Sephiroth go home for a quick nap, Sephiroth had almost taken his head off—verbally, not literally, thankfully. Zack rather suspected Sephiroth didn't want to go home to the empty apartment, not without Tessa. What he said was that he had to stay close to the command center. Logical, Zack granted him, but he noted his friend was paler and more tense than he'd seen him since before he married Tess—more like when Hojo was still alive.

Sephiroth looked down from the line of clocks to the huge world map that covered the rest of the wall. He stretched his left hand along the line from Corel to Rocket Town to Wutai City. "Zack, I want to move as much of Sam Kuhn's command from Corel as possible to join the invasion force at Rocket Town. He'll have overall command there. John Nichols at Rocket Town won't like it, but he can take it up with me if he wants to. I also want to move half of Bill Wallace's people from Gold Saucer to Rocket Town. Bill's going to have to cover the attacks on the Corel reactor, too. I need Sam organizing the invasion forces. What kind of numbers would that give us then?"

Zack made quick notations on the clipboard he was holding. "That's about 40,000 fighting men with about a hundred Soldiers all told. Support troops for about another 10k. How's that sound?"

"About what I thought. What do we have available for air transport between Rocket Town and Wutai City?" While the capital of Wutai wasn't actually a "city" at all, Sephiroth always thought of the palace and surrounding area as "Wutai City."

Zack shook his head. "We're thin. We'll have to divert commercial airships, I'm afraid. You may have to take it up with Mr. Shinra to get your transports."

"Since when is it 'Mr. Shinra'?" Sephiroth glanced at his friend curiously.

"Since you became an executive." Zack chuckled. He understood Sephiroth's question. He'd never thought he could become so invested in the future of the company. "How about Col. McIntyre? He'll want to go to Wutai."

"I know, but I need him to coordinate the fight against the monsters attacking the reactors on both continents. Besides you and I and most of the Midgar forces will be leaving soon for Wutai. When we go, I want Gavin in overall command here."

"I still can't believe you're going to Wutai." Sephiroth cut his eyes at his second and then walked brusquely away to look at a bank of monitors. Zack shook his head. "When will we leave?"

"Two days. Hopefully Tessa will be out of the tube then… Get my orders to Gold Saucer, Corel, and Rocket Town. Let them know they're moving."

"Yes, sir." Zack tried again. "Seph… I just want you to know… About Tess, I'm sorry."

Sephiroth stepped back to the maps again. Zack could see that his lips were pressed into a tight narrow line. "Zack. There's something I haven't told you… Remember when you said none of this was my fault? Well, you were wrong. Tess was carrying twins. One of the babies, a little girl, didn't make it. She became stagnant mako, and it's attacking Tessa and the other baby. I am the cause of this. Without my actions, both babies would be alive, and Tessa wouldn't be in that tube."

Zack turned away. He felt as though Sephiroth had just punched him in the stomach. The clipboard fell to the floor with a crash. His hands briefly covered his eyes then ran grabbed his unruly hair. "Seph!" Zack turned back to his friend, tears in his eyes, his face scrunched. "I'm so sorry. I love her too, you know… How are you even standing there?"

"We do what we have to do—just as she and I decided when she got in that tube." He looked at Zack menacingly. "So, for now, I'm going to take my anger out on Godo."

"Seph!" At the look of anguish on Zack's face, Sephiroth relented—being too hard again.

"Here. Here's something else I haven't told you about." Sephiroth carefully took a crumpled piece of paper from inside his coat, opened and held it before Zack's nose, and put his other arm around the younger man's shoulders. "It's an ultrasound picture of the baby. May be a girl or it may be a boy, can't really tell. The baby was jumping and tumbling and kicking, alive inside Tessa. You should have seen it!" For the first time something approaching a smile crossed Sephiroth's face. "Has something like a 280 mako level already."

Zack laughed, smiling now too, but shook his head. "How are you going to discipline a child like that? Keep it from doing whatever it wants, when it wants?"

"I don't know, but I'm looking forward to finding out."

Zack raised his head to look at Sephiroth and realized he was in the man's arms. Zack considered this man he loved—looked deeply into his eyes—and marveled at how strong he was. Somehow Sephiroth would manage to make everything work out—the war, the monster attacks, and his wife and child. Their heads bent together, and they moved their mouths against each other, both opening for the other, holding each other tight. Each could feel his member hardening through their clothes, bumping toward the other.

"Seph. My place… Please."

"Yeah… for a little while…"

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Zack unlocked the door to his apartment, dropped the sheaf of papers he'd carried with him onto a nearby chair, and stepped away to leave room for Sephiroth. Sephiroth entered, locked the door behind him, then removed his boots and coat. Both had turned down their PHSs. Sephiroth had left strict instructions with Sylvia, now on the "early shift," that she was to use his emergency ring code only if something happened to Tessa. Zack had issued "heads-up" versions of the transfer orders to Corel, Gold Saucer, and Rocket Town before the two had left. Carlos Griegos' 6:00 am report from Wutai primarily concerned details of his upcoming breakout attack—essentially no new developments.

"Seph, I know it's early, or even really late, but do you want a drink?"

"Yes. Whatever you've got." Zack smiled. He still had some of that twelve year old scotch in his liquor cabinet. He took out glasses and poured the scotch.

"Here."

Sephiroth took a sip and felt the burn down his throat. "Good stuff. Thanks."

"Yeah." Zack took a drink of his scotch.

Sephiroth glanced around the apartment—it took a determined effort on his part not to notice Zack's mess. Zack's Buster Sword occupied the couch. Sephiroth set the glass down on the coffee table and approached the sword. "May I?"

Zack had been taking his boots off and looked up surprised at Sephiroth's question. "Sure."

Sephiroth hefted the big sword easily, examining closely the wide blade, its intricate base, and its materia slots. "I remember when I first saw this. It was soon after we all made Third Class. Angeal's father brought it for him then." Sephiroth paused. "Remember how Genesis was forever calling me 'old lady' and 'granny'? 'Even if the morrow is barren of promises… nothing shall foretell my return.' Loveless, Act 3. Genesis quoted it all the time. Remember?"

"Sure, I remember. I was just a new cadet then. I joined Soldier after Angeal rescued me from a dragon. He didn't use the Buster Sword very often, said it was a family heirloom, but I like it."

Sephiroth turned to look closely at Zack. He hadn't heard Zack mention Angeal's name since Zack had been forced to kill their friend. He set the sword back on its home couch and picked up his glass. "To absent friends…" Sephiroth raised his glass.

"To absent friends…" Zack responded with the Soldier toast. Both drank down the rest of the scotch, set their glasses aside, then moved into the other's embrace.

"Thanks, Zack." Sephiroth stroked the younger man's unruly black hair.

"For what?"

"For being here… and taking care of me." Sephiroth kissed him on the temple and then continued his strokes down Zack's back.

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"No problem. It's probably what I do best." Zack smiled, tilted his head, and closed his eyes, Sephiroth meeting him mouth to mouth. Their breathing became harsher, mouths opened, and tongues played along their lengths. Zack moved forward and stuck his tongue into the back of Sephiroth's mouth, pulling it back forward along the roof of his mouth. Sephiroth smiled. Zack moved his hands to the clasp of Sephiroth's kisori, opened it, pushed the crossed straps aside baring Sephiroth's chest, and kissed and licked the pale skin, working his way down, stroking with his hands. Sephiroth worked his fingers to the webbing into Zack's hair, rubbing his scalp. Zack had never undressed him before, not like this. "It's been a while, Seph. Hope you don't mind…"

"Not at all. Keep going."

"Yeah." Zack traced the outlines of Sephiroth's chest muscles with his fingertips then his lips, slipped his fingers inside the man's waistband, delineated the muscles, then undid his fly. The tip of Sephiroth's erection snuck out, leaking a drop of semen at its tip. Zack pushed the leather pants from Sephiroth's hips slowly keeping his little fingers on the waistband and his larger fingers and thumbs pressed against Sephiroth's thighs and calves. He held down the pants for Sephiroth to step away from his clothes. Zack wrapped one hand around Sephiroth's rod and placed the other on the small of Sephiroth's back working a slow, steady rhythm.

Sephiroth turned his head to lick up the side of Zack's neck, gently wrapping his arms around his lover and nibbling his ear lobe. "Now you," he breathed into Zack's ear. Zack stepped back but continued the slow rhythm on Sephiroth's rod. Sephiroth opened the kisori clasp, pushed the vertical straps from Zack's shoulders, then pushed the leather guard down over Zack's narrow hips. Next he pulled Zack's First Class turtleneck free from his pants then over his head. Zack's hands were becoming more urgent. "Hell with it." Sephiroth pushed the backs of his hands into Zack's pants and forced them outwards, ripping them apart and off Zachary's body.

"Oh yeah, Seph." Both members were now free and hard. Both men stroked the other in rhythm. Sephiroth gathered Zack to him, lifted him under his buttocks, and slammed Zack against the wall of the apartment, their erections now jabbing into the other's stomachs. "Come on, Seph, come on!"

"Wrap your legs around me… Is your bedroom back through there?" Sephiroth jerked his head in the direction of the hallway. Zack nibbled on Sephiroth's earlobe and nodded. Sephiroth backed away from the wall holding Zack close and headed down the hall. He spotted the lube on Zack's night stand. "Grab that!" Sephiroth held Zack against the empty wall.

Zack laughed. "Sure." Zack, with his hands free, managed to lube both their rods. Sephiroth lifted Zack then maneuvered his rod until his tip was against Zack's opening and began working his way in. "Come on, Seph, come on!" Zack gritted his teeth. "Come on, Seph!" Sephiroth grabbed Zack's hips and forced him down in rhythm on his rod, with his full stroke. Sephiroth felt the eruption begin in his toes, explode up his legs, and finally through his rod into Zack.

"Sorry, Zack."

"Don't be! I want you, Seph!"

Sephiroth felt himself slacken inside Zack, lifted him off, eased Zack down the wall, then reached for a wipe for clean up. Zack sought his mouth and stroked with his tongue. "I want you now, Seph."

Sephiroth nodded his agreement, but, "let's get to the bed." Once there, Zack guided Sephiroth into the position he preferred—onto his knees. Zack opened the bottle of lube and prepared Sephiroth for entry. Gathering Sephiroth's hair Zack laid it out lengthwise down his back and put his own chest in the soft hair—he loved the feel of Sephiroth's hair and muscles under his hands and lips. Zack reached around to hold Sephiroth's reviving member in his hand, then placed his own rod at Sephiroth's opening. Zack worked at his slightly faster pace, climaxing quickly with a yell.

"Over, Zachary."

"Yes, sir." Zack sighed as Sephiroth took him again, even harder this time as Zack was face down on the mattress.

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Sephiroth rolled off Zack, gently considering the last few minutes, arranged him to lie with his head on Sephiroth's shoulder, and spread his soft hair over both of them. "Thank you, Zack."

"Hm. Anytime…"

"Oh, and leave the lights on. I tend to kill things when I wake up in dark, unfamiliar places."

"Right."

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"Lucy has an appointment at the pediatrician's today. Are you free to come along?" Tessa was aiming a tiny rubber-coated spoon with a bit of apple sauce toward the baby's mouth. Six-month-old Lucrecia Valentine sat in her high chair between the couple at the breakfast table.

Sephiroth tilted his head toward the child who reached her hand toward a lock of his hair that had fallen forward. Her movement resulted in more apple sauce being on her face rather than in her mouth. That the child was his was apparent in the lines of her face, the slits of her pupils, the jade green of her eyes (complete with mako shine), right down to the silver, almost tubular strands of her hair, and especially in the perfectly pointy bangs above her forehead. Only waves in her hair showed Tessa's genetics.

Sephiroth glanced at his wife. Tessa was a bit annoyed at the baby's distraction and the mess. Better change the subject, "What time?"

"3:00 this afternoon. Okay?"

"That'll work. I'll meet you here at 2:30."

"Great… Now, miss. Let's get you cleaned up…"

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Tessa leaned over the forward-lying, front passenger seat and strapped the baby into her car seat in the back seat of Sephiroth's little black sports car then settled herself next to Sephiroth. "All set."

Sephiroth started the engine, "What do you think she'll weigh today?"

"I'd guess between eight and a half and nine pounds. She's growing fast. She seems to be right on track with your growth chart. At least Hojo's records are good for something… You know. We might want to think about getting a bigger car. It's really inconvenient putting her in her car seat back there—hard on my back too."

"Well, the company supplies executives with cars. You're deserving of a separate automobile. I'll bring it up with Rufus if you want."

"Yes. That'd be great."

They pulled into the parking lot of the doctor's office and immediately found a parking place. Sephiroth helped Tessa out of the car. "Here hold these." She handed him the pink diaper bag with the yellow chocobos and her purse then reached into the back of the car to deal with the car seat and the extraction of the child.

Sephiroth shook his head slightly, "Here I am, the conqueror of Wutai, the great hero of Shinra, holding the diaper bag. Glad no one's around to put a picture of this on a poster."

Tessa's shining eyes danced. "Did you just make a joke?" and she laughed aloud at Sephiroth's slightly startled expression. Tessa wrapped a blanket up over the child's head, "and to think you wanted children. Diaper bags and grabbing babies," and she tilted her head back to move her hair out of the child's reach, "are part of the deal."

"Yes. I clearly didn't know what I was getting into… Ready?"

Tessa smiled, "let's go."

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Inside the examining room, Tessa sat on the table holding the baby while Sephiroth leaned against an empty wall. With a knock, the doctor entered the room.

Tessa set the baby on the table and walked to the doctor's far side, away from Sephiroth. With a start Sephiroth realized Tessa was naked and was backing away from him toward a tube on the far wall, looking very sad. "We do what we have to do."

A claw-like hand was moving the baby's blanket away from her body as Lucy kicked and cooed. The doctor turned his head to look sidelong at Sephiroth and grinned evilly. It was then that Sephiroth realized the man's hair was greasy, grizzled black, and gathered in a long tail down his back. A nasal voice echoed in the room, "finally, a viable clone."

"HOJO!!" No sword! I'll kill him with my bare hands—strangle him, rip his head from his neck, reach into his abdomen and pull out his intestines, break his spine over my knee... But Hojo was holding the baby in his arms and backing away toward another tube on the far wall. Sephiroth took one very slow step, like moving through mud, reaching for the madman. Tessa was already in the first tube, and it was filling fast with mako solution. Hojo set the baby on the platform of the second tube, the glass lowered, and solution began to flow. Sephiroth managed another step, "TESSA! LUCRECIA! NO!! HOJO, YOU'RE DEAD!! I'LL KILL YOU AGAIN!!"

The scientist shook his head. "No. Not when I've just achieved my greatest triumph."

Lucy floated upward in the tube, grew before his eyes, her arms stretched, tentacle-like appendages sprouted from her body, and then stubby red wings burst from her shoulders. Her skin turned pale blue. She broke from the tube launching at Sephiroth lightning-fast, claws extended to rip his face. Sephiroth slowly raised his hands in a defensive stance. "Not Jenova. NO!!" He reached for the monster's throat with his left hand and brought up his right to grab the creature's arm intending to twist and smash Jenova to the floor. Suddenly Sephiroth felt his body wrapped by the slimy tentacles in at least a half-dozen places, including his throat. Jenova was trying to strangle him! He couldn't break the grip, nor tilt his head to get air into his lungs. Lights were popping before his eyes. Suddenly two tiny faces appeared in those bursting lights. One face held his eyes, while the other frowned at Jenova. Jenova shimmered and faded away. The room was empty. "Who are you?" The faces looked at him, tentatively smiled, then were gone.

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"SEPH!" Sephiroth felt himself being shaken by the shoulders. "SEPH, WAKE UP!" He was breathing hard as if he'd run twenty miles in combat gear. Sweat covered his skin. He almost never sweat. When he opened his eyes, he found himself sitting upright in Zack's bed, Zack's hands were holding his upper arms.

"Zack?" Sephiroth said in a small voice. "Zack, please tell me I was dreaming."

"Well, I'd call it 'having a nightmare,' but whatever it was, you've been fighting me for about five minutes… What were you dreaming about anyway?"

"Never mind. What time is it? Let's shower. We've got to get back to the command center."

"O-kay… It's about 7:00. You want some breakfast?"

"NO!" Sephiroth looked at his friend aghast. Take it easy. Breathe. It's not Zack's fault. "Let's go."

A/N—If someone tells me it isn't possible for guys to have sex in that position, I'll have to believe you (it wasn't something I wanted to explore the internet to find out!). No matter how many times I tried to get them to the bed though, they wouldn't get there! AREN'T I IN CHARGE ANYMORE?!