Disclaimer: I own no part of Final Fantasy VII. I am not receiving any payment for this story other than self-satisfaction.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Chapter Five: Surprises All Around

"Vincent Valentine!" Tifa shouted to Vincent's actions. How could he possibly be so stupid? All of his previous worries were tossed to the side. Was he a bad guy all around?

Vincent only looked towards the sleeping princess. He moved forward and took hold of her body so she was sitting up in his arms. He kept a hold of her even as his friends moved forward to save Yuffie from whatever he was planning to do. But all actions stopped when he quickly leaned forward to place his lips against her own.

As if she were truly awake, her mouth opened the slightest to the touch of his lips. He carefully slid his tongue out of his mouth so the potion dancing in his own mouth would drip into her own before he absorbed the entire cure.

"Oh," Barret's voice sounded in the background with obvious embarrassment.

"That's one way to do it. Damn," Cid murmured as he looked away from Vincent's attack on their young friend.

"Vincent," Tifa sighed with adoration touching her cheeks with a blush.

"And you thought your demons scared us." Cloud laughed while rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

While Vincent continued to hold his lips against Yuffie's sleeping mouth he imagined everyone was looking away from his attack on the princess. He even held her head to him with his claw so she wouldn't fall away. His human arm was wrapped around her back so she was forced to sit close to his own body.

"Mmmm?" The mummer against his mouth was out of slight confusion. Before her eyes opened one hand reached up to touch Vincent's metal arm nearest to her. Suddenly her eyes popped open with nothing but shock dancing in the hazel circles. Vincent smiled against their kiss imagining the thoughts running through her mind.

"Hey there, Princess," he whispered as he pulled away from her mouth. "How are you feeling?"

The red shade of her cheeks answered the question before her. She looked around to see all of her friends from the AVALANCHE team gathered in her bedroom. Pain filled her head as she fought to remember what happened.

"I was giving a speech about leading Wutai and then…" she made a puzzled face as her memory faded into blackness. The pain and lost memories told her enough. "What happened?"

"Someone put you to sleep," Tifa said as she sat on the other side of Yuffie's bed. The team was looking at Yuffie again. Relief shown in all their eyes as Yuffie appeared to wake more and more as the seconds ticked by. "Your father called us so we could investigate what happened. It turns out Bethany still held a bit off anger towards your father for firing her father. Vincent was able to connect the dots. A couple officers took her away to the psych ward. That's the best we can do for her at the moment."

"Vincent?" Yuffie said his name in wonder. Then she looked into his crimson eyes as her cheeks worked back to their rose color. Seeing any shade other than her pale skin was refreshing to them all. "You saved me?"

"Of course," he said and ran his fingers along her own as she leaned back with her hand on her head.

"My head is killing me," she said once again looking away from Vincent's eyes.

"We should have some doctors check you out to make sure you're okay," Tifa said. She leaned forward and kissed Yuffie's forehead before she walked away. "We'll go get some to check you out."

The team walked out of the room and Vincent stood while letting go of her hand.

"I'll go with them so the doctors can do their work," he said with a smile. Her avoidance of his kiss told him enough. It was a far off dream but at least he tried.

"You came to save me," she whispered before he could walk away. He remained next to her bed as she continued to talk. "I wanted to push everyone away because I was going to become a leader of this nation one day and wouldn't be able to hang out all the time. I didn't want to break my friends' hearts by never being around."

"But it would be no problem for us to find time to come visit you, Princess," he said with a smirk. "I promise I would come any time you asked me to."

Yuffie's face turned red once again signaling Vincent to return to his seat at her side. She was obviously trying to say something. The way she held him back while she let all their other friends leave told him enough. She was working towards making a pretty big statement with him on her mind.

"What are you thinking?" he asked and took her hand out of comfort. This darkened her cheeks even further. It was pretty adorable.

"You came to me, Vinnie," she whispered. He felt joy to hearing the stupid nickname dance in his heart. Having her use his real name felt wrong in so many ways.

"Yes," he said and smiled towards her sweetly. "I wanted to help you."

"You kissed me," she whispered.

"Yes," he confirmed nodding his head. "It seemed like the best way to get the medicine to you."

Yuffie gave him a look saying she knew he was stretching that belief a little thin. She wasn't the smartest woman in the world, but she knew he didn't need to kiss her to get the job done.

"You saved me," she said rubbing her thumb against the hand he kept holding her own.

"Of course," he said still smiling. "I care a lot about you, Yuffie."

"Do you love me?" she asked looking straight into his eyes with her words. As the silence passed her heart was pounding in her chest. The dream of running away to escape her fate leading Wutai was lost when her father was hit with his heavy dose of cancer. Even still, the idea of taking on the role terrified her. If the right person stood next to her, maybe the role wouldn't be so large of a challenge.

Vincent smiled and leaned forward so he could kiss her forehead gently before he answered her question. He leaned back and ran his cold, metal hand up and down the bare skin of her arm under the sleeve of her pajama shirt. The chills from the touch covered her arm in goosebumps just as it had done before.

"I believe I do love you, Yuffie Kisaragi," Vincent said and grabbed her chin so he could rub his thumb under her bottom lip. "Do you love me?"

"I believe I might have an offer to present to you, Vinnie," she said as her chills moved to her neck while he dragged his fingernails along the line of her jaw.

"I'm listening," he said as he moved to push her hair out of her face and behind her ear. "Is this another job?"

"In a way," she said closing her eyes as his fingers continued to drag all over her bare skin available to his touch. "I offer you my nation."

"Hmm." Vincent took in ever reaction she carried to his touch. His motions weren't very suggestive but the way she was beginning to melt he would place a bet he was effecting her in a way she never knew existed. "I'm not sure if a nation can be described as a job. You are confusing me a bit."

"Liar," she grumbled. She let out a sigh and opened her drifting eyes to look into his own. "Would you marry me, Vincent Valentine? Help me lead this crazy country into a newer and better place by showing everyone all the possibilities the world has to offer. Help me get things moving forward for so many people stuck in the dark by teaching them new ways to get things accomplished all over. Help me become a better person by loving me as much as I love you."

Vincent smiled down at her and shook his head. It was hard to believe he was once a man set to live in the basement, in a coffin to sleep away all the sins of his past. Now he was being offered a position of power next to a woman willing to love him without any signs of betrayal under her sleeve. She wouldn't sell his body to the newest experiment.

"Yuffie, I don't think either of us realized how much I have always loved you," Vincent said. He reached behind her head and pulled her forward so he could kiss her once again. Their second kiss was made active from both parties. He melted to the taste of her tongue dancing willingly with his own.

A cough sounded in the doorway. The couple pulled apart as doctors stepped into the room once they were separated. Godo was being pushed in his wheelchair by a young man with a smile on his face.

"Can I assume this means there's no need to keep sending you on surprise dates?" Godo asked his daughter with a smile.

"Surprise dates?" Vincent raised his eyebrows at Yuffie.

"He was pretty set on me getting married," she said. Then she shook her head quickly. She ripped her hands out of the doctor's hold and shook them along with her head. "Not that you agreed to such a big this as marriage! We aren't even dating officially yet!"

Vincent laughed towards her run of words. It was hard to believe he allowed himself to be placed into such a situation. He knew agreeing to being in love with her would open up a lot of doors he would never have dreamt of opening at one point in his life. But falling for a princess meant he had to accept some things. Especially if her father appeared to accept their relationship.

"Once you get cleared from the doctors to leave the house we'll go pick out a ring for you to wear," Vincent said sitting back so the doctors could try once again to gather information on Yuffie's health after waking up. "I'm certain Tifa wouldn't mind sticking around Wutai a bit longer to help you with the bigger details of the wedding. I don't know jack squat about that stuff."

"Wait, you're saying we're going to get married?!" Yuffie asked jumping to sit on her knees and once again ripping her arms from the doctor's hold.

"If you would please sit back, Princess," the doctor said glaring at the young woman and turning his glare towards the man causing her jumping around.

"Get all of the check-ups cleared and then we can work out the details later. It might be better to hold back doing too much until you've rested a bit," Vincent said and moved to his feet.

"I've been sleeping for how long?" she snapped to him with a glare. "I don't need more sleep. Of course, a vampire like you wouldn't understand that."

Vincent crossed his eyes while shaking his head. He caught the snickers and smiles from the nurses. Even Godo carried a smile. Before more work was done to check out Yuffie's health he leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

"I'm going to go let the rest of the gang know what's going on," he said smiling. "We'll start to get things organized so our wedding can really happen."

"I'm waking up from a coma and Vinnie is talking to me about weddings," she mumbled while shaking her head. "Obviously, I've been sent to another world."

"Maybe you should have told me you had a crush on me sooner?" he said with a smirk. Her willingness and lack of fighting towards their union told him enough. He didn't think she was as innocent as she attempted to play.

"You!" she yelled but didn't move because a couple of nurses worked to hold her down.

"I'll be downstairs, Yuffie," he said as he waved. He walked out of the room and heard her grumbling under her breath. Something about falling and chocobos.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"You two are getting married already?!" Cid shouted. His words were shouted loud enough for a few servants in the area ran into the room to hear the story Vincent was telling.

"Yes, it would be good for her father to see he wedding before he passed and it would make it easier for her to step in his shoes," Vincent said. "Not to mention I'll be able to work with him on gathering information about what's been going on in this nation as of late."

"Do you really love the kid that much?" Barret asked with obvious amazement.

"Do you think I would have asked if I didn't care?" Vincent asked shaking his head. Tifa stepped forward with her arms crossed.

"There's a fine difference between simply caring and loving someone, Vincent," she warned. "Do you love Yuffie?"

"Yes," he said with a sigh. "I'm not really sure when it happened, but I do know these past years away from her have sucked to no end. Not having her in my life simply as a friend killed me. Taking her as my wife is a gift I never thought I could have. She's a crazy woman, but I think I could use some excitement in my life."

"You don't need to tell us," Cait Sith said sitting on Nanaki's shoulders. "When's the big day?"

"We haven't set a date yet. We'll probably have to figure out where we want the ceremony and how many people will be invited," Vincent said and looked towards the ceiling. "Not to mention she has to pick out a ring she likes still."

"I think I have an answer for you there," Godo said as he was wheeled into the room where several people were standing to get all the juicy details. He held a small, wooden box in his hands. He raised the box for Vincent to take. "These are the rings I proposed to Kasumi with. I believe Yuffie wouldn't take anything other than these."

Vincent looked into the ring box with awe. The engagement ring was made with a silver band and a simple sapphire. The second band was decorated with emeralds. When the two rings connected to symbolize their marriage it appeared as if the sapphire was spouting two green leaves off the sides.

"It's perfect," Tifa said next to Vincent.

"We should do this engagement right," he said with a warm smile. The group all agreed and new plans were made. The finer details of the wedding couldn't be set until the bride-to-be was ready anyway.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

I originally thought this would be the last chapter, but that would be such a cliffhanger to leave you with! I think I'm going to write at least one more chapter for their story. Actually, maybe two. Oh, I don't know! Let's just wait and see how this plays out. Eep!